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It was a surreal sensation, walking through the halls of a new school I reh school see the first days of fresh step as new territory

I et into a fifth period film elective with Noel so at least I&039;d see one fa my day

Mom invited Dante over for dinner afterapple cider, which my mom drank instead of soda She hune flutes and handed theht and the students seeer that, Dante"

Dante smacked his fist on the table "That&039;s the spirit!"

"Yeah, yeah, but enough aboutat the ol&039; U of A?"

"I have a good mix of easy and difficult classes Need to allow time for the extracurricular activities" Dante winked

Moet called to duty very often?" she asked

"Not that ents are sending me to Kotzebue this weekend"

"What&039;s happening in Kotzebue?" I asked

"There&039;s a rabid vae"

"Do you need my help?"

"Much as I&039;d like it, this mission&039;s simple Anyway, it&039;s your first week at a new school"

"I wouldn&039;t et to travel anywhere else Might as well get a glimpse of the back country"

"I wouldn&039;t worry about that toothe town of Kotzebue Don&039;t forget to pack youryou back some seal meat"

I srinned I hadn&039;t seen her this happy in too long

Parts of me felt content Other parts felt broken The most important lesson I&039;d learned over the past couplewith company even with a heart split in two

"Pssst," Noel said the next day in film class

I raised a brow She was seated beside me, and class hadn&039;t started yet, so there was still a lot of noise as students walked in and settled into their seats She ood mood because she wasn&039;t all hooded as she tended to be when she was acting ht He mentioned there are a couple vaht show"

My heart began thu

"No one by the na fro and James"

I tapped my pen over my notebook "It&039;s worth a shot"

I&039;d finally get a chance to meet Marcus

Maybe Fane would show up

Scratch that That wasn&039;t the reason I lied toover at Noel&039;s so we could stay up late working on a film project

It would have been soup with Dante Moood time Stay out as late as you want"

I didn&039;t have ti ups I had responsibilities Besides, ure out where Renard was holed up That would show the agents just how valuable bies could be

I don&039;t knohat Marcus did for money, but bank robbery wasn&039;t out of the question He had a tall two-story townhouse overlooking the inlet, and everything fro was h a lass on each side and walked in over large slabs of sand-colored stone I felt like Dorothy walking down the yellow brick road

"Is this like the VIP Vamp party," I whispered to Noel "You didn&039;t prepare me for this"

Noel se open layout from the entrance to a kitchen that looked down into afrom the walls, and statues sat on pieces of furniture that were just as beautiful and unique as the objects they supported

"Joyeux, Noel! There you are"

A man in a black and white floral silk shirt and white pants walked over and kissed Noel on each cheek His hair was luscious It flipped off his forehead and tapered off under his ears

"Hello, Marcus"

He looked me over "And who is this?"

"I&039;m a new student at West," I stammered "But notnew You know?"

"What is your name?"

"Aurora"

Marcus&039;s eyes lit up "Noel and Aurora I like this My dark haired duet" He reached out and took solanced sideways at Noel

"Nice, very nice, but I do not like this scarf Youas beautiful asthe neck"

I stared transfixed into Marcus&039;s pale blue eyes as he spoke

He turned back to Noel "It is good you brought her here Now ood time"

"Yes, Marcus"

Once he&039;d ain, Noel took my arm She led me to the kitchen The cabinets were made of solid oak with custom iron handles No tere the saranite countertops Chane flowed from a small silver fountain on the counter

This was nhborhoods any day I couldn&039;t i up to this grand affair Guess I&039;d just have to enjoy myself and see if I could pick up any infor at the elasses on a silver tray beside the fountain

"I don&039;t know My last experience with chaain, I did drink an entire bottle in one sitting"

A lean young ht abs and thick dark hair walked into the kitchen Noel&039;s eyes lit up when she saw him "Henry!"

So this was Henry He embraced Noel

"Henry, I want you to meet my friend, Aurora Sky"

Henry turned to me with a devilish srasp, mine for several beats "Any friend of Noel&039;s is a friend of mine Welcome, Aurora"

"Thanks"

"Aurora just transferred to West as well," Noel added

"Wonderful, then ood colasses "May I?" he asked, filling each glass in the fountain

"Thank you," I said after he handedto keep all the beautiful ladies to yourself?" An equally dashing boy strolled into the kitchen His hair was light brown and streaked with gold highlights

I was beginning to understand how Whitney and Hope could willingly allow therinned "Gavin, meet Noel&039;s friend, Aurora Sky She&039;s new at West"

"A pleasure," Gavin said, eyes sparkling like the chalass "We are very happy to have you at our school"

"How about we give Aurora a tour of the palace?" Henry suggested

"Good idea" Gavin held his aret a lay of the land Henry did the sa deal They&039;d had centuries to practice

Henry led us across the stone steps that connected the door to the kitchen and living room "These stones were imported fro"

Henry grinned "Come see the upstairs"

The upstairs to Marcus&039;s palace was accessed via a spiral staircase ood steps Its iron railing curled and twisted like meticulously planned doodles from the posts to the steps I pulled le file

There was a view of the living room frouest rooround, the e"Marcus believes that if one has an ocean view, he should be able to see it fro around the room in awe

The space was covered in art and curiosities on all sides You&039;d think it would look cluttered, but the effect was fascinating Statues sat on the floor beside upholstered are turtle, his back reen tiles, and a three-foot statue of a faun like the one in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe standing beside a stained glass lamp A hand-carved wooden lion sat at the head of the bed looking into the rooer felt like Dorothy Noas Lucy stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia

"Wait until you see the shower," Noel said "It has its own roohed

Henry led us to a glass wall enclosing a walk-in shoith a rainforest mural inside done entirely in tile The shower could easily fit ten people

My eyes were bugging out of my head "Wow"

"Yeah," Noel said

"Want to see the rest of the rooms?" Henry asked