Horror unfurled in my gut, making my hands clammy. I wiped them on my pants. “What would someone be doing with all these girls?”
Ivy shook her head slowly. “Nothing good.”
The papers rustled slightly in her hand, cracking the depressing silence.
“Did you see they all specialized in a different kind of magic?”
She studied the papers again before handing them back to me. “I saw that, but I figured it was just random—maybe this sicko just likes to prey on girls from each region.”
I leaned back against my pillow. “You think it’s the same person?”
Ivy shrugged. “I don’t know, but even if there’s no connection to the prior disappearances, based on your notes, five fifteen-year-old girls have gone missing just this year. That’s got to be the same person.” She pulled her sweater over her head. “I don’t think Andar’s had to deal with anything like this since the assassinations and the disappearance of the princess.” Her voice came out muffled through the material.
I bolted up and stared at her while a million pieces suddenly clicked into place. “The missing princess.”
Ivy pulled her hair up. “What about her?”
I picked up the notes again even though I’d memorized all the information already. “She’s the link. How old would Princess Nicola be if she were alive?”
“She was born in the eighty-fifth year of Andar. So she would be our age.”
“But what cycle?”
Ivy screwed her eyes shut. “Her birthday party was the day of the assassination, which happened in the first moon cycle of the red season.”
The papers fell from my hand. “Ivy, the five girls who went missing this year were born in that same cycle.” That was the same cycle as Ivy’s birthday.
“What?” Ivy scooped up the papers from the bedspread, quickly scanning through them again. “Emmie, did you see this? The girl that went missing five years ago was ten years old.”
Our eyes met and my gut clenched. “That’s how old Princess Nicola would have been.”
“And here.” She pointed to another memo I had jotted down. “This girl nine years ago was—”
“Six years old,” I finished. Henry’s words came back to me about how it was just as likely that the princess could be a strong Magical with only one element. I had laughed earlier, but the idea only brought panic. “Ivy, all of the girls who've gone missing were considered to be strong Magicals.”
“Someone’s searching for the missing princess,” she whispered.
Chapter 7
“Did you hear about Josh and Celia?”
My ears pricked up at the whispers off to my right. It was Ignisday—two days of school down and two to go—and I had gone to the library after Henry’s class to get his homework out of the way before meeting with the others at the fountain.
“I heard it happened last night. Apparently, one of the teachers caught them, and now they’re suspended.” Another whisper reached me.
“I had no idea they were that serious.”
The voices stopped, and I focused on my homework. No need to listen to silly rumors about Josh and Celia. She’d tell me herself if something had happened. But then they picked up again.
“What do you think the Binding kiss is like?” This last comment had a distinctly wistful tone, and I craned my head to try to pinpoint the voices.
Why were they talking about the Binding and Celia and Josh? She wouldn’t have...
I slammed my book closed and stood before hurrying outside.
Gray and Neil sat on one of the benches, while Ivy paced around the fountain. Automatically, I glanced at Neil to reassure myself he was fine. Ever since we learned that Delegate Lancaster’s daughter was saying his name, I couldn’t stop myself. Why was she saying his name? Worry and jealousy battled uncomfortably in my stomach. I squashed them down to focus on the conversation happening around me.
“So what have you found out?”
Ivy was in full inquisition mode. She would never instigate rumors about someone—especially potentially harmful ones—but she loved nothing more than hearing good gossip.
Gray chuckled. “I heard Celia and Josh have been temporarily suspended and sent home for the time being. Elsie doesn’t know what to do with them.”
Ivy bit her lip. Our conversation about the princess was still fresh in both our minds. Celia was unprotected while a lunatic was on the loose and targeting girls.
“That makes sense,” Neil said. “The school doesn’t allow mixed-gender cohabitation. They aren’t prepared to deal with bound couples among the students.”
“Sounds like the school is in quite a bind,” Gray said.
I groaned, and Neil punched Gray’s arm.
Ivy smiled at Gray, but chewed her bottom lip. “So Celia’s with her family out in the open.”
“What do you mean ‘out in the open’?” Leave it to Neil to catch the little slip. Ivy and I hadn’t told the boys about our theory yet.
Ivy looked at me like it was your idea first.
“Well… Ivy and I have a theory.”
“Uh-oh,” Gray quipped. “We know what happens when the two of you get an idea in your head. Next thing you know, we’ll be in the headmistress’ office.”
“Excuse me?” Ivy placed a hand on her hip. “I believe sneaking out was your idea.”
“Yes, but the snowball fight was yours.”
“I think sneaking off campus is slightly more serious than a little snowball fight,” Ivy argued.
“Yes,” Gray admitted. “But we weren’t caught when we snuck out. We were, however, caught after the snowball fight.”
“Kids,” Neil interrupted, “I believe Emmie was about to tell us something important.”
Gray made an indignant squawk, which I ignored. “As I was saying, I did some research about the missing girls last week. When I talked to Ivy about it, she had a possible theory about a connection between the girls.” I hesitated.
Ivy continued. “Emmie pointed out a few similarities between the missing girls. All the ones who went missing this year were fifteen and considered to be strong Magicals with mostly different specialties. Also, they were all born in the first cycle of the red season around the same time of the assassination of Queen Ava and King Dominic. One particularly well-known Magical comes to mind who fits all these characteristics.”
Neil’s gaze locked with mine. “The missing princess.”
“That’s quite an assumption, considering most people think she's dead,” Gray said. “There are only rumors about her being alive.”
“But not completely unreasonable,” Neil countered. “And now, you’re worried about Celia, since this person has been targeting girls your age.”
I chewed my lip. “There have already been five disappearances this year for girls our age.”
“When was Celia born?” Neil asked.
I bit my lip. “I’m not sure.”
Gray pulled me into a hug. “It’s all right. I’m sure Celia’s family will take care of her.”
His words were comforting, but they were just that. Words. Should we contact her? Would anyone believe us? And what real reason did we have to think she’d be in danger, anyway?
“The school is one of the safest places in the country right now, with the heightened security, and now that she’s not here, it’s hard not to worry.” Ivy blew at her bangs, a habit she often fell into when frustrated.
“Worrying won’t get us anywhere.” Gray glanced around at the three of us and then shrugged off the tense atmosphere. “You know I’ve been hearing about the Binding all week, and I still have a hard time believing it.”
“Can you even imagine being bound at our age?” Ivy asked.
“I can’t.” I shook my head and stepped out of Gray’s hug.
At the same moment Neil, quietly answered, “I can.”
I gaped at him.
“What?” Gray was the first one to find his voice again.
My vo
ice was swallowed in a sea of nausea. I was confident Neil didn’t view me romantically, but that didn’t mean I liked the idea of him with someone else. A disturbing vision of one of the sexy Grade Ten girls clinging to his arm floated into my head, and I shook it off.
“What?” Neil echoed with a shrug of his shoulders before folding his arms and putting on a bland expression.
Ivy recovered first and shot me a sly grin. “Who’s the lucky Magical, eh? Maybe you should introduce us.” She elbowed Neil in the side and winked at me.
I glared at her. What was she doing?
Neil glanced at me, but the look in his eyes was hard to read.
Was my jealousy that obvious? I smoothed my expression.
“I suppose I could imagine being bound,” Gray drawled. “If Emmie were to kiss me right now, I wouldn’t even fight it.”
I elbowed Gray in the side. He could never stay serious about anything.
Neil’s body had gone rigid, and Ivy stared at us with an unrecognizable expression on her face. Clearly, I was the only one who recognized it for the joke it was.
I forced another laugh to put everyone at ease and pushed Gray’s arm off me. “Stop it, Gray. You know the Binding is no joking matter.”
“Who said I’m joking?” His expression was too outraged to be real, but Neil’s jaw was still clenched.
I frowned. “You’re freaking everyone out.”
He gave me an indecipherable look and shrugged.
“So, anyone up for a little sparring?” I asked to break the strange tension.
“Maybe next time, I’ll stay and beat you,” Gray joked, “but I promised Oliver we’d meet later to work on our Elemental Basics project.”
“Isn’t he that tracker in your grade?” At the mention of Exceptional Magicals, Neil’s stiff posture relaxed.
“Yeah.” Gray looked at him curiously. “How did you know?”
“I think Exceptional Magicals and their unique magics are fascinating. I’ve studied most of the ones here at school.”
“Cool,” Gray said slowly. “Except, by cool, I mean kind of weird.” He shook his head in a where did I go wrong with you kind of way.
Neil, accustomed to Gray’s dramatics, ignored him. “Aren’t you fascinated by the idea of Magicals who have exceptional abilities on top of their usual elemental magic?”
Gray shrugged. “I haven’t finished learning enough about my own magic to worry about others’.” Gray walked backward and waved, before pivoting to return to his dorm.
“I need to finish a project, too.” Ivy shot me a quick smile and hurried after Gray.
What project?
“I’ll spar with you for a bit.” I followed Neil to an open patch of dead grass where he took a fighting stance across from me.
The brooding look in his eyes sent a delicious shiver through me. “I won’t go easy on you,” I bragged to cover my reaction. At the same time, a trickle of nerves ran down my spine.
Neil was more than an even match for me. It didn’t seem fair that on top of being a Magical prodigy, he was also good at physical combat. In just a few lessons, he picked up moves I spent hours learning from Henry. But sparring with someone so skilled was good practice, so I kept my complaints to myself. Mostly.
An hour later, I trudged across campus next to Neil, tired and sweaty, but pleased. Neil hadn’t hesitated to use all his magics to try to catch me off-guard, and he’d beaten me twice, but I eventually completed a throw I learned last week, leaving him flat on his back in the final round.
The sun gently slipped below the horizon, painting campus in a brilliant red hue. We made it to the quad, and the sight of the benches off to the side reminded me of the snowball fight Gray had mentioned earlier.
“Neil and I can’t be on the same team,” Gray protested immediately. “That wouldn’t be fair for you two!”
Ivy and I grinned at each other. “We’ll be fine.” I looped my arm through hers and stared him down.
“But—” Gray protested, but Ivy immediately cut him off.
“Besides, you think we want you dragging us down?” she challenged with a smirk. “Think again, mister.” She poked him in the chest with each word. “Emmie and I are a team. Us against the world.”
“That’s you two,” I inserted helpfully, grinning at the boys.
“You don’t stand a chance,” Ivy goaded. “We have a kick-butt strategy all ready to go.”
Ivy had exaggerated a bit, since our ‘kick-butt strategy’ mainly consisted of hiding behind some benches, covering our tracks, and then ambushing them when they came by. But whatever.
If there was one thing Gray couldn’t stand, it was an unanswered challenge. He threw his shoulders back and stepped into place next to Neil. “Oh, you’re so going down.”
Neil shook his head, and I stuck out my tongue at him. Sure, maybe that kind of reinforced his point, but he was out there along with the rest of us. He loved a good snowball fight.
“And remember,” Ivy stressed before pulling me away, “no magic allowed.”
“That’ll be tough.”
Neil gave me a small smile before Gray pulled him into a huddle.
“A copper aeon for your thoughts?” Neil commented, breaking the silence that had been building for quite a few minutes. Dusk had set, making the campus a mess of shadowy blobs.
“Just thinking about that snowball fight,” I admitted with a small laugh.
“The one where you and Ivy cheated?” A smile accompanied his tone.
“We did not cheat.” I folded my arms. “We simply played by different rules.”
Neil coughed discreetly.
“You’re just sore about it because we totally clobbered you.”
“Yes, well, that’s what happens when one group decides to play by different rules.”
I giggled. If only I could float away on a balloon of happiness and leave my magicless reality behind. Then I could pretend it would one day be possible to Bind with Neil.
I passed one of the benches and hesitated. One-on-one time with Neil was pretty rare. “Want to sit for a bit?”
“Sure.” He sat and stretched his long legs in front of him.
I settled in next to him, wishing I had the guts to scoot over and take his hand.
Neil had said he could imagine being bound to someone now. Who? My balloon popped, bringing me back to reality. Did I dare ask him? The question bubbled up my throat, but I trapped it before it could escape and cause irreparable damage.
“So who are the other Magicals you’ve been stalking?”
Neil threw me an appalled look. “I haven’t been stalking them. I just like to be informed about those around me.”
I laughed at his expression.
“My roommate, Noah, is an Emote.”
“Noah’s an Exceptional Magical?”
He nodded. “And Gray’s friend, Oliver, uses tracking magic.”
Rare Magicals seemed to attract each other. Noah and Neil lived together, and Oliver and Gray were roommates.
I frowned. “What is tracking magic?”
“Sometimes I forget you haven’t taken the same magic classes like the rest of us.”
I winced. “I wish I could forget.”
Neil reached out toward me, and my heart pounded furiously. Would he hug me?
His hand changed direction and ruffled my hair instead. “It’s all right, Munchkin. I’ll tell you anything you want to know about magic. It’s only fair, since you’ve been teaching me all sorts of hand-to-hand tricks.”
I ducked out from under his hand and laughed to hide my disappointment. I hated that nickname. It was a sure sign Neil did not view me romantically. Back to the friend zone for me. “Okay, well, you can start by explaining what a tracker does.”
“Only an Earth Magical can use tracking magic, and even among them it’s fairly uncommon. In our school, I believe there are only three, and one of them is the Earth Academy head teacher.”
“Wow.” What would it be like
to have such rare magic?
“I’ve never talked to any of them about it personally, but based on what I’ve read, it sounds like they track people based on their magical imprint.”
I tilted my head to the side. “I didn’t know magic left an imprint.”
“Most people can’t see it, but Trackers can use them to find people anywhere in Andar.”
I whipped my head to the side to stare at him, wide-eyed. “Even if they’ve never met them?”
“I think they need to have met them at least once. Otherwise, it would be like pinpointing the voice of someone you’ve never spoken to before in a room full of people. But once a tracker meets someone, they remember that person’s Magical imprint and can find them no matter where they are.”
“That’s a little scary,” I admitted. I sat up straight. “So, if he had met the missing girls before, Oliver would be able to find them?”
“I believe so.”
I let him stew in silence until my curiosity got the better of me. “Can all Magicals feel the magic of those around them?”
He shot me an inscrutable look. “We aren’t capable of tracking people, but once your magic manifests, you can sense everyone else’s. It’s sort of like an aura around a person. That’s another reason Binding is so tricky.”
“Tricky? It seems simple enough. All it takes is one kiss.”
One kiss?
Neil cupping my face with his hands. His blue eyes twinkling as he leaned in closer. That maddening dimple that I’d finally have a chance to kiss. My face grew hot. Please don’t notice.
“It’s not tricky to do. It’s tricky to do it right. You want to Bind with the right person.” His voice was quiet, and he cocked his head to the side as he studied me.
“But what does your magic have to do with that?” My voice squeaked out under his scrutiny, and I tried to banish the vision of him kissing me from my mind more fully.
Neil frowned “Each Magical has a unique imprint with their magic, kind of like a Magical scent.”
I scrunched up my nose. Did I have a scent? Or was I scentless? I wasn’t sure which was weirder.
“Some scents go better with others, and some don’t mix at all.”
Unleashed Magic (The Chronicles of Andar Book 1) Page 9
