For someone accustomed to unearthly things, the sight of a Mothman disturbed me. I took two steps backward, my butt hitting a tombstone, and I shrieked.
Cool it, Astra. Be tough. You’re with a bunch of tough guys. You don’t want them to think you weak.
“You alright, Supergirl?” Tor asked, sneaking past me slowly.
“I think so,” I admitted.
“Keep its eyes on you while I get it.”
Wait. What?
He wanted to catch the damn thing and steal all the glory. Hell no. Astra Nomical wasn’t going on her first Guardian test to be upstaged by some punk who thought himself better than me.
“No way,” I said, rounding on it, too.
“Careful,” Tor said his voice taut. “Don’t get too close or you might end up with a burning hole through your chest.”
I flicked my wrists, calling upon the power of the veil, like Blaze had taught me. This summoned a shield of energy on my left hand.
“Impressive,” Tor admitted, scrunching his top lip.
I’d give him impressive once I reduced this gantii to its base chemical elements. I fired up my magic, and it flared in my other palm.
The Mothman reared up and hissed.
“Hold on there, sunshine.” Tor held out a hand to his side. “Don’t go making it aggressive.”
I was pretty sure our confronting it had set it off. My magic was just a bonus aggravation.
It spat out two more bursts, one hitting the tombstone in front of me, dissolving it, a second hitting the tree beside Tor.
“Too late,” I said, firing up my magic.
“Whoa,” Tor said with more insistence. “You want to know how to calm a Mothman down?”
“Sure,” I said, holding back.
“Whistle at it.” His body tensed. “A loud, hard, sharp kind, like a sailor’s whistle.”
“Really?”
“Sure.” Tor raised with his hands confidently, his stake ready. “He’s just a harbinger of disaster, and we’ve got to catch him.”
I frowned and shook my head, a bit dubious. “I haven’t read anything about that in the textbooks.”
With a tsk, Tor said, “You scared, super girl?”
“No,” I said, determined to prove him wrong.
I was not going to be kicked out of the Guardians no matter how much Knoxe hated me, or how much Tor competed with me, or Raze glared at me and directed cleansing smoke my way, or how bad I looked in a bodysuit according to Pascal. These guys were going to accept me come hell or high water.
The Mothman floated above us, a hissing, staring menace with glowing red eyes.
I stood my ground, put my thumb and index finger in my mouth, and emitted a sharp whistle. The Mothman reared back and shuddered violently, retreating from us. I glanced over at Tor, who grinned at me approvingly.
“See?” He nodded with encouragement. “What’d I tell you? Give him another one! Let him have it!”
Encouraged, I blasted the gantii with another whistle. It shrank from the sound, and levitated higher, smashing a tree branch in its wake. I emitted a third noise, and it curled up into a ball and shuddered above us.
Excited, I called over my shoulder to Tor, “It worked!”
“Just like I said!” he laughed. “Now, hit it with a stake.”
As I lifted my aim, the Mothman uncurled itself and lunged down at me like an eagle swooping to catch a fish. Startled and unprepared, I shrieked, flinching back. It hollered again and my foot stubbed, tripping over the edge of tombstone. It rose up again, howling like a banshee—a vile, bone-rattling sound—and flew at us.
Alarmed, I lifted my hands, shielding myself with veil magic. “What the hell did I do?”
Tor laughed and hit it with a stake, right in the foot. “You might have pissed it off a little.”
Then he let off a blast of magic, and the Mothman shook its head then flew into the tree.
“Don’t worry. I’ve just blinded the sucker.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.
My horror turned to fury, and I thumped him on the arm. “You jerk. You tricked me.”
He smiled. “I might have been having a little fun at your expense. Consider it an initiation to the Guardians.”
So, I was right. Tor didn’t think I was one of them. None of them did. He’d pretended to be nice all to play some immature college prank to welcome me to the group. I considered kneeing him in the balls, but I needed to focus on the gantii swaying wildly in front of us, grabbing at his face, smashing down tombstones.
“You almost got me killed,” I screamed, ducking as the Mothman almost hit me. Right then, I didn’t know who I hated more: Tor for playing me, or myself for listening to him.
The gantii crashed into mausoleum, and it crumbled to the ground. Crap. How were we going to explain that?
In mid-crouch, Tor managed a little shrug. “It was just supposed to be a little sport, that’s all…no harm intended, I swear. Silver Strand honor.”
I shoved him hard in the chest, and he stumbled back. “I’m going to kill you.”
He grinned. “I like a dangerous woman.”
“Fuck you, Tor.” I scowled, fuming. “Superhero my ass! Super-idiot more like it! Super-irresponsible piece of shit! If you ever say another word to me…”
Tor recoiled as if I’d burst his bubble and slapped him in the face all in one motion.
Burning mad, I stormed off, navigating broken chunks of tombstone to catch up to the fleeing Mothman.
“Wait up.” Tor jogged to catch up to me. “Calm it down. Let’s catch it together.”
Too late.
“No, you’ve done enough,” I snapped. “Let me handle this. Like an adult.”
I lifted my hand and began to move my finger quickly in the air as if I traced chemical equations on an invisible board. At my gesture, symbols of an equation that would “factor” the Mothman into the particles and waves of its ethereal substance, flashed in my mind. But before I could finish, a masculine voice rang out sharply from behind.
“What in the HELL have you two done?”
Fuck. Knoxe. I’d just given him even more ammo to hate me.
The symbols of my equation broke apart and vanished as I peered over my shoulder. Tor stepped out of the path of Knoxe, Pascal, and Raze. Pascal looked as nervous as I felt, stepping to one side with Tor. Knoxe and Raze inspected the scene with expressions burning like the Mothman’s eyes.
“Pascal NOW!” Knoxe barked.
Pascal let out a tune that blasted through the air with such power it knocked the Mothman into a tree and to the ground. The gantii leapt back to its feet, scratching at its eyes. Pascal released a second blow, one that incapacitated the beast, and it crumpled to the ground.
Knoxe stormed over to me, fury burning bright in his eyes. “What the hell did you two do?”
All the air in my lungs rushed out, and I couldn’t breath. I wanted to run and hide. Monsters I could deal with, but Knoxe’s rancor actually made me squirm. It was like being condemned by an Army drill sergeant.
“I’m sorry,” I stammered.
With all my heart, I’d wanted to show him how valuable I was, what I could do, only to have my moment ruined by fucking Tor. I glared at him with a look more deadly than an arrow drenched in poison. I counted to twenty, reducing my bubbling temper to a simmer.
Knoxe’s furious gaze eyes settled on us.
Pascal said softly to Tor, “You did this, didn’t you?”
With a less than convincing innocence, Tor made another crooked smile and replied, “I was just having a little fun with her…”
Pascal shook his head. “A little fun…”
Knoxe shot a furious look in Tor’s direction. “I might have known the usual fuck-up was behind this.”
Tor bent his head and fisted his hands. “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry, Knoxe?”
“Not good enough.” Knoxe fumed. “Get this thing back to the Guild for interrogat
ion.”
Pascal fidgeted by my side.
While Tor and Raze dealt with the hulking gantii twenty feet away, Knoxe stepped closer to me.
Anxious and mortified, I said, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have listened to him…”
Knoxe sent another hostile look in Tor’s direction. “I can guess the kind of thing he told you. Half the time, he’s more trouble than he’s worth, and he’s on quicksand as it is.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, glancing at Tor, who picked up the gantii’s two feet and waited for Raze to lift it underneath its arms.
“He’s on disciplinary action for Jaz’s death,” Knoxe snarled.
Oh crap. Then why had Tor been so dumb to goad me into pissing off the Mothman?
9
Tor
It seemed like I’d been in this office a lot lately. Pulled up for every small thing. For not recharging my veil repair crystals. For over drying the herbs. For hanging the veil amulets wrong on the sundial. I couldn’t put one foot right lately. Nor could I get a break.
Knoxe sat behind his desk with his usual glare, packed with the same hostility as the glaring red eyes of the Mothman. Supergirl sat in the chair beside me, twisting her fingers, waiting in silence. Neither of us looking in the other’s direction. We all waited for Venellan to arrive to deliver his verdict and latest punishment.
Honestly, I thought Supergirl would have caught on that I was having her on. Come on! Everyone knew you didn’t whistle at a Mothman. High pitched sounds made them go berserk. What were the Shadows teaching the folks down in Bathurst?
I didn’t know why Knoxe was pissed at me again. Why Supergirl was so upset at me for an innocent little joke. After the shit last few months we’d just had, I’d wanted to do something to make everyone smile. Give Supergirl an initiation into the team. I thought the gang would get a kick out of it.
Why was everyone so sensitive? We caught the gantii in the end. The damage it caused could be easily repaired with magic.
Did the Guild really expect the world not to get beat up when dealing with gantii? They were strong, fast, and unpredictable. Monsters from other worlds didn’t think like humans. When they invaded Earth, they certainly didn’t think they better not smash up stuff and leave this world tidy. End of story.
We were superheroes for God’s sake. Not everything emerged from an invasion intact. Hadn’t they read the comics or seen the movies? Glorified versions of what the Guardians and Shadows did every day. The only difference, we saved the world behind the scenes, without the credit and minus the amazing outfits I’d sourced (may as well look good while we saved the world, eh?).
Knoxe was supposed to be my mate and have my back. Not rat me out to Venellan for every little thing. But ever since we lost Jaz Knoxe had developed a hard-on for me.
Sick of his glare, I scanned his office. He’d changed it up since I’d last been here over a week ago. Removed the board of pictures of Jaz and the rest of the team, hanging out, drinking bear, going to the beach, and playing touch football. Taken down his autographed framed print of his favorite football team. Replaced these with a bookshelf filled with arcane objects and artifacts, magic books, and even management self-help manuals.
Far out. The feeling of this space made me think more of the office of a military man, a place arranged and decorated more for efficiency than for expression. Was he trying to impress someone? Or wipe away his memories?
Nowadays, it felt like the team didn’t mean anything without Jaz, as if he was the fabric that held us together. Mine, Raze’s and Pascal efforts and contributions meant nothing. Made the rest of us feel like shit. But we didn’t say anything. We’d only get our heads bitten off by Knoxe if we did.
Our leader still grieved. What he failed to recognize was that we all did too. Me, more than anyone. It was my stupid fault that Jaz was killed by Styx. We were having a laugh, distracted when the bloody vamp came out of nowhere and grabbed him. I’d do anything to bring him back, even if it meant sacrificing myself. Because of my mistake, I was on my last leg at the Guardians. Now I’d probably be thrown out.
The team needed our leader back. We needed our friend. We needed to stick together when shit got rough, not abandon each other and fall apart. Each day I lost hope of ever winning back my mate when he was on my case, nit-picking about little things, always telling me I didn’t do anything right. It was like he didn’t trust me anymore, and it eroded my own confidence. I didn’t know what to do. Being my self seemed to irritate him more, and I felt like a piece of shit. That only made me compensate harder with more jokes to hide my grief and failing hope.
I’d only pranked Supergirl to bond with her, test how smart she was about the gantii. I was curious what they taught at the Shadows versus the Guardians. By no means did I intend to get her in the doghouse on her first day. Now, she hated me, as well, and I felt like a maggot for it.
On edge, I stood up, wandering to Knoxe’s bookshelf and studying the titles. How to Get the Most From Your Team. I pulled it out and read the back. All self-help about building a team, growing with it, rewarding it.
“Don’t touch that,” Knoxe barked, and I ignored him.
I read the next title on the spine. Super Motivator – 9 Powerful Ways to Motivate Your Team. And the next one: My Colleague’s Just Not That Into Me – Tales to Help Bond with Teammates. This wasn’t a funny moment by any means, but I really had to hold back a smile at the last book. If I was going to be suspended from the team, I may as well go out with a smile, eh?
Knoxe jumped out of his chair, grabbed the management books, and bundled them in his arms. He stormed back to his desk and stuffed them in his drawer.
“Do you think this is funny, Tor?” Knoxe sneered. “I’ve lost count of how many second chances we’ve given you. So help me, if your powers didn’t make you halfway useful sometimes, I’d put your witless, asinine bum out on the curb for good.” The bite in his words shredded my heart.
Supergirl’s jaw fell open.
The room felt stuffy all of the sudden, and I needed to get out of there.
“Hey,” Supergirl said. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but that was harsh and unnecessary.”
Knoxe turned his cutting gaze to her. “As for you… fuck up again, and I’ll send you back to the Shadows and ask for somebody else.”
Fierceness snapped across her expression. “You’re an asshole, you know that?”
Whoa. Way to go Supergirl. No one dared stand up to Knoxe when he was like this. What was the point when we knew it came from a place of pain? This wasn’t the guy I’d trained with. This was a shadow of the guy I called friend. A fucking beast like the things we caught and imprisoned.
I didn’t say a thing. Couldn’t. Knoxe’s words had punched the air out of me. Otherwise, I would have told him to stick it. The only reason I was still here was because I valued this place and my mission to save the world. Maybe after our meeting with the headmaster, I’d request a transfer to another team. Somewhere that didn’t treat me like a deadbeat. If I even got the chance. My stomach soured. I was already on reprimand for Jaz’s death. I doubted they’d give me another chance now.
Dammit, I was such an idiot.
Knoxe snapped to his feet, glaring down at Supergirl. “Wanna know why I’m such a hard ass? Styx killed Jaz right in front of us. Just like that.”
He snapped his fingers in front of her face, and she flinched.
“I’m not gonna have anymore of my team die on my watch,” he growled. “We’re gonna do our job and find all of his bloodsucking underlings and wipe them the hell out. But we’re going to make Styx pay for what he did to Jaz. We’ll send him back home, all bloodied and in chains.”
Despite standing up to him a second ago, Supergirl shriveled at his words.
Knoxe shut his eyes and hung his head. This next, barbed and pointed part, was meant for me. “Without any fuckups. Do you hear me?”
I wanted to tell him where to go screw himself when Venell
an entered, carrying a clipboard under his arm. He shut the door, his posture rigid, his face tense. As Knoxe proceeded to relay the events, the headmaster’s face soured further.
By the end of the tale, Venellan cast his stern gaze upon us. He had a way of saying shit without speaking a word, and he was pissed, that was clear. But something about the way he glanced at Knoxe, the pity flashing in his eyes, then at Supergirl, erasing the harsh lines in his forehead, told me he was about to go easy on them. But when his hard eyes landed on me I knew I was in deep crap.
My lungs froze, waiting for the words. You’re out. History. Goodbye.
But instead he delivered a different punishment. “You two can reorganize the magic storage room and take inventory.” He handed me a clipboard with a table, numbers and names of herbs, and other items. “But Tor, you’re on disciplinary action until further notice. Detention and curfew, is that understood?”
Pretty lame discipline if you asked me, but I’d take it over getting kicked out and having to clean toilets any day. I bent my head and said, “Yes, sir.”
The headmaster raised a finger, and I glanced up. “Don’t even think about sneaking anything from the supplies. I’ll be checking the before and after inventory.”
Don’t you worry, I’ll be sneaking some spirits to wash this shitty day away. I didn’t care anymore. What was the point being part of the Guardians when no one wanted me around?
“One more thing,” Venellan said. “Miss. Nomical you can attend detention tomorrow along with young Tor here.”
She bowed her head.
“Now you’re dismissed.”
Supergirl leapt to her feet and hurried out, casting me an evil eye as she brushed past.
I didn’t even look at Knoxe as I trudged out of his office. From now on, he was dead to me. Buddies didn’t do that to each other. They had each other’s backs. They didn’t backstab. The Knoxe I knew would never rat out a mate. This guy, the one who’d replaced my mate, was a little tattling bitch.
Paranormal Academy Page 50
