"I don't know," I answered, my voice croaking. I had no idea how long I'd been whispering to the plants, but it had been long enough to dry out my throat.
"It shouldn't be possible," he added.
The teacher wandered over and studied the flowers in front of us. "Impressive. But those weren't violet seeds you planted."
"What were they?" I asked.
"Runner beans." She sounded amused, but I didn't want to question why. She might have answers I didn't want.
"What does it mean?" Brooks prodded.
"I've never seen it done before," she mused. "Only stories. But I've heard that the flower that's produced with this sort of connection to nature has to do with the true nature of the person's heart."
Oh, wow. That wasn't doing anything to soothe the pounding blood in my veins. I wished I'd paid more attention when Mom tried to teach me about plants. Her true passion was animals, so she'd never tried too hard when I hadn't wanted to get into it.
"Violets mean peace," Brooks said with a brighter note in his voice than there'd been before. How had I noticed it was missing?
I gave him a strange look, but he shook his head. Great. Crypticness. Something that was always annoying and never fun.
"That's not the kind of thing a murderer would make," a girl observed. I was almost certain she was a dryad, at least from the tones of her aura. That would make her kind of expert in this stuff.
"That's because I'm not a murderer," I whispered.
"Yes, I see that now," she responded. Her eyebrows creased as she considered. "I'm not sure why I ever thought you would be."
I bit my lip. I knew the answer to that one, but I couldn't explain it to her or I'd get into more trouble.
"I feel the same," Brooks added. "I know you could never do something like that, but there was almost a haze over me."
It was my turn to shake my head. I needed him to stop. I'd explain to him once we were alone, but I didn't want anyone to overhear, especially not when a teacher listened to our every word. No doubt it would get around all the teaching staff by the end of the day.
"Can I talk to you, Lou?" Brooks asked, loud enough for the rest of the students to overhear. With this not being a class, there wasn't anything the teacher could say to keep us in the room, even if she wanted to.
"Of course." I flashed him an uneasy smile. I wasn't completely at ease yet, though a conversation would help that if I was lucky.
Brooks offered me his arm, and I took it gladly. He led me from the room.
The eyes of every student in the greenhouse were on my back as we left, and the whispers started before we even got to the door. But this time, the whispers weren't all bad. I could deal with them, especially if they helped clear my name. Or start to clear it. I wasn't naive enough to believe that some flowers were enough to counteract Estelle's dark magic.
"In here," Brooks whispered, ushering me into one of the many empty classrooms. The academy was full of them since most people had gone home.
I went in gladly.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Weren't you watching in—"
"Not in there," he cut me off. "Why was I convinced you were capable of murder?"
I took in a deep breath. What was the best way to explain to him that the entire academy was being controlled by a book? And that the book was being controlled by the one person I didn't understand the motivations of?
This was a mess.
"We're being controlled." And then everything spilled out.
As I spoke, horror spread across Brooks' face. I could tell from his expression that he believed me, but that he had as little of an idea about how to fix any of it as I did.
"How do we break the book's hold on the others?" he asked.
I glanced away from him. "The only way I can think of is to write in the book myself. But I don't know what the consequences of that are." And after the last time, I didn't want to go near it with a pen ever again.
"And Francis and Jayse?"
I paused for a moment. "Since Jayse left, he might be outside its influence." At least, I hoped so. If the book was capable of controlling people over a great distance, that would be an even bigger problem.
"There's not much we can do about that until he gets back anyway. What about Francis?"
"I think we should do a blood exchange." It was the only thing I could think of. Vampires had greater healing capabilities than others, and blood made that stronger. That, tied with the bond we had created, had me more worried than ever. If even that could be destroyed by the book's power, then what hope did we have of fixing this situation at all?
Brooks nodded. "I bet it'll work. He was certain a few days ago that it was nothing more than a rumor, and that he wanted to see you. It's only after that he became confused."
"Oh." It made a certain amount of sense. Maybe he'd become more susceptible to the book's power as my blood had worn off. That was reassuring if I could keep Francis supplied with my blood. "Can you—"
Brooks smiled and interrupted me. "I'll get him to stop by your room."
"No!" I cried. "I share a room with Estelle," I reminded him.
He frowned. "Where then?"
I thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. But we need to do it somewhere that we can't be found."
"What about the woods?"
I only just stopped the denial from slipping past my lips. That was my and Brooks’ place. And not in a romantic way either. The woods were sacred to us both as green witches, and I didn't want to destroy that so I could stay out of Estelle's watchful gaze.
But his idea had merit. "I'm not sure how I feel about that," I admitted. "Can we try and find somewhere else before we agree to that one?"
He nodded.
"Thank you." I turned toward the door. The conversation was over, and I didn’t want to force anything on him. If Estelle found out we were here, and that her influence on him worn off, she'd do something to change that.
"Lou?" His voice was tentative, almost unsure of what he wanted.
I turned back. "Yes?"
Brooks strode toward me, and before I knew what was happening, he crushed his lips against mine. I relaxed and melted into him. This was what I needed, a reminder that he wanted me. That he knew me better than the rumors going around.
With his body close to mine, and the deep kiss calming the bond between us, I knew I didn't have to face this alone. I was certain that this wasn't going to be the end of Estelle's influence on my relationships, but in this kiss, I knew she'd never win. We'd always find a way to break through her influence. I had to work out what that was.
But at least now, I had hope.
Chapter Three
OUR KISS BROKE WHEN the sounds of footsteps reached our ears. "Estelle can't know you realize I'm not a murderer," I whispered as we ducked deeper into the classroom. If the person came in here, we'd be busted. This was a plain classroom. I didn't even see a closet.
Brooks held a finger to my lips, and the footsteps faded away. He moved before I did, but I grabbed his hand and squeezed, then put my finger on his lips. As a vampire, I could hear the footsteps resonated much longer than Brooks’.
In a crowd, those noises blended. But in a quiet hallway of a deserted classroom wing, the footsteps were clear until the person was well into the dorm wing.
"I'll go. Just come to our dorm room. Give me an hour, then meet us there, okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, that works. Unless she's got some spy on the guys' floor, she shouldn't find out I'm there."
He pecked my lips one last time and walked away. His spirit was in my head again, strong and clear, the bond fixed. I hadn't realized it had been muted, which was strange. Surely, I should've noticed that the vibrancy of Brooks and Francis had dulled? Jayse was dull in my mind since I'd only drank a bit of his blood. We didn't have the same level of bond yet. We would change that soon. It was so important to have all of them with me.
After I got back to my dorm, I sat down and pulled out my journal to
pass the time. I'd intended to write down a bullet list of feelings. My mom had started me doing that, to help me focus on the emotions I could control and let go of the ones I couldn't.
The next thing I knew, I was on my way back into my dorm room. I had vague memories of walking around the library and cafeteria, aimlessly meandering, like a dream, not an actual event that happened moments before.
Tyler sat on her bed. "You okay?" she asked.
Wait, how had I gotten here? Suddenly I was in the dorm room again. I didn’t like the effects the book could have one little bit.
I shook my head. "No, I don't think so." My voice was weak. "I feel like I've had too much to drink."
It was nearly impossible for me to get drunk. Hybrids, especially witch-vampire ones, had an extremely high tolerance to things like alcohol and drugs. But I'd read books and seen human television. This must be what being drunk felt like, except without all the giggling and dancing. "I'm nauseous, and my head is swaying."
Tyler jumped up and took my arm. "Come on, you should lie down."
"I feel like that's not safe," I whispered.
"Don't worry, I have nowhere else to be for the evening."
Climbing between the sheets, I laid my head back on the pillow with a sigh. "Thank you," I whispered. Turning my head to look at Tyler, I was shocked to see it was Estelle standing beside my bed, not Tyler.
"You're very welcome," she whispered with a sadistic smile as my mind blanked, and I fell asleep.
The dorm was dark when I woke, but my mind was clear. I gasped and shot out of bed, spinning around as I looked around the room to see who was there with me.
Estelle and Tyler were both in their beds. Tiptoeing to look closer, I squinted at them in the faint light of the moon coming through the window.
For all I could tell, they were sound asleep. The clock on the wall said I'd slept through the evening. It was nearly midnight.
Since I was still dressed, I finger-combed my hair and opened the door to the hallway, moving slow and careful to avoid any noises, then shut it behind me without a tiny click.
On light feet, I sprinted down the hall, across the classroom wing, and to the boys' dorm. The door was unlocked, and I'd been in their room once before, so I headed straight for it, praying I didn't come across any teachers on any late-night raids. If they even did such a thing.
Tapping lightly on the guys' door, I waited for them to answer with almost no patience, hopping from one foot to the other.
Francis answered the door, and his face hardens. "What?" he asked.
"I'm so sorry," I whispered, looking up and down the hall, afraid someone would come around the corner and see me. "Let me explain."
"I don't think so," he replied, a cold look on his face. "I didn’t mistake the stuff coming through the bond. I know what you were doing, and just so you know, Jayse is still at his parents and Brooks was here with me the whole time. So we know you weren't with us."
"What are you talking about?" I asked in a normal tone of voice. If he thought I was doing something with another guy, he was nuts.
"When you have feelings of..." He looked around and rolled his eyes. "Passion, we experience it. Even if it's with someone else. I knew when you kissed Brooks. I knew it was him. I didn't know who this was. So, whatever your game is, take it somewhere else."
With that, he slammed the door in my face.
I gasped and flailed my hands, trying to decide what to do. Rage poured through the bond from Francis. I got confusion and heartache from Brooks, but not much from my limited bond with Jayse. He must've been asleep.
Gathering my courage, and the backbone I'd always had but somehow lost recently, I barged into their room.
"Hey." Francis had anger written all over his face.
"Listen here, buddy." I pointed my finger at him and raised my voice. "I've not had sex or anything remotely passionate with anyone but you guys. I don't know what you think happened, but it wasn't anything like you're imagining."
"I experienced what you did with vivid detail," he retaliated, putting his finger in my face. "So don't give me lies."
Straightening my spine, I puffed out my chest, which only served to pull Francis’ gaze to it. "I've been in my room, asleep. I think I might've been drugged."
Francis narrowed his eyes, and the bond pulsed with more anger, but Brooks stood. "Okay. Enough."
No. It wasn't enough. He thought I was a liar and the only way I knew to prove myself was a blood exchange.
Moving as fast as my preternatural speed would allow, I grabbed his face and yanked it toward me, sinking my fangs into his neck.
He didn't fight me, luckily. I was taking a chance with consent, but I had to break the haze on his mind.
I only drank a mouthful, then pulled back and pulled Francis’ face to my neck.
He hesitated for a moment. "Drink," I whispered.
When his fangs sank into my neck, my body lit on fire.
Francis moaned and pulled me closer, drinking long and deep.
"Come on, man, pull off," Brooks said with a smile.
Growling, Francis took a few more pulls before lifting his head. His neck had already healed, and I knew mine would be closed up before my hand could reach my neck.
"There." I panted a little. "How's that?"
Francis blinked and then his eyes widened. "What happened?"
"It's a long story. Sit down." I climbed onto one of their beds. Jayse's probably, since it was made, and explained everything to him from the beginning.
"I've tried to make myself take the book to the alpha several times now, but every time I think I should take it, something deters me. I get the need to do something else. Or I simply don't take it."
Brooks moved from his bed to mine. "Why don't you stay here tonight?"
The idea was alluring. "I don't know. If they wake, and I'm gone.."
"Now that the three of us are clear-headed, don't you think we should stay together?" Brooks raised his eyebrows.
"He's right," Francis said. "You can sleep in Jayse's bed. We will be on our best behavior."
I laughed, so relieved to have them on my side again and not have any anger coming through the bond. "That sounds horrible."
Francis snorted. "Get in bed before we change our minds."
Chapter Four
I PULLED THE COVERS up to my chin, unable to sleep and focused all my attention on the sound of the two guys breathing. Except, the ins and outs of air was too steady.
"Are you still awake?" I whispered into the dark room.
"Yes," Francis answered.
"Can't sleep," Brooks added. "All I can think about is whether I'm going to be able to control my actions tomorrow morning."
We stayed silent for a moment. I moved on the bed and Jayse's scent enveloped me. My heart yearned for him. I wished he was still at the academy and hadn't left. I'd feel a lot more secure if he was with me too.
"I have an idea that might help with that," Francis said. "But it'll only work if the two of you agree."
I sat up, the covers falling around my waist. "What is it?" His worry trickled through our bond, but it would be impolite to bring it up. Once we'd been together longer, it would be acceptable to bring those kinds of emotions up, but only time would tell. Right now, I should keep being careful of what I said. Just because we'd created a mate bond didn't mean we'd instantly like one another. Being mated to someone I disliked didn't sound like fun. I'd keep any questions that might be off-putting to my new mates to myself for the time being.
"We could do something to strengthen the bond between us," he whispered.
Silence greeted his suggestion. No doubt Brooks was running the implications through his head like I was and trying to work out where he stood on the matter.
"Are you suggesting what I think you are?" Brooks asked.
Helpful. What was I supposed to do with a question that vague?
"Yes," he responded.
"Is one of you going to tell me
what this mysterious thing is?" I demanded.
Shock traveled through my bonds with both of them. Oops. Perhaps I should have been a little less blunt with them. They'd been gracious enough to give me a chance to prove myself to them. Twice in Brooks' case.
"Sex," Brooks said matter of factly. "He's suggesting we have sex."
I swallowed, butterflies attacking my stomach like a butterfly parade. "All Of us?"
"Unless you want us to line up at the door and take turns," Francis quipped. "But that doesn't sound very comfortable."
I bit my lip, thinking through the implications of that. I'd only had sex a couple of times before, and been left broken-hearted when the person I'd slept with turned out to only be interested in my body. But Brooks and Francis, they were different. They'd still be by my side in the morning.
Flashes of the three of us in bed together crowded my mind. I squashed a moan at the thought of Francis' teeth sinking into my neck as Brooks sank into another part of me. I squirmed on the bed, a little too turned on for comfort.
"Please say yes," Brooks whispered, a groan slipping out at the end of his words.
"You can feel it too?" Francis asked in a strained voice.
"What can you feel?" I asked them, embarrassed at the direction of my thoughts.
"We can feel what kind of thing you're thinking about," Francis pointed out.
Oh, right. He'd said that when I'd arrived and they'd thought I was with someone else.
"Yes," I whispered. "Please."
They were on Jayse's bed in a split second. I bit my lip again, trying to work out the best way to start. I'd kissed Francis last, but I'd kissed Brooks more. Did it matter who my choice was now?
"I—" No words came out. This wasn't going to progress if I couldn't get the words out.
Francis leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine. I returned his kiss, relaxing into his arms as it deepened. This was good. If they took the lead, I'd be able to respond to what they did. Hopefully, they wouldn't freak out because they thought I wasn't into this. I was. I wanted it.
No, it was more than that. I needed it. If the bond was stronger between us, then it would mean Estelle couldn't get to them again.
Magical Misfit (Magic And Metaphysics Academy Book 3) Page 2
