There was very little Marek hated more in the world than uncertainty, particularly when there was serious danger involved. He'd known that this year was going to be different from previous years, but he hadn't realized how different. He was a deliberate person, generally, tried not to act without thinking, but he'd never been very good at walking on eggshells. Eventually he got distracted and stepped on a shell, and it hurt. Well, he assumed it hurt. He'd never actually stepped on eggshell before.
This wasn't eggshell, though. Stepping out of line here was asking for something to explode in his face, something probably shaped like Melinda. Maybe shaped like one of his cousins, if the gods were slightly more merciful, but he didn't want that to happen, either.
It also fucking sucked being in a separate house from Melinda. That had always sucked, but now it was about a thousand times worse. He had to risk going to meet her just to talk to his own sister, rather than being able to talk to her in the (relative, very relative) safety of his dorm room. The main safety there lay in the fact that it looked much less suspicious. But he was willing to take the risk, for her.
He entered the library, holding a textbook in his arms (he wasn't sure which, he'd just grabbed one, in case he needed to look like he was studying), and spotted her, sliding into the seat next to her. "Hey," he said, not liking how tired she looked. "You alright?"