Standing up straight, he walks off, quickly followed by Rory, who chats excitedly about the dormitory they’d chosen. I still don’t move, eyeing the group warily.
Sighing, Declan crouches. His hands move under my arms, lifting me from my position on the floor with the ease of a child lifting a rag doll. He ignores the scowl on my face as he sets me down on my feet and steps back beside Paxton.
“Don’t I get a say in whose team I’m on?” I ask them.
Declan shakes his head. “Not at all. It’s been decided. So, let’s get going. We have classes to pick.” He stalks off with Paxton and gestures for me to follow. A fluttering feeling fills my stomach. They actually want me on their team.
So why do I feel so guilty?
Chapter 4
Given first choice, the guys had decided on taking one of the elite dorms, which were, in fact, houses—with quaint picket fences and manicured front lawns. And… is that a cat? The evil in me shudders, but a part of me remains curious, maybe even eager. I haven’t lived in a house for a very long time. I squint; the wreath on the front door looks oddly familiar, but I can’t place where I’ve seen it before.
Whispers of happy memories float through my mind. A woman and a man, smiling as they swing me in the air between them. How long has it been since I’ve thought of them?
“Serena?” Rory draws my attention from a distance this time. He stands on the top step of the porch, and I realize I’m frozen on the footpath.
With a smile, I scratch Lore’s head to give my hands something to do. “Sorry, I was daydreaming.”
Lore hoots, her scoff filling my mind. “We will have to talk about it someday, Serena. I haven’t pried out of respect, but I need to know everything. We can’t be one if you do not allow me to see everything.”
I nod, my eyes moving from Rory to the house and the memories it stirs up. “Someday, Lore.”
I approach the steps while Paxton fumbles with a key chain at the door. “So, who thought it would be a good idea to pick the biggest dorm? There’s no way I’m cleaning up after you guys. You’re on your own.”
Declan speaks without looking at me, “There are only four houses like this. The others get to stay in halls in rooms of two and three. This has five en suite bedrooms, a dining area, a kitchen, a garden, and a common area. It’s perfect to fit all of us. And besides,” he turns to me, smirking, “I didn’t think you’d want to bunk with any of us.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “You… are correct.”
As I place my foot on the bottom step, I notice the cat again. It sits not far away, on the porch railing. It swishes its black tail, letting out a mighty meow for such a small thing. I pause, watching it, and it watches me right back. Lore bristles next to my head, letting out a low hiss.
“Uh… hello?” I say, glancing at the guys, but they’re busy arguing over which key on the chain opens the front door. I look back at the cat’s bright, emerald eyes and tilt my head. “I don’t know who your owners are, but you should probably head on home. They’ll be worried.”
But the cat doesn’t move. If anything, she looks at me like I’m stupid.
“Guys?” I call over my shoulder. None of them turn to me. “Guys!” I try again. This time, Dane stops and looks over at me. “Does the cat come with the house? Like an accessory or something?” I ask.
Dane’s eyes flick to the feline next to me, then he shrugs and shakes his head. At that moment, the cat rises to her feet and pounces onto the floor to scurry through the small flap at the bottom of the door.
Well, then…
I approach the front door, pushing through the bickering crowd of men, and pull out my student identification card. “Those are the keys for the windows,” I say to them, and they fall silent.
I tap my card against the box above the door handle, and it beeps once before allowing the door to pop open. A gust of vanilla and lemon escapes, the scent familiar in a heart-breaking way that both sours my stomach and makes my mouth water. God this place smells like—
“Mm… is that lemon cake?” Rory hurries past me and dumps his luggage on the couch before searching for the kitchen.
The rest of the guys move past me and do the same, but my feet remain rooted in the entryway, unable to look away from the common area. The dark wood of the floors makes the champagne walls and the pale-gray, corner sofa seem brighter than they really are. Square paintings line the walls, bringing color to the room and matching the bean bags stacked in the corner.
Everything looks so… homey. Is this what it’s like to live in a house or is this just a Light thing? I can barely remember what my own house looked like; I’ve lived in the Academy of the Dark ever since—
“Serena!” Declan calls out, his head popping out from the doorway next to the stairs. “If you don’t hurry, Rory’s going to eat the entire contents of the fridge.”
I nod, stepping farther into the house and shutting the door behind me. The black cat meows from the couch before curling up and falling asleep. I frown at it as I dump my bags on the ground.
Following the smell of lemon and vanilla, I head through the kitchen doorway. My eyes roam over the cabinets and island, then toward the guys sitting around the dark wooden table, devouring plates stacked high with food.
“Where did all of this come from?” I ask as I take a seat between Dane and Paxton who slides me a plate of pastries. I eye their unusual bright-yellow color and realize after a quick sniff that they’re curried.
“One of the reasons why we chose this place,” Rory begins, taking a sip of water, “is because the elite housing comes with a brownie.”
My eyes move to the mountain of brownies in front of Dane. “I can see that…”
Rory shakes his head. “No. Like a brownie-brownie,” he says. “You know, one of the fae folk. They come in at night to clean and cook.”
I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out as I stare around the table with wide eyes. Eventually, I manage, “Fae are real!?”
Declan raises an eyebrow at me. “Of course they’re real. Did you really think gods are the only magical beings on Earth?”
“Well… no.” I stare down at my plate. “But I haven’t really had a chance to get out much. Seeing is believing, and all of that.”
“Does it surprise you though, Mistress?” Lore says from my shoulder, then hops down to land on the candlestick at the center of the table.
Pursing my lips, I drum my fingers against the table. “I guess not. But I still want to know why we weren’t taught about an entire civilization. You’d think that it would be a pretty important detail so we could learn to defend against them.”
Declan snorts. “Only you would want to fight the fae.”
I frown at him, then look back to Lore. “I mean, if they can teach us which veins to slice to cause the most bloodshed or which bones to break to cause the most pain during interrogation, you’d think they’d have time to teach us about damn fairies,” I growl. “What else is out there that we don’t know about? What if—” I cut myself off, realizing I may have shared more information than I should have.
I flick my eyes around the table, and a part of me is satisfied by the fearful expressions looking back at me. “What? You learn how to do Light Academy things, and I learned how to do Dark stuff. What did you expect? That they taught us how to knit?”
Lore hoots her disapproval. “But you did learn, Mistress. And I like my knitted bed.”
My cheeks heat, and I look away. And that is a tidbit I will never share with anyone. Unless they’d like to die afterward.
Paxton’s lips twitch and his green eyes sparkle as they move between me and Lore, catching on to what our conversation probably entailed.
“Anyway,” I begin, shooting him a glare, “how do you guys want to do this? I wasn’t really given much information when I was chosen to come here.”
Rory reaches behind him and retrieves our packets from the small kitchen island and passes them out, sticky icing stains
and all. After giving me a sheepish look, he opens his first, pulling out a wad of paper that probably cost a few trees their lives. They could have at least loaded it all onto a USB stick.
“Well, we’ve never really had to discuss how we’d split up into classes before… We’ve known each other for a while now,” Rory explains and the guys nod, each opening their packets and retrieving their wads of paper. I do the same.
“So, how does school here work? How many classes do you go to? When’s lunch? Do we get free periods? Extracurricular activities?” I look down at the papers in my hand and skim over the one on top. I chuckle, “You’d think they trust their students more. Has someone got a pen so I can sign this thing?”
Rory looks up at me. “Sign what thing?”
“The contract.”
Declan looks up now. “Contract?”
I pause. “Yes… the contract on top.”
Without invitation, Paxton reaches across me and snatches the contract from the top of my pile. “Hey!” But he ignores me and reads over it quickly, letting out a silent laugh before handing it over to Rory, who reads it between himself and Declan. They both let out hearty guffaws.
“Number six: you are not to kill any students or teachers,” Rory snickers.
“What about number ten? No performing of any satanic or sacrificial spells or rituals.” Declan’s eyes lift to find mine, his eyebrows quirking as he hands it back. “Do you plan on doing any of those, Serena? You haven’t exactly told us what your powers are… Or who your patron deity is.”
She lifts me from the ground, so gently. Her soothing words fill me as she brushes the hair from my face; sweat and dirt drag along my skin. She’s so beautiful… enchanting. I would follow her to the moon if she asked me to.
But instead, she makes me into something even I don’t quite understand.
Lore hops onto my hand, her claws digging painfully into the tender flesh. “Now is not the time to dwell on these things, Mistress.”
Inhaling deeply, I nod. Even if she can’t hear my thoughts, her ability to read and understand my emotions is a good second. And I don’t know whether I like that, or I hate it. The darkness still lingers in my mind as I take the contract from Declan, reading over it with new eyes. “I don’t plan on doing any of these things. Unless provoked… or necessary.”
I lift my eyes to meet Declan’s. “And I don’t plan on telling you whom I serve, either. It is not something that we share… It has a way of being used against you.”
The air tenses, and the guys nod, one by one—except Declan, whose face seems to have a frown permanently etched onto it. “I’m going to assume you have some sort of connection to the earth—like Dane. Knowing what you are capable of means we can select the right classes. It’s not something we would use against you.”
His words are lined with truth, but I shake my head.
Our kitchen fills with silence as they wait for Declan to insist, but he doesn’t. He simply nods before picking up the class sheets and his blank schedule. “Our days are split into four: two classes in the morning, then lunch, and then two classes in the afternoon.”
The rest of the team picks up their class lists, and I do the same. My eyes are immediately drawn to the Combat and Alchemy classes.
“We have three core classes and then three elective classes which we are assigned based on preference, ability, and number of applicants. But as we’re here, I think we’ll get the ones we want, and if not, we’ll discuss it with the Headmaster.” Declan shrugs at my pointed look, his lips pulling into a smile.
“Someone thinks they’re special…” I mutter to the apparent amusement of the rest of the table who immediately starts shaking with laughter.
Rory slaps his friend on the back. “Yeah, Declan. Why do you have to act so entitled?”
Declan rolls his eyes, but not without a smirk, then levels his gaze on me. “I suppose we haven’t properly been introduced, Serena Stollmeyer. My name is Declan Stormhold.”
The entire table falls silent, and I wait for him to elaborate. The surname does ring a bell, but nothing sparks. Eventually, I prompt, “And…?”
Dane’s body shakes beside me as Rory lets out a bark of laughter. Paxton’s growing grin has me more confused than ever. “What? I don’t get it.”
“Mistress,” Lore sighs into my mind, “you really should pay attention more often. Declan is a Stormhold, which means he is royalty.”
I gasp, my eyes flicking between her and Declan as she continues, “It also means the headmaster is his father and his grandfather is the King. The Academy of Light was founded by his ancestors.”
I stare at Declan and the way his lips pull into a smirk. “That… explains so much. No wonder you don’t like being told no.”
Rory snickers, the sound dying at the sharp look Declan sends him.
“And it explains the blonde trio this morning. How they thought showing me around was beneath you.” I shift my attention back to Declan, my head tilting to the side as I watch him carefully. “Why were you the one showing me around, anyway? I thought older students did that. You’re just as new to this school as I am, which means you weren’t actually guiding me anywhere.” I slap the table and point at him. “You really were keeping an eye on me!”
The deadpan look he shoots my way confirms my suspicions, and I can’t help my eyes as they trail down his neck and to his broad chest. He’s not the worst jailor to look at…
No matter. Clearing my throat, I focus on the paper in my hand and the classes we have to choose from. “So, what are we picking?”
The table remains silent for a beat before the others laugh, and a smile pulls on my face, their easy-going nature reassuring.
“Since it’s our first year, we have to do history, combat, and magical applications. But our electives really depend on our strengths.” Declan hums as he ticks off his three electives, the others following suit.
I stare at the list, not quite sure which subjects to choose. It’s not like it will really matter what I choose, I guess. Guilt knots in my stomach as I peek from the corner of my eyes to stare at Paxton and Dane.
As if sensing my gaze, Dane looks up, his brown eyes warm as he smiles. A fluttering sensation fills my chest at the comforting aura he gives off. Closing my eyes, I breathe in deeply, loving the way he seems to be able to soothe the anxiety swirling inside me.
“I swear, if you have some crazy soothing ability, I need to know now,” I say, opening my eyes to see his widen. “Because if that’s the case, you and I are sticking together like white on rice. Exams and I don’t mesh well. And neither do I with Light students.”
He continues to stare as I pick up his sheet, my lips pulling into a grin as I note his three electives. “Advanced Combat and Warfare, Terraforming, and Enhanced First Aid? I think you’re my favorite teammate, Dane.” I check off the same boxes on my sheet, grinning at the stunned look on his face.
“Excuse me, he’s your favorite? What about me?” Rory exclaims, and his eyes narrow on me playfully.
“How did you know?” Dane asks, drawing my attention back to him.
My head tilts to the side as I pull my braid out and work on redoing it. “How did I know what?”
“That I can influence emotions.”
I watch him for a moment, noticing his shoulders have tensed, almost as if he’s preparing for an attack of some kind.
“It seems Master Dane is not used to people calling him out on his ability, Mistress. Having such a power must be difficult. People don’t take kindly to being influenced,” Lore says.
Leaning back, I mull through my thoughts, wondering how much I should share and keep to myself. “I was thinking about which deity would choose someone like you as their child,” I say. “And then I remembered that Hera was able to influence people’s emotions. She was also able to read them and pass them on to others, and in a way, it’s a form of communication. Hard to master, but entirely possible. It was the only explanation…”
I wrap my tie around the end of my braid before patting his shoulder. “But don’t worry, it wasn’t until you sensed my emotions and tried to help that I put the pieces together. It’s a pretty handy ability, Dane. It’s like having my own personal Xanax on hand.” I laugh, the sound dying off as I cough, clearing my throat. The guys remain silent. “Or not.”
“I think you should probably keep your observations to yourself for a little while, Mistress. There are a number of things these boys are not ready to share.” Lore hops onto my hand, her claws scratching at the red leather of my jacket sleeve. “Maybe you should share a secret in return?”
“Yeah, you may be right…” I mutter.
Sighing, I shrug off my jacket and rest it on my lap, my scarred body on full display. My eyes move over the raised, white lines scattered randomly along my arms, and I can only imagine what it looks like from the outside, to people who have never seen them before. After ten years at the Academy of the Dark, I’m surprised I don’t have more. To defeat evil, you have to be evil. There are no half-assed attempts for the children of Darkness.
I hold out my arm and grit my teeth as Lore hops back on. Her claws dig into my skin so hard that pebbles of blood well up.
“What the fuck, Serena!” Declan barks. His hand shoots out to knock Lore off me, but I swat him away as black, gold, and green light bursts from her, and her form sinks into my skin slowly and painfully.
“We seriously have to work on this, Lore,” I mutter as her owl tattoo forms on my arm, and Lore disappears inside it. “Coming out is so much better than going in.”
“I’m sorry, Mistress. We shall work on this. But at least you didn’t faint this time,” she sings happily.
I snort as the last colorful rays sink into my arm. “You and I have a much different standard of progress, Lore.”
“That,” Rory begins, his hazel eyes widening as they flick between my tattoo and me, “was the coolest… and most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen.”
The guys nod in unison, and my lips twitch as I resist every urge to smirk. “You think that’s disturbing? You should see what happens during my moon cycle. The Earth opens up when I’m in pain.”
Cursed Magic: A Paranormal Academy Romance (Daughter of Nyx Series Book 1) Page 4
