by Oxford, Rain
There was as much hope as there was doubt in his eyes. “You saw it?”
“Yes. Luana and Matheus Lycosa aren’t even your parents. Your mother… I don’t really know what happened to her, but she wasn’t from Earth.” I explained everything that happened with this sketchbook and everything I learned about the tower from Vincent’s book.
“Langril said Krechea can hear us. What if he goes after Henry’s son?” Darwin asked.
“We’ll have to find him and protect him.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Henry said.
“You’re not going to kill Scott. Your jaguar isn’t out of control at all. He attacks Holli because she isn’t Zoe. He fights you because you fight him.”
“Is that why you were all beat up the first day?” Darwin asked Henry. “Did you find out something and confront your parents?”
“Henry didn’t attack his parents,” I said. They both looked at me. “Your place had been broken into, all your stuff was destroyed, and your blood was on the floor. Someone was angry. My first thought was Holli attacked you, but if she’s as much like Regina as you say, then she sees what’s yours as hers.”
“Holli still believes I will obey my parents and marry her. I take it you have an idea who was angry enough to destroy my home?”
“Not the who, but the why. Who have you stolen from recently?” I asked. He frowned. “Who did you steal from who would have the resources to track you down and send goons or whatnot? The headaches and missing memories are consistent with a really good hit to the head.”
“You could have been shot in the head,” Darwin said. “If something doesn’t kill a shifter immediately, they will heal, as long as it isn’t with silver. And a human wouldn’t know to shoot you with silver. Maybe your parents never knew you were injured.”
“No, it’s more likely that they found me, thought I was dead, assumed they were the next to be hit, and ran away. If I was unconscious long enough, Holli probably found me, then saw my parents missing and assumed I killed them.”
“Then why would she lie to the council?”
“Because if I was found guilty, she wouldn’t want to get caught up in it, so she would have turned me in just in case. Plus, she probably thought she could get my money when I was arrested.”
“Did she? Because we can legally nail her to the wall if so for aiding and bedding, right?” Darwin asked me.
“Aiding and abetting,” I corrected. “And we couldn’t exactly turn it over to the cops. If she did, we could argue that she helped Henry’s attacker get away for money, but I doubt the council will care.”
“She did not get my money. I have much less than she believes, since I must give most of it to my parents. But why did I remember fighting my parents if someone else attacked me?”
“For the same reason I remembered Ceyax’s tests; using the powerful amulet brought up old memories. You were remembering when your parents drugged you and you were trying to defend your family.”
“Speaking of…” Darwin began. “Doesn’t that mean your vision of Gale killing Astrid with the amulet was wrong?”
“No, actually, I think it already came true.” They both frowned. Purposefully making them wait, I sat up in the bed, stood up, and sat down on the couch. I was tired of everyone trying to keep me in bed. “The vision wasn’t meant to be taken literally. I think it was a warning that Gale would get the amulet back and it had to do with Astrid, not that Gale would actually kill Astrid.”
“But if they are not literal, how can we trust them?” Henry asked.
“Instinct.”
* * *
“I’m sorry I said you weren’t important,” Darwin said.
I had enough sense not to reveal that I was awake. I couldn’t exactly ask them not to talk their issues out around me when they were trying to monitor me for sudden cardiac failure.
“You don’t have to explain,” Henry said.
“No, I do. There was absolutely no basis for me to say that. I don’t know why I acted like that. That wasn’t some repressed thought. I was truly not myself.”
“I know. Every species has a biological advantage; a way to survive. Humans lack fangs, claws, venom, speed, and other predatory attributes. Their skill is their mental capacity. Shifters are dangerous to humanity because we have both our predatory attributes and the mental skills of humans. In order to prevent us from overthrowing humans, nature gave us the same weaknesses of our beasts as well as a weakness to silver.”
“Actually, the effects of silver on vampires and shifters are due to ancient wizards trying to control other paranormals, but never mind. Up until this point, I haven’t had any paranormal skills from my parents.”
“Your intelligence is both a curse and a gift to you, but from an evolutionary standpoint, it potentially puts you at the top of the pack. If you had magic on top of that, the universe couldn’t take it. There is a balance in magic. Wizards understand this and fae live by it, but shifters and vampires tend to overlook it. We are magic, so we must have balance.”
“So why did I lose my mind?”
“You didn’t. You lost your humanity. That was a combination of your wolf and your fae.”
“Then it’ll happen again if I ever touch the amulet.”
“Well, we’ll just have to make sure you never touch the amulet again. Also, we have to start working on your shifting. Now that you can shift, you need to be able to control your wolf.”
* * *
Sunday night, I returned to the dorm room despite my roommates’ protests. I didn’t have any weird dreams or visions, which I was glad about, except I really needed to talk to Heather. I got up Monday morning, took my shower, and headed to breakfast without pain. Of course, the aspirin probably helped. I also had to take a specialized healing potion once a week for the rest of my life.
The cook frowned as I grabbed bacon, so I gave her my grouchiest glare and put extra on my plate. When I sat down, I put the extra bacon on Darwin’s plate. I knew moderation was the only way I would live long enough to graduate, but I didn’t like pity.
When Darwin grabbed my coffee out of my hand and gave it to Henry, I growled.
“You can’t have coffee for another week,” he said.
“I can have anything I damn well please.” I took Henry’s coffee, making the jaguar sigh. I knew he was only staying out of it because Darwin would insist on taking care of me so he didn’t have to.
“I’ll tell Remy!” Darwin threatened. I set down the coffee, got up and walked away. “Where are you going?” he called.
“To find some baby seals to club and puppies to kick.” The shifters all quickly got out of my way.
On the way to my first class, students stopped in the hallway until I passed, as if they were waiting for me to collapse. Once I was in Professor Nightshade’s class, I still got stares, but at least I could ignore them and listen to the lesson. When it was time to go, I took my time putting my notebook, textbook, and pen away.
“I assume you weren’t cleared to return to class?” Nightshade asked once most of the students had left.
“I’ll be fit enough to return to dodging bullets and jumping over car hoods by next week.”
“I knew he was a cop,” Lauren whispered to her friend as she left.
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be ready for fire training on Sunday.”
“Why?” she asked.
I sighed. “I’m still a student here. If I don’t attend classes and my elemental training, I might as well drop out now. If sitting in class and lighting candles is going to kill me, there’s not much point in living.”
“Thanks for the morose insight into your I’m-not-a-fucking-cop life, but I meant that you already passed your fire training, so you really don’t need to come on Sunday.”
“I’m sorry, but hang on. How the hell did I pass fire?”
She rolled her eyes. “You communicated with fire elementals. The only way you could have seen them is by understanding the essence of fir
e. Asrik told me you even got a damn flaming sword.”
After last class, I headed to the library to get some more books, where I found Brian and Becky kissing. I pretended like I didn’t see them and headed back to my room with a smirk, because I knew they were perfect for each other; the feminist tomboy and the boy who was afraid of girls. Since Becky was the one who put him up to posting the letter about the council all over the dining room, I figured he was going to learn real quick how to stand up to women. Becky was tenacious about equal rights, so anyone she dated was going to have to learn to stand up for what she believed in.
As soon as I entered the dorm, I heard screams from the women’s showers. Hunt did make some new rules over the clubs due to the pranks, but they were reasonable and meant to protect the students. Although Darwin hadn’t officially made the band of pranksters into a club, I knew he would. Halloween was coming and we would all have to watch our step.
I couldn’t help wondering what kind of excuses Darwin would come up with to avoid shifting. I hoped between Henry and me, we would be able to teach Darwin to accept his wolf, because I really believed Hunt was right about it; the wolf attacked because he spent twenty-two years suppressed. It wasn’t going to be easy.
When I opened the door to my room, I froze. “Does this mean the engagement’s off?” I asked. Henry was sitting in his chair and Amelia was in my chair with her face just a few inches from his and her hands on his knees.
“It’s not like that,” Darwin said. Only then did I realize he was sitting on his bed. “Amy is trying to break him of the moon cycle.”
“Any luck?”
“Apparently, his heart is as stubborn as your head.”
* * *
Although Amelia said she didn’t make any progress, Henry swore he felt better. At dinner, Addie sat next to him and ignored him as usual. When Darwin asked her if she got a job as a teacher at the school, she shook her head. “The headmaster didn’t have any teaching positions available.”
Henry’s face didn’t change, but his eyes showed sadness as he stood up and walked away.
“You didn’t let me finish!” Addison yelled after him.
“It doesn’t matter.”
When Addie ran after him, Darwin and I followed, worried they would fight. By the time we caught up to them, Addie had Henry backed into the corner under the stairway. This was usually followed by a physical fight.
“Tell me you love me!” she screamed at him.
“No.” His face was a picture of apathy, but there was something much deeper in his eyes.
“Tell me you don’t want me to leave!
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter! Tell me something! Tell me you hate me and you never want to see me again! Anything! Tell me what you want!”
“I can’t.”
“Why the hell not?!”
He opened his mouth to speak, swallowed harshly, and closed his mouth. With a sudden revelation, I realized why. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to speak. “His throat closed up,” I said. Both of them looked at me. “When he’s upset, his throat closes up and he can’t breathe let alone talk.”
Addison turned to Henry. “Is that true? You didn’t tell me not to leave because it upset you too much?”
He nodded.
Addie surprised all of us when she started crying. “I thought you were tired of me.” It was Henry’s turn to surprise us; he hugged her. She grabbed his arms to keep him from pulling away and pressed her face against his chest. “I don’t care if you’re screwed up and only like me for three days of the month. I’ll love you for the rest of the month enough for both of us. Just don’t get tired of me. I don’t care if I can’t hug you or kiss you as long as I can sit next to you. I don’t care what your parents did or if you never tell me. I don’t want you to change. I’ll take being with you for three days if I have to. I’ll take you for one day if I have to.”
I pushed Darwin towards the door, indicating we needed to leave to give them privacy. Right before we passed through the door, we heard Henry speak softly.
“I love you.”
Twenty minutes later, they sat back down to eat their dinner. Addison didn’t touch him as she ate, apparently still content to just be with him.
“So what are you going to do?” Darwin asked.
“Headmaster Hunt doesn’t need a teacher, but he could use a counselor. I’m going to spend the winter break and summer break doing some training courses. It’s normally a long process, but I’m smart enough to get it done. Hunt has a friend who will be overseeing my training and he’ll sit in on my counseling, so I can unofficially start next semester for a sort of internship thing.”
Not looking at her, Henry reached over with his left hand and took hers. Her face lit up.
* * *
For the next few weeks, my school life settled down. I listened in class and did all the activities even when the professors gave me their unsure, worried frowns. Although there were the occasional spikes of pain when I ran too hard or got stressed too much, my health improved a little each day.
After a while, everyone seemed to realize I wasn’t about to keel over and they moved on. For most of them, that meant talking about the council. With Flagstone back, the wolf shifters fell back into their old pack lineup, which didn’t mean there was no more fighting. Watson, however, kept the position as the headmaster’s second, which seemed to satisfy Flagstone immensely.
Even though I no longer had to go to my fire training, I seemed to have less and less personal time. I still met with Vincent on Saturdays for reading. Henry, Darwin, Amelia, and I would spend all Sunday working with Darwin. At first, he tried to say he didn’t know how to shift, but Henry threatened to get Flagstone involved, so he stopped using that excuse. Although Darwin was still rebelling against his teachers on the matter, he no longer fought us.
Heather never came up in my dreams to offer me a contract again and Langril said he didn’t know how to contact her, but he refused to take me to Dothra until I made a deal with her. I also had no more dreams of Astrid, so I hoped that meant she was safe for the time being. Therefore, I concentrated on learning everything I could on magic from the school, Vincent, and everyone else. I would be ready when I finally faced Krechea.
Almost every day I wasn’t trying to help Darwin or study with Vincent, I was volunteering for the professors. This turned out to be a really good way to get extra lessons, particularly in building ritual tools, defeating unearthly opponents, and emergency medical aid with magic.
Halloween was a bloody mess that involved the vampire’s synthetic blood in the showers, acid rain, and a murder mystery. The murder mystery, was about as fake as one could be, however, since the students involved in the prank thought it would have been very tasteless after the actual murders we had.
* * *
“Do you really want to be a therapist here?” Darwin asked Addison as he pushed aside the giant rubber spider on his seat. It was dinner time and already two weeks after Halloween, but the new pranks club couldn’t let go of the past.
Addie smiled at Henry, who was indifferent as usual. “I’ll manage.”
Although Amelia’s power had helped him temporarily, Henry’s emotions were still very much repressed and displaying any outward sign of emotion was awkward at best. He did start doing things like holding Addison’s hand, despite the fact that he was obviously uncomfortable.
“I’m going to have supervision for the first few years anyway.” Her smile dropped when she saw who was walking up to our table. I turned to see Jackson.
“Did you really have to save the brown-nosed prat?” Darwin asked.
“I heard that,” Jackson said. “Devon, Professor Langril wants to see you in the headmaster’s office.”
“I’ll be back,” I said, standing.
“Be careful, bro,” Darwin said. “The pranks club has been putting cling film over the doorways.”
“Will do. Hey, Addie, teach Darwin to say alumi
num,” I said, teasing him. I thought he said the word wrong the first time I heard it until Henry told me the rest of the world said it differently than North America. Even knowing that, it was fun to watch him and Addie argue about it.
“It’s aluminium,” Darwin said.
Ten minutes later, I stood in front of Hunt’s office. My instincts alerted me that something big was about to happen, but I wasn’t in danger at that moment.
I raised my hand to knock on the door. “Come in, Devon,” Hunt said before I could.
I opened the door to find Hunt, Flagstone, Vincent, and Langril. I entered and shut the door behind me. “You wanted to see me?”
“Please sit,” Hunt said. He was in his chair behind his desk, Flagstone stood beside him as if guarding him, Vincent sat in the chair by the fireplace, and Langril leaned against the bookshelf beside the fireplace. I sat on the couch.
“I know about the keys and the tower,” I said.
“Before you say anything, you must know that Krechea can sometimes hear us. Our secrets have been leaked.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that the fourth key is out there. Either someone in this room right now betrayed the others, or he can hear us.”
I looked at Vincent, remembering the warning of betrayal in his note. He shook his head very slightly. I didn’t know whether he was trying to tell me no one would betray us or that he didn’t want me to mention the letter, so I didn’t say anything.
“So now that you know what the tower is, are you going after the key?”
“I promised the fire elementals that I would destroy the tower in exchange for the sword. Then Langril went and locked Astrid in Dothra.” From Hunt’s expression, I surmised that he already knew what Langril did. “My first priority is getting Astrid back. My second priority will be getting the key so I can destroy the tower and keep Krechea from getting out. His goal is to get out, right?”
