She snapped out of it, pulling away. “Okay, let’s not get too cheesy.”
The line broke the tension like scissors cutting a taut wire, and it was necessary. Something she couldn’t afford to feel was growing in her and she needed to put an end to it before it became a future regret.
This was her time for self-improvement, and no boy—no matter how cute—would be allowed to mess it all up.
Especially one that was a nightmare…up until he wasn’t.
The more time they spent together, the more she liked him. She wondered if he was real. That he’d truly changed. He’d always been hot, but feeling the hatred towards him had blinded her to his fine, pale features. Now that she stopped hating him, it was getting distracting, the way he looked at her. He was smart, too, which was trouble. He had been hiding it back at Grounder school because it wasn’t cool to be a nerd. Now at Arumrose, he stopped caring about impressing anyone and he’d once let it slip that he had made all A’s in the first term.
Naya’s attempts to eliminate him from her heart and mind were failing worse than she was in her first month at Arumrose.
As he taught her, their hands would occasionally meet—just by accident, maybe, but they’d hold them together a second too long, and it became awkward. It was electric, just like the hug, with white sparks floating in her mind. They didn’t just talk about lessons anymore. Sometimes they’d talk about life, and their eyes would meet, both of them feeling something growing.
No matter what—he was still Ryan.
She couldn’t afford to be falling for Ryan. No. Way.
She finished up a particularly dangerous class, and as usual they were talking under the same tree by the river. They laughed, and their eyes met. For a moment she almost thought he was going to kiss her, his fingers touched hers, not a second without taking their eyes from each other. She could feel her heart rushing and beating faster. Naya felt Ryan’s face approaching slowly. She wanted to leave, but her body couldn’t move.
Do I want this to happen? No. Yes. No.
When he was less than an inch away, they heard someone gasping like a high-pitched squeak.
“Oh. My. God!”
Damn. It was Alice Vanderlog, queen of gossips at the Academy, who was swimming down the river. Ryan leaned back immediately and Naya held her hand, pulling it away from him, as if they were just talking.
“Girls! Come on fast! You won’t believe it!” She kept going.
They turned around and saw at least eight mermaids swimming fast their way.
“Great,” Naya murmured sarcastically, leaving Ryan with a confused look. Quickly she stepped up and grabbed him by the arm to hide behind the big tree.
Naya made a silent sign to Ryan so he could be quiet and suddenly a bright and sharp light appeared. She focused her sight into Alice and said “Olvitus Paulen” moving her fingers smoothly.
Ryan grinned and before he could ask anything, she saw the other mermaids arrive at the spot. They all looked excited, rushing forward for something juicy to talk about. However, Alice was in a trance for a few seconds. Not seeing a response from her friend, the group made a high and over-the-top noise, the classic mermaid call, that most teachers don’t allow in class due how irritating it was. To Naya, it sounded like an annoying screaming dolphin.
Alice shook her head and stared at an empty place where seconds ago an almost kiss had happened.
“What did you see?” one of them asked.
Though she was confused with the question, she didn’t want to look bad in front of them. After all she was the leader. “What did I see?” She scoffed “I saw my entire swim team so far behind me, I had to stop and wait for the slowpokes.” Ryan couldn’t believe what he just heard behind the tree. “Now, let’s keep going. You need so much training!” Alice's eyes rolled over as the other mermaids were in overdramatic shock.
When they were out of their sight, a breath of relief came out of Naya.
“What just happened?” Ryan asked, still in disbelief. “And are you allowed to do something like that?”
She looked away. “Olvitus Paulen is a spell to forget the last minute of your life.” Naya turned to him. “And no, it’s not allowed, so I will ask you to keep it a secret.”
“Why would you do it?” A mix of anger and sadness ran through his voice. “We were about to… You know. Would it be a bad thing if everybody knew about us?”
Naya’s eyes opened wide. That wasn’t happening. He didn’t refer to them as us.
“There’s nothing bad about it, because nothing was about to happen,” she snapped. “There is no us, and there won’t be.”
“Tell that to your eyes,” replied Ryan with a cocky tone.
“My eyes don’t talk. Anyway, Ryan, I must leave now. This conversation is over.”
Just like that, Naya walked firmly to the Academy by herself. Behind her was Ryan, standing still as he stared at her walking farther and farther from him.
Some minutes later she met Amy back in her room.
The only thing that could keep her mind off the near-kiss with Ryan…
Was the term results that were going to materialize in their rooms. Unlike the preliminary results, these were more private. Amy was waiting for Naya and luckily didn’t notice the extra flush in her cheeks from her near-first kiss—or else she would ask a million probing questions.
“Results are in, in five…four…” This was the full term results, and the students had been told to step at least five feet from their beds. Naya stayed pressed to the door while Amy was sitting at the foot of her bed, counting down eagerly. “Three…two…one…”
There was a flash of light, and a beautifully sealed envelope in thick paper appeared on their pillows. Amy jumped forward, ripping hers open.
Naya bit her lip. The preliminary grades were weighing on her mind. She took the thick paper envelope in shaking hands, opening it as carefully as she could.
“C! Yes, yes, yes!” Amy yelled out, fist-pumping. She was thrilled with a C, as long as she also had a great boyfriend, and she seemed more interested in hickeys than straight A’s.
Naya pulled out her results slowly, unable to look. “I bet you did great, now that your special help is getting…more special,” grinned Amy.
“Shut up. Ryan’s not my special anything,” she said, then gritted her teeth as she pulled out the results. Relief flooded her. “Oh my God! I did it!”
“Let me see!” Amy snatched her report card from her hands. “Huh? These are B’s and C’s, and I know you wanted A’s, right?”
“I know, but it’s enough to pass, and I can finally get rid of my tutoring lessons! As long as I was above average, Mrs. Belour said I wouldn’t have to continue them for second term.”
“Are you sure…I mean…” Amy cocked her head sideways. “Look, Nay, I haven’t seen you as happy as when you come back from your lessons with Ryan. I know you used to hate that guy, but he grew up. So did you. Why don’t you want to admit you have feelings for him?”
“I…” Naya looked down. “I don’t want to have them.” Amy was confused, not understanding. “Amy, you saw how all the girls throw themselves at him. He’s got a cheering squad at football games, I can barely stand to watch. I can’t be in love with someone like that. Wait! No, I mean…”
Amy’s jaw dropped.
“Did you just say in LOVE?” She put her hands on her cheeks. “Nay! That’s so cute! Your first love!”
Naya tried to silence her—she was so loud the next bedrooms over might hear. “You have to tell him, Nay. You have to.”
She rolled her eyes. “Nope. I’m going to tell Mrs. Belour my lessons are over and this stupid crush will fade away.” She grabbed her term results and gave Amy a hard look. “Don’t you dare say anything. I know you love to play matchmaker, but this cannot be.”
Amy zipped her lips shut, a little too blasé. Naya gave her a hard stare and stood up, taking her results to Mrs. Belour.
She should be thinking of he
r results, but all she could think of was her conversation with Amy. It felt so strange to accidentally say what her heart was saying, as if the words out loud suddenly made everything real.
Logically, it couldn’t be.
Ryan had made her life a living hell. So what if he changed? He couldn’t undo the past, and people don’t fully change, right? In their hearts, they must be the same person—and she couldn’t reward with her affection the guy who terrorized her in high school.
She bit her lip and started to walk slower towards the Academy and Mrs. Belour’s office.
The truth was, the time they had been spending together was amazing. She could barely think when she contemplated those moments. How could she describe them?
Maybe…maybe it wasn’t time to end the lessons yet. She hesitated, and her feet moved like she was walking through heavy snow.
She wasn’t getting straight A’s yet, right? No matter how happy she was to not be failing, she knew she could do better than mediocre, especially with the extra help. Two doors from the Headmistress’s office, she stopped and made her decision.
“It’s not time yet.”
The moment she thought it, warmth invaded her with pure happiness. She had a skip in her step as she turned back and thought about what Amy had said.
Should I tell him how I feel? Do I dare?
She swallowed hard. He had been right all along. She did want to go to the Autumn Ball with him, and not because of his threats. Walking back to her dorm room, there was a weight off her shoulders.
“Amy, guess what—oh,” she said, ready to spill the news but instead finding an empty room…
With a folded letter on her bed that simply said Nay.
She opened it up.
Naya.
Please meet me by the river. It’s urgent.
Trevor.
Worry filled her. This was unlike him. She was happy he’d never found out about her silly crush on him, and now they were good friends. Could he maybe have found out she liked him and now felt awkward? Could that be it? Was their friendship in jeopardy?
If it was something dramatic, it made sense he wanted her far away from everyone else…
Naya walked out of the dorms and headed away from the main Academy towards the forest, only to see Amy walking around, her head in her hands.
“Amy? Are you okay?”
She looked up, shaking her head. “I think…I think Trevor just dumped Kevin! I don’t know where he is, we have to talk to him, he must be going through something awful right now.”
“What! But they seemed inseparable! Maybe that’s why he sent me this letter?” She showed it to Amy.
“I’ll go with you, Nay. He can’t be alone right now.”
They rushed together to the place in the letter. It must be a cry for help. They were good friends, and Naya had been there when he had first asked Kevin on a date, helped talk him through their first fight, and even watched him cry with joy the night of their first “I love yous.”
I might not be good at my own love life, but I’m not letting him throw away something so beautiful.
Her heart hurt for them. She’d watched their love grow and if there was anything she could do to get them back together, she would. Their love was pure. It might not be perfect—but they handled everything with maturity and expressed their feelings well. No two people were more destined to be united than the two of them, and Trevor must be taking the breakup badly.
A meeting by the river?
Not a good sign.
She was happy to have Amy for backup.
They got closer to the spot that Trevor mentioned when Naya felt like she was hallucinating. There seemed to be petals of the many flowers of the forest spread over the grass. It was breathtaking. A white rose carpet, dotted with other colors, among the trees and under the bright sky. The view was wonderful.
She’d been going to that spot for the last three months for tutoring sessions, but it had never looked like this.
A chilly autumn breeze brushed through her hair, and the leaves and petals flew upwards, dancing in front of her when someone walked up from the riverside. Her vision was blurry from the beauty, and all she wanted to do was find Trevor and comfort him.
She felt a touch on her back, jumping as Trevor touched her shoulder.
He smiled, warm, and gave her a white rose. “Sorry to trick you, I knew you wouldn’t come otherwise,” he said. She took the white rose, utterly confused.
“You deserve this, Nay. Listen to your feelings, not your thoughts,” said Amy, handing her a red rose.
The shadow along the river became clear.
He had a rose.
She was so confused, feeling enchanted, as if all of them had drunk charming potions and were using it on her.
“I wanted to do this a long time ago, Naya.” Ryan’s voice was angelic in harmony, building her up. Her body shook like the leaves in the wind, her heart pounding like the rabbits that frolicked deep in the forest. “I wanted to offer you three roses.”
He extended his hand with the dark purple rose, the Arumrose, that he must have stolen at risk of being expelled from the Academy. It was too strange, but she felt that it was so right, and she took the final rose.
“What is this? I mean, what are these for?” She pointed down at the three roses in her right hand, enchanted by their beauty but confused. “I don’t understand why you guys—” Her friends were gone.
It was just her and Ryan.
“Naya.” He touched the white rose. “This is my honesty and loyalty.”
His hand gently moved to the red one. “This one is my love.”
Finally, he touched the purple rose, so deep in color it seemed unreal—or like the only thing that was real in this dreamworld. “And I give you my vampiric soul.”
Naya could barely understand his words. It was way too fast. She was barely able to understand her own feelings for him, feelings she’d only just admitted. It was too sudden.
It was too good to be true.
“Naya. Don’t go through all your thoughts.” He stepped forward, his face inches from hers. “Trust your feelings.”
“This is…” She pulled back. “This is too much, Ryan! I’m sorry!” She thrust the roses back in his hands, feeling her eyes wet as she ran back to the Academy.
All she could think of was the time they spent together. The laughs. The electric moments when they touched.
It couldn’t be real.
She couldn’t feel anything for Ryan—the guy who tormented her without mercy.
She had to focus. She had to do well, becoming a witch and a vampire that her parents could be proud of. The onslaught of feelings was way too much, way too fast. She couldn’t hold back the rush of emotions and tears burst from her eyes. She felt like he had downed a charming potion and tricked her into these things she couldn’t believe she was feeling.
It must all be a trick, just another way for him to bully her. He was sadistic and cruel, and it would be just like him to take her heart just to break it.
“Hey.” Ryan appeared from nowhere, using his vampire powers to catch up, and grabbed her in a firm hug. “I’m sorry. Don’t leave. Please, let’s talk.”
She looked up at him, feeling the safety of hatred. It was easier than love. “Talk? This is a trap, isn’t it!” she yelled out in the evening air. “Did you make a bet you could break my heart? Or were you just bored and wanted to play with my feelings?” The tears fell like rain down her cheeks.
“Why are you saying all this? You know this heart is true, Naya. I…I love you.”
Her world stopped.
“You can’t love me! It’s a lie!”
“I won’t accept that.” He stepped in closer. “The way you look at me…” His finger grazed under her chin, lifting her head up, making her wet eyes meet his gaze. “It’s the same way I look at you.”
His finger stroked up her cheek, and she felt tingles running through her body. She wanted to escape, to yell, to
scream at him, but she couldn’t break her eyes from him. “When we touch…that electricity isn’t normal.” He reached down, grabbing her hands, tender and not pulling her, letting her decide if she would pull away.
“And when I see you walk away, Nay, I can’t bear that feeling.” He pulled her in now, her body small against his. “Everything goes away when I’m with you. Everything makes sense. I feel strong…powerful…I feel so much joy when we’re together.”
He stepped back, suddenly, and his jaw clenched for a second. “Am I crazy? If it’s only me feeling this, you don’t have to see me again. I won’t use my powers to read your emotions. I won’t do that to you.”
Her eyes filled with fear, and when she didn’t answer, he swallowed hard and continued.
“I told Mrs. Belour your progress has been remarkable. It’s up to you if you want to continue with the classes. So Naya—what’s it going to be?”
“I’m done with your classes.”
Sorrow hit his eyes, and she knew then that what he was feeling for her was real. It wasn’t a trick. It wasn’t some fantasy. “I don’t want to keep seeing you.”
He looked down.
“As my tutor.”
His head darted up, his eyes full of puppy dog hope.
“Is that…”
“Ryan, I don’t want you to be my tutor because I want to spend the hours with you without having to focus on school.”
He gave her a hug immediately. She saw the hope in his eyes and she wanted to temper it—this was so much, so fast. “But. We need to take it slow. I know what you’re feeling…and I think I’m feeling it too, but this is all new to me. I’m letting go of the past but I’m conflicted. It’s like there’s two Ryans. The one that made my life a living hell, and the new you. Give me time.”
“I’ll give you all the time you need, Naya. We can have something great together. That’s worth waiting for.”
She grinned, relieved. His empathy was palpable and she saw no hint of a cruel trick or insincerity. He was going to fight for what they could have and she had never felt anything so beautiful before.
The Mage-Blood Test: A YA Paranormal Romance (Arumrose Academy Book 1) Page 15
