He’d been burnt badly, hints of pink, scorched flesh visible beneath what down remained on the left wing. The odor of my premonition filled my nose: smoke, sweat, and scorched feathers.
19
The Endless Walk
By the end of it, there were about three unaccounted for mortals who probably perished in the flames, because their friends kept shouting for them and crying out their names. And there was Isaac. I hadn’t seen it, but Gabriel had given a solemn accounting of what happened in my absence. The floor had caved in and plummeted the big bear down to the first floor, where he’d been caught in the inferno.
Not even a bear shifter could survive that.
A pair of motorcycle sentinels arrived on scene a few minutes after the police sorted us out, one a vampire named Christian I’d only seen around the school once, the other a red-haired werewolf chick who introduced herself as Dani. She took over the investigation, called in backup from the nearest sentinel field office over the radio, and dismissed us after we answered her questions.
The mortal police detective frowned. “Excuse me, but we’re not finished—”
Her sharp gaze cut toward him. “Finished with what?”
“Questioning these… students about their version of the events.”
Christian crossed his arms. “Their version?”
“A fire spontaneously began in the bar while several paranormal beings were present.”
“Are you suggesting, after these students singlehandedly rescued dozens of people and witnessed the death of a close friend, that they were responsible for this?” Dani asked.
“I’m suggesting there may be more to learn about the event.”
Dani rose to her full height, towering above the human cop. “No. One of these young men has severe burns. I will take their statements myself and forward all pertinent data to your department.”
“But—”
Christian’s eyes gleamed red in the light. He licked one of his fangs, and the cop went chalk white. I was used to pairs who were good cop and bad cop, but right now, they were both the bad cop and freaking awesome. “These kids have been through enough. Dani, you want me to escort them back to the campus?”
“I’ll do it.” She turned and looked us all over. “You good to drive?
When I fished Gabriel’s car keys out of his pocket, he didn’t say a word. “We’re good.”
She nodded. “I’ll be right behind you.”
I drove Gabriel’s car with him in the passenger seat and Julien in the back. Rodrigo rode with Stark, the two trailing behind us with our sentinel escort.
Gabriel stared out the window in absolute silence for the entire drive, practically catatonic.
Once we reached campus and pulled into the garage, I turned to look at him. “Gabe—”
“I wasn’t fast enough.”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard the floor giving way, but I wasn’t fast enough to grab Isaac.”
Julien leaned forward from the back and touched Gabriel’s shoulder. “It was not your fault.”
“If I’d been quicker—”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself for this,” I said.
Julien nodded in agreement. “There was too much happening. None of us were fast enough to save Isaac, and we barely saved ourselves, Gabriel. We cannot do it all.”
“I’m trained to.”
My heart broke. I blinked a few times to clear the stinging sensation creeping beneath my eyelids, furious and hurting for him. “You aren’t.”
“She’s right. You are trained to save lives and to protect others. You did that splendidly today, but you cannot save everyone.” The other fae shivered. “What happened there was not natural. The way the fire just consumed everything so quickly. It was not natural.”
I thought of the little shadow darting into the ceiling and sparks raining from above. “Did you see it too?”
Julien’s fair brows drew together. “See what?”
“I saw a shadow… I don’t know what it was though. Only that it was small.”
“Then you must tell Sentinel Danielle everything once we have Gabriel in the infirmary.”
“I don’t recognize her at all from around the campus.”
Gabriel sighed and leaned his head against the seat. “She transferred in a couple weeks ago from Manhattan. Guess she goes back a long way with Sebastian and Simon.”
I got out of the car and helped Gabriel from the passenger seat, mindful of his red and blistered left arm. And because I didn’t want to be bothered by nosy assholes, I drew a Prismatic Cloak around the both of us.
Julien glanced over at the motorcycle pulling in with Rodrigo’s car. “I’ll go speak with the sentinels. Get him some care.”
“I will. Thanks, Julien.”
Leaving our friends behind, I led Gabriel down the road to the campus medical center, thanking whatever force of magic who was listening that I’d been there to catch him when he needed me.
* * *
The medical center had surprisingly comfortable chairs in all their rooms. At some point during the night, someone had come in and draped a blanket over me and snuck a pillow behind my head. I woke up without a sore neck or a chill.
In the nearby bed, Gabriel remained asleep.
My friends had left over a dozen messages on my phone. I replied to the most recent text asking if everything was okay.
At medical with Gabe. I’ll explain more later.
“Knock knock.”
I fumbled my phone in my lap and looked up. The same sentinel who’d escorted us home stood in the doorway with three steaming cups in a holder and a paper bag from the food court bakery. She smiled.
“Feeling better, Skylar?”
“Yeah, I guess so, considering all that went down. Gabe isn’t up yet though.”
“Nah. He’s awake.”
I glanced at Gabriel’s sleeping face. They’d drugged him good a few hours ago. “Huh?”
A warm smile brightened Danielle’s face. “I caught him watching you while you were texting.”
Gabriel sighed. “Dammit.”
“If this isn’t a good time, I can come back later. I’ve already gotten a solid report from Rodrigo, Stark, and Julien.”
His brow furrowed. “No. It’s fine. I mean… I’m pretty sure I don’t know anything more than they do.”
“Same. I was there for it all, and I’m still confused,” I added.
“I wanted to ask about the shadows you saw. Julien mentioned it.” Danielle passed us each a coffee and a huge chocolate croissant. As far as interrogations went, this was one of the friendliest, because with Simon and Sebastian, I usually felt like I was talking to Dad and one word away from getting sent to my room.
“Honestly, I don’t know much more than that. I noticed it in the Twilight while I was bringing people out. Something small and fast, I didn’t get a good look.”
“Would you say this shadow seemed to be affecting anything?”
“It must have realized I saw it, because it shot away into the ceiling, and then there was like a ton of electrical sparks.”
Her brows raised. She and Gabriel both exchanged quiet glances.
“What?” I asked.
“The lights suddenly went out, and we lost power in the building,” Gabriel told her. “A few minutes before that. The sprinkler system didn’t activate either.”
“Right. How did the fire start? Give me your take on it.”
“Three idiots decided drinks on fire were cool. I was sitting a few seats down with Stark and Rodrigo, because we wanted to watch Gabriel play in the pool tournament.”
Gabriel nodded. “Isaac was taking his shot when it happened, so I missed the start of the whole thing. The place was packed, man, and way over the fire code occupancy limit. When I realized shit was going wrong, the fire had already jumped down the counter.”
It took us a couple minutes to relay the events of the fire as we knew it, taking turns to fill in t
he holes for each other.
“Basically, everything that could have gone wrong, did,” I said in closing.
“All right, I’ll get started on the official investigation. If I have any more questions, I’ll call. Do either of you want me to send the crisis counselor in?”
Gabriel shook his head. I did the same.
“You two get some rest. Gabriel’s burns are already on the mend.” She paused in the doorway. “There’s going to be a vigil for Isaac at sunset, but everyone will understand if you want to pass.”
“No, we’ll be there,” Gabe said.
I waited until the door shut behind her before moving from my chair to the edge of Gabriel’s bed. “How are you really feeling?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He drew in a deep breath and held it. Seeing Gabe in pain like this twisted me up inside, and I waited until he released his pent-up breath and shook his head.
“Not right now. I don’t… I’m not trying to push you away, okay?”
I silenced him with a kiss, keeping it brief and light against his lips. The tension in his shoulders released, and he sank against the bed.
“Go back to sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
Gabriel stroked the top of my hand. “Don’t do that, Sky. Go get changed and relax some.”
“But—”
“You made me real proud of you out there.”
“So did you.”
Everything in me screamed to stay, but the last thing I wanted to do was pressure him. Given time, he’d work through it all himself, and we’d talk about it when he was ready. So I kissed his cheek, promised to bring him food before the vigil, and made my way out.
Pilar and Liadan crowded me as soon as I stepped inside the townhouse. Ben rose from his seat on the couch.
Holly appeared at my left. “How are you? Are you okay?”
“How’s Gabriel?” Pilar asked. “Did he get injured again?”
Liadan squeezed me so hard I squeaked. “Were you both hurt?”
“Gabriel got a bad burn on his arm. When he tried to shift and fly down, I don’t think he realized he’d have damaged feathers too, and…”
Their eyes grew larger, and Lia cupped a hand to her mouth. “Oh no.”
“I caught him somehow. I flew better yesterday than I’ve flown in all these lessons with Tristal and Dain.”
“You had a reason worth flying for. Look.” Pilar pointed to the television. They had been watching the news report of the fire where a reporter was interviewing several witnesses.
“It was a faerie. A beautiful faerie with wings like an angel. She saved my life. I… there aren’t enough words to say how much I appreciate it. She saved so many of us. I just knew I was going to die. One moment, I was falling toward the ground, and then suddenly she appeared and rescued me.”
The camera cut to the reporter’s concerned face. “Had you ever seen this faerie before?”
“No, never. I didn’t think I had a faerie godmother. My life is so dull, and I’m no one special.”
The news station played a video uploaded to Facebook by someone’s cell phone of me hurtling through the air, amber light and faerie dust streaming behind my wings. They didn’t look like my usual butterfly wings, instead resembling a set belonging to a hawk or an eagle.
“Huh. I don’t remember changing my wings.”
It was all too surreal, seeing myself on the news. I glanced down at my phone, half expecting a slew of worried texts from my parents. Nothing. Either this hadn’t warranted airtime yet in Virginia, or my folks were keeping their promise about not fussing over me for every little thing.
Ben gave me a funny look. “What were you even doing in a bar, Sky?”
“I, uh…”
He crossed his arms over his chest and waited. “Did Gabriel sneak you in? I didn’t think sentinels did that sort of stuff.”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I actually went there looking for him, because I had a bad feeling.”
“Really? I thought you guys only got insights about your charges.”
“No, for anyone we care deeply about,” Pilar said. She immediately slapped a hand over her own mouth.
Ben looked from me to Pilar then back to me again, both brows raised. “I’m not following. I didn’t think the insight theory included friends.”
Boys. So dense at the best of times. I sighed and fessed up like an adult. “Gabriel and I are dating.”
For a moment, Ben gave his best fish impersonation, his mouth opening and closing a few times. “What? Since when? How did I not know about this?”
“Look, no one can know, all right? That’s the only reason I didn’t tell you. I was trying to keep it need-to-know, because if the faculty finds out, they’d split us up with different partners.”
“You didn’t trust me?”
The hurt in his voice made me wince. “I’m sorry, Ben, really. The girls only knew because Gabe would come over here sometimes.” And Lia walked in on us kissing at the end of the year.
“I get it…” Except his glum voice said otherwise. He glanced away from me, back to the news. “I guess it’s a good thing. You helped save a lot of people because you were there.”
“Ben, I’m really sorry.”
When he looked back to me, his usual easygoing smile had surfaced. “I get it, I do. I just want you to know you can trust me with things. I would never rat you out. Sharing news with the paper isn’t the same as digging into your personal lives.”
One step brought me within reach, and then I hugged him. He squeezed me back, and just like that, we were good again.
* * *
Dain met me outside of the science building after Biology the next day. I knew he was there before I saw him, before the telltale buzz of his magical presence even raised the hairs on my arms, because there was a gaggle of girls squealing and trying to stealth-shoot photos of the sylph lord leaning against a tree beside the stairs.
I shook my head and strode forward to meet him on the grass.
“You’re early, Dain.”
“I wanted to speak with you alone before your friends arrived.”
Apprehension spread a blanket of pins and needles across my skin.
“It’s nothing bad, Skylar.” He nodded to the path, aware of our spectating crowd. “Walk with me.”
Dain led me down the path away from busybodies lingering to catch snippets of our conversation. He didn’t speak until we reached our destination in the usual field.
“You’ve come a long way since our first lesson. Your rescue of that falling woman was quite impressive by the standards of even the Fair Folk.”
“You saw that?”
“I was not present for the event, but I am aware of your spectacular deed. Your Gabriel has done right by you.”
My Gabriel. I didn’t even try to correct him, because Dain would have seen right through the lie. Heart thundering behind my ribs and mouth dry as a desert, I watched him and waited for the other shoe to drop.
“Under his tutelage, I have watched your flying reach new levels, flourishing as a rosebud would blossom beneath the sun.”
“He’s a good teacher.”
“He cares for you deeply.”
A silent lull continued between us, my pulse galloping through my veins while Dain fixed me with this serene, too innocent smile.
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
“I wouldn’t. It isn’t my place, but I do wish to warn you.”
A sickening lurch dropped my stomach as I tried to imagine what sort of dire warning he might pass on. It may have been unusual and not particularly smiled upon to date a shifter, but there was no actual rule against it. Social expectations kept our kind apart.
“Such affairs between our kind and theirs are ill-fated, Lady Skylar. Though you are only half-fae, you will live several mortal lifetimes longer than any shapeshifter. Perhaps one day, you will transcend your halfblooded statu
s and become a full-fledged faerie.”
“Dain—”
“You will watch him age, dear one. As he welcomes gray hair and smile lines, you will remain eternally youthful long after he reaches his sunset years and wanders into the Twilight, leaving you behind to grieve for him as all fae mourn those we love who are not of our kind.”
Love? I swallowed the lump in my throat. It may as well have been a boulder behind my sandpaper-dry tongue. “We’ve only dated a few months, Dain. We haven’t discussed love and marriage or anything like that yet.”
“Yet.” Those solemn blue eyes burned through me. “I only wish to warn you. It is not that we see ourselves as better than the shapeshifters, but that we must remain distant to protect our own hearts. We cherish them, and we honor their sacrifices to defend us, but they can never walk alongside us as equals during our immortal lives, for our walk is one that is endless long after their finish line is in sight.”
“I don’t—we’re not in love.” Saying it hit the center of my chest like a chisel driving into stone. “There’s no need to warn me about it. We’re only dating.” And I enjoyed the hell out of his company, his cuddles, the warmth of his arms around me, the way his soft breaths stirred my hair whenever I leaned against his chest, and the scent of his feathers mingled with his human essence.
But I didn’t think I could call it love. That would be insane.
20
Holidays are Magical (So are Mom’s Pies)
Halloween wasn’t the same. I considered reprising last year’s costume as a dark godmother since Gabriel offered to ride on my shoulder to complete the look, but Scary Godmother’s bullshit made it feel like it would be in poor taste. Plus, none of us could really drum up the enthusiasm to party so soon after losing a fellow student. Poor Rodrigo missed days of class because he and Isaac had been super tight.
It’d be like me witnessing Pilar or Liadan’s death.
Or worse, Gabriel. That sobering thought never stayed out of my head for long, because if I’d been a few seconds late, if I hadn’t listened to my gut, it would have been Gabriel along with their friend.
The Scary Godmother: The Paranormal University Files: Skylar, Year 2 Page 19
