Harper rolled the Jeep out into the open, revealing their breath-taking surroundings. They were on a hill that overlooked a small, rural town on one side and a dense expanse of trees on the other. She got them on their way immediately, driving down a dirt road that led away from the town and turning onto an even less maintained road that cut through the trees.
They traveled at a brisk pace for over an hour, only slowing to swerve around the numerous potholes, and stopping once to clear a fallen tree off the road with a blast of wind magic. The Jeep’s engine, in combination with the whipping wind, was loud enough to drown out normal conversation. Tess was still able to whisper in his ear, however.
“Ask her if we’ll have time to go swimming,” she said. “Oh, I’m so glad I brought my bikini! This will be fun.”
Lee wanted to ask how she could have forgotten it, given the ethereal nature of her clothing, but he held his tongue. He napped for a bit, never managing to fall completely asleep, but appreciating the chance to rest, regardless. Harper shook his shoulder as they reached their destination, and what Lee saw as the Jeep came to a stop instantly lifted his spirits.
Their destination was a remote beach resort, a single palatial beach house next to a pier. The assortment of cars parked in the beach house’s paved driveway were all familiar vehicles driven out of the sublevel connected to the Arcane Way.
The people playing on the beach were just as known to him. Lee spotted Toma wading through the water, and Eliza underneath an umbrella. Kristoff was there, too, building sandcastles with his friends.
And of course, Mattis was also present.
CHAPTER 32
“Ignore your friends for now,” said Harper. “We need to confront Mattis before you can have the happy reunion you’ve no doubt been dreaming of.”
“I’m aware,” said Lee.
He’d taken off his shoes and was surprised by how hot the sand was between his toes. It was windy along the beach, the air thick with the smell of salt and seaweed. Seagulls chirped in the distance. Waves rolled and crashed relentlessly against the shore.
It took a minute for the initiates to notice them, as immersed in their holiday vacation as they were. Toma was the first, his jaw falling open as he gaped at Lee in disbelief. Eliza set her book down and followed his gaze, bringing a hand to her mouth as though she could subdue her shock in the process.
They both ran toward him, with several other curious classmates trailing behind them. Harper held up a finger and gave them a stern glance, which held them at bay. Lee grinned as he briefly caught the eyes of his friends, beyond eager to catch up with them.
Instructor Mattis was also on the beach, and she made no attempt to flee as they approached her. She didn’t look like she was interested in fighting, either, and watched them make their way over in resolved silence. She wore a loose grey sundress, and her brown and green hair blew freely in the sea breeze.
“Instructor Harper,” she said. “Initiate Amaranth. I can’t say I was expecting the two of you, but I can guess why you’re here.”
“Are you going to make this difficult, Alora?” asked Harper.
Mattis shook her head, flashing a sad little smile. “Not at all. Let’s speak in private. No tricks. They would amount to nothing at this point, regardless. We both know that.”
Harper pursed her lips. She looked toward Lee, seeming to read into his reaction for aid in processing her own.
“Lead on,” said Harper.
Mattis walked slowly across the beach, up the grassy slope, and into the beach house. The front doors were inset with large glass windows, and the main chamber had sand-speckled wood floors, high ceilings, and a variety of elegant plastic chairs that could be moved outside easily.
Lee shut the door behind the three of them, still wary of a potential trap. He hadn’t seen any of Mattis’s bonded animals or anything resembling a lycanthrope since arriving. He wasn’t sure whether that was a reassuring sign or not.
“As I’m sure you’re both already aware, I’ve been working as a spy,” said Mattis. “A spy for the Melting Pack. I have many regrets about what I’ve done. So many that I’m not going to fight either of you. You have my unconditional surrender.”
“Alora,” said Harper, shaking her head. “This is truly because of your husband? You’ve spoken to me of Ben before, I never suspected anything amiss.”
“I always chose my words carefully,” said Mattis. “Ben has been involved with them for over a year now. He truly believes in what they’re working toward. I know. I’m a fool. Love is just… insanity by another name.”
“I can understand your situation, at least in part,” said Harper. “But why the change of heart now?”
“I thought my husband was just oblivious and dismissive of Shannara’s usage of blackmail.” Mattis smiled. “He’s here in Puerto Rico, you know. It’s the first time we’ve been together in months. I thought I’d finally have a chance to help him see the truth of what we were caught up in.”
She gave her head a small shake.
“Who else is here?” asked Harper. “What’s the situation?”
“They’re watching the resort,” said Mattis. “You may not have noticed on your drive here, but there’s no phone or internet service for miles.”
“How many?” asked Harper.
“At least a dozen. They’re holding off on their attack for at least another day or two, when more of their number can join them from abroad.”
Harper nodded slowly. “Will you cooperate with us? If the situation is as described, we’ll need all the help we can get.”
“If you’ll allow it,” said Mattis.
“Hold on!” shouted Lee. “You’re going to trust her? Just like that?”
Harper shared a look with Mattis. “We’ve been friends for a long time. I know the type of person she is.”
“She betrayed the school,” said Lee, through gritted teeth. “She helped erase my memories! I lost a month of my life because of her, and it might have been far more if not for…”
Tess pinched his ear, and it was a good thing she had, as Lee wasn’t interested in repeating his not-so-well-rehearsed fake story of how the House of Shadows had helped him undo the Cropping.
“It was a horrible thing that I did,” said Mattis. “I can’t take it back, though it seems you found other means to undo it. Harper, whatever you decide, just know that I won’t stand by and let anyone hurt these students. I’m already living with the guilt of essentially doing so once.”
“Still,” said Lee. “There’s no way of knowing if she—”
“I can either trust her, or I can kill her,” said Harper. “There is no real in-between, not in a situation where we’re stuck in here. I find myself leaning toward the less permanent of the two options.”
Mattis reached a hand forward. Lee almost went for his kris dagger, until he saw that she was merely offering Harper her phone.
“The unlock code is 6320,” said Mattis. “There are conversations between myself, Shannara, and several others in the text messages that you may find illuminating.”
Harper accepted the handset. “They’ll attack if we try to leave the area surrounding the resort?”
“Most definitely,” said Mattis. “I assume if they see anything out of the ordinary, they might also be alerted to the situation and press their advantage while it still exists.”
“We need to come up with a plan,” said Harper. “A damn good one.”
She started pacing back and forth, old floorboards creaking in places as she set each foot down. Lee wasn’t thrilled by the idea of letting Mattis off the hook for her past transgressions, but handing her phone over had been a start. He found his gaze being drawn toward the window, toward his friends outside. Harper apparently noticed.
“Eldon,” she said. “Can you stay with the initiates on the beach? Keep the situation to yourself, for the moment, but make sure nothing happens.”
“I can do that.” He headed for the door, each step
faster and more eager than the previous one.
“Lee,” said Mattis. “I truly am sorry for what I did to you.”
He stopped, one foot already on the porch.
“Don’t apologize with words,” he said. “This is your mess, Mattis. Maybe Harper’s right. Maybe you should help clean it up.”
Toma and Eliza were waiting for him at the edge of the beach. Lee all but sprinted to them, finding it easy to push Mattis and the Melting Pack and the potential danger they were all in toward the back of his mind. He ran to his friends and pulled them both into a tight hug.
Eliza wore a blue-and-pink floral bikini with a matching sunskirt. Toma was soaking wet and seemingly unaware of how much water he was dripping onto Lee. They both tried to talk over one another, words coming out in a jumbled flood.
“I’ve missed you guys,” he said, grinning. “So fucking much.”
“How are you even here?” asked Toma. “You can remember us? We thought… we were sure…”
“It was just a cover story,” said Lee. “Harper said it was necessary. I was on a mission with her.”
“I’m going to give her a piece of my mind!” snapped Eliza. “She should have at least let you say goodbye. The mental toll it took on us was, well… I couldn’t even leave my bed for the first few days after the Midterm Trial.”
“She’s telling the truth, Lee,” said Toma. “You should have seen her crying.”
Eliza’s face reddened. She had a streak of sunblock left on her forehead just underneath her hairline, and Lee wiped it away with his thumb before pulling her into a tighter hug.
Some of the other initiates came over to greet him, though Toma and Eliza were the most eager for his attention. They made their way onto the sand and sat down on towels under one of the beach umbrellas. There was a soothing quality to the reunion that was as satisfying as anything could be, like soaking sore muscles in a hot bath. He’d missed them terribly.
He’d changed in the time they’d been apart, though as they sat there, watching the waves, he noticed small changes in them, as well. Toma wasn’t smiling as much and seemed a bit quieter. He’d lost both his girlfriend Jenna and his brother Kei. And Lee, his best friend.
Eliza’s eyes were misty, and she clung to his arm with a grip so tight that it felt like she was trying to keep him from escaping. She seemed shaken, unsure of herself in a way that had always been there, but never like this.
“Anything interesting happen while I was gone?” he asked.
The answers came in another overlapping surge of conversation. Toma described a fire at the Spell Range and the “awesome” spell Odarin had used to put it out. Eliza shared her opinion on the new nurse trainee, a girl barely older than they were who had attracted the interest of numerous students and a few teachers in a tale as old as time.
“Academically, we’ve mostly just been preparing for the spell thesis we’ll each need to develop for the end of the year,” said Eliza. “It’s almost been a preview of the next semester. You kind of have missed a lot. Oh, and the dueling rankings have officially begun.”
“They opened a cannabis dispensary in Gillum,” said Toma with a grin. “It’s still banned on campus. Odarin confiscates all the weed he finds. No coincidence that the First Tower constantly reeks of smoke. Total double standard.”
They asked Lee about his time away, too, and he felt bad for having to dodge the questions with vague answers. It was a small price to pay for being back with them, however, and he was grinning when Eliza finally broached the one answer they were most eager to hear.
“Lee,” she said. “Are you coming back to Primhaven after this?”
“Seems like it,” he said. “Harper says I need academic training as much as field training if I’m going to be her apprentice.”
Toma pumped his fist in the air. Eliza squeezed him into a tight hug. Lee laughed, feeling a bit ridiculous at how much it meant to him, too. He’d originally arrived at Primhaven under false pretenses, for no reason other than to find his sister. His life had grown into so much more than that.
Tess had stretched out on an empty towel nearby, watching his reunion as she sunbathed in her blue bikini. She had an elbow against the sand propping her head up, and she looked as happy as he felt. He made a mental note to find some time for her to catch up with Eliza if he could arrange it, who was one of the few other people who knew of her existence.
“Eldon,” said Harper, coming up behind the group. “I’m glad to see you’re enjoying yourself.”
There was no tone of reprimand or sarcasm in her voice. Lee looked over his shoulder to find that Harper had changed into a black bikini and let her hair out of its braid. She was unrolling a towel nearby, apparently also intent on enjoying the beach. He grinned at her and she smiled back in a way that said it all.
The lycanthropes could wait a while. They deserved a day in the sun.
CHAPTER 33
Lee splashed into the ocean, marveling at how warm and crystal clear the water was. He was still on guard, occasionally focusing his attention on the movements of trees and bushes in the jungle, or odd shapes in the water, but it was always just the wind of an oddly shaped rock.
Someone had brought a beach ball, and he joined the rest of the initiates in scrambling after it as it passed from person to person. Eliza had found an inner tube to float in. As soon as Lee saw her, legs dangling over the side, hips dipping low in the center, he knew exactly what he needed to do.
He dove below the surface, feeling a sense of tranquility as the ocean accepted him into its silent, blue embrace. The saltwater stung his eyes a bit, but it had always been bearable for him. He kicked his legs and pulled with his arms as stealthily as he could, positioning himself directly under Eliza. The effect of her body in the inner tube made it look as though a circle of emphasis had been drawn around her bikini-clad butt.
“Oh, this should be good!” giggled Tess. “I love it when you get mischievous, Lee. Oh, and yes, I can talk underwater. Only sometimes, though. I think it depends on my mood.”
Lee sank low enough to touch bottom and then kicked upward. He rose swiftly, attacking before Eliza realized the danger. Grabbing one side of the inner tube, he twisted downward, flipping it over.
“Leeeee!” cried Eliza.
She splashed water at him and tried to climb back up. Lee dove under the surface again, circling her like a prowling shark. Eliza’s bikini was tied in back, which was tempting. Beyond tempting, really, given her endowments.
“I feel a responsibility to warn her, as a friend and fellow woman,” said Tess. “Sorry, Lee.”
She was in her ethereal state, rather than his mystic stream, which limited her contact to ghostly touches that emitted small chills. Lee hesitated, his curiosity about how she would get her message across winning out over his boyish desires.
Tess poked Eliza in the chest several times with her fingers, forcing her to cross an arm over her bikini. She and Lee were fifty feet or so from the other initiates, far enough out for their conversation to not be overheard.
“Tess is with you, isn’t she?” asked Eliza. “Why is she… um…”
“I was going to steal your bikini top,” said Lee. “She’s trying to be sisterly and give you a warning.”
“Seriously?” Eliza rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling. “What are you, fourteen?”
“It’s a hard temptation to resist. I think it’s genetic.”
“Well, I’m going to be on guard, since I’ve been warned.”
“Are you now?” Lee grinned and swam closer to her, treading water with enough precision to keep his face near hers.
“Yes…”
Eliza’s smile deepened. Lee leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss. Her lips were cold and a little salty.
“I’ll have to wait until later, then,” he said.
“We have shared rooms to sleep in,” she said slowly. “Though Mattis hasn’t been strict in enforcing our assigned roommates.”
&nbs
p; He kissed her again, this time brushing forward so their bodies were briefly in contact. The waves made even basic intimacy difficult, so he set a hand on the inner tube and pulled himself onto it.
“Hey!” said Eliza. “Who said you could steal my inner tube?”
He grinned at her and gave her a helping hand, pulling her so she was sharing it with him, lying lengthwise across his midriff, butt sideways and settled into his lap. The inner tube did a slow circle as their kissing intensified. Lee ran a hand across her pale stomach, his thumb tracing the lower edge of her bikini. He sneaked in a quick grope of her soft, plump breast as a whistle came from the beach.
“Keep it PG-rated, you two,” called Mattis.
She was sitting on a towel next to Harper, who’d also taken notice of their inner tube flirtations. Lee found it impossible to read Harper’s expression from the distance they were at, and he winced as he wondered if she might be reacting badly to watching him with another woman.
“Let’s, um, pick up from here later,” said Eliza.
He let her have the inner tube, opting instead to swim back to shore. Mattis had walked down the beach to keep an eye on the main clump of initiates. Harper was alone on her towel, and Lee settled down on the sand next to her.
“Are you enjoying your reunion with your friends?” asked Harper.
There was no tone to her voice, but that didn’t make the question feel any less edged.
“Yeah, I am,” he said. “Listen… Eliza and I have fooled around before. It happened while I was still at Primhaven, after you’d left.”
“I suspected as much.”
“Are you, uh…”
“Jealous?” Harper gave him an odd smile. “I’m unsure if that’s the right word for it. Concerned would be a better fit, I think. You haven’t told her about the two of us, have you?”
“Of course not,” said Lee. “You’re an instructor.”
“You’re also my apprentice. There’s a power imbalance there that perhaps I’ve been ignoring.”
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