Senara blinked, instantly awake. Had she had her fill of sleep, or had something woke her? Without moving her head she glanced around the room, taking everything in. It was easier to notice things now, without the dizziness. What had caused it? She’d been through far worse than the last day over the years, with far greater injuries. Both physical and… not. Other than Turner. Her stomach rolled. Best not to think about that. Or Harington. He was only a boy. The only one of her seconds that she’d allowed to worm their way into her feelings. If she ever ran into Titus again when she regained access to her power…

She squinted at the light in the room. It was completely different than when she’d fallen asleep.

“Ah, you’re awake!” Meri said. How did she always sound so cheery? It was getting annoying, and they had barely known each other a day. “I was starting to think I needed to call 911! You slept all night. But you looked okay, so I didn’t know what to do. Maybe you were just really tired? I thought maybe you’d be hungry when you got up, so I grabbed you a granola bar.” She stood up from behind the desk she’d been seated at and brought something over, holding it out toward Senara

Senara sat up, took it and eyed it warily. This was food? It was so… hard. She lifted it toward her nose. The bracelet buzzed and she closed her eyes to keep from vomiting. Sleeping hadn’t helped.

“It’s good, I promise,” Meri said. She must have misunderstood Senara’s grimace.

Good was relative. It couldn’t be worse than other things she’d eaten in her life. Senara put it to her mouth.

“Not like that!” Meri said loudly. “You have to open it first!” She snatched it back and demonstrated, pulling a brightly colored layer off and leaving a bar of some kind behind. She passed it back to Senara, who took a cautious bite. Not too bad, especially as hungry as she was.

It was devoured in a few seconds. “Do you have more?”

Meri grinned and walked back to the desk. She tossed another to Senara, who peeled it this time. She was in the middle of her third when Sandra came crashing through the door, sending Senara’s hand to the dagger hidden in her clothing.

“She’s up!” Sandra said, stating the obvious. Were all Swarians this chatty?

“Yep, and eating,” Meri answered.

“Great. Is there somewhere we can take you now?” Sandra asked expectantly. “Having you here overnight was bad enough, we don’t want to prolong this, whatever it is. We’ll help you get wherever you want to go.”

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“Sandra!” Meri sounded offended. “We can’t just kick her out. She said she doesn’t have anywhere to go.”

“But she can’t stay here, not without us informing the hall monitor or we’ll all be in trouble. We could be in trouble just for letting her stay here last night.” She walked over and collapsed on her bed. “I’m not getting kicked out of school for flouting the rules. I worked too hard to get in here.”

“It’s fine, we aren’t going to get in trouble. Lots of people have friends spend the night.” Meri turned to Senara. “We’ll need you to register if you’re staying any longer though. We can tell them you’re from back home or something.”

Registering meant being on record. Even under an assumed name that could turn out badly. But this friend of Meri’s might not keep quiet if she didn’t cooperate. She would have to run the risk of using an alias. “As you wish. What do I need to do?”

“It’s really easy,” Meri said. “You just need your license.”

License? License for what?

Meri must have seen her blank expression. “Your driver’s license?”

Senara just shook her head, forcing her face to remain motionless as the bracelet went crazy against her arm. Meri heaved a big sigh. “We can’t do it without a license, Sandra. It’s just for a couple days until she figures out what she’s doing.” Meri turned toward her. “You’ll have to hide all the time. We aren’t really supposed to have guests stay here without permission.” She wrinkled her nose. “And you may want to take a shower.”

That was typical of any school. At hers no one was allowed to visit, even family. But that seemed to be an extreme. “I could leave today if I could find someone to help me with this accursed bracelet,” she muttered under her breath.

Meri cocked her head. “What bracelet? Why do you need it off so bad? Is that why you wanted to see a blacksmith?”

So far Meri had seemed nothing but kind and helpful. So of course, she could not be trusted. No one was truly like that. She had an ulterior motive or she was observing. But she would have to take yet another chance with the girl. She had to get rid of the bracelet. A wave of dizziness hit her. That had only started happening since she’d been cut off from magic, when her handler was killed. The bracelet was trying to make her return to Uthoria so a new handler could be chosen. She would die before doing that.

“I’ll only show her,” Senara said, nodding toward Meri. She trusted her only slightly more than Sandra, but there was no need for both of them to be here.

Sandra stared at Meri for a second, who shrugged. Then Sandra shot daggers out of her eyes at Senara. “I’ll be right outside the door if you need me.” She walked out slowly, shutting the door behind her.

“She’s just being dramatic. She’s an English major,” Meri said, like that explained everything. “She can’t be that worried, she left us alone up here while you slept.”

“If I show you, you swear to never speak of it with anyone?” Senara said, ignoring the girl’s rambling. “Swear.”

Meri let out a nervous giggle, causing Senara to roll her eyes.

“Fine, fine, I swear!” she said, holding up three fingers like that meant something.

The girl would know. As soon as Senara showed her the bracelet, she would put it all together. Then the truth would come out. If Meri truly wished to help her, or if she would have to kill her and Sandra, right here in the room they shared.