by LJ Swallow
Like this is some kind of failed experiment?
"Don’t bullshit me. You knew this shit would hurt Maeve."
She waves a hand. "Anything that has mind-altering properties has side effects, Andrei."
"Didn’t you think what that might do to someone like Maeve?"
Lorna’s eyes narrow. "‘Someone like Maeve’? A freak. She doesn’t belong here, and she’s dangerous. My dad is on the witches' council and they’re worried that—" Lorna pauses. "Basically, she’s trouble. Like you."
I inch closer to her, but she holds her ground. Only this time, Lorna’s pulse rate picks up. She can pretend not to be scared of me but, like anybody, Lorna can’t hide her body’s reaction to a vampire.
The stupid girl holds my stare, allowing me to explore inside her mind and read what I needed to see.
Lorna knew.
Katherine asked and she snatched the opportunity to hurt the imposter. Layers of hatred and jealousy towards Maeve are tangled in her mind and I clearly see her making the powder for Katherine.
"You bitch," I lower my voice in warning. "You’ll regret this."
I wait for her to back away at my malevolence, and I’m impressed when she doesn’t yield an inch. "Are you threatening me?"
"If anything else happens to Maeve. If this has damaged her mind, I’ll be coming for you."
"To do what?" she sneers.
"To make sure you’re fucking sorry."
Lorna laughs in my face. "See, this is another reason Maeve needs to go. She’s cosying up with you. The Dominion golden boy."
"Fuck you," I snap.
"You’re not denying you’re Dominion, then?"
"I don’t need to."
Lorna looks down her nose at me and side steps. I match her. "Move, vamp."
Hell, I thought Katherine was bad, but the loathing against Maeve inside this girl’s head is beyond anything I’ve picked up from the lamia.
"You’ll regret this," I repeat, itching to threaten her with more. "Watch your back."
Lorna doesn’t pay attention, instead distracted by something behind me, and calls out, "Omigod! Don’t hurt me, please. Let me go!"
Footsteps approach and Lorna’s face falls into despair as she staggers back with her hand over her mouth, eyes wide.
What the fuck?
"What’s happening?" I tense at the gruff voice. Fucking great. Vincent.
"N-nothing." Lorna’s false fear continues.
I turn and look up at the shifter mountain. "Nothing."
His eyes narrow. "Did I hear you threaten her?"
"No."
He glares at my sullen face and I shake my fringe to hide my eyes.
"Lorna, isn’t it?"
She nods, hand trembling. "Yes."
"Has this student upset you?"
"He..." She sucks in a breath. "He threatened to kill me."
"What the fuck?" I retort.
"He blames me for what happened to Maeve, just because I’m a witch and friends with Katherine."
Vincent’s mouth becomes a hard line and I chew a nail as I wait for his response. The man hates witches and probably wants Maeve dead too.
"That’s a serious accusation, Lorna."
"But everybody knows Andrei’s reputation."
"Oh for fuck’s sake!" I exclaim. "I’m not listening to your bullshit."
My attempt to walk away fails as a large hand curls around my bicep. I wince as Vincent squeezes to hold me in place. "Did you threaten her?"
"No."
"Liar!" half-shrieks Lorna.
Vincent pauses and I snatch a chance to push into his mind in the hope I can anticipate his next move.
Nothing.
Literally, nothing. His mind is a black hole without a single thought or emotion. Where he holds my arm, nothing comes through to me. No energy. No aura.
As suddenly as he grabbed me, Vincent drops my arm and steps back. I attempt to hide my shock. What did I hit? A mental magic shield or something more? Because I swear his mind held nothing.
"I’m making a note of this incident and passing on to your respective house heads."
"Sure. Can I go now?" I ask.
"Do not approach Lorna again," he adds. "Lorna, please inform a professor if this vampire threatens you again."
She nods with a grateful smile.
I can’t wait to get the hell away from here and him. The dawn breaks in the sky above as I rush across the academy towards Petrescu house, the anger washed away by shock. Vincent slipped up, and I managed what Maeve failed to do so far. Found something nobody else has.
I’ve seen into Vincent’s mind.
And he doesn’t have one.
Chapter Thirty-One
ASH
I leave the others and head to Vince’s place. I won't see Maeve until tomorrow, and after today’s events, I need a beer. Vince always told me I’m always welcome to see him, and his fridge is always stocked with beer.
Maeve is still at the infirmary and I’m itching to talk to her. I sent a couple of texts and she’s agreed to meet later. Her message ended ‘don’t fuss’.
Fuss? I want to take the girl, wrap her up, and keep her safe from the world she doesn’t understand. To hide with her from the bullshit.
From my brother.
I swallow hard as I remember the night Vince threatened me. Vince has a short temper and I’ve seen him snap a couple of times since he came back, but the physical assault genuinely scared me.
He apologised the next morning. Well, as much as he ever apologises. Blamed the booze. His frustration. I shrugged the behaviour off, but something doesn’t sit right in my stomach. We’d tussle as kids, especially when Vince hit his teen years and I was the annoying little brother, but he’s never hurt me.
That evening was the first time I thought he might.
I’d collapsed into the spare room after the extra beers, and the next day I was ready to confront Vince. Stand up against him.
Vince doesn’t know, but before he apologised I watched him from the hallway where he sat in the lounge. He stared ahead, hands clenched into fists on his knees and his face dark with pain. He didn’t move for several minutes and I debated whether to go to him or not. Partly because if I angered him, he could do worse, and partly because the guy I saw in the lounge isn’t the Vincent I know.
He’d hate me to see him vulnerable, so I backed off.
But I worried—and I still do—because Vince needs help.
The heavy door leading into the staff quarters bangs closed behind me and echoes across the tiled hallway. I glance at the stairs heading up to the next floor, in case a professor sees me. Vince tells me I’m allowed inside, but I’m unsure.
He opens the door to his rooms the moment I knock. The first time I visited, the place looked like a magazine feature about period homes, everything spic-n-span and perfectly arranged.
Now the place has the ‘Vincent’ touches. He hasn’t straightened furniture since his party, and the place smells of stale alcohol and fried food.
He stares at me and swigs from the bottle in his hand.
"Hey, little dude. Come for a beer?" He lifts up his bottle and turns away to the kitchen. Vince is barefoot and shirtless, his back thick with knotted muscle and inked with a black dragon. He’s proud of his shifter status, whereas I dread I could be the same.
What if this shifter form is where some of his temper comes from?
Closing the door, I rest against the wood. Vince reappears with another bottle and a grin.
"Crazy day, huh?" he asks as he hands it to me. "Do you know what happened to the witch?"
The witch. I drink. "You were there. You saw."
He purses his lips then drops himself into a winged armchair that barely fits his frame. "Yeah, but have you seen the witch? Do you know what happened to her?"
I blow air into my cheeks and sink down onto the nearby sofa. "Her name is Maeve. You told me not to go near her, remember?"
"As if you’d keep aw
ay after that happened." He shakes his head in dismay. "You went to the infirmary with the rest of your do-gooder gang."
I tense at his term for us. "Okay. Yeah. I worried about Maeve and wanted to see her."
Glittering eyes on mine, Vince drinks and my heart thuds as he rubs his lips together and prepares to talk.
"Did you find anything useful for us?"
Us? "Such as?"
"The visions. You told me she saw something under the school a few days back." Yeah and I wish I hadn’t. "Any more info?"
"No." He cocks a brow. "That’s the truth. She hasn’t spoken to anybody yet."
He scrunches his face up. "Hmm. Let me know if she tells you anything interesting."
"Why?"
He narrows his eyes. "I’m at the academy. If it’s something that affects the school, then it affects me. All of us."
I rub my temples in confusion and ignore the flickering suspicion in my mind. "Are you saying you’re okay with me and Maeve seeing each other?"
He laughs raucously. "Shit, no. Keep your hands off. I’m sure you can charm her into telling you what she saw."
"I don’t need to," I retort. "Maeve’s a friend."
"And you need to choose your friends more wisely." My head spins at his contradiction. "Ashley. You’re central to the academy. Gilgamesh kids look up to you. Now more than ever, we need to stick together. Look after our own."
"We do stick together, but we also work with the other houses. The rugby team, for example—"
"Yeah, when did witches join the team? In my day, the rugby team was shifters only. Vamps are out because they don’t have the build. Witches? Well... they don’t have the strength."
"Reuben’s a witch. He’s our prop forward. Awesome player. As good as any shifter."
Vince grunts. "If you say so."
"Everybody has a chance to try out for the team, fair and square."
With a sigh, Vince drains his bottle and sets it down. "But the world isn’t fair and square, is it?"
"Nor is the human world. I’m a believer in working together."
"Jesus, you’re naive, Ash. We’ll get screwed over eventually. Nobody gave a shit when I disappeared. If I’d been a high-ranking vamp or witch kid, they wouldn’t stop looking."
"The Confederacy tried, Vince. The case was never closed because there wasn’t a..." I lick my dry lips. "Body."
Without replying, Vince heads away for another beer.
"We’re not high-ranking, are we, Vince?" I ask him when he returns. "We’re just a shifter family who live in a village."
He rests against the wall. "Nobody gives a shit about shifters. Confederacy or Dominion. We’re barely represented on the council."
"When did you become a political activist?" I ask with a light laugh.
He scowls. "I’m telling it like it is. Maybe once you grow up, you’ll understand."
Now it’s my turn to scowl at his talking down to me.
"I need you to come with me tomorrow night, bro."
"Where?"
"One thing you Gilgamesh kids need is bonding. Learn about who you are and why our bonds can be as mentally strong as any witch or vamp. Learn how powerful we are."
My scalp prickles. "Where?" I repeat.
"I’ve chatted to a few Gilgamesh kids who want to come out with me and my mates. A few beers—back to nature like we should be."
"Sitting around a campfire telling stories?" I say and laugh.
He strides over and takes my beer before slamming it onto the table. "This isn’t a fucking joke, Ash. This is our future."
I shrink back. "Okay, okay. Calm down."
He huffs and straightens. "You need to step up to who you are, Ash. No screwing around with witches. No cosying up with vamps like that dumb Clive. Only spend time around the other races if it helps."
"Helps who?"
"Us."
Wow. Shifters take part in bonding events, official and unofficial, but Vince taking students from the academy to do this concerns me.
"Did you get permission?" I ask.
He chuckles. "For a boys' night out? Theodora won’t care. C’mon, Ash. A few beers. Lads night."
I remember Vince’s ‘lad nights’ from before—the times he excluded his kid brother. Now he wants me involved, and I’m torn between protesting and my pride he asked.
I also know I don’t have a choice.
Chapter Thirty-Two
MAEVE
I only have a chance to tell a horrified Amelia the bare bones about my vision before my expected summons to speak to the headmistress. Telling the whole group will need to wait until later.
The meeting takes place in Sofia's room—with Theodora as usual, but I'm surprised when Tobias is there too.
Surprised, but not as unimpressed as Sofia appears. When he sits in one of her armchairs, she looks so horrified I swear she's about to tell him to get up.
I'm exhausted after yesterday and little sleep last night, my muscles weak and brain muddled. If I weren't certain this is reality, I'd think I were back in one of my dreams.
Explaining the visions exhausts me further and my temples throb as I'm scared one will begin again. I'm alone with the professors and wish at least one of my friends were here.
"This concerns me greatly," says Theodora. She sets down the pen beside the paper where she’s outlined my predictions one by one.
Sofia clears her throat. "This may be an unpopular opinion, but I need to speak."
My heart thrums in my ears. There's a nervous hesitancy in her tone and she rubs her temples.
"I don't believe these were visions."
Her words slug me in the stomach. "What do you mean?"
"The dust that Katherine used is often used to induce a dreamlike state. That’s what causes the confusion. I suspect that the Confusion Powder tapped into Maeve's subconscious. What she saw were her fears for the future."
"No," I protest too loudly and look to Theodora. "I've seen the fire before, the day I was with Jamie."
Sofia gives me a pitying smile. "But the hole beneath the school? I am of course a strong believer in divination and prophecy, but this sounded like your subconscious fear that your life is out of control. That you're being sucked into something. I think we’d know if a giant hole existed beneath the school."
I turn to Tobias, desperate for his support but he remains silent, face inscrutable.
"You fear that Katherine will hurt Amelia—suspicious because she's hurt her before," continues Sofia. "Vincent and Ash—I know you're frightened Ash will shift too soon, or that his anger will take over."
"Yes, but—"
"And Gabriella. Dominion. You fear them, naturally. They are a constant threat, and Gabriella is in your mind due to your closeness to Andrei."
I stare at the tassled blue rug at my feet. I haven’t mentioned Andrei, as my vision of sex with a vampire didn’t seem relevant to the bigger picture. If what Sofia says is true, am I scared of this happening? Or is that part of the vision evidence that this wasn’t a bad dream?
Theodora taps a long finger on her lips. "But there's a possibility the Confusion Powder caused Maeve to have a vision."
Sofia shakes her head. "This was too jumbled. Too unclear."
"Maybe that's what the powder did to me. Because I'm...different."
Sofia smiles sweetly. "Surely you don't want any of what you saw to be true. Admit, these are fears that could be a hallucination."
I hold my aching head in my hands. Sofia plants the seed of doubt, which grows until I question myself too. She could be right. I’ve never experienced anything like this. I’ve never dreamed or had nightmares. I wouldn’t know what they were like.
"This isn't an unusual reaction to Confusion Powder," says Theodora. "Please, ask Professor Turlington."
"I intend to," replies Sofia.
No. No. Why is she saying this? I again look to Tobias. He was there. In the fire. Surely that frightens him?
And why the hell isn’t
he standing up for me?
"Perhaps you should work with Maeve on exploring these visions?" he suggests to Sofia.
"Hallucinations," she corrects. "I feel we have more visions to decipher."
"But the fire," I protest. "That’s the same as I saw with Jamie that day. And the woman—Andrei's mother. The Dominion could be planning an attack."
"How? Through secret underground tunnels leading into the school?" Her condescending laugh prickles my scalp. "You saw a photograph of Gabriella, so she is planted in your mind."
My throat thickens as I fight tears.
"At least try," he says stiffly.
Sofia sucks on her teeth. "We have a definite threat on Jamie's life. And, if we are to believe this hallucination, a possible attack on the school. You need to help her with the mind control. I need to help her with focusing on specific visions."
"But the attack could be Katherine?" I suggest.
Theodora coughs. "To be honest, the incident between Katherine and Amelia did sound like a cat fight."
My mouth drops open. "Are you serious? Amelia wouldn't lower herself to this."
I dip my head as her expression changes to distaste at my impudence.
"Maeve. I wouldn't say this if I hadn't seen or heard this before. Yes, you have visions, but this..." She waves a hand.
My breathing shallows further. I can't cope with this--with the confusion and denial. My chest shudders as I take a deep breath. Tears threaten and I clench my teeth.
"What are the consequences for Katherine’s dangerous behaviour?" asks Tobias, and I squeeze my eyes closed in gratitude for his subject change.
"She has been disqualified from the games and her house penalised," says Theodora.
"What? Why hasn't she been reprimanded more severely?" he asks incredulously. "Because her family has money?"
"No. She will be forced into detentions and refused free time, but there’s little we can do."
"Are you serious? Expel her?" he suggests.
The room drops into silence, and I peer at Sofia and Theodora.
"Katherine has nowhere to go, Tobias," she says in a soft voice. "You know that."
"She has parents," he retorts.
"Who don't want to deal with their daughter. They are busy with Confederacy business and rarely in the country."
