Eden's Playground: Graystone Academy Book One

by BE Kelly

  “Hmm—well, here it seems that they’ve had a disagreement. Your father says, ‘I can’t believe that after everything we’ve come to mean to each other that you’re going to allow your brother to tear us apart. I’m begging you to rethink walking away from me—from us.’ Wow, that’s sad,” she whispered.

  “So, they broke up because your dad didn’t approve?” Duff asked.

  “Well, I told you how my father feels about shifters. Maybe he didn’t feel that your father was good enough for his sister. He doesn’t think that shifters and witches should mix. Maybe he put his foot down and told his sister she wasn’t allowed to date your father.” Anson wondered what that would mean for the future of their relationship with Eden. He didn’t give a fuck if her father approved of him and Duff, but if Eden did, they wouldn’t last.

  Eden folded the letter up and grabbed the last one on the desk, “Oh—this one is from Bianca to your father,” she said.

  “Wait—why would dad have his own letters? Wouldn’t he have given then to Bianca? How does he have them?” Duff asked. That was a good question.

  “Maybe she gave them back,” Anson said.

  “Or maybe, he never gave them to her. Look at this,” she said, pointing out the first line of Bianca’s letter. “My aunt wrote, ‘Why haven’t you written me? It’s been almost two months and I’ve had no word from you, Dugan.’ Your father’s letters were both dated just days before this one from Bianca. I’m guessing that he didn’t give them to her.”

  “Wow,” Duff said. “That’s kind of sad.”

  “She goes on to say that she won’t wait around for your father forever. She wrote that if she doesn’t hear from him soon, she’s going to have to officially break things off with him and date other men,” Eden said.

  “That’s harsh,” Anson said. “So, there’s a possibility that they weren’t even together at the time of her murder?” Anson asked.

  “According to Bianca’s letter, no,” Eden said.

  “What now?” Duff asked.

  “I think we need to wake Glory,” Anson breathed. “I hate to say this but I think we need her help.”

  Duff

  They put their father’s study back together and walked down to the kitchen, finding the light on and Glory sitting at the table, sipping her tea. “I thought you’d want to talk to me,” she said.

  “You mean, you rummaged through our minds and saw that we were going to wake you up anyway,” Anson accused. Glory smirked at him and shrugged.

  “Do you want my help or not, Anson?” she asked.

  “We want your help,” Eden quickly agreed. Duff was still trying to get used to their sexy witch taking charge, but he had to admit, he liked it. Eden sat down next to Glory at the table. “What can you tell us about the status of Mr. Kirkpatrick’s relationship with my aunt Bianca?” she asked.

  “I was friends with both of them during my time at Graystone, although, your father and I ran in different circles. He mostly hung out with other shifters—mainly wolf shifters. And being a fae, I stuck with my own kind and even made friends with many witches, since we took a lot of the same classes—you know, spells and all,” Glory said. “As for if Dugan and Bianca were together at the time of her death, I have no idea. I can tell you that I remember seeing them around campus together. They caused quite a stir,” she said.

  “How so?” Eden asked.

  “Well, there were a lot of supernaturals who, like your father, believed that shifters shouldn’t mix with other supernaturals. Things were different back then, it was a different time, but you’ll still find that way of thinking today around campus, unfortunately,” Glory said. “I can’t remember much about your aunt’s death, Eden. What I do remember was that your father believed that Dugan Kirkpatrick was dating his sister, behind his back, and that he had killed her. That was the story he told campus and local authorities. It was the ultimate betrayal that ended up ending the friendship between the Kirkpatricks and Graystones.”

  “How do we stop it from happening?” Anson asked although he had a feeling he knew that answer and he wasn’t going to like it very much.

  “Time travel,” Glory leaned forward and whispered across the table as if she was telling him a secret. “It won’t be pleasant, but it’s the only way.”

  “Wait—time travel?” Duff asked. “Come on, that really exists? I thought stuff like that only happened in science fiction stories.”

  “Well, if you haven’t looked in the mirror lately, we kind of are a science fiction story. I mean—two wolf shifters dating a witch, while sitting around a kitchen table with a fae, talking about time travel. You can’t get more science fiction than this,” Eden said motioning around the table to the four of them.

  Glory giggled, “I really like her,” she said. Duff wondered if Eden had picked up on the fact that she had just labeled their relationship. The question was, did she really believe that they were dating?

  “So, we’re dating then?” Duff asked Eden.

  She shrugged and nodded, “I guess that’s what we should call this, right?” Eden asked. “I mean, I don’t want to go around introducing you two as two wolf shifters I’m having sex with,” she sassed.

  “Yeah—I like you a lot, Dear,” Glory said to Eden.

  “So, your defining our relationship purely to be able to introduce us to your friends?” Duff asked. That kind of stung a little. He wanted her to be their girlfriend. Hell, Duff wanted her to be more than their “girlfriend,” but they could talk about all that stuff later. Right now, they needed to wrap their heads around this time-traveling thing, go back to try to save Bianca, and figure out who was killing witches in the woods at Graystone Academy.

  “How about we settle on calling what we’re doing, ‘dating’, and come back to this later after we can figure out who’s killing women on campus?” Anson asked.

  “Fine,” Eden agreed. “So, how do we go back to the past, Glory?” she asked.

  “Easy,” Glory said. “We do a spell and if it works, the three of you will end up in nineteen, ninety-one.”

  “And if it doesn’t work?” Duff asked. “Where will we end up then?”

  “There’s no telling, really. I mean, I guess you three could end up in any time,” she admitted.

  “Like being chased down by dinosaurs or witnessing the signing of the Declaration of Independence—anywhere?” Eden asked. Glory shrugged and nodded.

  “Well, shit,” Duff cursed.

  “Don’t make me get the soap, Duff Kirkpatrick,” Glory warned. He held up his hands in defeat, flashing her his best smile.

  “Have you done this spell before?” Anson asked. “You know—sent someone to the past?”

  “No,” Glory breathed. “I’ve never done it personally, but I watched my grandmother do it all the time.”

  “Watching and doing are two different things, Glory,” Duff said.

  “It’s a simple spell, Duff,” she challenged. “I think that between us, Eden and I will be able to figure out how to cast the spell to send the three of you back.”

  “When do we leave?” Anson asked. Duff wished they could talk this over, maybe weigh some other options, but he had a feeling that his brother had already made up his mind about what they should do. And God help him, Eden looked just as determined to head back in time.

  “Shit,” Duff grumbled. “We’re really going to do this?”

  “If you’d rather stay behind, I’m sure that Eden and I can handle things in the past. I promise to keep a very close eye on her,” Anson promised. His brother knew exactly what he was doing—playing dirty. Duff wouldn’t let Eden out of his sight, especially if she was going on some dangerous, foolish mission to save her aunt in the past. If she was going, he and Anson would both be by her side—end of the story.

  “You know that’s not going to happen, brother. If Eden goes, I go. The three of us have already made that deal earlier in the pool house.” Duff looked over at Glory who was smiling at the three of them like
a loon. She didn’t need to be a mind reader to know exactly what happened between the three of them earlier out there.

  “Mind your business, Glory,” Duff grumbled.

  “Oh Duff, when will you learn that you boys are my business. You have been for a very long time now,” she said. “I’m just happy that you boys have found someone who can keep you both in line,” she teased. Eden giggled and he shot her a look.

  “If we do this, you will stay by our sides and if we tell you to do something, you do it,” Duff growled. Eden gave him a mock salute and Glory laughed.

  “So, what do we have to do?” Duff asked, still not convinced that any of this was a good idea.

  “I already have the spell,” Glory said, pulling an old crumpled up piece of paper from her apron. “I believe that if Eden and I cast it together, that might work best.”

  “I’m ready,” Eden said. She and Glory stood and joined hands, looking the paper over. “Ready?” she asked. Glory nodded and Duff felt as though he was holding his damn breath waiting to see what happened next. Not knowing how any of this would work was the worst part. Would they fly through time? Would it hurt? There were just so many unknowns, he worried that it wouldn’t be safe for any of them.

  Eden and Glory took deep breaths and began chanting the spell, “Hear these words, hear the rhyme, heed the hope within my mind. Send me back to where I’ll find what I wish in place and time.”

  Duff closed his eyes and sucked in his breath and when they weren’t magically transported to the past, he let it out. Glory and Eden repeated the spell for what felt like an eternity, over and over again, until their voices were hoarse from their efforts.

  Eden sunk into the closest chair and buried her face in her hands. “I’m sorry, Dear,” Glory whispered. “I’ll do some digging through my spell books and come up with something else. We’ll keep trying. Something will work; I just know it.”

  “I appreciate that,” Eden breathed.

  “You look exhausted,” Anson said. Duff lifted her from the chair and into his arms.

  “How about we take you to bed and you can get some rest. That way, when Glory finds a new spell, you’ll be ready,” Duff said. He loved the way she rested her head against his chest, snuggling into his arms.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “You don’t ever have to thank us for taking care of you, Eden,” Anson said.

  “Night all,” Glory called after them. They called back over their shoulders and took Eden to Anson’s room. He had the king-sized bed and the most room for the three of them. Duff carefully let her slide down his body and when her feet hit the floor, she looked up at him.

  “Don’t look at me like that, Baby,” Duff warned. “You need rest. Then, we can play.” Eden’s adorable pout made him want to kiss it from her lips. Anson turned her to face him and began stripping her.

  “Well, at least one of you seems to be on board,” she teased.

  “I’m not,” Anson said. “Duff’s right—you need rest. I just want you naked in between us while you sleep.”

  She groaned out her frustration, causing them both to chuckle. “You two aren’t playing fair,” she insisted.

  “We never promised to play fair, Eden. We did make you the promise that we’d take care of you and that involves making sure that you don’t drop from exhaustion,” Anson said. “Up in bed, Baby,” he ordered. She took his offered hand and crawled into bed, making Duff rethink his decision not to make her theirs again tonight. Watching her crawl across the bed in only her bra and panties made him half crazy with need.

  “You’re not exactly playing fairly yourself, Honey,” Duff warned. He and Anson stripped down to their boxer briefs and climbed in on either side of Eden. He loved the way she fit between them so perfectly. She was theirs and whatever came next—past, present, or future wouldn’t change that.

  Eden

  Eden woke in her dorm room and looked around. “How did I get back here?” she whispered to herself. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep between Anson and Duff at their father’s house. The spell that she and Glory tried to cast hadn’t worked, or had it?

  She threw off her covers and stood; shivering as soon as her bare feet hit the hardwood floor. “Where is my rug?” she whispered. Eden looked around the room and realized that all her things were gone. “Shit,” she breathed, hurrying over to the dresser that sat under the window. But instead of holding her things, someone else’s belongings littered the top. Her laptop was gone, the new bedding that she bought to spruce up the old room—all of it was gone.

  She looked through the drawers and found a brown leather wallet, pulling it out, hoping that it might give her some clue as to what was going on. “Theodore Graystone,” she whispered, looking at the picture of her father on his driver’s license. “Nineteen ninety-one. It worked.” She tossed her father’s wallet back into the top drawer, as if it had scorched her skin, and slammed it shut.

  She needed to find the guys. If her spell worked on her, then it probably worked on both of them. At least, that was what she was hoping because she wouldn’t be able to complete their plan without them. For this to work, she needed Anson and Duff to hold up their end of the bargain and help keep her aunt from her gruesome fate in the woods.

  Eden rummaged through her father’s clothes and found a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring that would fit her. She pulled them on and grabbed one of his t-shirts, pulling it over her head. She just needed to find a pair of shoes and she’d be good to go. She found a pair of sneakers and pulled them on. They were way too big for her, but at least she wouldn’t have to run around campus barefooted.

  The key now was for her to get across campus to the woods and try to find the guys. If their plan worked, they were supposed to meet her in the woods where Bianca was found. She slowly opened the door and looked down the empty hallway, deciding the coast was clear, she headed for the stairs that led down to the main entrance.

  “Looks like Theo had some company.” She turned to find a guy standing against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, a smirk on his face.

  “Eww,” she breathed. If this guy only knew how gross his assumption was.

  “Don’t pretend that I didn’t just catch you coming out of Theo’s room,” he said.

  “Listen, buddy, you have no idea what you’re talking about. How about you pretend you didn’t see anything and I can get on with my day.” The guy chuckled and she knew that the possibility of her being able to just sneak out of Graystone Hall, undetected, was a pipe dream.

  “Not a chance, Honey. You were caught red-handed, sneaking out of the men’s dormitory.” Ahh-yes, she forgot that Graystone Hall used to be a men’s only dormitory, and the rules used to be a lot stricter back in her father’s day, about sneaking a woman into his room.

  “Okay,” she breathed. “We’ll just do this the hard way.” Eden screamed at the top of her lungs as if she was being attacked.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked. Guys were starting to poke their heads out of their dorm rooms, wiping the sleep from their eyes, to see what all the commotion was about. She reached for the guy, pulling his hands onto her waist, holding onto his arms so he couldn’t pull free. Poor guy didn’t have a clue what she was up to but judging from the look of fear in his eyes, he was quickly catching on.

  “Don’t do this,” he begged.

  “You going to let me walk out of here or not?” she questioned.

  “Fine,” he spat. “Just stop this charade.” She smiled and released him, quickly walking down the hallway to the stairs. Eden turned back to wink at him and he just shook his head at her. Yeah—she was pretty sure that poor guy would take some getting used to women in the future. He was in for a rude awakening—she almost felt bad for him.

  Eden hurried across campus, wishing she had her cellphone or some way to contact the guys, but it didn’t exist yet. Heck, she didn’t exist yet. She found Anson standing on the edge of the tree line waiting for
her.

  “About bloody time,” he grumbled. “I was starting to get worried. Duff is in the woods, standing watch for your aunt. I thought for sure that your spell sent us back to the past but not you and we’d be stuck here.”

  “Well, I had to teach some asshole a lesson on how to treat women. I think it will help him in the future, but he didn’t look like he completely understood what was happening—poor guy,” she teased.

  Anson shook his head at her, “Bloke probably didn’t know what that hell to do about you.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in thirty years,” he teased. His corny joke made her giggle.

  “Very funny,” she breathed. “Did we get here in time? Is Bianca still alive?”

  “Yep,” Anson said. “Duff has eyes on her now—I’m still linked with him. I was worried that my powers wouldn’t work in this time, since we haven’t been born yet, but they do. I can read everyone’s thoughts and hopefully, we’ll be able to figure out who’s doing this. Whomever it is, they’re alive in this time and ours, and I’m betting that he or she is a shifter.”

  “Great—so we’re looking for a young/old man or woman who may or may not be a shifter. Piece of cake,” she teased.

  “You two going to stand around all day or do you plan on actually helping me keep watch?” Duff asked, walking out of the woods. He pulled Eden into his arms for a quick kiss. “Glad to see you got here safely, Baby.”

  “Yes, sorry it took me a little longer than I planned to get here. I woke up in just my bra and panties and had to borrow some of my dad’s clothes.”

  “Makes sense,” Duff said. “We woke up in our boxers. Maybe next time we plan to time travel, we should dress accordingly before we fall asleep. Seems we woke up here wearing what we fell asleep in.”