Chapter 208

The alarm goes off at six forty-five and Elias lies there for a full thirty seconds listening to it before he reaches over and turns it off.

He stares at the ceiling.

He is going back to school. He, Elias Arden, who was expelled from the last one approximately three weeks ago, is putting on a uniform and presenting himself at the gates of a new institution as though the previous one did not end with a letter from the principal and a boy in a medical wing.

The specific absurdity of it would be funny if it were happening to someone else.

He sits up.

The flat is cold, the heating system doing its best and falling short, and he pulls on a hoodie over his pyjamas before he even thinks about the uniform. He checks the time on his phone and sees it is fine, he has forty minutes before he needs to leave, which is enough time to make breakfast and check on his mother.

He hates being the new kid because it always brings too much attention. People stare a