After roaming the girls’ dorm, Seolhyun headed for one of the smaller buildings near the beaches. The one story, square building held the cafeteria and surrounded by palm trees. She slowed as she neared one of the larger rooms. The laughter and thuds radiating from the room proved there were some kids still there over summer vacation.

Something flip-flopped inside her. Would they accept her back? Would they even know her? Hell, would they even care?

Taking a deep breath, Seolhyun pushed open the doors. No one seemed to notice her. Everyone was busy cheering on a Genuine who floated several pieces of furniture in midair. The young girl was a novice at controlling the air element, which explained all the noise.

She studied the girl. With her black curls and wide blue eyes, she looked about twelve, especially standing next to the towering Myx in her cute jumper.

Cute indeed.

Meanwhile, the Genuine pursed her lips as another chair toppled to the floor and more chuckles erupted from her audience, all except one.

Chanmi Kim.

Tall, brunette, and all devilish smile, Chanmi had been her partner in crime when she’d been at the Ephensy.

Then suddenly Chanmi stared at her, wide-eyed and stunned. “Holy… Gods.”

Everyone turned at that point, even the Genuine girl. With her concentration broken, all the items fell to the floor. Several of the Myx scattered as the couch came down.

Seolhyun wiggled her fingers. “Long time no see, huh?”

Chanmi snapped out of it and within two seconds, she’d crossed the length of the room and pulled Seolhyun into a mammoth hug. Then she picked her up and swung her around.

“Where in the hell have you been?” She put her back on her feet. “Three years, Seolhyun? What the hell? Do you even know what half of the students said happened to you and your mom? We thought you were dead! I could seriously punch you in the face, like right now.”

Seolhyun could barely hold back her smile. “I’ve missed you, too.”

Chanmi kept staring at her. “I can’t believe you’re really standing here. You better have a wild story for me.”

Seolhyun laughed. “Like what?”

“You better have had a baby, killed someone, or slept with a Genuine. Those are your three options. Anything less is totally unacceptable, girl.”

“You’re so gonna be disappointed, because it wasn’t anything exciting.”

Chanmi dropped her arm around Seolhyun’s shoulders and steered her to one of the couches. “Then you gotta tell me what the hell you’ve been doing and how you got back here.”

“I’d go with she probably killed someone.”

Seolhyun tilted her head back and spotted Rowoon Kim in the group of Myx she didn’t recognize. He looked exactly as she remembered him. Dark hair parted down the middle, a body made just for girls to drool over, and equally dark, y eyes.

Seolhyun gave him her best smile. “Whatever, you douche. I didn’t kill anyone.”

Rowoon shook his head as he approached them. “Do you remember dropping Chanhee on his neck during take down practice? You nearly killed him. Good thing we heal as quickly as we do or you would’ve put him out of training for months.”

They all laughed at the memory. Poor Chanhee had spent a week in the infirmary after the incident. General curiosity drew the other Myx to the couch, knowing Seolhyun had to answer some of the questions regarding her MIA eventually.

“What the hell are you wearing, by the way? It looks like the guy’s training uniform.” Chanmi tugged at her sleeve.

“It’s all I have.” Seolhyun gave a dramatic, pitiful sigh. “I doubt I’m going to get out anytime soon, and I don’t have any money.”

She grinned. “I know where they keep all the training clothes here. Tomorrow, I can pick you up some extra stuff in town.”

“Thanks.”

Rowoon then asked the one question Seolhyun feared. “So has your mother… reconciled with Jonghyun?”

She forced herself not to show any reaction. “No.”

Rowoon looked surprised. So did the Myx.

“But they can’t divorce,” added Chanmi. “Are they going to do the separate house, different island or something?” Genuines never divorced. They believed their mates were predestined by the Gods.

“Uh… no,” Seolhyun said. “Mom… didn’t make it out there.”

Chanmi’s mouth dropped open. “Oh. Seolhyun, I’m sorry.”

Seolhyun forced herself again to shrug. “It’s okay.”

“What happened to her?” asked one of the students.

Taking a deep breath, Seolhyun decided to tell them the truth. “A Demon got her.”

That led to another round of questions, all of which Seolhyun answered truthfully. Each of their faces mirrored shock and awe as Seolhyun got around to the part where she’d fought and killed two of the Demons. Even Rowoon seemed impressed.

None of them had even seen a Demon in real life.

Seolhyun didn’t go into detail about her meeting with Heechul, but she did tell them her summer wasn’t going to be all fun. When she mentioned she’d be training with Hyejeong, a collective groan sounded.

“What?” Seolhyun looked around the group.

Chanmi kicked her legs off Seolhyun’s lap and stood. “Hyejeong is one of the toughest–”

“Roughest,” Rowoon added solemnly.

“Meanest,” threw in a pretty Myx girl with blonde, shoulder-length hair cut, named Lisa.

Unease shifted through Seolhyun.

And they weren’t done with their descriptions.

“Strongest,” another kid added.

Lisa glanced around the room, her lips curving. “iest.”

There was a round of sighs from the girls, but Chanmi frowned. “That’s not the point. Hey, she’s a beast. She’s not even an Instructor. She’s a Linus through and through.”

“The last couple of graduating classes got assigned to her area.” Rowoon shook his head. “She’s not even a Guard, but she wiped out over half of them and sent them back as trainees.”

“Oh.” Seolhyun shrugged. That didn’t sound all that bad. She was about to point that out when a new voice interrupted.

“Well, look who’s back? If it isn’t our one and only high school drop-out,” drawled Chaeyoung Park.

Or so everyone called her Rose.

Seolhyun closed her eyes and counted to five. She made it to three. “Are you lost, Rose? This isn’t where they’re handing out the free pregnancy tests.”

“Oh, boy.” Chanmi moved to stand behind the couch, getting out of the way.

Seolhyun didn’t blame her. Rose and her had a legendary history. The write-ups Heechul had gone over for fighting had usually involved Rose.

Rose laughed that husky, throaty laugh Seolhyun was all too familiar with. She looked up at her then. Rose hadn’t changed a bit.

Okay. That was a lie.

If anything, Rose had grown more beautiful in the last three years. With her long reddish-brown colored hair, amethyst eyes, and impossibly glowing skin, she looked like some sort of glamorous model. She owned it. Seolhyun couldn’t help but think of her own boring brown pair of eyes.

Rose’s eyes dropped the length of Seolhyun as she stalked across the room, taking in the oversized shirt and rumpled jogging pants. One perfectly arched brow went high. “Don’t you look lovely?” She, of course, was dressed in the tightest and shortest skirt known to boys.

“Isn’t that the same skirt you wore in the third grade? It’s getting a little tight, Rose.” Seolhyun smiled.

Rose rolled her eyes and tossed the mass of hair over her shoulder. She sat in one of the fluorescent moon chairs across from them. “Aw, what happened to your face?”

“What happened to my face?” Seolhyun retorted. “Ah, by the way, keep rolling your eyes, maybe you’ll find a brain back there.”

There were a couple of snickers from their audience, but Rose ignored them. She was focused on Seolhyun, her arch-nemesis. They’d been at this since they were seven.

Sandbox enemies, Seolhyun guessed.

“You know what I heard this morning?”

“What?”

Rowoon sauntered to Rose’s side, his dark eyes devouring her long legs. He moved behind her and tugged a strand of her hair. “Hey, knock it off. She just got back.”

Seolhyun’s brows went up as Rose motioned him down with a flick of her finger. Rowoon lowered his mouth to hers.

Chanmi glanced at Seolhyun.

Seolhyun glanced back at her.

Looking bored with the couple, Chanmi shrugged. “Instructors couldn’t prevent the students from hooking up. I mean, come on.”

When they were done tonguing one another, Rose returned to staring at Seolhyun. “I heard Dean Heechul didn’t want you back. Your very own uncle wanted to place you into servitude. How sad is that?”

Chanmi glanced again at the steaming Seolhyun.

“It took three Genuines to convince her uncle she’s worth keeping around.” Rose added.

She opened again, but Seolhyun cut her off. “I was one of the best. And it did. Apparently, I have a bad reputation and he felt I had missed too much time.”

“Huh?”

Seolhyun shrugged. “I have until the end of summer to prove to Heechul I can get caught up in time to join the rest of the students. It’s no big deal, right, Rose?” She faced her, grinning. “I think you remember the last time we sparred? It was a long time ago, but I’m sure you can recall it quite clearly.”

A pink flush crawled over Rose’s cheeks and her hand crept to her nose in what looked like a subconscious move, drawing an even bigger grin from Seolhyun. At such a young age, their sparring was supposed to have been a no-contact training exercise. But one insult had led to another, and Seolhyun had broken her nose.

And it had also landed her in suspension for two weeks.

Rose’s plump lips thinned. “You know what else I know, Seolhyun?”

Seolhyun folded her arms over her chest. “What?”

Her eyes sparkled with malice. “While everyone here may believe whatever lame excuse you gave for your mother leaving, I know the real reason.”

Coldness settled over Seolhyun. “And how do you know?”

Rose’s lips curved at the corners as she met Seolhyun’s stare. “Your mother met with Grandma Choa.”

Grandma Choa? Choa was a crazy old woman who was supposed to be an Oracle. The Genuine believed she communed with the Gods. Seolhyun believed she communed with a lot of Soju.

“So?”

“I know what Grandma Choa said to make your mother go crazy. She was crazy, right?”

Seolhyun was on her feet without realizing it. “Rose, shut up.”

Rose looked at her, eyes wide and undaunted. “Now, you may want to calm down. One little fight and you’ll be cleaning toilets for the rest of your life.”

Seolhyun’s hands clutched. Had Rose been in the room, under Heechul’s desk or something? How else would she know so much? But Rose was correct, and that .

Being the bigger person with bigger heart meant walking away from her. It was harder than Seolhyun ever imagined, but she did it, and she made it past her chair without hitting her.

Seolhyun was a totally different person, a better person.

“Don’t you want to know what she said to your mother to make her crazy? To make her leave? You’ll be happy to know it had everything to do with you.”

Seolhyun stopped. Just like Rose knew she would.

Chanmi appeared at Seolhyun’s side and grabbed her arm. “Come on. If what she’s saying is true then you don’t need to fall for this crap. You know she doesn’t know anything.”

Rose twisted around and threw one slender arm over the back of her chair. “But I do. You see, your mother and Choa weren’t alone in the garden. Someone else overheard her conversation.”

Seolhyun shrugged off Chanmi’ grip and turned around. “Who heard them?”

Rose shrugged, studying her painted nails. Seolhyun knew right then and there, she would end up hitting her. “The Oracle told your mother you would be the one to kill her. Considering you couldn’t stop a Demon from draining her, I guess Choa meant it. What good is a Myx who can’t even protect her own mother? Is it any wonder why Dean Heechul didn’t want you back?”

There was a moment when no one moved in the room, not even Seolhyun.

Then she smiled at Rose, right before she grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her out of the chair.

The way Rose’s mouth dropped open as she fell backwards, clearly, she hadn’t expected Seolhyun to do anything. Seolhyun jerked her arm back, fully intending on undoing whatever the doctors had done to fix that perky little nose of hers, but her fist never landed.

In fact, Chanmi got to her before she could take another step toward Rose. She literally carried her best friend out of the room, and then put her down and blocked her path back to Rose.

“Let me pass, Chan. I swear to the Gods, I’m going to break her face!”

“You’re back not even a day, Seolhyun. Wow, I’m amazed.”

“Shut up.” Seolhyun glared at her