The first two days of the school year passed uneventfully, other than finding out that Mr. Crowley hadn’t added a sexy TA to assist in his classes. Instead, he’d had a heart attack over the break, which really sucked. Although we had all joked about him teaching until he died, he was also one of our favorites, and his extra tutorials were the only reason I had caught up so fast in his classes. In his place, the school had hired a younger and far too attractive for his own good teacher named Mr. Gregoric. When we’d walked into his class the morning before, Lucy had shot me a look of warning, but it was unnecessary. There were some lines I wouldn’t cross, and jeopardizing a man’s career was one of them. A girl has to have some standards, right?

During lunch on Tuesday, Lucy and I soaked up the last of the summer sun on the grass in front of the cafeteria. More than forty-eight hours had passed since I’d stupidly drowned the tracking chip, but so far, no black-clad SWAT agents had kicked down my door, so things were looking good. Admittedly, we were less concerned given the fact that even if they did follow the tracker to Cascade Falls, they were hardly going to look twice at a lithe, five foot eight red-headed senior and her minuscule, blue-haired best friend. Thanks to my best friend’s cunning forethought back when we’d started our thieving game, we had dropped several false witness statements that would hopefully keep suspicion firmly away from us.

Lucy cast a casual glance around us, her manner relaxed. But I knew her; she was always cautious and never shared anything if others could overhear. “How did the drop go with Marius yesterday?”

“Bit weird,” I admitted, frowning and rubbing my forehead to try and ease the brewing headache. “He was super jumpy, but it all went textbook smooth, so God knows what his deal is. We should probably look at using someone new though, just in case?”

“Okay, I will sort someone out. On that subject, we’ve got a potential job contract.”

Propping myself up on my elbows, I studied her expression. “How do we feel about taking another job so soon after trackergate?”

Lucy shrugged. “We’ve already covered our asses, remember? Besides,” she continued, “it looks like an easy, in-and-out data retrieval job with basic security. Some CEO of a rival company wants evidence of tax evasion to shut his competition down, and apparently the files are stored on a secured server in the basement of their office block. It fits our criteria.”

I chewed my lip, thinking it over. Our thieving was for more than fun and definitely wasn’t for the money. Everything we earned illegally was donated to several children’s charities, which we routinely visited to check the funds were being used well.

No, it was entirely a personal vendetta for both of us, and if Lucy said a job “fit our criteria,” then it meant the people we were stealing from were on our list. Jobs for the men on our list didn’t come up every day, so I just couldn’t let the opportunity slide.

“Go ahead and accept; it sounds easy enough.”

Closing my eyes and laying back on the grass to soak up a little more of the weak sunlight, I was annoyed when a shadow fell over me and didn’t move. Squinting, I found a pair of well-polished Oxfords near my head. Shading my eyes with a hand, I found a handsome man in his mid-twenties with hipster black-framed glasses and floppy brown hair.

“Hi, Mr. Gregoric,” I greeted him, curious what had brought him over to us during lunch. “Did you need something?”

“Christina Davenport, right? And Lucifer Jones?” He cocked his head to the side as though unsure, but his gaze was confident.

“Kit,” I corrected, “and Lucy.”

He smiled smoothly and nodded acknowledgement. “Of course. You two seem to be a bit secluded from the rest of your senior class. I noticed in class you don’t ever seem to interact with them beyond what is required.”

Lucy and I both stared at him. What point was he trying to make?

“Do you think that has anything to do with your upbringing?” He inquired, rather rudely.

I decided not to respond. How dare he suggest Lucy and I were socially inept due to our abusive childhoods? Lucy seemed to feel the same, and we let the silence sit, allowing it to grow heavier.

“Was there something you needed, Mr. Gregoric?” I said coolly, ending the oppressive quiet and suddenly no longer feeling so friendly. He peered at me for a moment more, and I could have sworn his eyes briefly filled with the red-brown color of his iris, totally obliterating the whites and stretching the pupils like you’d see on an animal. I gasped in surprise and tried to get a closer look, but the second I blinked he had turned on a charming smile and his eyes were totally normal again, like flipping a switch.

“Yes, sorry, I came over to let you know that Headmaster Spotswood wants to see you after lunch, Kit.” The sun must have been making me delirious because his teeth looked awfully sharp when he smiled.

I shook my head to clear what must have been light spots on my vision, then nodded in acknowledgement and waited to see if he had anything else to say. He stood there for a few moments more as if debating what to say, but eventually he just nodded awkwardly back at me and left.

“Well, that was fucking weird,” Lucy muttered, and I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

“Did you see anything weird with his eyes?” I chewed my lip as I asked the question, not wanting to sound like I was losing my mind.

“No…” she replied slowly. “You’ve been asking that a lot lately. Is everything okay with you?”

I snorted a laugh. Where did I even begin? I was literally seeing things. Ever since my eighteenth birthday, I had been seeing and experiencing all sorts of strange things. Considering I could quite literally heal myself and I had way out-of-proportion speed and strength, if I thought things were strange then they were seriously strange. Still, I didn’t need to dump my possible mental breakdown on Lucy’s lap, so I just shrugged and gave her a forced smile.

“Yup, all good. Just need to get more sleep.”

The bell chimed, signaling the end of our lunch period, so Lucy and I packed up our things and headed back inside. She left me at the door to our next class, and I continued on towards the Headmaster’s office. My low heels made a hollow clicking sound against the marble floors as I took my time wandering down the corridor.

Our school uniform code was fairly relaxed about adding your own personal touches, and while I wasn’t comfortable spending Jonathan’s money on most things, I definitely made an exception for shoes. Maybe I was making up for lost time, having lived in holey hand-me-downs for so long. Either way, my shoe collection was something to be envied. Today I had on my classic pair of low, closed-toe, black leather Louboutins with a cute ankle strap over my white knee-high uniform socks.

Our Headmaster’s office was at the end of a long corridor lined with class photos from the past hundred-odd years as well as oil paintings of the school’s founders. Presenting myself to the secretary, I wondered again what he needed to speak with me about so early into the school year. Surely it was too soon to have gotten myself into any trouble. Anything was possible, though. Ancient Ms. Flowers, who looked like she may be fossilized to her office chair, gave me a terse nod and waved towards the closed office door with her perpetually displeased expression.

I tapped lightly on the office door before letting myself in. The office was a lovely room, filled with light from the huge bay window and smelling of old books, thanks to the obligatory collection of encyclopedias stacked on the bookshelf. A short, rotund man with a meticulously trimmed white beard, Headmaster Spotswood looked up as I entered, and smiled warmly. “Kit, I see Nicholas found you!”

I assumed he meant Mr. Gregoric, so I smiled politely and nodded. There were two boys sitting in the chairs in front of the Headmaster’s desk, but all I could see from where I stood was that they had very similar haircuts and broad shoulders.

“This is Christina Davenport; she is also a senior and shares some of your classes. She will be taking you on a quick tour of the school this afternoon and will be your go-to for any questions you might have about Cascade Falls Academy while you get settled in.” He continued, looking at the two in front of him. I raised an eyebrow at the headmaster, seeing as I wasn’t known to be the most responsible student on campus. On the other hand, if it got me out of classes for the afternoon, who was I to question his decisions?

“Kit, I’d like you to meet Caleb and Austin King. They are new students here this year, and as they’re already a few days late starting, I would like them to get their bearings this afternoon so they can catch up on classes tomorrow. I trust you will show them everything they need to know.” This last sentence was delivered with a stern note of warning in his voice that told me not to fuck around.

I gave him my best butter-wouldn’t-melt smile, then my jaw almost hit the goddamn floor when the new students in question stood, then turned to face me. Identical twins in every way I could currently see, Caleb and Austin King were easily the most mouth-wateringly handsome men I had seen in a long time. Actually, ever. Who was I kidding? Cascade Falls was a very small town, and they definitely did not grow them like this around here. Over six feet tall with dark hair, longer on top and shaved up the sides, and builds more suited to firefighters or Navy Seals or other equally sexy occupations.

They definitely did not look at all like high school seniors. I fought my way back from my perusal and cleared my throat a couple of times before I felt confident enough to speak.

In the meanwhile, one of them watched me with an amused, emerald green gaze, and the other just looked bored and a bit pissed off. Giving myself a minute to gather my scattered thoughts, I instead turned back to the portly administrator with a bright smile in place.

“Sure thing, Mr. Spotswood. Do you have a copy of their schedules so I can point out the right classrooms?” Spotswood raised his eyebrows, looking surprised at my helpful suggestion, but held out a slip of paper to me that made me lean past the twins to accept. Being in such close proximity to two such good-looking guys was making my skin tingle, so I politely nodded to the Headmaster and gave the new students a small, tight smile before leading them out of the office.

As we passed the pursed face of the Headmaster’s secretary, I attempted to break the ice and clarify their names, as I was likely to get them mixed up if I left it any longer.

“So, Austin,” I said to the twin who looked less bored and annoyed, hoping I had remembered who was who. “Where did you guys move from?”

“Caleb,” he corrected, giving me a lopsided grin, and I made a quick mental note that Caleb was the friendly one. “And we come from all over. Here and there, you might say.”

My face flushed with heat under his intense gaze and I broke eye contact, starting swiftly down the hallway and hoping they followed. One of the twins released an appreciative hum. Walking ahead of them was giving them a prime view of my ass, and all of a sudden my skirt seemed way too short. Or not short enough. I was undecided. Either way, my imagination could feel their gazes on my derrière like laser beams. Taking a deep breath, I straightened and pasted on my most polite and welcoming mask as we approached the first set of classrooms.

“So, in this wing we have all of our math and science classes, and you will be in…” I consulted their class lists in my hand. Shit, they were both in Trigonometry with me and Lucy; different Anatomy class though. I stopped briefly outside the door to my usual Trig class and could see Lucy making faces at me through the glass. “Room 309, right here and room 311 for Anatomy, which is two doors down. You’ll find CFA is pretty relaxed with seniors, which is cool. We are allowed to take lunch and study periods off campus and can come and go as we like on weekends and before curfew. You just need to sign in and out with the gate security.”

Caleb made a polite noise of acknowledgement, but Austin didn’t look like he was even listening, which got under my skin just a little. I continued rattling off dry facts about the school as I lead them through an ivy covered outdoor walkway and towards the adjoining Arts building where they would have English and History classes.

“Do you have a lot of wildlife around the school?” Caleb’s question made me jump a little, as neither twin had actually spoken since I’d started my rambling commentary about the school, and I stopped to look around for what wildlife he was talking about. Across the grass from us, a large red fox sat placidly under a tree, like he was watching us while his bushy tail flicked up and down rhythmically.

“That’s weird,” I murmured, frowning, “Foxes are primarily nocturnal animals; it’s pretty rare to see them outside during the day and even rarer when there are people around. I hope he’s okay…” Maybe I should see if I could get him some food or something. It would be rude not to, considering I was using his image for my secret identity, The Fox. I could imagine hunger would be the main reason such a skittish animal would be out in daylight. As I was racking my brain for what a fox might like to eat, a loud, exaggerated yawn interrupted. Whipping around to face these two godlike men, I narrowed my eyes, temper flaring at the surlier of the two, whom I had no doubt was the yawner.

“I’m sorry; am I boring you?” I snapped at him.

“Oh, thank God.” He rolled his eyes dramatically. “I thought you hadn’t noticed!”

Before I could bite back at him, his twin stepped between us and smiled blindingly, drawing my attention back to him. “What my charming brother means to say, is that schools are fairly much the same no matter where you go. You see one, you’ve seen them all. Don’t you think?”

“I suppose so...” I hedged—not that I would have any clue, seeing as this was my first school.

“Tell us more about the people. That’s the part that changes between schools. What are the teachers like?” Caleb fell into step with me as I resumed my path toward the next building.

“For the most part, they all seem to have one foot in the grave. Except Mr. Gregoric, but he only started here a couple of days ago, so I don’t know anything about him.” Except that he gives me the creeps. “He seems pretty young, maybe only just out of college? He has a few admirers among the students already, too.”

The twins appeared to perk up with interest at the mention of our new teacher. Maybe they’re gay? For the first time since meeting them, Austin seemed to be showing an emotion other than bored and annoyed.

“Where did he come from, do you know?” He seemed really eager to hear my answer, and when I flicked a confused glance at Caleb he looked almost… excited? Why were the hot ones always a bit strange?

I shrugged. “He started with this term; he didn’t give me his resume.”

Austin snorted derisively, muttering something. I sucked in a deep breath and fought the urge to demand he speak up so that I could continue our little scrap. I had only just met him, so his dismissive attitude shouldn’t be ruffling my feathers as badly as it was.

“How about anyone else in this town?” Once again, Caleb smoothly steered the conversation. “Anyone stand out from the ordinary? Has anyone got any particularly impressive skills?”

I was beginning to see a pattern with these brothers. Austin caused friction, and then Caleb smoothed it out. I shook my head in reply. “Cascade Falls locals are so unexceptional it’s almost unbelievable. As for the school, it’s one of the most expensive schools in the country, so most of the student body is made up of spoiled rich kids. Again, no one particularly out of the ‘Cascade Falls ordinary’ unless you count Anna Greengate’s net worth.” And my own talents... I smiled. In a sea of the rich and beautiful, I didn’t stand out as being anything out of the ordinary, and I used my anonymity. I thrived being a walking contradiction.

Caleb cocked his head, as though he noticed my smile, and I briefly worried he might question me further until his brother interjected once more. “Cal, this is a waste of fucking time. Are we done here, Christina? If you don’t mind, we have been travelling a lot and still need to unpack if we are actually going to attend this ridiculous school tomorrow.”

“It’s Kit,” I gritted out, my temper bubbling. “And I can happily be done here. Which dorm are you in? I will point you in the right direction, and you can be off on your merry way.”

“Ah, we aren’t in the dorms,” Caleb supplied. “We moved here with our cousin River. He’s renting a house not far from town, so we decided to just stay with him rather than move into a drafty dorm.” I couldn’t argue with that choice; the dorms were pretty drafty.

“Great, so we’re done?” Not waiting for my answer, Austin stalked off in the direction of the student parking lot without a backward glance to check if his brother was following. “See you around, Christina.”

Surprisingly, Caleb didn’t immediately follow and still watched me like he couldn’t figure me out. Not that he would be able to, no matter how long he stared. I took pride in being an enigma.

“Can I borrow your phone to send a message?” he asked suddenly. “I left mine in one of the packing boxes a few days ago and still haven’t found it.”

It seemed like a pretty odd thing to do, but I would look like a bit of a bitch if I called him out for being a liar on such a trivial topic. So, I reluctantly handed my phone over. He tapped at it for a minute before thanking me and handing it back.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kitty Kat!” He flashed me another blinding grin and winked before chasing after his crabby sibling.

I stared after them for a minute, more than a little off balance as though I’d been caught in a freak storm. Shaking it off, I headed back to my room. The headmaster had said to take the whole afternoon to show the King twins around, so I was going to make the most of my suddenly free time and take a nap.

On my way back to my room, I hunted through my phone to see what Caleb might have needed to use it for but found no unfamiliar messages in my outbox. Luckily, this phone held zero personal information on me, as Lucy ran routine data wipes and we used different phones for Fox business, so it didn’t really matter what he had wanted it for… right?