Chapter 4

I hung up.

When I severed the bond, I had blocked every contact in the Sterling family. I didn't know whose phone she'd borrowed.

I blocked this one too.

The phone rang again.

I couldn't risk missing the Council's call, so I answered.

Garrett this time.

"Wren. Still pouting?"

"We're letting the past go. Come back. We'll throw you a real Enrollment Feast. We'll invite the entire extended family. Let them see the Pack has produced a Top of the Territory—"

I hung up.

I remembered my very first run. I'd scored Top too.

Garrett and Marianne hadn't been happy.

Because Ivy felt she hadn't scored as high as me. Because she wasn't as "strong" as me. So she cried.

I became the enemy. Everyone blamed me for doing too well. For making her feel small. For making her cry.

Caleb had actually reported my score to be revoked for investigation.

On the second run, I'd learned. I'd failed on purpose.

That time Ivy didn't cry.

But Garrett and Marianne scolded me for embarrassing the Pack.

I scored well, they blamed me.

I scored low, they blamed me.

So for a while I was stuck, trying to figure out exactly what score would keep them happy.

Eventually it clicked.

They didn't like me.

I could ace every single test and they would still not be satisfied.

So when Garrett said he wanted to throw me an Enrollment Feast, I was confused.

Wasn't he afraid Ivy would be upset?

Then I remembered.

None of it was my problem.

We had severed the blood bond. My Top of the Territory had nothing to do with them.

I didn't think they'd ambush me at the Academy gates after I came out of the press interview.

A crowd of reporters swarmed me.

Garrett and Marianne each moved to one of my sides and hooked their arms through mine. Smiling warmly, they told the press how hard they had worked to raise me into the Top of the Territory.

That was when it hit me.

The Enrollment Feast wasn't about celebrating me. It was about showing me off.

The Feast hadn't worked, so they'd called the press. They wanted to use the Top of the Territory to polish the Sterling Pack name.

They hadn't done a single thing.

What right did they have to take the credit?

Mics and cameras closed in. The reporters pressed with question after question.

Something in me snapped.

I shook off both of their arms. My voice came out cold as frost.

"They are not my parents."

"The blood bond is severed."

I pulled out my phone and held up the photo of the Blood Severance Document.

The air froze for a beat.

The voices and shutters cut out.

The reporters had caught the scent of a real story.

In seconds, every mic swung back toward me. Why had the Sterlings severed from me?

Garrett and Marianne flushed red with humiliation.

They rushed to explain. "A misunderstanding. Just a misunderstanding. She's acting out."

Eventually, under enough pressure, Garrett lost his temper.

"Enough! We told you. There was no severance. Keep pushing this and we will sue!"

While they were busy fending off the reporters, I pushed through the crowd and got out.

They couldn't chase me with a camera ring around them.

The story blew up online.

Someone dug up that I was the Sterling daughter they'd recovered a few years back.

But the one actually living in the Manor now was Ivy.

Word got out that I'd moved into the Academy dorms for my final semester.

The theory spread. The Sterlings had thrown out their real daughter to make room for a fake.

Ivy's social accounts were flooded. People told her she was a cradle thief. They told her to get out of the Manor.

Less than a day later, the voices were all gone.

Sterling had bought the trending spot off.

Even the Pack stock stayed steady.

Like none of it had ever happened.

I was busy packaging the Ranking Trial study kits I'd made. I'd tiered them — basic, mid, advanced — and listed them online at rising prices. The market ate them up. I made tens of thousands in a month.

I also tutored on the side. That was good money too.

Half a month before term, I planned to swing by the Hayes Shelter before flying to the Capital Territory.

Coming out of the hotel, I ran straight into Garrett, Marianne, and Caleb.

Ever since Sterling had killed the story, the Pack had kept its head down.

But on a recent trip, Ivy had gotten excited and posted the group photo online.

A few sharp-eyed followers noticed I wasn't in it.

Then others chimed in. They'd seen me left behind at a highway rest stop over the holiday. No money, no phone. A stranger had to call the enforcement patrol to get me safely down off the highway.

The story that had been buried caught fire again.

This one was bigger. Sterling couldn't bury it. So they came to me.

Caleb was furious.

"Because of you, Ivy is being called out. She cries at home every day. She won't even leave the Manor."

"You will post a clarification online. Now. Say we didn't leave you behind on purpose. You didn't want to go on the trip."

"And you'll say you wandered off at the rest stop yourself. We didn't abandon you."

I laughed, bitter.

It wasn't like I forced Ivy to post the photo.

Whatever she started, I owed her nothing.

Caleb really was the same as before. I had to take every fall for her.

Like the time she smashed Marianne's jade bracelet.

Caleb had pointed at me and said I'd done it, and made me take the blame for her.

Back then I'd swallowed everything for the Bond Recognition points.

I wasn't that stupid anymore.

I said it flat. "Not happening."