I sat down with Selene, determined to ignore Eli completely for now. This proved especially hard as Selene failed to provide much distraction. She was too sleepy for a deep conversation as she kept yawning around bites of her fruit and yogurt parfait. When I’d come in last night she was still awake and only just changing into her pajamas. I didn’t bother asking what she’d been doing. I had a pretty good feeling she wouldn’t tell me. Selene could be private to a fault. Nothing could make her spill her secrets until she was ready.

With little else to do, I pulled out my eTab and switched it on. The animation-resistant personal tablet responded quickly, the home screen appearing a second later. It was the one piece of electronic equipment I owned that wasn’t temperamental, and therefore I loved it. I stroked my fingers across the rune mark engravings around the edge of the screen with undisguised affection.

I checked my e-mail first. The only new one was from Lady Elaine. I opened it with a surge of trepidation that proved anticlimactic. The e-mail informed me that Paul would be starting classes tomorrow (read: today) and that I should be prepared. Yeah, way to get the message through on time there, Ms. I Can Predict the Future. It also included his new class schedule so that I could stalk him more conveniently.

Even better.

Closing down my e-mail, I opened an e-net window and typed in a search for the Terra Tribe. Might as well do something useful. I didn’t expect to find much—the Magi Senate censored all questionable material on the enchantment-net—but in seconds I spotted a link to a page on Spellbook, the magickind equivalent of Facebook. I clicked on it. The info page for the Terra Tribe popped up on the screen with this basic information:

Group: Student Organization

Interest: Changing the world

Membership: Private

Frowning, I clicked on the JOIN button. A pop-up message asked me if I wanted to send a request to join the Terra Tribe, and I clicked yes. Then another message displayed saying the request had been sent. That was it.

Disappointed by my lack of progress, I looked up Oliver Cork’s Spellbook page. The Terra Tribe was listed as one of his interests, and when I perused his friends page, I came across Britney’s profile in the S section. I clicked on it and read through the information. She and I were already friends, so everything was visible to me, including all the messages on her wall telling her to get better soon. I scrolled through, alarmed by the hostile tone in some of them. Several people threatened bodily harm to whoever had attacked her while others blamed various darkkinds and even some witchkinds.

I stopped reading when the screen had to refresh and closed the window, a leaden weight settling across my shoulders. If Marrow’s supporters were behind the building unrest among the kinds, they were doing a great job. Arkwell was becoming a decidedly scary place to be. I supposed a lot of ordinary students felt the same when it came to school shootings and having to walk through metal detectors to get to class. The difference at Arkwell was that our weapons couldn’t be screened anymore, not with The Will gone. And so far the Will Guard hadn’t proved much more effective than your average rent-a-cop.

I put the eTab away and focused on breakfast, trying not to worry about the things beyond my control. It wasn’t like I could go back in time and undo what had happened with Marrow.

When the bell rang for homeroom, I peered over at Lance’s table, wondering if Eli was still too pissed to walk with me. Not only did I want to explain about Paul, but I wanted to know if he’d learned anything more about what happened to Lance. I believed that Eli hadn’t cursed him, but somebody had. Who? And why?

Under different circumstances, I would’ve considered Lance a suspect. Eli had said that Lance wasn’t in the dorm room when he’d gone to bed the night Britney was attacked. And it was possible Lance had seen the note and gone down there. Hell, he even had a possible motive of revenge for the bloom-and-grow spell fiasco in alchemy. But none of that explained how he’d been cursed, and I was certain he wasn’t faking it. Lance had too much ego to go around looking like that much of a train wreck on purpose. Not to mention the evidence in Selene’s detection spell, and the fact that he hadn’t been in Britney’s dream. I shook my head. None of it made sense.

Eli’s answer came through loud and clear as he darted for the door without so much as a sideways look at me.

Crap. I should’ve plucked up my courage and apologized, Katarina or no. Now I would have to wait until lunchtime, trusting in the cafeteria noise to make sure we weren’t overheard. Sighing, I said goodbye to Selene then headed for homeroom.

As I suspected, Eli avoided me through first and second. I contemplated writing him a note explaining things in third period, but the lecture that day proved too distracting—we’d finally gotten around to the sinking of Atlantis and how it had triggered the first War of the Kinds.

When the bell sounded for the end of third period, Mr. Corvus called Eli’s name, asking him to stay behind. I glanced at the teacher, suspicious for no good reason beyond curiosity. I lowered my gaze and started slowly packing up my things. I contemplated dropping the contents of my folder on the floor for an excuse to linger even longer.

Before I could, I heard Corvus clear his throat in my direction. “Your detention isn’t until this afternoon, Miss Everhart.”

I jumped at the sound of my name, and I whipped my head toward him. He gave me a knowing look. I was tempted to say something smart, but my courage wavered at the idea of even more detention, and I hurried up and left the room.