“Where did the blood on your clothing come from?” the guy asked in a casual tone that was contradicted by the rage in his eyes. He was toying with us; he already knew. “Tell me!”
I jumped and backed up, stumbling into Rhys, whose fingers grabbed onto mine and squeezed.
Cece stepped forward, putting herself between us and the Council member, her hands clamped into fists at her sides. “We, um…”
“There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation,” Aidan said smoothly, advancing around her and toward the man.
Too late for Aidan to use glamour. We’d been caught, and we were in deep shit.
“This looks suspicious,” he growled. “What have you done?”
Aidan shrugged with inhuman grace. “We were down here looking for supplies for the dance.” Even I could hear the faint hum of power in his voice, but the Council member seemed impervious to Aidan.
The guy flicked his hand to the open incinerator door. “Get inside.”
A shudder ripped through me.
“What?” Cece barked. “No, we’re—”
“Run!” Rhys shouted.
“This way,” Wolfy cried, rushing straight at the guy. We beat past him, knocking him aside, then ran down the hall to the right. Aidan and Cece, hot on our heels, turned left.
Snarling, the Council guy whirled and shot magic in both directions. The orange beams hit the stone wall beside my head. The rock shattered, sending sharp missiles pinging around Rhys and me. One hit my cheek, and I yelped but kept running.
“Come on,” Wolfy cried, rushing down a hall I’d never seen before.
“You know where we are?” I panted to Rhys. I wasn’t sure where my sentinel friend was taking us.
“Nope.”
We ran, magic blasting around us, but when we hit an intersection and turned right, we smacked into Aidan and Cece. How the hell...
The Council member strode closer, his arms lifted. Power slithered across his fingertips like fiery snakes.
“What do we do?” I hissed to Rhys.
He tucked me behind him, then moved off to the right, edging down the hall.
“Game’s up. Now, tell me what you did with Frank,” the guy shouted, spittle flying. “I know you’ve done something.” He stopped a few feet in front of us, and his feral gaze pinned us in place.
Cece reached out and latched onto my hand. We inched closer together, seeking the comfort and protection neither of us could give the other.
“Frank…” Aidan said calmly, moving toward the Council member, “the man with the red hair? I believe I met him when he came to dinner one night at my parents’ estate.”
“Estate?” I hissed to Cece. She squeezed my hand.
The Council member flicked his fingers, and Cece and I were lifted off the floor, so fast I had to duck or my head would’ve slammed into the ceiling.
“You must know my parents,” Aidan continued in an even tone, as if we weren’t dangling above him. My wide-eyed gaze met my sister’s, but she shook her head. “I can’t imagine they’d be pleased to learn you’re assaulting me—even given the nature of my enrollment at Wadsworth. And you cannot prove we did anything.”
“You’re covered with blood,” the Council member spat out. “Frank’s blood.” His face scrunched. “I smell his death all over you.” A snap of his fingers, and Aidan was pinned against the wall.
“Let’s speak reasonably about this, shall we?” Aidan said. Not a hint of being flustered. How could he remain so calm? Did he think he could talk our way out of this? “Why don’t we go upstairs to the cafeteria and talk? We can get some coffee.”
The Council member puffed his chest. “Don’t even try that fairy junk with me. Do you know who I am? I’m—”
Magic soaring off his fingers, Rhys leaped on the guy from behind, and they both tumbled to the ground, Rhys landing on top.
Aidan peeled himself off the wall just in time to slow Cece’s and my drop to the floor. Our feet settled easily, and we rushed over to join Rhys. As the guy bucked and roared, Rhys dropped his head down. White fangs shone in the dim light of the hall just before they sank into the Council member’s neck.
Vampire. Sometimes, I forgot that my boyfriend wasn’t only a sorcerer.
He drank deeply while we gaped. Even Aidan appeared surprised by Rhys’s actions. Cece watched in disbelief, a hint of disgust on her face.
“Rhys is…” she whispered. “Is he eating him?”
The Council member stopped struggling. His arms slumped, and he stilled. When his tortured groan rang out around us, Rhys lifted his head. His red-hazed gaze met mine, and he licked the tips of his fangs before they retracted. With a grunt, he shoved himself up and off the other man, then reached down and hauled the bigger guy to his feet as if he weighed no more than Wolfy.
Turning, Rhys pinned the guy to the wall, but with his lolling head and dazed eyes, he didn’t appear to pose a threat any longer.
“We look perfectly normal,” Rhys said softly in the guy’s face. “No blood.”
“Normal…” the guy repeated in a monotone.
Rhys’s fingers tightened on the guy’s throat. “We got lost looking for supplies for the dance, and you found us. You were just about to tell us how we could find our way back to the first floor.”
“Yeah.” The Council member’s words came out garbled, as if he spoke with marbles in his mouth. “Glad I found you kids. It’s dangerous down here. Wouldn’t want any of you to get hurt.”
“You won’t tell anyone we were here,” Rhys said, death dripping from his words. “You’ve been looking for Frank, but you didn’t find him.”
“Won’t tell. Didn’t find Frank.” His blank gaze stared forward.
Rhys turned our way, his eyes back to normal, though the glance he darted in my direction was filled with concern. Was he worried about what I thought of his actions? Frankly, what he’d done was awesome. “Anyone have any questions for our new friend, since he’s feeling compliant at the moment?”
Aidan stepped forward. “How do we destroy the power source?” Rhys repeated the question.
The Council member’s gaze dragged over to land on Cece. “The empath knows.”
Cece flinched. “Me? I...don’t.” Her hands splayed wide. “I mean, we tried. It didn’t work.”
“Tell me more,” Aidan growled. “What does the empath know?” Once again, Rhys asked.
“Only she holds the power,” the man stated slowly.
“How?” Rhys demanded, lifting the guy up off the floor with one hand. He shook him, and his head flopped like a bobblehead doll. “Tell me!”
“She has everything she needs.”
Aidan huffed out his frustration. “This is getting us nowhere.” His gaze cut to Rhys. “Can you make him be more specific?”
“I don’t think so. He must have guards in place.” Rhys’s fingers loosened on the guy’s neck, and he lowered him until his feet touched the ground. “We’re dealing with magic more powerful than any we’ve seen before.” He kept his fingers snug on the Council member’s throat. The bite mark had disappeared.
Cece stepped forward, though she kept hold of my hand. “Why are you here?” While she exuded confidence, her voice shook, though I might have been the only one able to hear the subtle difference.
Scratch that. Aidan’s hand settled on her lower back, and the back of her hand glowed gold for a second. My sister’s chin lifted.
Rhys repeated the question to the Council member.
“We’re here for the dance,” the guy said.
“You guys wouldn’t bother coming to Wadsworth for a dance,” Rhys said. “Tell us why you’re really here.”
“To take back what is owed.”
“What is owed?” Rhys shouted. “Tell us!”
“Power.”
Rhys snarled, as pissed off as we were about the evasive answers. He tightened his fingers on the guy’s throat. “How many of you are here?”
“Five.”
Rhy
s flicked his gaze toward Aidan. “Fuck. The entire Council.”
What would bring all of them to this location at one time? They wouldn’t want to dance, that was for sure.
The room behind us might be part of the answer.
“Who are they burning in the furnace?” I asked.
“Those no longer needed,” the guy said once Rhys had nudged him with the question.
Shit. Cece had been right.
“We’re getting nowhere,” Aidan said, pacing. “We need to get out of here before someone else finds us.” He lifted his hand, and the blood on our clothing shimmered and disappeared. But my itching skin told me that, while it might have been glamoured from view, it still clung to me. Evidence of what I’d done.
“Ask him why they were interested in controlling Maddy,” Wolfy said, coming up beside me. He leaned into my leg, and I stroked the soft fur on the top of his head.
Rhys and Wolfy stared at each other for a long moment, making me wonder if they could also communicate in their minds. But that was impossible. Wolfy was bound only to me.
Rhys repeated the question.
“The sentinel holds the key, but the guardian will control all,” the guy said.
“Umm,” Rhys said, “that doesn’t make sense. Not from what I’ve read so far about guardians.”
“We need to leave,” Aidan ground out, his gaze flicking to the hall ahead of us.
We were wasting precious time. The answers were only creating more questions.
Cece tapped Rhys’s arm, and his grip loosened on the Council member’s neck. “Will you let him go free?”
“I’ll have to. One Council member missing is suspicious enough.” He turned to the guy. “Don’t tell anyone we spoke.”
The guy’s eyes continued to stare forward blankly. “Tell no one.”
Rhys released the guy, who slumped down to the floor. He landed on his ass with his legs splayed wide, his head toppling to the side onto his shoulder.
“Will he...revive?” Cece asked.
“My spell will wear off.”
So Rhys had not only entranced the guy with the bite, but he’d used a sorcerer’s spell to keep him compliant.
“Hey, Samuel,” a gruff male voice called out from further down the hall, “you down there?”
We stared at each other, our eyes widening.
“Samuel?” Stomps started our way. “What’s the hold-up?”
Cece patted her pockets, and her eyes went wide. “It’s back!” she said. “Everybody grab on!” We all laid a hand on my sister as she held her closed fist in front of her and spoke. “Get us out of here…”
In a flash, we stood in the attic.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Cece
“Not this again,” I groaned as I took in the dusty attic. The marble in my hand flared, and for a second, I felt like it was chastising me. “All right, all right. I hear you,” I said as I headed toward the painting. I could feel the weight of the others’ gazes on my back. Sure, I probably looked crazy, but I didn’t care. My crumbling sanity was the least of our worries.
Maddy was at my side with the boys tight on our heels as we wove through the piles of crap. Within seconds, we stood before the painting. The dragon’s face was in the forefront, all but blocking out the rest of the scenery. His eyes flared red and smoke billowed from his nose. It filled the air around us, and I choked on the stench.
“You fools still have not succeeded,” he growled in frustration.
“Sorry, Puff. Maybe if you weren’t such a cryptic dick, we’d know what you wanted from us,” I spat back. My nerves were shot and my patience had long since disappeared. But the pawing of the mini-wolf at my leg served as the warning I needed. The dragon was ancient, magical, and pissed off. Maybe treading lightly was a good idea.
“What my sister is trying to say,” Maddy started, shooting me an eyebrow-raised look, “is that we don’t understand. What have we failed to do?”
“Destroy the source, of course.”
“We’ve got our hands full with other stuff at the moment,” Rhys said, anger tainting his tone.
“I’m sure you do,” the dragon replied, sitting back on his haunches. “The Council has arrived.”
We all shared a look. “How do you know that?” I asked softly. “How could you know that?”
The dragon smiled back at me, gleaming, sharp teeth filling the width of the painting.
“You have disrupted their operation. They have come to make it right—by any means necessary.”
“One of them said that they’d come for what was owed,” Maddy said. “That they’d come for power.”
“Well done, little sister,” he replied, eyeing Maddy with an intensity that made me shiver. I felt Rhys press closer to her back, as though he felt the threat, too. “Am I correct in assuming that you were the one to eliminate Frank? Or should I say your dragon...”
Maddy went a bit pale next to me, and I realized the double meaning in the dragon’s name for her. ‘Little sister’ hadn’t been a reference to her relationship with me. It was a nod to their reptilian connection.
“How do you know all this?” I demanded, stepping so close to the canvas that I felt the heat of his huffed exhale on my face.
He leaned forward until I thought he’d pop right out of the painting. “The question, empath, is why didn’t you know more?”
“Enough of this,” Aidan snarled as he stepped to my side. “How is the Council going to take power?”
Those slitted eyes shifted to the fey boy at my side and narrowed in anger. “I would think the son of the most powerful fey would know more about this.” Fear tugged at my heart, but it was not my own. Aidan’s emotions were clouding mine as he stared down the dragon. “I’d hurry if I were you,” he continued. “It is time…”
The dragon gave us all one final, pointed stare, then whipped into the air, his massive wing blacking out the portrait for a second before he shrunk in size as he flew back to his castle and resumed his post on the turret.
A gust of wind blasted us, tossing my purple hair wildly. I looked over my shoulder at Rhys and Maddy—at where their hands clasped together—and wondered what in the hell we were in for next.
As soon as the thought entered my head, the four of us found ourselves standing outside the cafeteria, the deep thrum of music coming from beyond the double doors. As one, we turned slowly to see the entire student body of Wadsworth inside the transformed room. Lights and streamers and all sorts of ridiculous party accoutrements riddled the room. All it was missing was a disco ball in the center.
“What the fuck…?” I whispered as I stared at the dance, already in full swing.
“Look,” Rhys said, pointing at the clock on the wall. 7:05…
“But how?” I asked, dragging my gaze to my sister. My eyes went wide as I took in the indigo dress she wore; the one we’d found in the random room near the attic. I took a step closer and felt the soft brush of silk against my skin. “Holy shit…” I glanced down to see the form-fitting purple dress draped over my body. It looked like it had been made for an old Hollywood starlet, only it fit me perfectly. Nervous, I turned to find Aidan—in a suit—staring at me, his bloody uniform gone. Rhys was similarly adorned.
“I lost time when I went into the wardrobe the other day,” Maddy said, the waver in her voice telling me she was as freaked out as I was. “Maybe the same thing happened again?”
“It’s possible,” Aidan agreed, still staring at me, “but it doesn't matter now. We have a job to do—”
“There you are!” a voice called from down the hall. The headmaster rushed toward us, a smile on his face. “Celine, Aidan, I have to say that you two did an amazing job with the decorations. And look at you girls!” he exclaimed, stopping next to us. “You look stunning. I don’t know how you found dresses for all the girls, but well done. It really adds to the festivities!”
The man practically beamed with pride and excitement, and all I could think was th
at, at any minute, everything might go to shit.
“Glad we didn’t disappoint, sir,” I managed to say.
“Not at all. I’ve been looking all over the school for you two,” he said, eyeing Aidan and me. “I want to thank you in front of the student body for your hard work.”
“Um, I kinda need to stop by my room for something first,” I said, trying desperately to stall. We hadn’t even devised a plan yet, for God’s sake!
Headmaster Warren looked at us expectantly as he held open the door. “Let’s not dilly-dally when there’s fun to be had.”
Maddy and Rhys walked in, shooting us concerned looks as they passed. Aidan and I shared one as well before we followed them in, breaking off to trail the headmaster as he headed for the mic. I tried not to fidget as we strolled past Sarah and her friends, knowing full well that Aidan couldn’t glamour his way out of this one. Not when the headmaster planned to thank us both in front of the whole academy.
Fuck.
Double fuck.
My hands subconsciously drifted to my neck, as though I could stop the attack that I knew would soon follow.
I didn’t dare look at Aidan, but I didn't need to. His concern wafted toward me like a fog rolling in. It settled at my feet when we stopped, holding me in place.
To distract myself from Sarah’s rage that was also wafting my way, I searched the room for any sign of the Council. Nothing. The only adults I saw were teachers and keepers, most of whom I recognized. None looked or felt like power-drenched councilmen.
“Students!” the headmaster began, trying to quiet the crowd. With nothing else to focus on, my gaze drifted over the students. What I found was not encouraging. Instead of happy-go-lucky partygoers, I saw a disgruntled mob. I reached out to them, scanning their collective aura with my power. Hatred burned hot like fire in my lungs, and I realized that we were standing in a powder keg. A room filled with animosity and kids who had access to their magic.
One wrong move and it would blow.
I dared a sideward glance at Aidan, and his tense jaw told me that he knew it, too.
“I’d like you all to give a nice round of applause to Celine and Aidan. They’re responsible for this little soirée tonight, and they worked very hard to make it amazing for you.”
Rogue Reformatory: Broken (Supernatural Misfits Academy Book 2) Page 19
