by Olivia Ash
“Allow me to introduce myself…” He holds out his hand. “Anderson Stone, second year student.”
I stare at his hand and then lift my gaze to his. “I’m Wren. And I’m busy. If you don’t mind, I would really like to get back to my research.”
He moves his hand back, but he doesn’t seem bothered that I snubbed him. Instead he asks, “Are you liking the school so far?”
I shrug, returning my attention to the opened book in front of me. “What’s not to like?”
“I like that response. In fact, I think I like you. Wanna get some coffee? Maybe get to know each other better?”
I raise my eyes to him. “I don’t like coffee. And I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”
That’s a lie. I don’t really know if I like coffee or not. I’ve never had it.
But I don’t want him knowing anything about me. Something about him is off and I don’t like it. I don’t like him. He just has this something about him that makes me want to get as far away from him as possible. Not that I’m going to move. I was here first. So there.
I continue my research, a few moments pass before he starts to hum, flipping through one of the books.
“Are you always this annoying or am I just special?”
“Oh, you’re special. But I’m guessing you have no idea why, and that makes this even more exciting for me.”
“Lucky me.”
His eyes turn cold, in the same way the trolls would look at me before raising their hands to slam me to the ground. A sense of dread comes over me. He’s dangerous, and my intuition is telling me to get the hell way from him. He says, “Indeed. Even Professor Lawrence lucked out giving you his one precious invitation.”
I settle my gaze on him, forcing myself to be as calm as possible. Though it’s difficult, my voice manages to come out even. “I don’t know what you are dancing around with all this, but I’m busy and really would like to continue my research. Please, be quiet or leave.”
He doesn’t seem to get the hint I want to be alone, and I truly dislike being overly direct. But it’s like this guy is either getting a kick out of making me uncomfortable or he is just that dense. Direct is apparently the only thing that’s going to work.
“Why history of mages? What are you looking for?” he smiles from over the book in front of him.
So much for being direct.
“Personal reasons.” I hope he doesn’t continue pushing. I don’t want to be unpleasant and have another enemy. But if push comes to shove, I have no problems with handling this in a less than lady-like manner.
“Rather ambitious of you, don’t you think?” The way he spoke makes me narrow my eyes on him. He sits in front of me, unfazed by anything I have thrown at him to show him I’m not interested.
Yet, he persists.
I groan and roll my eyes. My last nerve is being worked on, and the sense of dread is doing nothing good for my research. This guy doesn’t seem to take no for an answer and apparently is after specific information and won’t leave me alone until he gets it.
“How so?” I ask, hoping if I entertain a few more of his questions, I can tell him to leave me alone and he will.
Probably.
“Well, you could fail a trial, and that would force you to leave. You’ll forget all the wonderful information you are learning here.”
“Your point?” I ask, a little harsher this time.
He shrugs, unfazed. “Seems pointless.”
I get the feeling there is a threat hidden somewhere in his words and I’m not positive I’m okay with that settling there between us. The dread that something is wrong here quickly grows more intense and makes my stomach twist.
“And I suppose you just want a date for the sake of putting another notch in your belt? Or do you keep your collection on a bed post? Journal perhaps? I’m not interested.” I say.
“My, my, does the kitten have some claws wanting to come out? Calm down, precious. I only want to help.” He chuckles and it makes me feel like this is all just a game to him.
I try not to bite his head off for referring to me as a cat, but I let that go. The knots in my stomach have won. I have to leave, and that means my research is over for the day. But maybe I can ask him about that room. I won’t know if he’s telling me the truth with his answer, but I could always ask someone else later.
“That locked room back there, what is it?” I ask.
Anderson sits back in his seat and grins at me. “Wanting to do a little B&E?”
“No. Of course not. I’m trying to find information on something and I’m having trouble with the books here.”
“Yes, I see the research. Interesting, indeed. Sorry. That room is off-limits to initiates.”
I nod. Sadly, I believe him. We’re only allowed access to certain parts of the castle until we pass the trials. And even if we don’t, our memories are erased. But I still don’t want to risk my place here by breaking the rules, and I certainly don’t want to encourage this guy any more than I have.
Finally, I stand and gather my things. “I have a headache. I need to go lie down. Excuse me.”
He stands and joins my side. “I’ll escort you.”
“No,” I say too quickly and too sharply. He raises an eyebrow and I clear my throat and say, “I’m fine on my own. Thanks anyway.”
He grabs my hand and brings it to his lips. The feel of his skin is like holding a snake. Cold and clammy. A strange vibration enters my skin as his lips touch the top of my hand. I feel drained, lightheaded, and nauseated.
Whatever he’s doing. I don’t like it.
And though it lasts only a split second, it feels like longer.
I snap my hand away and walk off before he can do anything else to me. But I can’t shake the feeling coursing through me. As I gain a little distance from him, I speak over my shoulder. “It was nice to meet you.”
Not.
Really, I was just trying to be nice.
“You too.” His words echo behind me, almost sounding ethereal, and a cold chill creeps up my spine, but I force myself not to shiver. I don’t want him getting the impression he affects me. He does, and it’s a negative effect, but I would prefer to avoid all future encounters with him entirely.
He spells trouble for me. With a capital “T”. And I don’t need any more trouble than what I’m currently dealing with. Especially his brand of trouble.
Not now.
Not ever.
I need to figure out what he did to me before he has a chance to do that again.
As I move through the halls, I check every so often to make sure he isn’t following me. So far, so good. But I’m not in the clear yet.
Once I make it to my door, I check one last time to make sure he didn’t follow me. The halls are clear. And I sigh in relief against the door before turning and stepping into the room with a polite wish that it’s empty.
It is.
Thank the gods or whoever is listening.
No offense to Jesse, but I just don’t know if I have the patience to deal with his antics on top of what I had just gone through. I feel like a piece of my soul was sucked away. I need to refresh myself with a hot shower. I lock the handle and find a change of clothes.
I desperately need to scrub his lips from my hand, and the effects of that—whatever it was—sensation off me. Dinner will be soon, and I could use the time to figure out more about this Anderson Stone if I can find Savannah. She’s a wealth of information and gossip. I only hope she knows something.
Chapter Nine
I have to say, the more time that passes since that little interaction with Anderson, the better I feel. A hot shower was also just the right thing to jump start that feeling.
Jesse didn’t even mind that I had locked the door. I could tell he wanted to know more about what happened, but I told him I wasn’t in a sharing mood. Instead, he walked with me, silently for once, to the arena for the dinner celebration in honor of all the new initiates. The second he
was near, my magic rushed through me, cooling me, creating comfort. As strange as it may seem, I’m glad my magic reacts to Jesse.
As I stand in line, waiting for the rest of the students to be seated, someone taps on my shoulder. I turn to find Savannah’s smiling face. She says, “Surprise!” and gives me a hug.
This girl is too much happy in such a tiny package. But she is just that good. And just like before, her happiness is contagious. I feel the last of the dwindling effects from Anderson fade away, and the only thing I’m left with is the unfortunate memory of that event.
“We are sitting together,” she says.
“Of course we are,” I add, and it’s so easy to be at ease around her.
Just as I go to introduce Jesse to Savannah, we are allowed into the arena.
Had I not been here before, to see that it looks like a plain, large room, I would think this is the normal set up.
Balls of burning light float within glass orbs, hanging from the ceiling that seems to go on forever, ending in darkness. Small shelves line the walls in a never-ending ring, every so often a gnome would pop out of a dark hole and rush to another, carrying only god knows what. They are such tiny creatures, and I hope that I can get to know more about them once I finish the trials and become a full-fledged student here. Tiny lanterns light up along the wall and I’m caught in awe. This place is so magical. So wonderous. I’m loving it.
“Whoa,” I whisper.
Savannah leans in and whispers as we move. “See those tapestries?”
I nod.
“Each of the four symbols is a mascot for the house that sits before them.” She points to each and says, “House of Phoenix, House of Drakon, House of Kraken, and House of Winterwolf.”
“You sure are full of information.” I’m amazed she learned all of that so quickly.
She smiles. “Well, I love to gossip. Just sharing the juicy bits with you.”
“Thanks.” I chuckle as we are led to our seats, which is a table along the opposite wall of where the houses sit. It spans the length of the houses and holds all the professors and the headmaster. I only recognize one, though—Deacon Lawrence who nods as I pass him.
I nod back and take my seat as soon as I get to it. Jesse takes the seat to my left while Savannah takes the one to my right. And I’m glad to be surrounded by people who seem to enjoy my company.
I’m sitting in front of the House of Kraken’s tapestry and its students, and I notice in the center, it looks like an ocean that is moving. Tentacles poke out of the surface and I gasp. I look to the house of Winterwolf, it’s a scene of a cliff overlooking a forest at night. A bright moon shines through and a wolf as white as snow and as massive as a house takes a stand on the cliff and silently howls into the night.
Anxious, I look to the Drakon’s house image. I lean a little closer to Jesse to get a better view, but he chuckles and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “I knew you would come around eventually.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “Really?” My voice comes out flat.
He winks. “All in due time, love. All in due time.”
I shake my head. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Yeah, but I’m adorable too.” He smiles all charming and devilish.
Instead of falling into the enchantment he very easily casts upon me, I sit up and remove his arm from my shoulders, pretending to be unaffected by him. “You’re cute, but you’re not that cute.”
“We’ll see.” He settles into his seat, folding his fingers behind his head just as at ease as ever.
I shake my head and breathe through the coursing coolness of my magic flowing through me. My eyes take in the sheer number of students and it’s like a sea of faces all studying us like meat in a meat market. Their gazes show they are curious to see which of us will make it through the trials to become one of them. As I meet more than a few of their glances, I square my shoulders and let out a breath of air from my pursed lips and find a spot for my gaze to fixate on. I decide to watch the Kraken’s image, swirling in its magical waters. This way, I won’t be too distracted by the eyes that seem to all look at me.
Because I’m not used to the attention. Not this kind anyway. After all, I was an outcast.
“Oh, there’s Mr. Hottie McMoody,” Savannah says and points out Soren under the House of Phoenix tapestry.
Yup. There he is. All six foot whatever of brooding anger all directed at little ol’ me.
Super fabulous.
It seems he is definitely doing what he promised by keeping an eye on me. He didn’t use those words exactly, but that’s most definitely his intention.
Savannah says, “I asked around about him for you.” She winks. “This is what I found out… He’s the headmaster’s best friend.”
“Oh good, the headmaster’s best friend hates me. That makes this start even more fabulous.”
“His loss if he hates you,” Jesse says. “Personally, I think there is a whole lot to love about you.”
I shake my head. “Of course, you do, Jesse.”
Savannah pokes me in the side. “Well, he’s single too.”
“Trust me, that is the least of my worries,” I say.
Jesse sits forward and says, “You could do better.” He winks when I look at him.
I sigh. And dammit, I also smile. “That’s not why she was getting information for me.”
“Oh?” He smiles and sits a little straighter. “Do tell me more…” His hand grazes mine and it’s a pleasant buzz of cool energy that rushes through me.
I gently slide my hand away and say, “It’s nothing. Really.”
“Word is,” Savannah continues, “He’s from the McCallister family. Which means he was bred for the military life. He’s deadly, kills without mercy.”
Suddenly that threat from before resonates within me with just a little bit more dread. You’ll find how little of an issue it is for me to administer the proper punishments.
Sheesh. After getting into that back-and-forth argument with him, he doesn’t just hate me. He despises me.
“That also means he’s an elite, set up to be one of the top soldiers of all time,” Savannah’s voice pulls me back from my thoughts. “General, in fact.”
I feel the same icky feel from earlier and catch the gaze of Anderson. “Oh great. Of course, he’s here.”
“Who?” Savannah and Jesse say at the same time.
“Anderson Stone.” My voice is flat, cold, deadpan. I can’t stand him, but he can’t seem to get enough of me as he waves at me like we are best friends.
Ugh. Not.
He winks.
I almost gag. Almost.
I point him out. “Under the Winterwolf tapestry. Dirty blond, smiling like a dork, waving like I’m going to respond.”
When he doesn’t stop waving at me like a fool, I half-ass wave and roll my eyes. He finally stops and I’m suddenly not okay with sitting up here.
“I really need to find out what his power is. Do you know anything about him?” I ask and look to Savannah.
Jesse leans in closer, bobs his eyebrows. I shove him back and laugh.
Speaking of dorks. But this one I actually like.
Savannah looks in the direction of Anderson and turns her gaze back to me. She smiles wide, “Well, aren’t you filling your days with sexy hunks. You sure can pick ‘em too. How many men do you need? Two? Three?” Her smile widens even more as she adds, “More?”
I don’t know how to answer that. Trolls don’t believe in one partner. It’s whoever is more promising to give them a son on a year-to-year basis. I never had a boyfriend before. Far as I know, my mom and dad were devoted entirely to each other. I never thought about it before.
Relationships are weird.
That’s not to say that I wouldn’t be open to having a relationship with someone or a few someones.
I say, “Trust me, he is not even a blip on my radar as far as hot guys go.”
“Good. I would hate to show him up and demonstrate what
a real man looks like,” Jesse interjects.
Savannah and I look at him and just… laugh. He comes up with some of the weirdest things to say.
“Look, he saw me researching something in the library earlier, and when I got up to leave, he kissed my hand, and it felt like my soul was being sucked from me.”
“Oh,” Savannah says. “Bummer.”
Jesse’s hand clenches and his eyes narrow in Anderson’s direction, and I feel like I suddenly need to diffuse the situation before it gets out of hand.
“Down, killer,” I say.
Jesse sets his dagger-filled stare on me, and he says, “That is a zacar.”
“A what?” I ask.
“An energy vampire,” Savannah says. Her violet eyes soften and fill with worry. “He stole some of your energy from you. The fact that he did that is very much not okay. He broke about six school rules, if I counted correctly, and that’s not even the worst of it.”
The words resonate within me and everything makes so much more sense. I wasn’t willing to give him what he wanted, and so he took it. Thought he’d be slick about it. Well, not anymore, buddy. I don’t want to look at Anderson. Don’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me squirm under his gaze. Nope.
That settles it. I refuse to be alone with him ever again. Much less allow him to touch me. I’m not a foodbank, and I’m certainly not here for his feeding pleasure.
Moreover, something needs to be done. But what?
“Are you okay?” Savannah asks. Her eyebrows are knitted together, and I force my thoughts aside to reassure her that I am.
“Yes. Now. But he can’t be allowed to do that again,” I say.
Jesse chimes in, “I’ll kick his ass.” He thinks about his words for a moment then adds, “Well, at the very least kick him where it counts.”
“I’ll help,” Savannah says.
It dawns on me that I’ve never introduced them, but they are already willing to take up arms for me. “Thanks guys, that means a lot, but I can handle it. By the way,” I gesture between them as I say, “Savannah, Jesse. Jesse, Savannah.”
