by Kant, Komal
Misha muttered something under her breath. She was clearly seething about Anna, but didn’t say anything else to Loire. Anna’s actions weren’t my biggest concern. Her morals required her to always do the right thing and I couldn’t hate her for that. The only thing going through my mind was that Loire had more or less called me a whore. I couldn’t move past it for some reason.
“You really need to stop following me around. This is getting old really fast.” My embarrassment was channeling itself into anger towards him.
“This is my job and I take it seriously. Following you around is not fun for me. I was hired to make sure you stayed out of trouble. For some reason, I thought it’d be easy, but, boy, was I wrong.”
“Well, find a job that isn’t so pathetic where you have to babysit a teenager!” I hoped my words had gotten to him the way his words had gotten to me. It was hard to tell from the look on his face, since his expression hadn’t changed from cold fury. I needed to get away from him and the hurt he had caused me.
Grabbing Misha by the arm, I hightailed out of Sander’s palatial room, never wanting to lay eyes on Loire again. No one made me feel as angry and frustrated as he did. He had this annoying way of making me feel like a child without even saying a word.
“Seriously, there is something very wrong with Anna!” Misha’s voice broke into my thoughts as we hurried down the stairs and into the courtyard below. Oddly enough, I wasn’t mad at Anna, just like Misha didn’t seem mad at Loire.
“You know she always has to do the right thing,” I said as soothingly as I could in my rage. They had just started talking again and I didn’t need them being mad at each other over something so trivial. “She’s an angel, it’s part of her DNA.”
Misha stopped once we were in the courtyard and shot out an electrical charge. It flew past me and hit a stone pillar with a “bzz” sound. “Yes, but there is such a thing as loyalty, isn’t there?”
“Anna has many traits, but disloyalty is not one of those.” Loyalty was important in our friendship, especially since we shared so many secrets between the three of us. “She didn’t tell anyone why I ran away or where I went.”
Misha snorted in contempt, narrowing her eyes at me. “Oh, please. You really think that was her doing? I literally had to track her everywhere just to make sure she didn’t tell Uncle Troy what you were doing.”
“I’m sure it was tough on her,” I reasoned, knowing how hard it was for Anna to lie. “She was just trying to look out for me”
Misha fell silent, her face strained with confusion. I knew she loved Anna just as much as I did, but I also knew how much this was getting to her. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I guess I just didn’t expect her to give us up so easily.”
“So, that’s what you think of me?” a voice asked from the darkness.
Misha and I pressed against each other, surprised to find Anna materializing from behind us. Her face was taut, like she was struggling with several emotions at once, and I immediately felt guilty for speaking about her behind her back.
Misha stepped forward and I grabbed for her arm, not wanting an altercation to happen, but she pulled away from me. “I can’t trust you with anything anymore. I don’t know if you’ll just run off and tell someone about it.”
Anna’s eyes glistened with tears. “I was looking out for Kat. I didn’t want her to get into trouble. I know what Parlum is like—the rumors of what they do to people, I don’t want that for my friend.”
Misha let her anger get the better of her. “Look, I get it, okay? You’re an angel and your first priority is being a goody-goody, so maybe you should spend more time with your own kind and leave me and Kat alone.”
“That’s not fair!” Anna clenched her fists as tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her face.
Misha turned her face away, and I had a feeling it was because she couldn’t stand to see Anna cry. “And it’s not fair what you did to us. Honestly, I don’t care anymore. Just stop doing me any more favors, okay?”
In the darkness, Anna emitted a miserable cry and the air around us tingled with magic. The next second, Anna was gone. She had teleported out on us.
Feeling crappy about the entire exchange, I headed back to our room with Misha storming ahead of me.
I pulled out my phone and sent Anna a text apologizing. I would go to her later and comfort her, but so much had happened in one night that I needed to take it all in. I would try to resolve their disagreement in the morning when my head was clearer.
***
The next morning Misha was still in a bad mood from what she now referred to as “Anna’s betrayal” and barely spoke as we got ready for Supernatural History. I was trying to figure out the best way for my estranged friends to reconcile, when there was a soft tap at the door.
Misha paused in the middle of styling her perfect curls. “That’s probably Loire. Awkward.”
Biting down a mixture of uneasiness and embarrassment, I pulled open the door, already wondering how I was going to get through the next eight hours with him. Honestly, I would take Veritas right now over him.
But Loire wasn’t outside. It was a young girl, her eyes large and frightened as she stared at me. From the glaring, yellow badge pinned on her shirt, I realized she was a school messenger. The school sometimes used the younger students to send messages around the school if they didn’t have a telekinetic angel or air demon at their disposal.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Um, K-Katerina, I have a note for you,” she said, stumbling over her words.
Uncurling her fist, she handed me a scrunched up piece of paper. I took it, amused by her behavior, and opened it up.
Kat-
Meet me in the downstairs courtyard in 10 minutes.
-Loire
“Screw this!” I swore so loud that I made the little girl jump.
She stepped away from me, alarm spreading across her face like I might explode. “I’m so sorry!” she cried, close to tears, and bolted down the hallway before I could say anything to console her.
Misha appeared behind me and leaned over my shoulder to read the note. “Ooh, a secret meeting with Loire? I guess he liked what he saw last night.”
Meeting up with Loire was the last thing I wanted to do right now. I’d rather just go to class, which was a first for me, and zone out. I didn’t want to be alone with him after the things he’d said to me last night.
“This sucks,” I grumbled, tossing the note aside and grabbing my bag. “He was a jerk last night.”
“He was.” Misha nodded in agreement. “But, man, did he look hot all pissed off like that.”
Rolling my eyes at her, I headed out the door and downstairs to the courtyard, my mind thinking up the various scenarios that could play out. I didn’t get why Loire wanted to meet up instead of just coming up to the room like he usually did. I mean, I was glad all three of the SRECON agents were loosening up about guarding me, but this was a little out of the ordinary.
Though, if Loire wanted to have a private conversation, the Unity courtyard was the best place to do it. Most of the rooms in Unity were empty so there wasn’t much traffic of students coming through here.
It made me nervous that he was already there waiting for me. And of course he looked hot as usual in that well-fitted, black uniform. Damn it. If only he wasn’t so good to look at. I wasn’t a boy-crazy kinda girl, but guys like Loire only came along ever so often.
“Hey, I brought you breakfast,” he said, handing me a brown paper bag.
“Thanks.” I took it from him reluctantly, surprised by the gesture, and peered inside, relieved at finding no sign of eggs.
Loire nodded at a wooden bench. “Let’s go sit over there.”
The Unity courtyard was pretty pathetic looking and only had four benches as décor. There wasn’t even a fountain like all the other dorms had.
I made sure to put some distance between us on the bench as I pulled out a blueberry muffin and bit into it, waiting
for him to say something first.
He sighed, twisting his body towards me. He actually seemed nervous, which was a big difference from his usual cocky self. “Alright, I don’t do this a lot.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m sorry I implied you were throwing yourself at guys last night. I guess I overreacted a little.”
I didn’t say anything at first, but my mind was filling up with a million thoughts. Why had he reacted like that? Why had he seemed to take it so personally? Why was he apologizing?
“You weren’t completely wrong.” I shrugged a shoulder, trying not to seem too affected by his words even though they were causing those damn flutters to start up in my belly. Maybe they were hunger pains. I took another bite of my muffin for good measure. “I was being reckless. I guess I’m in a lot of trouble, huh?”
“No, not exactly,” he said slowly.
“What?” I stopped chewing, surprised.
Loire heaved a sigh, looking uncomfortable. “I decided not to report your indiscretion.”
“Why?” Nothing was making sense right now. Wasn’t SRECON all about protocol?
“Because that would mean Tyrone would get into a lot of trouble for not doing his job properly.” Loire’s voice was tense as he spoke. “And I’ve known him for too long to do that to him.”
Huh. So SRECON did break the rules sometimes. “Does Veritas know?”
Loire shook his head, looking down at the ground. “No, which is why I wanted to speak to you alone. I need to make sure that you won’t think too hard about what happened last night or she’ll pick up on it. Can you do that?”
“Of course,” I said, a little too smugly. “I’ve been keeping my thoughts from Veritas since the beginning.” Sometimes I was reckless, but I knew how to keep a secret.
That got his attention, and he jerked his head back towards me. “Like the reason why you ran away and then came back?”
When I didn’t say anything, Loire stood up in frustration and began pacing. “If you told us what was going on maybe we could help you.”
Ah, there was the “we”. Had someone put him up to this? Or was he actually concerned for me?
I stood up to my full height. I was almost as tall as Loire, but he still had a few inches on me. “You tricked me once. I’m not going to let you do it again. My business isn’t your concern.”
He stopped pacing and stopped short of me; his eyes were the same color as the sky before a bad storm. “You let yourself be tricked. If you ever want to make it into SRECON, you need to have your guard up.”
“Your guard didn’t seem up last night,” I accused, not flinching at the look in his eyes.
Loire’s body was tense as we stared each other down. I’d probably hit a nerve when I’d said that. I wasn’t sure why I’d even said that. Something in his demeanor changed—he relaxed a little and I felt myself do the same as we maintained eye contact.
A warm feeling grew between us; I could practically feel the air around us humming. It was like a part of him was calling out to me, to touch him, to feel him. It was the strangest thing. I almost felt like I was back with him that night at the bar.
I wanted to wrap myself around that feeling and hold onto it. I wanted to become a part of it.
Surprise flashed across Loire’s face, and he glanced down quickly before stepping away. For some reason he seemed disorientated for a second. “I’m done talking about this with you. Just count yourself lucky that the headmaster isn’t going to find out about last night.”
Embarrassment washed over me. I couldn’t believe that I’d let my feelings take over for a second. It was not cool thinking about Loire in that way. He was off-limits. I mean, I wasn’t even sure if I even liked him.
For now, I was just thankful that he’d kept me out of trouble.
Chapter Eleven
“Rise and shine, sugar.” A cheerful voice roused me from sleep.
I’d been dreaming of broken glass, its jagged pieces floating in front of me in the shape of a figure-eight. Sand was swirling all around me like it was being carried by the wind. It was confusing and I couldn’t figure out what it meant. Why couldn’t I have sexy dreams about One Direction like normal teenage girls did?
Forcing my eyes open, I saw a blurry shape take form beside me. Tyrone flashed me a white smile, and I rolled over and covered my head with my pillow in response.
“What do you want, Tye?” I groaned, my voice coming out strange and muffled.
“Your uncaring attitude absolutely kills me,” he said in an overdramatic tone. “I thought we had something special.”
I ignored him and rolled over again, surveying the room. “Where’s Loire?”
Mock-hurt filled Tyrone’s face. “I thought our time together meant something to you, but you’d rather be with him? I see how it is.” He folded his arms across his chest and pouted.
I tossed my pillow at him, but he managed to jump out of the way and avoid it just in time.
“I like it when you’re angry,” he said with a laugh, watching me climb out of bed. “It’s such a turn on.”
Grabbing an elastic band from my dresser, I swept my messy hair into a ponytail. “You still didn’t answer my question.” I sat back down on my bed. “Where’s Loire?”
“Busy,” Tyrone replied simply. “Lover boy has no time for you anymore. How does that make you feel?”
“Lover boy?” I raised an eyebrow in question, trying to keep my cool.
Tyrone smirked knowingly. “I know you have the hots for him.”
“You don’t know anything,” I said, refusing to give him anything to work with. There was no way he could know that I found Loire attractive or the pull I’d felt towards him yesterday.
“Sure I do,” he said with a smug expression. “I saw everything I needed to see when he busted into that demon kid’s party. With the way you were dressed and the way he looked at you, I knew there was something going on. There’s some major friction between you two and we all know that channels itself into-”
My cheeks flushed at his insinuation. “You really need help. There’s nothing going on between me and Loire. I hate him.”
“Call it whatever you want,” he said with a wink. “But we all know hate is just another side of love and you guys should really get it out of your system.”
The thought of Loire and I “getting it out of our system” snaked its way into my subconscious, and the flush I’d felt in my cheeks spread to the rest of my body.
I didn’t get how hate and love were even slightly related, but I decided to change the subject. “You’re lucky you didn’t get into trouble for being at the party. Very Tassels would have turned you into stone with a mere look.”
Tyrone shrugged, like it didn’t bother him either way. “Loire wouldn’t want me to get into trouble and it’s not like you would’ve said anything. I call this a win-win.”
Realizing that I only had an hour before first period started, I shooed Tyrone out of the room so I could shower and get changed. Misha had left a note telling me she had a few things to do before breakfast, so I took my time showering, knowing I wouldn’t have to share the hot water with her.
Once I was dressed, Tyrone and I headed down to the dining hall where Anna and Contessa were eating together. When Contessa caught sight of me, her lips upturned in disdain and she said something to Anna in a low tone before hurrying off.
“Good to know she’s on my side.” I sat down beside Anna as Tyrone went to grab breakfast. I honestly didn’t give a demon’s tail what some uppity angel thought of me. She could go choke on that metaphorical halo of hers.
Anna’s face was filled with concern as she turned to me, but whatever had been bothering her was quickly pushed aside as she broke into a warm smile. “Morning, Kat. Tessa just had a few things to do. How come Tyrone’s with you?”
“Loire’s busy,” I said, doubting that was the real reason Tessa had bolted at the sight of me. “So Tye’s filling in.”
“Oh, okay.�
� Anna took a bite of her bagel and frowned. “Wait. Tye? You call him Tye now?”
I shrugged in response. I guess I did. “Hey, I’m sorry about the whole thing with Sander’s party and Misha-”
“It’s fine.” Anna sighed, tucking her beautiful hair behind her ears.
I reached across the table and grasped her free hand. “No, it’s not fine. I should’ve said something then. I just really want the two of you to talk again.”
Anna gave me a tight smile. “I’m sure we will. In time.”
***
Tyrone followed me around for the rest of the day with no sign of Loire anywhere. I was beginning to wonder when, or if, Loire would ever be back when Tyrone pulled me aside after third period.
“I’m leaving now,” he said.
I’d just been on my way down to the gym for Martial Arts when he said this. I spun around, studying his face to see if he was being serious. “What? You’re leaving me unguarded?”
“I didn’t say that. Besides, I always know where you are, serial killer.” Tyrone motioned at the ira bands and gave me a mysterious smile before walking off.
He’d left me feeling even more confused than I already was. What the hell was going on?
Still absorbed by Tyrone’s weird behavior, I stepped into the gym and didn’t notice Professor Martin right away, who was standing at the front of the room.
“Is there a reason why you are late to my class, Miss Lyrille?” Professor Martin asked in his wheezy voice.
Groaning, I turned to face him and then blanched as Tyrone’s weird behavior suddenly made sense. Loire stood beside the professor, looking incredibly smug. He wore black track pants and a snug, black tank top that showed off his muscular arms.
I had never seen him show off his arms before and it fazed me for a few seconds. They were huge and covered with numerous tattoos. I liked big arms and tattoos.
Cue drooling.
“Uh, um, not really.” I had wanted to sound indifferent, but instead my words came out like a spluttering mess.
Professor Martin didn’t seem with my response. “Well, since you’re already up, come over here. You can be part of the demonstration for today’s lesson.”
