I headed straight back toward the kitchen. It was similar to Beckett’s house in that there was so much space, yet the foyer was bigger with the double staircases and open second floor. The kitchen had to be three times bigger than Beckett’s.
Black cabinets lined the walls from floor to ceiling. The top set had glass fronts and the bottom were solid black. The countertops were a bright white marble with dark veins of black running through it, bringing it all together. At the back of the kitchen Tilly stood before a six-burner stainless steel stove with her back to me. Steam rose up around her and she held a spatula in her hand. The smell of bacon and pancakes filled the air and my mouth began to water. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a fully cooked meal that wasn’t prepared by me.
Tilly turned and faced the sink in the island. Her head snapped up and a smile crossed her face when she spotted me. “Hey.”
“Hi.” I shuffled my way over to the island and pulled a stool out.
“That bad of a night?” She walked over to a cabinet next to the stove and pulled two plates out. She glanced over her shoulder at where Kitty stood in the doorway. “You staying for breakfast?”
“Ugh, it’s probably poison. Don’t make yourselves comfortable. My father will have you out in no time.”
Tilly rolled her eyes and turned to face me. “She’s one of those?”
“Oh yeah.” I pressed my hands to my temples and rubbed little circles as hard as I could.
“Whatever.” Kitty whirled on her heels and left us alone.
I stretched my arms out in front of me and laid my head on the cold marble countertop. Hangover didn’t even begin to describe what was going on in my head. I groaned and let the cool seep into my skin.
“Dude, what is going on with you?” Tilly scooped three pancakes out of the pan on the stove and placed them on the plate in her hand. She slid it across the island toward me.
I held my hand out and caught it. “So I had this dream and it felt so real.”
Tilly walked over to the fridge and pulled the door open. Cool air drifted from it and it hummed as she examined everything. “How do these people not have syrup and butter?”
I waved my hand and a bottle of syrup along with a butter dish appeared in front of me. “Fork, knife?”
Tilly pulled open three sets of drawers before she found the right one. “Here you go.”
I stacked the pancakes with butter and syrup. Enough to give me the sugar high I desperately needed. I shoved a warm bite into my mouth and let them melt. “Hmmmm.”
“So based on the little noises you were making last night I’d say that dream was . . .”
“Not something I’m going to talk about in detail.” But it was burned into my mind, every second of it.
“I’m thinking you’re going to need two aspirin, lots of pancakes, possibly real cake, and ice cream.” Tilly flipped three more pancakes on the skillet. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and Beckett, but you all need to figure some shit out.”
I cut a piece of pancake and pushed it around the plate, gathering up as much syrup as I could. “Ugh, I know. I hate the tension between us.”
A loud banging came from the front of the house. She snickered. “Here he comes now.”
“I doubt it.” I shook my head and shoved another piece down my throat.
“Someone to see you!” Kitty’s smug shrill voice carried down the hallway toward us.
I pushed back from the counter. “What now?”
Tilly flicked the knobs of the stove top off then dusted her hands off. “Let’s go see who it is.”
I paused. “Maybe you should wait here.”
Here we stood both of us barefoot, both in big comfy sweaters and leggings. Neither of us looking like we slept at all. Her curls were flattened, and my hair was a tangled mess. I wasn’t even sure what time it was. All I knew was that if someone was here to see me, it couldn’t be good.
Tilly moved to stand beside me. “It’s like you forgot who I am just by being away from me for a little while.”
She headed down the hall. I chuckled to myself and followed behind her. Cold air drifted toward me and I knew the front door would be wide-open. When I walked into the foyer, I nearly bumped into Tilly, who stood frozen staring. I moved around and took up a stance in front of her.
There before me was Headmaster Ridge with two council members flanking him. Cora Ferguson stood still as a statue looking more frogish than ever. Her gray hair was pulled into a tight bun that stood up from the top of her head. Dark purple robes hung from her body but did nothing to hide her short, stout stature.
Her lips turned down into a deep frown. “Miss Lockwood.”
“Mrs. Ferguson, I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.” Adrenaline pumped through my veins. “And you, Mr. Archer. How good of you to visit.”
Behind the three of them stood Beckett, Logan, Cross, and Maze. Beckett spared me only one glance. But I could tell from here that he hadn’t gotten any sleep either. Dark circles hung below his eyes, his hair was a tangled mess that fell into his face, and his normally pressed clothes were as disheveled as mine.
I forced the ball of nerves back down into the pit of my stomach. If they were here something bad was about to go down. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Ridge snickered, his hook nose wrinkled, and his eyes danced with excitement. “As if you don’t know the offense you bring upon this school.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t offend the school in any way. I only want to go to class and learn how to harness my powers fully.”
He pointed his long, boney finger at Tilly. “And what do you call that?”
Tilly put her hands on her hips. “It is called a Tilly.”
I placed my hand on her arm, silencing her. “She found her own way here and only arrived last night.”
Ridge’s polished shoes clicked on the tile floor as he took slow steps around us. He looked Tilly up and down then me. Kitty stood by the front door with a beaming smile on her face. She took two steps closer to Beckett and stood right in front of him, with her ass practically pressed to his crotch. I ground my teeth together. What I wouldn’t give to cement her to the floor one . . . more . . . time.
When Ridge walked by Kitty, he tucked her under the chin and winked. She preened and fluffed her hair like she was something important. He spun on his heel to face me. “There is nothing left to do but expel you and send her back to the human world, with not a memory of you.”
“What?” Panic flooded my body.
“You heard me.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them back and forth like he was savoring the moment.
“The council wholeheartedly agrees. I’ve already received permission from Damiel as the head council member to send you packing.” He waved his hand to the door. “Out you go.”
My jaw dropped open and I stood motionless. I knew this was a possibility. I knew everything could go wrong. I had no defense for this and no way of talking myself out of it. Maze stepped around them all and moved next to me, blocking Tilly from their view. He looked like a nervous twitching warlock. Twists of his dark hair fell over his face, covering his eyes. His trench coat was wrinkled and hanging sideways off his shoulder.
He raised his thumb to his lips and bit at his nails while he shifted from one foot to the other. “No, that won’t happen.”
Jiovanni Archer stepped forward. He clasped his hands behind his back. Though he was smaller and worm like with a bald head and plenty of wrinkles. His robes matched Cora’s and he too seemed delighted at the prospect of being rid of me. “And why is that, young psychic?”
“Tilly is laced with the future of all warlock kind and so we need her. I have seen it.” Maze glanced over his shoulder at her, but when she smiled at him, he flinched.
Jiovanni chucked an ear-piercing laugh. “And we are supposed to believe the ramblings of a crazed psychic?”
“You forget yourself. I am not my father,” Maze snapped. “And if
you don’t believe me, send her on her way . . . and watch all of the warlock world fall.”
The smile dropped from his face and he turned to face Ridge. He leaned in and whispered something to Ridge then took his place back beside Cora.
Ridge narrowed his eyes at Maze. “This is to your advantage. How do we know you’re not lying?”
Maze shrugged. “You don’t.”
I gazed past Ridge and the council at Beckett. He stood so still, so silent. “Are you even paying attention here?”
Everyone in the room turned to look at him and he held up his phone. “Be with you in a minute.”
Seriously? “Don’t just stand there. Do something.”
Beckett was the one to handle them when they came for my magic. He was the one to stop them from getting rid of me and now he did nothing. No, not nothing. He stood there texting.
He took a step into the room and held his phone out then hit the speaker phone button. “We’re all here.”
“She stays.” The voice was deep and full of authority.
Ridge paled and glanced from Cora to Jiovanni. An ugly green color flowed over his skin and he pulled at the tie around his neck.
Beckett took his call off speaker phone then pressed it to his ear. “Yeah, it’s done. Thanks.”
When he ended the call and slid it back into his pocket, he turned to Ridge without so much as a look at me. “We good here?”
Ridge shook himself and straightened the cuffs of his shirt, then ran his hands over the lapels of his jacket. “No, they both will remain confined here. She will go to classes and nothing more.”
“And what of Tilly?” Beckett spoke about her like he was talking about the weather.
“She can attend classes and observe Astrid. Besides that I don’t want to see her.” Ridge glared at Tilly. “Humans at Warwick. Your father would—”
“Run,” Beckett snapped. “My father would run like the coward that he is.”
The council exchanged looks and Ridge glared down his nose at Beckett. “Such disrespect.”
“Again, respect must be earned.” Beckett motioned for Maze to join him and the others. Cross stood chuckling and shaking his head like he found the whole thing entertaining.
Logan punched him in the arm. “Shut up, you’re not helping.”
“I don’t care.” Cross turned and walked away. Logan shook his head and followed behind him.
Ridge pulled his jacket in closer to his chest and motioned to the door.
Cora glared at me. “There are only so many times you will slip through our grasp and when your time is up, we will gladly extinguish you.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and squared my shoulders. This woman, this warlock was terrifying. But showing weakness wouldn’t help me or any of the others. I held my chin up and sucked in a breath. “You can try, crone.”
She took a step toward me and Jiovanni held his arm out, blocking her from moving closer. “Not yet.”
He looked at me and hissed low in his throat before he escorted Cora out the door. Ridge followed behind them, leaving me, Tilly, Kitty, and Beckett alone in the foyer. I sagged and sucked in a deep breath. My toes were frozen, my headache was back in full force, and I was completely exhausted. All I wanted was to make things right with Beckett and here he was standing in front of me looking anywhere but directly at me.
Kitty marched past him to get in my face. “I hate you.”
“If you must.” I waved for her to pass. When she stood frozen in front of me, I let my magic seep from my hands in warning. “Do you really want to?”
“Ugh.” She stormed up the stairs, pounding her feet with every step she took.
“That’s what I thought.” I ran my hand through my hair, trying to untangle some of the knots before I faced Beckett. But he turned toward the door without a word. After the dream I had last night, him being so cold to me stung. “Hey, Beck.”
He spun to face me. “Yeah?”
“Thanks.” I motioned toward Tilly. “For your help.”
He gave me a mock salute. “Hope you’re happy now.” He marched out the door without looking back. I’d gone from one jail to the other and he didn’t even care.
Tilly moved up beside me. “Boy, he is pissed.”
“Ugghhhhh, yeah.” Now I felt even worse. I wanted the connection I’d felt in my dream.
“This sucks.” She headed toward the kitchen.
But I couldn’t take my eyes off Beckett’s back as he walked away from me, away from Lockwood House, and away from the dream I had last night.
Chapter 35
Astrid
“Three days locked in this basement is driving me crazy.” Tilly sat on the foot of her bed, flipping through fashion magazines.
“We got out for classes.”
Odin lay across my lap and I ran my fingers over the top of his head.
“Yeah, but I couldn’t do anything in those classes and people didn’t even talk to me. Well, except Leo. He was cool. But this was supposed to be magic school. There were no talking paintings, no moving staircases, and no werewolves. How disappointing is that?” She threw aside the magazine.
I lifted my hand and let my smoke drift to the wall where I pictured a portrait of the two of us hanging out. We both smiled, waved, and giggled. “I give you a moving portrait.”
“Okay, that’s not as cool as I thought it would be.” Tilly jumped to her feet. “You know what we should do?”
“Stay here and not piss anyone off?”
“No, how many times have we said we’d love to just teach our parents a lesson? You know for being so shitty?” She stood in front of my bed.
“Yeahhhh.” I sat up a little more.
“Well, if ever there was a time, now would be it.” She spun in a circle. “I mean, come on. Look at this place. A little redecorating New York style wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Till, it’s such a bad idea. Like a super bad idea. I’m not even powerful enough to do this yet.” I placed Odin on the bed next to me and pointed to the orb. “My magic is still in there.”
Tilly moved toward the orb to stand in front of it, the glowing light reflected in her eyes. “Then touch it and take some more. You’ve been doing awesome. I’ve been watching.”
I wanted to touch the orb, to take some more of my magic into me. It was important to get stronger to help Beckett and the rest of the warlocks. I hadn’t heard from him in three days, hadn’t seen him around the school, and it felt awful to try and stop by the house. Part of me wanted to apologize to him. The other part of me didn’t want to apologize because it felt like admitting I was wrong, and I wasn’t.
“I don’t know. We’re supposed to be staying in here.”
Tilly clasped her hands to her chest. “Please, I just want to go get some tacos from that place near Columbus circle and maybe some fro-yo from that other place we like. And maybe just maybe rearrange some furniture. It’s been a long time since I did something fun and guess what, it’s getting to be about that time, or this Tilly is going to go boom.”
“Ugh, fine, but we have to keep a low profile.” I reached out for the orb. “And maybe just a little more juice.”
Chapter 36
Astrid
Tilly sauntered across my father’s penthouse with a taco in hand. She tilted her head to the side and took a bite. “What should we do first?”
“I honestly have no idea why he keeps this place. He’s never here.” I moved to the center of the room and stood staring at all the plain white things. I’d only been here a short while ago yet nothing changed. It was the middle of the night and not a single light was on. Only the glow from the streets below illuminated the floor-to-ceiling windows. Gauzy white curtains hung in front of them, dimming the lights of the street. I walked over to the lamp on the table and pulled the cord, flicking it on. The room lit up and the stark whiteness of it all made me cringe away from it.
Tilly walked over to the couch and plopped down on the pristine cream-colored
cushion. “We have to do enough to make a statement.”
“I don’t think we’ve ever acted out in all the years we’ve been alone. We just simply . . .”
“Carried on.” Tilly sighed and took another bite of her taco. “Hey! I know. Let’s make this look like we’re in Mexico. Remember that time when your dad got so sick down there? He’d hate it.”
“No, he hates Paris even more. Because of”—I held two fingers up—“wife number two.”
Tilly’s curls bounced as she popped up off the couch. She finished off the last of her taco and wiped her hand down her jeans. “I envision a bridge over there.” She pointed to the far side of the room. “Perhaps a river. Ohhhh, how about a mini Eiffel Tower?”
I clapped my hands together and rubbed them back and forth. The small hit of power I took from my orb sizzled through my veins. It rose up around me, filling the room. “Okay, but after this we’re going back to school, promise?”
“Promise.” A wide smile spread across Tilly’s face. “Oh, how I’ve missed Paris. Once we’re not grounded we should go.”
“Right, because grounding has always worked on us. As evidence of us being out right now.” I held my arms up and let my magic flow. The room was large and airy, and I had a shit ton of space to fill.
The floor dropped down into a serpentine shape that zig-zagged all the way from one side of the room to another. Drops of water fell from the ceiling in perfectly straight lines to fill my makeshift river. The beige walls turned from plain sheet rock to stone that crumbled in some places, giving it that old world look. Tilly kicked her shoes off and sat down at the edge of my river.
She dipped the tips of her toes in. “I love it.” She pointed toward the corner of the room. “Okay, Eiffel Tower now.”
Before I struggled with my powers. Now the more I used them, the more confident I got. I felt them flex like a muscle I’d only begun to use. The room shook and I envisioned the Eiffel Tower rising up in the corner of the apartment. It rose from the ground inch by inch. First the point then every steel beam seeped from the floor. Cracks forked out over the ceiling and down the walls. Dust rained down on me and I wanted to end it where it was. I pulled my powers back into myself.
Wicked Wish (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 2) Page 17
