Celeste's POV
*****
Several minutes had passed. Yet the clocks still kept working normally. People rushed into my room, academy medics barking for the students bombarding me with questions to leave as they whisked the body away.
Yes.
THE BODY.
Calling the girl I've slept in the same space with for over a year 'a body' felt wrong on so many levels. But it was reality. Not a dream. Not a bad illusion cast by a witch trying to rip me down mentally.
The blood. Its thick scent in our suite. My heavy chest. Her dying words… all of it was real.
"Celeste?!" The first person to bolt into my room after the body was taken away surprisingly wasn't any of my mates.
It was my brother.
"Where's Willow?" He rushed to my side, shoving away the stubborn ones among the students who were still present.
That seemed to do it as everyone backed away, leaving my room while he sat beside me. "Is she…?" he sniffed. As if registering the smell of the blood and her absence.
