One corner of Disha’s mouth lifted up. We were badass bitches. We could do this.
Then we stepped into the maze and were immediately attacked by a werewolf.
The hairy, snarling beast jumped out of a hedge and plowed into us like a freight train. Before I knew what hit me, I was on my back, the wind knocked out of me and gravel in my bra. What in the hell? This damn labyrinth was at it again. It was probably mad at me for escaping last year.
“Oh, God,” I groaned, sitting up. “This place is a nightmare.”
Disha started to answer but scrambled up, eyes fixed on something over my shoulder. “It’s coming back. Get up!”
Pushing into the gravel, I shoved myself into a standing position just as the hairy creature came at us again. His paws dragged through the pebbles, spraying them everywhere as he tore in our direction. His eyes were as yellow as his exposed fangs. The hungry look on his lupine face made my knees quiver.
I thought of the werewolf who killed Trey. This bastard would not hurt Disha. I wouldn’t let him. My cuffs flashed as I drew power from them.
Disha was quicker, making a deflector spell with deft movements of her fingers. It hit the beast in the chest, not stopping it, but throwing it off course. It scrambled sideways, still running, paws throwing dirt everywhere as it changed direction.
Heading right for me.
Without thinking, I pushed out. Stop!
The spell crashed into the werewolf, throwing him like a ragdoll for thirty feet. He crashed into a hedge and tore it apart, leaves going everywhere. The hedge wall groaned and shook itself as if angered by the attack.
As I was about to reach for Disha and get us the hell out, the werewolf transformed into a human. Bobby sat up, shook his head and waved a hand at me, letting me know he was ok.
Jesus, the werewolf was Bobby. Thank God I hadn’t used anything more dangerous. I’d forgotten Bridget had told us by the lake that he was a werewolf, but we hadn’t spoken of it since. The poor guy stayed seated on the ground, one hand on his naked privates, smiling sheepishly.
“Well, hello, Bobby.” Disha lifted an intrigued eyebrow and jutted her hip.
A slow clap started behind us as Bridget stepped out from behind a hedge.
“Not bad for noobs. Bobby is pretty formidable. It took a lot of power to make him shift back like that.” She walked over and handed him back his clothes.
I turned my eyes away, focusing my attention and ire on Bridget.
“I didn’t know it was him. I could’ve… Things could have gone very wrong.” I swallowed hard, trying not to think about what would have happened if I’d killed Bobby. “The Aradia’s Cuffs are not to be messed with,” I added forcefully.
“Well, I needed to know what kind of skills we’ll be working with. Besides, I was watching. I could’ve stopped you.” She tossed a hand in the air like my worry was crazy.
She was crazy! All of this was cray-zee.
“Come on, Disha. Let’s go. I’m sure if we talk to Dean McIntosh we can get actual teachers.”
But, as we turned to go, Bridget held out a hand. “No, don’t. Please.”
The sincerity in her voice stopped me in my tracks.
Her shoulders slumping, Bridget pinched the bridge of her nose as if wiping away tears. “This is our one chance. If you… If you go to her, we might be... expelled.”
I took a step toward her. “Why would they expel you?”
A deep male voice from behind us cut into the conversation. “She means that student group who is targeting Rowan has created a petition to expel us, too. And we’re already on thin ice since we performed the binding ceremony ourselves, without permission. The administration is not happy with us.”
Wow, Bobby could talk, and he sounded sincere, too.
“I didn’t know of their stupid rules. Bound is bound, no matter who did it,” Bridget said, real tears streaking down her face. “They want to kick Bobby out because he’s ‘too dangerous’.” Her fingers formed air quotes before continuing. “But he’s not. He’s the gentlest werewolf in the world.” Bridget walked over and put her arm protectively around her brother’s waist, and Bobby threw a tree-trunk arm around her shoulders.
“The only way that Dean McIntosh could convince the board to let us stay was if we agreed to help teach other students defensive magic. The spells and techniques our parents invented that make them the most sought after security firm in the world.” Bridget sniffled and then glanced up at us. “It’s great stuff. Mom and Dad would be pissed if they knew we agreed to share it outside of the company.”
Wow, I felt like garbage. Here we were pre-judging these two when their situation was basically as bad as ours—hated by classmates, disliked for being different, nearly expelled at every turn.
And, if their defensive skills were as good as they claimed, who were we to turn them down?
I glanced at Disha, who appeared speechless for once. She met my gaze and gave me a nod.
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll play, but next time, teach us something before you unleash Bobby on us. Deal?”
Bridget’s giant smile sprung back on her face as she smeared the tears away. “Deal!”
I gave her a pat on the shoulder. “How did you do that blocking spell that you did on Disha? Can you show me?”
We spent the next two hours training with Bridget and Bobby. Honestly, after it was done, I already knew more about defensive magic than I had in the first year of training at the Academy. In class, we got a lot of theory, but we didn’t always get the chance to put it into practice, but with the brother-sister duo, it was different. They were really amazing, playing off each other’s strengths and making up for their weaknesses. Yin and yang in motion.
By the time it was dark, we were all sweaty, dirty and thoroughly satisfied with a great training session. I loved how physical it was, none of this intricate finger weaving and long incantations that I was garbage at. Disha, on the other hand, seemed frustrated. Her idea of physical magical usually involved a cute boy and a closed door.
Coming out of the labyrinth, Bobby stared thoughtfully at the half moon, while Bridget’s mouth ran a mile a minute about the Queen and Buckingham Palace. We let her go on, Disha and I both too exhausted to respond with anything more than a few nods.
Then a figure stepped out of the shadows.
Bobby crouched. Bridget’s hands began to glow. The light she cast illuminated Rowan’s features as he moved silently toward us.
“Christ,” Disha said, putting a hand to her heart. “You vamps can move quietly.”
“We’re like ninjas in a way,” Rowan said. “Dark, mysterious and not to be messed with.” His eyes darted over to Bobby who gave a warning growl. I’d read that werewolves and vampires had never really gotten along, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Rowan,” I explained, “Bridget and Bobby are our new Defensive Arts teachers. They’re really good.” I casually stepped between them, attempting to prevent any friction.
Rowan’s brow furrowed, and he put a protective arm around my shoulder. Was he jealous?
That was new.
“How was Answorth?” Disha asked, helping to change the subject.
“Good,” he said. “I came looking for you to talk about it.” He glanced distrustfully toward our companions. “Can we talk? Alone?”
Bobby and Bridget got his not-so-subtle hint. Bobby started to walk away, but Bridget had to get a few words in first. “Okay, we’ll see you tomorrow night. Same time, same place. Oh, and dress casually because tomorrow we’re using swords.”
“Swords?!” Disha exclaimed, but they were already headed out with Bridget yammering in her brother’s ear.
Disha shook her head. “I don’t care how brilliant she is, that girl is a loon.”
“What did you have to tell us?” I asked Rowan, enjoying his arm around me, except as soon as I finished my question, he pulled away.
He drew Disha and I close and spoke in hushed tones. “Get this. After our ses
sion, Answorth and I were talking, and I told him about finding the artifact at the bottom of the lake and how we think it might solve my problem.”
“You told him?!” I exclaimed. “Are you sure we can trust him?”
Rowan shrugged, dismissing my concern. “He doesn’t believe the compass can really help, but I shared the clue and explained what we’d discovered in Turkey. He’d never heard about the band Scorpion before, but he found the story intriguing and said there’s a bar on Hilton Head Island called… wait for it… The Tempest!”
“Woah,” Disha said. “I knew it was a clue.”
Rowan nodded, very excited, but I wasn’t so sure. From the sounds of it, Answorth didn’t even think much of the compass and, on top of that, someone like him couldn’t be trusted. I mean, yeah, he had been cleared of murder, but he still lied about being fae, stole a school artifact, and bit me in the forest. He’d claimed he couldn’t help it, but how did we know? I guessed he was okay if Dean McIntosh let him come back, but training Rowan to behave was one thing and trusting his flimsy clues was another.
“Rowan, I don’t know.”
“I have to check all the leads, Charlie, however improbable. I could find something else there that can help me.” He had a pleading look in his eyes that begged me to understand.
“We’re pushing it,” I said. “The dean is already onto us. I don’t want to end up expelled.”
“Me neither,” Disha put in.
“I get it,” he said. “But you have a choice, and I don’t. I’ll understand if you stay, but I have to go. Don’t worry, I can do it alone.”
His words hurt a little, but he was right. He didn’t have a choice. In his place, I would have felt the same way. I had to help him.
“All right,” I said. “Pack your bags. We’re going to Hilton Head.”
Chapter Fifteen
WINTER BREAK
LATE DECEMBER
Rowan’s excitement over going to Hilton Head had died a sudden death.
It was now almost two months since Answorth had told him about the bar called The Tempest, and we hadn’t been able to go yet.
We had tried—the very next night, as a matter of fact—but we had failed.
Much to our surprise, when we’d stepped into the Enlightenment Fountain and attempted to use it, nothing happened. The magic was gone. It was as if someone had hit a switch and turned it off.
I had a feeling Dean McIntosh had grounded us, so to speak. It felt like she’d caught us in the liquor cabinet and had swiftly locked it up. No more quick trips to exotic locales for us. And no more friendly Rowan.
Our inability to chase this lead gradually sent him into a funk that no coaxing could draw him out of, and over the weeks, he developed an obsession concerning portals, alternate forms of transportation, artifacts, and vampires.
It was, to say the least, not fun. But, hopefully, that would end tonight.
“This Christmas dinner is atrocious. Are they really serving Cornish Game Hen? Roasted Prime Rib with Thyme Au Jus is a standard at my house. This is barely passable.” Disha picked at the roasted bird carcass and stared out the window forlornly.
“I’m sorry her highness doesn’t find the food up to standard,” I replied. “Let me just ring Jeeves and ask him to bring you something else.” I raised my hand, waving it around the nearly-empty school cafeteria. “Jeeves? Jeeves?” A few students who hadn’t already left for home stared up from their dinners with confused expressions on their faces.
Disha reached across the table and shoved my arm down. “Stop it. You’re embarrassing us.”
“Sorry. Jeeves must be on break. Hard to find good help these days,” I muttered, finishing my hen and the mashed potatoes beside it. I remembered the days of waiting in the shelter line with Trey for nothing more than canned ham and lumpy potatoes. I would never take free food for granted.
Disha sighed. I could tell it wasn’t the menu that was throwing her off, though. It was the fact that this was her first Christmas not flying home to New York. She was homesick, missing her mom and dad and taking it out on the game hen.
I patted her hand gently. “You can probably still get a flight to LaGuardia. Your parents would pay whatever exorbitant fees it would cost to fly home two days before Christmas. Rowan and I can do this ourselves.”
“And miss you two and your amazing company? Never. Right, Rowan?” Disha reached over and shook his arm.
Beside me, Rowan blinked up from the thick book he’d been pouring over, nodded, then disappeared back into the pages.
“See. Party animals, the both of you. Him especially.” She blew out a breath, ruffling her bangs.
There he was, reading on portals yet again. It went on and on. Our romantic dates dried up unless you counted me sitting beside him in the library, where he barely acknowledged my existence. I knew he was hurting, and felt bad for biting me, and scared to get too close to me, but this was ridiculous.
Our relationship could best be described as “it’s complicated.”
I stared at him. He was beside me, but it felt as if he were somewhere else. Yeah, we were the definition of complicated.
It had taken him a month and a half to come up with his next hare-brained idea. He’d found a portal in Atlanta, my old stomping grounds, only a thirty-minute drive from the school.
There was only one problem. We couldn’t get away and try it until Christmas break. Between our classes and the extended training sessions, all three of us were barely making time to sleep five or six hours a night. Sophomore year had really kicked up a notch.
I was loving the sessions with Bridget and Bobby, but my grades were suffering. Disha, on the other hand, was a stellar student as usual but had grown more contemptuous to Bridget the longer the lessons went on. Lucky for her, we had exhausted their know-how and would be assigned a new teacher once we got back from winter break.
“Tell me the plan again,” Disha said, picking apart a flaky biscuit as if it had offended her.
Rowan finally glanced up from his book, his eyes focusing in. He only seemed to come alive when we were talking about the artifact or something related to its mystery.
He leaned close to avoid listening ears. I realized, with a twinge in my heart, that this was the closest we had been since the night he’d bitten me.
Just thinking of that night, his hands on my body, sent a shiver down my spine that I pretended was just a chill.
Rowan gave me a quick glance before answering Disha. “I confirmed that my father and Dean McIntosh leave in half an hour for some big planning meeting. They’ll be gone all weekend, so that gives us plenty of time to get to Atlanta, use the portal, and get to Hilton Head and back without anyone noticing.”
The symposium was in Luxemburg, some annual event concerning the “education of Supernaturals in the current century.” Rowan had stolen the information from his father’s agenda. Besides giving us an opportunity to leave campus, I also hoped something fruitful would come from it. Students were still giving Rowan the stink eye wherever we went and Bobby didn’t fare much better.
“Are you sure Chargeable’s cuffs will unlock the Atlanta portal?” Disha asked.
“Lame, Disha,” I said. “You’re running out of good nicknames.”
“Whatever,” she said. “One can only be so creative before the well runs dry.”
Rowan ignored us and plowed through. “I’ve read everything I can on the Aradia’s Cuffs. They are pretty amazing. I think it’s safe to say they can handle any portal.”
I bristled with a little bit of pride even though it was the cuffs he was praising and not me.
“As long as Dean McIntosh didn’t get to it first,” Disha said. “I wonder how she blocked it?” She wondered absently.
Indeed. That witch was powerful.
I turned to Rowan. “So we take an Uber to Atlanta, find the portal, go through it, and then head to The Tempest. What then?”
“Just follow my lead,” Rowan said, shutting his book
with a decided thump. “And meet me out front of the administration building in an hour.”
He got up, collected his things, and headed out without so much as a goodbye handshake.
Disha shook her head. “I don’t care how good that boy looks in those jeans, he’s a wet blanket lately. I don’t know how you stand it.”
“Me, neither,” I said, watching him clip down the steps with a single-minded determination that left no room for me.
“Things will change once we solve this mystery, one way or the other. They have to. They just have to.”
Two hours later, we were standing in the seediest part of Atlanta and our Uber was driving away.
I could tell that Disha and Rowan were doing their best to hide their mortification, but one whiff of that stale, garbage-laced air and I knew it.
I was home.
Well, the home I’d kept for nearly two years, most of those spent with Trey.
Glancing around the abandoned buildings and dirty allies, I felt a bittersweet longing. Living in the gutter was hell, but this was where Trey had been alive and I missed him from the bottom of my heart.
Car tires screeched on the pavement. Disha gripped my arm. I glanced over at her with one eyebrow raised.
“You do remember you can do magic, right?”
Her stunned face gave me all the answer I needed. Moving her hands in an elaborate motion, she cast a cloaking spell, followed by a protection charm, basically putting us in an impervious bubble.
Boy, I could’ve used one of those back when I lived here.
“There,” she said, letting go of my arm and smoothing out her fashionable slacks. “Much better.”
“Let’s go,” Rowan said, giving me a sideways glance. If he thought this homecoming might hurt me at all, his face certainly didn’t show it. I really had to wonder if, after all of this, we would be able to continue what we’d started, which, at first, had felt like the beginnings of a real relationship. Now, not so much.
“This way,” I said, walking the familiar streets. How I had missed there being a magical portal right outside the building Trey and I had shared was beyond me, though that did explain how those goons had gotten to us so fast the night we were attacked. I pushed the thought away because dwelling on it was like prying open a healed wound.
Supernatural Academy: Sophomore Witch Page 11
