by LJ Swallow
Will I regret this betrayal?
I attempt to talk to Amelia when we leave Tobias and return to our room, but she refuses and tells me she's too tired. I’m exhausted myself, and I leave the issue. No good will come from talking about this with emotions running high for both of us.
The next morning, Amelia isn't in bed, and has left for breakfast alone. We always go together.
I’m relieved to find her in the bright cafeteria, sitting at our usual table close to the serving area. The place is half-full with people chattering over their meals, mostly witches and shifters since few vamps walk around in the daytime.
"Amelia," I say as I sit. "Can we talk?"
She picks at the edge of a large breakfast muffin and purses her lips. "I don't know who I'm most angry with—you or Jamie."
At least she hasn’t walked away, or told me to get lost. "I don’t know what to say, apart from I’m really sorry and hope you understand why I didn’t say anything to you.”
I'm sick of the silences; not just between me and Amelia now, but every time we're together as a group. Are we scared of talking? Hiding things? The bond the four of us formed in the early days when Ash and Jamie watched over me has now become more. We're tied into the events from Halloween, and now Andrei is growing to be part of us too.
Will the events we face keep us closer or pull us apart?
She looks up at me and tucks a strand of bobbed hair behind her ear. "If I forgive you, will you promise never to keep a secret from me again? Even something you shouldn't tell me?"
I swallow, relieved she’s not furious still. “I will, but only something that affects us all. I can't share secrets that are personal to people, unless I’m worried about their safety. I won't gossip. You have to understand that."
"Of course. I'd hate to think you'd tell others personal things about me. I meant things like the vision about Jamie." She gives a small smile.
“Then I promise." My heart swells with relief. I couldn't imagine someone like Amelia holding a grudge.
She sips her coffee. “You’re lucky Jamie spoke to me first this morning. I took out my anger on him and feel better now.”
“You’re welcome to shout at me too. I deserve it.”
“I know.” She bites into her muffin and chews. “Although I'm sorry for saying things about you and Jamie. I was angry. He helped me a lot when Matt left, and I don’t want to lose him. The fact he didn’t tell me hurts more than you hiding from me. Like our friendship didn’t mean as much to him.”
“He’s frightened, Amelia,” I say. “Jamie refuses to talk about what might happen and Theodora demanded we keep this to ourselves. It’s not personal. I almost told you, so many times.”
“How did Tobias know, if you didn’t tell him?”
“He caught something from my mind once and pieced things together. I’m annoyed he made me say something, but also glad it’s out in the open now.”
She brushes crumbs from her top. “He confuses me.”
“I can’t figure out his motivations either.”
“Maybe he likes helping people?”
I bite my lip and nod but don’t think Tobias’s motives are altruistic. “No more secrets, I promise.”
“Then we should move on. There’re enough people to fight with, I don’t want another,” says Amelia, and my spirits lift at the warm friendliness back in her eyes.
Along with a glint I recognise—Amelia has a plan.
"I will totally forgive you if you promise to do one tiny thing for me."
"Judging by your grin, I don't think this request is tiny,” I say cautiously.
She tidies her plate onto her tray. “I want you to join the committee and help organise the Winter Ball."
Images of Katherine lording it over me and bullying us into her whims flash across my mind. "Amelia. No."
She mock pouts. "But if you want me to forgive you."
"Is this punishment?"
"Maybe." I slap her on the arm. Ugh. What do I say? "I think it would help you integrate with the girls a little more. You spend too much time around the guys."
"So do you!"
"How many other girlfriends do you have here? Look at this as an opportunity to prove you accept your new life here.”
I drag a hand down my face. "Fine. But if Katherine is a bitch to me, I'm not hanging around."
Amelia's smile spreads across her face. "Perfect, because we have a committee meeting today."
The number of times I've been involved in organising a school function? Zero.
The number of times I've been involved in organising a school function for vampires, shifters, and witches? Apparently, one.
The meeting is arranged in one of the spare study rooms in the main building. I’d pictured Katherine summoning everybody to the Petrescu common room, to emphasise her importance, but somewhere neutral helps my nerves.
Amelia walks into the room first. Katherine sits at a desk with a girl either side. One stocky girl with curly brown hair I recognise as a Gilgamesh student and the other is the opposite build, willowy and sleek, is Petrescu. Looks like we’re the Walcott contingent.
The table is spread with pictures and floor plans, and they pore over a laptop, while the Gilgamesh girl makes notes.
Katherine looks up. "Hey, Amelia. Did you bring the paper stock to choose from for the invites?”
Amelia rummages around in her bag and pulls out an envelope. "One printing firm got back to me. I'm waiting on the others."
Katherine purses her lips before sweeping a look up and down me in her usual disdainful way. "We're having a meeting, sweetie."
"Oh, I brought Maeve to help with organising. She's keen to join in,” says Amelia brightly.
Judging by Katherine's expression, she wants me involved as much as I want to be: not at all.
I'm not backing away from this. Amelia's right—I need to involve myself in the academy.
"What skills do you have?" she asks in a haughty voice. "I mean, apart from the future-sight."
This is a good question. "I'm happy for Amelia to show me what I need to do."
"Maeve grew up in the human world," puts in the Gilgamesh girl. "She might have contacts who could help."
Katherine frowns. "Contacts for what, exactly?"
"I don't know." She retreats at Katherine’s unimpressed look. "I was just saying. We don’t have to involve Maeve if you don’t want to.”
Amelia's eyes brighten. "No, Lucy is right. Do you know caterers, Maeve? Maybe a band or singer?"
"Uh." I rub my head. Not really. "Surely you have witches or shifters who work in those roles? I'm told supernatural are employed everywhere.”
Katherine nods. "Exactly. Thank you, Maeve."
"She could still co-ordinate catering or something," suggests Amelia. "You know, the jobs you don't like."
Katherine runs her tongue across her teeth. "What do you think, Maeve? Would you like to assist me?"
"I'd like to be involved, yes," I lie. Damn Amelia and her bargaining.
"Maybe she can look into the future and see who will be Winter King and Queen?" suggests the Petrescu girl with a giggle.
I blink rapidly. "What?"
Amelia bounces over to the table. "That was my idea. Like a prom king or queen.” I sigh inwardly. Amelia is determined to incorporate her fantasies about the human world into her life. “Don't you think that’s an awesome idea?”
"I thought we were choosing ‘best-dressed couple’ as the competition for the evening?" Lucy's brow dips. "That was my idea. We agreed.”
"Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. Decide between yourselves,” says Katherine with a smile that says, 'I'll win either way.'
"We could combine the two?" I suggest. "Best dressed are king and queen of the dance?"
"Good idea," says Amelia looking at Lucy. "Sorry, I forgot that you suggested the best-dressed competition. I was excited after I went to Maeve's dance because it reminded me of a movie I watched and—"
&nb
sp; Katherine tips her head. "Maeve's what?"
Shit. I'd shush Amelia, but that would make things worse. "I showed Amelia video clips of my school dance last year."
Katherine taps her fingernails on the table. "No. You clearly said went to, Amelia."
"The clips were so vivid I felt like I was there.” Amelia pulls out a chair to sit. "Now tell me how we should organise the vote for the king and queen.”
“Really, Amelia? Do you think I'm stupid?" retorts Katherine. She switches her attention to me. "This is interesting news, Maeve. I'd love to hear all about your adventures off campus. Is that where you went with Tobias before I saw you together? How very strange.”
I attempt a straight face, but I'm not fooling her, or engaging in conversation about Tobias. "Can I join the committee or not, Katherine?”
As she leans in to consult the other members and they whisper, I stand like I'm at a job interview. Good grief.
Finally, Katherine sits back and smiles up at me, as if about to offer me the job of my dreams.
"You may join us, Maeve. I hope your human-ness will prove useful for once."
And I hope to hell I don't regret this.
Chapter Nine
MAEVE
November the fifth. Guy Fawkes Night. Bonfires.
The supernatural world ignores most human traditions, but students at the academy embrace this bizarre English one. When Amelia told me about the bonfire party, I laughed at her joke. Until I realised she wasn’t kidding.
I stand at the edge of the woods with my friends as voices and laughter drift towards us. Clouds cover the moon and stars, but they don't threaten us with rain for once. I'm wrapped in my warmest coat and scarf, hands snug inside gloves. I hate winter weather and the season just started—I prefer long evenings and days filled with sunshine, and the summer is too short in this part of the world.
"Do you celebrate Bonfire Night because you like burning a human effigy?" I ask Ash. “Like revenge or something?”
He shakes his head at me. "Funny, Maeve."
Jamie shrugs his jacket closer, his face half covered. "Yeah, Guy Fawkes Night proves humans enjoy burning people who aren’t witches too.”
I shake my head as if to dislodge the new weirdness I’m encountering.
Amelia walks ahead. She chattered with excitement on the way over and showed me the small bottle of white rum she hid inside her coat. I expected this would be an alcohol-filled night, but never expected Amelia to drink. "It’s just an excuse to party,” she calls. “Come on!"
I look at Ash's thin hoodie that stretches across his muscular back. “Aren't you cold?"
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and hugs me close. "I'm never cold, Maeve."
His shifter body heats mine like the best kind of hot water bottle and I catch the scent of pine from his cologne. Sometimes I wish he wasn't naturally tactile, because I'm unsure what signals he's sending me. When he marches us to Amelia and slings an arm around her shoulders too, I’m aware I’m nothing more than his friend. The best part of this situation is he’s not holding onto the fact I lied to him about Jamie.
The ease with which Amelia and Ash forgave me surprises me, but I sense Ash’s forgiveness isn’t complete. However ready he is with an arm around my shoulder, his eyes are guarded.
Jamie catches up and side glances us but says nothing.
The crackling heat from the fire fills a clearing a few hundred metres into the trees. The bonfire is built in a dip in the ground far enough from trees to not cause a bigger fire—something that worried me. People sit beneath trees, drinking and chatting; others stand close to the blaze. As we approach and pass people, something strikes me.
"I don't see any Petrescu here. I'd expect Katherine ensuring she’s front and centre of festivities."
Ash pulls a whiskey bottle from his coat and sits at the top of the dip. We’re close enough to feel the warmth, but far enough not to be overwhelmed by heat. I pause before joining him. Drier weather and no more leaves make the ground cold and hard. At least I won't get a wet backside.
"Vamps hate fire," he says "That and the sun are the only things that can kill them."
“Or cutting their heads off,” remarks Jamie.
“Well, to be honest, decapitation would kill anybody.” I smile at my joke.
Jamie places himself the other side and draws his knees to his chest. "Some of the folklore is true. They're probably holding their own party.”
The students can’t hide tonight’s gathering from the academy staff, who turn a blind eye. Drinking isn't illegal at our age but frowned upon on the academy grounds.
Then Andrei won’t be here tonight.
We haven't spoken properly since the meeting at Tobias’s class, or afterwards. Is he avoiding me? Or has he withdrawn again? His reaction to Jamie’s secret was unpleasant, but not unexpected.
Since Halloween, I watch him more closely when we're around academy. He's part of Katherine's group but hovers at the edges, rarely speaking. He doesn't take crap from Katherine either, and she rarely tells him what to do. Few in the Petrescu group pay attention to him, but he remains around them as if they're his camouflage. If he stands with them, he can blend in behind the big personalities.
Amelia stands in front of us and takes a large gulp from her bottle before offering to me. I shake my head. “I’m not a drinker."
"Oh?"
I forget she wasn't at Ash's party and is unaware what a disappointment to teenage-kind I am.
Instead, she passes the bottle to Jamie who drinks then wipes his mouth with the back of a hand.
"You're quiet tonight," I say.
He shrugs. "Still thinking about the hunter situation. Plus...” He points at Ash, who’s barely spoken to Jamie. Maybe his forgiveness isn’t absolute yet.
Jamie stands and holds his hand out to Amelia. She pouts at him. "Didn't you bring your own bottle?”
"I didn’t intend to drink, but I changed my mind."
“Find someone else’s.” Amelia holds the bottle in the air and dances out of Jamie's reach. He sighs and lunges at her. I watch the amusing spectacle of the tall guy chasing the small girl around the trees as she skilfully dodges him.
"If she were several feet taller and wider, Amelia would make an excellent rugby player." Ash chuckles to himself and drinks again.
At Ash's party in the Gilgamesh common room, I felt under a spotlight. Here, most people's faces are hidden in shadows, apart from those by the fire where the flames flicker over their happy expressions. Nobody has the impossibly perfect Petrescu features—all these kids could be human.
A witch nearby flicks green flames onto his fingers and launches them upwards where they streak across the sky like a firework. He grins and conjures another. The girl beside him joins in and creates blue sparks.
Well, there goes the ‘could be human’ idea.
"Pretty cool, huh?" says Ash.
“Yep. Free firework display."
We lapse into silence and I stare at the flames. The bonfire is smaller than the huge blaze we'd hold on the sport fields in my town, when I was a kid. There's no stuffed effigy in the shape of a guy burning on top, which would be too uncomfortable for the witches and their past. A couple of shifters close by throw small branches, and I tense as they push and shove each other too close to the bonfire.
“The flames won't hurt them much."
I look at Ash in surprise. "I'm sure if they landed in the middle of a bonfire, it would do more than tickle."
He chuckles. "True. Although, a bonfire would never hurt the phoenix shifters."
"There are phoenix shifters?" I ask in awe.
He snorts. "No. That’s insane."
"But there are dragon shifters. Also insane."
Ash places the bottle on the ground. "Who told you that?”
"About dragon shifters? Tobias mentioned they existed, and then someone told me you might be one."
He stares ahead and a muscle ticks in his jaw. "People shouldn
't talk about things that might not be true."
"Sorry, I didn't realise you were upset by the idea."
"They're rare, Maeve. My brother was one—a second dragon in the family would be unusual. There's only one before him, and he was four generations ago."
"What happened to your brother?" I ask as gently as I can.
Ash continues to focus on the fire. "He died."
"I know, but I want to understand what happened.”
“I’m sorry, I'm not talking to a witch about this." He's terse and his sudden judgement surprises me.
"Whoa. Okay. Did a witch kill him?"
Ash turns to me, his face a mask of shock. "You're blunt."
"You were a little rude."
“Excuse me for still being annoyed with you about not telling me something.” I look away. Fair comment. “No, a witch didn’t kill Vincent, but she was partly responsible. Let's just say future-sighted witches can get things wrong. Badly." My stomach twists at his words and I look up. "How would you feel if your vision didn’t only predict Jamie’s death but caused him to die too?”
The intense anger in his eyes scares me, and now I have an answer for his distance. "I worry about that happening, Ash."
Pushing him for the whole story no longer seems a good idea, and this time the silence we lapse into is uncomfortable.
"Hey, Ash!" Remi and others I recognise from Ash's team call out to him. "Come and settle an argument. Who's the best player?"
"Easy. Me," he calls back.
"Apart from you. C'mon captain, tell us."
Ash hauls himself to his feet and walks away, leaving me rejected and with a sick stomach. I poked at the rawness from his brother's death, and his pain was sudden and intense. Ash’s prejudice about witches has a basis—do Amelia or Jamie know the whole story?
The bonfire flames mesmerise me and I watch as shapes flicker through them. Scared I'll trigger a vision, I turn my head away, but the crackling attempts to lure me back. Tearing my eyes away, I watch the strange sparks the witches throw into the air and fight the hollowness growing in my soul.
