I turned my head away, not wanting to show my emotions so clearly. Lance moved my head back to face him. “Hey, what’s up? I know you’re in a triad with them. Obviously you’ll have to consult them, but I wanted to make sure you were interested in me first. Is there a problem? You’ve gone all sad all of a sudden.”
16
Would he laugh if I told him what upset me? Somehow I didn’t think so, even though I barely knew him. Before I could reconsider, I blurted out, “I want to date all three of you, but… I’m not really that comfortable with two guys, nevermind three. Where I come from, a girl dates one guy, and that’s it. I… I enjoy spending time with all of you, but sometimes, it freaks me out. Like I shouldn’t be allowed, like I’m doing something wrong.”
Tears pricked in the corners of my eyes before they flowed over and crept down my temples. Lance swiped at it with his finger. Then he kissed me, keeping it light and gentle. “I get it. All your life you’ve been taught to be a mouse, but now you’re here, you’re learning you could be an eagle. Why don’t you just go along with what you’re feeling? You like me, don’t you?”
I nodded. God, I did. Every time he looked at me, my heart skipped a beat. “And you want Kiernan and Julian as well, right?”
I closed my eyes and whispered, “Yes.”
His lips brushed across mine again. “So that’s your answer. It’s perfectly normal to be scared of new things. Especially things that go against everything you’ve ever known. Although… are you seriously telling me you’ve never heard of polyamorous relationships in your perfect world?”
My eyes flew open at the harshness of his final question. I didn't like the way he seemed to imply I was inexperienced. Don't get me wrong, I was. But that wasn't the point. I pushed at his shoulders, a little harder than I'd intended. Reluctantly, he moved aside.
"Of course I have. But you know damn well they aren't very common in middle America. So excuse me if I'm a bit freaked out. If I'd known you were going to react like that, I wouldn't have said anything."
He grinned as if my outburst amused him. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to offend you. It's just so normal to us, I didn’t even think it would be weird for you. Hasn’t anybody told you five is a very desirable number in a relationship?"
I calmed myself down. It was obvious his upbringing had been very different from my own. I remembered what Kiernan and Julian had told me. "Yes. They are called quints, right? I just don't know what’s so special about five."
Lance had slipped off my body into the gap between me and the wall. There wasn't enough space, though, so he was still pressed tightly against me, his arms and legs spread out across me. His breath wafted warmly over the skin between my neck and my ear. I shivered, waiting for him to respond.
"Well, the number five is magical. There are the five elements--air, earth, fire, water, and spirit. At the academy, they call it ‘life’, but traditionally, spirit unites the other four. You're probably familiar with the pentagram, which looks like a star with five points."
I giggled as he licked my ear. "Cut it out," I protested, but he was already speaking again.
"The pentagram is a symbol of balance between the spiritual and physical. It's the basis of a lot of our rituals and spell craft."
"Oh, I didn't know we needed spells. I thought we just drew on the magic inside of us."
"We won't learn about it until the final year. And then, if you want to, you can specialize in spells and potions. It's very academic. You’d have to memorize lists of plants and their uses in rituals. Most people are happy to use their own magic without layering years of study on top of it."
"What about you? What are your plans after this?"
He shrugged, his face a carefully neutral mask. "I might look into renewable energies or weather management. What about you?"
I thought for a moment. It wasn't really something I’d spent a lot of time thinking about. Until recently, all I’d wanted was to go back home. But after my parents had rejected me, it was clear I’d stay here until I graduated. Maybe I needed to talk to Ms. Farkas to discuss what my options were.
"I actually have no idea," I admitted. "I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life."
Lance didn't push for any more information. He pulled out his cell phone and checked the time. "Crap, I have to go. I still have to write a paper for History of Magic. Will I see you tomorrow?"
I crawled out of bed to give him space to get up. Watching silently as he straightened his clothes, I was caught up in my thoughts about what I was going to do after the three years were up. There was a tiny shred of fear, like a niggling splinter of glass, that they wouldn’t let me go. I pushed it down mercilessly. It wasn’t like I had a choice, now or in the future.
After Lance had left, I got myself ready for bed, hoping Sharon wouldn't return. I had no interest in another fight with her. But at least now, I had the confirmation Lance wanted to be in a relationship with the three of us. And even though his attitude annoyed me, I did feel better about dating three guys. The thought carried me into sleep with a smile on my face.
It didn't last long. Images of Lillian being abducted, of being hurt like Matt, invaded my dreams. Two men held her down, and another one was standing over her, pointing a gun at her face. I screamed for them to stop, and when they turned around, I recognized them. The ones restraining Lillian were Julian and Kiernan, but the one upright was Strickland.
Grinning, he walked up to me and put the muzzle of the gun against my forehead. A wave of terror rolled over me, freezing me in place. Strickland’s face contorted into a mask of hatred and bile. He whispered, "I'm still here. You know I am. And I'm coming for you."
I woke up with a scream stuck in my throat, my heart pounding, and my hair plastered to my sweaty skin. Trying to get my breath under control, I lay on my back, staring into the darkness. Somewhere out there, Lillian was either dead or being held against her will. I was sure of it. Why would she have been targeted? Did it have something to do with the flash drive she had taken with her after class?
Slug jumped on my bed, giving me such a fright, I stopped breathing for a moment. He seemed unusually agitated, butting his head under my chin. He hopped onto the floor, then bounced straight back up onto my chest. After the third time, I had enough. "For God's sake, cut it out. What's the matter with you?"
Slug yowled, setting my teeth on edge.
"Whatever it is, make him shut up," Beth grumbled from her bed.
"Okay, Buster. You're out of here." I got up, threw some clothes on, and opened the door for him. Maybe he just wanted to be let out and catch a mouse or something. But instead of escaping the stuffy bedroom, he weaved through my legs and pushed me toward the exit.
I tried to resist, but Slug didn’t give up. And now I was wide awake. A walk might do me good and make me sleepy. I put on some shoes and grabbed my coat while the cat waited patiently. I swear, sometimes he acts less like a cat and more like a dog. He didn't leave my sight until we were outside. Then he ran ahead to the right and stopped until I’d caught up.
Slug turned right and right again, always with me chugging along behind him, until we’d circled the dormitory wing. A dense forest began at the back of the building, but that wasn't where he was taking me. The moon was out, and it was just bright enough to see the outlines of the academy and the surrounding trees.
I walked carefully to avoid tripping until I reached a pile of broken bricks. Slug ran to the small mountain of clay pieces and started digging. Watching him for a few moments, I was wondering what on earth was going on when a voice sounded from behind me.
"Amber Whitman. What are you doing here this time of night?"
17
I suppressed a yelp and spun around. Mrs. Palmer stood behind me, close enough that I flinched back. I couldn’t see her face clearly in the dark, but her voice sounded pissed. I looked for Slug to use him as an excuse, but he’d disappeared at the first sign of trouble. Traitor.
“Yo
u know you’re not supposed to be outside of your dormitory after hours. It’s not only against school rules, but the grounds aren’t safe at night so close to the forest.”
I put on my little-girl-act, although the warning alarmed me. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Palmer. I won’t do it again. I didn’t realize it was dangerous. I just wanted to go for a walk because I couldn’t sleep.”
Mrs. Palmer raised her hand to stop me from walking away. “While I’ve got you here, there is something I meant to ask you, Amber. Please refrain from using your lightning power on campus. Don’t practice it, and don’t use it in class or in the finals.”
I was taken aback by her request. “Why not? I’m not as good with my secondary powers. And I thought I was supposed to learn control over my lightning. I don’t understand.”
Mrs. Palmer linked her arm with mine and led me back the way I’d come. “I’m not asking you to sabotage yourself. I can’t say more, except that drawing attention to your primary power will put you in danger within the academy.”
My eyes widened at her words. The whole scenario was an uncomfortable déjà vu of my experience with Strickland. He’d also warned me of unseen dangers in the school. Only it turned out he’d been the greatest danger of them all. Also, Mrs. Palmer’s warning made no sense. “But everybody knows how I ended up here. What’s there to hide?”
The teacher’s voice sounded strained in the dark. “Not everybody has witnessed the extent of what you can do. Please trust me on this. It is in your best interest to stay under the radar.”
As we rounded the corner back toward the main campus area, I thought about her words. Unlike Strickland, I would have trusted Mrs. Palmer with my life. If she said I needed to lie low, I would. Maybe she was the right person to talk about Matt? I was about to ask her, when her grip tightened painfully on my arm.
“Ouch,” I protested. The next thing I knew, she was using her whole body to push me back around the corner, out of sight. “What’s going on?”
She clasped her hand over my mouth and whispered urgently into my ear. “Those men… They can’t find us.”
I didn’t have to ask which men she was talking about. Why was she afraid of them, though? She was a teacher, after all. Who were these guys?
Mrs. Palmer held me tightly pressed against her, and her hand was still over my mouth. I didn’t like being in that position, but I wanted to be discovered even less. Her fingers smelled of tomatoes and garlic, as if she’d just finished cooking. A wave of nostalgia washed over me as I remembered my house smelling like that whenever my mother cooked her famous spaghetti Bolognese.
It seemed to take forever, but finally Mrs. Palmer removed her hand and stepped back. “I think they’re gone.”
“Who are they? I’ve seen them a few times on campus.”
Mrs. Palmer hesitated before answering. “It’s probably best if you know as little as possible. Just remember, don’t display your full powers to anybody. And if you see those men, run.”
Keeping me back with one hand, she stuck her head around the corner to double-check. “The coast is clear. Make sure you go straight to bed, and I see you in the morning.”
By the time I reached my room, I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep. But as soon as I hit the mattress, I was out like a light.
I woke up feeling happy and rested. That feelings lasted until Sharon came back from the shower. The door opened, and she stumbled in, carrying her towel in her hand. She’d lost even more weight. Her clothes hung off her, and her collarbones were prominent in the V-neck shirt she was wearing.
I grumbled to myself. “How the hell does she look so skinny with all the candy she’s eating?”
Slug sneezed, which I took as agreement. He’d curled himself into the space between my cheek and my shoulder, despite his size. I’d woken up some mornings with a crick in my neck because my cat’s bulk had forced me into a weird sleeping position.
Sharon made an odd sound, just as I was trying to push Slug off the bed. I looked up in time to see her collapse to the ground. I rushed to help her. “Oh my God, are you okay? What happened?”
She was already scrambling to get up, obviously embarrassed. I grabbed her arm to pull her to her feet.
“Get off. I just haven’t had breakfast yet,” she spat.
When she was upright, I stepped back. “Have you had your blood sugar checked lately? Maybe you’re diabetic. Wouldn’t be surprising with the amount of sweets you eat.”
I’d probably overstepped my mark, but I was worried about her. And a little pissed because she’d snapped at me. Sharon reacted predictably. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you my mother?”
My face grew hot. “Look, I was only trying to help. Healthy people don’t collapse because they’re late for breakfast.”
Sharon’s expression relaxed into a weak smile. “I appreciate that. Sorry for biting your head off. But seriously, all I need is something to eat.”
Did Sharon just apologize to me? Again? Proof the world’s ending.
I finished my breakfast in record time and rushed to the first class of the day. Tech-Mag was fascinating as usual. We continued working on IT peripherals. We learned how to enchant an external hard drive. Apparently, with the correct ritual, all we had to do was bring a hard drive or a USB stick next to a PC, and the gadget would pull all the data from the computer without even needing to be connected.
I leaned over to Kiernan and whispered, “Seriously, this is getting more and more suspicious, don’t you think?”
He looked up from his notepad. “I don’t know. I find it super-interesting, though.”
His gaze drifted from my face over my shoulder, and his eyes widened. “Shit,” he murmured and bent his head low over his notepad.
Mr. Whitehall cleared his throat, and I nearly jumped off my seat. I hadn’t noticed he’d stopped lecturing. “Amber. I’m sure you’ve listened to every word I said. Would you like to demonstrate how to erase the hard drive on my desk?”
I gulped. He knew damn well I hadn’t paid attention to his explanation. What should I do? Hitting the square box with a bolt of lightning would definitely scramble the data. But Mrs. Palmer had been adamant not to use my primary power anymore. So what else would do the trick?
Water would damage the electronics, but probably not quickly enough unless I submerged the damn thing. Fire might do it if I managed to heat the metal disk inside the housing. That would melt the solderings and stop it working.
I closed my eyes and dug deep into my inner core as we’d been taught in Elemental. My lightning power sat in my upper tummy, right under my solar plexus. By now, it was easily accessible, and I had to fight to stop it from flowing through my body. Instead, I pushed it aside gently and dug deeper, willing the ball of energy to change from its blue-white color to a rich, orange flame. Then I heated it up.
Once I visualized a red-hot fire ball, I coaxed the energy upwards into my arms until it flowed into my hands. Opening my eyes, I aimed my fingers toward the desk. Then I forced the magic to erupt from the tips.
An invisible stream of super-heated air should have enveloped the hard drive and melted the soft wires inside. But that’s not what happened. Instead, the desk exploded in a glorious display of burning fragments of wood and metal. The classroom erupted with screams and students diving for cover.
Silence descended on the room. Nothing moved except for wisps of smoke slowly drifting upwards and bits of burning paper helicoptering back to the ground. I stared at the desk, unable to believe the amount of damage I’d done. When I looked up, everybody gawked at me with their mouths open.
Kiernan placed a trembling hand on my arms and pushed them down as if disarming me. What had I done? My reputation at the academy was fraught enough without me blowing up the Tech-Mag classroom.
Mr. Whitehall stood next to the smoldering desk, his face white, and his mouth pressed into a thin line. He was the first to find his voice. “Amber Whitman, I think you and I need to go an
d talk to the head witch right now.”
He pointed at a tall boy in the front row at the other side of the room. “Robert, could you please take over, air out the room, and make sure you douse any embers?”
Robert nodded, a fine mist already emanating from his fingertips.
A water mage. That figures. This is so unfair. If I hadn’t been told to hide my primary power, this wouldn’t have happened.
I swallowed down my fear. Once again, I would be facing Ms. Farkas, the woman who had the power to send me to lifelong solitary confinement at a government facility, if she found I was too dangerous to be rehabilitated. So far, she’d been lenient, even helpful. But what if she decided I’d caused too much damage? A shiver ran down my spine, and my legs felt like lead.
Mr. Whitehall beckoned me impatiently to follow him, so I gathered my things and stalked after him. I avoided looking at my classmates, not prepared to see the judgment and fear on their faces. It would only remind me of how I’d been treated when I’d first arrived at the academy.
Kiernan and Julian hadn’t said a word as I rushed off. When I reached the door, I finally looked up, and my gaze met Sharon’s who sat right next to the exit. Instead of fear and revulsion, there was a strange kind of sympathy in her eyes. As if she knew what I was going through. Which was odd, because she and I had nothing at all in common.
Stepping outside, I was momentarily blinded by the bright sun in an ice-blue sky. A small crowd of students had assembled around the Tech-Mag lab, attracted by the noise of the explosion. The muttering increased as they watched me being escorted to the main admin building.
Second Chance Soul: a paranormal reverse harem steamy slow burn academy adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 2) Page 8
