Root Rot Academy: Term 2

by Watson, Rhea

  “Uh, change of venue,” she insisted as we rounded the stairwell’s curve and traipsed down the last few steps. Given I knew just about every student her age, even the ones who had been trickling in since the new year started, this was bound to be anticlimactic. But Alice had taken to me just much as I had to her, and when she asked me to meet her guy, she sounded so hopeful and eager and scared—desperate for my approval, almost. So, my inner monologue might be an asshole for these two weeks, but I would never project that onto her.

  So, you know, here I was, crazy hair and wearing a million layers and moody as hell, off to meet some kid I already knew from class.

  But for Alice, I’d do it.

  Holding the door open at the bottom of the stairs, Alice offered a grating smile as I shuffled by, her aura staticky with frantic energy. While I looked like I had put zero effort into my outfit—or maybe too much effort to really nail that chic homeless aesthetic—she wore her uniform meticulous for tonight, tie perfect and wool socks pulled up to her knees, skirt swaying with the crispest of pleats. After witnessing a few failed attempts before, her cat-eye liner was on point, and she had managed to finally not brush her curls but work with them. While mine stuck out in every direction on top of my head like a half-baked bird’s nest, hers were… cute. Docile.

  She must have really liked this guy.

  Gods, please don’t be one of the assholes. I chugged down another few gulps of ginger tea, wincing at the nose-clearing sting, and then slowed when Alice took a hard right behind me into Clíodhna’s alcove.

  “Alice—”

  “Back here, Professor,” she called, and I hurried after her into… an empty alcove. Nobody but us and the statue, her arms outstretched and her eyes warm, full mouth quirked seductively. Before I could get another word in, Alice climbed behind Clíodhna—

  And vanished.

  “Alice!”

  Thermos crashing to ground, I sprinted after her, confirming that, yup, she was gone. Panic washed over me like a tidal wave, icy as the North Sea and strong enough to pull me under.

  “What the fuck?” I hissed, surveying the empty space behind the statue. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  With barely two feet between the wall and Clíodhna’a back, I had no idea what possessed Alice to go back here in the first place.

  But Bjorn had found her hiding right here months ago.

  She…

  Shoving the fear aside, the potion side effects ripping at my insides dulled for now, I tugged out my wand, braced on Clíodhna’s thigh, and climbed in after Alice.

  Which was a tight squeeze for a kid, never mind a full-grown woman wearing her entire wardrobe—

  “Oh!”

  My elbow went clear through the stone wall—like someone had glamored over an open doorway.

  Actually… When I poked a cautious hand at the stone, it disappeared inside the wall of grey, and I realized that was probably exactly what had happened. Either that or someone up to no good had cast a portal.

  “Damn it, Alice,” I grumbled, peering around Clíodhna at the empty alcove, the underground corridors dead silent during night classes. No time to summon security—not when a student was on the other side, gods only knew where, doing gods only knew what with who. Shit. Shoulders squared, I charged headlong through the wall with my wand drawn…

  And came out the other side still underground. The landscape, however, had a more natural touch to it, no fire-forged stone bricks, all smooth grey rock that looked like it had been burrowed through centuries ago. Wand gripped tight, I stood at the top of three limestone steps, which led down to a stone walkway that stretched into an underground lake. Dark blue water sloshed against the path, the ceiling high and domed, the cavernous space lit by hundreds of tiny white orbs that floated along like starlight.

  “Alice,” I snapped, zeroing in on her at the end of the stone dock as I stormed down the too steep steps. “What—is—happening?”

  This was so not where I had seen the night going. Still sporting an expression that straddled the line between giddy and terrified, Alice crouched at the edge of the water, then shoved her hand in. The second she withdrew, wiping her fingers on her skirt, a huge shape lurched out of the bottomless blue after her, clawing onto the pathway—

  A man.

  I stuttered to a halt.

  A gorgeous man. Angular jawline and bright aquamarine eyes. A shock of black hair and smooth ivory skin. Broad shoulders. Defined pecs. Shredded torso—

  Webbed fingers.

  I raised my wand, alarm bells shrieking, heart racing.

  Siren.

  “Get away from the water,” I barked, charging down the stone runway straight for her. Slowly, Alice rose, her hands up and eyes wide, protests on the horizon that I was not in the mood to hear. As soon as she was within reach, I grabbed her arm and hauled her away, a quick glance to the depths confirming my suspicions: no mistaking that tail. Mermaids, the gentler of the two species, lived in warm, sunny waters, and while mischievous like forest sprites, they were relatively harmless.

  Sirens were all teeth and claws, webbing between their fingers and a tail powerful enough to break bone with one swish.

  Bottomless pits with the appetite of a gluttony demon.

  “No, no, no,” Alice cried, feet skidding uselessly over the limestone as I dragged her along. “This is him. This is Brin!”

  “My lady…” The rich, velvety-smooth voice of a Scotsman floated after us, followed by the sloshing of water against stone. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the bastard swimming along the walkway, his hand to his heart. “I’ve heard so much about you—”

  I stopped and stabbed my wand in his direction, eyes narrowed. “Can it, siren.”

  Then, shaking my head, I tried to pull Alice toward the stairs again, but my little herbalism-obsessed beanpole put up a better fight this time. I whirled around with a huff, fighting to keep my temper in check.

  “Alice, this is beyond reckless,” I snapped, anger-articulating every syllable. Seriously—this place was like a bad dream. How many other sirens were lurking below the surface, hoping to snag an easy supernatural snack? Just the thought had the hairs on the back of my neck shooting up, and I gripped my wand tighter. “Like, are you kidding me?”

  “I didn’t do it on purpose,” she argued, getting squeakier by the word, her eyes already welling with tears. “I-I just needed a place to myself, and Clíodhna smelled like the sea, like how the air smells near our coven’s summer house—then I fell through the wall when I went looking. I thought it was… maybe my magic at first.” One blink and it all came crashing down, tears spilling over, her breath catching in a heartbreaking sob. “I was so scared, but then Brin came and helped me! He calmed me down enough to go back through the portal—I swear!”

  Oh my gods. I pinched the bridge of my nose with my wand hand. A dashing hero was just the thing to make a teenage girl abandon every shred of smarts she had—and let her guard down. Nope. Fuck no. Not on my watch.

  “We’ve been talking for months now,” Alice told me in a pleading whisper. “Please, Professor Clarke…”

  Talking. Right. Rage went off inside me like a bomb; I’d seen a hickey or two on her neck in the last few months, and after learning she had a guy in her life, I had assumed it came from a bit of awkward groping in the dorms. Not this. Never this.

  “Alice—”

  “Sirens come with a fierce reputation, Mistress Alecto.” If this fucker said my name one more time, I’d hex him so he sunk to the bottom of this lake and stayed there. I wheeled around, wishing looks could kill, hating that he spoke slow and deliberate like I was some thick idiot who couldn’t sort through the nuances of that accent. He tipped his head to the side, smile warm, eyes… not. “Of this I’m aware, but, Alecto, surely you understand matters of the heart—”

  “Buddy—” I held up my hand. “—you’re going to need to stop saying my name like you have any idea who I am. Because if you knew me, you would have high
tailed it the fuck out of here—”

  “But I feel as though I do know you,” Brin insisted, pushing up and planting his elbows on the walkway, way too close for comfort. One quick strike and he’d have Alice’s calf; I put myself between them, barely listening as the siren added, “My sweet Alice speaks of you often…” His eyes slid to her like he could see straight through me. “I feel like I’ve known you all my life.”

  “Okay then.” I snorted as I rounded in place and put Alice ahead of me, then marched her toward the soaring stone wall, hoping that this perv didn’t have the power to seal the portal before I could shove her back through.

  “Wait, Professor, no—”

  “I would never harm her,” Brin proclaimed as he swam alongside us. He then had the audacity to reach for me, maybe to grab my maroon shawl, my baggy white long-sleeved shirt, my lace-up ankle boots—something. Whatever his intentions, he got the tip end of my wand a breath away from his nose and instantly backtracked, hands raised innocently. “Please. Alice has the kindest heart I’ve ever known. Thoughtful and considerate. Patient and lonely. I long for her when we’re apart, and when we’re together, I feel whole.”

  I blinked down at this handsome jackass, then groaned when Alice literally swooned. No. Fuck no.

  “Alice…” Briefly, hope sparked in her eyes, her whole being lifting like I was about to tell her good news—like I had fallen for his crap. Sighing, I took her firmly by the shoulders, and the slight shake of my head had her deflating, the floating orbs nearby glinting in her tears. “I would have to be the worst professor on the planet if I let this go on.” I squeezed her shoulders when she sucked in a deep breath, as if to give me some last-ditch speech—a solid closing argument that would make me change my mind. Every teen thought they had it in them. “I’m sorry, but no.”

  It killed me to see her upset. Of all the kids at Root Rot, Alice’s story cut the deepest. Only just fourteen now and already abandoned by her family, shipped off to some reform school all because she had a little trouble with her magic. Throw in a lack of friends her own age, her burgeoning personhood, her rock-bottom self-esteem, and the tragic coincidence of stumbling on what had to be an illegal portal into the school—of course she fell for this. Of course she clung to the one creature here besides me who treated her like a normal witch.

  Watching her break down physically hurt me even more than the side effects of this damn potion, but no amount of tears could persuade me to let this slide.

  If this siren tried to touch her again, I’d kill him.

  Period.

  “Wait…” Brin pushed up on the walkway, half his cut torso out, a smattering of discreet gills carved into the peaks and valleys of his abdomen. “Let me prove myself to you… Mistress Alecto, let me prove my love.”

  “Bye, Brin,” I said flatly, grabbing Alice’s arm and beelining for the stairs. Try as she might to fight it, this lost little first year was stick-thin and weak. Not a chance in hell she could overpower me—and I’d die before I let go and gave her the chance to jump in the lake to be with her man. Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope.

  She sobbed as I hustled her up the three limestone stairs sculpted into the huge stone wall, all of it way too human soap opera for my taste, and then shrieked for Brin when I finally shouldered her through the portal. Shooting the bobbing siren a glare over my shoulder, I kept my wand on him, arm outstretched and a hex on the tip of my tongue, as I climbed through the false wall after her.

  And collided hard with Clíodhna. I cursed under my breath as pain flared in my shoulder, having forgotten how tiny the space was back here, then stumbled out from behind her and into the alcove. The salty air faded, replaced by the familiar thick mustiness of the lower castle corridors, romantic mood light from the orbs exchanged for bright recessed electrical bulbs and enchanted torches.

  Thank the gods we had ended up back here—that someone hadn’t closed the portal behind us. Rubbing at my shoulder and tuning out Alice’s simpering protests, I peeked behind Clíodhna and poked my wand at the wall.

  Once again, the tip vanished into what should have been solid grey stone.

  Definitely a portal.

  But who cast it? Sirens were said to have some magic at their disposal, but nowhere near as complex as witches and warlocks. As far as I was aware, portal-casting didn’t factor into their skill set.

  Super concerning, especially after what had happened with Bjorn.

  Seriously… What the hell was going on at Root Rot? Was this just a case of same shit, different day, or was someone intentionally screwing with the academy?

  Either way, the secret doorway between here and the underground lake was a danger to every student in this castle, and it wouldn’t survive another hour if I had anything to say about it.

  “Please,” Alice cried as I scooted out from behind the goddess’s statue again, suddenly right in my personal space, close enough to give me a front-row seat to the snot bubble swelling in her left nostril. Taking her by the arms, I marched us farther into the alcove, then wiped her tearstained face with my shawl.

  “Alice, listen to me…” As furious as I was that she had put herself in danger time and time again, I couldn’t stay mad at her. Alice was the child, Brin the pervy adult. Teen love came fast and furious, while heartbreak cut even deeper. If I could spare any of my students that, I would, but it was a part of growing up—feeling your heart splinter as the ground fell out from under you.

  Then in a few days, weeks, months, that broken kid would put themselves back together. They would learn the heart could heal. That was the lesson behind all the pain.

  Hard to understand when you’re in the thick of it, of course. Right now, it was just needless suffering.

  “Brin is very handsome,” I acknowledged, because, yeah, the guy was a smoke-show. Like, descended from the gods hot. “Maybe he isn’t like every other siren, but he’s still too dangerous for you—and way, way too old.”

  And fucking gross for seducing a teenager; I left that part out of it, refusing to drive another knife in her back.

  “But he loves me,” Alice whispered shakily.

  “Alice—”

  “And sirens only eat humans.”

  “Sirens eat flesh.” I pointed a finger at her to drive the fact home. “They’re straight up carnivores. Humans are the only ones lured by their song.”

  “So he can’t seduce me against my will,” she fired back, her fight fading with every word, like she finally sensed defeat on the horizon. No argument would sway me here, and Alice slowly folded in on herself, arms crossed, head ducked, shoulders rounded—snot suddenly and violently snorted back. “I fell in love with him on my own.”

  “Oh, honey, no…” Ugh, my heart. Sighing, I pulled her close and tucked her against me. Jack had done it time and time again, using the strength of his body to calm mine, and I only hoped mine, while nowhere near as solid, had the soothing impact on Alice that his always did on me. “Okay, this—” I gestured back to the statue. “—ends tonight. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to tell Headmaster Clemonte.”

  Alice gasped and twisted away, eyes like watery, bloodshot saucers. “No, please don’t. What if he hurts Brin?”

  Sensing an opportunity, I patted the air like I was calming a terrified fawn—because, really, that was exactly what I was doing here. “Fine. If you swear to never see him again, I’ll keep your secret.”

  A little white lie never hurt anyone, right? Just because I didn’t run straight to Jack tonight didn’t mean I’d let it go. Not only did I plan to speak with her den mother and ask the shifter to keep a closer eye on her flock, but once I got Alice back to the dorms, I was headed straight to security to have that fucking portal sealed for good.

  Anything less was just reckless.

  And if I filed an official security breach with the dude bros patrolling this place, a copy would have to go to Jack. Well, probably Iris, then Jack, but whatever. Two birds, one stone.

  While it took a little mo
re coaxing, Alice eventually agreed. After, she bawled the whole way back to her tower, hiding her face and whimpering under her breath like she didn’t want me to see or hear her heartbreak. No dice, kid—I could feel it. Having had my heart broken more times than I could count in my academy days, I knew the damage this night would cause.

  But it was for the best.

  And one day she would see that, after her heart healed and her spirit bounced back.

  Until then, I’d keep her close.

  Make sure that siren song didn’t call her back to him.

  As soon as I marched Alice into her room, I flagged down the nearest security warlock so we could get this shit sorted, still feeling like absolute crap, potion symptoms flaring even harder as the adrenaline subsided…

  And then conceded that it would probably be a long, frustrating few hours before I dragged this grumpy, bloated, cramping body of mine to bed.

  Ugh, for real though.

  Fuck you, uterus.

  19

  Bjorn

  Fingers an inch away from the 4B doorknob, I stilled at the sound of an overly dramatic Hell’s Kitchen elimination sequence blaring from the other side. She was in there—of course she was in there. Over halfway through the academic year, this was Alecto’s home as much as mine. I hesitated and considered carrying on north with my satchel of student reflection essays, a hefty tome on Stoicism tucked under my arm.

  But the staffroom had never been my safe haven.

  And Alecto knew my class schedule inside and out, just as I knew hers.

  She would be expecting me soon, camped out in the common area on her side of the couch, drowning in blankets as she trudged through the side effects of that awful potion.

  No point in hiding upstairs; Gavriel had a budget meeting tonight with Iris and Jack, so I’d be stuck up there with the rest of them. With supers who dismissed me, ignored me, and would have preferred me and my fangs found work elsewhere.