“She’s…” Where the hell was Cece? Taking off when she’d said she’d remain in her room wasn’t like her. It made me nervous. Too many weird things were happening around here to assume I had no reason for concern.
“I really don’t have time for this. Get lost,” I said as I pushed past her, but her friends held their positions, making me weave my way through them like a razor blade gauntlet.
“Oooh, I’m scared,” Sarah said to my back. “Did you hear that, girls? Cece’s little sister, the maybe witch, maybe—but probably not—shifter, whose body has decided neither is a solid option, is acting tough.”
“Does she really believe she can get away with shit like that?” another girl said. “No one blows off the fey, especially a mongrel like her.”
My face on fire, I kept walking, determined to ignore them and put distance between us, but the area between my shoulder blades itched. My hands spasmed into fists at my sides.
“I’m still talking to you,” Sarah said. Snickers erupted from her friends.
“But I’m not talking to you,” I said. My quick departure stalled when hands encircled my neck, cutting off my air. My lungs gasped, and my face felt like it was bulging.
I clawed at my neck but found nothing there. Yet the pressure continued. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real! But I couldn’t breathe.
I gurgled, not sure what I could do. They’d kill me here in the hall, kick my body to the side, then continue on with their day as if nothing had happened.
No.
Something shattered inside me, like a beast going on a rampage, slamming through a room made of glass. Unleashed, my power roared through my veins. My bones jerked. I lifted my twitching hands, and claws extended from my fingertips.
The skin on my face burned, as if I’d fallen into a pool of lava. As if something inside me had broken through and taken over. Finally.
Tipping back my head, I shrieked as pain channeled through me. Flames shot toward the ceiling and blasted in red and gold ripples across the surface. The pressure on my neck ceased, and Sarah reeled away from me, her mouth open and her face florid. Hands lifting, she growled.
“You...that’s not possible…” she said, looking to her friends who stood their ground, though with dawning fear in their eyes.
A brunette bailed, bolting through the door to the residential area.
My face shifted and started to feel more normal. What the hell had just happened?
“I told you to leave me alone,” I said, stepping toward her. A pinch on my palms drew my eyes, and I watched in dismay as blood dripped from my hands onto the floor. I flexed my fingers and lifted my red-stained hands, claws extended. Anger surged up through me again and I glared. “Maybe you’d like to learn a little lesson yourself, Sarah? Perhaps the one you think you taught my sister?”
“You need to watch your back,” Sarah spat out. Fully confident in her ability to suppress me like she had Cece, she turned her back to me and sauntered through the door at the end of the hall, her friends flanking her like bodyguards.
I stalked toward them, growling, but the door to the hall slammed closed. I stared at it, fuming, but reined in my anger. What the hell had I just done?
Wings. Claws. Blasting fire.
Really needed to read more in that winged-shifter book because…nah. There was no way I’d believe I could be a powerful beast like a…I wasn’t going to name it, or even think about it.
But man...
By the time I reached the opposite end of the hall, heading toward the central area, I’d calmed myself enough that the claws that had spurted from my fingertips retracted. I ducked into a girls’ bathroom and washed my hands. When I stared at my image in the mirror above the sink, I saw nothing abnormal. If spots of blood didn’t stain my pants, I would think it had never happened.
But Sarah knew.
Who said I wasn’t a shifter? Seemed I was about to prove them wrong. The only question remaining was: what did I shift into? If only someone could help walk me through this, guide me.
My wolfling friend could, but he was still missing. He’d been nudging me along when he’d pushed me from that tree. But he’d also refused to tell me the full truth, as though I needed to discover it all on my own.
Or else.
Who knew what ‘or else’ might entail?
Wolfy? I called in my mind. Answer me. Please! Even I could sense the desperation in my cry.
Nothing.
My shoulders slumped, and I left the bathroom. Since I still couldn’t contact Wolfy, I would track down Rhys after I’d looked around a bit more for Cece. Had Rhys found anything important in his book about guardians?
I passed the cafeteria, seeing no one inside, then poked my head out the door to the yard.
Scooting back inside, I scurried back through the main campus area and into the guy’s residential wing, watching out for keepers.
When I knocked on his door, shuffling sounds told me that Rhys was inside. He swung the panel wide and grinned when he saw me.
“Come on in.” Turning, he strode to his rumpled bed and flopped down, leaning his back against the wall. He lifted the guardian book onto his lap.
“First, I have to tell you a few things.”
“O-kay,” he said, taking in my serious face.
I swung the door shut and crossed the room to stand by the bed, explaining about Sarah and what had happened with my hands.
He grabbed one and examined it, tracing his finger along the wounds I’d made in my palms. “Claws. Wings. I think we’re close to figuring this out.”
As scary as the idea was, I did, too. “I also saw Janie.”
He bolted upright. “Where?”
“Weirdly, in her bed. I tried to find my sister to tell her, but she’s not around.” I gnawed on my nail.
“Did you confront Janie?”
“Not yet, but I will. I need to know what happened in that classroom.” I joined him on the bed, snuggling into his side, and flicked my finger toward the book. “Find anything exciting in there?”
“Actually, I did.” His arm slid around my shoulder, and he gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead. “You know how I told you that the memory of how to raise and host sentinels—the guardianship, if you will—was wiped from my family’s minds?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that might not be completely true. I mean, it doesn’t outright state this in the book, but there are a lot of hints if you know what to look for and how to piece them together.” His finger traced down a page. “What I’m starting to believe is that the memories are still with us—that they weren’t removed—just...covered.”
“Sort of like they built a brick wall around them, locking them inside your brain to keep you from reaching them?”
“Exactly.”
“What are you going to do?”
His eyes gleamed with excitement when he looked down at me. “I’m going to take a sledgehammer to my brain.”
I winced. “Metaphorically speaking, I hope.”
“Yeah. Let’s avoid the real thing.”
“How do you plan to do it?”
“That’s where I think you might come in.”
“Not swinging the sledgehammer, dude.” My laughter tinkled around us.
His brows drew together. “But that dragon in the painting suggested—”
“The dragon implied…and I’m not ready to accept the word of a painting that’s part of Wadsworth. Everything that should be upright here is actually upside down. Trusting a talking dragon painting could get us killed.”
“True, but—”
“Let’s think about it before we jump into anything.” I sat forward. Since he was learning lots of exciting things in his book, I really should go back to my room—and brave Janie—to find out if my book contained anything that would help us. “I’ve felt, right from the start, that whoever runs this place is two steps ahead of us at all times. While we’re having an ‘ah-ha’ moment, they’re alrea
dy planning the next devious development.”
“You’re not wrong. And now everything is twisted. We messed up the balance when we tried to destroy that power source in the basement.”
I scooted off the bed and faced him. “You think if we put it back the way it was before that things will settle down? Not sure that’s possible.”
“Not that.” He growled and, closing the book, tossed it onto his pillow. “I just think we need to figure out who exactly is in control here. We thought it was the headmaster, but look how he’s behaving now.”
“I’m going to go back to my room,” I said. “I’ll pin Janie down and get some answers.”
“Want some help?”
“What can she do?” All she’d done in the past was snarl at me.
“Maybe nothing, but be careful.”
“I will. You want to meet up later?”
He dragged the book back onto his lap. “Sure. I really should study this more. Maybe more clues will pop out at me.”
Leaning down, I braced my hands on his shoulders and kissed him. “Talk to you soon.”
“Yup.” Staring down, he nudged his glasses up further on the bridge of his nose and turned the page.
I returned to my room and boldly unlocked and thrust open the door.
Janie’s bed was empty, and the blankets appeared undisturbed. I rushed to the open bathroom door, needing to confront her.
Empty.
My frustrated growl echoed through the room.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Maddy
I dragged the book out from underneath the mattress, slumped on my bed, and pored through it for what felt like an eternity. But after flipping through the pages over and over and finding nothing I hadn’t already seen before, I closed the cover and tossed it onto the floor.
With nothing else I could do, I went to bed.
The next morning, I got up, showered, and dressed. I was about to leave to track down Cece for breakfast when a voice shot through my mind.
Hey.
Wolfy? I called out, my limbs freezing. You okay, little guy?
I’m...I really can’t say.
I sagged against the wall as relief poured through me. At least he was communicating. I’ve been worried about you.
I know, he said, I’m sorry. I… His groan slammed into my brain and spread poison like a plague.
What’s happening? Pacing the room, I looked for something to shred to pieces to put out the fires burning inside me, but other than the book, there was nothing I could grab onto. Tearing the book apart wouldn’t help Wolfy.
Nothing! No need to be worried at all. But then he whimpered.
My knees gave out, and I dropped onto the side of my bed. Tell me what’s going on, I shouted.
You need to go... Trust…
Tell me where you are! A long, pained silence followed. My breathing grated through the room while I waited and waited for him to reply.
When he yelped, my body twitched.
Okay, I growled, storming to my feet, I am so done playing around. I’m going to rip this place apart to find you.
Don’t. Please stay where you are.
No! Are you in the basement?
Nothing.
I rushed to the door and took my rage out on the lock. Are you in the yard?
Still no reply.
Tell me where you are! I said. Because I need to know you’re okay. My eyes stung with tears and I swiped them away. Please!
I can’t. His drawn-out whine was filled with agony. It hit me like a sword through the heart. I won’t let them get you.
Them...
Wrenching the door open, I raced out into the hall. Two girls coming out of their rooms on the opposite side took one look at my fuming face and ducked back inside. The locks to their doors clicked in unison.
Which way to go, left or right?
I bolted right, toward the administrative side of the campus. Wolfy. Little pup. My sob rang out, a guttural cry of sorrow and fear. Please hold on. I’m coming.
No. Maddy…
Nothing would keep me from finding him. If someone was even yanking a hair from the top of his head, I’d rip them apart. Rage burned inside me like a wildfire, fueling the awakened beast. It hungered, and I had no intention of holding it back.
I raced through the halls, stopping at doors only long enough to listen. I couldn’t find him!
When I reached the end of the back hall, I plunged out through the door and stalled on the steps leading to the back part of the campus, where I’d climbed the tree and...a shudder ripped through me.
“There you are,” the redheaded Council member said. He released a chuckle that grated down my spine like sandpaper. “I knew something like this would work.” A rope was wrapped around his hand. He lifted it, showing off his blanched fingers. On the end of the rope…
Wolfy dangled, his tiny legs scrambling through the air as he spun overhead. Choking, his tongue bulged from his mouth, and his head tilted to the side as he strained to drag in air.
The memory of Sarah doing the same thing to me, only with magic, turned the spark of anger inside me into a full-blown inferno.
“Show us what you’re made of, girl,” the guy said. “We all know your shifter side will come through, and rumors suggest…” His arm lifted and lightning shot off his fingers. I ducked, and the blast hit the door behind me. Cracks splintered the surface and paint rained down around me.
“Suggest what?”
“That you’re something...different.” He chuckled and shot more lightning, still swinging Wolfy through the air. “Why not give us a taste?”
He was taunting me, trying to force something, and I hated that I felt trapped into giving it to him.
My wolfling friend’s gaze met mine, his eyes filled with fear for me. Never for himself. I wouldn’t let him be hurt because of me.
Get out of here, he said weakly in my mind. I can handle this.
No.
Pain screeched through my limbs.
“Yes,” the Council member said in a seductive tone, “like that. Show me what you’ve got, kid. We’ve all wondered. Now, we’ll know.” His hand flicked forward, and the ground beneath me shook. My feet went out from underneath me, and I tumbled down the short flight of stairs and smacked chest-first into the ground. I couldn’t suck air into my lungs.
With a gasp, I found myself again. While the ground continued to shake, I struggled to my feet and glared at the Council member, who tipped his head back and laughed. He nodded, and the grass grew tall around me. The strands grew like vines, reaching for me…they snapped around my neck, my legs.
No more!
Claws erupted from my fingers, and my sneakers popped off, revealing bigger, more deadly daggers at the ends of my toes. While I gaped down, my legs shivered and elongated. My spine snapped and bent. I hunched forward, whimpering, because...shit. It hurt!
As the viney grass scrambled to wrap me in its spiderweb embrace, a scream built inside me, a boiling mass of fury that would not be denied. It channeled out through my arms and legs. They jolted and twisted and grew bigger. Longer.
Like a pot bubbling over, the scream inside me crested.
With a poof, the grassy vines retreated. The hateful Council member backed away, but his eyes filled with glee. “There it is!” He lifted his hands, and the vines burst up from the ground again, lashing around my legs, my neck. Choking me, like he was choking Wolfy. “As a Tamer, I’ve been waiting all my life to master a true beast. Finally!” He flung his arms up, and the vines yanked me toward him. No, toward a mass of oozing mist. I had no idea how I knew this, but if that mist touched me, I’d be trapped. Somehow bound to him? No...I’d become his to control.
No!
“Who would have thought?” He practically salivated. “There are supposed to be no winged shifters, yet I will control your power!”
Not caring about his thoughts, I opened my mouth to shout at him to let Wolfy go, but only a deep, guttural snarl
came out.
“An impossible, yet stunning revelation!” He lifted his arm and blasted a bolt of magic my way. It hit my chest and yanked me forward, toward the mist…writhing, I shrieked and twisted, trying to break free. I tipped back my head and roared, shooting fire toward the sky.
“Hold on, there…” The guy stumbled over a root and, arms lifted, kept shooting magic that snared my arms, my legs. A band of power wrapped around my…snout?... but I bit it to shreds.
“You will submit to my will.” The bands of vines yanked me toward the wall of mist, while he shot power toward the earth. The ground rumbled, and a fissure opened between us. Puny thing. That would not stop me from reaching him. From getting free.
Wolfy backed away, to the end of his ‘leash’. He writhed and snapped, trying to break away. But while the councilman might have been startled, he didn’t release his grip on my friend. With a yank, he hauled Wolfy closer. He pulled a knife from his pocket, and the blade snicked free.
He waved the glinting hunk of metal in the air. “You want the pup?” he said. “Then step into the mist.” Looping the rope around his hand, he flipped his arm up, lifting Wolfy off the ground. While Wolfy scrambled at the end of his tether, his eyes bulging from his head, the guy flipped him around like a kid with a plaything. “Do it or the sentinel dies.”
Wolfy choked and sputtered.
Please, Maddy! he said in my mind, his voice fading as he faded. Go…I’ll...be okay.
His whimper slipped through. The Council member was never going to let my friend go. He’d kill Wolfy and toss his broken body aside, then eventually do the same to me once he’d sucked every bit of magic and power he could from me.
Crazed, I saw red.
My body shook and spasmed. As my limbs snapped, and my bones reformed into something they’d never tested before, pain burst from my back. My clothing parted or fell away. Whatever. It accommodated to release...a new me.
The ground dropped away as if I rode a rocket into the sky.
Growling, my throat on fire, I flapped...my wings. Yes. Wings!
With a flick of his wrist, the guy sent the misty trap rushing toward me.
Rogue Reformatory: Broken (Supernatural Misfits Academy Book 2) Page 17
