Oh good. A magical health class. Exactly what I was up for after next to no sleep following a near-death experience. But thinking about the weirdness that had taken place with Maddy that morning, I leaned in closer and tried to focus.
“What if your power never grows?” a kid to my right blurted out.
“Some of you will be stronger than others. That’s also due to your DNA. And some of your gifts are more passive than others; take empaths, for example.” I perked up even more. “Many think them weak because their abilities are not deadly, but those who accumulate power can influence those around them so strongly that they can make them do anything they want.”
“I don’t believe that,” I said before I realized my internal thought had gone rogue.
“And why not, Celine?” he asked. “Do you know any empaths?”
I frowned at him, thinking he should know better, but then I remembered that I’d gotten into Wadsworth based on massive spellcasting ability, thanks to my black-market purchase. I would have been listed as some kind of offensive-magic witch, not an empath.
“I sure do, and I know she can’t make anyone do whatever she wants, whenever she wants.”
I cast a wary eye to the invisible boy at my side, and he smiled back.
“Then she’s simply not strong enough, that’s all.”
“But—”
“Or perhaps she’s never tried hard enough,” he said thoughtfully. “Or someone has kept her from realizing her full potential.”
Anger surged through me, and I gripped the cool glass ball harder. Sparks of red swirled within a dark green, creating what looked like a Christmas ornament. But soon that red turned to flaming orange, which eventually engulfed everything else. I stared into the mesmerizing abyss and wondered…
“Celine?” Mr. Watson called, and I snapped back to the present to find him hovering near my desk peering down at me, concern etched into his brow. “Are you all right? Do you need to go to the infirmary?”
The orb in my hand went black and cold. “No. No, I'm good.”
He looked anything but convinced, but he gave me a tight nod and returned to the front of the class. For the eight hundredth time that morning, I exhaled hard and tried to relax.
“Well, that was interesting,” Aidan said in my ear, and I nearly jumped out of my chair.
“Was it?” I whispered back.
“Where did you go just now? When the teacher was talking to you and you just stared at your lap?”
“I was looking at the ball.” My words were so soft, I wondered how he even heard me. I looked over to find him staring at my lap as I had just been.
“Perhaps we should find somewhere safe to put that for now.” Before I knew what was happening, my free hand shot up into the air with a little help from the fey’s powers. “Time to go, little witch.”
“Yes, Celine?” Mr. Watson said.
“Umm…on second thought, I don’t think I’m feeling that well. Can I still go to the infirmary?”
“Of course.” He scribbled something on a notepad and brought it over. “I hope you feel better.”
I grumbled my thanks, then made a beeline for the door, Aidan tight on my heels.
The second the door closed, he took my hand in his and hauled me off toward the residential section of the building. He stopped at my door and wiggled his fingers. The lock sprang open and in we went.
“Let me see the orb,” he said, his hand outstretched. Distrust shot through me, and I took a step back.
“So, what? We’re allies again, now that we can’t be seen by your crew?”
He took a deep, cleansing breath and stepped closer.
I took one in retreat.
“I already told you, I was trying to get information this morning. To do that, maintaining the status quo was necessary.” Part of me wanted to believe him. The other part of me called bullshit. “Now, can I see it...please?”
Hearing that word on his lips was sobering to say the least, so I gently placed the orb in his hand. Mine instantly felt empty without it.
The moment I released it, it became visible once again, but it wasn’t the crystalline shade it had been when Rhys had chucked it my way. Now it was black and bottomless.
And back to its former size.
“This won’t be easy to hide in here,” he said as he looked around the room. His eyes settled on the bathroom, and he rushed in there. I heard the screech of metal curtain rings and the rustle of fabric. I came in to find him placing the ball on the drain in the shower.
“Oh yeah, that’s totally discreet,” I mocked, leaning past him to pick it up. But he caught my arms as they reached for it and pulled me back. He didn’t stop until we were out of the bathroom and the door was shut behind us. He stood there with my wrists caught gently in his hands and stared into my eyes like he expected them to speak on my behalf and tell him everything he’d ever wanted to know.
I swore he looked disappointed when they didn’t.
“I think maybe I should take it,” he muttered, as though talking to himself.
“Wait...weren’t you the one tossing it around in the hall, trying to pawn it off on someone else? And now you want it back?”
Suspicion ran rampant in my mind, and I reached out to skim his energy. It was frantic and nervous and did little to assuage my dark thoughts.
“It’s not that I want it,” he said, releasing me to pace the room, “it’s that we don’t know anything about it, and without your collar, you could be...vulnerable to it.”
I stared at him, mouth agape. “Vulnerable? To the ball?” His expression hardened, and I tried not to laugh. “Aidan, it’s a hunk of glass, not the four horsemen of the apocalypse—”
“There are actually five, but—”
“Wait, what?”
“Horsemen,” he said by way of clarification. “This world never knew about Ignorance, which is an irony I can’t even begin to unpack right now—”
“Cool. Fun fact. Now, back to the crystal ball—”
“I’m just saying that we need to be careful with it.”
“Great, then we can be careful with it by leaving it in my shower for now. Happy?”
His furrowed brow told me he wasn’t. “This isn’t personal, Cece.”
“Kinda feels that way.”
“Well, it isn’t.”
“Then leave it where it is,” I said, softening my tone. “You ask me to trust you. Maybe you should try trusting me, too.” I shrugged past him, headed for the door, and I felt the press of his chest against my back as I reached for the knob. “I’m going to go find my sister,” I said softly as I turned it. “The ball had better still be here when I return.”
Before he could reply, I bolted from the room.
CHAPTER FIVE
Maddy
Cece, Aidan, and Rhys took off for class, and I went to the bathroom. When I came out, Wolfy scampered around the corner and up to me. His fluffy tail spiraled, and he looked up with absolute joy on his face.
“Hey,” I said. “How’s it hanging?”
Wolfy sat and stared around before looking back up at me with what I took for a forlorn look in his eyes. “Nothing is hanging.”
Horror dumped through me. “Oh my God. They fixed you?” How could they have done that to him? I mean, yeah, they probably didn’t want a bunch of sentinel puppies running around the halls, but...
“Fixed?” His head tilted, and his expression loosened. “What’s that?”
“Umm…” How did I discuss wolfling balls delicately? “Did they do something to you? You know...” I winced. “Remove something from…down there...to keep you from having...sentinel children?”
“Oh!” His snicker burst out, and his body shook with laughter. “Hell no. That’s… No.”
“It wasn’t a dumb assumption.” Not too dumb, that is.
Shaking his head, he turned and padded to my right, his little feet whisper-quiet on the tiles. “Let’s walk, shall we?”
Staring a
fter him, I remained where I was, my feet rooted in place.
When I didn’t follow, he tossed a frown over his shoulder. “Maddy? You coming?”
I hooked my thumb in the other direction. “I have a class to go to.”
“Right. You do have a class. With me.”
Now, that was interesting. “Really?”
“Really. Catch up or I’ll leave you behind.”
This was the best offer I’d had all day. Sure beat creepy, magical, gleaming crystal soccer balls that disappeared when my sister touched them.
I took off after Wolfy and caught up to walk beside him. “You’re a teacher?”
“For the moment, yes.”
“Okay.” Actually, I didn’t mind skipping The Science Behind Creature Blood. I’d heard we’d be doing more lab draws in today’s class and then conducting experiments on the liquid. During the first and only Creature Blood class I’d attended, I’d nearly passed out when the teacher had released a small dryad from a cage and then lifted and pinned it down on the desk. Gulping and trying not to hurl, I’d shot my gaze to the floor, my head spinning as the teacher’s syringe had descended toward the dryad.
My shoulders hunched forward. I’d always dreamed of doing something science-y, like being a doctor, but it looked like I’d need to explore STEM careers that didn’t involve blood. Shrugging the memory aside, I ambled along beside my wolf friend. Surely, he wouldn’t ask me to tap dryads during his lesson.
“Where are we going?” I asked. “The classrooms are in the other direction. I don’t think students are supposed to be in this section of campus.”
“I am not a student,” Wolfy said.
We took a right and walked down a long hall. My best guess was that we were somewhere in the back of the building.
“Outside,” he said.
Another right, and we approached a steel door, one I hadn’t seen before.
“Open it, would you?” he said. “The latch is a bit high for me.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Just a bit, huh?”
His soft but friendly growl rippled around me.
With a roll of my eyes, I pushed on the handle and the panel jerked open. “It was a joke.”
“Ha ha.”
A gust of wind swirled inside, shoving aside the dank, gloomy scent that clung to everything. It had permeated my skin from the moment I’d arrived at Wadsworth.
“You need a little sunshine, pup?” I asked as I stepped onto the landing of a short flight of steps.
From the lawn below me, Wolfy’s tiny brows drew together and his doggie lips peeled back in a grin. “I get sunshine every chance I can.”
“I’m happy for you.” As I joined him, my sneakers crunched on gravel strewn at the bottom of the steps. I paused to look around. An overgrown lawn stretched away from me, ending at a crumbling stone wall overgrown with vines, dense forest encroaching beyond. “You deserve to be happy after being trapped inside for years. Have you tried hunting yet?”
He’d started down a very narrow trail snaking through the dense grass, but stopped and glanced back at me. “What would I hunt?”
Ah, time to explain more of the joys of a dog’s life. I looked forward to introducing that world to Wolfy. “Mice. Bugs.”
“Why would I want to hunt them?”
I caught up with him, squishing down the grass beside the trail. Grasshoppers flung themselves away from us, as if they’d heard our conversation and worried they’d be among his first catch. “Most dogs hunt to eat them.”
Wolfy’s lips curled down. “Mice? Bugs? Is that what you eat?”
Cringing, I tried not to imagine squirming creatures sliding down my throat, or ripping the head off a mouse and flinging the body around, something I’d seen dogs do more than once. “Well, no.”
A shudder traveled through his body, making his glossy fur stand on end. “I’m a vegetarian.”
“Other than that time you took my blood.”
He winced. “It wasn’t much, and it won’t happen again.”
“Okay. That’s...good, then. We’ll skip the mice and bugs.” We crossed the lawn, heading toward the woods. “Where are we going?”
“Keep up,” he called over his shoulder as he trotted down the path that stopped at the stone wall but then broadened and traveled into the woods on the other side. After hopping up onto the wall, he jumped down, his feet creating almost no noise when he landed.
I followed less gracefully, clambering over the rough stone wall, then tumbling onto the ground beyond. Rising, I brushed off my clothing. “What are you going to teach me way out here?”
“A new way to survive.”
“Sounds cryptic.”
His lips curled back, baring his sharp teeth. “Welcome to your new reality.”
Stopping partway down the trail, I propped my hands on my hips. “Look, Wolfy. Could you just tell me where we’re going?”
“Here.”
I whirled around, taking in the trees, spiky raspberry stalks seeking the sun, and numerous pinecones littering the forest floor. “You’re going to conduct a class in the woods?”
“Sort of.” He left the trail and approached a tall evergreen. “Up you go.”
The snap of a stick nearby sent me pivoting around, but nothing moved except leaves fluttering and branches bending to the wind. “Is something...out here with us?” I whispered, not eager to draw anything’s attention.
“Not yet.”
“Ugh.” The slick sweat on my back disappeared in a flash, replaced by goosebumps. “Let’s go back inside.” My arms snaked around my waist, protecting my belly.
“Your lesson isn’t over.”
“As far as I can tell, it hasn’t started.”
“Sure it has.” At my frown, he added, “It’s not my fault you’re not learning anything.”
I sighed and, leaving the path, joined him beneath the tree. I stared up at the long, silky needles flickering in the breeze. The upper branches swayed, and tiny sticks clicked together.
Wolfy jumped up and landed on my shoulder.
“Watch the claws,” I growled as he dug in.
“Sorry.” They loosened. “Let’s go. Your lesson awaits.”
“Here?” I looked around. “Should I sit on the ground?”
“As I said...up. Climb.”
“The tree?” No, no, no.
“What else?”
“Wolfy...”
“What?” His grin made my ears burn. “At least I picked a good tree for you to climb.”
Peering up again, I groaned. “How am I supposed to do that with you on my shoulder?”
He snickered. “Carefully.”
“I haven’t climbed a tree since I was a kid.”
“Please. I can’t very well do it on my own.”
I held back my growl and, leaping up, grabbed a branch with two hands. Wolfy jostled on my shoulder but remained in place, wedged close to my neck. With my feet scrambling across the trunk and finding purchase, I hoisted myself up and then kept going. While it had been years, it still felt relatively easy to climb. Like riding a bike. Fortunately, my sneakers caught on the rough bark, and evenly-spaced branches made it possible for me to gain momentum.
When I reached the top, I settled on my butt with my legs on either side of a broad branch and my back snug against the trunk. Now that I’d finished, it wasn’t so bad. It was almost pleasant to sit securely while the wind ducked through the trees, cooling my skin.
Wadsworth sprawled to my right, and I shifted in that direction. From a distance, it resembled a slightly run-down but well-loved estate, which was probably what the magical Council hoped everyone else would see. The rest of the world had no clue about the horrors going on behind those stone walls. The tin roof winked just right when the sunlight hit it. And…that was strange. “I thought there were only three floors to Wadsworth. Why do I see a fourth level?” The blueprints Cece found in the library hadn’t shown a fourth floor either.
“No idea,” Wolfy
said from my shoulder. “Can we get back to the lesson?”
“I see it.”
“And that, my friend, is a lesson in itself.” His wink told me he was joking. Again.
“I can’t say that I’ve learned anything significant so far.”
Sunlight filtered through the branches and hit his fur, making it sparkle like mica. His bushy tail swayed back and forth, tickling the back of my neck. “No?”
“Did I climb the tree so we could take in the view?” I grumbled. “I’m sweaty and hot and I really need to get to my real class.” My next one, not the one covering tapping creatures for blood.
“We’re not here for the view.”
Turning my head, I sent him a sour look. “Then why are we here?”
“We’re here so that you can jump.”
“Yeah, sure. You first.” My humor was not met with answering doggie laughter, which made my face freeze. “You’re not joking.”
“Would I joke with you?”
“All the time.” I grunted. “However, other than spying, I’m not sure what sentinels actually do.”
His gaze was drawn forward, deeper toward the forest. “Long ago, we were mostly teachers.”
“What did you teach?”
“Jumping.”
“Lost a lot of students, didn’t you?”
He sat and curled one eyebrow my way. “Only one so far.”
“Back up. You told me you’d been with the headmaster since you were a pup.”
“In this iteration.”
I stuttered, trying to figure out how to comment. “You’re…reincarnated? And it has happened more than once?”
“When we pass, we can—under the right circumstances—rise again.”
“Like a phoenix,” I said, only half-teasing.
His head dipped.
Wow. “And you remember your past lives?”
“As if they were a story I read. Distant, and without the harsher edges.”
“That’s really awesome. I’ll only live once.”
“Because you’re a witch.”
“Half-witch.”
“And half something else...”
Rogue Reformatory: Broken (Supernatural Misfits Academy Book 2) Page 4
