"What are you doing with him?" I demanded. 

"Nothing," she said, looking uncomfortable. 

"Bianca, you can't talk to him," I said, clenching my fists. 

"Ver, you can't keep telling me what to do. You can't protect me forever," she said, looking at her hands. 

"Can't you see?" I cried out, feeling exasperated. "He has already manipulated you by telling you his sob story so that you feel sorry for him." 

"Ver," she said stiffly. "He is very nice. You shouldn't say such things about anyone. Just because you..." 

She trailed off. 

"Just because I..." I asked her dangerously, daring her to continue. 

"Nothing." she sighed. "But you can't keep telling me what to do." 

"Bianca, why are you being like this? You always listened to me. And now you are fighting with me because of this Finn guy?" I asked. 

"Verina, you can't control everything and everyone you know. I have no wish to fight with you. You haven't even talked to Finn once." she said pleadingly.

My temper rose again like an ugly snake inside me.

"Fine. Do what you want." I said through gritted teeth, not trusting myself to say more. I strode out of the library, slamming the door as I went.

I stomped up the stairs and headed for my dorm. Aria saw me and opened her mouth to say something but I rushed past her, not in the mood to talk. Slamming the door, I flung myself on my bed. I screamed into the pillow in frustration. Bella mewed and came up to me. She settled on top of my legs while I opened my diary and wrote furiously. I often felt angry and letting it all out helped a lot. 

After about an hour, I finally calmed down. I felt ashamed about the way I had behaved with Bianca. I could be wrong about Finn, but something about him made me feel uneasy. Bianca had always supported me and I knew I should do the same. But I couldn't let her get hurt. She was too trusting and had always been.

Bianca didn't come up all night and I fell asleep with Bella nestled in the crook of my knees. 

                 *** 
When I finally woke up in the evening, it was late. I slept heavily now, after recovering from my blood dehydration. Maybe the sedatives the witch had given me were still in my system. Checking my phone, I saw I had already missed my first five classes. I had two missed calls from Eryx. I groaned and hastily dragged a hairbrush through my tangled hair. 

When I reached the class, Mr Aureus was already wrapping things up. I decided to roam around until my next class. Monteverde Academy had a big campus including dorms for all the students. The forest acted as our hunting ground. There was a natural pool and a lake nearby for swimming. There was a big garage for cars and an outside theatre lined by stone seats. 

The academy itself was huge. I had been here for five years and even I had never explored all the turrets and towers of the castle. 

Soon, it was time for the science class. I headed to the class again and sat down next to Eryx. Our teacher, Ms Shelly Fitzman walked in and started the class in her brisk manner. Without wasting any time, she gave us frogs to dissect. 

Eryx started telling me about what all had happened in the classes I had missed. I let him talk and started dissecting my frog.