Academy of Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Valkyrie Book 2)

by Linsey Hall

  Then I stared into the mirror. “Idiot.”

  I shook my head, then tugged on my wet boots—horrible— and bent over to fish the golden stone out of the pocket of my discarded jeans. I tucked Melusine’s gift into the big pocket on the sweatpants and hurried out of the bathroom. I’d have to ask for a plastic bag or something to deal with my gross clothes.

  “Where are you?” I called.

  The living room was located directly off the large entry foyer, but there were at least five doors leading out of the living room. Did he own the whole upper flood? What the heck did that cost in Scotland’s capital city?

  Nothing I could afford, that was for sure.

  “In the kitchen,” he called.

  I followed his voice to the large archway on the left, near the windows. It led to a large kitchen that looked like it’d been recently remodeled. Wood and stone gleamed, and the breakfast table sported another great view of the castle.

  “Who decorated this place? Manly Man’s Monthly?” I asked.

  “You just invented that.”

  “Indeed I did. It’s a men’s magazine for dudes who buy cologne that smells like aspen pine, fresh winter snow, and a hint of granite.”

  He laughed. “I don’t know who decorated it. It came like this. But I like it.” He studied me. “Feel better?”

  “Yeah.” I raised my arms. Eight inches of sweatshirt sleeve hung past my hands, which I shoved up to my elbows again. “Thanks for the clothes.”

  “It will do until we go back to the Protectorate.” He reached for a plate on the counter, then handed it to me. “Eat this sandwich, then we’ll go.”

  My stomach growled at the sight of the PB&J, and I took it. “Thanks. My favorite.”

  I chomped in, chewing happily.

  “That was a good thing you did earlier today.”

  I swallowed, suddenly feeling awkward. “Wasn’t going to leave an old man to get attacked.”

  “A lot of people would. Especially in a place like The Vaults.”

  “Well, I’m not a lot of people.”

  “No, you’re not. You noticed the problem, acted quickly, and fixed the situation.”

  “You didn’t mind following me in there.”

  “Why wouldn’t I follow you in there?” He leaned against the counter, all powerful grace and easy confidence.

  “Forget I asked.” Because I understood now. Cade didn’t mind following because he had nothing to prove.

  There’d been a lot of men back in Death Valley who’d felt the need to prove the size of their balls. It always came in the form of patronizing bullshit and needing to be in charge and having the last word. They’d never have followed a woman.

  Not Cade.

  He wasn’t a moron. And if you were a god of war, you probably lost any need to prove yourself to people or be the boss. You just were a badass. Which led to a level of chill that I liked.

  Too much.

  Of course.

  The memory of our closeness back in the alley made heat rise in my cheeks. I shifted, preferring to study the view of the castle rather than Cade.

  “You’ll do well at the Protectorate,” Cade said. “You’re just the kind of person they’re looking for. Strong, determined, competent.”

  My heart warmed. The guy knew how to compliment a woman. I’d been doubting myself, but maybe I shouldn’t be. But it wasn’t those words I latched onto. “Not we? You work there too.”

  “Not in the same way as the rest.” He gestured to the apartment. “It’s why I live here. I prefer to be on my own.”

  “I can see that.” I wouldn’t hate living here either. “Is it true you fight in battles around the world in your free time?”

  “Sometimes.” He shifted, clearly not wanting to talk about it, and reached into a drawer to retrieve a plastic grocery bag. He set it on the table. “You can pack up your clothes in that. Then we can get out of here.”

  I swallowed the last bit of the sandwich. “Thanks.”

  As I grabbed the plastic bag and retreated to the bathroom, I couldn’t help but wonder why he was so reticent to talk about his good deeds. Didn’t people normally do that? Why didn’t he?

  Ana was waiting for me when I returned to my apartment. She sat on the couch, next to Mayhem, the winged ghost pug who’d adopted me as her own. Unsurprisingly, Mayhem was chomping on a ham she’d found in the kitchen.

  There seemed to be an endless supply of hams, just waiting for the pugs to snatch them.

  Ana’s brows rose at the sight of my oversized sweats, but I ignored her, diverting attention toward Mayhem instead. “Where the heck does she get all those hams? Shouldn’t the kitchen have figured it out by now that the Pugs of Destruction are going to steal them?”

  “I’m more interested in how a ghost dog can eat a real ham,” Ana said. “But don’t change the subject. Why are you wearing Cade’s clothes?”

  “Don’t get excited.” I tossed my bag of slimy clothes onto the side table and set down the golden stone Melusine had given me. “I got slimed.”

  Ana winced. “Did you figure out how to get through the portal?”

  “Someone briefed you?” I hadn’t had time to talk to her before I’d left for Edinburgh.

  “Word gets around.”

  “Yeah. We’re going in tomorrow morning at dawn.”

  “I hate that you’re going alone.”

  “It’s just recon. When we need backup, you’ll be the first in.” I took the middle seat on the couch, between her and Mayhem. Fortunately, the pug had mastered a strange way of eating that kept the ham from touching the couch. She might be a Pug of Destruction, but she wasn’t going to waste any precious ham juice on my upholstery. Since it was the first nice thing I owned, I appreciated it.

  I rubbed her back, not really making contact since she was a ghost. But it was nice, in a tingly way.

  “I was hoping you could do me a favor while I’m on recon,” I said.

  “Anything.” Ana turned toward me, giving me a full view of the sleeping ducks on her giant night shirt.

  “I’m starting to get some clues about what I am, but I have no idea what they mean. Can you find the library and do some research like we talked about?”

  “Of course. What have I got to go on?”

  “I’ve been called Njord—whatever that means. And this strange old man in Edinburgh said that I have conflict within me that must be resolved. Two halves that must be made whole.”

  “All right. Not a bad start.”

  I leaned back against the couch and stared up at the wooden ceiling. “I sure hope you can find something. Because this is starting to get scary.”

  Ana reached for my hand and squeezed. “We can handle it.”

  Chapter Five

  Cade and I met early the next morning in the entryway of the castle. Though we had full kitchens in our apartments, I’d figured out early that there was a large communal kitchen on the first floor of the castle. A man named Hans was the head cook, and he made a mean cup of coffee.

  Before meeting Cade, I’d swung by there to grab a cup, and I was pretty sure it was the only thing keeping me standing. It was quiet this close to dawn, and no one in their right minds was awake.

  “Ready?” Cade asked as I stepped into the entry hall.

  He wore a backpack and was dressed in boots, and his dark clothes looked like they were made of sturdy fabric. Exploration gear, if I’d ever seen it.

  “Yep, ready.”

  Footsteps sounded from behind me, and I turned to see Jude descending the sweeping staircase on the left. She had a paper clutched in her hand. “I have a copy of that map here for you. If you’re not back in three days, we’ll send reinforcements in after you.”

  “Thanks.” I took the map that she handed me. “We’ll figure this out.”

  She nodded. “See that you do. Passing this test will go a long way toward advancing you at the Academy. And from a practical standpoint, that portal is a serious problem.”

/>   I nodded, feeling the pressure of the real-life test, and turned to Cade. “Ready to get a move on?”

  “Aye.”

  We said goodbye to Jude, then strode from the castle and across the lawn. The sun was peaking over the horizon by the time we reached the forest, though it was still dark within. The fairy lights helped illuminate the path, and made the nippy air feel just a bit warmer.

  When we reached the clearing, I raised my hand over my nose. “The smell is worse.”

  “Aye.” Cade’s voice hinted at his disgust.

  “And the curse has spread farther.” The black veins stretched across the forest floor, all the way to the edge of the clearing. “We need to hurry.”

  I pulled the vial of potion that Melusine had given me and downed it quickly, wincing at the taste of sour milk. “Ugh.”

  A cold chill raced over my skin, followed by a tingling sensation. Hopefully, that meant the potion was working.

  Cade drank his, then pulled the big key Melusine had given him from his pocket. He held it up and gave me an inquiring look. “Ready?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  My heart thudded as we approached the portal. The surface gleamed like an oil slick, and the memory of the creature pressing out of it made my skin chill with nerves.

  I called one of my daggers from the ether, gripping it like a security blanket.

  Cade raised the key to the portal and pressed it into the oily surface. There was no distinct keyhole, but the portal shimmered. He twisted the key.

  The portal glowed white, just briefly.

  “Go.” Cade pulled the key from the portal and stepped through, disappearing.

  “Now or never.” I sucked in a deep breath and followed.

  My skin crawled as I passed through, feeling like tarantulas were scuttling over my flesh. A shudder raked me as I stepped out onto a dimly lit beach, joining Cade.

  The sun was just starting to peek out from behind some clouds on the horizon, sending a hazy gray morning light over the waves and hard-packed sand. A forest to the left looked dark and abandoned. Sick, almost. The ocean to the right was gray and dark, waves lapping at the shore.

  A rustling sounded from behind me, and I whirled.

  A slimy pitch-black creature—shaped kind of like my imaginings of an alien—lunged for me. Its skin gleamed with the same oil that covered the portal, and there were no eyes in its elongated head.

  Right before it reached me, I hurled my dagger. It thudded into the creature’s skinny chest. The beast, which was well over six feet tall, wobbled, then reached out with a slender, claw-tipped arm. I lunged backward, but the monster was fast. It sliced through my arm.

  Pain flared.

  I stumbled backward, drawing my sword from the ether.

  But Cade was faster. He lunged forward, sword and shield in hand. The creature sliced out again, but Cade blocked with his shield. The beast’s hand clanged against the metal, as if it, too, were made of iron. Cade sliced his blade clean through its neck.

  The head crashed to the ground, exploding in a puddle of oil, and the body followed shortly after.

  “Thanks.” I gasped, catching my breath, and pressed my hand against the wound on my arm. It was so thin that it barely bled, thank fates, but it stung like the devil. Warily, I approached the fallen body. It had splashed into a pile of oil, though it’d felt solid when it was attacking. “What is it? It didn’t really seem alive, did it?”

  I hadn’t noticed it breathe. Or seen its chest move. And it’d made no sound.

  Cade nudged the oil puddle with his blade. “A spell. Or some other kind of monster. It’s not disappearing the way demons do.”

  I turned from it and spun in a circle, inspecting the beach. It stank like rotten eggs, and there was a gray tinge over the land. Black veins spread across the ground, just like the ones that were starting to infect the castle.

  “The poison is still here,” I said. “Killing the creature didn’t change that.”

  Cade chuckled. “That would be too easy.” He knelt down and touched one of the black veins that shot through the hard-packed sand. “The beast was a symptom, not the cause.”

  “Think there are more?” I squinted into the forest, which looked haunted as hell. Twisted trees reached for the sky, their leafless branches barren and dead.

  “Could be.”

  I unfolded the map Jude had given us. It was sparsely drawn with very little detail. “There’s almost nothing on this map.”

  “The Fae who once lived here did not permit the Protectorate much access, from what I’ve heard. They were a suspicious people.”

  “Clearly.” The mapmaker looked like he’d drawn the thing from quick memory after a brief visit. It looked like there was a settlement of some kind, past the beach and forest and an open space. I pointed to it. “What do you say we look for answers there?”

  “I’d say that’s a good idea.”

  We’d have to be sneaky since we didn’t know what kind of welcome we’d get, but going toward people was the best chance at getting answers. And I was doubtful that the Fae were behind this. Why would they want to contact me?

  The sand stretched out far ahead of us, the haunted forest on the left and the dark gray ocean on the right.

  “Too bad we can’t transport.”

  “If we knew exactly where it was, we could.” Cade patted the left pocket of his trousers. “But I do have a transportation charm in case we get into serious trouble. We’ll come straight back to the portal and return to the Protectorate.”

  “Sounds good.” I looked around. “I wonder if this dark magic is what made the Fae close their portal? Or if it’s new.”

  “The speed with which it is infecting the enchanted forest at the Protectorate leads me to think it is new.”

  “Good point.” I set off down the beach. It was exposed, which I didn’t love, but I was staying away from that forest and we had no boat to travel on the water. Not like I’d want to, anyway.

  Cade joined me, matching his stride to mine. Eventually, I became used to the stink of rotten eggs.

  We walked in companionable silence for a while. It worked for me, since silence made it easier not to put my foot in my mouth. I couldn’t help but still be attracted to him. Except he’d made it very clear how well that was going to work out.

  The sun climbed higher in the sky as we crossed the long beach. Eventually, a forest appeared at the far end.

  I rubbed my chest, suddenly feeling something strange.

  Like an awareness. A heaviness.

  My gaze darted to the sea. It called to me, almost as if I could hear the siren song.

  Holy fates. Was I feeling the sea?

  Nah.

  I tried to shake it away.

  “Do you hear that?” Cade murmured.

  “What?” I was so preoccupied with the ocean that I hadn’t been paying attention.

  “In the forest. A rustling noise.”

  “Great.” I inspected it as I walked, tracing my gaze over the large, dead trees. There were still a few green ones left here and there, but most were withered and leafless. Black veins crept up their trunks, strangling the life from them. “I don’t see anything.”

  A rumbling from my right pulled my gaze over to the sea. The waterline was pulling back from the shore! The beach was now twice as wide.

  “Cade!”

  He turned toward the sea, eyes widening. “Shite! Run.”

  I whirled and sprinted toward the forest, away from the receding ocean. I’d only ever heard of the sea receding in two cases—right before hurricanes and tidal waves. Either way, I wanted to be a hell of a lot farther from the water.

  Whatever was rustling in the forest was about to get some company.

  My breath heaved in my lungs as I ran. We were still fifty yards from the trees. When the roaring of the sea increased, I chanced a glance backward.

  My heart leapt into my throat and my skin chilled to ice.

  A massive tidal
wave loomed overhead, bearing down on us. It rose over a hundred feet in the air, gray and dark.

  Shit!

  We’d never make it to the trees. Not that they could really help.

  “Cade!” On instinct, I lunged for him, wrapping my arms around his waist and taking us both to the sand.

  The wave crashed down on us, a force so powerful that I lost my hearing and my vision as it sucked us up and tossed us around like dolls. My blood thundered in my veins, and my head roared as I thrashed around in the water. Cold. It was so cold.

  Fear like I’d never known caught me in a vise. Cade’s strong arms wrapped around my waist. He was kicking, trying to reach the surface that we couldn’t see.

  The water surrounded me. Crushing. Seeping inside me.

  I could feel it.

  No way was I going to drown. Not in the ocean.

  The idea was freaking ridiculous, for some reason.

  I forced the water away from me, envisioning it retreating.

  Go, go, go.

  Away!

  I had no idea if it was working. Everything was gray and dark, and my lungs burned as we were thrashed about in the sea.

  Then I hit solid ground. The water rushed off me. I lay limp against the wet sand, choking on water. I rolled away from Cade, weakly retching up the water. Beneath my hands, the sand was wet and covered in a fine layer of sea grass.

  I sucked in a ragged breath, coughing.

  The air rushing into my lungs was the best feeling in the world.

  Beside me, Cade coughed and gasped.

  I looked up, having no clue what had just happened.

  We were surrounded on all sides by walls of water that rose fifty feet high. The blue sky filled the hole above our heads, and the sun shined down into the water, making it glint blue from this angle.

  “Holy fates.” I scrambled upright, whirling around in a circle to take it all in.

  There were fish in the water, staring at us like they were in an aquarium. Or like we were in an aquarium. Giant coral heads dotted the ground around us, white and red and yellow. There were even a couple of sharks staring right at me through the wall of water.

  At my feet, a squishy white thing flopped around.