by Avery Cross
I felt that sensation take form, and with another breath, I pushed it away from my body, surrounding me. I subtly nodded my head, letting Zach know I had it.
“Let’s see how it holds up today,” he mused.
I opened my eyes just in time to catch him reaching for me. My instinct was to let him through, but I wanted to prove I could do this. So I pictured him instead as the tattooed man who’d been stalking us.
Yeah, bad idea.
The second Zach made contact with the shield, he was thrown backward out of the circle, landing hard on his back with a gasp.
“Shit.” I rushed toward him as he was sitting up, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.
“Zach? You okay?”
He shook out his head.
“Hey, can you hear me?”
I expected him to be pissed, but he burst out laughing, and I sighed in relief.
“Remind me never to piss you off. What the hell were you thinking about?”
“That tattooed asshole guy,” I said.
“That explains it. Right then, let’s keep testing this center of yours. Again.”
“Again? What if I hurt you?”
He shrugged, guiding me back to the center. “I’ll take some precautions this time. It’ll be fine. Now do it again.”
We repeated the same exercise three more times and each time, even with Zach using a shield of his own, I tossed his ass out of the circle of stones until he finally said uncle and told we were moving on to something else for a while. At least it was just his rear that was going to be bruised; he seemed quite excited to see how much progress I made, despite taking so many hits.
“Aside from shields, you can affect objects around you.” He motioned for me to mirror his stance.
We faced away from any students and stared at the stone wall of the cave.
“Instead of keeping the shield around you, send it outward and push something away, like that rock over there.”
I focused as hard as I could, but after ten minutes the only thing I accomplished was getting drenched in sweat, and starting three fires around my feet from my aggravation. “I can’t do it.”
“You’ll get there. It’s harder to affect the world around you. More pushback.”
I bent over double to catch my breath. “Or I just suck at this.”
“Trust me, you do not. We’re going to call it a day. I have some research I need to catch up on, and this evening, you and I have an appointment.”
I straightened with an arched brow. “Do we now? For what, more lectures?”
His grin said he was up to something. “Sure, we can call it lectures. Go take a shower, Shroud, you stink.” He winked and strolled away.
If I only I could give him a shove from this far away.
Though I wanted to, I didn’t try anything again, instead gathering up my tote and heading back to the dorms to get cleaned up for whatever he was planning for tonight.
Around seven, I got a text from Zach saying to meet him outside at the training grounds. I groaned, and Nyala shot me a look. Even my paper crane—I’d finally named him Herbert—fluttered onto my shoulder to see what was up.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing, I was just thinking of something fun for tonight, and it seems Zach has more training on his mind,” I grumbled.
She giggled, and I threw a pillow at her.
“What? It’s nice to see you so happy.”
“Yeah, I guess it is… wait, what do you mean?” I started to panic until she chucked my pillow back at my head, Herbert fluttering out of the way just in time.
“You and Zach together, it’s sweet, pretty romantic actually. I’m jealous.”
“We’re not, I mean, he’s just my mentor, you know.”
She gave me a deadpan stare, which pretty much told me I was a terrible liar.
“You two can keep it quiet all you want, but I know what I’m seeing and it’s great. Stops you from being so grumpy all the time.”
“I wasn’t grumpy,” I mumbled.
She laughed sharply.
“You won’t say anything, right?”
“Mum’s the word,” she promised. “Now go have fun on your date.”
I couldn’t stop myself from grinning, though I was starting to doubt it was a date. Why would we have one out on the lawns where for one, everyone could see us, and two, everyone could see us.
We agreed to keep it quiet just so neither one of us would get crap for being in a relationship between a mentor and first-year student. I checked myself in the mirror one more time, I was in my tight blue jeans and a nice black sweaters I borrowed from Nyala, before Herbert flew from my shoulder to Nyala’s.
I ducked out the door, her catcalling behind me.
Once outside, I stared up at the cave ceiling, the lighting dim for evening, but it just wasn’t the same. I’d wanted to enjoy being outside when we were in Silent Heights, but that inked asshole ruined it.
“Please tell me we’re not training,” I said when I reached the stone circle.
Zach stood beside it in all black, those blue eyes brighter than ever.
“Yes and no. Come on.” He stepped inside the stones.
I followed.
“Close your eyes.”
“Shouldn’t I meditate first?” I asked with a smirk
He waited, wordless.
“Fine, fine.”
I shut my eyes and heard him walking around in the grass. He whispered a few words I recognized from my spellcasting classes.
I frowned. Why was he using an illusion spell? I waited impatiently, picking at my nails until I felt a rush of power wash over me.
“Alright, open your eyes.”
I did, not sure what to expect, and broke into a huge smile. All around me within the stone circle was an inky night sky dotted with stars… and above me off center just a bit was a bright, full moon staring down at me. I spun slowly around and shook my head, amazed at the night sky created just for me.
“You did this?” I asked, my voice thick with an emotion I was so used to hiding.
“Seemed like it might help you get past whatever mental walls keep holding you back. What do you think? Should I leave you alone, so you can chat with an old friend?” He shoved his hands in his pockets as he smiled.
No one had ever done anything nice for me before, not like this. I didn’t even realize a tear slipped from my eye until Zach reached out and gently swiped it away.
“I know you’ve been through some shit,” he whispered, “but I want you to know you’ve got me. I’m here for you, Shroud, whatever you need. You just have to trust me.”
“I do,” I said without hesitating. “I really do.”
I belonged here at Academy, and for the first time since getting here, I truly believed it. He was leaning in to kiss me when someone scoffed loudly nearby, and the illusion suddenly shattered, cracking like glass, and falling around us.
Carter stepped into the stone circle. I glared at him and the group of friends standing behind him, a few of the girls from our fire training and the guys I’d seen him hang around with.
“Well, isn’t this sweet,” he snapped. “Looks like a date to me.”
“Back off,” I muttered.
Zach straightened and stepped in front of me.
“Why should I? You know, I think I should just report this inappropriate behavior.”
Zach smiled, crossing his arms. “There’s nothing against a mentor dating his first-year student. Look it up.”
“I’m still going to tell Hooke. You two are out in the middle of the lawns, flaunting your relationship for everyone to see. Not only is that PDA to the extreme, but I thought I remember you telling me she had no time for relationships. Just saying that to what, get me out of the way.” Carter stepped closer.
A weird, tingling sensation hit my gut. I winced.
Zach did too, at the exact same time I did, and his eyes narrowed.
“You need to leave this st
one circle, right now,” he ordered. “You don’t belong here.”
“I will always belong at Academy.”
“Inside the circle, you dumbass,” Zach corrected hotly, and walked forward to force Carter out.
Carter sidestepped him to stand next to me.
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “Carter, don’t mess around in here.”
“What, you think because you can summon spirit that makes the both of you better than the rest of us? It’s just another element like any other. What’s the worst that can happen?”
The nice version of Carter I met that first week was gone. I didn’t know what happened to him, but he was definitely acting strange.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Why? Why the hell not?” he shot back.
I spotted something in his eyes, a shadow and then it was gone. His skin was almost greyish, too and when he walked, he was staggering as if he couldn’t keep himself upright.
“Carter, seriously, what is wrong with you?”
He glowered at me, and I flinched at the hate in his eyes. I was new to this world still, but this was not Carter. I don’t know what he was, or who, but this wasn’t him. I shot Zach a panicked look as Carter moved in closer, trying to make Zach see, but then Carter was grabbing my shoulders, and I reacted on instinct.
I only wanted to throw him away from me and out of the circle, but when his hands moved from my shoulders to my throat, one of the walls holding my abilities back cracked, and I gasped as I felt myself thrown out of my body.
And straight into his mind.
I heard Zach yelling, but it sounded so far away.
I tried to see, but all around me was just swirling darkness… until I spotted one dim light amongst everything else.
“Carter?” I tried to say, but my voice came out watery.
Then the light moved, and I saw Carter’s face, the fear in his eyes. Suddenly, I was yanked out of his mind, and found myself on the ground, gasping for air.
Zach hovered over me, cupping my face in his hands as he studied me closely, that tic in his jaw working overtime.
“Shroud? Nod if you can hear me.”
I nodded, wincing when it felt like my brain was rattling around in my head.
“Don’t try to talk, alright? We’re getting you both to the infirmary.”
Carter was on the ground a few feet away, eyes wide open, and his hands twitching.
My pulse quickened, and I scrambled to get to him, but Zach held me back.
“What did I do?” I yelled, but my words cracked painfully in my throat.
Zach shot a look toward Carter before he whispered, “You astral projected into his mind.”
I heard murmurings and gasps around us and managed to make out a ton of students gathered around the stone circle to see what was going on, but no one else dared stepped inside, it seemed. No one wanted to be around me. What had I done? I reached up, digging my nails into Zach’s arm.
“That’s… not Carter,” I managed to get out.
“What do you mean?”
“Move aside. What’s happening here?” Ivan yelled, and the crowd of students parted as he, Hooke, and Maggie, the Academy nurse on duty, all stepped forward. “Zachary?”
Reluctantly, Zach straightened and started talking to Ivan.
Maggie crouched between Carter and me, placing her warm hands on our foreheads.
I was trying to explain, but she gently shushed me and the next thing I knew, everything was dark, and I was asleep.
At least, I thought I was asleep.
Chapter Fifteen
Zach
I paced outside the infirmary doors, Briar’s words running through my head repeatedly.
That wasn’t Carter.
What had she meant? The second Carter stepped into the circle, I sensed the air change, but assumed it was he was bringing his dirtied aura into what had been a fairly clean and balanced space.
And then he’d gone after Briar, and she astral projected herself into his mind.
I’d only ever read about witches or warlocks being able to do that, but the ability was rare, as in maybe one every few generations rare.
The fact that she hadn’t even normally astral projected worried me. She was powerful to begin with, I sensed it every time we worked together, but this ability went far beyond what I would be able to teach her.
A group of students walked by, huddling and whispering with their heads together.
I glared at them until they hurried on their way. About twenty students witnessed the incident outside, and it had already spread clear across campus. Too bad none of them were reporting the truth.
I followed Maggie inside, and then was kicked out of the infirmary, so I’d been walking up and down this same hall. The group of friends who had been with Carter were telling anyone who would listen that Briar went crazy and purposely attacked him.
I was ready to strangle them all; I yelled at them to get a move on.
A fight almost broke out until Hunter rushed over and pulled me away. He’d left a few minutes ago to grab us some coffees.
And no one had come out to tell me if Briar was going to be okay or not. I should’ve cared about Carter, too, but that asshole started this, and according to Briar, it wasn’t even him, not that I was certain what that meant.
“Here.” Hunter held out a paper cup.
“I don’t understand what happened,” I muttered, then took a gulp of coffee, cursing when I burned my mouth.
“You said he went after her.”
“He did, and then I felt her leave her body, and then he was screaming bloody murder, holding his head as he fell to the ground,” I muttered, remembering the scene vividly. “Then she was back in her own body, but… she said it wasn’t Carter.”
Hunter paused with his coffee halfway to his mouth. “How could it not be him?”
I shrugged, but in reality, I had damned good feeling about what she meant. The question was, did I want to believe it? After what we’d been finding in the archives, the notion that a student here was not himself, or maybe not even human anymore, was too coincidental. And why go after Carter? I expected Ivan or Dresden to come after me or Briar, but Carter? None of it made sense.
I glanced at Hunter, who was still waiting for me to answer. Should I tell him what we found out about the missing students? Drag him into this mess?
The door to the infirmary opened before I could decide, and Maggie poked her head out.
“Zach? She’s awake if you want to come see her.”
“And Carter?”
She subtly shook her head. “Keeping him sedated for a few more hours to let his mind calm down. Not sure what happened while she was in there, but he’s not really himself right now.”
Hunter waved for me to go and took my cup from me. I hurried after Maggie.
Briar was sitting up on a bed, picking frantically at her nails as she stared straight ahead. She turned when I said her name and a look of relief came over her.
“How are you feeling?” I wanted to hug her, but Maggie hovered close by.
“Fine, I guess. Confused about what I did.”
“You astral projected.”
“I got that much, but how and why inside his mind? I didn’t mean to… but Zach,” she whispered, “it still feels wrong.”
I was going to ask her what she meant, but a weird shiver raced down my spine, and I glanced across the infirmary at Carter. He was unconscious, but somehow it felt like he was watching me. And his aura was turning darker—closer and closer to black.
“Someone’s messing with him,” I whispered on a breath, hoping Maggie didn’t hear.
“Can you tell what it is?”
I shook my head, and then suddenly Maggie was right beside us.
“We’ll have to work on controlling your spirit summoning,” I said, wanting just five minutes alone so we could really talk, but then the infirmary door opened, and Hooke and Ivan strolled in. “Headmaster, Ivan.” I
forced a polite smile.
“Zach, how’s our patient doing?” Hooke returned the smile, but I felt his worry.
Ivan had that blank, stoic look like always, giving nothing away.
“I’ll be fine, I think,” Briar told him. “I’m just sorry about Carter.”
“My dear, when learning how to control new abilities, there are always risks, but what I would like to know now is exactly what happened. I have heard several stories, and I have a feeling that is all they are. The truth now, Zach and Briar. What happened tonight?”
Briar looked at me, and I nodded. I would take the brunt of whatever Hooke said about our current situation. She cleared her throat and went right back to picking at her nails.
“Zach and I were taking a bit of extra time tonight to work on my astral projecting,” she said.
Hooke’s brow rose as he looked to me, then glanced back at her when she started talking again.
“We were just minding our own business, and Carter came over, started yelling at Zach for no reason… and then he just came after me and then I was somehow inside his head. I don’t know how I did it.”
I waited for him to call us out for being in a relationship, but to my surprise he said nothing.
“What happened when you were inside his mind, do you remember?” he asked her instead.
Her brow furrowed, but she shook her head. “I don’t know. It was dark… except for a single light… it was strange, but I’ve never been inside someone’s head before.”
Hooke’s face darkened immediately, and he shot a look at Carter. “Ivan, would you do me a favor and call Carter’s parents, let them know of the situation with their son.”
“Do you want them to come here?”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary, but I would like to keep them apprised of the situation.”
Ivan left the infirmary, and I watched with curiosity as Hooke glanced from Briar then back to Carter, his eyes calculating. What did he know? Had we been wrong about not telling him about everything we found out? He seemed to be making up his mind about something, and finally clapped his hands together.
