Chapter Ten
I opened my eyes. How many times had I blacked out over the last few weeks? Too many times. Damn, did I need to see a doctor about that? I sat up and my head throbbed like someone had hit me with something hard and heavy. A groan escaped me as I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on my knees. The urge to throw up nearly overwhelmed me, but I took a few deep breaths until my stomach settled.
My bed dipped next to me, but I didn’t bother to look up. Something touched my knee, it shouldn’t have made me flinch, but for some reason everything hurt. Whoever it was moved their hand.
“What happened?”
“Carson tried to do a reading on you. It hit you harder than it should have done and knocked you out. Luckily Arturo grabbed you before you hit the ground.”
Why was he here? I turned my head to the side and peeked at him. Henry looked worried, his dark hair was pushed back, and it stuck up like he’d been running his fingers through it, Blue eyes were wide and the wolf side of me recognized it. He had been scared. Damn, he didn’t have the right to be scared for me after I’d caught him and Mags kissing.
But he didn’t know I saw that.
“I’m okay. You can go back to Mags.” I closed my eyes again. My head was going to explode. I just wanted to go back to sleep until it didn’t feel like my head had its own heartbeat.
For a second Henry didn’t say anything and I thought he was just going to leave, but he didn’t. “I heard that you met her.”
“She tried to kill me, Henry. Maybe you should have mentioned that you have a girlfriend before whatever happened between us, happened. Starting a new school with someone who has every right to hate me doesn’t make it any easier,” I groaned as I rubbed the bridge of my nose.
Another long, rather awkward silence. “Mags isn’t my girlfriend. We dated for a while, but it didn’t work out. She’s a pureblood and not a very nice one. It took me a while to figure it out, but I promise you, Rachel, me and Mags broke up before I met you.”
He sounded sincere and I want to believe him, but it didn’t excuse what I saw in his room. “I saw you kissing her.”
“Wait a minute. What do you mean you saw us kissing?”
“I left my room last night. Mags told me that you were together and then tried to rip my head off. I wanted to talk to you, but you weren’t answering your phone, so I talked to Michael and he told me how to get to your room.” I explained how I climbed out the window, found his room and peeked inside. “I saw you kissing Mags. Now please leave.” I turned away from him, laid back down and hoped he’d take the hint.
“She kissed me.” He paused. “You couldn’t have been watching for long because I pushed her off and told her to leave. Rachel, I really like you.”
I rolled onto my side and this time I looked at him, he smiled down at me and my stomach twisted in knots. He had a point, I hadn’t seen how it had ended, all I’d seen was one moment and drawn my own conclusions. “Carson isn’t human, shifter or witch, is he?” I wanted to stop talking about Mags. That girl had taken up way too much mental space.
Henry shook his head as he pushed some of my hair behind my ear. “Carson is a member of the Fey and our herbalist teacher. He can read minds through touch. Arturo wanted to get a read on you.”
“He could have asked me. Wolves can smell lies. You told me that.” I closed my eyes again as the room swam in front of me. “When will it stop hurting?”
“After you get some sleep. I really don’t know why. Do you remember when I asked Rose to change your memory?”
“You mean, when you wanted me out of London?” My life would have been much simpler if my suppressed memory hadn’t been triggered, but that was the past and I needed to start thinking of the future. Someone in the academy had searched my room. There were shifters here who hated me. I was supposed to be safe here, but I certainly wasn’t feeling that way. “Hard to forget.”
“Arturo wanted to make sure that nobody was trying to control you.”
It took a second before his words sunk in. “Wait a minute, they thought I trashed my room and I didn’t remember doing it?” There were people out there who could control people? Now that was terrifying.
“It was a possibility that they wanted to rule out. You’re in the clear. I’ve let your teachers know that you won’t be attending classes today. Ms. Danvers wants you to finish up on your reading so you’re not behind in the class. Also, Carson wanted you to know that he’s sorry. I’ve never seen him look so embarrassed about knocking out a student before.”
“He has a habit of doing that?”
Henry didn’t answer me instead he smiled. And I got the distinct impression that Carson had knocked out quite a few students in his time.
“I don’t have any classes with him, do I?”
“Nope, only those who are witches have classes with him. They don’t stay at the academy. Fey have a dubious reputation. Families only send witches to him because he is watched over by Arturo. There was a legend that Fey stole children and took them back to their realm, swapping them with changelings. I don’t know how true it is, but some myths and legends stick. Fey are still the best species to learn nature magic from. They are part element and while witches have an affinity for it, it’s not the same thing. Not really.” I looked up at him and he brushed my forehead, smiling down at me. “Are we okay?”
The truth was I didn’t know, but he was right. I didn’t stick around long enough to see him push her off. All I had was his word and I wasn’t a full wolf, I couldn’t smell a lie on him. Trust. I needed to trust him, and he had earned it. When we fought against Jonas, we worked together. There had been hiccups, but we got on the right path eventually. But I wasn’t trusting him to keep me alive still. I was giving him my heart. Somehow that was more precious.
“We will be.”
He frowned slightly, and I sat up, ignoring the fact my head felt like it wanted to explode.
“I mean, sure it might not sound like I believe that, but I do. I don’t trust Mags.”
“You can trust me.” He closed the distance between us and kissed me. My breath caught before he broke the brief contact. “I’ll tell Arturo that you woke up. He’ll want to talk to you, but don’t worry about it. I’ll let him know you need to rest. Get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He got to his feet and left, he smiled at me and then his face vanished behind a closed door. I let my breath out in a whoosh before I glanced around my room. Someone had tidied up the mess, placing things into boxes and pushed them against the walls. By the look at it nothing had been destroyed, but it looked like someone had at least been searching for something. What could it be? I didn’t have anything that set me apart. Books. Clothes and my camera. Maybe someone hadn’t been looking for something, maybe they just wanted to scare me. Making me feel like I wasn’t safe.
The joke was on them. I haven’t felt safe since I arrived.
Chapter Eleven
It shouldn’t have been possible, but somehow it felt like I had even more sets of eyes studying me. I guess the news of what happened to my room had spread. I’ve never liked being the centre of attention and I certainly didn’t like it now. Gilly glanced up from her conversation with Jack and Sophia and smiled at me. She rushed over. Her curly red hair stuck up in every direction and while it looked mad, it suited her, framing her face perfectly.
“I was going to come and see you yesterday, but Henry said you needed to rest. How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been hit with a train.” The dull thud which had plagued me yesterday was gone, but my body still ached.
“I heard that you endured a visit from Carson yesterday,” Sophia said as she joined us.
Today she wore her long blonde hair in a ponytail. Jack followed behind her. We all had the potential to be friends. At least I hoped that we did. The more time I spent in the school, the more I knew that I needed people on my side. I nodded as I rubbed my forehead.
“He’s h
ad a few runs in with students, but he’s mostly alright, for a fey.”
“He hasn’t kidnapped anyone yet,” Jack added with a wry smile. “Not that we would know if he had. Changelings are impossible to tell apart from their human counterparts.”
I glanced around the corridor. As soon as my gaze met the others, they glanced away. All except one. Mags glared at me. My heart took a one-way trip to the bottom of my feet. The last time I’d seen her she’d been kissing Henry. There was no telling if she knew I’d been there. If everything she’d done had been to unnerve me. To drive a wedge between me and her ex. That was why I found it hard to believe that she wasn’t involved in my room being searched. If it wasn’t Rose, it had to be Mags. Even if she had an alibi. I stopped in my tracks and looked at the boy who stood next to her. Caine. As far as I was aware, he didn’t.
As he smirked at me, they both turned around and walked down the corridor away from us.
“What is it?”
I shook my head. “Let’s talk outside.”
None of them questioned my decision to leave the building. They probably suspected I wanted to have a private conversation and trying to do that when shifter ears were everywhere and could listen in, was impossible. I pushed the door open and walked down the steps.
“We don’t have very long. Class is going to start any minute.”
“This won’t take very long,” I promised as I stopped at the bottom of the steps. “My brother said that Mags was in class yesterday when my room was searched. Did any of you see Caine yesterday, was he in class?”
The three of them shared a look. Gilly frowned. “I don’t remember seeing him. Did either of you?”
Jack shook his head, but Sophia didn’t say anything. I glanced at her and when she noticed that we were all looking at her, her cheeks went red and she followed suit, shaking her head.
“So, it could be him. Henry said that whoever it was could mask they scent. A witch. But maybe it was someone who used something from a witch? Is that possible? Are there spells that do that?”
“Carson would be the best person to talk to about that,” Gilly suggested. She must have caught the fact I didn’t want to be the one to see him. It felt like my already pale face was drained of blood. “Don’t worry. I can ask him. Carson is a sweetheart, just a little weird.”
“Thanks.”
“I can keep an eye on Caine. He doesn’t have many friends besides Mags, but there is a group of lads he sometimes hangs with. I’ll keep my ears open, just in case he lets something slip.”
Sophia reached out and squeezed his hand. “Be careful.”
He quickly kissed her and jogged back up the stairs. “I’ll see you guys at lunch time.”
When he was out of earshot I turned to Sophia. “What didn’t you say?”
Her eyes went wide. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She followed Jack up the stairs and vanished through the door.
“What was that about?”
Gilly stood next to me. “It’s complicated, but before Sophia started dating my brother, she was in a relationship with Caine. It didn’t end well. They don’t really talk anymore. Pure don’t like running in the same circles with us lowly Mades.” She smiled. “Besides you.”
“I don’t like being like everyone else.”
From the way she’d become defensive I doubted it was that simple. But I couldn’t focus on that now. I had no right to interrogate her. Caine was also my most likely suspect after Rose and Mags. If it wasn’t him I really was at a loose end. “Whatever you say.” I reached out and touched her arm. “Please be careful with Carson. One touch from him and it felt like he saw into my very soul and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.”
Gilly gestured at the door and we both went back into the academy. “I might be a made shifter, but I’ve been in this world a lot longer than you. I know how to handle fey. I’ll be fine.”
***
I ignored the looks I got in class and did my best to focus on A History of Lycan, I raised my hand, asked questions and tried to pretend that I was in a normal school. Lunchtime rolled around quickly. Jack was the only one missing. After a few minutes he eventually turned up, with a black eye. Gilly shot to her feet and Sophia gasped.
“What happened?” his sister asked as she guided him to a seat.
Jack waved her away and sat down, wincing.
I waited a moment, a little unsure about when I could ask something, especially since it was obvious he was in pain. “Was it Caine?” I nearly slapped myself. I couldn’t have asked how he was, or if he needed a nurse? Nope, I just went to the main question. If Gilly and Sophia thought I was being uncaring they didn’t say anything. Though I’m pretty sure Gilly glared at me.
Jack nodded as he rubbed his chin. “Apparently it’s very hard to eavesdrop on shifters.”
Gilly smacked his shoulder. “We’re all shifters, Jack. It’s always hard to eavesdrop on us.” She waved her hands around her head. “Supernatural hearing.”
Her brother rolled his eyes, but he didn’t say anything as Sophia got to her feet and knelt in front of him. She touched his eye, the flesh around it swollen. How hard had Caine hit him to bruise him? Shifters could heal most things, quite quickly and in a few hours, it wouldn’t look like Jack had been hit at all. She flinched and apologised.
“It wasn’t your fault. I should have been more careful.”
She smiled sadly at him.
“I shouldn’t have asked you to help me.” I closed my eyes and rested my head in my hands. “I shouldn’t have brought any of you into this.” It surprised me how quickly my mind changed. Only a few hours ago I wanted the help. That I needed friends to help me get through this, but that had been selfish of me. If I’d kept myself to myself, like I’d always done before, Jack wouldn’t be hurt.
Jack laughed, and I glanced up at him. Sophia was brushing his hair away from his forehead and studying him, searching for more injuries. A small cut just on his hairline healed up before my very eyes. “Caine has always hated me and don’t think that this is all on you asking for help or that I just laid there when he beat me up. I’m not weak and I gave as good as I got. We’ll never be friends.” He removed Sophia’s hand from his forehead and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “Not anymore.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Sophia asked, her words soft and unsure.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Did Caine say anything?”
Jack shook his head. “Not about your room, but I wouldn’t put it past him, but you can’t go to Arturo with a feeling. You need proof.”
***
The next few days went by quickly. We all sat together, and I got to know my friends a lot better. Sophia, who hadn’t been much for talking, managed to come out of her shell. We weren’t at the point where we could talk about her past relationship with Caine, but I couldn’t help but think that she was the best one to figure out if Caine had ransacked my room.
Especially if he was still in love with her.
The shy and uncertain Sophia, the best one to talk to a boy who had beaten up her current boyfriend. It would be like letting the big bad wolf eat the little lamb, which was ridiculous, Sophia was a shifter like the rest of us so what was it about her that made it hard to think of her as a predator?
I spent my nights with Henry, he helped me with homework and bringing me up to speed about the shifter world. The Lycan History class was tame in comparison. Also kissing was involved. A lot of kissing. I don’t think I’ve ever been kissed that way, like he was coaxing the animal inside of me. He never spent the entire night and I never asked him. Damn, that would be a huge step for our relationship and it wasn’t one I was ready to face, not yet. There was too much going on in my life for me to add that to it. Mags still glared at me as I walked down the corridor, but she hadn’t tried to attack me again and the teacher who’d assigned us to fight against each other, had assigned a different partner to her. Gilly was my partner. Which was a much better idea. Gi
lly had raw strength on her side and I had skill.
I struggled as I took my top off, bruises spotted my skin and damn it hurt. I never complained when a punch connected. There was no point, Gilly would feel bad and I didn’t want to do that to her. I got to my feet and every muscle screamed at me to sit back down, to rest, but I plodded to the mirror in my room instead. My skin, usually pale, was covered in bruises. Damn, I was glad that I only had to do the fighting class once a week. I tried to get my top back on, but the simple movement brought tears to my eyes.
Someone knocked on the door. “Whose there?” I closed my eyes and tried to reach out with my unused shifter senses, but nothing came back to me. My teachers told me that the more time I spent in the Academy, the more likely I’d start showing more shifter traits. I probably healed a little quicker than usual. By tomorrow the bruises should start to lose their harsh purple colour and start to heal.
“Henry.”
I glanced back at my image in the mirror. My black crop top, which I wore instead of a bra hit my mid waist and my shorts, the ones I wore for gym, hit mid-thigh. I glanced around the room, I needed to put something over my body. I couldn’t let him see me like this. It would be weird, and I also didn’t want him to see me when I was like this. “I’m a little busy. Can you come back later?” I snatched up a t-shirt and winced as I tried to get it over my head. My room door opened. The sight must have looked a little silly, my arms above my head as I tried to wriggle into my t-shirt. Henry burst out laughing, but the noise died quickly.
Suddenly he was in front of me, his hands on the bottom of my t-shirt.
“Can you pull it down for me? I can’t get dressed.” Damn, I didn’t want to cry, but my eyes burnt.
He helped me, and when he finished he touched my chin guiding my face toward his and kissed my forehead. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”
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