“And, no,” he continued, “familiars aren’t guardian angels. They aid and protect their witch or warlock, but for their own selfish purposes. Many can be downright malevolent.”
“So what does that mean exactly? That witches have little pieces of demon inside them?” I suppressed a creeped-out shiver.
He threw me a smirk over his shoulder, drawling, “Not all of them. But there’s a good chance the troublemakers do.” Meaning him. With that rather shocking bit of news, Noah opened the stairwell door.
As we stepped into a sea of chattering people, he said, “Whoa, hold on,” and sharply tugged on the back of my shirt. Caught off balance, I stumbled against him. Instead of freaking out at my nearness like I thought he would, Noah placed his gloveless hand on the small of my back as the throng rushed by. “The students have extracurricular magic competitions on Sundays. They must have just finished. Not the best timing for a meet-and-greet.”
I wanted to pull away. To remind him of what I was. What close contact with me could do. But a part of me hesitated, curious how my body would react to being touched by someone, anyone, other than Lochlan. I had to know. I needed to. Life would be so much simpler, safer, if I could fall for a man not bent on killing me.
As the seconds ticked by and Noah’s warm palm remained pressed to my spine, though, I felt little more than a faint hum. It was nice, pleasant even, but dull in comparison to what Lochlan made me feel with the barest of touches.
How could I settle for safe when I’d experienced something so recklessly dangerous? So wild and freeing, so utterly consuming?
Wow. I required therapy pronto.
Dozens of people—witches, I assumed—shuffled past, several casting curious glances my way. Great. First impressions and I had not been getting along lately. The students all wore stylish black and red school uniforms, with a gold-stitched T and A crest on their blazers. I could only imagine what they thought of me, disheveled and pressed up against a teacher, of all things.
Skin, hair, and eyes of varying color streaked by, which made me wonder how many schools like this existed, and where this one was located. Was I still in Maine? I had no idea where Aunt Tess had taken me.
“How did you know who I was when you first saw me?” I asked Noah, who seemed perfectly at ease with cozying up to a near stranger. What had Isla said about him? Oh yeah, that he’d dated pretty much every girl in his class and then some. He was older now, and a teacher, but I felt my guard going up all the same.
“My dad alerted me to your presence here. Said to keep an eye on you. That’s why I was down in the creepy dungeon earlier.”
“You should have stopped by and said hi,” I muttered darkly. “No one spoke to me for almost an entire day.”
He snorted. “They did the same thing to me when I arrived here. For different reasons, but they’re very strict about who’s allowed to walk the halls of this institute. If they thought you were dangerous, you’d still be locked up downstairs.”
Wow. I had no idea how I felt about that.
The breath that warmed my ear and stirred my hair was too much, though. It felt strange. Wrong. Frustrated at my body’s unwillingness to even try, I shifted to stand along the wall next to him. He easily let me go, seemingly unconcerned at my need for space.
When the crowd began to thin a few minutes later, he gestured for me to follow him once again. As we walked, I let silence settle between us, too focused on taking in my surroundings. The sublevel had definitely been creepy compared to this one. Warm wood graced the floors, rising halfway up the walls. Dark wood beams crisscrossed the ceiling high above. But the soaring cathedral-style windows that made up the entire right wall held my attention.
Namely, what was outside the windows.
Without thinking, I crossed to them, earning myself a few muttered curses as I cut through traffic. Normally, my face would have heated with embarrassment, but I was in too much shock. What I was seeing didn’t make sense.
There were pink flowering trees in the large square courtyard. And green grass. And . . .
“Where’s the snow?” I asked Noah in disbelief the second he joined me. “It’s December. This doesn’t . . . Where are we?”
“You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy,” Noah said dryly, and I had the sudden urge to smack him. No doubt sensing my growing distress, he added, “It’s still winter, but you’re no longer in Maine.”
“What?” I shot him a startled look. “Then where—?”
“Canada. Just over the border, south of Quebec City.”
“B-but,” I spluttered. Did I even have a passport? “That doesn’t make sense. Canada is cold and—and wintery this time of year. What—”
“It is,” he interjected with a shrug, “but the school and grounds are protected by a weather-controlling spell. Step foot outside the ward boundaries and you’ll be knee deep in snow.”
Uh . . .
“It’s a lot to take in all at once. Most witches learn that magic exists around the age puberty strikes or sooner, depending on when their magical abilities manifest. I learned earlier than most, which was a struggle, since I had to keep it from Isla.”
“Oh. Um, that must have sucked.”
“Yes, indeed. Still does. Especially since I have to lie about the true nature of this school.”
I tore my gaze from a monarch butterfly fluttering in the clear blue sky to gape at him. “So she’s never visited you here?”
Another shrug. “Humans aren’t allowed. They don’t even know this school exists. The spells around it prevent them from seeing it.”
I blinked. “Wait, we’re invisible?”
He scratched his head, making a few strands of blond hair escape their tie to frame his face. “Sorta, but not really. This place is corporeal. You just can’t see it from the outside, unless you know what to look for.”
Okay, then. That didn’t make any sense, but neither did people turning into wolves or shadow men with superhuman speed. My life had taken a turn for the weird, and I could either accept it or check myself into a mental institution. The latter didn’t sound very productive, though, and I had things to do.
“So the vampire outside the wards right now. The drothen. Can he see inside?” I watched Noah closely, hoping he’d verbally or otherwise give away who the drothen was.
His gaze turned curious again. “Interesting.”
I frowned. “Huh?”
He wiggled his fingers at me. “There’s no fear when you talk about the bloodsucker. Is it true, then? Were you under a Venturi prince’s thrall?”
Out of nowhere, anger surged through me. I dug my nails into my palms, glaring daggers at him. “First, don’t call them that. They have names, you know. Second, I’m not obsessed with or being controlled by vampires. I’m not. My thoughts are my own and I make my own decisions.”
Although, that last part wasn’t exactly true. Too many people had been trying to decide things for me lately.
Only four days until I can legally make my own decisions.
Noah held up his hands in mock surrender. “I meant no offense. It’s just shocking to hear of a witch not being afraid of vampires.” He glanced around us before whispering, “Especially since you’re a Syphon. It’s never happened before.”
I crossed my arms. “Well, Isla isn’t either.” Except for maybe Pizza Dude. Err, I mean, Troy.
Noah stilled and I realized too late my mistake.
Freaking crap, I had not meant to say that.
“I mean, like in a general sense. But if she actually knew a vampire, I’m sure—”
“What are you trying to say?” His voice was quiet, yet I could tell he was seconds away from exploding.
Crap, crap, crap.
“Nothing. I was just trying to—”
“Rigescunt indutae!” he interrupted, flicking a hand at me.
My eyes widened as a blinding bright light encompassed his outstretched fingers. “W-what?”
His gaze dropped to my left w
rist. Cursing, he lowered his arm and the light fizzled out. “Right. Your spell-blocker charm. Forgot that little bit. Look, I need you to stay where you are and don’t make a sound. I need to make a phone call.”
With that, he yanked out his phone and strode a few paces down the now empty hallway. As he waited for someone to pick up his call, it dawned on me what he’d just tried to do.
Um, no. I was so not cool with that.
I marched up to him and poked his bicep. “Did you just try to use witchy voodoo on me?”
He waved me away, turning to speak into his phone. “You didn’t tell me that Isla was personally involved with them. Oh, you didn’t think it concerned me? That’s rich. I want to speak with her. Now, Dad.”
A teacher poked her head out of a doorway, probably wondering what all the ruckus was about.
Noah grabbed my upper arm and stalked down the hallway. Normally, I’d go all kung fu on him for daring to manhandle me, but if he was speaking to Isla, then I wanted to hear it. I let him drag me into a nearby classroom and shut us inside, but wrenched my arm free the second we were alone.
He barely seemed to notice my agitation, too busy pacing the length of the room. His free hand suddenly lit up again and several chairs loudly scraped across the floorboards, clearing his path. My jaw dropped at the open display of magic, but I remained silent. Hopefully, he’d forget I was here so I could continue eavesdropping on his conversation.
Seconds later, he said, “Isla? It’s me. What’s this I hear about you and vampires? Are you hanging out with them? No, I’m not talking about the thrall incident. That wasn’t your fault—” Yelling on the other end. Go, Isla. “Yeah, I know we should have told you. I’m sorry. What? Nothing. I’m not hiding anything else—”
“Yes, he is!” I suddenly shouted, startling both Noah and myself. “Don’t believe a word your brother says, Isla. He’s lying to you about everything.”
Noah hurriedly ended the call and shot me a death glare. “Do you realize what you’ve just done? She could be put on trial if the wrong person finds out she knows too much.”
I cringed, murmuring, “Oops?” Noah was probably going to blast me across the room now, but it was worth it. I knew all too well what it felt like to be kept in the dark. To be lied to. Isla didn’t deserve to be treated like that, no matter what their witch laws said.
Noah’s phone rang, extra loud in the silent tension filling the room.
On the second ring, I gestured at the phone. “Want me to get that?”
Wow. I was really pushing my luck here. I had no idea if this dude had a volatile temper or not. So when he snorted, saying, “Have at it. You make a mess, you clean it up,” I barely had the sense to accept the phone being offered to me.
Giddy with anticipation, I quickly answered the call, then froze. What if it was Sheriff Andrews? Freaking crap. Grimacing, I raised the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Noah Bartholomew Andrews, what are you up to now?” Isla’s voice shrieked through the phone. “I thought I heard my best friend shouting at me not to trust you. What is—”
“I’m your best friend?” I cut in, a smile blooming on my face a mile wide. Despite the hollow feeling inside my chest, my heart swelled to bursting. I’d never called anyone my best friend before, let alone had someone return the sentiment.
Silence came from the other end, then, “Kenna? Is that really you?”
“It’s me.”
A pause. Then, “Girl. Girl! How—? Where—? I-I thought you were dead. I lost your number when that jerk vampire destroyed my phone, and Dad won’t tell me anything. And after what happened to August . . . Oh, Kenna, I assumed the worst. Are you okay? Wait. Why on God’s green earth are you hanging out with my brother?”
I glanced at Noah, expecting him to snatch the phone away from me at any moment. Instead, what I saw made my eyes practically fall out of my head. He was sprawled across three chairs with his eyes closed. Fake sleeping. Fates above, was he fake-snoring too?
“Isla? Your brother is really strange.”
A snort. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“I will. I’ll tell you everything. And Isla?”
“Hmm?”
A tear struggled to slip free, and I let it. “You’re my best friend too.”
3
KENNA
I swept my thumb over the charm on my bracelet, watching as rivulets of water caught in the etched surface. I had studied the back-to-back crescent moon design thousands of times over the years, but never once questioned why I didn’t take the bracelet off. I assumed it was because the piece reminded me of my mom, making me feel closer to her memory.
A stray thought trickled in, a highly distracting one that had no business pestering me right now. I’d been wearing this new bracelet for a month. A month. Which meant, for weeks now, I could have safely touched Lochlan. Like really touched him. Kissed him even. Maybe more.
Fates alive, I should not have had that thought. My body suddenly throbbed at the lost opportunity, at the needless suffering. The ache intensified, and I squeezed my thighs together. We could have had sex and completed the bond between us.
Wait, whoa.
No freaking way, body. Do not go there.
I didn’t want to have sex with Lochlan, and he certainly didn’t want our bond to be completed. He wanted me to reject it. And him. He didn’t want that kind of connection with me.
Why was I even debating this? I didn’t know if he was alive or dead, yet an image of us in this shower, naked and feverishly pressed together, stubbornly popped into my head. His fingers were trailing down my quivering body, slipping lower, and lower, and lower. Driving me crazy. Making me feel gloriously alive and cherished and wanted.
Fates.
I shook my head to dispel the image. He killed Syphons for a living, I reminded myself with a disgusted huff.
Something was seriously wrong with me.
Maybe I had a sliver of demon spirit inside me. It would explain why I was so irresistibly drawn to such a dark and dangerous soul.
Cringing at the disturbing thought, I scrambled for a way to distract myself. Refocusing on my bracelet, I fiddled with the clasp, curious what would happen if I tried to undo it. A sense of loss immediately halted my movements, so intense that I almost sobbed. I didn’t want to remove it. The mere thought soured my gut. I’d rather cut off my hand.
“So messed up,” I muttered, releasing the bracelet to finish rinsing the conditioner from my hair.
The “Red Wing” turned out to be a girl’s dormitory, complete with a communal bathroom. I’d opted out of joining the students for dinner in the dining hall, explaining to Noah that I wasn’t feeling up to being stared at. Truthfully though, I didn’t have much of an appetite. I knew that I should eat anyway to keep my strength up, but a part of me truly didn’t want to be ogled right now.
I was used to being the new girl. I was used to the stares. But this was different.
The students here were witches, and their curiosity toward me would run much deeper. They would want to know what kind of witch I was.
Noah had shown me my new dorm room, complete with clothing and toiletries meant for me. I’d immediately missed my old room in the basement, creepy reinforced walls and all. At least there, I had the space to myself. Here, I had two roommates—who I still hadn’t met.
A tad nervous about meeting them, I’d decided to take a shower and head to bed early. That way, they’d only have time to say a quick hello in the morning before rushing to breakfast and their classes. I wasn’t here to make friends. If I didn’t like Headmistress Mayweather’s explanation, I wanted out.
Speaking to Isla for an hour had eased some of my worries, but she hadn’t seen what happened to Kade and Lochlan after I’d shoved her into my house. The need to know was chipping away at my calm, leaving me edgy and distracted. After recovering from the influence of Troy’s thrall, she’d spent hours trying to weasel information out of her dad.
&nbs
p; “He practically has me under house arrest now, so I’m not speaking to him,” she had confided, her voice quavering with emotion. “I’ve never not spoken to him before, but he won’t tell me anything. Just keeps saying how disappointed he is in me. But what about him? He’s been lying to me the same way your aunt’s been lying to you. I don’t even . . . I don’t even know him anymore.”
My heart ached for her. For the loss of trust she was experiencing. I knew how deeply lies could cut. Considering her love of solving mysteries, the discovery of her family’s huge secret after all these years must have been extra shocking.
I didn’t know how to fix the injustices we were both facing, but I wasn’t going to let the deceitful adults in our lives have the final say. Somehow, we’d find our way back to each other, sooner than later—even if I had to coerce her brother into helping me. I’d seen the guilt on his face, the remorse. Good. I could use that.
Feminine laughter snapped me back to the present, to the reality that my world had been reduced to nothing more than unknowns once again.
I was about to turn off the water when I heard, “She looks so sickly, like a drug addict or something. Better keep her away from your opium poppy, Jordan.”
“If she touches my plants, she’ll find herself puking up worms,” a droll voice said, followed by tittering laughter.
“Do you think she’s a solitary witch? It would explain that lost look in her eyes. There should be a law against witches willingly living without a coven. A friend of my mom’s did that. She went crazy and they had to bind her magic.”
“And they’re letting her room with us? What was the headmistress thinking?”
“Maybe she’s bound? I noticed her wearing a charm bracelet.”
“Well, it would explain why she looks that way.”
“Guess we’ll find out soon enough. Hopefully she’s already asleep though. Anyway, enough about her. How do I look?”
“Who cares. You’re getting ready for bed, Mei.”
“Um, hello? Did you see who’s lounging against the wall right outside our room?”
Curse Touched: A Paranormal Vampire Romance (A Touch of Vampire Book 2) Page 3
