Betrayal: An Urban Fantasy Academy Series

by Bob Dattolo

  It was a battle not to let my muscles tense up. I had a fantastic massage right on the beach about three hours ago, and I’d hate to have all of that hard work go to waste. “Yeah. Time keeps on passing.” We clinked glasses again, “Thank you for letting me come along with you.”

  “You’re welcome. We couldn’ta made it out of there without you. Besides, you’re one of us.”

  “It still feels weird that when you say that it doesn’t mean what it does to me.”

  “But at least you know it. Who knows, though, maybe things will change. Lord knows we’ve talked about it enough.”

  “True.” We spent an amazing week flying in Colorado before leaving there and heading over to Texas. It was a wonderful time being there and has been even better being here. At least somewhat. I haven’t wanted to go flying where people could see me, so I’ve kept that relegated to very, very late at night when I can use the shadows to hide things.

  The girls have been living it up with the guys and girls, and it’s rare for me to be in the place we rented without hearing someone getting laid or seeing them directly afterwards or heading to get laid.

  We watched the people running every which direction, marveling at the number of families floating in the mix of college students. I’m sure that little family of four would be horrified to know that in that little tent like 40 feet to the other side of them, there are people fucking each other like crazy. It’s not a small tent, and I saw at least 20 people in there earlier today.

  It’s pushing just a bit at my issues with that kind of thing. Not because I saw it, that part doesn’t really bother me, it’s because I kinda want to join in. To experience something that I decided to do. Not that I was forced to do. Not that I was beaten into doing.

  Instead, I’ve played the field by myself and enjoyed every minute of it all the while wondering what it will take to feel healed enough to take that step.

  “Any decision on when we’re leaving?”

  She put her drink down, “Not so far? After dinner tonight, we’re all gonna turn our phones on and see what we’ve been missing.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. We ran into trouble accessing voicemail, so figured we’d risk it.”

  “You saw the email, though.”

  “Yeah, we did.”

  “How many did you get through?”

  She shrugged, “Mine weren’t too bad, just not great.”

  “Your parents demanding that you call them?”

  “Yeah. They didn’t think my message to them was sufficient.”

  “You gonna do it?”

  “Yeah. I have to.”

  “What about Samantha?”

  “She hasn’t looked or logged in again. She’s afraid they can track the IP address accessing it. Maybe they can. I can’t even guess. So we’ll check everything tonight and then figure out what we’re gonna do. Maybe stick around. Maybe leave.”

  “I’m serious, I’m willing to go my own way and let you guys stay and have fun.”

  She gave me a look, “And we told you no. You’re kinda the catalyst for the crap going down right now, just not really. Not fully, that’s for sure. Her parents pushed and pushed even when she begged them not to do anything. They didn’t trust what they were being told and now they’re even more pissed.” She snorted, “You really did a number on their faces.”

  Fuck. “Yeah, I did. I figured I did. I just didn’t…they have to be fucking livid that they made the news.”

  “Have you seen the interviews with them where they’re asked about it?”

  “Not fully. Just the silent versions.”

  “Yeah, well, they’re even more pissed than I would have guessed. Which is saying something. They’re almost fully healed. I’m not sure plastic surgery will help them. They’re fucking lucky you didn’t take out their eyes.”

  “They will never accept that luck, though.”

  “No, they won’t. I saw one where they seem to firmly believe that you were trying to do that, and they stopped you.”

  “Umm, nope? I was purposefully not going for their eyes. That was part of the spell. I just wanted it to be close, to freak them out.”

  “At a guess? You shoulda gone for their eyes to teach them a lesson. They won’t ever forget you now.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking. So…we doing the phones together? See what they say at the same time?”

  “Pretty much. Dinner. Then back to the room. No guest fucktoys tonight in case we need to pack like a motherfucker and flee.”

  “We shouldn’t have to run away from her parents. Or yours.”

  “Yet here we are. I get that we could go back and fight them or confront my parents or Angelica’s, but…we kinda hope things will blow over.”

  “Me to. I just don’t think it will. At least not with Samantha’s parents.”

  “Me either. Us either.”

  We fell into silence at that point, both knowing that more conversations about this are coming in the very near future.

  I really don’t want things to go badly between Samantha and her parents. I’m just not sure how they’ll handle what I did to them. Given everything I’ve learned from her over the past two weeks, they’re pretty freaking vindictive and very well may take things out on her. Especially since she basically left with me and shut everything down so that they can’t communicate with her.

  That’s not good. I never wanted to fuck up their relationship, you know? I get that their family is messed up, yet it’s becoming clear that all three of their families are beyond the pale.

  Parece has shared a ton with us as we’ve been travelling and hanging out, and it’s beyond screwed up. Same with Angelica. Worse than I could have guessed even based on their prior comments, which painted things as not very good to begin with.

  To say that they have a relationship is like saying I had one with Reggie. While I did, it was almost entirely one sided other than my acting. That’s them, just with the people that gave birth to them. No wonder they all want to be so powerful that they can simply walk away from them and not have to worry about them. Much.

  I’ve been trying to figure out what to do this entire time. I don’t want the information to get out there about how to focus. Not really. They picked up some of it when I walked through everything in the trial, but they didn’t really understand what I was saying. They’re not doing it at all. I’ve been watching them do magic, and it’s the same as before. Although they’re showing more than they did in school, which is to be expected. For me, I’ve also been letting my hair light up. None of them called me on that, so I’m not sure if it’s slipped their attention or not.

  What the hell do I do? If the three of them learn how to hide the light in their hair and to adjust how they do spells, I’m thinking they’ll each be much more powerful. Possibly more than their parents, at least in Samantha’s case. They’re more dominant, but I think her increased ability to cast spells will help tremendously that way. I’m not sure about the other two.

  Yet every part of me is holding off telling them everything. I don’t want that information to get out there to the average person, I really don’t. That’s so crazy dangerous in a world that’s already crazy dangerous. If I tell them, then I’m thinking they’re bound to tell at last one more. If I have all of the pieces, I can work to control how it spreads. Once it’s beyond me? Nope.

  I’m even second-guessing telling Kaylee how to be more powerful with her spells. No one seemed to notice her increased level during the trial, so that’s good. But…who is she telling right now? Anyone? I’m not sure I can trust her. I can easily see her sharing the wealth to gain more allies. I really can.

  My little thought train derailed as a waiter brought me another Coke. Parece disappeared and came back smelling decidedly like cum and let me know that she’s up four more from before. I swear, that’s a girl that loves guys. Again, more power to her. And the others.

  We didn’t pack everything up and head in until 7, which
is when we coordinated with the girls so that they could be done with their latest conquests and we can get together. We ordered a ton of Chinese food to be delivered to the room so that we can eat and review their email and voice mail. I’m praying things aren’t as bad as they seem like they’re going to be. I’m just not sure that’ll be happening.

  Our trip to the room was slightly longer since the guys were just leaving. They look ragged, like they just ran a marathon, and smell heavily of sex. They also have delirious smiles on their faces.

  More interestingly? The twins did not split up. What’s more? They each spent time with the other. That’s surprising on some level, since I didn’t think they’d actually do that.

  The girls were in the shower when we arrived, so we slipped into our own to wash away the saltwater, sunscreen, and in Parece’s case, the cum that I’m sure is sticking to her. I should be more worried about the fact that she jerked so many guys off in the water right there off the beach, but I’m not. How much whale jism are we swimming in at a time? Fish cum? Fish blood? All of that? Probably more than the average person really wants to think about. Now there’s just a bit of man batter out there as well. Not all that clean, sure, but at least we can’t get sick from it.

  Now, pregnant? That’d be interesting. I’m not thinking it’ll happen, though.

  The delivery girl got a good showing since none of us covered up as the food was delivered. She was a little freaked at first, then caught the hair and eyes and her entire posture changed at that point. She realized it wasn’t an exhibitionism thing, which altered how she saw us. That was too funny. I haven’t seen anyone change their reaction quite as much as she did, although some have a little through our time together.

  What can I say? Dragons don’t really care all that much. I’m shocked just how much I don’t care. Before I managed to shift, I really thought it was because of how Reggie treated me and from being blind and not really being able to relate to the whole seeing thing any longer. Apparently not.

  We settled around the table with the huge array of Chinese food open as Samantha slid glasses to everyone and Parece and I brought various drinks to the table. Angelica managed to get some beer from somewhere or other, but I’m not having any of that tonight. I’ve had way more alcohol than I ever would have guessed while on our little trek of self-discovery, and I’m just not feeling it.

  Both Samantha and Angelica had adorable smiles on their face. I have a feeling the twins were well worth their effort. Instead of asking them about it, I handed out silverware and dropped a bunch of serving spoons out in case anyone wanted to use one.

  I’ve come to find that none of us really think twice about using our fork to serve ourselves more food. Yes, even if we just used it. I believe it’s because we can’t get sick like that, so the idea of germs from someone doesn’t really come into play.

  By mutual silent agreement, we didn’t speak much as we devastated most of the food before slowing down. We’re all still hungry, but the major pains are gone. Samantha pointed at Parece with her fork, “Okay, you first.”

  She pulled her phone, “How are we doing this? I already know that I have to call them and give them an update. Do I do that first, then we move on? Or wait and do it afterwards?”

  Angelica frowned, “Maybe we do it afterwards? I have a feeling we’re all going to do that, so maybe we get our stories straight? Our parents don’t know each other, so it’s unlikely they’ll ever connect, but if they do and we say something different to one versus the other? That’ll be a fucking disaster.”

  Serious nods from the others.

  Damn, man, maybe it’s good that my parents threw me away?

  No, I’m kidding. It’s not good. It is, however, my reality, so I have to deal with it.

  Parece took a deep breath and turned her phone on, not looking at it as it fired up. Then started to buzz as voice mail and texts began arriving.

  “What did your email say again?” Samantha speared more garlic chicken, then sat back again.

  “Umm, mostly that they want me to call them. Nothing too bad. They wanted to know why I dropped off the face of the Earth. What I’m doing. That kind of thing. They expect me to visit them before school starts again.”

  “We gonna do that?”

  “Maybe? We had talked about hitting Florida next, so maybe that, then head north and west? We can hit Pittsburgh pretty easily. I don’t know that they’ll expect me to stay a long time, especially if I have people with me.”

  “That’s fine with me. Now, what’d you receive?”

  Parece turned her phone over and grimaced, “Ugh, 219 incoming texts. 27 voice mail.”

  “Fucking hell. Are they all from your parents?” Angelica has the same look on her face that I think I have. That’s a lot, or so it seems.

  She began swiping, “Umm, not all, but most. I have some from friends from before the year started. Let me hit those first.” That started a bit of a reading session as she read every text, reading them out loud so that we weren’t sitting there doing nothing. Some were pretty funny. Some were just memes that we laughed at. Some were genuine questions about how she’s doing.

  She answered those quickly, then moved on to her parents.

  They started out pretty good, then got steadily worse. Not mean, just…concerned, maybe? Then angry.

  Angelica pointed out what I was thinking, “I have a feeling their main concern is that you might have been killed and they don’t know anything about it. Listen to the voice mail? Let’s see what they say.”

  That started voice mails playing.

  Six of the messages was a woman rambling in Chinese. No idea what’s up with that, although we suspect it’s a scam of some sort. Five more that were for voting garbage. One wrong number. The rest were all her parents. We listened to them one after another until they were done, leaving Parece silent as she stared at her phone.

  “You know, if I didn’t know that they’d kill me for being weaker than they want me to be, I could almost pretend that they care.”

  “That’s the most fucked up thing.” I couldn’t help speaking. “They really sounded upset for a bit, then it turns to anger. What’s with them claiming you’re trying to get away from them?”

  She shrugged, “Like I said? They warned me about running away. If I’m weak, I need to go to them so they can kill me. If I run? It’ll be so much worse. I’ll be their powerless slave until I die.”

  “God damn, seriously. The fact that you guys know your parents are perfectly willing to kill you and you still have to have a relationship with them blows my mind. At least with me, I don’t have to see them again. Hell, I don’t even know who they are, but that’s different. They threw me away and they’re gone. Your parents? The fact that you sort of have to pretend that everything is normal is even more fucked up to me than the fact that they’re willing to murder you for placing lower than they want you to.”

  She shook her head, “Right? So, call them now? Or wait?

  Samantha spoke for the rest of us, “Let’s wait. Things could go completely sideways here, so let’s not fuck anything up by jumping into this too early.” She finished the last of her fried rice before loading up on some lo mein. “Angelica, you next?”

  My former ally and possible friend nodded, “Might as well.” Her phone went on but didn’t have as many incoming sounds as Parece did. “Okay, not a bad number of texts or voicemails. Some email. Email first?”

  “Yeah? Anything you missed before?”

  She shrugged at Samantha’s question, “Let’s see.”

  She began reading who sent them and the subject line, hitting them quickly and rolling through them. Anything that was crap, she’d delete instantly. Some ended up being normal things. Updates on investments that she has. Updates from friends. That sort of thing. There were two from her parents, both asking her to call them.

  The texts were more heavily weighted towards her parents, but there were others that were in the mix. All of them seem
ed to think that she might have been killed after passing the trial.

  The voice mails, once they started playing, pretty much followed suit. Her parents were a bit more vicious than Parece’s were, though. They instantly started calling her weak and pretty much wrote her off as being dead already.

  That’s so messed up.

  She sighed when they were done and pushed her empty plate away. “Okay, so I gotta call too. I can’t even tell if they’ll be happy that I’m alive or not.” She rubbed her face, “How about you, Maddie? What do you have?”

  I turned my phone on and was shocked that I had ten voice mails and two incoming texts. “I actually have messages!”

  “Who’re they from?” Samantha pushed her newly empty plate away too.

  “Umm, first number isn’t familiar. Aaaand, I’m pretty sure it’s Levi. It says You killed my parents, I’m gonna kill you.”

  “Yup, gotta be Levi. Unless you killed other parents that we don’t know about?” Parece had the good grace to smile as she asked that.

  “Yeah, no? Not that I know of. Bypassing that? The second one is for a Facebook password reset. Since I don’t have a Facebook page, that one gets deleted.” I started the voice mails. Three were movies with scenes of women being killed. All from Levi’s number. One woman speaking Chinese. A few were random solicitors. Then one came in and a familiar male voice spoke, “You messed with the wrong couple, girl! You dared to attack us? We will find you. We will kill you. But you’ll suffer before you do. You’re going to wish for agony before we’re done with you.” Then Samantha’s dad hung up.

  “Huh, seems like he loves me.” Laughter from them. “Let’s listen to the last one.” A semi-familiar voice spoke, “Miss Stricken? Maddie? It’s Imogene Lowery. We met at the academy? I know we spoke a week or so ago, but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to allow us to start our studies. Meeting you and seeing what you can do? It’s astounding, it really is. I am old, so very old compared to most people you have ever met, and it’s rare to find something new. Something different. Video games? Honestly? They’re new and interesting and I bet most people that I play with online would never guess that I’m an old, old woman. Yet you?” She sighed, “We have had so many conversations about the possibilities and what your powers mean. What the limits are. We have yet to find any other examples of someone like you. Plenty of rumors over the millennia, but never any concrete examples or proof. Just supposition. Stories passed on through three or more levels of people until the reality of the situation is more than likely lost. Now we have you, and I couldn’t be happier that I was able to meet you. As we discussed, the three of us plus some others will be around through the second year at various times. We are still looking into whether or not we can pull you without there being issues. So far, the answer is no. We were given permission to pull you, but only if you accepted the mortmagi. Then another approval, but only if you accepted a reduction to 25%. No mortmagi then, but we figured you wouldn’t be willing to do that. They didn’t accept our argument that all you had to do was make it through this year to the trial and you could walk with 50 percent of your power intact at the start of the trial for the final year. For some reason, that didn’t sway them. We’re still trying, though, and we will let you know what we find out.” She cleared her throat, “For now? Be careful. Please. Given our interactions, I know that you have a knack for angering people. Please be safe out there. I understand why you are out and about. I really do. But please, please be safe. It would break my heart to hear that you died while traveling the country. And yes, that’s very selfish of me, I will admit that. It’s just that I’m a researcher. My life revolves around things like this, and you’ve given me an extra incentive to step up my game.”