With a wink, he got back on the bike and placed his helmet on. "Put your helmet on, Silver."
I did as he said, putting the headgear on and picking Star up from my shoulder to cradle her to my chest.
With one last glance at Callister's infuriated face, the bike surged back to life, the sound of the engine thrumming around us, loud enough to mute whatever Callister was attempting to say.
Yuriel looked to see if there was oncoming traffic before pulling out of the spot and racing down the street, leaving a trail of smoke behind.
I sighed in relief, my body still shaken from the confrontation. Star nudged my cheek, giving it a few licks before she disappeared in a white poof of smoke this time.
Thanks, Star, for the support.
Yuriel was focused on the road, giving me a chance to calm myself down.
My magic was thrumming inside me with regrettable anger, wishing to have defended me instead of being forced to cower within.
It was funny. All the times I'd imagined standing up to Callister. It wasn't like I couldn't from afar. It was when he got into my personal space that I always fucked up.
I’d go from confident to vulnerable.
Tightening my hold around Yuriel's waist, I rested my head against his back, hoping he didn't mind.
Less than fifteen minutes and we were in the staff parking lot of the S.S.S.
Yuriel parked in an empty spot and turned off the engine. I looked around the quiet area, noticing a few stares from the students rushing by to get to wherever they were going.
I got off first, taking the helmet off. Yuriel took the helmet from my hands to put it back into its compartment.
"Thanks," I whispered, reaching to pull out my wallet.
After removing the keychain, I tossed it in the air and snapped my fingers, the chest suitcase returning back to its normal size and dropping to the ground next to me.
Pulling up the handle, I turned to look at Yuriel as he tugged his hair free from its ponytail, allowing those silver stands to fall gracefully down.
I almost lost my train of thought at the beautiful display of handsomeness.
"Who was that?" Yuriel questioned.
"Hello to you, too," I replied with a smile. He looked displeased with my response but sighed. "Hi, Silver."
"Thanks for that," I whispered, sliding my hands into my jean pockets.
He stared at my jeans for a moment before looking back up again. Arching an eyebrow, he waited for me to answer his previous question.
"Ex-boyfriend," I replied.
"An incubus," Yuriel pointed out.
Is there some type of spell or skill where they can tell what other shifters are?
"Yup. Half-breed actually. Or seventy-five percent, as he likes to say, but yeah. That was my seventy-five percent incubus shitty ex-boyfriend who is also attending S.S.S. school. How fun," I said the last part sarcastically.
Yuriel was quiet for a moment. He moved to stand in front of me, his navy blue eyes taking me in from head to toe.
He reached out and pulled my hand out of my pocket, staring at it for a few moments.
"What?" I nervously asked.
He didn't reply right away, but he let go of my hand. "Nothing," he muttered. "Just wanted to make sure he didn't hurt you."
I blushed, wondering if he really meant that. His eyes locked on mine, and there was nothing but seriousness there, telling me he did actually care.
"If he tries coming around you while we're at school, tell me." He moved away, walking to grab a black leather jacket from another compartment.
"Okay," I replied quietly.
I tried to distract myself, not wanting to be caught crushing over him and his sexy appearance: black leather pants, white top, and now black leather jacket.
I did wish I had a bit more time to analyze those slim but built arms of his, still intrigued by the magic incantations on them.
"Wait a minute. You kissed me." I just remembered the tender but quick kiss.
Damn, I wish that was longer.
"Guess I did," he replied, pressing a button that made his bike beep.
"You can't park here," I pointed out.
"Why not?" he calmly asked.
"It's for staff," I argued. Yuriel looked at the sign I pointed at and shrugged. "They haven't shown us where our dorms are. I'll park here."
"You really don't care, do you?"
"Nope," he replied.
"I wish I could be as calm and collected as you," I muttered to myself.
"I'll take that as a compliment. Let's go," he suggested. "Don't want the stalker to be left alone for too long."
"I'm sure he'd find us somehow," I commented.
"Blossom!"
We both looked to our right, seeing Dimitri casually walking toward us.
He didn't have any bags with him, leaving me to wonder if he'd even packed anything when he went back to tell his family.
He reached where we stood and grinned. "Yuriel's here, too. Great. Welcome back, you two."
"Should I even ask how you found us?" I questioned.
With a knowledgeable look, he shrugged. "The moment I caught your scen—"
"Definitely a stalker," Yuriel commented in a monotone voice.
"I'm not!" Dimitri whined. "I smelled something nice, so it had to be Blossom."
"Sure," Yuriel replied, beginning to walk ahead. "You're slowing us down."
"You weren't even moving when I got here," Dimitri argued.
He huffed and looked back at me, a pout forming on his lips. "Hey, Silver, you okay?"
"Huh?" I asked. "Um, yeah. Why do you ask?" I questioned.
"Hmm." He crossed his arms, taking my whole body in.
"If this is your way of checking her out, you're pretty obvious." Yuriel was back, standing behind me.
I glanced over to him, noticing his bored expression as he stared at Dimitri.
Dimitri, on the other hand, was quiet. "Did something scare you?"
The two of us stared at him in bewilderment, the perfect expression to hide the trickling fear I still felt from my encounter with Callister.
How did he know?
"Huh?" That was all I could say.
"I smell fear coming off you. That's why I'm asking," Dimitri announced. His eyes darkened a little, and for a second I saw a protectiveness in them.
It was gone so fast, I wondered if I'd imagined it.
"You can't smell an emotion," Yuriel pointed out.
"Yes, you can. They don't write them in horror books for nothing," Dimitri argued.
I have to think of an excuse.
"I was just a bit scared that my best friend would be mad," I replied. "I still haven't texted her to say I got in. She's probably somewhere on campus or doing her quest still, but whenever I do something major in my life, she gives me a big hug and tells me I can do anything. Uh...it's stupid, but it helps with my nerves." I lowered my gaze, remembering all the times Nikko would encourage me. "This is a huge accomplishment and I just don't want anything fucking it up."
Lifting my head back up, I saw him nod in understanding. "That would make sense." He moved and wrapped me into a hug. "I'll give you a nice hug then."
A smile formed on my lips and I hugged him back, feeling my tense shoulders begin to relax in his warm, comforting hold. He let go of me and grinned.
"You'll be just fine, Blossom. I'm sure of it."
"Thanks, Dimitri." I giggled, loving his enthusiasm. Glancing over to Yuriel, he blinked a few times.
"I have to give you a hug, too?"
Dimitri sighed. "Duh. Be a good boyfriend and hug Silver. She smells awesome, with extra cherry blossoms."
Yuriel looked annoyed, but he took two steps forward and opened his arms. "You can have a hug. I don't do them often, so be happy."
"He means he'd love to give you a hug, Blossom,” Dimitri translated. Yuriel gave him a side-eye but I ended up laughing, moving to give Yuriel a tight hug.
"Thanks, Yuriel," I
whispered, grateful to him for saving me from Callister earlier.
He wrapped his arms around me, whispering in my ear. "You’re welcome, Silver."
We pulled back and smiled before I moved out of his hold. Dimitri reached for the handle of my suitcase.
"Let's head to our dorm," Dimitri cheered beginning to walk forward.
"You don't even know if we’re in the same one," Yuriel replied, walking after him.
"I can sme—"
"Don't say you can smell that, too, you lying hellhound," Yuriel countered.
"You lie all the time!" Dimitri argued.
"But I'm cool when I do it," Yuriel replied.
"You know what? I'm not arguing with you. I'm sure my sin count would double if I get you mad," Dimitri replied. "And you still smell like death. Doesn't water work on you? Irish Spring? Bleach?"
"Bleach doesn't make you smell good," Yuriel acknowledged.
I watched the two as they walked farther away. They both stopped and look back to me.
"Blossom? Let's go," Dimitri encouraged.
"Silver, you’re walking too slow," Yuriel commented.
I grinned, taking a deep inhale through my nose and letting the air out my mouth.
I'll be okay.
"Sorry. Coming!" I darted forward, racing to stand between them.
We exchanged looks and began our walk, heading to the office to get our schedules.
Everything will be okay.
14
Prepare To Party
"We got the same dorm?!" I practically squealed, feeling beyond relieved that I wouldn’t be living with complete strangers for the next year.
We received our timetables from the main desk and were instructed to head to our dorms first before touring the school.
Even though it was a shifter school and they had strict rules, they couldn't prevent students from being jumped or cornered for their valuables.
Dropping off our stuff at the dorm would ensure this didn't happen when we hadn't even started classes.
One way of trying to prevent such events was teleporting us to our dorm area. We each had to go separately in different pods, and we'd arrive at our dorm location with our student cards.
It was fast, efficient, and lowered the risks. There was security around, but you still had to be able to protect yourself until their arrival.
When we arrived, I noticed Dimitri and Yuriel only a few inches away from me, the three of us in front of a two-story house.
It was one of the classier kinds, the type that I didn't see unless I went up to my sister's cafe. That was where the higher-class shifters lived, with fancier homes and the latest technology.
Our building had a pure white exterior, accented with golden and turquoise windows. The front gate was gold, and it looked like one of those high-tech ones where you had to input your handprint and get your eyeball scanned before you were granted entry.
The color scheme matched our student cards, though the guys’ cards had more gold while mine and the rest of the female population had more turquoise.
They all had S.S.S. Candidate on it, another word for our student rank.
This would give us access to the food trucks, restaurants, and four cafeterias across campus. There was also a shopping center on the property, just five minutes from the main campus, as well as a road filled with luxury boutiques south of our dorm.
Nightlife, clubs, parties, restaurants, and concerts all happened to the north of us.
If you weren't careful, you could get distracted super easily with all the entertainment and shopping you could pull off.
Could also go bankrupt.
There were still common areas like libraries, study halls, training centers, and, of course, the gym.
There was even a familiar daycare to leave your familiars or pets when your missions were longer than twenty-four hours or for huge creatures that couldn't independently stay at home without their master.
We all were given five thousand dollars on our student cards.
Yes. Five thousand dollars to spend on whatever we desired.
I was going to save mine, unsure if this was a part of a setup for some mission later on, but I already overheard people talking about going out tonight to shop, party, and go to the welcome concert that was happening tonight, tomorrow, and Thursday.
Classes would start on Monday, giving us from today to Sunday to prepare. I'd yet to figure out a plan or what I wanted to do, but I definitely was going to participate in a bunch of activities before things got serious.
That started with exploring the dorm.
"Dorm 999," Dimitri voiced, staring at his card. "Why do we always seem to get that number?"
"Who knows." Yuriel shrugged. "Are we going in? I'm hungry."
"I feel there has to be some special way to enter," I noted. "Also, do we have to wait for the other two roommates?"
"Hmm. The security didn't say we had to wait," Dimitri noted, sniffing the air. "Super clean area. The next dorms are about a three-minute walking distance between one another. That's nice for privacy."
"Did you just calculate that from sniffing the air?" I asked in astonishment, baffled that his nose could possibly gather so much information.
"It's not that hard," Dimitri said, his eyes still scanning the paper in his hand. I looked at Yuriel and he just shrugged. "Let's check the keypad next to the gate."
We nodded and headed toward it. There were no instructions on how to work it. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to think about how we'd get in.
"There's supposed to be an on button," I concluded after a solid minute. "Clearly, they placed it elsewhere."
"Hidden, huh," Dimitri replied.
"Can you possibly sniff that out, too?" Yuriel asked.
"Nah. Too much metal around this part and they dulled out the scents here with magic."
We both turned to look at him. "Were you a spy in your past life or something?" I questioned.
He chuckled. "This is a spy school. Gotta think like one when presented with challenges."
"Right,” Yuriel and I said together.
"Blossom!"
We glanced behind us to see Wolfgang and Ryuu, the two of them heading toward us.
I smiled brightly at the two of them, glancing back at the others, who seemed pleased that we were reunited once more.
"Does that mean we're officially together as a team?" I asked.
"Guess so," Wolfgang replied, stopping right in front of us. "So glad we get to be a solid team. Makes it easier to date Silver."
The others nodded in agreement and I sighed. "Men and their priorities."
The two of them took in the view of the dorm before returning their attention to us.
"You guys got here fast. There was some commotion going on in the hall, so we were delayed a bit," Ryuu admitted.
"Commotion?" I questioned.
Wolfgang nodded. "Yeah. Something about a house blowing up."
Yuriel, Dimitri, and I exchanged looks. "We gotta find that gate access button."
"It's not next to the keypad?" Wolfgang asked.
"Or do we have to put a code in?" Ryuu suggested, moving past me to get a closer look.
"The pad is missing some numbers though. Not to mention there are more empty boxes. Doesn't look like something you key in,” Dimitri explained.
Ryuu continued to stare at it, while the rest of us looked around.
"Maybe we can just hop over?" Wolfgang suggested.
"Too easy," Yuriel replied.
"It's also wired to shock," Dimitri muttered as he began to stretch.
"How do you—" Wolfgang began.
"He smelled it,” Yuriel and I replied, glancing at Dimitri, who shrugged.
"You actually don't need to smell it to know that."
We watched him conjure up a small fireball that soared into the air. When it reached the top of the wall, electricity surged upward, adding another ten inches in height of pure surging madness.
&nb
sp; We gawked in both shock and amazement, watching the once flaming-ball turn into a little lump of coal, dropping to the ground and rolling back to Dimitri.
"That's called an elemental wall. It's a security mechanism that's put in place to ensure even witches can't come in or destroy the home from long distances. A meteorite could come toward our home and the wall will grow in height and zap it into coal. It'll be annoying to clean it all up, but its super protective,” Dimitri concluded.
"You're actually smart," Yuriel complimented.
Dimitri gave him a look while Wolfgang laughed. "Guess we all have our traits, huh? Good call, Dimitri."
"Hey, Silver? Come back for a sec." Ryuu gestured for me to come back to the keypad.
I nodded, walking back to stand next to him. The others walked back to crowd around us as Ryuu still focused on the keypad.
"What are you thinking, bro?" Wolfgang asked.
"I know how to do it, but I think Silver needs to be the one to put her hand on the scanner part," Ryuu replied.
"Why me?" I questioned.
"You were the leader during the mission," Yuriel reasoned. "They could have teleported the same people they had for their quest for dorms."
"That actually makes sense," Wolfgang replied. "When that group of people was arguing in the hall, they mentioned something like their quest leader ditched or something. Maybe your dorm mates don't get confirmed until the leader actually opens the gate? If the leader ditches or disapproves, it shows a lack of team play."
"Even after our quest, we're still getting tested," I muttered.
"S.S.S. is all about being on guard. We'll be tested randomly, and teamwork is a big thing to them," Yuriel reasoned.
"How do you know that?" Dimitri asked.
"I use my brain like you use your nose," Yuriel smirked.
"You're annoying," Dimitri mumbled.
Yuriel simply shrugged, looking pleased he could get under Dimitri's skin once in a while.
"All right. Got it. Silver, be ready to put your hand on the scanner. I don't know if you have to use magic but be on standby for that, too," Ryuu instructed.
"Okay," I replied, placing my hand on the scanner and building up my magic inside me.
Ryuu took a quick breath before his fingers went flying across the keypad.
SSS: Year One (Supernatural Spy School Book 1) Page 16
