by JA Wren
God, she hoped she wasn’t wrong about Dave.
“So, uh, I believe you helped save my friends yesterday.” As Dave’s monochromatic brows drew together, she clarified. “The couple who was attacked?”
If marble could show emotion, Dave’s expression turned to utter sorrow and perhaps a hint of guilt. He averted his gaze, staring down at the rippling water beneath his feet.
“Thank you for calling someone.” She wasn’t exactly sure how that worked, but clearly there were procedures in place. “If you hadn’t—”
She cut herself off with a choked sound and then cleared her throat. It wouldn’t help to dwell on what might’ve happened. The important thing was Delilah and Ethan were okay, and she’d soon make sure of that when she saw them for herself.
What was that saying?
Trust but verify.
Asher stepped closer, blanketing her with his body against her back and offering his comforting warmth. The action seemed to catch Dave’s attention, and he looked back up at her, tilting his head to the side in a gesture she read as questioning.
Was he curious about her and Asher? Or was it her phoenix soulmate he found interesting?
But that was a question for another day.
“I was hoping you might be able to help me figure out who attacked them,” she said softly.
Dave’s lips parted, revealing a black hole where his mouth should be. She’d been wrong. Or at least partly wrong. There was nothing human behind the marble exterior. He’d been turned to solid stone.
“I know,” she assured him, swallowing against her own sorrow for the man he’d once been. “But we could try yes and no, right?”
At first, he didn’t respond at all, merely stared down at her like she’d lost her mind. Eventually, he nodded in slow motion, but there was still a hard crease on his forehead.
Rayna took a deep breath, bracing herself for the coming questions. “Did you see who attacked Delilah?” He gave her a nod, his eyes turning forlorn. “Did you recognize them?” Another nod, though this one slower. “Are they on campus now?”
“Rayna?” Asher said her name in that way of his that begged a million unspoken questions.
She waved a hand in his direction and Tink went fluttering in his direction, spinning around his head in a never-ending loop. Rayna blocked them out and focused on Dave. “Are they on campus, Dave?”
No nod. But no shake of his head, either. Did that mean he didn’t know?
“Was it a student?”
A slow nod was his answer.
“Just a student?”
He shook his head side to side, even slower than the nod.
“Faculty?” Asher asked from behind her, but Dave didn’t even look at him as he nodded his head. “Fuck.”
“But how is that possible?” Rayna gasped out. “A student and a faculty member? Are they working together? In cahoots or something? Why? What the hell were they doing attacking Delilah and Ethan?”
She knew she’d blurted too many questions, none of which Dave could answer even if he knew what was going on. But a Nature Mage and a horse shifter. Why attack them?
She rubbed at her face, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. “None of this makes any fucking sense.”
Dave reached out his hand towards her, palm facing up. Inviting her closer.
“Rayna.” Asher’s warning came through on a low growl.
“He won’t hurt me.” She waved him off and touched her fingers to Dave’s icy marble-skin, chills breaking out along her nerves.
He clasped her hand between his, gently turning it. So very slow. With one hand cupping underneath hers, he pressed the tip of his other index finger to the inside of her palm and started drawing.
She almost jerked her arm back at the cool, tickling sensation, but the path of his finger shone bright white for a split second. She froze, watching him trace something against her skin.
When the light faded, a pair of initials were etched into her palm like thin, golden veins spreading through marble. They sparkled and moved, alive like real veins pumping blood. Except in their case, they pumped gold. Icy gold. Even as Dave edged back, apparently finished drawing on her skin, the glittering lines and swirls were freezing.
“What the fuck is that?” Asher demanded. He cradled her palm as gently as if she was made of glass and squinted at the markings.
Tink came buzzing down and looped Rayna’s wrist before hovering an inch above the markings. Her fiery little head burst into brighter, bigger flames—a sign of anger? She zipped up and got right into Dave’s face.
Anger vibrated off of Asher and a sulfur tang pierced the air like a warning.
Rayna paid them little notice, too busy staring at her palm. The golden initials resembled a backwards C and an O, but they didn’t look right. More like a symbol. Maybe a rune or sigil, similar to the ones Rayna had seen during her trials.
Asher was still glaring up at Dave while Tink buzzed around in agitated zig-zags.
Rayna cupped Asher’s jaw with her free hand, stealing his attention away from the statue. “It’s a clue.” Her hand fell from Asher’s face in a slow caress down his neck and she swore he shivered at her touch. “He’s helping us.”
Asher’s brown eyes flared copper. “Great, but it would help more if we could read the markings.” Tink flitted by and stopped near Asher’s shoulders. As if she was taking his side against Dave.
Rayna smiled. “We’ll find someone who can. One of the Psychic Realm classes is Runes and Sigils, so there has to be textbooks on this stuff in the library. Or maybe we can get Kally to talk to Professor Swartz.”
He nodded, but his deep frown was still directed at the markings on her palm, suggesting he didn’t approve of Dave writing on her skin.
But hope chased away some of her sour mood. “Come on, we’ve at least got a clue. More than we had an hour ago. Who cares if it means I have a sparkly tattoo on my hand for the rest of my life? If it’ll help us find whoever hurt Delilah and Ethan, I’m all for it.”
He didn’t look happy—the opposite, in fact—but he did give Dave a reluctant thank you before they left. Tink flew in crazy-fast circles around Dave’s marble head. What she showed the guy, Rayna would never know. But he winced as Tink left a halo of crimson light around him, so it had to be bad.
“I’ll visit soon, okay? Alone, I promise,” Rayna said over her shoulder as she and Asher walked back through the tunnel, Tink lighting the way.
“Wait.” She tugged Asher to a stop and turned back to Dave. “If we find whoever did this, could you identify them? I mean, if we bring them here, could you tell us yes or no?”
Dave tipped his head at her with a tiny smile and nodded, then morphed into hardened stone, immobile again like the other statues.
Twenty
“How’re you feeling?” Rayna asked, taking Delilah’s hand as she perched next to her on the infirmary bed.
Her friend looked better than she’d expected, but nothing like her usual sunny self. Gray-ish rings marred the skin beneath her eyes, and she seemed much paler than normal. A big gash cut into her forehead, skin angry red with a darker line down the center. It had been stitched up with iridescent thread that contained magical healing properties.
Rayna wanted to make it go away, heal Delilah completely.
Asher hovered by the window, giving them space to talk without letting her out of his sight, exactly as he’d promised. They weren’t splitting up this time. Bad shit happened when they were apart.
“Like I got hit over the head by a wrecking ball.” Delilah tried to laugh but cut off with a groan. “Ethan got it worse. Poor guy tried to protect me—or at least I think he did. It’s all kind of fuzzy.”
Rayna glanced over at the bed beside them where Ethan was currently fast asleep. His face was covered in bruises and one eye was swollen shut, while both of his fists were deep red and sported several cuts. They’d bandaged his right arm and put it in a sling. It glowed with the same iri
descent light as Delilah’s stitches.
“Looks like he gave them hell, whoever it was.” Rayna made a mental note to look out for anyone sporting injuries—students and faculty alike—because if Ethan looked like that, he had to have fought back.
“That’s the weird thing. I remember meeting Ethan in the tunnels by Gorgon Fountain.” Delilah’s face turned coy. “We were making out.”
Rayna smiled. “I could’ve guessed that.”
Delilah groaned again, this time for a totally different reason. “And I remember someone finding us. Then it gets hazy. Like, I know there was a fight, and I can even remember flashes of it where Ethan was wrestling with the guy.”
“Guy?” Rayna asked, looking for any new clues.
“I’m not sure.” Delilah shrugged. “I tried to help, but they haven’t taught us more than the basics yet and it’s not like I can do more than a few pretty flower tricks.” Tears glistened in her eyes and her lip quivered. “Whatever we were up against was way stronger.”
Rayna squeezed Delilah’s hand, trying to offer what little comfort she could. She told herself it was too soon to ask about the symbol Dave had given her. Delilah was too distraught.
“Then everything went dark.” Delilah stared over at Ethan. “I heard him scream, but I couldn’t see a thing. Maybe I was already blacking out, I don’t know, but his scream was clear as day.”
The tears pooling in her eyes slid down her rounded cheeks and almost broke Rayna’s heart. She’d find whoever hurt her friend. Find them and make damn sure they didn’t go near her ever again.
“Have the Seers been here yet?” Rayna kept her voice low and gentle, hiding the fury raging inside her.
Delilah shook her head. “No. There was a delay or something, so they’re scheduled for this afternoon.”
Rayna gnawed on her bottom lip, unsure what to say or do, how to make Delilah feel better. She looked at Asher, silent and still by the window, arms crossed over his chest. He gave her a tiny smile and tipped his head, brown gaze locked on her clenched fist, hiding the mark Dave had given her.
Yeah, she was stalling. But she didn’t want to upset Delilah after everything she’d already been through. She’d never want to hurt her. Hell, she was already plotting vengeance against the person who’d harmed her. What did it make her if she went and did the same thing?
“What?” Delilah glanced between Rayna and Asher as though reading their unspoken conversation. “What aren’t you guys telling me?”
Rayna opened her mouth, but the words refused to leave her lips. She needed to protect Delilah, keep her out of whatever was happening. Not rope her deeper into it.
“We spoke with Dave,” Asher said, stepping closer to the bed and letting his arms fall to his sides to make him seem slightly less imposing.
Rayna was grateful for that even as she fought the urge to growl at him. Tell him to leave it be.
“Dave?” Delilah frowned at them. “Who’s Dave?”
“The guy at the Gorgon Fountain. I nicknamed him.” Rayna waved a hand through the air. “Look, his name doesn’t matter.”
“What does?” Delilah asked, but Rayna couldn’t tell her. Maybe when she was feeling better. When the slice in her forehead had healed. “Rayna, tell me. I’m not some fragile flower. I’m not gonna break.”
Rayna tormented her lower lip with her teeth, staring at her friend. She’d just gone through a fucking assault, but she was right. Treating her with kid gloves would only piss her off.
With a deep breath, Rayna said, “Dave, the statue at Gorgon Fountain, saw whoever attacked you and Ethan. Obviously, he can’t tell us who, but he’s given me a clue, and if we can find the person, he’d be able to positively identify them.”
“Clue?”
Of course Delilah picked up on that above everything else.
Rayna unclenched her fist and lifted her hand, palm facing Delilah and showing off the golden swirls marking her skin. “From Dave—the statue guy. I don’t know what it means, but it’s better than nothing.”
Delilah leaned closer and traced her finger over the mark, not quite touching as she squinted at the gold lines. “It’s a sigil. Or at least part of one.”
Rayna inspected her own hand. “It kinda looks like initials to me. Like a weird C with an O and a spike going through the center of them.”
“I think that’s because it’s incomplete.” Delilah kept frowning at the mark. “The basics are definitely there, but I think it’s missing a bunch of elements. I can’t be sure, but I swear I’ve seen this somewhere and it was a lot more complex.”
Gee, thanks for only giving us a piece of the puzzle, Dave.
And here she thought he was being helpful.
“So, what does it mean?” Asher asked, edging closer to get another look as well.
Delilah shrugged, not taking her eyes off the mark. “I don’t know. It’s too bare-bones to tell.”
Rayna inwardly groaned at Dave, but half a clue was still better than nothing, right?
“Do you know where we can find out?” Rayna asked. “I thought maybe the library, but I wouldn’t even know where to start looking. I haven’t exactly been here all that long and never even set foot inside the building.”
It wasn’t like Evelyn had been eager to show her around there.
It’s basically where all the Psych nerds spend their time, she’d said, pointing out the library and study halls during her unofficial tour.
There was another option, but Rayna hesitated, unwilling to upset Delilah. They had to get to the bottom of this, though. “Dave…he seemed to think a faculty member might be responsible.”
“What?” Delilah blurted, then winced as Ethan murmured in his sleep. “Sorry. I just—a professor can’t be behind this.” She stared with wide, confused eyes, then narrowed her brows. “Can they?”
“We don’t know.” Rayna took Delilah’s hand, trying to soothe her. She doubted getting worked up would be good for her recovery, and the Hippokampi were bound to alert the Warlocks they were upsetting her. “It could’ve been a student or a professor. But until we know for sure, I don’t want to go asking around and risk outing what little we know.”
“You mean Professor Swartz.” Delilah sagged against the pillows at her back. “She’s an eighty-five year old Hedgewitch. You really think she’s capable of something like this? And why? What would be her motive? What was anyone’s motive for attacking us?”
Rayna had her suspicions, but she couldn’t voice them. It all seemed far too narcissistic to think they’d attacked Delilah to get to her. And besides, what was the goal even if it did relate to her? It wasn’t like she’d agree to be someone’s weapon in this war when they’d hurt someone she cared about.
Which meant she only had one answer. “Again, we don’t know.”
“And that’s the problem,” Asher added, voice so low it was almost a growl.
When they left Delilah, Rayna went directly to class instead of investigating the sigil in the library the way she wanted. As desperate as she was for answers, she still had classes to attend. And this one was pretty damn important. Especially since she was down to four days before Nyx stuck her back into a star.
Asher walked with her to the lecture hall for Power Infinitum and waited with her since class hadn’t started yet.
“What about Balthazar?” she asked, leaning her back against the wall beside the entrance and staring at the mark on her palm as if it would magically reveal all the secrets.
“What about him?”
“How does he fit into the equation?” She paused as a group of girls walked by, talking loudly about the upcoming ball and what dresses they planned to wear.
Shit.
Rayna still needed to get an outfit. She’d kind of been too distracted by her own life to give it much thought. Not to mention the safety of those she loved.
She made a mental note to deal with the dress ASAP, then shifted to rest her shoulder against the wall and face Asher. “Baltha
zar’s been practically comatose since Apollo knocked him on his ass two months ago. It can’t be a coincidence he goes missing the same night there’s a breach in academy security and our friends are attacked. Do you think someone broke in to abduct him?”
Asher frowned. “Maybe. But why?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “But don’t you think it’s weird?”
“I do, but we can’t investigate every weird thing that goes on in this place or we’d be looking into everything.”
True. The academy was filled with the weird and wonderful. “I just—”
“You just what?” he prodded when she failed to finish her thought.
“I can’t help thinking he’s involved in this.” She shuddered, remembering how he gave her the creeps when they first met. “Maybe’s he’s the faculty member Dave was talking about.”
“Rayna.” Asher cupped her face and tilted it up so their eyes met. “The man risked his life to protect you from Apollo. Sure, he wasn’t exactly successful. I mean, he teaches—taught—Omenology. But he tried. You said it yourself, he’s been comatose for two months. How can he possibly be involved in this?”
She didn’t have an answer, but something about it still bothered her.
“Hey, lovebirds.” Xander stepped up behind her, placing one hand on the wall above her head and crowding into her personal space. “Are we discussing your outfits for the Solstice Ball? Let me guess. Blood red color scheme to match this pretty hair of yours, Knox.”
“We aren’t discussing anything,” she snapped at him. “Ash and I were having a private conversation.”
Xander held up his hands and backed into the lecture hall, the glee on his face falling away. “Fine, didn’t mean to interrupt.”
When he was gone, she sighed and shook her head. “That guy drives me crazy.”
Asher buried his hand in her hair and gripped her neck with tight, messaging fingers that had her melting against him despite the shitty situation. “Go easy on him. We never know when we might need extra hands we can trust. Allies are important. Now more than ever.”
