by LJ Swallow
"What are you doing?" he whispers.
"Listening." I press an ear against the smooth wood, but I'm pulled away as Jamie grabs my arm.
"You can't do that."
“The solid wood stops me anyway. I wish I could hear something, though."
“Tobias could be taking Sofia on a date?" Jamie suggests.
I splutter a laugh at the idea, but why not? They’re both professors and single, presumably. Attractive. I despair at myself as jealousy creeps under my skin. "Maybe. Or perhaps Tobias really is here to talk about us.”
A silence bigger than the ones that punctuated our meeting with Sofia takes over as we both stare at the closed door. Hell, no.
All we can do is leave and hope we’re not called back again.
Chapter Six
MAEVE
The lesson I've dreaded.
The runes in Tobias's doorway glow as I step over them, and I keep my head down as I make my way to the desk beside Amelia. As I sit, I glance up—Tobias isn't here yet, but the slow footsteps sounding on the tiled floor behind me are his. My stomach flutters as he passes, and I push down my stupid mix of attraction and fear around him.
Two days since we saw him walk into Sofia’s office, and two days without any word from him or Sofia. I saw Theodora walking the grounds yesterday and freaked out when she trained her gaze on me. She merely smiled and passed by.
Has Tobias kept his word and not told anybody?
Andrei sits across the room, silent and with his shoulders hunched. His phone is never visible in the Mental Magic class. Tobias is one teacher Andrei doesn't cheek—the reason why is obvious. Beside me, Amelia's stress glows on her face, and Jamie raps his fingers on the edge of his laptop.
Tobias perches on the corner of his desk at the end of the room, long legs stretched ahead, and hands clasped together in his lap. He surveys the room, which drops into silence. Nobody messes with this guy's authority.
“Welcome back to Mental Magic,” he says.
"Did you enjoy half-term, Tobias?" asks Katherine sweetly.
Well, almost nobody.
He lays his eyes on her, expressionless. "I did, thank you. How about you? You spent your time completing your missing assignments for me, I presume?"
“I’m a little behind still.” She waves around a pen around. "But I'm catching up with help."
Beside me, Jamie snorts quietly.
Katherine places her elbows on the table and hands beneath her chin. “Do you think you could help me out sometime, Tobias?” she purrs.
“My door is always open to help students.”
“Oh, yes, we’d keep the door open. I wouldn't want anybody coming to the wrong conclusion if I spend time alone with you."
I choke back surprise at her impertinence. Tobias's expression darkens and Katherine dips her head. Was this a sly dig at me over Tobias?
"You are a vacuous girl, Katherine,” he says, voice low in warning. She whispers something to a friend next to her, who shrugs. Tobias sighs. “Perhaps borrow a dictionary or work harder on your English studies, if you've no idea what the word means."
Katherine’s mouth thins and she meets his eyes in challenge. Wow, this girl doesn’t know when to give up. Their stand-off remains long enough for a murmur to travel around the room, before she shakes her hair over a shoulder and looks away.
"What the hell was that about?" whispers Jamie.
“Katherine saw me with Tobias on Halloween.”
I watch as Katherine whispers to her friend and looks between me and Tobias.
"Crap."
An irritated Tobias launches into his lesson, ending our conversation.
I keep my head down and don't say a word as the class discusses correct and incorrect uses for mental magic. I can't help the word 'brainwashing' jumping into my head, but after the events the other night, I’ve let go of prejudice.
All I want is for the lesson to end, but I’ve a heart-thumping worry he’ll ask me to stay behind to talk to him again.
"Maeve." I snap my head up as he addresses me. "Could you give an example of a situation you feel is appropriate to influence a human's mind?"
"Uh." I clear my throat. "Um. If the person sees an event they can't explain?"
"Such as?"
My palms slick as other eyes in the room turn to me. "Like someone shifting. Or a vampire attack."
He coughs a laugh. "Well, they are obvious reasons, Maeve. I meant something less extreme."
"The unexplained," puts in Jamie. "Something that doesn't 'feel' right to a human.”
“Such as when humans stop working at the academy," puts in Andrei. "We wipe their minds so they can't spread rumours."
Tobias gestures at him. "Exactly, Andrei. Maeve, I'd love for you to practice for the next lesson, and a compliant human who works at the academy would make a good subject."
A protest catches in my throat, but he knows I'm beaten. I can’t deny these things are a normal part of my life now.
"I don't know if I'm capable yet,” I blurt. “What if I screw up?”
"You could give Maeve some extra tuition," says Katherine in a sly voice. "I mean, Maeve needs a lot more practice, and I think she’d be happy in your hands.” I tense and look to Tobias. How does Katherine get away with talking to a professor in this way? “I’m not implying she’s special, of course. There’s Andrei, for instance. You help with his struggles too.”
"I help those I feel deserve my time,” he says.
Andrei glowers at his desk.
Please don't agree to help. Don't put me in that position with you.
"I had an issue the other day," pipes up Amelia, and Tobias looks to her in confusion. "With my uh... rain. I was practicing a spell—conjuring clouds behind the Walcott building—and a human guy carrying boxes to a storage shed saw me. I stopped casting as soon as he appeared, but the guy looked at me oddly. I think he saw the cloud suddenly disappear.”
“And what happened?” asks Tobias warily.
“I’m not sure. I think I managed to talk him away from the memory, but influencing human minds is something we all struggle with.”
“Not all of us, sweetie. Maybe Amelia needs extra tuition too?" suggests Katherine to Tobias. "Both her and Maeve together, after class.”
Wow, this girl walks a thin line.
"Katherine Edelston. Report to my office at Petrescu tomorrow afternoon. I will not put up with your insolence. I don’t care who your family are—you do not speak to me in this way."
Katherine chews her lip and throws me a smug smile. She achieved what she wanted—his control slipped and left others in the room guessing why.
Chapter Seven
MAEVE
Poor Amelia. Her large eyes are wide open and face pale as Tobias asks to see her after class. Should I feel guilty that I'm glad he asked her and not me? I hope Amelia isn’t in trouble over the incident with the human staff member and her cloud.
I whisper that I'll wait outside, and Jamie waits with me.
The hallway empties as other students leave for their next class. I'd arranged to meet Ash outside too, after the shifter meditation class he's agreed to attend now. Finally, Ash's distinctive figure strides along the hallway. He's sour-faced, so I don't dare ask how his class was.
"What are we waiting here for? Where's Amelia?" he asks gruffly.
"Tobias wanted to talk to her."
"Huh?"
I explain what happened in class to Ash but am interrupted when the door opens. Tobias stands with crossed arms and looks at us.
“Aha. You're all here." He looks up and down the hallway. "Have the other students left?” I nod. “Good. Please, come in. It's time we all had a chat."
Silently, we file into the classroom, and I feel as if I’m walking into court. Instead of taking the three of us into his small office, Tobias gestures at us to take our places at the desks.
I exchange glances with an ashen Amelia, who’s already seated.
The door opens again and Andrei lope
s in. He sits at a desk close by and shifts away from us. I stare up at the strange runic symbols lined around the wall and the pictures depicting... I don't know. Demons? I slowly catch up to the fact this is reality, but sometimes I struggle.
"I asked Amelia to stay back because I knew you'd all wait for her. I’m cautious about arousing suspicion, particularly after Katherine’s words today.” I look down at the desk. “I've spoken to Andrei about Halloween, but I need to be clear on a few things with the rest of you before the matter is dropped.”
“Are we in trouble?” blurts Amelia, voice thick with anxiety.
“No. As promised, I haven’t spoken to your house heads, or Theodora, but there is an issue that is out of my control." He looks to me, our eyes meeting for the first time since Halloween. “Maeve, the Confederacy watch hunters’ movements, to determine if they’ll draw attention or pose danger. Mostly, the hunters to find supernaturals. However, Confederacy and Dominion both eliminate hunters, but only on rare occasions and if sanctioned by their commanders.”
I blink at the word ‘eliminate’ but say nothing.
“If the Confederacy discover somebody attacked hunters without proper authority, the assailants will be found and punished,” he finishes.
“Shit,” mutters Ash. “Confederacy found out, didn’t they?”
“We are fortunate that nobody died, and that the hunters’ spur of the moment decision to follow Ash means they weren’t directly under surveillance by Confederacy troops. However, they are aware hunters were attacked.”
I swear under my breath.
"You look worried, Maeve," he says.
"This is my fault."
"Can you do anything?" asks Ash. "You told us you're watching Maeve on behalf of the Confederacy."
"I have some influence, but not much. I can work out how to deflect attention from the incident, but the attack on them was clearly supernatural. I managed to wipe the mind of the injured man when I left him near the hospital, but two escaped, as you know. We need to find the two hunters and wipe their minds."
He says his last words looking directly at me.
I expected Tobias to say we need to kill the hunters—informing us we need to wipe their minds is a relief.
"How do we find the hunters?” asks Jamie. “Where do we go?”
Tobias shakes his head. “I’m unsure yet, Jamie. But if what I'm sensing from Maeve is true, you can't join us."
Jamie takes a sharp breath and looks away.
"Why can't Jamie help?" asks Ash, eyes narrowing.
“He’s in danger,” Tobias replies.
I shake my head at Tobias. No. We’ve strict instructions from Theodora not to say anything about Jamie.
“I knew something weird was going on,” Ash exclaims. “Tell us."
“Why are you saying this?” I ask Tobias.
“The longer you wait to tell your friends, the worse the consequences will be to your unity.”
I rub my head. “Jamie?" I ask.
He shrugs and looks at the black-draped window.
“What’s happening?” asks Amelia. “I don’t understand.”
I force the words I’ve wanted to say to her, but dreaded the day I would. "I've seen Jamie die," I say softly.
Amelia's whole body tenses and Ash stares at me, speechless.
“Whoa! I thought so,” says Andrei. "I caught something from you the times I helped stop your visions."
Jamie snaps his head around. "What do you mean, stopped them? Maeve? I thought you were helping me. You need to see more, not less!”
“Andrei helped stop the random visions before I collapsed, Jamie. That's all. I’ve tried to see more in every session with Sofia.”
Ash breaks his silence, his face drawn by shock. “What do you mean, you ‘saw Jamie die’?”
“In a vision. In the future.”
Amelia stands and her chair clatters to the floor behind. “And you knew, Jamie, but didn’t tell me? How long have we been friends?"
"I—" He reaches out to her and she jerks away.
"And you, Maeve. I've done everything I possibly can to help you settle here.” Her voice rises in pitch and my stomach knots as tears spring in her eyes. “And in return you hide something this big from me."
Jamie again reaches out to Amelia, but she steps back. "Theodora told us we had to keep this secret, Amelia. We shouldn't tell any of you."
I glare at an impassive Tobias. How dare he do this to us?
"I don't care! I’d never tell anybody that I knew.” She jabs a finger at me, still fixated on Jamie. “Is this because you're with Maeve now? You can’t just abandon our friendship because you want to get close to another girl.”
"Amelia, calm down," says Ash.
"No! I won't. I can't believe this." She rakes both hands through her short hair. "I could've helped you, Jamie. We all could."
"How?" asks Tobias in an even tone. "Look at how upset you are. You're an emotional girl, Amelia, and I doubt you could hide secrets."
"I'm hiding the one about Halloween, aren't I?" she snaps at him.
“We all are, because we have no choice. We're in this together."
I blink. Did Tobias say "we"? But this situation is all of us, however much we dislike it.
"How does Jamie die?" asks Andrei, laconically.
Jamie shoots him a look. "My heart stops beating. You know, like normal people."
"Ha ha. I mean, what happens to you?” Jamie doesn’t respond and Andrei turns his head to me. “Maeve?"
I glower at him. “Don’t make things worse by being a dickhead about this, Andrei.”
“I want to know too,” says Amelia in a wavering voice.
“I don't know yet. The vision isn’t clear.”
"She sees me bleeding from the chest," says Jamie flatly.
The room drops into intense silence, and I'm swamped with guilt and fear. I wait for a vision triggered by the emotional situation.
Nothing happens.
I hate random visions, but I’d welcome one right now. Since Halloween, the visions stopped altogether.
I blink away frustrated tears and Jamie reaches out to squeeze my fingers. "Don't worry. Everything will be okay."
His stalwart response to the situation lessens the tension, but how much is Jamie’s cool-headed front a defence against the horror he could face?
Jamie looks to Tobias. "Do you still have the bullet from the hunters’ attack?"
"Of course. I saved the bullet for you—once I dug the thing from my arm.” He gives a small smile and the genuine friendliness strikes me. There's something more to Tobias. Is his uptight attitude saved for people like me?
Tobias walks to his study at the back of the classroom. I attempt to catch Amelia's eye, but she's focused on her hands, face a mess of anger and confusion. Ash stares at me, mouth a thin line. I've only ever seen him look at Petrescu students in the way he’s looking at me now.
What have I done to the group?
"Ash," I start, but Tobias strides back into the room before we can speak.
Bullets and guns are as alien to me as vampires and shifters—I’d never seen one until a few days ago. Tobias places the bullet in front of Jamie, who takes it in the palm of his hand and closes his eyes. A minute seems like an age before he sets the object on the table and purses his lips.
"I can't see much different to the lighter we found on Halloween—bullets aren't handled long. I can see the three men in a small room, in a house, I think. They’re discussing whether your family are shifters and how to investigate without getting hurt. But that's all."
"My parents have control over their abilities," says Ash. "They've lived for years in the village and not revealed themselves or hurt anybody. Why target them?”
"I know. Perhaps they were involved in Vincent’s disappearance and are back to claim another shifter.” Tobias says the words gently, but the undertone is there—Ash's actions on Halloween revealed he's definitely a shifter.
Ash
rubs the back of his neck and stands. "Shit. I've put my family under the spotlight. I have to go home. We need to find these people as soon as we can. I'll go tonight."
Amelia finally looks up. "No, Ash. Don't make rash decisions. That's what led us to this situation."
"She's right," says Jamie.
He pouts. "Maybe, but I'm due to work next weekend. I'm going."
Tobias walks over and places a hand on Ash’s shoulder, the gesture like a friend and not a superior. "I will alert someone at Confederacy HQ about the new threat and ask them to watch your parents' pub in case the hunters return to the area. Without mentioning why, or how I know, of course."
Ash snorts. "Like that helped last time. My brother still died."
"The circumstances were very different, Ash."
My heart leaps as Ash looks at me with the dark expression again. Why? Ash said he was scared of me once, but this isn’t fear. Is Ash’s anger towards me due to more than my not telling him about Jamie?
Tobias straightens his sleeves. "We have two issues to deal with here. The hunters, and Ash's family's safety.”
"And our actions on Halloween," I say cautiously.
Tobias runs his tongue along his teeth. "I have already explained, Maeve. I've said nothing to Theodora, and I won’t.”
He glances at Andrei, who withdrew from the conversation once I accused him of being a dickhead.
I don't think Tobias is keeping this from Theodora for our benefit.
This is about Andrei.
I shiver. Did the hunter survive?
Chapter Eight
MAEVE
Losing Amelia's friendship would be a disaster. We've grown close from sharing a room, but I never had a sister to share with, so this is a new experience for me. I worried about living with somebody early on, but Amelia extended a bigger welcome to me than I deserved. Despite my prejudices and resistance to the world I’m thrust into, Amelia stayed patient and supportive.
I need her on my side. I’ve known Amelia a short time, but she already means the world to me.
Several times, mine and Jamie’s secret almost slipped from my lips, but torn between loyalty to her and to Jamie, and my instructions from Theodora, I kept quiet.
