Page 75 of Radiant Shadows

Without a moment’s hesitation, I clutched the handle of the door and pulled, wrenching it completely off its hinges. Frayed wires snapped and hissed in confusion as the connection that kept the doors locked outside of school hours severed.

I paid them no mind. Or rather, I had no mind with which to pay them. I took one look at the spot where I had sat on Tobias’s lap, and everything went blank.

When next the fog cleared, I was standing in the wreckage of the once-vibrant vegetable and herb garden. Water spurted from broken irrigation lines. Shards of glass and smashed potterylittered the ground, covered in the green shreds of what used to be healthy plants. And mixed into the debris were frayed fragments of the black colored fabric that no longer covered my sweaty body.

Over the sound of my own snarling, I heard someone say my name behind me. I snapped my head in that direction.

Mr. Sharp stood in the vandalized doorway, Mr. Inari standing skittishly behind him.

At the startled looks in their wide eyes, my temper started to cool, my grizzled breath easing. Slowly, I realized what I’d done. I’d destroyed the greenhouse. And I was now naked in front of two male professors.

My panting quickly turned into whimpering hyperventilation as guilt crushed me and shame reddened every inch of my exposed skin. “Omigod, what did I do?”

“It’s okay, Arya,” Mr. Sharp soothed, stepping over the rubble as he pulled off his shirt and held it up to shield my torso from his own eyes. “These things happen during first shifts. Not usually to school property, but they do happen. Luckily, there was no one here. Let’s get you to Ms. Heather.”

I accepted his shirt with the greatest gratitude, hugging the item around myself. Thankfully, due to Mr. Sharp’s rather massive size, it wrapped around me like a blanket, covering from my collarbone to the tops of my thighs.

“B–but w–what ab–bout all this?” I was trembling so violently I could barely speak. It was all I could do not to break down, I was so filled with self-loathing.

“Once you’ve calmed down, we can deal with cleaning up the mess,” Mr. Sharp said, leading me out of what remained of the greenhouse. “Isn’t that right, Kai?”

“Yes, of course.” Mr. Inari said the words with a dazed look, staring at the destruction before him.

“Come, let’s get you taken care of,” Mr. Sharp urged.

I allowed his enormous hands to push me forward. I was feeling so much that I didn’t really feel anything at all. It was all white noise at this point.

I had thrown a tantrum and destroyed one of the Dome’s vital resources. Everyone at the school depended on those plants, and I’d ripped them to pieces. Over a boy.

Still, my hatred for Tobias lingered like rot in an orchard, tainting everything within. I had been so certain we were somehow cosmically linked. Fated. What a foolish fucking idiot I had been.

It was all a lie.

Tobias had manipulated me. Lied to me. Used me just as he had used other girls before me. He was just as horrible of a human being as his father. They may be dragons by birth, but they were snakes in practice.

Part of me wished he had been the receiver of my rage instead of the greenhouse.Hedeserved it.

I never wanted to see him again. And if he was as smart as he boasted, he would stay far, far away.

Chapter 28

Tobias

I should’ve flown home.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and it wasn’t exactly discrete to be shifting into an enormous dragon in the middle of suburbia—although, it would’ve been fun to see the expressions of Shea and her family from the window if I had.

Still, I should have. I could’ve turned invisible before taking off.

But I didn’t, and the new Uber driver drove at least five miles under the speed limit the entire way back to Chicago.

I wanted to rip my hair out.

In fact, I diverted the destination to the end of the L line and opted to ride the subway the rest of the way to the Dome. Dusk was descending quickly, but no vampire would dare confront me now. Nothing would keep me from getting to Arya.

For the first timeever, I didn’t need to be cautious with my feelings. I didn’t need to hold back and prevent my heart from giving itself away. For the first timeever,I had hope that I’d get hers in return.

I continued to stare at my palm as the subway rushed back in the direction of the Dome. My hand looked the same—not that I expected it to look different—but I somehowfeltdifferent. Like I could hurl myself off the cliff I’d stood firmly on the edge of for eighteen years—fingers gripped around the guard rail—and actually allow myself to fall.

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