“You look like a naughty schoolgirl trying to get the attention of her teacher,” said Griselda.
“That is so disturbing, on so many levels, that I’m speechless right now.”
Time had flown by despite my dreading the meeting in the auditorium. Every student had filed inside the large auditorium and taken their seat. Todays’ meeting was like de ja vu, and the memories of how Nora held the meetings and the sacrifices made me shudder.
I glanced at Chaniya to sit next to me on my right. “I don’t think I like this.”
Chaniya right hand was in Luc’s as he gently massaged it. “Liam is arrogant but he isn’t Nora. Let’s not jump to any conclusions until we know what is going on.”
Luc turned around and waved to someone. There was an empty seat next to Luc. A moment later, Zarin walked over to the aisle we were in and sank into the seat next to Luc. Turning away from him, I forced my gaze to the center of the stage.
What is he doing here? My hands gripped the armrest. He looked more beautiful than he did the last time I had seen him. The way he captured my attention is nerve wracking. He’s wrecking me without even trying to. It doesn’t make sense, my attraction to him. I have never been attracted to a guy before. Could these feelings exist because he saved my life?
Cade walked onto the stage. He moved to the side, as Liam waltzed on the stage and held up his hands. The auditorium had gone quiet.
“As you know, we were recently attacked by a witch named Nora and a group of mages,” said Liam.
I relaxed in my seat. It never dawned on me, that some of the students might not know about the attack. My breath evened out and I forced my hands to relax. Some of the students chatted among themselves and soon the auditorium wasn’t silent anymore.
“We have found out that Nora and her mages have partnered with the shape shifting demons against us. It is more important than ever that we remember why Valcrum has deemed us the protectors over his people. We will not fail,” said Liam.
“If the witches are our enemies then shouldn’t we kill the witches that are here within our walls? Why should we trust them?” a man shouted from the crowd.
I glanced at Chaniya before looking behind us to assess the threat. Out of nowhere, a man ran toward me. Before I could stand, Zarin jumped over the chair and threw the man into the wall. He stood there in the aisle, not even winded.
Standing behind him, I looked at Chaniya who stood behind Luc.
“The students within these walls are not our enemies. To judge someone, based on another’s actions are foolish and judgmental. Those are the actions of our enemies,” said Liam.
A man with a charcoal gray sweater stood. “You did the same, when you judged Arianna based on Kyra’s actions.”
Cade walked toward the edge of the stage pointing to the man that had spoken. “Arianna has proven her loyalty to the academy and to all of us.” He tried to jump from the stage, but Lima’s hand on his arm restrained him.
“I had been blinded by the hatred of my enemy and I was wrong. I am not like our enemies. Are you no better than the devils that thirst for your death?” asked Liam.
The man that had questioned Liam, now sat back down in his chair. From the murmurs around the auditorium, they didn’t like the fact that he had questioned their headmaster. Cade looked ready to murder the guy with his bare hands.
My back stiffened. I didn’t want to remain standing in the aisle, and when Zarin’s warm hand pressed to the center of my back moving me toward my chair, I hesitated.
I leaned against him trying to whisper into his face. “I don’t want to sit down anymore.”
Zarin grunted. He moved me like he didn’t hear me. I was sitting down in my chair, but he was sitting right next to me. Glancing over at Chaniya, she and Luc were already seated again.
Liam grabbed the microphone and walked to the side of the stage. “The academy will be changing. We must change as our enemies change, and so adapting will ensure we accomplish our mission.”
He stopped speaking when voices rang out over the students. When they saw he wasn’t speaking any more silence rang out again.
“You had better get used to the academy having a diverse student body because it’s only going to get more diverse soon enough,” said Liam
The rest of the meeting went by in a blur.
An hour later, Zarin, Luc, Chaniya and I were once again in Liam’s office. Maximus and some of his men were already there. Zarin was seated next to Luc. They both had empty chairs next to them, and we hurried over to sit down.
I looked at Zarin and Luc then back to Liam, who was seated at his desk. Maximus was standing over by the window gazing out.
The door opened, and Claire walked inside with Cade. She was alone and moved to stand near Luc’s chair. Cade moved to stand near Liam.
Maximus turned, as if he sensed her presence. He crossed over to her and stood next to her.
“Tonight, you will crash the meeting that Trevor has with Nora and destroy the mutagen DNA that he plans to give her,” said Liam.
Zarin leaned forward. “When do we leave?”
“You will leave in an hour,” said Liam.
My heart slammed in my chest. I wasn’t looking forward to facing off with Nora but she needed to be dealt with. I just hoped we would destroy her once and for all. Chaniya was silent as Luc escorted me to my room.
I looked at Chaniya. “I will meet you ten minutes till, so we can go down together.”
She nodded and Luc and she walked down the hall. I shut the door and locked it. Time was flying by. I would once again face Nora and her army of mages. I dropped to my knees and bowed my head towards the floor to pray. I allowed my mind to reach out to Valcrum.
Once I finished praying, I climbed on the bed and closed my eyes. My nerves were getting the best of me. Nora was our problem, yet she was now the academy’s problem as well. I won’t lose this battle. Everything is at stake.
The pounding on my door made me jerk upright. Wiping the drool from the side of my mouth I rushed to the door and swung it open.
Luc stood there looking like he ate a piece of coal. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, let me get my bow and arrow.” Grabbing them, I rushed out the door.
Frowning I looked down the hall. “Where is Chaniya?”
Luc’s cheeks turned pink. “She’s probably in her room. She isn’t exactly speaking to me.”
“What the heck is going on with you and my sister? I have never seen her like this about any guy. She never pays any attention to guys.”
Turning around, I pulled Luc inside the room behind me. Slamming the door shut I crossed my arms around my chest.
“I asked her if she loved me, and she told me she’s incapable of love.” Luc started pacing.
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “A blind man can see she loves you. If you give up on her now, then you’re an idiot.”
Luc stopped and rubbed his hand through his hair. “She has my heart in her hand. I’ll never give her up.”
Chaniya isn’t going to acknowledge that she loves him. She is more stubborn that a mule. I’ve never met a more stubborn person in my life. We are going into a battle that might cost us our lives, and she was hiding her emotions from Luc.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Chaniya has always hidden her feelings.
“You need to clear your head. We can’t afford for either of you to be distracted. I’ll go get her and you stay here. She’ll probably need a few minutes before she sees you.”
Luc nodded.
Walking to the door, I breathed deep. Everything seemed to be a mess. Why didn’t Chaniya see Luc loved her beyond reason? They loved each other. I don’t think anything or anyone could come between them.
There were a bunch of students in the hallway. Shaking my head, I focused and picked up my step towards Chaniya’s room. When I reached her door, shaking my thoughts away, I plastered a smile on my face. Chaniya was always confident and I needed a little bit of her
confidence now.
I pounded on her door. “Chaniya open up.”
Students moved around me chatting to their friends.
A red-haired guy sauntered toward her. “If you’re looking for your sister, she left the cafeteria early. She wasn’t feeling well,” he said.
Frowning, I looked at the man. He had silky looking red hair and his fair skin was littered with freckles. His body was tall and lanky. He was handsome and seemed nice.
Chaniya had made a friend. I hope he didn’t have any desires to be more than that, since Chaniya had eyes for only one man. “What’s your name?”
His full lips curved in a secretive smile. “My name is Nick Emerson.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” I turned toward my sister’s door intent on double-checking on her. I needed to see if there is anything I can do.
He tapped me on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t bother her if I were you. She isn’t nice when she is tired.”
Heaving a sigh, I dropped my hand. Chaniya was always the prickly one, and when she was feeling poorly, she was worse. “You’re right.”
She must have been very upset to go to the cafeteria. Is it so hard to tell a guy you’re in love with him? Heading down the hall, I made my way to my room. When I reached my door, Luc opened it before I reached the door handle.
Luc stepped out and looked around. “Where is she?”
“She’s not feeling well. It’ll just be us today, and when we get back, I will check on her.”
Luc glanced passed me toward the hallway that would lead to Chaniya’s room.
He looked at his watch. “Let’s get this done, so I can get back to her. I don’t like leaving her when she is sick.”
5
Chaniya
My head throbbed like an axe was buried in my medulla. Bright lights flickered above me. Blood ran down the side of my face, and I tried to wipe it, but I couldn’t. Silver handcuffs held my hands bound above my head. Where am I?
I’m still in the academy, I think. This looks like the basement. It was dark despite the flickering light. It was cold down here, and this place seemed hidden. Jerking my hands against the handcuffs I grimaced as pain shot up my arm.
A door opened at the back of the room. It was almost impossible to see, but now it opened and a stream of light flooded into the room until the door shut behind him. Squinting, I watched the guy stalk toward me. He looked too tall to be the same guy who attacked me in the bathroom. Who would want to hurt me?
He stepped closer until he was standing so close to me that his breath flowed over my lips, as he leaned closer.
I jerked against the bonds. “Who are you?”
He stood over six feet tall. His hair was red and he had green eyes. I’ve never seen him before, so why did he kidnap me? This didn’t make sense. Why would a guy kidnap a girl he has never met?
“Let me go.”
He slapped me across the face. “You witches are not welcome here. You witches brought more trouble on our heads. You don’t belong here,” he said.
“We don’t want to be here. I was about to leave.”
The door behind the guy opened and another man walked into the room. I stiffened when he came to stand next to the man frowning in front of me. My breath caught as anger swept through my body like leaves in a windstorm.
Brad Johnson. He stood next to the guy smirking up at me. His lips curved into a snarl. “You aren’t so big and bad now, are you?”
He balled up his fist and swung. Pain shot through my cheek as something cracked and pain exploded from my cheek to my eyeball. My head dropped from the force. I grunted when fingers raked my scalp, gripped my hair and yanked my head back.
“Nick, once you’re done using her, finish her off slowly,” said Brad. He walked out the door. The click of a lock sounded a moment later.
My eyes darted to the man standing in front of me. Nick was his name. I will kill him if it’s the last thing I do. Pain shot through my head, as I felt my blood slide down my cheek. Everything became fuzzy and I felt my heartbeat pound in my temples. I fought to remain conscious but I felt my limbs go weak.
I opened my mouth to chant, but something metallic tasting was thrust in my mouth like a dry, crusty, used sock. Bile rose in my throat as darkness closed in. Everything faded, and I couldn’t see anything.
The button on my shirt was ripped. Clink. The button crashed to the floor as cold hands roamed over my brassier. Valcrum don’t for sake me.
Opening my eyes, I immediately felt the ache in my pelvis. My stomach clenched. The cool chill made my teeth chatter. My hands were still bound above my head. I wasn’t in the basement anymore nor was I indoors for that matter. I was strung up like a dead cow, my body swaying with the cool breeze. They had left me here with my clothes torn from my body. Their sweat and juices left on me. My body stills smelled of them.
I knew this feeling. This excruciating ache racking my body like nails in my soul. The throbbing in my lower belly made me salivate and almost retch my stomach lining. Why didn’t they kill me? Tears welled in my eyes and my lips quivered. I never felt clean. My worst nightmare had come raining down on me like a tsunami; again.
My heart fluttered in my chest, and I hoped the stupid organ would cease to beat. They had taken the last piece of me, the piece that I had scraped and sewn together in order to exist, was now desecrated. Closing my eyes, the damn inside me broke. Tears ran down my face and gathered at the folds of my chin to land over my nipples. They had left me here naked and soiled.
Valcrum had forsaken me and left me here for their intentions.
I jerked against the bonds. My head was heavy like a fifty-pound bowling bowl. My thoughts were fuzzy like I had guzzled a bottle of alcohol, and my tongue was swollen and numb. Digging my nails in my palm, I tried to focus my thoughts, which flowed through my mind like broken foreign language sentences.
Every time I tried to chant a part of a spell; I couldn’t get the rest of it out. Banging my head on the back of the pole I was attached to made me focus a bit as renewed pain shot through my head.
Footsteps headed this way. Rocks and broken tree branches crunched in the near distance. A tremor ran up my spine as I jerked on the bond on my hands. My legs were not bound but I was naked and vulnerable. This kind of situation was the reason I got into black magic.
I promised that I would never be vulnerable again. Look at me now. I’m bound and naked out here in an isolated place inside the Enchanted Gardens, where anyone and everyone could see me.
It could be worse. Luc could see. I’ve got to get down before he comes back. No one needs to find out. I will make them pay. They will all die and I will bathe in their blood.
My ears pricked as I heard Nora’s voice calling to me. Cold fingers gripped my throat as a vision of Nora appeared before me. She reached out to me, through our link. Black magic connected to your soul, taking years and years of your life and connecting you to other people crossing into the dark side of magic. Funny how that little detail never bothered me until Nora’s mind reached out to mine again.
My breath hitched as the vision materialized again, and I saw my house. Nora was walking through my bedroom. All the air in my lung left and a sense of suffocation overtook me. I struggled to breath as Nora stalked down the short hallway and down the stairs.
Biting my lip, I tried to think of what time it was. Please be empty. Please be empty. When Nora reached the living room, her body stilled, and then moved fast. Her movements were like a calculated rattlesnake as she walked over to the couch.
Dad was there. He was slumped over with something gold in his hand. Nora bent over him and slid it out of his hand. It was a gold-framed family portrait with he and I. This was the only family portrait we had that was just he and I. He took me to get the portrait after the first time he took me for the sexually transmitted diseases and I told him it didn’t matter. I would take care of myself before any disease could.
Nora raised her samurai sword, and with one f
inal swing cleaved dad’s head from his shoulder. His blood squirted on her face. He never even saw it coming. There was an empty tequila bottle lying beside him. The strength in my knees gave out. Tears flowed down my face and I sank against the pole.
“Chaniya. What happen to you?” asked Cosima. She rushed over to me then stopped and turned around…
Snot gathered in my nose and ran down my face. “Nora killed him. She killed dad.”
My eyes closed. I doubled over on myself trying to curl into a ball. The pain in my wrist and arms nagged me.
“What? Did you go home,” asked Cosima? She had her hands up trying to block them. “You guys can’t come this way,” said Cosima.
I lifted my head. Everyone was here. All of them were here but I couldn’t get past him. Luc’s face lost its color. Something inside me broke, and a scream tore through me.
Darkness surrounded me. Everything went dark.
6
Zarin
I caught Luc as he collapsed to the ground. The image of Chaniya bound and bloody made my stomach drop. Somethings are worse than death, and this is one of them. Cosima hugged her sister in her arms as she rushed to the door then stopped.
She turned. “I don’t want anyone to see her like this. No one must know what happened.”
I frowned. “The guys responsible for this know and there’s nothing to keep them from talking about it.”
Cade stepped around Cosima and ran inside. A few minutes later, he came out with a thick wool blanket that he draped over Chaniya.
He looked at Luc then back to Cosima. “The hallways are clear. Let’s go.”
Cade opened the door and held it. Cosima ran inside and down the hall. I followed closely on her heels. This is one threat I never would have imagined and I hate it when I’m not prepared. Glancing behind me I saw Cade.
Unwanted Witch Page 3
