Page 163 of Glutton for Punishment

“Did you find anything out?” I ask.

“I did.” He exhales. “Apparently it was a rebel attack. Security received a message right after the explosion.”

Cleo stops pacing. “The rebels attacked the academy?”

“But why?” Holly asks.

Maddox shakes his head once. “Nobody’s fully clear on that yet. There are already Council representatives involved.” His mouth twists slightly with irritation. “They’re putting SinVail Academy on lockdown until at least the end of the semester.”

The words settle over the room. Something about it makes my stomach turn. Like invisible walls are already closing around us.

“No one in or out without authorization,” Maddox continues. “Extra patrols. Restricted access to Academy Hollow. Curfews.”

“Curfews?” Holly repeats in disgust. “We’re adults, not prisoners.”

“That distinction has always been pretty flexible in Vail,” Maddox says dryly. "And we're lucky they didn't just end the term, like last year."

I look at him. “But what if you’re needed in Gluttony? What then?”

Maddox crosses the room and leans down, pressing a gentle kiss against my forehead.

“You know I’m not exactly great at following rules. It will be fine.”

Even now, even after all of it, his touch still does something to me.

“Besides,” he says quietly, “with Vex’s gifts and now this attack, my place is here more than ever. Protecting you.”

Tabby makes an aggressively loud gagging sound.

I snatch the nearest pillow and launch it directly at her face. She shrieks as it smacks her dramatically off the bed.

“Didn’t we just learn today that violence is not the answer!” she cries.

“You deserve worse,” I mutter. Cleo snorts while Holly laughs for the first time since the explosion. The tension in the room eases slightly. I look toward the dorm window.

“It’s going to be okay, Arwen,” Cleo says, steady as ever. “The Council has handled the rebels many times before.”

“Plus, you’re not exactly helpless,” Holly adds, putting her arm around my shoulder.

Beyond the glass of the window, gloom has swallowed the academy whole. Security lights burn across the grounds now, brighter than usual. Guards move along pathways below in dark clusters.

I think about the explosion. About Maylo bleeding in front of me. The rebels attacking the safest place in Vail.

“I guess,” I say quietly, “you’re never really safe anywhere in Vail.”

Chapter 50

Arwen

The academy feels different after the explosion.

Professors standing a fraction too still as I pass. Conversations cutting off mid-sentence. It’s like all the comfort and trust at the academy evaporated with a single blow.

In my second class, the seating chart has changed. My desk is no longer near Cleo and Tabby. It’s isolated. Visible from every angle of the room, like I’m on display. The girls look at me in confusion.

Two Council observers sit in the back row. They don’t take notes like normal class visitors. They just watch. Like everyone’s being evaluated.

In combat theory, it gets worse. Three observers now. One with Gluttony insignia. One Pride. Another I don’t recognize at all. They don’t speak. They just watch every move we make. When I miss a defensive pivot, I notice one of them writes something down. When I recover quickly from a strike, another leans forward like they’re interested.