by Shay Laurent
‘Oh, right. Well, sorry. You just didn’t seem to be noticing anything.’
A few more minutes of silence went by before I got up the courage to talk again.
‘Did they speak to you about what you do now? I mean, I was talking to Miss Stone and she said something about you living here.’
The silence was deafening. I fidgeted in my seat, waiting.
‘Yes. The new Alpha—’
‘Dom’s dad.’ I interjected.
She scowled. ‘Yes. The new Alpha spoke to me and told me I was a ward of the Academy now and that he and the other staff would take care of me until I’m old enough to make decisions for myself.’ She scoffed. ‘As if I’m not already capable of that. Anyway, I just keep living here, like I have been.’
‘Well, that’s a good thing, right?’
She looked at me condescendingly. ‘Sure. I suppose if being controlled by people who aren’t your parents because they’re not here anymore is a good thing.’
I felt heat flush my cheeks. ‘Right.’
Just mind your own business next time.
As it got nearer to midnight, I started getting more agitated, shifting my feet up and down off the couch, and opening and closing my book. Natasha needed to get out of here before Dom got back. I’d resigned myself to the fact that she wasn’t going to move and had started formulating excuses to give her when she abruptly stood up.
‘Your fidgeting is really irritating. I’m going to bed.’ Without another word, she stood up and walked out of the room and up the stairs. I leapt up, with my feet lightly touching the floor as I moved and listened until I heard her door shut. I exhaled deeply, walked back to the couch and curled my feet up to wait for Dom.
In no time at all, I saw the Common Room door creep open. Dom walked inside and over to me. I watched as he looked around the room, checking for anyone else. When he got to me, I expected him to sit down but instead he told me to follow him.
I stood anxiously and trailed behind him, back out the front door.
When we’d made it into the shadows of the trees, I tapped his arm to get his attention then stopped. ‘What’s going on?’
He looked around quickly. ‘We need to go now. I overheard a conversation between a couple of the Shifters who run the Archive room. They said they were taking a bunch of files to my Dad in the morning to run over their options. If they take something we need, we’re screwed. There’s no easy way to get it from my dad’s office. This is definitely our best chance.’
‘Okay, let’s hurry. Was there anyone there when you left?’
He shook his head. ‘They left before I snuck out of where I was hiding. I was lucky they didn’t smell me.’
He looked a little pale. The Alpha’s son being caught listening into secret conversations wouldn’t be good, though getting caught stealing plans would be even worse.
‘Dom.’ I stopped again. We were almost at the end of the tree line. ‘Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, what if you get caught? This should be on me.’
I thought I saw a light pink touch his cheeks again, but it was hard to tell in the shadows. ‘It’s fine. I said I would help you and I will. Besides, you have no clue where you’re going or what you’re looking for. You need me.’ He grinned.
Relieved that the awkwardness from earlier was forgotten, I smiled back at him. ‘Thanks, Dom. Really.’
He nodded and turned quickly back in the direction of the Academy. I kept close behind him as he walked to the fountain in the courtyard, then from there cut across to the opposite tree line and around to the Food Den door.
They really should lock this thing. This is ridiculously easy.
Just inside the door, we froze. There was a rustling coming from the kitchen. I saw Dom inhale deeply then take off in the opposite direction to the service stairs. I stuck close to his heels. Once we were safely inside and up a flight of stairs, he paused and took a long, slow breath in and out.
‘It was lucky the breeze was in our favour. It was my dad. He likes to go into the kitchen to get food when he can’t sleep.’
I chuckled and gave him a pointed look. ‘A bit like someone else I know then.’
‘Yeah, yeah. Come on. It’s on this floor.’
Chapter 12
Dom moved to the door, put his ear against it and listened. I stood impatiently, trying hard to resist the urge to tap my foot. When he started to crack the door, I leaned forward to peer out. I couldn’t see or hear anything, so I shook my head. He nodded and pushed it further open.
We walked out onto the landing, sticking by the wall. I followed Dom until he reached another room. This one needed a key. I looked at him with wide eyes, but he just grinned, reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out an old metal key.
My chest, which I didn’t realise had squeezed tight, relaxed and I breathed normally again. The thought of being stopped now was almost unbearable. Luckily, he hadn’t left me any time to panic about it.
He put his ear to the door, double checking there was no sound on the other side. When he decided it was all clear, he opened it. We snuck inside and I looked around the room. There were wooden shelves lining the walls and a large oak table in the centre, surrounded by chairs. On the table were a range of maps that looked to be of the Academy grounds and surrounding land.
A few sketches had been pinned on one of the walls. All women. Sorceresses, I assumed. I wondered why these ones were hanging up in here but not others. I walked over to them and looked while Dom rifled through the shelves. When I heard an “Aha”, I turned away from the photos and walked over to him. He spread one of the drawings across the table, taking care not to budge the maps beneath it. It was of the Crone Keep building. The bottom layers were clear, but as the levels went higher the details became less specific.
I guess not many who made it up that far actually made it back out.
I swallowed a lump in my throat, realising for the first time what I planned on doing, and what I was dragging Dom into. Shifters with a lot more experience than me had obviously gone into Crone Keep and not returned.
‘Hey,’ Dom said, noticing my worry. ‘It’ll be fine. The prisoner area is not that far from the bottom. There are plenty of details for down there. See.’ He pointed to the spot labelled “Prisoners”.
I nodded. At least he seemed positive that we could do it.
‘Come on, Dom. Fold that up and hide it. Let’s get out of here before we get caught. There aren’t exactly a lot of hiding places in here.’
I watched as he folded up that drawing and a couple of others we needed and then tucked them into the back of his pants. I hoped they wouldn’t make too much noise when he moved. We triple checked that everything remained as we’d found it and went back to the door. I put my ear to it this time to listen; sensing nothing, I opened it and stepped out. Dom followed behind. When we were a few metres from the service door, my heart stopped.
Footsteps sounded behind us, then a voice.
‘What are you two doing here?’
How the hell did she sneak up on us? More charms?
I breathed a small sigh of relief when I realised it was Miss Stone and not someone else. The relief was short lived, however, because, when I looked at her, she was furious.
‘I said, what are you two doing here? You should both be in bed.’
Dom and I looked at each other. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t thought of a plan, something to say if we were caught!
‘Uh, I wanted to show Elita the Sorceress Records room again. She, uh, wanted to see her mum.’
I watched Miss Stone for any sign that she bought Dom’s excuse. It was like I could almost see the thoughts crossing over her face. Anger, disbelief, worry. She settled on understanding, thankfully.
‘I appreciate that you wanted to look at the picture again, Elita,’ she lowered her voice so I had to strain to hear her, ‘especially after seeing her recently. But you can’t go back to look again. Particularly not in the dead of night, do you u
nderstand?’
I was crestfallen. I hadn’t even thought of going back to see her picture again with everything that had been happening, but I should have. I wanted to. I wanted to get it and keep it. Instead, I nodded and told her that I would stay away.
She shifted her focus. ‘Dominic, more is expected of you, especially now. I am positive your father would be incredibly disappointed if he heard about this. Do not let me catch you taking other students around the Academy again. Even if your intentions are good ones. And stay out of the service stairs. They are closed for safety reasons, until such time as they are repaired. Go now. Down the main staircase. If you get caught by someone else, then I wish you luck. Do not say that you were with me. Understood?’
Wow, harsh. I guess after that chat with Dom’s dad, she wasn’t able to be quite so forgiving.
I nodded and walked with Dom to the end of the hall, avoiding her gaze as we hurried past. I was sure that she would tell my dad about this. I knew he wouldn’t be happy with me taking risks and not following the rules. But I was also sure that I was still too angry with him to care.
I led the way down the stairs this time, keeping my feet light and my eyes peeled for any movement. I was grateful when we made it back to the dorms without attracting unwanted attention from anyone else. I had no doubt Miss Stone wouldn’t have helped us get a second free pass for the evening.
I walked over to the lounge and collapsed in it. Dom pulled out the internal drawings before laying back and putting his feet up.
‘So. We have the maps and the internal drawings now. What else do we need before we go save your mum?’
I smiled. The idea of saving my mum gave me a warm and fuzzy sort of feeling.
‘We just need packs with mats and blankets, our clothes, food and weapons. And then a plan to get out of here unnoticed. I guess, during the night would make the most sense?’
‘Yeah, for sure, but we should probably go earlier in the evening, or as early as we can, because we’ll need to cover a pretty good distance the first night. Once they realise we’re missing, you can bet they’re going to come looking for us.’
‘You’re right. Maybe around ten. Most of the kids go to bed around that time during the week.’
He nodded. ‘Okay. We can just get mats and blankets from the visitors’ lodgings. Do you have a pack that’s easy to carry?’
‘No, I just have dad’s suitcase.’
‘That’s cool. I have a spare. I’ll bring it to you before we go to bed tonight.’ A grin lit his face from ear to ear. ‘I’ll get the food since I know the kitchens so well.’
I laughed. ‘Makes sense. I think I can get the weapons.’
‘Okay. I’ll grab the mats and blankets during class break tomorrow and put them in our packs. There’s rarely anyone in the visitor area during the day.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yep, I’m sure. Should we get the weapons and food tomorrow night then? Maybe after dinner, once everyone has headed off to their rooms?’
‘Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I’d suggest going while everyone is at dinner but we all know you aren’t going to miss out on that!’ I chuckled.
‘Too right! I’ll be missing the dinners here for weeks. I definitely need to enjoy the final meal. And remember, when you go into the weapons room, there’s only one door in and one door out of there.’
‘Yep. Got it. I’ll be careful. You watch out too. Won’t do well for you to be caught again.’
‘I will. Okay. So if everything goes to plan, we’ll be leaving tomorrow evening, right?’
My stomach flopped and my chest tightened with the realisation that I was really about to do this. To leave without telling anyone. To run away after Dad had finally let me come to the Academy.
I heaved in a deep breath. ‘Tomorrow. In which case, we should really get some sleep or we’ll struggle to get very far.’
Dom pulled himself up off the couch and collected the drawings. He told me he’d meet me at my room and rushed off. A little weary, I walked at a slower pace. By the time I made it to my room and unlocked my door, he’d made it back. He passed me the pack and said goodnight, then headed off quickly to his own bed.
After I popped the pack in the corner of my room, out of the way but still easy for Dom to find tomorrow, I pulled on my sleep clothes and hopped into bed. Warm under the covers, I began to drift off in no time, my fading consciousness showing me amber eyes, a silver charm bracelet and our dead Alpha.
I TRUDGED MY WAY TO dinner the next evening with Harper, who commented a few times about me being so tired lately. I was glad she seemed to accept the idea that I just wasn’t sleeping well after everything that had happened.
We sat with Dom and his friends; everybody made comfortable small talk. It almost seemed like no one wanted to complicate life or talk about anything heavy after recent events. It suited me just fine and I was able to scout around and figure out where the teachers were dispersed among the students.
After I’d been looking for five minutes, my palms started sweating. If I couldn’t find Master Ira, then I couldn’t risk going into the training room to get our weapons. When I was about to say something to Dom, I spotted him through the Food Den door heading over to the kitchen server, presumably to get his dinner.
I exhaled, my shoulders relaxing. ‘Hey guys, I’m gonna have an early one tonight. I’m really tired. I’ll catch you all later.’
After a chorus of goodnights from the guys, I tried to reassure Harper that I could make it back alone. Dom eventually had to cut in and distract her so I could escape. On my way back inside, I passed Natasha. I smiled a little when I realised she was back to sitting with her friends and being the centre of attention again.
Walking through the Food Den, I happily noticed Master Ira had gone to sit with some other teachers to eat. When I entered the foyer, it was almost deserted. I smiled briefly at anyone who met my eye and continued walking through, my heart racing. I bent down to fix my shoe so I could check that no one was watching me. Coast clear, I walked straight to the staircase.
I moved quickly, barely gracing each step with the presence of my boots before moving onto the next one. When I reached the bottom, I peered around. Empty. I walked slowly into the room, keeping my attention on the scents and sounds around me. Sure I was alone, I rushed over to the weapons vault.
I exhaled slowly through my mouth, feeling my chest relax when I saw it was still open. I carefully picked out the weapons Dom and I had discussed during lunch: a rope, throwing knives, a bow and arrows, and a few short swords. Then I grabbed a couple of weapons belts to secure them all.
As I closed the vault, I heard someone coming down the stairs. I looked around, my knees threatening to buckle from the panic. There was nowhere to hide. I was done for. Putting the weapons back now would make too much noise. After another look around, I spotted a window open near the wall to my right. I rushed over and climbed up. The footsteps were closer and gaining speed. I wasn’t being quiet enough. I quickly shoved the weapons out of the window then jumped back to the floor and started running the track.
My heart thudded so loudly I had to focus to hear the footsteps entering the room. I slowed my jog and came to a stop as Master Ira walked in and glared at me.
‘What do you think you are doing in here?’
I felt my face heat.
‘Oh, I’m sorry. I thought I was allowed down here. I was just running some laps before I went to bed.’
The look he gave me was like daggers thrown at full speed. ‘No. You are not allowed in here. Do it again after hours and you will have a punishment. Out. Now.’
‘Yes, Master Ira. I’m so sorry.’
His sharp gaze followed me all the way past the weapons vault and out the door. I listened hard as I walked; his footsteps sounded again as I reached the stairs. Behind me, I heard the lock turn in the vault and nearly melted with relief. If he’d looked inside at the weapons instead of just locking it, we would have been do
ne for.
I made my way back over to the dorm rooms slowly, stopping by the window outside to grab the weapons. The whole endeavour had taken longer than I’d thought because almost everyone was already on their way out of the Food Den and heading back to the dorms.
When I got there, I snuck in through the back window and went straight up to my room. Dom had been by. My pack was thick at the base with mats and a blanket. I pulled my warmest clothes off my shelf and put them in as well, then looked around my room wondering what else I should take.
I wanted to bring my family portrait, or my favourite book, but there was no space for things like that. I tried to focus on the fact that we would be back, and they’d be here, waiting. Once I had the few essential items besides clothes, I laid on my bed and waited.
I WAS STARTLED AWAKE by a loud knock. Looking out the window, I realised I’d been asleep for a while. I jumped up and rushed to the door. I pulled it open and felt myself relax when I saw Dom.
‘Hey. Oh, were you asleep?’
I rubbed my eyes. ‘Yeah, I guess so. Did you get everything?’
‘Yeah, here. Let me pop this food in your pack. I’ve already done mine.’ He walked over and opened the top and started placing it in.
‘What were you able to get?’
‘I got bread, fruits and dried meat. I got a little fresh meat for when we stop tonight, too, but I put it in my pack.’ He grinned, seemingly happy with his selection.
‘Great. Thank you. I have the weapons here too. Rope, throwing knives, a bow and arrows and short swords, plus a couple of belts. I wasn’t sure if you had any. But I should probably tell you... Master Ira came in when I was there—’
He stopped putting the food in the pack. ‘He what? What happened? Are you okay? Did he notice anything was missing?!’
‘I’m fine, it was all okay. Though it probably won’t be if he ever catches me in there again. Right before he came down, I managed to chuck the weapons out one of the windows. Then I pretended I was just running the track. He believed it, thankfully, though he did have a go at me anyway. I listened on my way out and I’m pretty positive he just locked the vault and didn’t check it. I only heard the key turn, not the doors open and close.’
