Heidi’s ready to be escorted to the dorm when her eyes shift toward Val, who hasn’t moved from her spot on the ground. Her friend’s face is pale with those eyes that are dull with guilt and exhaustion. Heidi’s chest tightens.
"Come on," Heidi murmurs, crouching down to help her.
Her hand slips beneath Val’s arm, pulling her up with more strength than she realizes she has. "It’s not our fault Junie stayed back. You know that, right? If we could’ve dragged her out by the hair, we would have. I would’ve."
Val’s lips tremble, but she doesn’t speak at first. Heidi holds her still, gazes colliding in that quiet, painful acknowledgment of the truth: they’d do anything to get Junie back. Anything... and they can only achieve it by working together.
For a moment there, Heidi thinks Val wouldn’t agree. She thinks Val is too angry to want to continue to be friends with her until the girl nods, giving a jerky little movement, and she pushes herself upright. Her knees wobble, but she stands.
"Good," Heidi whispers, though her voice shudders.
Lucan and Ace walk side by side with them like silent but solid walls of muscle and authority. Their presence is grounding, like guardrails on a narrow bridge. The four of them start toward the dorms, the courtyard fading behind.
But of course, the world doesn’t let Heidi leave quietly.
Across the way, she catches Sierra and her little gang of vultures with their eyes fixed on her like she’s tonight’s entertainment. They shoot her death starts and hands mime throat-slitting gestures, exaggerated enough to be theatrical. Maribel even mouths, you’re dead.
Well, Ace is Maribel and Ginny’s big brother while Lucan is Sierra’s, so maybe they not only don’t want her around the Alphas, but their brothers too.
Not like Heidi gives a damn anyway. After all of those near-death experiences in the labyrinth, she’s sworn not to let anyone step over her after she arrives in Duskwind. Hell, she’d be damned if she doesn’t stand on her vow.
In the spirit of that, her lips twitch. She lifts her hand, curling her fingers into a neat little salute that makes her middle finger stand proud. It’s a secretive gesture, yet bold.
To those stupid bitches, it’s a new little gift and a promise of what’s to come.
Her wolf chuckles in her chest. Good girl.
.
The walk back to the dorm isn’t silent, but it isn’t loud either. It has that buzzing hush of a crowd parting to make way for royalty or maybe for executioners leading the condemned. Either way, Heidi can feel eyes drilling into her from every possible direction.
Her first instinct is to shrink, let her hair fall like a curtain, and pretend she isn’t there. It’s what she’s done for a week, after all. Moon Blessed don’t attract applause in Duskwind; they attract whispers, pity, and sometimes disgust. Heidi had grown used to being invisible in hallways, her name muttered like a joke in the mouths of even Omegas who thought they were safe so long as someone else was the pack punching bag.
But tonight? Tonight the entire school seems to have remembered her existence, and not in the usual kick-her-while-she’s-down way.
Students loiter near the streetlights lit paths, pointing openly as she and Val walk between Lucan and Ace like they’re under some kind of royal escort. She hears scraps of conversation floating toward her on the night air.
"That’s them. The ones who survived the Labyrinth."
"Moon Blessed, both of them. Guess some Moon Blessed are not so weak after all."
"Did you hear? They fought demons. Killed some, too."
"No way. That one..." a finger jabs in Heidi’s direction, "...doesn’t even look like she could swat a fly."
"She doesn’t look like it, but she did. Everyone’s talking about it. You don’t come back from the Labyrinth unless you’re strong."
Heidi’s chest tightens with every word. Some of them sound mocking, some disbelieving, but most... most carry a thread of respect. Respect for her... for them.
The shock nearly overturns her. Respect was a foreign currency here, something traded among Bellamys, Nay boys, pack council daughters, and sons—not Moon Blessed nobodies like her. She doesn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or dropkick the next person who stares too hard.
She would have savored this moment, really, she would have, maybe even bottled it in a jar for the dark days, but Junie’s absence hovers at her shoulder like a phantom. Every clapping hand, every awed whisper feels sharp-edged because Junie isn’t here to hear it.
Because Junie had to stay back in that hellhole. Heidi can only imagine what she could be going through in that place right now. If she isn’t already dead, that is.
Ace, of course, doesn’t get the memo.
"So," he begins, hands tucked casually into his pockets, "you gotta give me the gist. How’d it all go down? I mean, I know the rumors, but rumors are boring. I want the blood, the dirt, the juicy bits."
Heidi blinks at him, torn between wanting to slap him for being so cheerful and wanting to laugh because... well, Ace is Ace. From what she’s heard, the guy could probably be told he was seconds away from being eaten alive and he’d still ask whether it came with ketchup.
But Lucan, as the mood police that he is, shoots him a withering look. "Read the room, Ace. They need rest, not interrogation."
That’s right, brother. Heidi internally blushes. Oh, how much she’s enjoying being someone’s pampered little sister. Especially since it feels like stealing Sierra’s brother from her, it’s even more euphoric.
Ace sighs dramatically, shoulders sagging like he’s just been told Santa isn’t real. "Fine. Spoilsport." He pauses, then perks up again with a seductive grin as he swivels toward Val.
Val, who has been dragging her feet in silence, jerks her head up, startled. She looks like a deer caught in high beams.
"You. Four eyes..." Ace says, pointing.
H-huh? Heidi can’t believe her ears. Is Ace, the Gamma’s son, talking to Val right now? The perks of being a Labyrinth survivor, huh?