by Jaymin Eve
I nodded. “Yeah, for sure. You’re both in my morphology class, right?”
Michael smiled. He had the most perfect white teeth and so many freckles that they almost moved about on his face. “Yep, that’s the one. I also think we had the fey language class together last year too.”
“That’s right,” I said, remembering. “Feels like last year was a million years ago.”
Damon snorted. “That’s an understatement if the rumors about your current life are anything to go on.”
Bastard never did have a filter. There was a momentary awkward silence before Simon picked up the conversation, talking about the party last weekend. I shot my friend a grateful look and he winked in return.
Ilia and I wasted no time ordering. My stomach rumbled louder and louder as I waited for my full stack of pancakes to arrive. “So what classes do you have today?” Tom asked. “Did you hear they’re starting up Water Magic again? Apparently Asher is back and in full health.”
I tried not to flinch at the mention of his name; however, I couldn’t stop my eyes from moving across the commons … searching for their table. I hoped I would be far enough away to not see them from where I was sitting, but no such luck.
As I found their table, my heart stuttered in my chest. Asher was watching me, his eyes slamming into me even across the distance between us. My hands shook as I clenched my fists and tried to suck in some oxygen. I couldn’t read anything in his expression, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t look away.
Even if someone took away Asher’s height and looks and power, it would be the same. There was something that drew me to Asher on an instinctual level. More than the physical. The emotional was the strongest part. It was his sharp wit and intelligence, his gentle touch and kind eyes that I missed. His very bad attempt at sexting and the late night swims where we pushed until our limbs were so heavy we could barely drag ourselves from the pool.
That was what I missed. That was what I mourned.
Needing to look away before he did, I jerked my head around and stared down at the wood table. Thankfully, not ten seconds later, my food appeared and I could sate at least one hunger inside me.
For now, that would have to do.
29
Friday and Saturday passed in a blur of research. I ended up in the Atlantean library, desperate to find out something about the gods. But either the information wasn’t there or I was looking in the wrong place, because there was nothing useful at all. Mab, who I was starting to consider a real friend, helped me, bringing books long into the night, but … everything was about life on Atlantis before the fall. Which was fascinating—and if I wasn’t racing against the clock I’d be all over that information—but as it was, I ended up skimming most things.
“Come on, girl,” Larissa said, her voice tired. “We need to get some sleep.”
I slammed the large tome closed and sighed. “Yeah, I know. It’s just so frustrating.”
Mab fluttered down. “I think the main issue is that you’re not exactly sure what you’re looking for.”
That was indeed the main issue. Something that would help me defeat a god? Something that would break the spell on Asher? I had no freaking clue what I was looking for, but those two were a good start.
“What if there isn’t a spell on Asher?” Ilia said, finally voicing the thought I know we’d all been having. I’d seen Asher a few more times at meals, and while our eyes would occasionally connect, he never made any move to approach me.
It was slowly killing me.
I cleared my throat. “Then I guess he’s not the guy I thought he was and I need to figure out how to cut this awful bond between us.” Because I could not live like this for the rest of my life. My very long, possibly infinite life.
Mab shot up in the air, hovering a few feet above our heads. “Someone approaches,” she said quickly. “They made it through the barrier and are now in the section outside. It’s not any of the Atlanteans that have been in here before.”
Asher! I was up then, moving to cut him off. This room was off-limits to him now; I wouldn’t arm the bastard with any more information or skills to take back to Galindra. I really didn’t know which god to trust, but on principle, I was pissed at the one who turned Asher against me. Who … broke him.
Stepping through the false wall, Larissa, Ilia, and Mab right behind me, I rushed along the dark rows of books until the large supe came into sight.
I ground to a halt. “Connor,” I said, and he kept striding forward, his expression hidden in shadows.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said when he stopped before me. “We’re supposed to be a team. Family.”
I snorted, and when his face fell some guilt hit me. “I barely know you,” I reminded him. “And the few interactions we’ve had have included you kidnapping me and then getting me killed. So … sorry if it’s going to take me a hot minute to start thinking of you as anything more than the enemy.”
He ran a hand across his face, looking tired and defeated. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”
“How did you even know we were in here?” Ilia asked, leaning past me. “Our energies are cloaked when we’re back here.”
He lifted his head. “I followed you inside, and when you disappeared, I waited in the main room for you to emerge. Eventually, I started to search for you.”
“You’re not allowed back here,” I told him bluntly. “Please don’t come back here again. Promise me?”
Until proven otherwise, Connor was not to be trusted. This library held a lot of priceless information that, in the wrong hands, could prove dangerous for the Atlanteans. There were entire books on their powers, their weaknesses, their strengths, their fears. The religion they followed. Nothing that would help me right now, but some of it I still recognized was valuable.
“Okay, sure,” Connor said.
“Promise,” Mab said in her twinkling voice. “A promise that cannot be broken.”
Connor eyed her closely, like he was trying to figure out exactly who or what he was dealing with. “I promise. I will not venture back here again without the permission of Maddison.”
“And Mab,” she added.
Connor’s eyes widened and I could see his shock. Mab’s reputation was outstanding. “Or Mab.”
A twinkle of dust from her, the surge of energy that accompanied Mab when she used magic, and I felt the promise seal. Connor was locked in. I felt a lot better about that in general. Silent and tired, we all left the library. I’d spent so much of the last two days keeping busy, and even though I was exhausted, the thought of crawling into my bed and trying to sleep sent darkness through my mind.
I couldn’t sleep yet, but if I told my friends that, they’d stick with me. And both of them were dead on their feet. We all wandered toward our rooms, Connor disappearing first—I had no idea where he was sleeping—then Ilia and then Larissa.
I took two steps into the magic users’ dorm, waited a few minutes, and then walked right back out. At first I wandered a little aimlessly, my stomach growling because I’d forgotten to eat. Again. The Atlanteans always managed to get food at any time of the day and night, but I didn’t know how, and I felt bad trying to order from the commons menu at this time.
Eventually I found myself outside the water world. It wasn’t a surprise; it had been days since I got to swim properly; my body was craving the release. After last year of having regular access to the pool and magical ocean, I was now a mess without it.
Yeah, I was kinda a mess anyway, but it made the mess even messier.
Just as I went to step inside, the back of my neck tingled and I looked around quickly, trying to determine if I was being paranoid or if someone was watching me. My vision was almost as clear at night as in the day, and scouring the shadowy landscape I could see nothing. For some reason, I decided to look up, and there was movement, but it disappeared into the distance too fast for me to track it.
A bird, maybe. I hadn’t really seen much wildlife in the Ac
ademy grounds before, but some birds managed to get past the barrier. Shaking my head, I headed into the long, dark tunnel that led to the main rooms of the water building. I relaxed the moment the water was visible around me, and as I got closer to a large body of water, my eyes filled with tears. But for a change, they weren’t tears of despair. It was … reverence.
I couldn’t easily explain the emotions that water created inside of me. Like I’d been lost in the desert for days and then I’d found my oasis. Everything inside of me lit up with joy and excitement and need. I needed to be swimming. Even with all the sadness consuming me, there was comfort in my water.
The doorway with the barrier didn’t slow me. I blinked as I basically stepped right through it without any resistance. Was the magic down? I couldn’t imagine it would be, since they were protecting most of the students from everything hidden back here, including mermaids—aka total evil bitches—selkies, sharks, an omlong octopus thing that protected the moat around the school, and a ton of other demi-fey that no one wanted to mess with.
I still hadn’t explored most of this building, and that was mainly because I never made it past the ocean room. It was my sanctuary.
When I stepped through the doorway into the perpetually sunny room, I sighed. Yes. This is what I need. I kicked my shoes off and slipped out of my jeans and shirt, leaving me clad in just a matching set of black underwear. I actually smiled as the cool water washed across my feet and up my calves. In a few moments, it wouldn’t feel cold at all to me, my body adjusting to any water temp … even if it was freezing. I’d been pretty deep in the ocean and at no time was it cold or uncomfortable. The moment my head went under, the clanging in my head eased. That incessant ringing in my brain that had been going on since before Asher’s death, a toll of despair and sorrow, but now it was silent.
Within a few minutes I was way out in the water. I had the insane idea of swimming as far as I could, just to see if there was an end. I could see no end, and if I didn’t know we were in a magical room, I’d expect this was the real ocean, somewhere like the Caribbean, with white sand, turquoise waters, and cute-as-fuck beach huts that I wouldn’t be looking at because they held too many memories.
So I swam. And swam.
I was joined by Blush and all the other dolphins, and while I didn’t stop to “chat” with them like I normally would, I felt a little lighter again. By the time I felt the first strain of exhaustion, I was so far out that I could no longer see the sandy beach. It was calm out this far, the breaking surf a little closer to shore, the sun hot and soothing across my skin. I floated, well aware of the multitude of creatures around me. For some reason, I had an entourage of animals following me, including a few sharks. They were no doubt some of the creatures from the ocean I’d accidentally magicked above the school.
I didn’t fear any of them. There was a connection between us … woman of the sea and animals of the sea. We were one, and together we communed with … well, not the gods, those bastards were so not on my friend list these days. So I’d just say nature. We communed with nature.
Eventually, I started back for shore. There were so many creatures around me—many I had no name for or knowledge of—and whatever aching void of emptiness Asher had left inside of me was gone. For a moment, I had a sense that I could do this. I could be strong enough to survive without him. I’d never wanted to be the woman defined by a man, and while I still wholeheartedly believed in love, maybe having a love as strong as ours was too dangerous. I could not lose myself. Not right when I was coming to learn who Maddison James truly was. I’d spent ten thousand years in stasis, then twenty-plus years thinking myself human. This was finally my time to be real.
My speed picked up as I felt a renewed determination to learn magic, fight the gods, and live happily-the-fuck-ever-after, even if I did that alone. I had my best girlfriends, and sometimes they were more my soulmates than any dude could hope to be.
Just as my pep-talk bolstered my confidence, a slither of magic washed across my skin and I slowed my pace, hovering in the water, breathing shallowly so as not to disturb the current.
Something new is in here. Something to fear.
The animals pressed in closer to me, like they were my guard, and I ran my hands across the fin of the huge shark on my right. The fact that he was not scary in the least spoke a lot about how much I’d changed recently. Now, I respected him for the apex predator he was and appreciated the bond I somehow shared with him.
The power increased, and fearing that I was going to endanger all of them—they were no match for a god—I spoke quickly. “Go,” I said. “Swim as fast as you can and don’t look back.”
None of the creatures moved, even as I felt the tendrils of fear coming from them. “Go,” I said again, and this time I nudged them with some of my power. “I will be okay. But you’re all in danger.”
A little more power had them scattering away from me. I waited silently for whatever it was to reach me. In the next instant, the room plunged into darkness and my heart skipped a few beats as I waited for my eyes to adjust. It was difficult; there wasn’t even a speck of light now, and I was worried that whatever was coming for me was going to be too strong to fight.
The magic that gave this room eternal sunshine was powerful, so whoever had doused it was beyond my energy. The water whipped around me, knocking me about. Currents started tugging at me, and luckily I had the strength to resist—a normal supe would have been sucked into the depths with no way to save themselves.
Deciding I was done with this, I kicked off hard, heading for land. If I could get out of the water, I might be able to survive this. Otherwise … who knew.
Lightning lit the sky above, and I flinched as it cracked to the surface of the water, lighting up the darkness for a split second. In that second I saw the shape of a massive man about twenty yards from me, just floating above the water.
I didn’t recognize him, and the flash of light was so fast that all I saw were piercing eyes, white-blond hair, and a face that could have been carved from stone. Dark. Ominous. Scary as heck. He was also huge, maybe the largest supe, god, or person I’d ever seen. And that was really saying something when I had the Atlanteans to compare to.
It was next to impossible to tell if he meant me harm or not. I didn’t know whether to keep heading toward the land or just wait and see what he wanted. I wasn’t exactly without skills myself, but I had the deepest sense that this was a god and there was nothing I could do to stop him if he wanted to hurt me.
The next flash of lightning lit up the sky and I screamed loudly, the sound lost in the storm. He was right in front of me, a mere few inches separating us, and this time I could see the dark blue of his eyes, golden brown of his skin, and the chilling intensity in that gaze. He didn’t touch me, but I felt his energy crackling against my skin. It was almost painful, like ice pelting me, even though I was not at all cold.
“What do you want?” I screamed. He hadn’t automatically tried to kill me, and considering how powerful he appeared to be, he clearly could have. So there must be something else.
I couldn’t see him, but the uncomfortable sensation of ice hitting my skin increased and I knew he was closer. If I breathed too deeply, my boobs would probably touch his chest.
Jesus. Had this dude never heard of personal space?
At this point, I’d had enough, and as my fear evaporated in anger, so did my common sense.
Using both hands, I slammed them against his chest and shot every ounce of power through me as I pushed him back. The ice disappeared as he shot across the water, and I could have sworn I heard a deep, dark chuckle.
Then the lights came back on.
30
It was so bright that I could not see anything for many minutes, black dots dancing across my vision. The tumultuous water calmed, as did my heartbeat, and when I could see again I focused on the beach, which was about two miles from me. I blinked at the sight of a supe standing there. No … not a supe … As
her.
My body locked down, and I forced myself to keep treading water, watching the figure against the waterline. Had he been here when everything went dark?
Deciding I’d had enough swimming for one night, I started to freestyle, moving rapidly on top of the water until my feet hit the edge of the sand. Asher watched me closely. I kept expecting that he would be gone by the time I made it to shore, but he wasn’t.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice low, without any inflection.
“What do you mean?” I said, stumbling up, my limbs tired as I collapsed on the warm sand. I didn’t care that I was getting covered; there was something comforting about burrowing into the heat, especially after everything that just happened.
“Who was in here with you?” Asher pushed, standing over me, looking far too fuckable with his plain white shirt and dark jeans that fit his body like a glove. His feet were bare, his skin glowing golden, and I wanted to punch him straight in the dick.
Fucking asshole.
“None of your goddamn business,” I told him, pulling myself up. Ignoring my clothes, I stalked away, needing some distance.
“You’re in danger, Maddison,” Asher called after me. “You need an ally. We can work together.”
I flipped him off and kept walking. Fuck that. Fuck that to hell and back.
The time had come and gone for me to need an ally, especially one that was Asher Locke. The trust we’d had was damaged—maybe beyond repair. And while Asher was probably right about me being in danger—that god had been scary and strong—it didn’t change anything. I was here at the Academy to learn, and I would not let anyone distract me from that again.
When classes started back on Monday, I was first to every class and last to leave. I approached every one of my teachers, asking them for an advanced syllabus because my powers now were too strong for normal second-year classes. To my surprise, all of them had already been prepped on this and were prepared for me. I was especially excited for my extra classes in Sword and Sorcery. I’d be using some Atlantean weapons.
