That ... could not be good. I motioned frantically at Mannix and when he looked at me, I pointed upward at the camera. "It broke," I mouthed.
His brow furrowed, so I leaned over to whisper. "Broke. It's broken."
Mannix looked over his shoulder and back up at the camera. We both spun to find another one, only to see that one smoking too. He stilled even as the sound grew closer.
"Run," he said, his voice low and tense.
I didn't wait for more instructions. I took off like a flash, running like a madwoman through the library. Just as I was about to turn a corner, the lights went off, plunging the library into complete darkness. One thing the Merlin staff didn't believe in was generators, apparently. There was no whine of sound as the air conditioner picked back up. There was nothing but the sound of whatever was trailing us getting closer. Magicians could see in the dark. Not perfectly and not like an animal could, but enough to get around if we needed to. Of course, we preferred lights like normal human beings.
Mannix took my hand. "This way," he urged and tugged me behind him. We careened around corners and ran through aisle after aisle, but whatever it was wasn't letting up.
"How big is this library?" I huffed. I bent over, drawing harsh breaths of air.
"Think of the biggest library you know and quadruple it," he said.
The sound stopped. Mannix and I froze. "Is it gone?" I whispered.
"There isn't a thing in the world that would cut off the cameras and lights, then give up," he said.
I glared at him. "Haven't you ever heard of lying to soften the blow?" I muttered. "Remind me to never attend a motivational speech given by you."
"Harsh, Luna," Mannix growled. "I'm great at motivating people."
"Call me Harmony," I hissed. "Why is it after us?"
"It?" Mannix echoed. "How do we know it's an it?"
I shrugged. "I don't know," I groused. "It sounds creepy so I automatically assume it can't be human."
"I assure you humans are way worse than monsters," Mannix said, his voice dead serious.
I stilled. "You sound like you speak from experience." His gaze moved wildly as he tried to pin down whatever was chasing us.
"I do," he said. Mannix held out his hand again. "Come on. I think I know a way out of here."
I took his outstretched hand. "Then lead on. I'd like to get out of here in one piece."
We didn't run this time. Instead, we carefully prowled through the library, both of our gazes swinging around trying to find whatever it was tailing us.
I couldn't see much, other than the vague outlines of the bookshelves in front of me and the occasional abandoned shelving cart. "This is strange, Mannix. We're in an academy for crying out loud. Nothing comes in or out without the uppers knowing about it."
A snort escaped him. "It's like you don't think there could be anything already living here that might want us."
I stopped and dropped my hand. "Excuse me? There are things living here that might want to eat us?"
"I didn't say anything about eating you," Mannix said. He kept prowling down the aisle, oblivious to my apparent discomfort.
"This is usually what happens when something wants to eat you," I grumbled. "Haven't you seen a single horror movie?"
"Nope," Mannix said, his voice full of good cheer. "Those will give you nightmares."
I wanted to punch him in the kidney. "Fine then. Nothing is trying to eat us. Maybe it wants to invite us to a Pampered Chef party."
"It's possible. Those people will go pretty far to make a sale."
"If I had a book, I'd throw it at the back of your head," I said as I followed behind him.
"That would hurt me. Wouldn't you be sad?" Mannix said.
A smile lifted my lips. "Not at first. I'd be happy at first."
I bumped into Mannix's back as he stopped abruptly. Not feeling especially brave, I peeked around his shoulder.
A woman stood there. My gaze narrowed. No. An apparition. I came out from behind Mannix to take a closer look.
Shock rooted me to the floor.
"Mom?" I whispered. I held out my hands and rushed up to her, but as I reached out, my hands went right through her as she misted away.
"We don't have a lot of time," she said, her voice sonorous in the quiet. Her hair floated around her head and her eyes were just as green as I remembered. She'd lost a lot of weight and her gown swam upon her too slim figure. Her cheekbones were high but even more pronounced than usual.
"Are you okay?" I said, my fingers itching to touch her one more time.
Her lips twitched. "You always were more concerned about others than yourself. That's not a Rook trait, my darling, but it's a wonderful one." Her voice dropped, the tone of it urgent. "Listen, you are being followed by someone who suspects you are more than you say. I've diverted them but at great cost. I can only stay a moment more. Magic here is ... difficult and I can only gather power in slow bursts." Her gaze rolled to Mannix and she nodded. "You are different," she said. "If you betray my daughter, you will never have rest." She didn't wait for him to respond to her. "Luna, you must flee here and you must use your illusion magic to do it. You won't be able to get out of here without it. I'm not sure who it is after you. They're concealing themselves from me using powerful magic. Whoever it is wishes you both ill." Her figure began to fade. "Whatever you do, do not reveal yourself to anyone else, Luna. Trust no one but the boy here, but even still, if his honor is ever in question, draw into yourself. You are the only one who can save you. Your father and I are working on something, but it will be a while before it comes to fruition. Save yourself, Luna." A smile flitted over her lips. "Save yourself and you will save the world, daughter." Like smoke, my mother faded away, leaving me with more questions than answers.
The sound of pursuit came again, and I whirled around. Mannix stared at me like he'd never seen me before.
A figure appeared from around the corner, one made of shadow and mist.
I widened my stance to one my mother taught me. One that gave me good balance and allowed me to throw magic if I needed to. I hadn't used it in years, and I wondered if I would even be able to fight. As soon as I got back to my room, I was practicing until my old skills returned. If I had to use my magic, I had to confuse whoever this was enough to make them think it wasn't me.
"Who are you?" the voice intoned.
I didn't have to fake the fear in my voice. "Harmony," I said. "Who are you?"
A raspy chuckle came from the being. "You don't need to worry about that," it said.
"You don't need to worry about me, either," I retorted.
The being took another step forward. "You are not who you say you are."
I sighed. "I don't even know what that means, but I'm not pretending to be anyone else."
Lies.
I began to carefully form an illusion in the back of my mind. One that was simple, innocuous, and one that hopefully had the best chance of working. The worst thing that could happen when someone was in the commission of a crime was getting busted. Most people, when they were about to get caught, would rather flee than deal with the consequences. I kept that in mind as I thought about what I wanted to happen and how I wanted it to be brought into being.
"I checked out your story," it said. "The one where you were brought in. It never happened." Smoke swirled around the figure. There was something familiar about it, but I couldn't place whoever it was. If it was even a person, but I thought it was. Several spells could be utilized for magic like this. It wasn't even that good of an illusion.
Mannix stiffened next to me. This told me whoever this was had access to the student records. Or they broke in. But we hadn't heard anything about that and we were still having prom. So it was either a student with access to the office or it was faculty.
"I don't know why you care," I said, my voice flippant. "Why does it matter what I did as long as I'm here where I belong?"
"Because I know every student here," the voice hissed. "And
you are a ghost."
"Says the misty figure floating in front of me."
The lights turned on abruptly, and I threw up a hand to keep from being blinded.
"What is the meaning of this?" a voice boomed from behind the figure. It whirled around, the smoky robes still wisping around its feet.
"Mr. Mago - I - I have no idea what's going on!" The panic in my voice was clear.
Ms. Valois came up from behind him, a stern expression on her face. She pointed to the figure. "Let's go," she demanded. "The clinic will break the spell and then we'll know who you really are."
It whirled around again, almost indecisively, but just as Ms. Valois began to walk toward it, the apparition disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
I waited a few more seconds before I snapped my fingers. Ms. Valois and Mr. Mago disappeared into thin air.
I delighted at the expression of shock on Mannix's face as he realized what I’d just done. "You ... you did that?"
I nodded. Sweat dripped down my neck at the effort it took, but it had worked.
"That was incredible." He shook his head. "I've never seen an illusion that good."
"Yeah, well," I said, "it's why they're after me. Let's get out of here. Right now."
Mannix blinked and startled. "Oh. Right." He motioned for me to walk ahead. Right past that shelving area, take a right and we'll be back into the main hall."
I noticed he didn't touch me this time.
Disappointment sank my shoulders, but I shouldn't have been surprised. Being a Rook used to be something. Now all it did was strike fear into the hearts of everyone. Illusion was only okay if it was flawed or if it was simple. Something like what I had just done was too much. Too real. It frightened people.
Whoever that was who'd just tried to scare me had fallen for it. Just like Mannix had. There were only a few beings who could see through illusions, and I'd never met one of them. Shifters and witches normally couldn't, though some witches had some pretty good tricks up their sleeves which would allow them to see through something minor like I'd just done.
And it had been minor. Just scarily accurate.
We got to a small wooden door and Mannix opened it for me, allowing me to slip outside. As soon as the cold, damp air of the hall hit me, I took in a deep breath of air. I loved going to the library, but I wasn't so sure I'd go back to this one any time soon.
I glanced back just as the door shut behind us. There was no sign of the shadowy figure, but I knew it was just a matter of time before I saw it again.
Dread pooled inside of me. Whoever that was needed to be taken care of. I couldn't have someone digging around in my records whenever they wanted to. Granted, I didn't have much inside of them right now, but there was a good possibility I'd be stuck here for at least a year. I had no grand illusions about having and keeping a perfect student record, either.
It just wasn’t in my nature to be a model student. There was too much to see and do for me to maintain an A average and a good behavioral record. Even when I was younger I had trouble keeping the status quo. There was too much to learn and I was too curious not to dig to find the answers I needed. I wasn’t a bad kid, but adults didn’t like kids who were too curious.
Mannix walked ahead of me, his posture rigid. He made no move to make small talk.
Unsurprising. Stories of the Rooks still struck fear into people and even though my generation wasn’t as familiar with us as the older generation was, stories still circulated about our supposed misdeeds. Even if our family was cleared of wrongdoing there would be a shadow hanging over our family. Magic users had long memories.
I didn’t try to catch up with him. Instead, I hung back, my thoughts whirling about what had just happened. I didn’t like feeling like a pawn. My mysterious benefactor who’d left me clothing and toiletries knew exactly who I was. The visitor in the library suspected I wasn’t who I said I was, though I didn’t think they knew my identity.
Being here was dangerous. Knowing who I was would lead Mannix to danger. Perhaps this was the best thing for us. Him slowly pulling away would allow me to focus on how to get out of here instead of how well he kissed and how I’d felt when he held me close.
Mannix rounded a corner to our separate dorm rooms without saying goodbye. Instead of heading straight back to my quarters, I went to the office. They probably wouldn’t tell me anything, but I could still ask.
Ms. Valois manned the desk, her cool blonde hair perfectly coiffed. When she saw me, a flicker of distaste appeared across her face, but she quickly schooled her expression to neutrality. “Miss LeCharme,” she said as she inclined her head, “how may I help you?”
I knew she didn’t like me, though I couldn’t figure out why. I hadn’t done anything to her. Yet. At least, I didn’t know about it if I had. “Hello, Ms. Valois. I was wondering what the process was to check out a student record.”
Surprise flashed in her eyes. “Are you asking for a reason?” There was a slight hint of curiosity in her voice. I wondered if she would use this as gossip or if she really wanted to help me.
“I would like to know who checked my records out.” I figured the truth was the best policy here. If I asked about someone else’s record, she would more than likely clam up and refuse to tell me anything. But by telling her about my record, she would be more than likely curious enough to investigate.
Her lips pursed. “Miss LeCharme, I’m not sure I can give you that information.”
I held her gaze. “I have reason to believe someone is using those records against me.” I shrugged. “Or trying to. I don’t think I have much in them right now.”
One of Ms. Valois’s eyebrows lifted. “Right now?”
I shrugged. “I’m trying not to.”
The side of her mouth curled up in reluctant amusement. “Let me see what I can do for you.” She got up from her seat and walked to the back where dozens of file cabinets stood. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Everyone here had magic but they still used file cabinets that looked like they were made in the eighties. I guess even magic users needed hard copy records.
Ms. Valois came back a few minutes later holding a thin brown file. She pushed a piece of cardboard over to me. The top of it read “Record of Retrieval” and several columns showed places for documenting who signed the record out, why, and the dates.
There was only one signature on it. Someone named Archer Wahya.
My brow wrinkled. Why did that name sound familiar? I lifted my gaze to Ms. Valois. “Do you know who this is?”
At first, I didn’t think she was going to answer me, but she cleared her throat. “Mr. Wahya is the father of one of our students.”
Dread began to pound in my heart. “Which student?”
Sympathy pooled in her vivid eyes. “Ah, Mannix Wahya,” she said after a moment. “The student who brought you to us.”
A cold finger of fear ran down my spine. “What reasons would he have to do that? And also, it seems pretty egregious for you guys to allow parents to check out our records. What kind of privacy is that?”
“Mr. Wahya is not only one of our biggest benefactors, he’s also the head of the Council. They’re the governing body for the Merlin Academy and set our yearly curriculum.” A patient smile appeared on her face. “So, he’s authorized to see everyone’s student record.”
“Do you know why?” There was no reason listed on the file.
She shook her head. “Even if I did, I couldn’t tell you.” Ms. Valois looked around. “In fact, I’m probably pushing it even telling you as much as I did.”
A sigh escaped me. Great. So I said anything about this, I would get Ms. Valois in trouble. “I appreciate it,” I said and gave her a small, tight smile.
“No problem,” she said. Her voice dropped. “Harmony,” she said, her voice urgent, “if I can give you one piece of advice here, it’s to be careful when dealing with the Wahya family. He’s the most powerful man in Ravenscliffe and his help can be a double-edged sword sometimes.�
��
On that cryptic note, Ms. Valois sat up abruptly, just as the door to the office opened. “Now, Miss LeCharme,” she said, “I trust that will help?”
I nodded, not missing the warning look in her eye. “Yes, ma’am,” I said and ducked my head obediently. Without looking up, I headed out the door, not even stopping to see who’d come in.
I rushed back to my room, the information burning a hole in my brain. What in the world could Mannix’s dad be up to? The only thing it could be struck fear into my heart. Mannix had told me who I was. There was no way he couldn’t have. I was just some new girl at the Academy. He would have no reason to be interested in me unless someone gave him a reason.
I’d never felt less safe in my life and that was saying something.
As soon as I got back into my room, I looked through the items that had been sent to me. Dropping all pretenses of hiding my magic, I allowed my power to settle over me and I opened my second sight. I could always see through illusions, but I couldn’t see cloaking spells without a little more effort. I pawed through the clothing, carefully turning it this way and that as I searched for anything that my mysterious benefactor had placed on it.
I couldn’t find a thing. Frowning, I picked up the note and examined it. I held it up to the light and peered at the expensive parchment.
A hint of iridescence showed on the paper as I tilted it. I gasped. With a breath of magic, I lifted the spell from the sheet of paper and whispered the conjuring word to trace it back to its source. The magic welled within me and responded far better than I thought it would. I stood as a thin trace of magic floated from the paper and sifted a trail of silver dust on to the floor and out to the hall beyond. I would be the only one who could see it, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Without even bothering to change into something more comfortable, I grabbed one of the newly inspected cardigans from the bed and shrugged it on.
Students milled about the common areas of the dorm, but no one stopped me. I wasn’t well known or popular yet, so no one had any real curiosity about me yet. The magic glowed softly on the stone floor and abruptly turned into the shifter dorm. I stopped right before I entered the dorm room.
Prom Fright Page 10
