She sighs in defeat. “Fine, but if she gets caught, you get to explain to the Guardians why we allowed her to take it.”
“Fine by me,” my dad says as he takes the suitcases from me.
“She won’t get caught. This dagger… I had a spell put on it that makes it undetectable from anyone and any machine. Eventually, the magic will wear off, but for now, Alana should be able to carry it around with her.” My grandpa sticks out his hand, urging me to take the dagger. “Only use it for emergencies and keep it hidden whenever you can.”
I pluck the dagger from his hand, noting the handle and blade have traces of violet swirled through the silver. “I highly doubt I’m going to be running into much while I’m there.”
“You should always be prepared for the worst,” my grandpa states ominously.
Puzzlement etches my mom’s face. “What exactly do you think’s going to happen?”
“You take care of yourself, Alana.” My grandpa ignores my mom as he hugs me farewell. “And call if you need anything at all.”
I nod, hugging him back. “Grandpa, are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been acting weird since yesterday.”
He fakes a smile, waving me off. “I’m fine. I’m just little sad. I’m going to miss all our bets and challenges.” I can tell he’s hiding something.
“Yeah, me, too.”
I don’t have too much time to overanalyze his sketchy behavior, though, because my mom announces it’s time to go. I say good-bye to my grandpa one last time before we head out to the car.
I fight back the tears as we pull away from the house. My mom cries the entire drive to the airport while my dad remains quiet. Me, I’m stuck in my own worry of what the Academy will be like, whether I’ll be able to make friends, or if I’ll end up scaring everyone off with my awkward jokes.
I become so lost in my thoughts that I don’t realize we’ve arrived at the airport until my dad opens the door to get out. I unbuckle my seatbelt and meet him around the back of the car to get my bags out.
No one utters a word as we walk from the parking garage to the tunnel that leads to the entrance of the airport. When we’re almost to the doors, my mom wraps her arm around my shoulder.
“I thought I was going to have at least another year before you left us.”
“Mom, it’s going to be okay,” I reassure her. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Her eyes glisten with tears. “You’re handling this much better than I thought you would. After how upset you were last night, I was worried you might try to run away.”
“I thought about it,” I say as the doors in front of us glide open. “But it wouldn’t do any good. You’d either have Grandpa use his Forseeing power to find me or have Aunt Aislin do a tracking spell.”
“True, but I’m still glad you decided to handle this maturely,” she says as we enter the busy airport.
For her sake, I just hope I can keep it up and don’t lose my shit when it’s time to take off.
“Where are we supposed to meet them?” I ask as we veer in the opposite direction of the ticket counter. “And don’t we need to get my ticket?”
“You’re not flying on a main airline,” my mom explains as we make our way toward the escalators. “The Academy has their own private jet.”
“Is that safe?” I hop onto the moving stairs with her and my dad. “To fly that way, I mean.”
My mom casts a quizzical glance at me. “Alana Avery, are you afraid of flying?”
“No.” But my thoughts laugh, liar, liar. I hadn’t realized it until now, but the idea of getting on an airplane makes me feel queasy. “How could I possibly be scared of flying with all the crazy stuff I’ve done?”
“It’s okay to be scared of ordinary stuff,” she says. “Sometimes, ordinary can be scarier when you’re not familiar with it.”
I want to argue that I’m not scared and put on my brave face, but I get distracted by a guy wearing black cargo pants, a dark T-shirt, and matching combat boots standing at the top of the escalator.
As we near him, his silver eyes lock on me.
Mother-effer.
Wolf guy from the club the other night eyeballs me. It’s only when he reaches up to scratch his forehead that I realize why he’s here.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I grumble to myself as I spot the Guardian mark on his arm.
As if reading my lips, his mouth curls into a grin.
“Asshole,” I mutter.
“Alana, watch your language,” my mom scolds me as we shuffle off the escalator.
Wolf guy smirks at that. I’m about to tell him to shove his smirk right up his ass when my dad sticks out his hand toward wolf dude.
“Jaxon, it’s so nice to see you again. It’s too long if you ask me.”
“It has, hasn’t it?” Wolf Guy—Jaxon—replies, shaking my dad’s hand. “And please, call me Jax. Everyone does.”
Come again? They know each other?
“How the hell do you know him?” I ask my dad. And since when does my dad shake hands with werewolves?
“Alana, be nice.” My dad blasts me a warning look. “Consider yourself lucky that he’s going to be your escort to the Academy.”
“Gee, lucky me,” I say sarcastically, giving a discreet, dirty look in Jax’s direction.
He can pretend all he wants, but I know what kind of a guy he really is: the kind who pushes vampires off roofs and threatens to kill me if I get in his way.
He winks at me before facing my dad. “Oh, I’m not just escorting her there, sir.” Yep, he actually called my dad sir. Way to kiss ass, wolf guy. “I’m going to be her partner, too.”
I grind my teeth. What are the odds of ending up with a guy who not only knew my plan to eliminate Anastasiya and threatened to kill me, but then he killed her himself?
“That’s great news.” My dad genuinely smiles at me for the first time since I broke the news to him that I’m a Guardian. “I feel so much better about sending you there now that I know you’ll be in good hands.”
“I thought you weren’t worried about me?” I remind my dad.
“Of course I’m worried. You’re my only daughter, and while I love you to death, you seem to cause trouble wherever you go. Usually, you have Jayse with you, so I have a little peace of mind, but the idea of you being on your own…” He shakes his head. “Well, I’m just glad you won’t be alone.”
I peek at Jax who’s staring across the airport at the food court then lean in toward my dad, lowering my voice. “For all you know, this guy could be as reckless as me … You know he’s a werewolf, right?”
“I know of the unfortunate incident that happened to him. You don’t need to bring it up. Jax’s father is a good man. He’s helped me out more than a few times.”
“You’re a good man, and look at how I turned out.”
“You turned out fine.” But he seems more hesitant now.
“Alana, please behave and be nice to Jax,” my mom says, moving between my dad and me. “It’ll be easier if can start this new school with at least one friend. I know how hard it can be for you sometimes.”
I want to tell them what happened at the club the other night and see if they remain on the besties-with-Jax page, but I decide to let it drop. It doesn’t matter what I say. They’ll still make me go to the academy. At least, if I pretend to try to be friends with Jax, they won’t worry about me. Besides, if Jax did murder Anastasiya, then technically it’s my job to figure out why, not my parents.
My mom takes my silence as an agreement to behave. She turns to Jax, giving him a warm smile. “Jax, it’s so nice to meet you. My husband has told me nothing but wonderful things about your family.”
“I’m sure he has.” Jax returns my mom’s smile, but he shifts his weight, seeming uneasy. “I hate to rush you guys, but we do need to get to the plane. Take off is”—he glances at his watch—“in less than an hour.”
“Oh, of course.” My dad collects my bags and wheels them with
him as he heads off with Jax toward a set of gliding doors.
My mom drapes an arm over my shoulder as we follow them. She continuously tells me that everything is going to be okay as we make our way through security and outside to a small plane with a portal stairway pushed up against it.
“Call me every single day and night.” She hugs me good-bye, squeezing me so tightly I swear my lungs are going to burst.
“I will,” I promise, fighting back the tears.
Eventually, I move away from her arms and say good-bye to my dad. He makes me promise the same thing as my mom before reluctantly letting go. Then I climb the stairs to the plane, waving good-bye to them before ducking inside.
The plane is smaller than I expected with only ten seats, four of which are occupied by three men dressed in dark suits and a woman sporting a collared shirt. They all look at me with annoyance when I walk up the aisle.
“Great, just what we need,” the woman says to the man sitting beside her. “A Keeper to corrupt the Academy.”
The man shoots me the death glare when he notices me eavesdropping. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, you can stop insulting my entire family.” I refuse to be intimidated by a guy who’s probably never fought a day in his life. “If your Academy is corrupt, it has nothing to do with the Keepers.”
“You speak highly of a group you’re no longer a part of.” The woman’s eyes narrow on me. “Alana Avery. That is your name, right? Daughter to Alex and Gemma Avery, who from my notes, are fairly high up in the Keepers’ circle, and granddaughter to Julian Lucas, a very powerful Foreseer.”
I hesitantly nod, wondering where she’s going with this. By the way she sneers, I’m guessing it’s not going to be pretty.
She leans toward me. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret. All of that may have mattered, but no one at the Academy gives a shit who your parents and grandparents are. In fact, it might be beneficial for you to keep that information to yourself.” She shifts back, crossing her legs. “Keepers are nothing but barbaric animals who fight first and think second. Trying to brag only makes you look equally as ridiculous.” With that, she starts lightly chatting with the man about where they should have dinner when we land.
Stunned by her rudeness, I wander down the aisle away from them. I’ve always known most Keepers and Guardians don’t get along, but I’ve never heard a Guardian be so blunt about their hatred for Keepers.
I take an empty seat toward the back, buckle my seatbelt, and stare out the window, watching my parents walk back into the airport. I feel lonely already, and we haven’t even taken off yet. How much worse is it going to get?
“It’ll get easier.” Jaxon plops down in the seat beside me.
I blink my attention from the window. “What will?”
“Leaving your family behind,” he says, fastening his seatbelt. “I’m guessing this is probably your first time away from home.”
“I’m only seventeen. Most kids my age are still living with their parents.”
The tolerant smile he gives me makes me feel like a child. “Not most Guardians. Most of us leave our families around fifteen or sixteen to attend the Academy.”
“How old were you when you went there?”
“Fourteen.”
“You were only fourteen? That’s … well, really sad.”
He simply shrugs. “I got my mark at fourteen. It’s not really that uncommon in our world.”
I frown at the “our world” reference.
“You were a little late getting your mark.” He reaches for my neck, grazing his fingers across the mark there and causing me to lose my mind for a second and shiver.
His mouth curls into a smirk, and I jerk back, pointing a finger at him.
“Okay, since we’re supposed to be partners or whatever, I need to lay down some rules.” I ignore the amusement dancing in his silver eyes as I continue. “The first thing you should know about me is that I’m not really cool with people invading my personal space or putting their hands on me without permission. Got it?”
He nods, his lips twitching to turn upward. “If that’s what you want.”
“It’s what I want.” I sound hesitant, though. “And second, I need to know what your deal was the other night.” I twist in my seat, bringing my leg up to rest my chin on it. “How did you know about my plan to off Anastasiya?”
His jaw clenches. “How could I not know about it when you and your little friend were blabbering about it so loudly the whole room probably heard?”
“No, we were actually talking pretty quietly, and the music was too loud for your little superpower wolf hearing to work. I know you don’t read minds, so fess up. How’d you know?”
His brow cocks. “How do you know I can’t read minds? Maybe I have Wicca in me. Did you ever think of that?”
My gaze hastily travels over every ounce of his flesh showing, but his arms and neck are about all I can see.
He reclines back against the armrest and gives me an amused look. “I can take my shirt off if you want to get a better look.”
I resist an eye roll. “Or you could just tell the truth.”
He drags on the anticipation for a few seconds longer before surrendering. “Look, I’m not a witch, okay? And I didn’t overhear you, but I can’t tell you how I knew about your stupid plan.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “It wasn’t stupid. I knew what I was doing.”
“You’re not a Keeper or a wolf or a vampire; therefore, it was stupid to think you could kill a vampire as powerful as Anastasiya,” he says matter-of-factly.
Anger simmers under my skin. “Don’t pretend me being weak is why you stopped me. You only did it so you could kill her yourself, but what I don’t get is why a Guardian would kill Anastasiya. I didn’t think they killed at all, just found the person who committed the act.”
His brows pull together. “What’re you talking about? I didn’t kill Anastasiya.”
“Um, yeah, you did. I saw you on the roof or, well, the wolf you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Well, then, it was a wolf who coincidentally had the same silver eyes as you.”
His lips thin as he presses them together, no longer looking irritated, but disappointed. “You may have seen a wolf with silver eyes, but it wasn’t me.”
I pick up one of my bags I tucked under the seat. “Then who was it?”
He shrugs indifferently. “How would I know?”
“You sure look like you know.” I unzip the bag and reach inside to grab a bag of licorice. “And whoever it is, I can tell you’re disappointed in them.”
“Are you sure you’re not just a Guardian?” he questions with suspicion. “You seem like you know more than you should.”
“Did I ever say I was just a Guardian?” I take a bite of a piece of licorice then smile at him as he eyeballs me with distrust. “Relax, wolf boy.” I face forward and prop my feet up on the seat in front of me. “I’m not a Foreseer. My grandfather is one, though, and he sometimes does favors for me, so keep that in mind whenever you feel like lying to me.”
He’s silent for long enough that I think I’ve won the argument, but then he grins maliciously. “Before you start worrying so much about me, I’d worry about why Vivianne Monarelle seems so interested with you.”
I nibble on the end of the licorice. “Who’s Vivianne Monarelle?”
He nods his head toward the front of the plane at the woman who insulted me. She’s watching us with interest, and when she sees me looking at her, she glares at me.
“She’s in charge of new recruits at the Academy and pretty much runs the training classes. If you get on her bad side, she can make your life a living hell, and with how pissed off she looks right now, I’m guessing you already have. So, good luck with that.” He gets up and goes to sit up front.
I turn my attention to the window, but I can feel Vivianne staring me during takeoff. Once we’re in the air, though, I’m too distracted with freaking the
fuck out to care about her.
I’ve traveled with my grandpa Lucas through a crystal ball before and transported with my aunt so many times I can recite the transporting spell on cue. I even once fell through a portal Jayse’s little sister set up as a trap for us when we made her mad and ended up landing in a tree outside the Keepers’ castle. None of those forms of transportation are as terrifying as zooming through the sky in a plane controlled by a person.
My fingernails dig into the armrests as the plan jerks, and my muscles are wound so tightly my body aches.
“Never flown before?” Jax plops down in the seat beside me again about thirty minutes into the flight.
I shake my head. “How much longer until we land?”
“About six more hours.” He grabs a chip from a small bag he brought with him and pops one into his mouth.
“Six more hours of this?” I bite down on my lip as the plane gives another jolt. “Is it going to shake the entire time?”
“It might. It depends on if the storms clears.”
A deafening breath escapes me. “This is going to be the longest six hours of my life.”
Jax considers something before standing up and leaving me to panic on my own. A minute later, he returns to the seat with a bottle of what I think is water.
“Take a sip of this, and you should be able to sleep through the entire flight.”
“What is it?” I stare at it distrustfully. “Vodka or something?”
“A sip of vodka wouldn’t knock you out, Alana.” He sets the bottle on my lap. “It has Otium in it.”
I pick up the bottle and lift it closer to my face to get a better look. Up close, I can see the small flakes of lavender floating around in the clear liquid. “Otium, huh?” I glance at him. “How’d you get this?”
“My grandma’s a witch and taught me how to make it,” he replies with a half-shrug. “I keep it on hand when I’m on long flights.”
“How do I know if it’s Otium? What if you’re trying to poison me?”
“And why would I want to do that?”
“I don’t know.” My breath catches in my throat as the plane bumps around. “To keep me quiet about what I saw at the Black Dungeon.”
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