Chapter 23

VALERIA The scene that’s unfolding in the distance is so horrible that both Stefano and I are rendered motionless for a moment, standing by the window like statues. The screams and the thudding footsteps sound like an ominous chorus, almost taunting, like a warning meant to scare people for the amusement of whoever caused it. I peer through the window, making sure I’m not dreaming because the situation is almost too absurd to behold. Vampires are trying to break in. And they’re doing it by seemingly chipping away at a section of the sky. I blink rapidly, not really sure of what I’m looking at exactly. Why does it look like the entire sky is a mere glass dome covering the school and the rest of the Society? And how are the vampires able to claw and crack it like it was made of glass? The entire thing is too trippy that I feel like I might have inhaled something from Celeste’s weird fumes. “What” is the only thing I can mutter. “That’s the protective barrier of the Society,” Stef