“Hope I don’t embarrass myself in PE again,” Lily muttered.
“You’ll be fine.” I was about to add something else reassuring when the twins pushed past us, entered the corridor, and caught up to Virgie.
I tensed. We were the only people so far down the corridor, all having rushed out. The other students were taking their time packing.
“Hey, sexy!” Kassius slapped Virgie’s ass, and Kayden pressed his mouth against her neck.
“What’s up with you guys?” Virgie’s voice trembled as the twins pulled her to the right, around a corner, and away from the main corridor.
My breath caught. I knew what the twins were capable of and in typical Onyx fashion, I couldn’t stand aside. Lily and I exchanged glances, nodded, and followed the trio down the mostly unused storage corridor.
The air smelled of dust, and half of the lights were out. Students didn’t come down this narrow hall often, only to grab cleaning supplies if they were punished with mopping the floors or doing the dishes. Three dark figures lingered near the end—the twins had moved quickly—and the one in the center thrashed.
Lily and I ducked behind a large rolling trash bin and I peeked around it.
“We missed you. We were hoping you’d spend some time with us.” Kassius grabbed Virgie’s hand and twirled her. The move resembled a judo fight rather than dancing.
“All the vamp girls are so boring. Stuck up. We’re looking for someone more fun.” Kayden pressed her against the wall and forced his mouth onto hers.
Bile rose into my throat. Virgie’s umbrella was gone. Peony wasn’t here to work her toxic charm on the twins.
“We should get Thorsten,” Lily whispered.
I nodded, heart racing, as cold tingles gathered on the edges of my fingers. “You go.”
“What about you?” Lily’s eyes widened in alarm.
Virgie squealed in distress as Kayden worked his hand up her side.
“Go.” I gave Lily a gentle shove. “Now!”
She bit her lip, but walked as fast as she could, not daring to run and alert the twins.
“Come on, why don’t you spend some time with us? We promise we’ll write you an excuse note for all the classes you miss.” Kayden undid the top button of Virgie’s shirt. I shuddered with rage, knowing firsthand the panic she was feeling.
Virgie ducked out under Kayden’s other arm. “Maybe some other time. I really don’t want to mess up my Placement Tests.”
Kassius chuckled cruelly. “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure that you become a top whore.” He grabbed her waist and pulled her in, running his incisors over her neck. Virgie let out a moan. Was she conflicted? Or was she just putting on a show? I didn’t want to mess things up for her by intervening when I wasn’t needed.
Kayden stepped behind her. “Have you ever had a threesome?”
Virgie let out a throaty laugh. “No, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to until someone buys my contract.”
“Don’t be such a stickler for rules.” Kassius gripped the front of her shirt and ripped it, sending several buttons flying.
Virgie gasped.
“You owe us some fun after what your bestie did!” Kayden’s fangs flashed. He jerked Virgie’s neck sideways.
Damnit! He was about to bite her. Where was Thorsten?
Kassius knelt and pushed up Virgie skirt, exposing her femoral artery, high up on her thigh.
They were going to do more than rape her. Virgie might not survive if they drank too much of her blood.
It was only when I extended my hands that I realized how much ice I had gathered. My fingers hummed with the need to release the energy. My body quaked with primal rage. I could blast the twins good, but I had to be careful. They couldn’t know it was me. And I couldn’t injure Virgie.
“Guys, don’t! Let’s do this some other time when—” Virgie’s protest turned into an ear-splitting shriek as both sets of fangs pierced her skin. Kassius went for her thigh while Kayden bit her neck.
Shit. Shit! I stepped out from behind the trash bin and lifted my left hand. Floating ice formed before my palm with the sound of strained glass, gathering my sweat and all surrounding humidity. The air dried out. Spikes. Like the ones that had killed Preston. I breathed out and gave in to my instincts.
Three spikes shot at Kayden’s head, whistling as they sailed through the air. Whack. Each one shattered as they struck Kayden’s skull. He fell back, stunned, rubbing his head as blood spurted from Virgie’s neck.
A tingle of satisfaction filled me. More blood ran down the side of Kayden’s temple as he slumped against the wall, losing consciousness. I raised my right hand, gathering sweat, vapor, and my own breath. Another chunk of ice formed, not as neat as the daggers, and I fired it at Kassius, who was in a feeding frenzy and hadn’t yet lifted his face from Virgie’s thigh. The ice dagger struck him just as he let go of her and glanced up.
The second twin stumbled away from Virgie and dropped to the ground, knocked unconscious. I rushed toward Virgie, who was a trembling mess. Blood ran down her neck and leg. “O...Onyx?”
I grabbed her and pulled her toward PE. She’d be safest with the others, and she could calm down in the changing room. At least the blood flow was slowing.
“I look like I’ve started my period,” she muttered with a relieved laugh. “Shit. This hurts.”
As I dragged her down the corridor and back around the corner toward the gym, a figure hurried toward us. More ice gathered within me, but just as I was about to release it, the blond guard stepped out of the shadows.
“Thorsten,” I breathed. My stupid body wanted to collapse into his and press into his hard chest. Ugh, maybe that’s why he had rescued me all these times, conditioning me to trust him.
“What happened?” His gaze landed on the blood on Virgie’s thigh, nostrils flaring.
I squared my shoulders. He was a vampire. He should’ve known how Kassius and Kayden would react after being betrayed by Peony. He should’ve kept an eye on them.
“The twins tried to rape Virgie. She’s fine. They’re unconscious.” And with that, I pushed Virgie into the changing room. Thorsten could deal with the twins. He was not my friend. He did not care about us. He was a vampire with his own agenda. I needed to remember that unless I wanted a repeat of the Preston situation.
15
In the changing room, I helped Virgie clean up the blood on her neck and thigh. She insisted she could do it by herself, but her hands were trembling so badly, I ignored her protests. Even though I could tell that getting into her leotard was the last thing she wanted to do, I rummaged through her bag and pulled it out. Mr. Chad wasn’t a stickler for rules, but if we missed all of PE, he’d enjoy punishing us. Virgie had been bitten enough for a day.
“I know you’re shaken, but at least you’re not bleeding anymore, and I don’t think they took too much blood. You shouldn’t be too dizzy or anything else.” I quickly changed into my leotard, then helped her out of her blazer.
“Good. One thing’s going right for me.” She craned her neck to examine herself in the mirror. “This is going to leave a mark.”
“You’re not the only one who’s been marked.” I glanced at examined my wrist, remembering the mixture of pain, disgust, and gratefulness I had felt for Thorsten removing Ms. Rutherford’s poison.
“People are going to talk.” Virgie seemed to finally realize that we needed to hurry and slipped out of her skirt and blouse, then pulled on her leotard. “Some fae let themselves get bitten to get a higher rank with the vamps.” She shook her head. “Blood whores. I don’t want to end up like that.”
“You won’t. The twins won’t bother you again.” Peony had protected Virgie before. Now the job had fallen to me, and I’d take it seriously.
With robotic movements, Virgie walked past me into the gym, her face empty. The girls were warming up while the boys had been once again left to their devices to play a ball game on the other end of the gym.
Mr. Chad was frowning at his fo
lder. When he looked up, Virgie and I had taken our places next to Lily. A low grin spread over his face as he took us in, probably all forgetting all about the curriculum he was supposed to teach. “Today, we are going to work on your flexibility. Girls. On the floor. Bring your legs as far apart as you can into a V, and stretch your hamstrings. This will aid some of you when you move on to exotic dancing later in the year.”
Mei crossed her arms, glaring at him.
Mr. Chad motioned to her and the other few vamp girls. “You may work on your endurance by running ten rounds and then doing push-ups followed by ab work.”
Mei dropped her arms by her sides and broke into a jog, the other vamp girls following.
Ugh, could they rub the inequality any more into our faces? I sat down with the rest of the fae girls as Mr. Chad positioned himself far back enough to watch all of us, and as we went through our stretches, he licked his lips. Knowing what was on his mind, I leaned over, grabbing my right toes and holding the stretch for thirty seconds. He counted slowly, and poor Lily beside me could barely reach past her knee. At the beginning of our stretches, the male vamps and the few male fae stopped playing ball to ogle us, but soon grew bored and resumed shooting hoops. Judging from the loud thuds and grunts, the vamps were once again engaging in their favorite pastime—wiping the floor with the male fae.
Mr. Chad ignored them as always. “Switch sides,” he said. “Lily. Work on this. Lean far to the left and into the pain if necessary.”
She seethed beside me, but didn’t dare to look up, which was good since Mr. Chad had a thing about picking on her.
“Good job, Virgie. Excellent, Onyx,” he said with hunger in his voice. “Two very well-suited ladies for your roles.”
I snapped my gaze up at Mr. Chad, a part of me wanting to freeze him into an ice statue. I’d had enough of rapey vamps for one day, and my temper was short. Virgie shot me a warning look, which melted some of the ice in my veins, but did nothing to leash my sharp tongue.
“I’m going to ace my classes,” I gritted out. “And I’m going to work my way up in a vamp corporation.”
Mr. Chad appeared above me and smirked cruelly. “Onyx, Onyx, Onyx. Only one fae wins independent status per class. One in one hundred. Unlike you, Onyx, many fae train all their lives for this opportunity.” As he walked away, he added, “Peony had the most promise.”
My jaw dropped, and my neck prickled as people stared at me. Virgie gave me an I-told-you-to-shut-up look. I bit my lip. Had I just incriminated myself further? Would people suspect me of planting the blood crystal onto Peony? I glanced around the hostile faces. Several fae here were pureblood, and a few girls, including Kristin, narrowed their eyes at me. In this environment, my ambition made me a target. I needed to lay low, not invite more jealousy and competition.
One in one hundred. Mr. Chad’s words replayed over and over in my head as I did the splits first on my right, then my left side.
My chances to use my mind and not my body were just above one percent.
I turned to Virgie. Smart, beautiful, and strategic, she had accepted her role of courtesan not because she was brainwashed, but because she knew how the system worked and that it didn’t make sense to chase impossible dreams.
I had avoided this world all my life, which put me behind every fae here. How foolish of me to think that I might be the exception.
I didn’t speak much at lunch. Virgie came over and sat with us, and to my relief, the twins were gone. I wondered what Thorsten had done with them, but did it matter at this point?
“Onyx. You’re quiet,” Lily said. “Are you upset over what Mr. Chad said?”
“Of course, I am,” I snapped.
Lily winced, and I felt shitty for taking my anger out on her. It wasn’t her fault that Mr. Chad and Candice had painted a picture so bleak, the night looked bright in comparison.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured.
Maybe I deserved such a fate. Maybe I should accept it as everyone was telling me to do. With so many people working against me, what chance did I have, even if I managed to get top marks? Mr. Sullivan’s class and gym were one thing, and so was German, but Ms. Rutherford would never let me pass. Even if she didn’t get another chance to interrogate me, she was out for blood.
I was doomed.
Needing some fresh air, I pushed away from the table when Virgie said, “Thank you for earlier.” She shot a cautious glance at Lily. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Peony never told you about it?” I guessed she was saving my secret for a big reveal at the worst possible time for me. Too bad she wouldn’t get to spill the beans now.
Lily glanced between Virgie and I, trying to understand what we were talking about.
I had held on to my secret for so long, but now, I could no longer. I was tired. And it didn’t matter anyway. I had no chance to lead a life worth living. “I have magic.”
Lily’s pale eyebrows shot up. “You do?”
I nodded. “I can summon and control ice.”
Virgie’s jaw dropped. “Ice? That’s what you knocked Kassius and Kayden out with?” Her throat bobbed up and down. “But that’s—”
“A power of Winter Court fae,” I finished for her. “Please. Neither of you can tell anybody. I didn’t know until, well, recently.” I bit my tongue. If I told them about Preston, I would make them complicit in keeping his death a secret. I couldn’t do that, no matter how much I longed to unload my problems. But there was something else I could confess. “Ms. Rutherford knows about my power. Peony must’ve told her, and now she hates me.”
Virgie pushed her barely touched plate away. “You attacked Peony with ice?”
I nodded, well aware that Virgie could use my secret against me. It was because of me that Peony who had acted as her protection was gone and the twins had attacked her.
“You can trust us. We won’t tell anyone.” Lily squeezed my hand.
“No one.” Virgie gave me a little smile and extended her little finger for a vow.
“Are you serious?” I asked, but took her finger and shook it before doing the same with Lily. The silly gesture made me feel lighter for a moment before the hopelessness of my situation once again sunk in.
Virgie finally put a piece of asparagus into her mouth and chewed. “Something is wrong with Ms. Rutherford.”
I shrugged. “Isn’t there with all of our teachers?”
Virgie didn’t laugh at my quip, but simply shook her head. “I don’t think she’s here just to teach.”
“She’s investigating Preston’s disappearance,” I blurted, heart racing. Would I dare to reveal my true nature to Lily and Virgie?
Virgie gave me a sharp look, but, mercifully, didn’t ask if I had a hand in his disappearance. “I’m sure his vanishing is taken seriously by the Summer Court, but I have the feeling she’s here on her own agenda.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Like what?”
Virgie shrugged. “She seems ambitious. Why else would she be friends with Lady Cardinal? Maybe a vamp heard she’d teach here and made a deal with her, promising to pay her a nice sum if she found and captured a powerful fae. Nocturnal Academy makes a lot of dough off our contracts. If a vamp was looking for a warrior or assassin, something the Unseelie Court is famous for, it would be much cheaper to pay a middle person like Ms. Rutherford than what Headmistress Cardinal would ask for.”
I should’ve embraced Virgie giving me an alibi, but I could no longer lie.
Tears welled up in my eyes, and Virgie got up. “Let’s talk somewhere else.”
Lily and I followed Virgie into a narrow hall and a dusty classroom where the air smelled of disuse. “Ms. Rutherford is looking for Preston, Preston isn’t coming back” I choked out. I glanced at Lily. “He was our Home Decor teacher during summer term.” I sighed, knowing there was no going back now. “He promised to take me to the faeland, but he didn’t tell me that he planned to use me for breeding. He attacked me and...my magic exploded.”<
br />
Lily gasped.
Virgie slapped her hand across her mouth. “You hurt him? Killed him?”
“Y...yes.” Tears spilled down my eyes. “I didn’t mean to. I was trying to get him of me and get back out of the portal, but then everything happened so quickly.”
“Shit, Onyx.” Virgie ran a hand through her silky hair. “It’s not your fault. He was trying to abduct you and make a slave out of you. You defended yourself. You did the right thing.” She wrapped me in a hug. “I knew he was too good to be true.”
Lily nodded. “He was a creep. I’m glad you ended him before he could hurt another girl.”
I blinked, shocked to hear such words from Lily. She embraced me too, and the three of us hugged for some time.
When the girls released me, Virgie smiled at me. “Onyx, you’re kickass. You’re like the catwoman of fae.”
I laughed, wiping away the tears.
Virgie shook her head. “I can’t believe Preston was here, preying on fae girls, pretending to be our friend while he was so much worse than the vamps.” She sighed. “At least the vamps can’t get you pregnant.”
Lily gave me a soft smile. “I’m glad Preston and Peony are gone. They were evil to their bones.”
At that, Virgie’s gaze snapped to me, and she grabbed my arm. “But you’re still not in the clear. Now that Ms. Rutherford knows your secret and suspects you of having a hand in Preston’s disappearance, she’ll come for you. You need to find a way to stop her before she outs you.”
16
Virgie was right. I had to stop Ms. Rutherford. But how? The vamps probably would be happy if she accused a fellow fae of killing Preston and thus clear their names. Fae from the Summer Court might not have a lot of standing here, and their numbers might be dwindling, but I still had the feeling that they could do a lot of damage to the vamps if they chose to invade the human world.
As the day wore on, my situation weighed down on me, making it harder and harder to breathe. I struggled to focus in German as Thorsten taught us driving directions and how to ask for things in a store. I wondered when he’d get to how to ask what sex position a vamp liked. Heck, maybe Thorsten was getting ready to teach me how to talk dirty to him.
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