Just walking into the classroom together was enough to make everyone suspicious?
Then Mr. Benson entered the room.
He moved straight for his desk, then lifted his gaze and scanned the desks to check that everyone had made it back to the room. His eyes twitched when they fell on me, and then on Laney. The quick straightening of his spine was the ultimate reveal. And then, he picked up his phone and mumbled something into the receiver.
My eyes widened, and I dropped my gaze to the floor. As my eyes lowered, I caught Dom turning around to look at me, Liv twisting her head toward Laney, and Laney keeping her eyes planted on her desk.
Two minutes later, the ominous bright-orange vest filled the doorway.
"Laney Rosco and Brynn Douglas, come with me," Principal Haney demanded.
My heart pounded in my ears as I stood, along with Laney.
We moved out of the classroom in silence and joined the principal in the hall. Right behind her, Office Riley, the resource officer, stood tall, studying our behaviors.
"To the office," Principal Haney snapped.
Her heels clomped along the tiled floor with quick, short strides.
"Is everything okay?" I asked with innocence laced through my voice.
The clomping slowed, and she turned to me. "I'm hoping you can answer that question for us."
Oh, how I hated the games. She sounded like my mother after catching me stealing some of her vodka. And somehow, I felt equally as guilty.
I turned to Laney, and the only expression she held was one of defiance. It was clear she'd already determined to make this difficult for them.
I grinned at her, and she shot a sinister smile back. The connection between us empowered me, giving me a sense of playfulness instead of fear.
Our smirks didn't go unnoticed by the principal and the other officials in the office.
"Is something funny, ladies?" she asked.
I dropped my eyes to the floor, and they landed directly on Laney's wet sneaker. I looked up at her, remembering her slip into the toilet, and she watched the memory unfold in my shocked expression.
She pressed her weight into her foot, and it squelched as water squished through the seams of her sneaker from the wet sock.
My hand flew to my mouth to stifle my laugh, but it was too late. A fit of giggles had already released within me, and there was nothing I could do about it. My nerves were shot, leaving me vulnerable to the moment.
Laney's shoulders shook as she attempted to stifle her own laughter, but she was equally at a loss and turned red from her effort.
We looked to Principal Haney in hopes of refocusing, but then, as soon as we caught her aghast expression, we lost it.
Snorts and wheezes flew out of us as we tried to control the fit of laughter, and the snickering sounds made the situation even worse.
They must have thought we were on drugs, judging from the shock on their faces.
And the more we laughed, the stronger I became.
I stood taller.
Felt smarter.
Invincible.
And when I looked at Laney, her power stance proved she'd felt the exact same way.
We were the ones in control.
Laney and I regained control of our laughing fit and pulled ourselves together.
Firefighters entered the office and reported to Principal Haney.
"There's no evidence of a gas leak or fire of any sort. It's unclear what set off the alarms," the chief stated.
Principal Haney looked at both of us and then at the chief. "The smell of smoke in the English wing was undeniable," she stated.
"It was likely vaping of some form that set if off," he replied. "Maybe the malfunction of a device."
Principal Haney pressed her lips together in frustration and narrowed her eyes on us.
"Maybe you two can explain what created the smoky purple haze in the hallway." She tipped her head at us. "It was definitely more than vaping would have caused."
With all eyes on us, I tipped my head toward Laney and caught her eyes. She lifted one brow and gave a subtle nod. Without breaking eye contact, I focused hard with Laney on how to deceive the administrators.
A slight grin spread across her face and then mine.
We turned our attention back to the principal.
Laney spoke first. "When the fire alarm blasted, we came out of our English classroom and saw the mist. It was like a fog machine had been used, but then I realized it must have been someone's inhaler."
There was no way an inhaler could leave that much cloud in the air.
Principal Haney's eyes widened, and she turned to the fire chief. "Our apologies, Chief Amos. The inhaler must have been used right next to a smoke sensor."
He nodded. "Yes. Quite possibly. They are very sensitive."
Everyone nodded in agreement, including Officer Riley.
I stared at Laney, suppressing the colossal smile that threatened to cover my face.
We had done it again!
Conjured a deception spell with only our combined thoughts.
I bit my bottom lip, keeping my inner freak-out under wraps.
"Well, thank you for the information, girls," Principal Haney commented with uncharacteristic levity. "You can get back to class now."
"Any time," Laney chided.
Without another word, I turned and left the office with Laney. I was afraid of what my words might do. It was like they held some kind of power of manipulation, and it frightened me.
"What the hell was that?" I whispered as we moved down the corridor.
"I have no clue. Did you see how easily manipulated they were?" she laughed.
"It was like mind-control of some kind," I murmured, stressed to even hear the words.
Laney huffed. "Yes. Mind control." She shook her head in disbelief.
Then she slowed and came to a full stop. Her head tipped as she stared at me.
"This is weird, Brynn. Like, I've never been able to do this before. Have you?"
I stopped and clenched my jaw together, keeping it from falling open.
It was the first time Laney had ever called me by my first name, and that was the only thing that filled my mind at the moment.
"Well, have you?" she repeated.
I blinked myself out of my state of shock and answered her. "No. Never like this. I mean, I don't think so."
I thought about all the times I combined gifts with the other UMAs. We'd been able to intensify our telepathy and even achieve astral projection. But none of these things affected other people directly, like manipulating how they saw the world.
This was new.
"Yeah," I added. "Never."
"Same," she said. "And I don't hate it."
I had to admit, I didn't hate it either. I had been searching for something new. Some other way to use our gifts for a quick, immediate result. And now, surprisingly, I'd found a source through Laney.
We entered Mr. Benson's classroom, oozing confidence.
Mr. Benson looked up from his droning lecture with shock on his face. It was clear he hadn't expected us to return so soon, a few days of suspension being his minimum expectation.
We sat as if nothing had happened, ignoring every student's glare.
But I couldn't avoid Dom's.
His eyes glued onto me, and I couldn't avoid his heavy stare. Looking up to meet his gaze, I felt a shot of guilt rush through me from the confusion on his face. His eyebrows pulled together, casting a grim shadow over his eyes.
The slight shake in his head sent a direct message into my soul.
"What are you doing?"
As class ended, I launched out of my seat, eager to get to the safety of physics class and Poorva.
But it wasn't going to be that easy.
Laney bee-lined over to me, and Dom blocked my way as well. In an uncoordinated effort to exit the room with as little attention as possible, I shuffled past them and tumbled out into the hall. In a whir of motion, the three of us e
nded up in the hallway, huddled together against the wall.
"What the fuck are you two up to?" Dom seethed, straightening his rustled sleeves.
"Nice to finally have your attention back," Laney flirted through the loose strands that covered one eye.
He shook his head in annoyance and focused his attention on me.
"Did you pull a fire alarm or something?" he asked, studying my face.
I dropped my shoulders from their position of defense, lowering my guard.
"No. The smoke from my hands," I started, looking down to be sure they weren't still glowing. "Laney and I were fighting, and, well, it got a little crazy."
Dom's eyes widened to saucers. "You can't pull that shit in school," he snarled. "You know that."
"I know," I retorted. "We didn't plan to. It just kind of happened." I paused for a second, remembering the events that followed. "And then, our powers combined into something new. Something bigger."
He pulled back, looking between us.
Laney gave a subtle shake of her head as if to stop me from saying too much.
"Anyway," I continued. "We got ourselves out of it, so it's cool."
Dom continued to study me with disbelieving eyes.
"Gotta run," Laney sang, turning on her heels.
Dom pressed his lips together in a white line. "Not cool, Brynn. You need to stay the hell away from her. She can't be trusted."
His overly-cautious attitude intrigued my senses. I knew it was best to stay away from Laney, but suddenly, her evil attracted me, and I couldn't stop craving it. Plus, I'd always known there was more to the story between the two of them—something Dom didn't want me knowing too much about. And now, I planned to find out what it was.
"Meet me after school," I whispered, glancing around to be sure no one heard.
He nodded and watched me as I headed off toward my physics class.
It was weird having Dom's attention and Laney's attention all of a sudden. I couldn't deny the power each of them held, power that was misconstrued as popularity, but now held a higher meaning. Their strength went beyond that of social status and it was crazy how many people in the school missed that detail.
Then I realized I had missed it too. Initially.
But now it was clear as day.
It was time to align our strengths into something that would save Shane.
As I turned the corner to the science wing, I lifted my gaze in search of Poorva and smashed straight into a blur of gray.
Pushing off the smoky haze, my eyes adjusted on the soft fabric of an oversized sweater and then lifted to meet the piercing eyes above it.
"What are you doing?" she hissed through clenched teeth.
A gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it.
The tortured pain in her eyes, and the tightness in her jaw from fighting it, sent panic through me.
"Courtney, are you okay?" I blasted.
She shook her head. "No," she choked. "I'm burning. And all I see in the flames is you."
Chapter 8
The thought of Courtney burning from the inside out again was more than I could bear. Her suffering had scarred my soul, and as soon as I saw familiar flames within her eyes, I panicked.
I grabbed hold of her shoulders and stared straight into her enlarged pupils.
"Courtney, don't let it take you over," I begged, shaking her in hopes of snapping it out of her.
She blinked as if unfazed.
"Don't worry, Brynn. I'm numb to it now," she whispered. "The pain has moved from physical burning to more like... like a permanent slow-burn in hell. My soul being forever tortured." Her lost gaze seemed to be giving up hope.
My hand lifted to my mouth as fear of permanency returned to my quaking bones. Everything was starting to settle into new patterns, as if the most recent events at the portal, including Shane’s mortal wounds, were establishing themselves as a final chapter.
"No!" I shot. "Don't accept it. You don't have to be this way. We still have time to fix this."
"Time?" She shook her head. "Brynn, I feel it slipping away. A door is closing within me, like a tomb being sealed forever."
My throat tightened to the point I could barely move air through it.
As much as I wanted to shake her more, to snap her out of her spiraling despair, I couldn't. Because I felt it too. It was fading, and soon, we'd have no memory of it. We'd be stuck like wandering zombies, always chasing the elusive hope of meaning and happiness, but never quite knowing how to achieve it.
"We can't let go," I said. "I won't allow it to end here." I glanced around us to be sure our conversation was private. "I'm going to try to get through the portal again."
Courtney stepped back. "What? Are you crazy? You must have a death wish."
Her words were like a sucker punch to the gut, causing me to lose my air.
She continued. "Brynn, if you want to die a grisly death, then, by all means, that's your call. But you need to know you're traipsing on dangerous ground. The forces at work in those woods are ancient and powerful. We could become lost forever in its realm."
"Like Shane?" I spat.
Her lips pressed together as her eyes narrowed.
I added, "Dom will help me. He knows things have been left unfinished."
"Mm-hmm," she snarked. "Dom." She rolled her eyes while shaking her head.
Her reaction felt like the rug being pulled out from under me.
"What do you mean by that?" The defensive tone in my voice couldn't be masked. I was too offended by her hint at possible weakness in Dom.
"Brynn, you have so much to learn still. You think you know what's going on, but really, look at yourself. You're just scraping the surface." She huffed. "Don't get me wrong. I know you are the reason I can live and breathe again. And I'll forever be grateful for that. But the complexities have grown. The results are incomplete."
"That's exactly what I'm talking about," I blasted. "And I want to finish it."
The bell rang without causing a flinch within us. It was trivial, and I realized at that moment we could no longer function within the confines of the school day.
Courtney glanced down the empty hallway, watching the last student race into their classroom.
"Well, involving Dom will only complicate things," she added. "He's not what you think, Brynn. And teaming up with him for an uprising will absolutely cause devastating results."
My brows pulled together in confusion, and she continued.
"He's a minion for the Dark Witch, Brynn. Surely you know that." Her head tipped as she studied me. "Of course, he doesn't want it. If he had the choice, he'd remain here. But it's impossible for him. He's too deeply woven into the layers of the past. And to Millicent."
The sound of Millicent's name straightened my spine. And hearing of Dom's connection to her rattled me further. She was separate from the Dark Witch in every way. Millie was Courtney's sister and didn't deserve the evils that were done to her. The evils that created the Dark Witch.
It was funny though because the only thing I could think about was why Dom hadn't told me about his connection to her. A strange twang of jealousy ran through me, pissing me off completely because I'd sworn Dom off long ago. But still, I tried to wrap my head around his deception.
By the time I realized my eyes had closed, either resisting the information or attempting to process it more, it was too late. As I opened them, I found myself alone.
Courtney was gone.
She'd left me with more turmoil than I'd started with, and my hands shook with rising angst.
Clenching my teeth together, I battled my inner demons. But even with her warning, I planned to take action. Knowing Dom was connected to the Dark Witch wasn't enough to stop me from partnering with him. I needed him.
But I couldn't shake Courtney's words. She had planted insecurity in me, and I wasn't sure why she felt it necessary to do so.
I had to remember her link to the sisters.
Her link to the Dark Wit
ch.
And Courtney held Dom responsible for tearing her away from her sisters.
Her resentment of being taken through the portal against her will, away from their executions, was likely connected to her warnings about Dom.
It made sense that she would judge him harshly.
But there seemed to be more.
The connection to Millicent.
I remembered that Dom had been trapped in the portal, in wolf-form, for a long time. But time was measured differently through the crossing over, and I realized that Dom had likely lived there for longer than I'd thought.
No wonder Laney always had her claws in him. She knew there was a connection to the past with him, to her ancestors.
I chewed the inside of my cheek, as some of the puzzle pieces fell into place.
I needed to rescue Shane from an untimely death. But I also needed to restore balance between the past and the present. A balance that impacted my coven, to the point where I knew I would lose some of them in the end.
Glancing down the empty hallway, my vision narrowed to a fine point, blurring out all other details. Staring at the door to the physics classroom, I watched as a whir of black hair shot out. With a flick of her head, Poorva pushed the hair off her face and glared down the hall at me.
With wide eyes, she waved at me to come to class.
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't move my feet. I was done with the farce of school attendance and blending in. I couldn't help it, but my mind had shifted to one of action without regard to consequences.
I smiled at Poorva, and she waved even harder for me to join her.
My head tipped slightly as I envied her clear conscience and her steadfast obedience.
And with a final nod, I turned and moved straight for the nearest exit door.
I'd officially gone rogue.
I pushed the exit door open with a bang, not giving two-shits if anyone heard it. Stepping out into the fresh air, I stopped for a moment and took a huge inhale. The cool oxygen cleared my head, settling my racing thoughts into a new structure.
My focus became sharp as I planned my next steps, and the first action had to do with finding Shane. My heart had refused to heal in any way, proving to me that his death wasn't meant to be. Shane was supposed to be here with me, and I swore to never let go of that belief.
Urban Mystic Academy: Fourth Project (A Supernatural Academy Series Book 4) Page 7
