A Charmed Mind: Mage Paranormal Romance (Illusions Academy Book 1)
Page 10
She turns back to the board and talks on, but while my hand moves across the page taking notes, my mind is on growing a tree from nothing like Aden had done. If I can learn to use my power for good things instead of bad, there’s no way I’ll turn into an evil mage hell bent on taking over the world. That would be the best possible outcome, and maybe I can learn to take magic from other non-human living things like I did the other day before freaking out and creating flowers.
The rest of class passes in a blur of notes on healing and the danger it can pose for both the earth healer and their patient if not done correctly. Orissa stressed for us not to try it until the official seminar she's setting up for next month. Apparently a guest speaker will be coming to show us how it’s done. Excitement spins in my chest at the thought of learning how to heal people, how to use every major ounce of power in my body for something so pure.
Aden stands, startling me. “Good luck with your training today, and don’t expect Orissa to help you at all. It’s solitary for a reason. She’s only going to be in the stands to observe. It’s all you.”
I look up at him, shaking out of my own head, “Yeah, thanks. I’ll try my best, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it.”
He reaches out slowly, as if giving me time to pull away, but I stay rooted to the spot as his fingers brush my cheek. “Don’t put yourself down, you’ll do great. See you later.”
And then he’s striding down the stairs, the powerful muscles in his back flexing. He sounded so confident in my abilities, so absolutely sure of it. It energizes me as I stand and make my way into the arena where Orissa is packing up her bag. She looks up as I come closer, setting my bag down in the sand with a resounding plop.
“He’s right, rosebud, you’re on your own.”
I raise one eyebrow. “Rosebud?”
She grins. “That’s my new nickname for you, just like Aden’s is Hulk.”
My eyes widen. “What’s the story behind that?”
“You’ll have to ask him yourself,” she replies, winking, before lumbering toward the stairs leading into the basement. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes, but feel free to get started.”
Then she’s gone, leaving me here to stew over all the things I’ve learned today.
Chapter Thirteen
The entire hour of class passes with little to no progress. The seedling did indeed sprout, but that’s all it did. And the longer I stare at it, the more frustrated I become. If I have to sit cross legged in front of this stupid plant for one more minute I’m going to lose it. I glanced up at Orissa again to find her still hard at work, her head bowed over the large occult desk I hadn’t seen before. It sits on the opposite side of the arena from where Aden and I had sat on a high-rise platform. It’s probably where the teachers sit during competitions and the yearly elemental games. A time where schools around the country travel to Illusions Academy to compete in a friendly competition of skill and flare.
“I can’t do it anymore, professor. I have to stop for the day otherwise I’ll go cross eyed,” I call.
She snorts. “Alright, if it’s that dire you’re dismissed. You did well today if that’s any consolation.”
I look between the sprout and her, a look of disbelief on my face. “I did well? I’ve been staring at the thing for forty five minutes now.”
“What Hulk refused to admit to you was that while he did eventually sprout a tree in an hour, it took him a year and a half of work to get there. His first session of growth magic ended with nothing at all,” she replies, still not looking up from her work. “Now get out of here and get some food. You’re the skinniest earth mage I’ve ever seen.”
A grin grows across my lips as I grab my bag from beside the little sprout, a sense of pride blooming with it. I wave up at Orissa as I make my way out, and she grunts in response, forcing a laugh out of my chest. She might turn out to be my favorite professor after all despite her gruff appearance.
“You done for the day?”
I spin toward the voice, finding Professor Jacobsen leaning against the marble wall. “Yeah, just finished.”
“How’d it go?” he asks, those storm cloud eyes flashing in the sun.
I continue on, hoping that he’ll get the hint that I’m in a hurry. “Ah, it went okay. It wasn’t the glory I was expecting, but Orissa corrected my expectations pretty quickly.”
He laughs while keeping pace with me. “Yes, she does have a way of doing that.” He pauses, looking side long at me. “I missed you today in class.”
His words send a shiver down my spine, but not a good one. A teacher saying these things to a student isn’t right, no matter how young and alluring he may seem. Ever since first meeting him I’ve gotten a strange vibe from him, and it left a sense of wariness in its wake. If I know what’s good for me I’d avoid him at all costs, and for the most part I have. Except for when he waits to ambush me after class.
“I’m not sure what to say to that,” I reply boldly, turning to look him in the eye.
He stops too, and at his full height he towers over me by four inches. “You’re the first student who has challenged me, forgive me if it’s intriguing.”
We stare at each other for a moment, and I’m painfully aware that his eyes had dropped to my lips. “Well, forgive me if I admit to feeling uncomfortable with the level of interest your taking in me.”
He chuckles, and it’s a dark, malicious, sound. “You truly are exquisite, and for that reason I’m going to let you in on a secret. Stay inside tonight.”
My blood runs cold. “Stay inside? Why?”
He shrugs. “It’s a full moon.”
I glance at the setting sun as a panicky feeling constricts my chest. “Full moon? What does that have to do with mages? There isn’t a werewolf pack in New York.”
He grips my chin hard, forcing me to look back at him. His eyes had turned as dark as a raven's wing, and I hope to god that it’s just the change of lighting. His stare is demonic, fear inducing, reminding me that Alagan Jacobsen is the most powerful phrenic mage in existence. Capable of scrapping my mind with midnight claws, taking and shredding anything he wished. For the first time, my confidence slips, and I’m sure he can see the fear in my eyes.
“There are much more dangerous things out there, I can assure you.” Those dark eyes dip to my lips again, and I tremble. “Stay in or don’t, live or don’t, it’s your choice.”
And then he lets me go, stepping back. “What does that mean? Is someone going to die tonight?”
His eyes return to their normal charcoal grey. “How should I know?”
And with that he turns on his heel, walking away toward the third year dorm. My chest is rising and falling quickly, his warning ringing through my head. Someone is going to die tonight, and he will have something to do with it. But why would he tell me to stay in? Will he choose a victim at random? Will it be uncontrollable? Will it even be him at all or some demonic presence? Or am I overthinking it entirely? Because, why in the world would a professor murder someone! The questions make my head spin as I stumble back to the dorm.
If there really is a murder plot happening tonight, I have to stop it.
***
Demetri bursts into my room as if the whole world is on fire, his eyes darting back and forth before focusing on me. Once he sees that I’m fine and sitting cross legged in my bed with Sage, eating Chinese, he frowns. Stalking forward, he holds up his phone, shaking it angrily.
“When you send an urgent text that says, Come over there’s something wrong. I expected something worse than this,” he seethes.
I hold out a container to him, “Orange chicken?”
He snatches it before plopping down on the bed next to me. “What’s so important that such an urgent text was sent to me?” He glowers at Sage, and she pauses, a bite of noodles halfway to her mouth.
“Hey, I’m just as clueless as you are, she wouldn’t tell me anything until you got here,” she says, right before stuffing her face.
“So, I’ve been getting weird vibes from one of the professors. And I just thought he was a bit creepy, right? But today it went too far,” I stutter, my hands clenching around a container of vegetables.
Demetri narrows his eyes, “Is he sexually harassing you?”
His words force me to think back on what Alagan had done earlier, holding my face, watching my lips like a predator would watch prey. My cheeks color as I look away from him. That’s not what this conversation is supposed to be about. Alagan’s words swirl through my head, slithering like snakes, I missed you in class today. A shiver courses down my spine, and I set down the container, no longer hungry.
“Not exactly, well, maybe. But that’s not the point,” I whisper.
The rage in Demetri’s eyes grows exponentially before he grinds out, “In what world is that not the point?”
Before I can answer, Sage places a calming hand on his arm. “Let her explain.”
A rush of confidence surges through me at her words, and I look up again. “It’s professor Jacobsen. Today he told me to stay inside tonight because it’s the full moon.”
Demetri’s emotions shutter on his face going from rage to disbelief to confusion. “But there are no wolf packs in New York, are there?”
I splay out my hands. “That’s what I said, and he replies that there are more dangerous things out during the full moon. And he said if I stay in I live, but if I go out, I die.”
The room is deathly quiet for a moment as my friends process this information. Again, I can read Demetri like a book as he thinks in through, that phrenic mind turning over every possible explanation. Sage looks completely shocked at the news, and she continuously rubs her upper arms like she caught a chill. I’m sure they’re just as freakED out and confused as I am.
Demetri finally looks at me. “Okay, despite that being the most ominous warning ever, it’s pretty clear what you have to do—”
I talk over him, “Right, go out and stop it from happening to anyone else—”
“Stay inside,” he finishes at the same time.
We stare at each other, both of our mouths hanging open. I speak again first, “How can you say that? If it’s not me it will be someone else!”
He stands and begins pacing. “Then tell another professor!”
“You know the risks of that are too great. He suspects,” I glance at Sage, and she still looks too shocked for words, “things.”
Demetri’s eyes widened. “Good god. Alright, I get it. No teachers. But you can’t just go out there looking for a murderer when he explicitly told you not to.”
Sage finally cuts in, “Why can’t we tell teachers?”
Demetri and I make meaningful eye contact, and he jerks his head toward her, nodding. I sigh. “Sage, I’m a delphic mage.”
Her mouth drops open. “Like the greatest mages of all time, Delphic mage? Like the powerful, dark, and instantly killed if discovered delphic mage?”
I cringe. “Yes, that’s the one.”
Her hands fall limply to her sides. “And professor Jacobsen knows but hasn’t told anyone? Why?”
I throw up my hands. “I don’t know for sure that he knows, but all the hints he’s been dropping make it seem that way. And as for him not telling anyone, I have no clue.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Demetri asks, and we swivel to face him. “He wants to use your power, and he’s hoping he can blackmail you into it with a little coaxing.”
“A little coaxing? Does that include death threats?” I almost shouted.
“No, he’s obviously crazy, so he’s trying to protect you by telling you to stay in tonight,” he explains.
I roll my eyes. “What a nice guy.”
That makes Sage laugh hysterically, and I join in. And every time we start to calm down, all it takes is a glance to send us rolling again. It feels good to laugh, even if it’s not very funny. Demetri watches the two of us with barely concealed worry for a moment before shoving his hands into his hair, resuming his pacing. Knowing that he can't be the only coherent one in the room, I force myself to sober, rubbing my face vigorously.
“Okay, we need a plan,” I groan while flopping back on the bed.
“We? What, are we suddenly the dynamic trio that’s going to save the world? Sage doesn’t even know what class she is yet,” Demetri replies, still pacing.
Sage gives me an apologetic look. “He’s right, Elise.”
I stand up and pace as well, matching Demetri’s nervous energy. “Fine! So we stay in, but then someone else dies. How is that right?”
We’re all silent for several minutes, only the sound of sneakers scuffing the floor echoes around my room. In truth, none of us know what to do, and we don’t trust each other enough to rely on each other out there. We’ve known each other for what? Three weeks? That’s not enough time to form a dynamic trio, as Demetri called it. We’re friends, and that might even be a strong word for Sage and I. Maybe telling them was a mistake, and I should’ve snuck out tonight by myself.
“Don’t even think about it,” Demetri growls through the silence.
My head whips toward him. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He points an accusing finger at me. “You’re thinking of going out anyway without us, aren’t you?”
My cheeks flush. “No, of course not. And get out of my head.”
“Only if you stop lying,” he seethes, stepping closer.
“Are you guys together?” Sage asks out of the blue.
I take three steps back from him and cross my arms. “Of course not! He’s the most annoying person I’ve ever met.”
“You saying that doesn’t make your desire to kiss me go away, you know,” he replies, his face completely serious.
Sage clamps her lips together, and I’m sure she’s trying not to laugh at my expense. His words send fiery rage through my chest, and I move so fast that his eyes widen as I shove him back against the pink wall of my room. He lets his head bang back as his eyes drop to my lips, and he licks his own. Golden light shines just above my skin as my anger rises, filling the room with a vibrating magical energy.
“I’ll go,” Sage says, scrambling up off the bed.
“No,” I growl, glaring at her. She stops, standing stalk still, a vacant look in her eyes. I turn back to Demetri, letting my rage fuel me. “You don’t get to make comments like that, you don’t get to touch me, you don’t get to kiss me. You get to be my friend. That’s it.”
His eyes go to Sage then back to my face before he crushes his lips to mine. Sensation bursts in my chest as he consents to me, allowing me to drain magic from him. My eyes roll back in my head as his tongue swipes along my bottom lip, tasting me. This isn’t fair, he can’t do this, especially with Sage in the room. At that thought, he rips his lips from mine, his blue eyes flashing.
“Get out,” he growls to Sage’s prude form, and she obeys without question.
Once the door shuts behind her he lifts me by the waist, walking me to the bed. I fight back weakly, not wanting the connection our kissing will invite, but not strong enough to pull away on my own. He’s like a drug that I know I shouldn’t be taking, but I swallow every night without question. His body covers mine, pressing me into the bed. Then we’re all teeth and tongue and passion. Ripping at each other like this might be the last time we ever do so.
“You are my obsession,” he groans.
That stops me. I’m his obsession because of what I am. Because somehow my delphic powers make feeding feel good for both of us. He’s not my drug, I’m his. The realization slams into
me, taking my breath away. Yes, we had tension before I siphoned magic from him, but after? It’s been a powerhouse of sexual energy, drawing us together helplessly. It’s all because of me, and my lack of control. Which I’m showing again right now.
I push him off for real this time. “I know I am, that’s why this isn’t going to go anywhere. You don’t really like me Demetri, that’s not what this is. I’m seducing you with a bag of oxy like I’m your drug dealer.”
He sits up on his forearms, still panting. “Again, you’ve lost me with your weird metaphors.”
I roll my eyes. “When I siphoned magic from you the other day it started all this. The sexual tension, the irresistible pull, all of it. We’re not compatible, we hated each other before this. This is the magic talking, or rather, kissing.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Hate is a strong word, I think you said it right earlier. We annoyed each other. But we were kids then, and we’re not anymore.”
“Fine, then I’ll make you realize it another way. We just controlled Sage against her will, making her stop and leave the room using phrenic magic. She probably doesn’t even know what happened. We’re bad for each other, don’t you get that?”
He glances at the door, a cloud of guilt descending over his face. “We’re inexperienced. That’s all, and we can apologize. And I’ll start by saying sorry to you. I won’t kiss you again unless you ask for it.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I won’t be asking.”
“You will,” he replies before jumping up off the bed, his very visible erection straining against his jeans.
“Would you flex a muscle or something?” I ask, averting my eyes.
He laughs, but doesn’t reply before opening the bedroom door again. Sage is sitting on the sofa, that same blank look on her face. My chest fills with ice. I did that in a rage, not even knowing how. The danger in that isn’t lost on me. Demetri steps forward, waving his hand in front of her face, bringing her back.
“You alright, Sage?” he asks.
She nods her head slowly, “Yeah, I think I was in shock or something. But I know something.”