He shushed me, reminding me there were ears everywhere, no matter how much it seemed we were alone in the little hallway alcove. I lowered my voice, “She’s been caged and owned her whole life so others can get a high. It’s not right and I can’t forgive anyone that so blatantly uses the results of her pain. They fucking ripped her wing, Jet.” I was fuming and crushed by the unfairness of it all.
“We’re almost there, Una. We will get her out,” Jet assured me as he rubbed my arms reassuringly. “It’s not right and we will rescue Shay, we just have to be patient. Have you sent word back to Eva yet?”
“I was planning on doing it today with Chan. That's why I went to find him in the first place. I know I have to be careful of what I say, and we all know I don’t know how to not speak my mind,” I told him with a small smile.
“That’s one of the things I love about you,” he kissed me on the forehead making my toes curl as his briny scent enveloped me. “Let’s go find Beck and we’ll talk later about what I found out. How did last night go anyway? Did you two hit it off?”
I took his hand as we started walking to class, “Yes. We had a very good time and I like him a lot. I missed you, though. I really want me a Jet and Beck sandwich.”
He bumped into my shoulder, “I think we can make that happen. The lady gets what the lady wishes for.”
“Who are you calling a lady?” I laughed, the tension leaving my body. Jet seemed to be completely over his jealousy, and while it seemed strange, I didn’t question it. For all I knew he could have been hiding it to make me happy. Or maybe the two dealt with it on their own. Whatever caused the change in Jet, I was grateful for it. Though I didn’t love Beck, I could see the possibility of it happening in the future, knowing that two guys I cared for got along brought a sense of contentment I hadn’t realized was important.
The day went by without incident and though I didn’t run into the Clit Mob bitches, I heard a few rumors of what they had done that morning. Everything from, they drugged and took advantage of the prince all the way to they had to be revived because they overdosed. Each time I heard the whispers about it, it angered me further, and by the end of the last class I wanted to drown the lot of them.
Waving a quick goodbye over my shoulder at Jet and Beck, I kept my head down and my fists clenched as I rushed to Professor Chan’s room. He nodded at me curtly, his normal scowl fixed in place. “Una,” he greeted me as he gestured for me to follow him into his office.
I threw myself in the chair and blew out a breath as he closed the door behind us. “I can’t believe I saved that asshole. For what? For him to be a murderous asshole? And then he has the audacity to continue his fucking games here too. I should have let him die on the beach.” I pounded my fists on my thighs and let out a frustrated growl. “Selfish, entitled asshole is what he is.”
Chan listened to me silently as I ranted, waiting until I finished before folding his hands in front of him. “Did you hurt someone to get put in here?” he asked with one brow arched.
“No, of course not,” I answered. “I was thrown in here for saving the prince of pricks and his beach friends. My sister set me up to take the fall for all the ones I couldn’t save.”
“You know then that not everyone is here for the right reasons. You, more than anyone, should know the rumors you hear are not always true. Prince Adar is no different than you, Una,” he said, his voice unusually soft. “It’s not my story to tell, but I don’t think you should judge him so quickly.”
“After what I walked in on, and saw with my own eyes, he deserves my judgement. It’s because of druggies like him that the poor pixie is a slave, being hurt and tortured for their own personal gain. I can’t forgive anyone that does that shit.” I crossed my arms and sat back, a signal that I was done, and he would never change my mind.
He grinned at me and it transformed his face from a gruff, stern professor that I would rather keep my distance from, to a sexy, pretty hot one, that I would happily jump his bones if I didn’t already have two bones to jump. Not one to shy away from stating the truth, I grinned back at him. “You look damn good like that. I’d tell you you should smile more, but then you’d have all the women in this place falling all over themselves to get to you. You’d never be able to sneak around with all them eye fucking you all day.”
He chuckled for the first time since I met him, the sound was nice, and although I found him attractive, I could see us being friends. “I prefer to make students cower and look the other way. Makes my subterfuge easier. And I see you’re trying to change the subject. I just have one last thing to say. Though we don’t have time to look at it today, I do know what happened in my classroom this morning with Prince Adar was not his fault. You might find the two of you have more in common than you think.”
He winked at me and yes, I swooned a little. I had no idea why all the professors in this position were hot as fuck, as if it were something required for the position. Not that I was complaining though, it made the first class of the day that much more bearable. But, good looks aside, I didn’t agree with his statement at all. “Not going to happen, Chan. Anyway, let’s work on this letter to Eva. I don’t want to think about that asshole anymore.”
He looked as though he wanted to say more but instead, passed me a paper and a pencil. “Write down what you want to tell her and then we will work on making it into code.”
We spent the next forty-five minutes creating a note that would say everything important but not be obvious to anyone else. He held the original between his fingers when we were done and I watched in awe as it ignited in flames, falling from his hands as nothing but ash.
We got the most important things in and hoped that Sebastian would be able to fill in a few of the blanks for everyone. Such as who his driver was and who else may have outside privileges that would give them the ability to transport dust in and out. I also told her about Shay, being careful to not be too specific, only referring to her as someone enslaved and needing our help.
“How are you getting out to get this to her?” I questioned. I trusted him but my curiosity got the better of me. I knew he was living here as the position required and being new, Frost was sure to have his eyes on him.
“I have my ways,” he said simply. When I stared him down, he finally relented and at least gave me a reason for not telling me. “It’s safer for us all that I don’t tell you. Sebastian knew who he could trust here, and we have everything worked out. The last thing we need is for the veritician to get ahold of you again and reveal our carefully laid communication network to Frost.”
I sighed, “True. I’m sure Frost is still looking for any reason to put me back in that room with her. And honestly, since she knows something about Shay, I kind of wish it would happen. Maybe we could find out more. The only problem with that now though, is I am not sure she wouldn’t find out about you and give that information to Frost. I had no secrets to give the last time aside from Shay, so there was nothing to give. Now there is. She might not have told Frost about Shay, but I’m still not certain we can trust her. She might have had motives of her own for keeping our secret about Shay.”
“I’ll see if my contacts can find out anything about her. Her name was Aleta, right?” Chan offered and I nodded. I was sure having wings himself he could sympathize with the pain of a ripped wing and the need to fly that had been taken from her. Not to mention, he had his own reasons to be pissed at Frost.
At the very least we were taking a step forward in planning our escape. Finally, we might actually be free of this hellhole.
Chapter 18 - Una
I left Chan to join the guys in our room. We needed to continue going through Sebastian's notes and figure out who was responsible for Shay being brought here. Something told me, if we could do that, we could get her free. It was kind of hard to free a person when you had no clue who you were freeing them from.
Not to mention, we had our own escape to plan, and I realized I still hadn’t told them about the
visit from Shay last night, or the development with Ry. I needed to get their opinion on her, and how much we should trust her in all of this.
Sure, she hadn’t been the bubbliest of people when we first met, but then again, I never was either. That didn’t mean we couldn’t trust her. Ry really had been a huge help with Shay the night before. She had been gentle and kind, seeming to even understand Shay in a way. I found myself liking her, despite everything. At the very least, if we couldn’t trust her with our escape plan, we could trust her with getting Shay out.
I rounded the corner down the hall that led to the restricted door when I noticed a guard trailing me. He was pretty good, I had to give it to him. If I hadn’t glanced back down the hall at that very moment, I would have never spotted him.
My heart sunk; I had been hopeful I would be able to convince the guys I needed to be the center of a very hot sandwich. It looked like it was not going to happen tonight though. My lady bits were not worth taking the risk of being discovered by Frost's men.
Instead of pushing through the restricted door like I normally would, I turned the corner again, following the hall as it circled around, linking back with the one that housed most of the classrooms.
This time as I turned the corner, I purposely glanced the direction I had just come from and sure enough, it was the same guard tailing me. I was half tempted to walk up to him and let him know I was aware of what he was doing. Maybe even use my song on him to tell him to report back that there was nothing to see, then sneak off to join the guys. I resisted though. Where there was one guard, there was likely more. And this made it clear we were being watched. At least that I was being watched. It only made me that more determined to thwart Frost’s plan to find Eva. Instead, all of us would escape, right under his frozen little nose.
I passed the classrooms and decided to head back to my cell. I would pass the time drawing or something before we were shut in for the night. As I took the stairs up to my floor, I heard the steps below me of the guard that followed. I grinned to myself, not getting shit on me tonight dude.
I strolled into my room and noted that Ry was still out. Casually, I passed to the desk and picked up a pencil and paper, turning just as the guard’s shadow fell across the door. He sneered at me before speaking roughly. “Why don’t you put that pencil down? I got a better one for you.”
“I’ll pass,” I snapped back. He stepped into the room anyway, and I lifted my chin defiantly. I should have used my song on him, the bastard.
“Nah, I don’t think you will. If them fish are good enough for ya, then I must be too, princess.” He gripped his groin, a crude gesture to match his expression.
“Keep dreaming, dickwad.”
“Oh, it will be a dream alright,” he glared at me as he continued walking forward. I noticed his eyes were much more dilated than they should have been, and there was only one thing I knew in this hell hole that could be the cause of it.
I really didn’t want to use my song on him, but it looked as if I had no choice. It would be much easier for Frost to figure out my power if I used water magic on him, and if I straight up assaulted him, even in defense, I would end up back in solitary. My song was the next best thing to protect myself.
This one was so shallow that it only took a few notes to have him stopping in front of me, listening intently to my words. When that hungry look in his eyes turned to one of quiet bliss I stopped singing and took a step forward. “You will go back to your room, rub one out, and forget this ever happened.”
He smiled dreamily before turning around and heading back out of my door. Ry came into the room just as the guard made his exit and she looked at me curiously. “Want to tell me what that was all about?” she questioned.
“Not really,” I sighed, leaning back against the desk in relief.
“Well you could tell me. Or I could just assume the worse, since that is very much what it looked like,” she shrugged.
“Depends on what you think it looks like. If you think it looks like me using my magic to get some guard to keep his pixie lust in his pants, then that’s exactly what it was. I’m not sorry for it, not for a second, so if you want to report me, go ahead.” I picked up the paper I had originally started for and flopped down on my bed.
“Hey,” Ry said, moving next to me. “I didn’t know. Are you okay?”
I sighed, considering how she had met me the first night, I couldn’t say I blamed her for thinking the worst. “Yeah. Using my magic sure as hell beat that alternative.”
“Why didn’t you just kick his ass? Something tells me you are more than capable of taking on a drugged guard,” she sat on the floor in front of me, her legs crossed.
“Because I didn’t want to risk being reported and sent to solitary,” I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if he was the one that fucked up, it would still be my fault, and I would be sent off quicker than I could blink. At least this way, no one is any wiser.”
“That was quick thinking,” she nodded and looked down at her hands. “Look, I suck at this sort of thing, but I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, “You had no way of knowing.”
“Maybe so, but I shouldn’t have assumed the worst either,” she looked back up at me.
“Why don’t we just start over?” I mused, deciding now was as good a time as any to get along with my new roomie. “Hi, I’m Una. Welcome to Shadow Isle,” I grinned and held out my hand to her. “It’s been washed,” I whispered loudly with a chuckle.
Ry laughed with me and took my hand, “I’m Ry. Nice to meet you.”
We both quietly got ready for bed, lost in our own thoughts. When the doors shut us in for the night, she climbed on her bunk and looked over at me, “I’m glad I got stuck with you as a roommate.”
“I’m glad I got stuck with you too,” I gave her a small smile. I wasn’t sure we would ever be best friends, but at least this was a start.
I lay in bed and drifted off faster than I realized, waking up to the sound of clanging doors. I swung from bed, stopping short when I found Ry already awake, sitting crossed legged in the middle of our room meditating. Well, to each their own, I thought to myself as I moved quickly to the bathroom to relieve myself.
No one else was up this early, so I made quick work of my shower and hurried to meet the guys in the cafeteria. I exited the stairs and found Adar leaning against the stone wall, he looked up and spotted me, pushing off the wall and starting to speak. “I have nothing to say to you,” I skirted around him.
“Una, it wasn’t what it looked like,” he called after me.
I held my hand up to him and waved behind me. I didn’t want to hear about his excuses. He was just another weak man that fell to the temptation of a pretty face and pixie dust. As much as I found myself drawn to him, I could never be with someone like that.
The doors to the cafeteria were already propped open and I passed through. The cafeteria was still relatively empty, but still I felt someone watching me. I glanced around the room, not seeing anyone out of the ordinary, when something told me to look up. Frost stood at the railing of the second floor balcony. His hands were folded in front of him, appearing as though he was just relaxed watching the students, but his eyes told otherwise.
He normally never made an appearance in front of the students, I wondered what had him so heated this morning that he would show up here. I checked in and got my breakfast, sitting until the guys joined me. I sat facing Frost, he was one that I knew better than to turn my back on, and slowly ate my breakfast.
The guys arrived and looked at me questioningly as they took their seats but I just shrugged. I had no idea what was going on, and if I did, I certainly knew better than saying something with Frost watching. Who knew what kinds of power he had and I really didn’t want to find out the extent of them. I knew I had only seen a small portion of his power the day Eva and her men escaped. Jaxon had told us about his father’s power stealing ways, but even he didn’t know all the magic his father possessed.
I spotted Ry walking through the tables and called her over to us. It was as good a time as any to introduce the guys to her. “What, she’s not as bad as I originally thought,” I grinned as she approached. “Want to eat with us?”
She looked at me curiously, before taking a seat, “Thanks.” I made the introductions and we passed the time to our first class talking about nothing of any importance. The whole cafeteria was on edge and quieter than normal as Frost watched over us.
Finally, the bell rang, announcing that we were free to go to our first class and the shuffle to get from beneath his scrutiny was immediate. I stood with my tray, pointedly meeting his gaze. I held it for a moment as his eyes narrowed on mine, and I knew he understood I was not backing down to him.
“Una, come on,” Jet reached down and laced his fingers through mine as we tossed our trash and left the cafeteria.
“Anyone have any idea what that was about?” Ry asked as we entered the hall.
“Not a clue. Una, bring her to our place and we can all talk there,” Beck stated. His words told me everything I needed to know for the moment. They trusted her enough to be brought to our room, the rest could be discussed later.
Chan already stood at the front of the room as we all entered. He watched us curiously as we crossed the room and took our seats. “Una, after class please,” he called out before diverting his attention to writing on the board.
“Didn’t you guys take care of stuff last night?” Jet asked.
“I thought we did. He must have something else,” I said quietly as the bell rang and class began. He was his usual strict self through class and we all scribbled notes. He had mentioned there would be a quiz the following day, and we all wanted to be prepared.
Somehow, I actually found this class interesting. We learned about things like the Great Ogre War or the Banshee Infest of 1780. Of course the moral to it, was learn from their mistakes and don’t lash out in anger. But that aside, it was really cool to learn about it all. They didn’t teach things like that under the sea.
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