Magic Gambit (Hidden World Academy Book 3)

by Sadie Moss

  “I feel like I should swap back to warn my world about the Illuminati,” I can’t help but quip. Making jokes at a time like this? Cross must be rubbing off on me.

  “I say we give it a rest, then come back in the afternoon,” Bianca says. “I’m starving, anyone want lunch?”

  Sounds like a good idea to me—maybe we can brainstorm over food—and we head out of the library. It’s a beautiful day, if still freezing out. It’s only early March, but I want it to stop being winter and hurry up and get warm already.

  “Uh oh,” Cross mutters as we’re walking away from the building. He steps in front of me and I nearly trip over my own feet trying to not bump into him.

  “What’s ‘uh oh’?” I ask. I can’t see over his tall frame.

  Theo steps in front as well, and Kasian and Bianca close ranks on either side of me.

  “The dean,” Kasian says quietly. “He’s heading toward us with the police.”

  “Same people who interrogated us the other day,” Bianca whispers. “Fuck, I thought Roxie’s father scared them off.”

  “I thought so too,” I reply, nerves churning in my stomach.

  “There’s someone else with them,” Theo reports, his accented voice low. “I don’t recognize him, but he doesn’t look like police. He’s wearing a suit.”

  Crap. I don’t know who this person is, but if he’s with the police, it can’t be a good thing for me.

  “Step aside, please,” I hear Dean Langston say to Cross.

  My gruff boyfriend visibly bristles, but there’s really nothing he can do without starting a fight. He looks at Theo.

  Theo nods at him, and both men reluctantly part to reveal me to the dean and the guy in the suit. Kasian and Bianca stay pressed to my sides, their expressions challenging, as if they’re daring the cops to pry me away from them.

  This new man looks me up and down. He’s got a sharp look about him, which is not encouraging. I don’t want smart people dealing with me. His suit is dark and crisp, and his brown hair is carefully combed and curled, with a bit of a scruffy beard and a frame that looks like it was lanky once before he grew into it.

  “Pleasure to meet you all,” he says, but he’s looking just at me. “I’m Detective Charles Waverly. I was hoping I could take a moment of your time?”

  It’s phrased like a question, but we all know he’s not asking. I nod, and smile. Roxie would be confident, I remind myself. She wouldn’t let this faze her. Even if it did on the inside, she would never show it.

  “What can I do for you?” I ask, keeping my smile on. “I hope I answered all of the officers’ questions.”

  “We’re just doing a few routine checks to wrap up our investigation,” Waverly assures me. He seems a lot smarter than the cops that I had to deal with before, the ones flanking him now, and my heart races in my chest.

  Don’t let it show, I remind myself.

  “Well, of course, how can I help?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing much.” Waverly pulls a small object out of his pocket. It looks kind of like one of those devices they use to read radiation levels—a Geiger counter, that’s it. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close. “We’d just like you to perform a precipitation spell for us.”

  What?

  That’s a pretty basic spell. It’s where you draw on the moisture in the air and make it rain on a small area. It’s one of the spells that I had to learn and practice on my own because Roxie would’ve learned it all the way back in high school.

  “Of course.” I reach out my hands and perform the movements. I have no idea what this guy is looking for with his device, but hey, I can do the magic so it doesn’t really matter. Maybe he’s checking my magic signature?

  Uh oh. My heart starts pounding even harder. If they managed to find the warehouse where Gunner died, I performed a lot of magic in that place. There might be magical residue from my spells there. Could the cops read that? It would be like finding my fingerprints or some other form of my DNA.

  I really, really hope that’s not the case. I’d like to avoid going to jail, thanks.

  Water begins to fall onto the ground in front of me, raindrops coming from seemingly nowhere. After a moment, I do another gesture with my hands and the water stops, fading away. I look up at Waverly. “Is there something else you’d like to see, sir?”

  The guy is staring at me with a confused look on his face. He glances down at the device, then back up at me, a crease appearing between his eyebrows. His gaze searches my body, like he’s looking for something, and then he puts the device away—checking it one final time as he does so.

  “I could perform a dance, if you like,” I say dryly.

  The dean frowns at me behind Waverly’s back, as if trying to silently remind me that we don’t do “sassing the cops” here. I don’t care. It’s what Roxie would do, and I can’t let this guy see that I was ever afraid of him.

  “So, was that an x-ray scanner or…?” I ask.

  Waverly’s eyes snap up to me, and next to me, Cross and Theo snicker.

  “That will be all, thank you,” he says, stepping away from me. He seems… almost disappointed, actually. Like he was so sure he was going to catch me out.

  Wait. Did he think—?

  It was a really, really simple spell he had me do. Almost laughably simple. Like I said, Roxie would’ve learned this in high school. That’s at least three years ago, most likely even longer than that. Freshman year, I think, so… wow, seven years ago.

  Why would he ask me to do such a simple spell, one that has nothing to do with Gunner’s disappearance? If he’d asked me to do the stop spell, like I did over and over to Gunner to shield myself from his attacks, that would’ve made sense. He could’ve been cross-referencing the spell that he found residue of with my own magic. But this?

  It’s almost like he just wanted to see if I could do magic at all.

  Ice shoots through my veins. Does he suspect that I’m not Roxie? Shit, that’s almost worse than the possibility of him thinking I’m a murderer. What did I do wrong to give him that impression?

  It feels like a noose is closing around my neck, drawing ever tighter.

  “We’ll get out of your hair now,” Waverly says, his eyes still narrowed as he gazes at me. “Sorry to have bothered you.”

  Cross and Bianca give him yeah, you’d better be sorry looks, and then Waverly and the cops turn and leave. Dean Langston sighs. “Stay out of trouble, all of you, if you please.”

  Then he turns and follows after them.

  I almost collapse with relief, grabbing onto Kasian and Bianca for support. “Holy crap. That was a close call.”

  “Too close.” Theo frowns, watching Waverly as he walks away. “He suspected that you weren’t who you say you are. He was making you perform magic because he thought you wouldn’t have any. You’re just lucky that you have your own magic—if you’d still been using the fae charm, I think his device would’ve detected that.”

  Shit. Talk about dodging a bullet. I still don’t know how I even got my magic, but I’m insanely grateful for it, even more than I was before. I think it just saved my life.

  “We got away with it though,” Cross says. “She proved she has magic.”

  “For now,” Theo corrects, his voice a low drawl. He’s still staring after Waverly. “I don’t think that guy’s the type to give up easily. We need to move quick—I doubt he’ll leave us alone for long.”

  Fuck. We have got to figure out what the hell this prophecy means, and a way to stop it, so that we can get me home for good and Roxie back where she belongs—before anything else comes along and makes this more complicated.

  Chapter 16

  Monday comes, and I knuckle down for class. After Waverly’s visit, I have to keep up the pretense of being Roxie more than ever. I can’t be seen doing anything suspicious, and I especially can’t let my grades slip back to where they were when I first arrived. I nearly got kicked out of school for that, and I have to stay at the top of
the class.

  I manage to get through my morning classes, and I’m in the last of my afternoon classes, when Theo decides that he’s going to complicate things.

  We’re in our Magical Biology and Ecology class, learning about the ecosystem and magical creatures. Professor Harris wraps up the class by reminding us that the field study trip to the Aeriglades is coming up soon and today is the last day to sign up. It’s a voluntary trip for extra credit, and I have every intention of ignoring it and going on with my life.

  “It’s a great chance to study the balance of fresh and saltwater and the effect it has on magical creatures in the area,” Professor Harris is saying, and I’m just tuning him out, honestly.

  Then I see Theo’s hand pop up.

  “Roxie and I would love to go,” he says.

  I drop my pen as I gape at him. What the actual hell? Why?

  I can’t say anything in front of everyone, and I quickly school my face into a neutral expression, but seriously, what is he thinking? Is he insane?

  The moment that we get out of class I grab him. “What is the matter with you? We’ve got a crazy cult after us, and you want to go on a field trip? Is this spring break to you?”

  Theo loops an arm around my shoulders, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “As much as I would love to drag you to a spring break of debauchery on a beach,” he murmurs into my hair, “my ulterior motives for this are completely mission-related, I assure you.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it,” I mutter, wrapping my arms around his waist.

  We meet up with Cross and Kasian. I point at Theo. “Guess what insane thing this man did.”

  “Cupcake, that list is too long to even get started on,” Cross jokes.

  “I signed us up for Professor Harris’s field study trip to the Aeriglades,” Theo says, throwing his free arm around my ruggedly handsome boyfriend’s shoulders. “And you are going to sign up too.”

  “I’m what?” Cross’s tone is drier than the Sahara.

  “Same with you, bookworm,” Theo adds, looking at Kasian.

  The mocha-skinned man, to my surprise, doesn’t put up a fight. He just nods, looking intrigued. What is going on? What am I missing?

  I poke Theo. “Yo, you going to explain to the rest of us why you want us to do this? Other than indulging whatever insane vacation fantasies you’ve got going on about Florida?”

  Theo grins at me, pulling me and Cross in tight, like he’s about to share an exciting secret with us.

  “Well, darling, you see,” he drawls, and I swear he’s going extra British on me just to drive me a little nuts, “in Florida, there lives this little old lady…”

  “You know I’m at a perfect angle for dick punching,” Cross cuts in, still deadpan.

  Theo snorts, as if to say he knows I’d never let Cross harm his junk—which, actually, is true. I’m kind of attached to it.

  “In all seriousness, the best prophecy interpreter in the United States lives in the Aeriglades,” he finally explains, dropping the teasing tone. “If we all go on this field trip, we can slip away to see her without drawing suspicion. Otherwise we’d have to make up some excuse, or have an excused absence from school, and either way the Cult of Singularity might know what we’re up to if they’re watching us. This way, we can do it all undetected.”

  Kasian raises his eyebrows, nodding approvingly.

  A slow grin spreads over Cross’s face. “Okay, I’ll give you this one.”

  In spite of myself, hope flares up bright in my chest, and I grin.

  “Good call, Theo,” I tell him, one hundred percent serious. He squeezes me gently, and I can’t help but think that maybe—maybe we’ll finally get the answers we’re looking for.

  Now that we actually have some kind of plan, and one that might actually have a chance of succeeding, the rest of the week seems to pass way too slowly. Every day is a drag, and the guys are antsy too, which doesn’t help. Even Kasian, who’s usually the calmest out of all of us, seems to be impatient. I’m getting better and better in my classes, on a steep upward slant of growth, and I know it won’t last forever so I should enjoy it in the moment—except for the fact that I can’t fucking focus.

  I want to go down to the Aeriglades right now. I want answers. I want to find a way to help Roxie and to help myself. I need to find out what this stupid prophecy is about so that we can stop the cult and all of our lives can get back to normal.

  Whatever normal means nowadays, anyway.

  At least, if nothing else, the practice with my magic is good. We haven’t heard back from that inspector or the police, or anyone else, but I feel like I have to look over my shoulder a lot anyway. Just in case. I want to be as powerful as I possibly can with my magic, both to protect myself from the cult and to make sure that detective whatever-his-name-is can’t clap me in irons for not being Roxie. The guys can’t help me cheat forever. They might not always be around to protect me from the cult either. I need to be able to stand on my own two feet.

  I have no idea what I’ll do with my magic when the time comes to swap back with Roxie.

  How can I live in my own world when I have magic? How will that even work?

  It’s another thing that makes me feel like I belong here more than at home, and it’s another thing that I know I’ll miss about this world when I have to leave.

  Without planning it—without even really thinking about it—I end up sleeping over in one of the guys’ rooms every single night. A lot of the time it’s all four of us, the other two who don’t live in that room joining along anyway. None of us really say anything about it. It’s like saying something about it makes it real, painfully real, and I don’t even know how to begin talking about it, so I don’t. I’m not sure any of the guys, not even Kasian, know how to talk about it either.

  It’s not exactly our biggest problem right now. The cult and Roxie are definitely at the top of the list. But it’s still something we have to think about. Something we have to address. And once we deal with Roxie…

  God, I almost don’t want to solve it. I almost don’t want to defeat the cult.

  Stupid, I know, with everyone’s lives and the fate of at least one world, if not two, literally at stake. Crazy. But I can’t stop myself sometimes thinking maybe…

  Maybe we could just let things stay the way they are.

  Because that way I wouldn’t ever have to leave my guys, wouldn’t have to leave this colorful, magical world that I’ve come to genuinely love.

  But of course, that’s horribly selfish.

  Bianca’s a surprising help with all of these mixed-up feelings. “I’ve never loved anyone the way you all love each other,” she mentions to me one afternoon, when I’ve finished ranting for at least the fifth time about how unfair it all is. “It’s bullshit that you guys can’t—that it worked out this way.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” I admit, sinking down onto my bed. Bianca’s stretched out on it, and we’re supposed to be doing homework, but like I said, focusing on schoolwork is not exactly my top priority at the moment. I want it to be Saturday, I want to finally get some proper answers, but I’m also terrified because it could mean the beginning of the end.

  God, this all seems so much cooler in the movies.

  “You’re supposed to take advantage of the time that you get with them,” Bianca says in an exaggerated wise voice, and I laugh unexpectedly, the sound bursting out of me before I even register the impulse.

  She is right though, I suppose. There’s not anything I can do to stop the entire rules of the universe. I can only love the guys as much as I can while I get to be with them. “Thanks, Bianca. I… I really appreciate the support.”

  “Of course.” She shrugs. “I’ve seen the way those men look at you. That’s the real fucking deal, the kind of thing I’m not even sure I have the guts to look for after what Gunner pulled on me.”

  A look of extreme distaste crosses her features, but at least the haunted look she used to get
whenever his name was brought up is fading.

  I nudge her with my elbow. “You’ll find it. I wasn’t even looking for it and I found it three times. From my experience, this kind of love will bash you over the head when you’re least expecting it.”

  She laughs. “You know, when I see him through your eyes, even Cross doesn’t seem so bad.”

  That makes me chuckle, and it also makes a little bubble of warmth grow in my chest. The two of them still snark at each other, but it doesn’t have anywhere near the same bite it once did. They’re both good people, and I’m realizing that it’s sort of hard to be on the same side for this long and keep up the level of animosity they used to maintain.

  They’re becoming friends, even though I’m sure they’d both strenuously deny it if I said that out loud.

  “Thanks, Bianca. I’m glad you have our backs.”

  She grins at me. “Oh, don’t you fret, I definitely do. I signed up for this field trip too.”

  Uh oh.

  I immediately have flashbacks to our visit to Anzac’s kingdom. She gave that guard so much sass that she nearly botched things for us with the fae. I can’t afford to have her doing that with this prophecy interpreter, not when we could finally be getting close to the answers we need about Roxie.

  But at the same time, I don’t want to push Bianca away. We’ve become actual, legitimate friends, and I know she still really wants to help solve this mess.

  “I figured you guys would need someone to cover for you while you sneak off,” Bianca goes on, and I let out a breath. Oh. Whew. The relief that fills my chest is warm and light and makes me a little giddy. “Professor Harris is going to wonder where you four are if you go wandering off to find this interpreter; you’ll need someone to make good excuses.”

  I lean over and hug her impulsively, wrapping my arms tight around her shoulders. “Thank you. Really.”

  She stiffens a little, letting out a small breath. To be fair, I did warn her that I’m a physically affectionate person. I think it still catches her by surprise sometimes, but I want her to know how grateful I am that we’ve become friends.