“It was my own choice.”
He removes his hand from her, like suddenly it’s forbidden to have the contact. “Oh. I see. Well, if you ever change your mind, please let me know.”
“Thank you.” Ember’s tone is flat, dead.
The dean shifts from one foot to the other. “Well … I have enough answers for now.” He shoots me a look. “Ms. Vulterra and I should go to let you get some rest.”
Ember’s eyes settle on me with a hint of disappointment. “Yeah, we probably should.”
It takes everything in me not to yell no. “Actually, Ember, would you mind staying for a moment longer?”
Even though her eyes are still a bit puffy, they light up. “Yeah, of course.”
I notice Dean Warwick pan between me and Ember. “Oh, I see,” he whispers. “I’ll let you two have some time then.”
I tip my head in respect. “Thank you for stopping by.”
He struggles with an attempt at a smile. “Yes, yes. Of course.” He heads to the door but stops in the doorway. “Now, you two know to keep the details of this situation between yourselves, right? It’s nothing to worry about, it’s rare, but villains do get on grounds once in a while to stir up trouble.”
“They do?” Ember asks, her face not masking her horror. “That’s disturbing! You would think the school would have better security, since it’s supposedly the best in the country!”
“Unfortunately, security doesn’t always work. Stay safe, you two.” He disappears into the hallway.
Ember and I don’t take our gaze off the door. “Well, that was something, wasn’t it?”
She doesn’t move. “Yeah. It sure was.”
Chapter 13
Aiden
“I really should go so you can rest,” Ember says with a gentle smile.
“What? Really? Don’t you want to talk about what just happened? Especially since it seems you know the Dean?”
She waves her hand dismissively. “Oh, that. Him and Eliza used to date back when my parents were still alive. That’s why he asked about her.”
I scratch my head. “Oh … Who’s Eliza?”
Ember heads for the wooden chair next to me. “I might as well sit, since clearly our conversation isn’t ending soon.” She pulls it closer to my bed and sits with her legs crossed. “Eliza is basically like a parent to me. She was my mom’s best friend since they were little and she also tutored me, but after my parents died, she moved in to take care of me full time. I have a feeling they broke up because she had too much on her plate at the time.”
I still don’t know so much about Ember and her past. Of course, I know about her parents, and that it had to be hard for her. But the magnitude of what she endured is still a mystery to me. “That had to be rough, to have someone who was just your teacher to become basically your parent.”
Her face goes blank, and she stares into the distance. “It was, but, at the same time, Eliza was always like family to me.” She shakes her head like she’s ridding herself of a memory and uncrosses her legs while leaning forward.
I automatically lean closer to her.
“Anyway, let’s not talk about that but how it seems Stu may know something we don’t regarding our mystery woman,” she whispers.
I glance at the door to confirm no one is entering and whisper, “So, you picked up on that too?”
She nods. “Definitely. I’m not too sure what to make of it, to be honest. If he recognized it as another villain he knows, why didn’t he just say so?”
I shrug. “That’s true. It makes you wonder what he knows.”
“Yeah.” Her lips fall into a remorseful frown. “It doesn’t really matter though. I still put you in danger no matter who else was out there.” She leans back into her chair. “I didn’t think about how my actions would have consequences.”
I straighten up. “Ember, let’s move past this. There’s no need to continue to beat yourself up about it. I get it. I promise.”
She becomes a weeping statue, and she wipes her tears off her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be crying so much. Normally, I’m not this emotional, but I think the years of trying to not feel anything are catching up with me.”
I notice her hand still on my bed, and I hesitantly lay mine on top of hers.
She surprises me by flipping her hand, and it fits perfectly within my own.
“You have nothing to apologize for, and please believe me when I say I am okay. It’s behind us now.”
She focuses on our hands. We’ve come a long way in a little more than twenty-four hours. “I guess this definitely means we are friends, right?” she asks with a tender smile.
I nod. “Right.”
Her beautiful eyes shine brilliantly with the hopes of our future.
“Am I interrupting something?” Billy asks, taking me by complete surprise.
I snap my head to see him in the room with his arms crossed and a smirk.
Ember releases my hand, and immediately, I miss her warmth.
“I would say you look better, Aiden, but man … you look like shit! Or more like an old dude on his deathbed.”
I roll my eyes and grunt in disbelief. “Thanks, man. You know, I did lose a lot of blood so I won’t look like I‘m going to prom or something.”
“Well, damn. That ruins my plans.” He laughs but faces Ember and says, in all seriousness, “Probably ruins yours too.”
I stare at Billy in disbelief. He’s being absolutely ridiculous.
Ember stands. “On that note, I should get going.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later?”
She smiles. “How about I stop by tomorrow after dinner? Someone needs to bring you your English homework.”
“It’s a date— I mean, yeah, that sounds good.”
Her smile grows. “Okay, good. I’ll see you then.”
Billy walks farther into the room and stops at the end of my bed.
Ember starts her way out and looks at him. “Bye, Billy.”
“See yah later, tater.”
“Bye, Ember!” I shout, a little too enthusiastically.
She glances at me, and a playful hint teases her eyes. “Bye, Aiden.”
Then she’s gone.
Billy has also disappeared. “Billy?” He must be in here. I know he didn’t leave. I scan the room in search of him. He probably camouflaged himself and wants to scare me, because, well, that’s what Billy does.
“Looking for me?” Billy becomes visible next to me in the same chair Ember was sitting in.
I jolt, and my hand flies to my chest. “Damn it, Billy! I don’t need to die from a heart attack!”
He laughs. “Well, it’s not like you were seeing me anyway, with her in the room.”
I sigh loudly. “Billy, please don’t start. Ember and I are friends. That’s all.”
Billy’s skin resembles the wood pattern of the chair instead of shifting colors. This, I am thankful for; he won’t make me dizzy when I do look at him. He makes a fart noise. “Listen, man. I realize I was harsh about this whole Ember thing, but will you hear me out?”
“What is it?”
“Will you let me talk without interrupting? Really listen to me? Not try to fight me on this?”
I motion for him to get on with it. “Yes, alright.”
He leans back in the chair. “You know you’re like a brother to me. I want to make sure you take care of yourself, especially because of your depression. You’ve been doing better with it over the years, but I know it’s only because you keep yourself so damn busy.”
I stare into space. No matter how much I don’t want to admit it, what Billy says is true.
“This is why I don’t think a relationship with Ember would be good for you. For one, you could never be truthful with her. She wouldn’t want to be with you if she knew the truth. What would that do to you?”
“You’re acting like I’m going to ask her out, but that’s not the case. We’re friends, that’s it. Plus, it’s not like I�
�m lying to her. I’m just not sharing that information.”
Billy smacks himself in the forehead and slowly slides his hand down his face in frustration. “Aiden. Seriously? You’re smarter than this, man! You’re hiding something from her, something big.”
He’s right. No matter how I try to rationalize it, it’s wrong for me to be friends with Ember while hiding my past. I can’t tell her though; it’s bad enough I told Billy. I’m sure telling the daughter of Emerald Blaze and Digger is a big no-no.
“Aiden?” Billy eyes me like I’m a fragile figurine about to fall off a shelf.
I focus on my hands in my lap. “I know I shouldn’t be friends with her. Okay? That’s why I pushed her away to begin with, but I can’t stand the idea of her upset with me. That’s why I needed to fix things between us. I don’t know why it’s so important to me. It’s probably just because of her parents.”
“I think you know it’s more than that. I know you, man, and I’ve seen you interact with girls before. But the way you look when you talk to Ember? There’s legit feelings there.”
I shake my head. “No. We’re just—”
“Don’t you dare say that again! You need to admit this to yourself. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself in a bad situation one day. At least if you admit this, you can be on alert.”
My forehead creases with confusion. “That makes no sense.”
He rests his elbows on his knees and holds his hands together. “If you admit to yourself that you like her, you can watch yourself and what you do. Right now, you think you can talk or hang out with her with no danger in sight. I’m telling you, that’s not true.”
I turn my head. “You’re crazy.”
Billy sighs loudly, clearly growing more aggravated. “Just think about it! You know you shouldn’t be friends with her, but you can’t help it. You pushed her away once, just to run back? I come in here, and you guys are holding hands while ogling each other like you just won the lottery!”
He’s wrong; I can’t have feelings for her. A memory flies into my mind from when I overheard someone say something about asking her out. I wanted to protect her, be there for her, care for her. I feel this realization reflect on my face. More memories surface, hitting me like a ton of rock golems. Like when I caught her watching me after I apologized to her for the first time, my heart skipped a beat. How my heart races when she looks at me a certain way. How much it pained me to push her away …
“Oh, no,” I think out loud.
Billy collapses farther into the chair. “Finally! I think he gets it.”
Chapter 14
Ember
I may be physically in class, but mentally, I’m miles away. I blink to refocus. “I’m sorry, Ross. What did you say?”
Ross inches his goggles on top of his head. His glasses remain on his face, but they’re slightly fogged up, and I can’t see his eyes. “Seriously, Ember? Where’s your head at? We need to finish this experiment.”
I remove my goggles, drop them on the station and bury my head into my hands. “I know, I know. I just have a lot on my mind.”
“Yeah, I heard some talk. It sounds like you had an exciting weekend.”
It doesn’t surprise me he heard about what happened this weekend. I had to yell for help, because Aiden passed out right before we made it back to the training field. I couldn’t support his weight and dropped him to the ground. Of course, everyone was asking what happened, and I mentioned we ran into Iron Forge but tried to keep their attention on getting Aiden help. Thankfully, Nurse Pumpa was at the first-aid center nearby and came out to treat him right away. I guess she tends to hang out there on Saturdays, since it’s peak training time for students and accidents happen.
I look at Ross through my fingers. “Yeah, that’s one way to put it.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I raise my head but struggle with the pull of exhaustion. “No, I’m fine. Let’s finish this. What do I need to do?”
Ross hands me a Bunsen burner. “Put this under the beaker with the lime-green fluid. We need to bring it to a boil.”
I take it from him and survey the setup on the station—four beakers and multiple tubes connecting them to each other. Two of them have a bright orange liquid, one with a bubbling black liquid and one with a thin, translucent lime-green fluid. The lime-green beaker is connected with two tubes hanging over the orange ones. A bitter smell hangs in the air; hopefully, that’s not a bad sign. Too bad I have no clue as to what the experiment is, but it’s my own fault. When Erik was discussing it earlier, I kept zoning in and out. However, I do know I need a lighter, and there’s not one in sight.
I set down the Bunsen burner. “Where’s the lighter?”
Ross stares at the station, not moving a muscle. “I forgot to grab one.”
“Okay. I’ll go get one then.” I stand and head for the supplies cabinet in the back of the room. To my dismay, two students are already waiting for their turn.
Adam, the guy who wasn’t paying attention on the first day of class, is taking his time sorting through the beakers, causing the holdup. He lifts one after another to the light and shakes his head in disapproval.
The girl in front of me eyes me over her shoulder. “Hey, you’re Ember Vulterra, right?”
I am not in the mood to deal with this. “Maybe. Who wants to know?”
She rolls her magenta-colored eyes; they match the color of her hair. “Me, duh.”
My expression doesn’t change. “I am.”
She scrutinizes me from head to toe with her lips pursed in disapproval.
The sight of her pink skin is a little much for me. I’ve never been one for the color. “Can I do something for you?”
“I just wanted to see the girl Aiden felt like risking his life for.”
Fury rushes through my veins. “Well, I’m glad you got a good look.”
She turns about face and crosses her twig-sized arms. “Yeah, I don’t see what’s so special about you.”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to.” Her eyes turn into slits, and I narrow mine. “So, who are you exactly?”
Her stance relaxes, and she casually waves her hand. “Oh, well, I’m Carly. Aiden and I are in the Defender program together. We’re basically dating, so I wouldn’t get too comfortable around him.”
The sudden drop of my heart feels like a grapefruit in my stomach. I didn’t know he was seeing someone. She really doesn’t seem like his type, but again, what do I know? This realization cements that I don’t know much about Aiden, and it slightly shakes my confidence. “Well, the guy is allowed to have friends, right? Or do you try to control every aspect of his life?”
“Well, he needs to be friends with the right people. People who can actually fight, and it seems like your parents’ skills didn’t rub off on you. If I was with him, I wouldn’t have let a scratch get on him. I would’ve had his back.”
My anger reaches a boiling point. No one is at the supplies cabinet now, and I should just get my lighter, return to my station and forget this girl exists. If this is really the girl for Aiden, more power to him for dealing with someone so vile. Unfortunately, I’ve let her get under my skin, and walking away seems like an impossible feat. Thermal energy swirls around my arms, and I clench my fists and teeth together. “Well then, how about you watch your own back first?”
“Hey, you two! What’s going on over here?” Erik asks cheerfully while stepping between Carly and me.
Carly’s eyes tremble. “Professor! What happened to your face?”
Erik chuckles. “Oh, just some acid. No big deal.”
I see half of his face is missing, making his skull and teeth visible, and chunks of dried blood cake his jawline. A very faint smell of burning meat causes my nose to crinkle. A good chunk of his lab coat is burned away, stained with random rusty, brown-colored patches. His face muscles grow back and skin forms over top of them, creating his flawless face once again. He eyes me and wipes his chin. “Is everythi
ng okay?”
The energy around my arms dissipates, and my eyes feel like they were just doused with water. “Oh, yeah. I was just showing Carly my abilities.” I know Erik can see my lie through my fake smile. “That’s all.”
Erik purses his lips. “Yeah, I can see that. Maybe you should do that outside? After class?”
I nod a little too excitedly. “That’s a great idea.”
Carly shrugs. “Sure. Then you can see a true Guardian-level ability, unlike your own. Maybe I can teach you a thing or two about protecting people.”
My eyes feel like the flames of Hell as they reflect my molten core. “Oh, really?”
Carly steps backward, and her arms look as if they were wrapped in bubble wrap, matching her skin tone.
“Carly, cut that out and get back to your experiment.” Erik focuses on me and puts his hand on my shoulder. “Ember, let’s go into the hallway for a moment.”
Carly and I lock eyes, and a mutual agreement of hatred for the other passes between us.
Erik motions toward the door, and I lead the way. I feel everyone’s eyes on us and hear unintelligible whispers. Oh no, Ross! I shoot him a look and mouth, Sorry.
He shrugs, accepting I won’t be any help to him with our experiment, and readjusts his goggles.
Once Erik and I are in the hallway, he closes the door. “So, Ember, what’s going on between you and Miss. Marzolla?”
My eyes burn a little more intensely. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
The corners of his lips move downward. “Ember, you can talk to me.”
“Oh, can I?”
“Think of me as just your professor. Nothing more or nothing less.”
The emotions from everything that happened this weekend, Carly’s comments, and now dealing with Erik are too much for me. Fatigue pulls at every inch of my body, and my eyes cool as a tear falls. “She just said something I took too personally. I’ve had a bit of a rough weekend and haven’t slept well, so I’m a little more sensitive than normal.”
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