Remembering to lock the door behind me, I stepped into the dormitory area. It was still pretty quiet as most people were still eating. Without a glance backward, I headed down the hall and into the open areas.
The gargoyles were still there, still ugly, and still recording whatever went down at the school. If this were my school back home, this would have been highly illegal. Ravenscliffe had no such privacy laws. They could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted because laws governing magical beings were a lot different than those governing humans.
I glanced at the map in my hand and took a left at a huge stone pedestal. The thing was probably four times my length around its base. I couldn't imagine running into that thing. You'd knock yourself out. My fingers touched the cool stone and I shivered at the memory living in it.
Stone, gems, crystals, dirt ... anything that came from the earth's surface had memories inside of it. Why Rook magic reacted to it, I had no idea. Perhaps because a memory resembled an illusion. It was a whisper of our subconscious, not real and yet not fake. A memory washed over me. Students in Merlin regalia laughing on their way to class. A student being shoved against it and threatened, a knife held up to his face.
I shivered. I needed to remember the student's here were here for a reason and most of those reasons were not because they were model citizens.
Perhaps they weren't as bad as they were made out to be, though. I couldn't imagine Mannix being involved in anything ...evil. He seemed kind and he still held a secret that could get him killed. Why, I still had no idea. I looked down at the map again and looked up at my surroundings. All of this gray stone was enough to drive a girl mad. It all looked the same. There were some pictures and artwork hanging around, but the grayness of it leached any potential personality right out of the area.
I sighed and kept walking as I looked around for any signs telling me where I needed to go. Strains of beautiful music sounded through the hall. I perked up. It was the first real comforting sound I'd heard since I arrived and I wanted to see where it was coming from. I took a left and followed the music. It got a little louder so I took one more left.
Golden light spilled out of a room ahead of me. I stopped just at the edge of the door and listened. The sounds of a violin curled from within the room and melted in my ears. Tears sprang to my eyes. Whoever was playing had a gift. The sound was incredible. I edged a little bit closer to the door and peeked in.
A boy sat there. He was my age, but he looked otherworldly. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen and considering I'd just been sitting next to a prone Mannix, that was saying something.
Blond hair curled over his brow as his fingers slid the Roisin across the strings. He was alone.
The haunting music ebbed and rose, and I stood there enraptured by the sound of it. I edged a little closer and my shoes scuffed the stone floor.
The music abruptly stopped. His eyes pinned me into place as he stared at me. Anger darkened his face.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
My mouth opened and shut and I took a single step back. It was like I couldn't speak. All I could do was stare. He wore a white shirt unbuttoned, exposing a golden expanse of throat. His sleeves were folded up exposing muscular, tanned forearms. Black slacks encased long legs, but his feet were bare.
This beautiful boy was dressed like a maestro and yet he wore no shoes like he was poor. His eyes were large and an amber - the color of clover honey.
I was smitten. Enraptured.
"Who. Are. You?" the boy demanded again. He stood and set his instrument aside.
Gone. I was gone. I turned and fled, my feet carrying me swiftly away. I didn't stop until I was positive I hadn’t been followed. I collapsed against the cold stone, my breath coming in heaves. I bent myself in half, leaning over my knees and inhaling great gasps of air.
What in the world was wrong with me? Why hadn’t I spoken? I acted like a total stalker. Totally unlike me. But when I saw his face, something inside of me just tied up and refused to let go. It was the strangest reaction I’d ever had to a boy. I hoped I wouldn’t see him again.
However, I couldn’t shake the feeling I would.
12
I was only five minutes late to the committee meeting, but from the thunderous frown on Honey’s face, you’d have thought I strolled in with only five minutes left. I took a seat closer to the back of the room she’d reserved inside of the library, next to a few students I’d never met before. There were maybe ten people in the room, not including Honey sitting up front. She'd scribbled all over the white-board above her and had scratched out several ideas for a theme. Normally people waited at least ten to fifteen minutes in a school meeting before they started because teenagers weren't the best at getting anywhere on time. Or maybe that was just me.
Honey had gone right into it. I raised my hand.
"I hope you have a brilliant idea for the theme, especially since you're late." Honey's lips pressed thin against her pretty face.
I almost dropped my hand at her tone. "I do," I said after an awkward pause. "What about famous criminal couples?"
Honey blinked at me. From the corner of my eye, I could feel someone staring at me. It had to be Mannix. He was the only one who could make me feel like he was looking inside of my soul.
I chanced a glance and looked over. It was him. I offered him a little half wave which he didn't return.
"That's ... a great idea," Honey conceded and sighed heavily. "Why couldn't any of you come up with that?"
No one said a word, but a girl close to me grumbled, "I'm only here because I have to be."
Same, girl. Same.
"We could do real-life and fantasy villains. Like Bonnie and Clyde or Spike and Buffy." I grinned. "There are so many directions you can go with it."
Someone close to me snorted. "Buffy was a hero," I defended hotly. "But Spike was a villain and then eventually an anti-hero." I shrugged. "It works."
Honey slid her notepad over and jotted something down. "I'll run it by the principal, but I think he'll go for it. We've had a good year and haven't had many infractions. Good one, Harmony."
She changed the subject to assigning volunteer assignments and I listened with one ear as my thoughts shifted back to the boy playing music. I rarely heard music at the academy. But what I heard wasn't music. Not quite. It was ephemeral. Uplifting. I wanted to hear it again.
"Harmony?"
I jerked out of my thoughts. "Sorry. Yes?"
Honey's gaze narrowed. "We're putting you down for photo booth props. You'll have to order them online." Her lips twisted in annoyance. "They won't let us out to shop, but we're allowed to get packages. The front office will go through them, but as long as it is what it says it is, there won't be an issue."
I shrugged and pulled my phone out to use the notepad. "Got it," I said. "When is prom again?"
An annoyed sigh came from Honey. "Two months. It's in April. You should have plenty of time to find something appropriate." She turned her attention to Mannix. "I'll have you on the setup committee. The day of the prom, you'll have to be there early to set up."
Mannix shook his head. "I'm not going to the prom."
Honey chuckled. "I didn't say you had to. I said we needed you to set up. You can come in the morning if you need to, get everything set up, then get on home to your books or whatever it is you do at night."
Mannix's stare was unreadable and Honey realized maybe she went too far when he didn't acknowledge her.
She waved a hand around. "What I mean is you don't have to go to prom. We just need it set up."
That was a far cry from what she was inferring and we all knew it, but Mannix let it go. "I'll set up," he said.
A look of relief crossed Honey's face. "Great. Thank you."
I checked my phone discreetly and fidgeted in my seat as Honey droned on about all the responsibilities and everything else we had to do to make sure we put on "the most epic prom ever created." Her words, not mine. Whe
n she finally released us, I was itching to get back to my room, but I was also dying to corner Mannix and get some answers out of him.
We locked eyes on our way out of the room. He slowed down and allowed me to catch up with him. Mannix let everyone go before we did, and on our way out, he tugged me by the arm and led me down one of the massive library aisles. I stared up in wonder at the sheer amount of books this place had. I'd been in such a hurry to make the meeting that I didn't look around when I first walked in.
"This place is incredible," I said, not faking the reverence in my tone.
A smile played on Mannix's lips. "It's something. There are two other libraries inside, but one of them is completely off-limits to the students."
My curiosity was immediately piqued. "Have students ever been let in there?"
Mannix shrugged. "No idea. My brother attended here a few years ago and it was off-limits then, too."
He led me down one aisle, then took a sharp left. I followed behind him, trying not to stare at his back. He had the build of a swimmer and it was delicious. A lot of boys thought muscles were the way to go. I liked someone who was lean and in good shape. The size of the muscles didn't matter. It was the size of the brain that got me.
I could only assume Mannix was intelligent, but he'd never told me much about himself, so I only had my gut instincts to go on.
He stopped in front of a small metal door. I walked up beside him. "This seems like we shouldn't go in there," I whispered.
Mannix looked around to see if we had any witnesses. "It's one of the few places we can talk without being overheard," he whispered.
"But won't the cameras see us go in?" I said, confused and a little nervous.
"No. The library is one of the few places that don't have cameras anywhere. It does have recording equipment, though."
"Weird. Why?" I watched as Mannix carefully jimmied the lock.
"Because there's restricted reading material in here and if the tapes ever came up missing, there could be a lot of liability." The door popped open with a soft metallic sound.
"Dang. Okay. That seems excessive, but I guess it depends on what kind of magic you're dealing with."
Mannix ducked and stepped inside the room. He held a hand out and motioned for me to come forward.
I swallowed hard and stuck my hand in his. A couple more steps and I was inside. The door shut behind us with a snick, plunging us into darkness. I gasped in surprise, but Mannix created a small ball of purple light in his hand.
"Cool trick," I said.
"One of the first things they teach us here," Mannix said with a smirk. "Most parents teach their kids, too, just in case they're afraid of the dark. Interesting yours didn't teach you."
I sat on the floor. "I'm not afraid of the dark," I said in response. "Let's talk." I leaned forward. "Tell me why you were there that night."
A laugh escaped him. "We aren't going to ease into this with meaningless small talk?"
"Half of my life has been meaningless small talk. I just didn't realize it for awhile."
His brows drew together and he bowed his head. "Your memory spell. I'm sorry for that. I could sense the spell on you at the bar. It was a dangerous thing, Harmony. I'm more sensitive to magic than others, but there was a very real possibility that someone other than me might have caught on to who you were."
Mannix scooted down the wall and sat. "I was called out because of magic anomalies. It had been going on for a while, but over the last few days, power was spiking and we couldn't figure out why."
"How did you know I'd be in the bar? Or who I was?"
Mannix scrubbed a hand over his face. "Public records. I figured out you were adopted a few years ago and went from there."
Apprehension tingled in my veins at how easy he'd narrowed my identity down. "So what are you, some kind of special agent for these guys? Why are you allowed to go out and I can't?"
His gaze darkened. "My parents work for the Council. I get special privileges."
Something about that didn't ring quite true. "Privileges?" I pressed. "Like what?"
"Like being out in public. I may not get to see my parents, but I do get to see the outside world. If that's all they give me, then I'll take out."
"That policy is insanely terrible," I murmured. "I'm so sorry you were cooped up for so long."
Mannix glanced at me sharply. "Do you mean that?"
I jerked back. "Of course I do. Everyone deserves to see their family."
His lips twisted to the side and he rested his head against the back of the wall. I looked around the room we were in, unsurprised to find several shelves of extra books.
"Is this a restricted area?" I asked him. I got up and walked over to one of the shelves.
"I don't think so.”
I trailed my fingers over the gilded edges of the books and picked one of them up to look at the title.
"Compendium of Magical Beasts," I read. "This is kind of rich considering they won't let you outside to see anything."
I heard him snort with amusement. The room we were in wasn't big, but there was enough room to walk around. Still, it felt like we were in cramped quarters together. His presence was larger than life and I felt my chest squeezing at how close we were. We'd barely addressed the elephant in the room.
"Don't you want to know what happened?" I asked, still looking at the books on the shelf.
There was a moment of silence from behind me. "If you want to tell me," Mannix said. "I can only assume you're in hiding and have been for a long time. I didn't mean to rip the memory spell off, but once it started to unravel, I finished the job. I figured if you knew who you were, you'd have an easier time of it in here."
I wasn't sure how I felt about his confession. Part of me wanted to be angry at him for ripping away everything I knew. When I thought about it, though, wasn't it all false? I shook my head. "My name is Luna," I said quietly. It was the first real true thing I'd said since I arrived. I allowed my eyes to shut and the feeling of being truthful to wash over me. My name is Luna.
I hadn't uttered that name since I'd been a child. "But you can't call me that," I said. "It's too dangerous."
I heard Mannix shift around and his footsteps behind me. A moment later there was a warmth at my back. His hands touched my shoulders and his breath rustled my hair. "I like it," he pronounced softly.
"Aren't you afraid of me?" I asked. My breath caught in anticipation of his answer. If he knew my family, really knew what I was capable of, his answer should be yes. His hands tightened on my shoulders.
"No," he whispered. I slowly turned around to face him, my chin tilted up so I could meet his eyes. Mannix towered over me, his eyes unreadable in the quiet room.
"You should be," I said.
"How can I be afraid of someone who has been only kind?" he asked.
"The entire administrative staff here thinks I hate police officers," I accused.
His lips twitched then. "Sorry. I had to tell them something when I brought you in. I figured you'd prefer that over me saying I found the missing Rook."
A huff of amusement escaped me. "You made me sound way more rebellious than I really am."
He lifted a finger and curled a piece of my hair around it. "You're hiding in plain sight at an institution that eats rebels for breakfast." A small smile formed over his lips. "And you think you aren't a rebel?"
"By no choice of my own," I admitted.
"Would you rather be back home? Never knowing who you really are?" He stared at me, his eyes like two obsidian stones.
I thought about it for a moment. I was happy when I didn't know, but my magic wasn't. "The enchantment would have broken," I said. "Soon enough. Once the spell broke, I realized I was already beginning to use my magic even though I didn't know what it was."
"And you would have outed yourself as a Rook." He continued to curl my hair around his finger. My skin was covered in goosebumps. I wanted him to kiss me. It would be a terrible idea, but I hadn't had
a single good one since I got to this place.
Mannix leaned down, his breath warm against my face. "Luna."
My eyes fluttered shut as the sound of my real name poured like honey over my skin. "Don't call me that," I whispered, even though I never wanted him to call me Harmony again. My eyes opened just as he leaned closer. His lips pressed against mine, warm and sure. Mannix's hands tightened on my shoulders and slid down to my waist. He pulled me closer, and I wrapped my arms around him, pressing against the warmth of his body. His tongue gently pushed against the seam of my lips. I opened to him, deepening the kiss. Mannix's hands clenched against my waist for a brief moment until he pulled away.
We blinked at each other. He took a couple of steps away from me, rubbing his hands over his arms. "I'm sorry," he said.
I opened my mouth to respond to that but instead, I frowned. "For what?" I was definitely a willing participant.
"For kissing you." His fingers touched his lips and a furrow of worry appeared between his brows.
"Why? I liked it. Didn't you?" I took a step closer to him. "You don't have anything to apologize for."
"Okay," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "This is the strangest conversation I've ever had. You are ... direct." He huffed a laugh and turned away from me.
"And what's wrong with being direct?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. He was ruining this moment. Big time.
"I'm just not used to it," he mumbled. Mannix reached down to grab something and stood to his full height. "Are you ready to go?"
"Sure," I said lightly. "Kiss a girl and run away. That's how we're leaving this?"
Exasperated, he shook his head and held the door open for me. I brushed past him, trying not to inhale his delicious, woodsy smell.
Mannix followed me out and sealed the door. We were just about to start walking out when a sound made us both stop.
He held out a hand and put his index finger to his lips. I pantomimed zipping my lips then rolled my eyes. The sound of shuffling came from a few aisles over. I looked up to see the comforting light of the camera, but just as I started to relax, the light started blinking rapidly. A puff of sound came from above and the camera began to smoke.
Prom Fright Page 9
