by Nissa Leder
Could they have been dating that long without me knowing? Kaz mentioned Beck going on a date when he showed me the private observatory. It had to be Elaine.
“I, for one, am glad things didn’t work out between you and Kaz.” Sebastian lowers his gaze and leans in.
His lips find mine. At first, the kisses are gentle. He holds the back of my head in his palm as our mouths graze each other’s. My hand moves to his knee as things heat up.
I’ve missed this feeling. Losing myself in someone else. Being wanted.
As his hand reaches under my shirt, my mouth tugs on his lower lip, giving him the green light to step on the gas.
Right now, I don’t want to think about anything but Sebastian’s hands all over me. His tongue finds mine as my heartbeat quickens.
I pull his shirt over his head and dig my fingers into the muscles of his back.
My shirt goes next. Then my bra, as I climb on top of him.
He leans back into the couch as my kisses move to his neck. His hands play with my breasts as I gently bite his earlobe. All my thoughts are gone as my body takes over.
I grin when I see the bulge in his jeans. His finger lifts my chin until our eyes meet.
“You’re gorgeous, Wren Jacobsen.”
Time blurs as our mouths collide. Sebastian’s fingers comb through my hair as mine unbutton his pants.
Soon, all of our clothes have been tossed across the floor, and our bodies are moving as one.
When it’s over—and I’ve officially lost my bet to Zane—I lie my head in Sebastian’s lap as he gently strokes my hair. We stay like this for a while, until I break the silence.
“That was…surprisingly good.” I look up at him with flirty eyes.
“Surprising, huh?” He laughs. “I’ve always known we’d have fabulous sex.”
“Aren’t you the confident one?”
“I’d hate to be the guy who wasted sleeping with you with bad sex,” he says.
I’m sure it’s safe to head back to my room now, but I don’t want to leave. “Do you care if I stay the night here?”
The cocky smirk he’d been wearing disappears, and I wonder if I’ve read him wrong. This didn’t feel like quick hook-up-and-leave situation, but maybe it was.
“Of course not.” He kisses me again. “I’ll go get us some food and we can watch a movie.”
“Okay.”
Once he’s dressed again, Sebastain leaves. When he comes back, he has pizza and cookies for dessert.
After we eat, we watch a comedy, Sebastian’s arm wrapped around me the entire movie. When it’s over, we move to the bed to sleep. But soon, our clothes are off again.
I wake up in the morning, dressed in just panties and a t-shirt. I roll over and rest my head on Sebastian’s bare chest.
It’s exam day, and I’m anything but emotionally ready. Having so much on the line is bad enough, but I have no choice but to face Elaine and deal with the reality that now she’s dating my brother.
Not ready to deal with it all quite yet, I doze back off until a loud knock on the door forces me back awake.
“Shit.” Sebastian grabs his cell phone from the nightstand. “I need you to do as I say.”
“What’s happening?”
“I’m sorry I won’t have more time to explain. I’ve already regretted so much, but after last night, I hate myself even more,” Sebastian says. “I need you to get your things and go into the closet. Don’t say anything, no matter what you hear.”
“I…” The clock reads eleven thirty, which means I have less than an hour to get to the gym for the exam.
“Go. Now.” The panic in his voice is enough to make me realize how serious this is.
I grab my jeans and bra from the floor and hurry into the closet, hiding behind the clothes the best I can in case anyone looks in here.
“C’mon in,” I hear Sebastian say.
“I thought we were meeting in the dining hall a half hour ago,” a female voice says.
I’ve heard the voice before, but it takes me a second to place it. It’s the same one I heard on Halloween in the gym.
“Sorry, my alarm didn’t go off,” Sebastian says. “I’ll meet you down there in ten minutes.”
“They’re already here,” the male voice from Halloween says. “And you know they don’t like to be kept waiting.”
“Paul took a lot of risk to get the two of them in here, and do you think they even said ‘thank you?’” the girl says. “Nope.”
“They better not back out on their end of the deal,” the guy says. “Or I swear, I’m gonna—”
“Gonna what, Paul? Don’t be a moron. If you push your luck, you’ll end up dead,” Sebastian says. “Now, I need to finish getting ready and I’ll meet you downstairs in a few.”
After the door shuts, Sebastian opens the closet and says, “You can come out.”
I slip into my jeans and put my bra on before returning to the room. “What’s going on?”
“They found me over the summer,” Sebastian says. “I need you to understand that all I’ve ever wanted is to belong to something. So, when they approached me and showed me everything they had to offer, I didn’t stop to think about what I’d be giving up.”
“Who’s they?” I ask, though I already know.
“The Shades. They’re a rising group of rebel Sorcerers.” Sebastian stares at me, no expression filling his features. “The Sorcerers who are in charge don’t want a fair world. They want everything to continue on as it always has. The elite families stay elite. Everyone else is left wishing they were one of them.”
“Like me?” I say as I process his words. “I’m from one of those elite families.”
“But you see through it all, too. You don’t want everything handed to you like the others. You’re different.”
“Does that matter, though? If your new friends found me, what would they do? Give me a pass, or use me against my family simply because of my blood?”
“I don’t know.” Sebastian frowns. “But you have to stay here today. You can’t go to your trial.”
I’m about to ask what he means, when the gears of my brain click into place. “The Shades are the reason Lexi and Tammy lost their magic. And now they’re going to steal everyone else’s.”
“I didn’t know they were going to take all the freshmen’s magic until yesterday,” Sebastian says. “But if you don’t go, you’ll be safe.”
“I’m not going to sit here and let you take everyone’s magic.” When I go to step around him, he cuts me off.
“It’s too late to stop them. It isn’t safe out there.”
“It isn’t too late. If we go to Dean Waters…” I realize that she’s probably already in the gym by now. “We have to try. You can be the one to turn them in. There’s still time for you to do the right thing.”
“Is it the right thing? I don’t agree with them stealing everyone’s magic, but they aren’t wrong. Do you think there’s any way if you end up losing your magic at the end of the year, your grandpa won’t find a way to get it back for you?”
I make another move toward the door, but he won’t let me pass. “My friends are going to be in that gym. Please.”
“I’m sorry.”
I have to at least try to get out of here. Fire grows in my hand. I don’t want to hurt Sebastian, but I can’t stay here and do nothing.
“You aren’t going to be able to out duel me, Wren.” His mouth curves into a small grin. “But I admire you wanting to try.”
I throw the fire at his face, but he catches it and it disappears.
When I attempt to create more, nothing happens. I try to move my foot, but I can’t. Sebastian steps toward me, and before I fall backward, he catches me.
The bastard just immobilized me.
He lifts me up and sets me gently on the bed before tying my wrists and ankles with a piece of ripped t-shirt.
Once he’s done binding my arms and legs, he stops and looks at me. “I’m sorry. Th
is is the only way to keep you safe.”
And then exits the room, leaving me alone and unable to move.
Twenty-One
I lie here, frozen, my mind racing. When I try to scream for help, nothing happens, which must mean Sebastian also spelled my voice away.
Great.
Sebastian belongs to a group of Dark Sorcerers. Well, at least I think they’re Dark Sorcerers. I’m not sure exactly who or what they are. All I know is that they’re here to steal magic.
And I can’t even move, let alone try to stop them.
Professor Van Dale said something about fighting the immobilizing incantation. Eventually, it will fade and I’ll be able to move again. How long that takes depends on the strength of the Sorcerer who produced it.
But she said that with enough magical control, we can produce a counter-spell to break it sooner, but that it usually takes years to be able to do. Some Sorcerers never develop the necessary command.
Since I can’t close my eyes, I’ll have to focus with them open.
I think back to when Professor Belrose taught us to access our magic. I recall the yin yang she drew. She said that magic is half of us, and that to connect to it fully, we have to be in balance.
I remember closing my eyes and reaching for that connection. As I stare up to the ceiling, I search for the link between my halves.
Despite my limbs being paralyzed, my lungs are still breathing. My heart is still beating, and my mind is still racing. Which might mean that magic is still accessible.
I can do this, I encourage myself.
In the immobilized state, I can’t even control my lungs. But I focus on my breath, meditating on the consistent rhythm of my inhales and exhales.
Then I search for my magic deep within me. When I find it, a surge of heat ripples through me.
Regala, I think the counterspell needed to unfreeze me.
Nothing happens.
I return to concentrating on my breath.
I can do this. Magic is the first thing I’ve ever felt good at. Wicklow has been the fresh start I’ve needed. If I can’t figure out how to get out of here and warn someone, my friends will lose their magic.
I try again.
Regala.
My muscles soften as I regain control of my body.
It worked!
I sit up and untie my feet first. Thankfully, Sebastian bound my hands in front of my body, not behind my back. He probably doubted I’d find a way out of the immobilizing spell before it wore off.
I glance at the clock. It’s already eleven fifty. Dean Waters was clear that the doors lock by magic at noon. If I rush there, maybe I can warn everyone. But what if I get stuck in there too. Then I’ll have no chance to stop it.
I grab my phone to call Olivia, when I realize my voice is still gone.
Sebastian must have used the same spell he used on me in the hallway on Halloween. Which means it’s the same counterspell. But what was it?
I search my memory. Larem something?
No, that wasn’t it. Labrum, that was the first word. And reserare was the second word, the spell to unlock something.
Labrum reserar, I think as I pull from my magic within.
“Did it work?” I say aloud. “It did!”
I call Olivia, desperate to stop her before she goes to the gym.
Answer, I plead to myself. It rings five times before going to voicemail.
I try Micah. No answer from him, either.
My only hope is that they’re waiting for me in my room.
With my shoes in my hand, I peek out Sebastian’s door and see the hallway is empty.
I jog down the hallway and go down the staircase. When I’m at the landing on the floor below, people in the hallway catch my attention. Two people dressed in all black hold my brother—who appears to be passed out—and carry him down the hallway, right toward me.
I turn my head and hurry down the stairs two flights, straight to my room.
When I enter the room, I’m surprised to see Elaine and the rest of my group staring at me.
“There you are,” Elaine says. “Let’s go. We have seven minutes to get to the gym.”
“We can’t go,” I say as I glance at the door, afraid someone saw me.
“What do you mean ‘can’t go?’” Natalia gives me an incredulous stare. “Are you on something?”
“There are people here who are about to steal all the magic from the freshmen in the gym.” I talk fast, trying to get as much out as I can in case we get interrupted.
Van gapes at me. Elaine keeps looking at the clock. Natalia seems annoyed.
“What kind of people?” Garrett asks.
“I stayed last night in Sebastian’s room,” I start.
“Sebastian Barington? Head of the Mystics here at Wicklow?” The boredom is gone from Natalia’s face, replaced by a skeptical stare.
“Yes—”
“—stayed in his room. Like you had sex?” she asks.
“Also yes, but that doesn’t matter.”
Elaine rolls her eyes. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you aren’t ready for this exam because you stayed up too late with a guy.”
I’ve lived with Elaine’s animosity for years now, and most of the time I brush it off. But right now, I can’t take her sly comments.
A wave of heat moves through my limbs. “I don’t care if you disapprove of the life I choose to live. It’s my life and I can do whatever or whoever I please. But this isn’t some excuse to avoid the exam. There are bad people here to steal magic, and I’m pretty sure they just took Beck.”
My brother’s name makes her mouth snap shut. “What do you mean ‘took Beck?’”
“When I was leaving Sebastian’s room after I got out of his immobilizing spell, I saw two older guys carrying Beck down the hallway. I’m guessing they’re the Shades Sebastian was talking about.”
“The Shades?” Natalia asks.
“He said they’re some group set to disrupt the balance of the Sorcery world. But we don’t have time to talk. From what I overheard, they’re planning to somehow pull the magic during the exam. Which means we don’t have long.”
“If we don’t go to the exam, we get an automatic zero,” Elaine says. “Which means last place.”
“But if we go, we lose our magic. And so does everyone else,” I say.
Garrett steps toward me. “We better figure out how to stop them.”
Natalia and Van share a look before Natalia says, “We’re with you.”
Elaine sighs. “What do we do?”
Twenty-Two
I’ve never been a hero.
Never been someone to go out of her way to save a crumbling school project. Or volunteered for the team if it was short a player.
But now, I can’t sit back and do nothing and watch everyone I’ve spent the last few months with here at Wicklow, including my two closest friends, lose their magic.
“The conversation I overheard mentioned ‘two of them,’” I say. “Which must have been the guys dragging Beck. And then the two who stopped in Sebastian’s room—a guy named Paul and a girl I don’t know. So, that makes five.”
“Five of us, five of them,” Van says. “Not terrible odds.”
“Except for the fact that two of them are probably full-fledged Sorcerers already, and the other three are likely all upperclassmen.” Elaine’s foot taps against the ground.
“They won’t be expecting us,” Natalia says. “We’ll have the element of surprise.”
“I’m not sure what their plan is.” I wish I would have heard more from the conversation between Sebastian and the other two, but nothing they said gave any hint to exactly how they plan to take the magic.
“Everyone’s going to be in the gym, so they have to be somewhere close,” Garrett says.
I have to say I’m surprised by how calm he is. The Garrett I met at the beginning of the semester was much more timid than the guy standing here now.
“Maybe they’re in th
e gym?” Van suggests.
“I don’t think so,” I say. “Dean Waters and all of the Professors are there. They’re far too outnumbered.”
“Underneath it.” Natalia lifts her head as excitement coats her face as she turns to Van. “Remember when we,” she pauses, “were hanging out in the gym and Thornburn almost caught us.”
“Oh, yeah,” Van says. “We were totally naked and ran to hide under the bleachers.”
“Well, I was going to leave out the naked part, but,” Natalia looks at me, “while we were waiting for Thornburn to leave, we noticed a trap door beneath the bleachers. We didn’t go down it, but we opened up and saw it lead to a room.”
Optimism isn’t an emotion I feel a lot, but right now, I can’t help but be hopeful. “There must be another way in.”
When I went on a date with Kaz, he showed me the dessert room in the basement. The hallway continues on toward the gym, which must mean one of the other doors leads to this room.
After I tell everyone about the hallway and we decide that our best hope is to go down there as a group, I check the time: five after twelve. “The exam has already started, so we need to go now.”
All I can do is hope we aren’t already too late.
I lead the way as we move in a group. If we had more time, we could find more people to help us. But we don’t, so either we find a way to stop the Shades or they succeed in stealing the magic of all the freshmen in the gym.
My mind replays all the spells I’ve learned this year. I’m not an idiot. Sebastian was right when he said I can’t outduel him. There’s no way in a fair fight, the five of us in the group will be able to out-magic Sebastian and the others.
But they don’t know we’re coming.
When we get to the staircase on the main floor, we hesitate.
“Okay, remember to stay close,” I say, then, with a deep breath, I lead the way to the basement.
We keep quiet as we follow the dimly lit hallway. When we pass the secret dessert room, I think of Kaz. If he was in the room when they took Beck, I hope he’s okay.
