by Laney Powell
As I faced forward, I wondered if I was being shady—I told Xavier that I wanted to be with him, and other people. So why would I be so irritated about him and Sorcha?
I mean, outside the fact she was mean, and a bitch. She’d made sure to harass me, or have her friends harass me, at every opportunity. She wasn’t someone that you could share and play nice with. I hadn’t seen any of the other guys with a particular girl, so I didn’t think it would be an issue with them, although I could be way wrong.
But I felt better about something that had been nagging me. Sorcha was not the type of person I wanted anything to do with, and that would be the case even if Xavier wasn’t a factor.
I really needed to get over my own sense of fairness. I had a sneaking suspicion I’d given Sorcha too much time in my head. And that was time she didn’t deserve.
With that thought, I got back to work. Just a couple more hours, and I’d be able to talk to my dad.
When I joined the girls for dinner, I saw both Xavier and Carrick in the dining hall. Carrick made a bee line for me. “Hey,” he said, snaking an arm around me for a hug. “Can I come and see you tonight?” he whispered into my hair. When I nodded, he said, “Good to see you’re up and around.”
“That makes two of us,” I smiled, loving the way his arm felt against me. Once more, I was struck by his size, and his level of comfort with himself. It made me feel small, and protected, and I could feel the hum of his attraction to me. He hadn’t shaved in a day or two, and he had the stubbly beginnings of a beard. It was hot.
“I miss you,” he whispered into my hair.
“I have to go see Madame Perpetua after dinner, so maybe around eight?” I whispered as I reached up to hug him.
“You got it,” he kissed the side of my head. Since my hair was loose, it wasn’t obvious. Then he let me go, and I felt naked for a moment. “See you,” he smiled and sauntered off.
I sat down, watching him go.
“Hey, stop daydreaming,” Carla said. “You look incredibly sappy.”
I blinked. “He is just so…”
“Yeah, we know,” Bettina said.
“And he smells like the beach in the sun,” I sighed as I turned back to my food. “It’s ridiculous how intoxicating that is.”
“Did you grow up on the beach?” Nicola asked.
“Pretty much. My dad was always working, so most of the time that we could get away and spend together was driving to the beach that was five minutes away. We never had time for a vacation.” When he would go. He never seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.
“That makes sense, then,” Bettina said.
We talked about class then, leaving my romance and anything serious aside. I could tell that my friends just wanted to have something like what they considered normal, and I was happy to keep all my personal stuff to myself.
“Hey,” I said, after we’d eaten and were just chatting, “I have to go. I get to call my dad tonight.”
All three faces turned to me. “That’s great!” Nicola said.
“Then what are you still doing here?” Carla teased.
Laughing, I got up and hurried to Madame Perpetua’s office. When I knocked, she called out, “Come in!” and as I entered, I stopped to allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Then I walked over to her desk and sat.
“I have a phone for you, and you can make the call as you would any other call,” Madame Perpetua pushed an old, green rotary style phone at me.
I gaped. “What in the—I mean, Madame, this is great, but I haven’t seen one of these in ages.”
“Yes, I know it’s old,” she said, “But it works. You’ll need to dial a one first.” She got up, and her scales made metallic swishing sounds as she moved away from the desk. “Take your time, Raven. When you’re done, you may leave.”
“Okay,” I said. I’d hoped to talk to her about Mom, but I guess that wasn’t going to happen. I tried not to feel disappointed. I was getting to talk to my dad, and that was nothing to be sad about.
Eagerly, I dialed his number at the shop, and he answered on the first ring. I was surprised.
“Nox’s Cycles,” he said.
“Dad, it’s me,” I said.
“Raven! Holy hell, girl, I was about to call the police! Where are you?”
“Dad, I’m at the school. Just like I told you.”
“Why haven’t you called me before now? I think I filled up your inbox,” he said.
“Well, we don’t get cell service here,” I said. I’d tried, but my phone died quick, and I wasn’t able to access messages. We didn’t have internet here, at least not that students could use, so effectively, I was cut off.
“No email, either?” I could hear the beginnings of anger in his voice.
“Nope. They like us to work the old-fashioned way,” I said. “No computers, all written work. That kind of thing.”
“That must be killing you,” Dad said.
“It is. I haven’t written this much in I can’t remember how long.”
“So tell me about school,” he said. “What are you studying?”
“History, and ways to make…” Shit. What was it Margiana had told him? That I was being offered a scholarship because why? “Use of our various skills?”
“Are you working on your singing?” he asked.
That was one thing I actually was not working on, although I hummed to myself a lot. “In addition to other things.”
“Like?”
I laughed. “What does it matter? We all know that I’m going to inherit Nox’s Cycles,” I said.
“I hope so,” Dad said. “That’s always been my plan, if you want it.”
“Why would I want anything else? Hey, were you able to get Bonnie?” I asked. I’d driven my precious Bonneville off the jetty, and while I had a ton of things to think about, I hoped that she’d been recovered.
“We found her almost out of the water, on the beach,” Dad said. “I didn’t realize that the tides were strong enough to move a bike, but the morning after you left, I went out to the beach with some of the guys, and there she was, right on the beach.”
“Is she fixable?” I asked. I felt so guilty for driving her into the water.
“I took her out yesterday,” Dad said. “She’s working great, considering how you treated her.” There was a teasing note of accusation in his voice.
“I know! I know! Don’t make me feel worse! I didn’t mean to put her in the water, but it happened, and I still feel guilty!”
It made me feel good to talk to my dad, in that teasing half-serious, half-annoyed way that we had when speaking together. We talked for a bit about the shop, and various members of the motorcycle club.
“Dad, I need to go.”
“When are you coming home?” he asked.
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out. And I’ll talk to them about letting me call you more. Oh, Dad?” My heart was pounding. I had one more thing to ask him, and I didn’t know how he was going to take it.
“What?”
“What do you know about Mom’s history? Like her family, that kind of thing?”
He sighed. “I met her here, on the beach at the end of a summer afternoon. You know that,” he said.
“Yes, but what else?”
“I asked her about her family, and all she would say was that she and her family weren’t close, because she’d chosen a life they didn’t approve of,” Dad said.
“Why didn’t they approve?”
“I don’t know,” he said, and I could almost see the shrug that accompanied his words. “She never told me. What she said was that with me, and then with us, she was living the life she wanted, and she was happy. Why do you ask?”
I took a breath. “I think she might have gone to school here,” I said.
“Have you met people who knew her?” Dad shot back, so fast it took me off guard.
“No, but I’ve had a few hints,” I said.
“Like what?”
“Nothing I
can really explain. Listen, if I find out that I’m right, I’ll call you ASAP,” I said. I wasn’t going to keep this new world to myself, I decided. Whenever I had a school vacation, I was going home and telling him all of it.
“All right,” Dad said, and the urgency of seconds ago left. “I’d love to hear if you find out anything.”
“You and me both, Dad.”
“She loved the beach,” he said suddenly. “Before you were born, and then the three of us after you were born, even when you were what I thought was too little, we’d go down to the beach and go into the ocean together. She always liked to hold me, and float. And then we would hold you, and float. Those were some of the most peaceful times of my life.”
Tears came to my eyes at his words. “You never told me that before.”
“You never asked,” he said. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know about her.”
“We need to have a long talk when I come home,” I said.
“Which is when?”
“I’ll ask the headmistress,” I said.
“Oh, okay, Miss Fancy School,” Dad laughed.
“Shut up. I’m going to ask if I can call once a week.”
“I hope so. I miss you, and I’m not happy it’s taken them that long to get you in touch with your family.”
There was so much that I couldn’t say. “I know, Dad.”
He sighed. “All right. I know when to shut up. But I miss you, honey. And I love you.”
“I love you, too, Dad.”
“Call me next week, or else,” Dad said.
“Okay,” I said, and we both hung up. Tears sprang up again, and rolled down my cheeks. I sat like that for a while before there was a soft knock, and Madame Perpetua came in, her scales moving across the stone floor. For the first time, it was comforting. She was solid, and steady, and wasn’t going anywhere.
“Are you all finished?” she asked.
“Yes, but he’s pretty peeved it’s been over a month since I left. I think I need to call him every week.”
Her lips thinned, but she didn’t look as though she was about to yell at me. “I suppose we can arrange that. It’s been some time since we had a student who came from the human world as you have.”
“Well, I’m just trying to make this easier on everyone,” I said, wanting to keep it all business.
“And I appreciate that, Miss Nox. Very well. Come back this time next week, and you may call him again. Let him know that this will be your regular time to call.”
“Great! Thank you, Madame,” I said.
She waved a hand. “We don’t need an angry father calling the police.”
“No, you don’t want him piss—I mean, angry about anything,” I agreed.
“If that is all, you are free to go,” Madame Perpetua said.
“Thank you,” I said. “I needed to talk to him as much as he needed to talk to me.”
She looked at me for a minute, and I wished I could see her without the sunglasses, you know, without the fear of dying. “Of course. Good night, Miss Nox.”
“Good night, Madame Perpetua,” I said. I hurried back to my own room. I wanted to clean up, not look like I’d been crying, because I needed to talk to Carrick tonight.
Chapter Fourteen
By the time Carrick knocked on my door, I’d not only cleaned up my face and changed my clothes twice, I’d gotten some homework done. All the sexy men in the world couldn’t detract from the fact that I was up to my ass in homework.
“Hey,” I said as he came in.
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me, the brush of his stubble scraping against me as he devoured my mouth. I wrapped my arms around him, and let myself fall into his kiss.
After what seemed like hours, he stood up. “Are you really all right? You scared the shit out of me.”
“I’ve never had a migraine like that,” I said, taking his hand and bringing him over to my bed to sit with me. We might be getting naked tonight, we might not. First we had to talk. It was apparent I wasn’t the only one with something on my mind.
“Never?” His face showed his concern.
“No. I usually can get past one in a day or so.”
“Did you tell Madame Perpetua?”
“Oh, shit,” I was annoyed. “I forgot to mention that to her. I got to talk to my dad tonight, and forgot about anything else. Is that important?”
“Things change when you come here. We live with all kinds of magic all around us. If something is that different from your previous life, yes, it’s important. It might not be a big deal, but it might be.” His brows creased together.
I wanted to kiss them away. Focus, Raven.
“What brings them on?”
“It can be food, or not enough food, or water, or… “ I shrugged. “All of those things have triggered them for me. Most people have things that are triggers. Mine are food and water, and stress,” I added.
“This has been a stressful beginning of the year,” Carrick agreed.
He didn’t even know about the nightmares. “The nightmares aren’t helping,” I added.
“What nightmares?”
“They started after our classroom was attacked,” I said.
“Tell me about them.”
So I did. His face got darker, and the crease between his brows deepened. “This isn’t good, Raven. Why would a demon be focused on you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. You know I didn’t even know about all of this world before I came here, so your guess is probably way better than mine.”
Carrick was silent for a bit, holding me with both his arms around me. I liked the way I felt with him. He was sexy and comfortable.
“So what’s with the demon and the vamp?” he asked finally.
I took a breath, and said, “I like them.”
“Okay.” His voice was neutral. Too neutral.
“I like you as well.”
“Which means what?”
“I want to be with all of you.”
He was very still. Neither of us moved, and I didn’t dare look up at him. I barely dared to breathe. This wasn’t my decision, this had to be his.
Carrick carefully and gently moved me aside, and got up from the bed. His back was to me. “I don’t know if I can share you,” he said.
“I know I’m asking a lot—”
“Why?” He whirled around then. “You don’t have to. Tell them you’re with me!”
“I care for all of you,” I said.
“Do they know?” He put his back to me again, and I could hear a tinge of bitterness running through his words.
“One does. I’m telling the others.”
“There’s more? How many?” He faced me once more.
“Four,” I said. Damn. From talking to the girls, I thought that it wouldn’t be like this. But it was human, and normal. I could understand. I wouldn’t share a used tissue with Sorcha or anyone like her.
“Four more?” he asked.
“No, there are four of you.”
Carrick walked to the door. “I appreciate you being honest with me. I don’t know how I feel about it. This wasn’t what I saw happening between us.”
“I understand,” I said.
“I don’t think you do,” he said, and the look he gave me as he walked out the door made my heart feel as though it were breaking. As it latched behind him, I let myself fall onto the bed as the tears came.
Thankfully, even though I cried most of the night when I thought about the look on Carrick’s face as he left, I didn’t get another migraine. Thank god. I was quiet over the next two days, and my friends, after taking one look at my face, let me be quiet and withdrawn. I decided that I loved them for that.
I kept my head down, and because neither Xavier nor Mikhail came to see me, for which I was also grateful, I got caught up on my homework. All of my instructors, even Professor Cordelia, were impressed.
The second night since Carrick had left my room, I went back after dinner, wanting t
o go to bed early. I’d been up late getting things done, and now, I just wanted to sleep. I took a long shower, pulled on my oldest, rattiest Nox’s Knights MC tee shirt, and fell into bed. I didn’t even have time to cry, or be sad before my eyes closed and I fell asleep.
When I woke, the walls were booming and shaking, and I sat up, trying to catch my balance. Which didn’t work—I fell out of bed. I found my leggings, and pulled them on, narrowly missing falling on my face into the bed across from me. Once more, I thanked my lucky stars that I hadn’t been assigned a roommate yet.
I hurried out into the hall, which was full of smoke, and apparently people, although I couldn’t see them. Someone grabbed my arms from behind and I pulled away, ready to deck them in the face when I heard the cool tone of Mikhail’s voice.
“Are you all right?” he asked into my ear.
“I guess. What’s going on?”
“Another explosion,” he said, his voice grim. We walked together, him behind me, down the hallway. Two doors down from my room showed the source of the boom.
The door was blown off its hinges. Inside, it was apparent that there had been a fire in the room, because the room was blackened and covered in soot. Both beds were burnt, with only a leg or two and part of the headboard left.
“Everyone, back to your rooms, please,” Madame Perpetua raised her voice to be heard, and I could tell that everyone stopped talking as she began to speak. “There has been another explosion, and at this time, we are not sure who, if anyone, has been hurt. Please return to your rooms, and I will make an announcement tomorrow.
No one moved.
“If someone has been hurt, then it will be easier for me to work with the other staff without all of you around,” Madame Perpetua continued.
After seeing the room, and what was left, there was no way anyone in that room made it out unharmed.
“Let’s go,” Mikhail said. He took my hand and led me back to my room. He pulled me in and closed the door quickly.
I couldn’t help coughing from the smoke. As I leaned against the door, trying to get the smoke and the horrible smell from my throat, he got me a glass of water. I drank it all, and without words, he got me another one.
