by Abbie Lyons
But I have nothing to be nervous about. So what’s the deal?
And that was when I remembered that maybe I wasn’t the one feeling that way. But why was Raines nervous?
I wasn’t left wondering long because the next thing I could feel was that red-eyed glare.
I guess Raines still hasn’t learned that it’s rude to stare.
He was sitting in a circle with Collum and Aleksandr, the so-called Infernal Three, who he’d told me he was spending the break with. I couldn’t even imagine what kind of trouble a few teenage demon boys could get up to over the holidays—and I’m not sure I wanted to know, either.
I wondered if maybe Raines had some sort of fling with a cute demon girl or something and couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit jealous.
Shit. Is he gonna know I feel jealous?
Until now, I’d only been thinking about the fact that I was feeling every single one of Raines’s mopey-dopey feelings. Somehow my dumb ass had failed to consider that he was also feeling all of mine.
That wasn’t gonna fly. I’d have to do my best to suppress any potentially embarrassing feelings, because I was decidedly not cool with Raines of all people knowing exactly what was happening in my mind at any given moment. Yikes.
But things only got weirder. Our emotions were creating a feedback loop. Feeling his nervousness made me feel stressed, which in turn made him feel...sad? Was that the emotion I was experiencing?
"So, spill," Morgan said. "Tell me absolutely everything."
My heart hammered. "What?"
"Your classes, you nonce! What have you got this semester?"
Of course. Classes. School. The whole reason we were all here. "Oh, right." I fished my parchment schedule out of my satchel, where I'd stuffed it without even looking.
"Please tell me you're in Applied Methodology of Terror with me," Morgan said. "I couldn't bear it without you. I think it's going to be honest agony. Professor Riggs is supposed to be a hardass."
I looked. "Yep. We're together." Morgan sighed in relief. I kept reading. "Theories of Demonological Hierarchies," I said. "Professor Mantel."
"Oh, good!" Teddy chimed in. "I'm in that one too."
"Same," Morgan said, visibly pleased. "That’s sort of...demon political sciences, as far as I understand it. Should be a bit of a laugh. Let's see...well, I guess neither of you are moving on to Sumerian Level 2, eh?"
I read further down. "Aw, are you kidding me?" Remedial Latin 2, with our snoozing friend Professor Stultior. I glanced up at Teddy, whose face confirmed everything. "Well, at least we'll have plenty of time to get homework for other classes done," I remarked.
"I really think I'm getting Latin down," Teddy said. "Probably one more semester and we'll both be up to speed, Nova."
You had to admire the kid's optimism. I looked down for my final class. "Beginning Fulguration," I said aloud. "What's that about?"
"I think it's like the equivalent of pyromancy," Morgan said, "but with electricity. Fun stuff, that. We've had mastery over electrical forces way before your bloke with the key and the kite. Although, come to think of it, maybe he was a demon, too."
I didn't know enough about Ben Franklin to agree or disagree, and it was kind of a hilarious image. The ability to shoot lightning from my fingertips sounded pretty badass, too.
"Not bad," I said. "I mean, I guess. I literally have no idea what to expect."
"The real question," Morgan said, "is who'll be in class with us." She leaned back in her chair and scanned the common room. "Is our dearest pal Camilla back yet?"
"No. Thank God." I rolled my eyes even though my archnemesis wasn't there. Then I realized how crazy it was that I had someone I could legitimately refer to as "my archnemesis." Well, socially, anyway. In terms of life-or-death survival, I guess my archnemesis was technically Chaos.
And anyone who wanted to sacrifice me to its forces.
"She's off skiing," Teddy said. "Or so I overheard from Ruby. Not that I was listening!" His cheeks flushed. The last thing he needed was another round of humiliation at the hands of the Demon Plastics.
I snorted. Even demon rich girls had the same stupid hobbies. Maybe her skis were made of human bones, or something. Then again, that'd mean she'd have to touch something—gasp—human.
"I for one welcome a little holiday from Miss Demon Purist," Morgan said. "Does make me wonder who else will be in class with us."
She threw a not-at-all subtle glance at the Infernal Three. I ignored it—totally unsuccessfully. My own awareness of her stare, plus whatever Raines was feeling about it (some mix of irritation and maybe...anxiety?) was a heady mix. I forced myself to take a few deep breaths.
"Yeah," I said. "It really does."
Morgan shrugged and sat back up straight. "Well, while we're lounging here, anyone up for some drinking? I know a few good games." She winked. Teddy's eyes widened. I didn't want to think about what the demon version of beer pong or flip cup was going to be like, especially not if it involved Hellwater, which burned like a combination of vodka and paint thinner. Not to say it didn't do the trick, though. And maybe a little alcohol would take the edge off my incessant two-person mood swings.
"I'm down," I said. "What do we need?"
By way of response, Morgan leapt up and motioned for me to follow her to the dorm, and a few hours later, I'd surmised that demon drinking games were basically the same as human ones, except they involved more tarot cards.
"Your turn, Noves." Morgan hiccuped from her cross-legged position at the foot of my bed. Teddy's glasses were hanging slightly askew, his cheeks quite pink.
"Done." I drew a card from the stack, feeling not drunk, exactly, but not as wired as I had. On the card, the shimmering lines of the art depicted a skeleton, wielding a sickle and surrounded by a field of bodies.
Death.
"Holy shit," I said. “This is...bad.”
Morgan squinted at the card, and shook her head violently, the ends of her dark bob hitting her in the face. "No, no, no, you're not going to die," she explained. "Death just means the end of something. And therefore the start of something new. Like a chapter in your life is coming to a close."
"Or my entire life is coming to a close," I said. "Come on, Morgan. It's death."
Morgan scoffed. "You half-humans. So morbid." She poured out another shot. "Just take your medicine."
I hated to admit it, but the card rattled me. Put whatever metaphorical spin on it you want, death was death. And I'd come way too close to the real thing recently.
"Not yet. I'm getting crazy dehydrated. Do we have any water in here?"
Morgan looked around. Teddy seemed to have fallen asleep, because he sat up with a start.
"I'm just resting my eyes," he said.
"I'm gonna take that as a no," I said. "Be right back. I'll make it a round."
I stood up and slipped through the door. Outside, in the dormitory hallway, the air was crisper, and felt wonderful on my flushed skin. I started for the common room, enjoying the relative silence—Morgan had been blasting Ace of Base, because apparently she was stuck in the 90s—when I felt a hand close around my wrist.
I whirled around, my adrenaline rising double. Which could only mean one thing.
Raines was staring back at me.
He dropped my wrist, and put his hands in his pockets. I felt my—our?—emotions steady a little as he looked at me, the surprise of the moment ebbing away.
"Jesus, Raines, you scared the crap out of me." I gave my head a little shake. "Also, what are you doing here? This is the girls’ dormitory, in case you haven't noticed. And I'm pretty sure being soul-bound to a girl doesn't cou—"
"Shh," Raines said, taking a half-step toward me. "Keep your voice down."
I mashed my lips together. The Hellwater seemed to be going to my head now that I was standing. "Why? It's not like there's anyone here."
"You never know," Raines said. "You didn't see me coming."
He had a point. I put my hands
on my hips, trying and probably failing to look as intimidatingly sassy as I could. Then again, could I even intimidate someone who felt my every emotion?
"So what do you want here in the girls' dormitory?"
He blinked, and I caught just a glimmer of the red flash of his eyes. No, not caught—felt. It was like a brief, vicious slash to the center of my chest, like nothing I'd ever felt before, immediate, sharp, bright, yet not painful. Not exactly. Acute. Unignorable.
"Don't be cute," Raines said shortly. "This is serious."
At that, my whole body went warm. A flash of our soul binding ritual came into my mind. Or was it into his mind?
Either way, I could feel it. Remember exactly what we'd done. What I'd seen, felt, tasted. And now what Raines had too.
I swallowed, my throat like sandpaper. "Okay. I know. Talk to me."
He blinked, and any glow was gone from his eyes. "I don't want you being that casual with your friends."
"What do you mean, casual?" That annoyed me, seriousness or not. "They're my friends, Raines. Not all of us hang out by sequestering ourselves to a corner and glowering at people."
He ignored that. "You can't let them know. You have to be more careful than you are."
"Are you saying you don't trust me?" I said, my voice rising in spite of myself. "Because it's a little late for that, considering you're bound to m—"
"See!" Raines almost shouted. What was it with him and interrupting? "That's what I mean, Nova. That kind of shit." He ran a hand through his hair. It was strange: I hadn't laid eyes on him in days, and yet the sight of him felt as familiar as if we'd been talking all day. I could feel as much as see what he looked like: the solid lines of his arm muscles, the edge of his black T-shirt stretched over his collarbone, right at my eye level, the angle of his jaw. It was all familiar. I'd never had a home, not really, but I imagined it might feel something like this.
No. I shook my head. This was the soul binding talking. Or the Hellwater. Shit, maybe those were two substances you shouldn't mix. I hadn't even thought of that. It wasn't like the bottle had a warning from the demon surgeon general.
"Nova," Raines said. His voice was low, firm, serious. "I do trust you. I have to trust you, and you know it. Don't make me regret it. Please."
The warmth surged in my chest again. Another effect of the soul binding was supposed to be stronger power—that you could draw on another demon's soul as much as your own. With only a half-demon soul to begin with, that had sounded appealing to me. That was the whole reason I was doing this. But I still hadn't figured out exactly how I could use my new bonus power—or if that's what this feeling even was.
"I won't," I said. "My lips are sealed." I did the little zip-lip gesture, and Raines rolled his golden eyes. When they weren't glowing blood-red, they weren't half bad.
"No one's mentioned anything, have they?" Raines said. "About me, or...anything?"
I shook my head. "I mean, nothing beyond the regular gossip. You know Morgan."
A muscle twitched in his jaw.
"Dude, lighten up," I said. "This isn't life or death. I mean—"
The tarot card flickered in my mind's eye. Death. I shivered.
Raines shivered too.
"—okay, so maybe it's slightly life or death," I said. "But look, Chaos isn't coming back, so far as we can tell. Let's just start second semester and just...try to have things be normal, okay?"
Raines lifted an eyebrow, and I knew exactly what he meant. There's no such thing as normal anymore.
"I don't like this any more than you do," he said at last. "But—"
"Nova?"
My gaze snapped down the hall. Teddy, a little wobbly, was poking his head out of my Morgan's and my room. His glasses were pushed almost to the end of his nose, to the point where I would have been shocked if he could actually see.
Another shiver.
Oh, God. I hoped he couldn't see.
"Who's that with you?" Teddy called. Without thinking, I shoved Raines into a cornice in the wall, so he was just in the shadows, and hopefully too indistinct for Teddy's astigmatic eyes to make out.
"No one," I said. "I'll be right back."
"Okay." Teddy seemed unfazed and tottered back into our room. As soon as the door clicked shut, Raines whirled on me.
"See?" he said. "You're already miserable at this."
I flicked my hair over my shoulder. "Seriously? If you think I'm a bad liar, then you clearly don't know me as well as you think."
But as I walked briskly off towards the common room, I couldn't shake the feeling that he might have been right.
Chapter Three
"Welcome back, students."
Dean Harlowe's smooth voice rang out against the stone walls of a massive, cathedral-like room, complete with stained glass, arched ceilings, and an altar. Our usual assembly room apparently hadn't yet recovered from the whole "showdown with a Chaos-possessed student" thing yet, so we were relocated for today to what Morgan informed me was a chapel dedicated to the reverence of the Old Gods.
"More a museum type thing than anything else," she'd said, "since it turns out a lot of those gods were rubbish anyway. But you know how it goes—old habits, etc. Plus the decor is banger."
"I trust that you all had a pleasant and refreshing term break," Harlowe continued. Dean Harlowe was always dressed to kill—probably literally—but today she looked a little more drawn than usual above her high-necked black blouse. Her makeup, as usual, was fierce. The heels of her patent-leather boots clacked against the flagstones as she slowly paced the black marble of the dais. "As you know, the end of last semester was...eventful, to say the least. So this short assembly is as much an admission to you as it is a welcome back."
She pursed her lips. "At Hades Academy, we pride ourselves on honesty and transparency. There is no sugar-coating here—that's for our angel friends over at Elysium." There were some murmurs of laughter. Dunking on the guardian angels that studied at our, I guess, sister school, Elysium, was an easy way to loosen up the crowd. "As such, I felt you all should know that yes, there was a Chaos incident at the end of last term. Hence the change of location, for one thing." She gestured to the cathedral. "You'll also notice an increased presence of the kyrioi here for the remainder of the year. As before, this is done only for your safety."
To each side of her, and lining the walls of the cathedral as well, were the tall, dark-clad demons known as kyrioi, who were looking extra intense. I'd thought of them as like the Men in Black of the demon world, but maybe they were more like the Secret Service. Or Black Ops. In any case, more of them couldn't be good. A ripple of fear went through me—mine or not mine, I couldn't tell.
"I also feel that it's my duty to inform you that due to this incident, until further notice, Hades Academy is on primary probation from the Regents."
At this, a small gasp went up from the student body. I looked at Morgan, needing an explanation.
“The Regents are the...well, the government, basically,” she said. “For all supernaturals. That’s some serious shit.”
That explained the reaction from the students—and the professors, too, who were seated in ebony-wood thrones behind Dean Harlowe on the altar. It must have been a surprise for everyone.
My eyes went, almost instinctively, to Wilder. I almost couldn't believe I hadn't been staring at him this whole time. Wilder—Professor Frost to everyone but me and, I guess, Raines—was staring straight ahead, posture straight but relaxed, as though he knew he was in charge and didn't have to worry, his horn-rimmed glasses gleaming slightly in the light of the torches. His blonde hair was smoother than the last time I'd seen it, and his face was free of scruff. Whatever he'd done over the break had gotten him back into fighting form.
But who was he fighting?
“As you may know,” Dean Harlowe continued, “Hades Academy is subject to the standards set forth by the Regents, as are all institutions of supernatural learning. Probation simply means that we are...monitored m
ore closely. This shouldn’t—won’t make any difference in your day-to-day class life. In fact, I would encourage you not to trouble yourselves with it. Your studies are far more important than—”
“Pardon the interruption, Genevieve, but when did this happen?” Professor Lattimore got to his feet, looking confused more than angry. It wasn’t like him to get angry, anyway. “That is to say...” He lowered his voice, but we could all still totally hear him. “The faculty have not been made aware of the probation.”
Dean Harlowe’s smile tightened. “All in due time. I might remind you of the faculty convivium immediately following the student assembly?”
Professor Lattimore adjusted his lapels, nodded, and sat down.
“Ooooh,” Morgan whispered under her breath. “This has got to be a deal if the faculty didn’t know, right?” She leaned in closer, like she’d be able to hear any whispers from where we were seated twenty rows back. “You think anyone’s going to get punished?”
I glanced at Teddy, who was pale, but maybe no paler than usual. Not that he was going to be punished for anything. That had already been established—he hadn’t done anything wrong. Whatever the school had done that had gotten us put on probation...
My eyes flew back to Wilder. One of the few faculty members who seemed unperturbed. Unbidden, I thought of my tarot card again, which made my head pound from more than just the lingering aftereffects of the Hellwater.
Had Wilder been trying to kill me?
“All of which is to say.” Dean Harlowe’s voice was taut as a bowstring. “From now on, we have a one-strike policy. Any student malfeasance will lead to dismissal from Hades Academy.”
The students immediately began chattering.
“Holy shit,” Morgan said. “They are really not joking around.”
“No kidding,” I said. “Guess we’ll have to restrict our dorm-room parties, huh?”
It was a lame joke, but Morgan gave me a laugh anyway, and chucked me on the shoulder. “Just so long as you stay out of trouble, Noves.”
“I wish you all,” Dean Harlowe said, her voice resonating through the assembly in a dignified kind of shut the hell up tone, “a productive second semester. I remind the first-year students that your next exetasis sessions are to take place next week as well. You are dismissed.”
