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Alright…so maybe there’s a little time to spare before we leave for Providence

ADRIA

Chapter 37

I JUST FINISHED PACKING the last of my stuff fro to be hard saying goodbye, but I’ the next chapter in

Hearing Isaac’s Jeep pulling into the drive, I head down the stairs with a duffle bag over one shoulder

Aunt Bev and Uncle Carl are standing at the foot of the stairs waiting forAbout seven s on his own and they pushed his physical therapy sessions into double-ti progress every day He’ll never walk like he used to and he’ll always have an obvious limp on his left side, but to Uncle Carl, a li so much these days that it’s scary When I firstat all Now, Aunt Bev can’t get hi toher arht and she kisses me on the temple Uncle Carl s I workto avoid knocking him off balance

"You’ll call us at least once a week?" Uncle Carl asks with some innocent demand tossed in there

"Of course I will; twice a week"

"And whatever you need," Beverlee says, " what she really means by a ‘ride back’

"This will always be my number one home," I say, "You know that"

Beverlee bea up

Isaac knocks on the front door and then let’s himself inside; this is just as s hi his keys in his hand

"Isaac, I know you’re responsible," Beverlee says, looking slightly worried, as usual, "but I just wanted to e; y’know, the basics"

She always asks this e drive anywhere more than an hour from home

Isaac smiles and nods "Yes ma’am She’ll be perfectly safe with lances

"That, I do believe seeing as how you’re a…, well, you know" Beverlee ss the word ‘olf’ down She and Uncle Carl still aren’t used to saying it out loud

Isaac grins

They know everything now It was kind of hard to lie about what happened that night Nataša and her pack held lad that I wasn’t here to witness itthe fact thatout with, aren’t exactly huet’, but he did explain that a mind can only take so much manipulation and that his poouldn’t last forever Eventually, they would start to remember bits and pieces Genna helped erase their haround with their heads So, I figured why not just tell theht, Isaac and I sat doith them and pretty much turned their quaint little life as humans upside-doith the infor other than olves They still think Harry is as human as they are and it’s probably better that way

The story throughout the rest of the toas that a huge gang had co around about what happened that night--and fights broke out all over the place Thankfully, no one, not even Nataša’s pack, let the on in the streets and in people’s front yards and even on their roofs, was bla violence So members’ actually ju froroup of students fro bitchy Tori and Cecilia, who became best friends, believe it or not--have started ru ‘vampires’ in Hallowell (because of the black eyes and clae have when in our mediate form) Of course, no one really believes that, or they’re just not openly adht we trapped Zia and definitely had to use his Praverian powers to manipulate her memories

But she’s crazy by default and so whatever she says is almost always brushed off as ht Bev and Uncle Carl got the shock of their lives; this whole town could be one big olf infection on theto cave and try to hold et there, I prohtly as ever, a few tears finally roll down Beverlee’s rose-colored cheeks She lets go of oodbye for now I’ll be back so e dorm room in Hudson Valley I didn’t have to fill out paperwork and I got to bypass all the basics of getting in It was like one night Isaac asked e and when I said yes, everything was prepared for me in just a few days’ tiuess it helped too that Isaac is who he is; I’e college; at least not our section of it anyway There is only one requirement: you can’t be 100 human Of course, there are humans in this school, but they’re oblivious to e are

Isaac and I walk down a short stretch of hallway toward my dorm room and already I feel eyes at my back It feels a lot like it did when I first stepped foot inside the Mayfair house as the new girl, except there’s soirl wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and bright red lipstick walks up barefooted and sly at Isaac She boardly, first and then says, "Ooooh n" She looks exactly like an obsessed fan-girl of any new la: I love you!

Isaac nods, but doesn’t give her anyher