“We’ve got to focus on surviving,” I say. “On fitting in here at the academy.”
What the hell am I saying? I’m saying what I think I should say. But it’s not what I want.
He hesitates. “Yeah. You’re right, Iz.”
I don’t feel right.
He pauses, as if he wants to say something else, but instead he goes to the dresser. With his back to me, he pulls on a shirt.
His muscles ripple in the process and I catch a glimpse of a tattoo on his shoulder before the hem of the shirt falls over the lean taper of his waist.
“What’s the tattoo?” I ask lightly.
He shakes his head instead of answering. “I thought I was going to graduate without ever having to wear a uniform.”
Yeah, I don’t know what’s worse about this place: all the supernatural creatures that want to murder us, or having to wear a plaid skirt and a blazer.
I step out so he can get dressed, and head to the dining room. The scent of coffee, sizzling bacon, and fresh sweet bread drifts toward me, along with the low murmur of masculine voices.
When I walk in, the boys turn to me. Conversation stops dead.
“What?” I demand, a second before I take in their gazes studying me, and I understand what.
My school skirt ends a scandalous length above my knee, revealing more of my thighs, which look toned and leaner than I remember them being.
“I know, I know.” I tug the hem of the skirt down, but it doesn’t help. “I look like I’m dressed up as a Naughty Schoolgirl for Halloween. But these are the uniforms they gave me!”
“I don’t think any of us are complaining,” Aiden says, a small smile coming to his lips. “It’s just…unexpected.”
“You look good, Iz,” Reid says.
I smile a little as I sit down. There’s a truly amazing spread on the table: bacon and scrambled eggs and fresh blueberry muffins with butter.
I almost moan at the tender muffin falling apart in my mouth, and when I swallow, I ask, “Where’s Beth? Did she just disappear again after she set up breakfast? We should thank her.”
“Beth?” Van looks confused.
“The lady who seems to look after us around here? I’m thankful she doesn’t think I just want to eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” That was quite the cereal buffet she set up last night, but this is even better.
“Oh, you know her name already.” Van grins. “It’s official, Izzy is in charge of winning friends and influencing people around here. Clearly, we haven’t done such a great job so far.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Noah shoots back, leaning in the doorway. He’s all dressed in his school uniform now, and it looks good on him. “I influenced people’s fists last night with my face. I’m doing my part.”
The two of them talk about it lightly, but Aiden’s expression darkens at the reminder of what happened last night. He looks exhausted, his eyes dark circled, and I touch his arm tentatively.
He turns to me, re-arranging his face into a bland, cool mask. “What is it, Izzy?”
He sounds friendly and warm, but I’m worried about the way his expression just changed, and about the anger I saw before.
He’s changed so much since we were kids. Since his sister died.
“Nothing,” I say, because I want to know how he’s really doing, but that’s not a conversation we can even begin here, surrounded by everyone else. “Let’s get to class.”
Chapter Nineteen
Aiden
My gaze sweeps over the campus as the five of us walk together. I don’t like the idea of leaving Izzy alone here for a minute. Not with danger in the form of uniformed students with grudges lurking around every corner. The only thing that keeps me from completely losing my mind is remembering that even though we won’t be together all day, every day, but at least we’re together for some of our classes.
Even though any of these assholes could be enemies.
Or the people who hurt Wilder last night, a cruel voice whispers in the back of my mind.
My muscles tense. Keeping my voice low, I ask Wilder, “See anyone familiar?”
He shakes his head.
Izzy glances in my direction, and I hate feeling like she’s staring at the gloomy cloud I can practically feel hovering above me. She’s the only person, other than the guys, who seems to see right into me. It oddly makes me even more tense, until she finally looks away.
“The campus is so pretty,” Izzy says, as if she’s determined to find the bright spot in this forsaken place.
And like she’s trying to drag me out of my funk.
“Yeah, this place is fucking heaven,” I mutter, more focused on the students streaming past us than her attempt to find a positive angle to our situation that doesn’t exist.
Every student that walks past us give us a wide berth. Wise of them.
Reid gives me a dirty look as he slips in next to Izzy.
“Is that a statue of some of the gods?” He points. “Strange thing for a school that hates them.”
I freeze. Up ahead is a massive statue…and it’s the god from my dream. Thor. My hand almost slips to the hammer on my back, the one that’s concealed from view by others by the odd magic that enchants it. Thor’s statue is of the god raising this same hammer to the sky.
Holy hell. Was my dream last night… really a dream?
“Who is that supposed to be?” Van asks, sounding annoyed.
“It’s me,” I tell them, and ignore it when all of them look my way. “I’m Thor now. Or at least…I’ve got Thor inside me.”
And it turns out this version of Thor is a total asshole.
Everyone is quiet for a long moment as I gaze up at the imposing statue.
“This place is crazy,” Van says, finally breaking the silence. “Do they want us dead or to worship us?”
“It’s a love-hate thing,” says a guy coming up from behind us, a backpack thrown over his shoulder. He shrugs. “Sometimes, you hate the gods. Sometimes, the gods save your ass from the ice giants. All depends on the day.”
“Ice giants?”
“The ice giants wanted to slaughter all the humans and take over Earth. Real nice guys. But don’t worry, you don’t see the ice giants anymore, right? The gods came through for once and took care of them for us.” He flashes us a grin, but his gaze rests on Izzy.
Nope. I don’t like that one bit.
“My name’s Izzy,” she tells him, extending her hand. Why is she telling him that? We don’t belong here. We don’t need to make friends.
We’re gods. We don’t need anyone but each other.
When he shakes her hand, I glance at his knuckles, checking for broken skin. No marks. But just because he probably wasn’t one of the guys that attacked Wilder last night, that doesn’t mean we can trust him. In fact, I kind of dislike the guy already.
“Darren,” he tells her. She introduces the rest of us, and I nod reluctantly to him, just to make her happy.
He walks into our class with us. The five of us settle into a row in the lecture hall, and we just so happen to block Darren in the aisle--by accident, of course--until he takes a seat in the row behind us.
I bump Reid out of the way at the last second and slide into the seat beside Izzy. Reid shoots me a dirty look, and I flash him a wide, innocent smile.
“Good morning.” The room stills for the professor, who stands at the front of the room, his hair rumpled and his shirt somehow stained even though it isn’t even nine in the morning yet. “Just a reminder, since some of you are loud-mouths. This class is required for our supernatural students, and off-limits for the Av. You cannot repeat what you learn here where an Av might overhear you. It’s great to have superpowers, but they’re canceled out if you’re an idiot, all right?”
Darren leans forward between me and Izzy, but he’s definitely whispering to her when he says, “The Av’s shorthand for what we call everyone who doesn’t have a gift. The Average. And our magical
classes are enchanted to discourage the Avs from coming anywhere close to them. Whole areas of the campus are completely off-limits to them, giving the supernaturals safe places to be themselves.”
“So what are you?” she whispers to him, smiling. “Not average?”
“Definitely not.” He smiles back. “I’m a vampire.”
“You’re out during the day time…”
“That whole thing is a little exaggerated. We have far fewer weaknesses than myths would suggest,” he says.
Well, that’s unsettling.
Pop his head off his body, and see him talk about his ‘weaknesses’. The growl in the back of my mind is Thor. Lightning god here has a lot of opinions. I shift in my seat impatiently. I’ll go after anyone who hurts my friends--with no mercy--but I’m not interested in taking anyone’s head off...unless they’re a threat.
Even if they are a vampire.
Even if they flirt shamelessly with the girl I still love, right in front of me.
Although I would love to trip him.
“And no, in case you were going to ask--we don’t sparkle,” he adds, grinning at Izzy, who smiles back. She doesn’t seem flirtatious with him, just friendly, but he’s giving off a definite vibe that he’s into her.
He’s being awfully friendly for a student at a place where no one wants us. I don’t trust him any farther than I can throw him, and not just because of his boy band haircut. I nudge Izzy’s foot, trying to warn her off. She raises her eyebrows at me, and I can tell she knows exactly what I think. She just doesn’t agree with me.
“Pay attention,” Izzy mouths at me, poking my bicep and then shifting her gaze meaningfully to the professor at the front of the room.
“You pay attention,” I mouth back.
She absently rubs the finger she just poked me with as if she hurt it, shaking her head as she stares up front. I hide a smile. I worked out before this god thing struck, but overnight, it seems, my biceps widened and hardened, I grew a few inches, and my abdominal muscles put in an appearance.
At least there’s one bright side to this god business.
“Today we’ll be discussing rare artifacts, housed by our school…”
The professor continues talking, and all around me students pull out notebooks and start writing. Even our little group suddenly seems to have materials for note-taking.
I raise a brow at them. Are they really taking these forced classes seriously?
Crossing my arms over my chest, I lean back. They can make me come here. They can’t make me care about this shit.
Still, I won’t admit to anyone that the next few minutes I’m more than a little interested in the history and world of magic the professor describes. It’s so strange and intriguing that I almost expect someone to jump out and yell, “Just kidding no class could actually be interesting.”
Hell, if all my classes had been like this, I might not have passed with all C’s.
“Among the artifacts recovered from the Library at Alexandria,” the professor drones on as everyone dutifully scratches notes in their notebooks, “was the Portrait of Truth, which was created by the goddess Veritas. This picture changes at the user’s behest, and reveals the truth of any situation throughout history. Obviously, we have to keep it from falling into mortal hands.”
I want to roll my eyes. These people are all so dismissive of those who aren’t gifted with magic. Why do they even have “Avs” here if they’re going to be so disrespectful of them?
“Along with the other recovered artifacts, this is kept in the hidden layers of the library. Off-limits to Avs and underclassmen alike. Something to look forward to if you survive your freshman and sophomore years.” The professor grins, but surviving freshman year doesn’t sound like a joke.
Izzy sits forward, her eyes widening.
“What?” I ask, studying her.
Her gaze never leaves the professor. “Those thugs from last night…”
It takes me a second to realize what she’s thinking. We could use it to find out who hurt Wilder. We could use it to protect each other.
“And we can find out the truth of any situation.”
I know she’s talking about something specific to her, but my entire body stiffens. Yes, there’s something I need to know the truth about. Something I’d kill to finally know for sure. Could it really be as easy as finding some dumb painting? I listen to the professor intently, realizing that according to him, it really would be.
“We’ve got to get our hands on that painting,” I murmur into Izzy’s ear.
She turns her surprised gaze up to my face. She’s always the soft-spoken voice of reason, so I’m surprised when she whispers back, “Do you think we can?”
When she looks at me like that, with hope brightening her eyes, yeah. I could do anything for her. Even go break into some forbidden magical place.
“Promise,” I say.
“We could use it to find out what really happened to my mom and sister.”
My breath comes out in a rush. So that’s what she wants.
“Okay,” I say, kind of surprised that I never knew how important that was to her.
“Thanks.” She bites her lower lip, her teeth indenting the soft pink pillow as she teases her lip.
She’s teasing me too, not that she realizes it. My heart skips a beat when she’s this close to me, and I can’t stop looking at her lips. Memories of a long time ago rush through me, of playing spin the bottle. Of kissing her deeper each time. Of the tension between us deepening with each small touch.
And the moment all of us realized that we were in love with the same girl.
Damn it, I’m such an idiot. All these years I stayed away from her, not because of the promise I’d made to my friends, but because I knew I wasn’t good enough for her. But I shouldn’t have stayed away. As fucked up as I am, Izzy needed me. It’s been years since we talked, since we really talked, but that’s my fault too.
“Whatever you need,” I tell her. “We’re going to figure it out.”
Reaching out, I place my hand on her thigh before I realize what I’m doing. She tenses, but the look in her eyes is one I’ve only ever imagined. Desire moves between us, and I slide my hand just a little higher on her thigh, my touch possessive and intimate.
My breathing grows more rapid. She licks her lips and my dick hardens.
“Thanks…for being here for me,” she says.
I almost say that I’ve always been here, but it’s a lie. I wasn’t there for her. I abandoned her.
I’ve been such a stupid, miserable dick, but starting now, I’m going to take care of her. Which means that even though right now I want to slide my hand under her short skirt and see if she wants me the way I want her, I don’t. I grit my teeth and pull my hand away.
She deserves better.
Chapter Twenty
Izzy
For the rest of our first class, I push the idea of the picture out of my mind. No matter how cool it is to imagine a portrait that can tell us the truth about anything, there’s so much more to learn than that. But, it turns out, most of what we’re learning about for the rest of the class is boring stuff, like how the grading, tests, and assignments work.
So instead, my mind slides to the way Aiden touched me. The thought of it sends heat racing through my blood. In that moment, it was like he wanted me.
Like he wanted to do dirty things to me.
And the worst part? I’m pretty sure I would’ve let him if he hadn’t pulled back.
Damn that sexy jerk.
When the bell rings, cutting the professor off mid-sentence, I’m relieved to be able to set my pencil down and get some fresh air. And cool down my hot thoughts.
The first class at this new school was okay, but I could only hope the next one would be more interesting. Lecture hall type of classes had never really been my thing, and I can see my thoughts just getting dirtier and dirtier, especially if Aiden keeps touching me the way he did.
Shovi
ng my stuff in my backpack, we all stand and head outside in a slow, shuffling manner. By the time we escape outdoors, I’m relieved not to have to deal with being stuffed in a room with a bunch of people. Or with the sexy guys.
We all move to the grass, so people can get by us as Reid looks at the map of the school to figure out where we’re going next. To my surprise, the vampire named Darren stops with us too. For a second, my gaze slides over him. He’s not what I would expect from a vampire. He’s just barely taller than me, with pale brown hair and pale brown eyes. His smile reaches his eyes, but there’s something a little too practiced about it.
“So, what do you have next?” he asks.
I don’t know why I’m reluctant to tell him. The only way people will stop wanting to kill us is if they see we aren’t awful, and we won’t be able to show them that if we just keep to ourselves. The thing is, Darren sets me a little on edge.
“It’s something called Burn 101,” I say.
He grins. “Man, I wish vampires could take that class!”
“You can’t?” I ask, surprised.
“Hell, no, you have to have magic to be able to burn things.” When he sees me staring at him in confusion, he continues, “One of the easiest magics to learn is destructive magic. They begin with it for most of you magical beings, but pair it with other classes about ethics and stuff in the hopes you don’t all turn into ruthless monsters like the gods--” He cuts himself off, wincing. “Sorry.”
Boy, that was a whole lot to unpack. “So, by “Burn” they actually mean we’re going to be burning things with magic?”
He nods. “Have fun!”
“Thanks,” I say. “Enjoy your class…”
“Not the official name, but we like to call it blood draining for pleasure,” he says with a wink. “Which reminds me, what are you doing tonight?”
Van is suddenly between us, towering over the vampire. “She’ll be with us. Any other questions?”
Darren shrinks back. “Uh…”
I feel my cheeks heat. The way Van spoke, it was like he was saying I’d be with them tonight.
Magic For Dummies: A Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance (God Fire Reform School Book 1) Page 11