“Let’s get out of my kitchen,” Beth grouses from the doorway, startling us all.
I stare at the older woman with her long hair tied back at her nape. The strands are messy about her stern face, a weaving of dark and grey strands that make her seem older than I think she might be. Yes, she has wrinkles, but only around her eyes and mouth. In reality, I’ve never met someone who’s age I was as confused about as hers.
She shoos us off, waving her hands at us like we’re misbehaving chickens, which is strangely a relief. When I first met her, she’d paled at the sight of us. Now, Beth seems unimpressed by the gods.
“We didn’t know you were coming back,” Reid says defensively.
“I’m always here.” She heaves a dramatic sigh, reminding me of my grandmother, and points toward a glass jar on the counter. “You want pasta for dinner? It’ll be ready in an hour. If you need something to tide you over, I made cookies.”
I lift the lid to the cookie jar, and offer one to Izzy first before I bite into one myself.
Delicious, homemade, chocolate chip cookies. Everyone here might be trying to kill us, but there are some definite perks to this school.
“We can all head to the library and see what resources are available to help us study,” Reid says.
“Great.” I run my hand over my hair, hoping my tone doesn’t give away just how much I don’t think us all going together will be “great.” I wanted Izzy to myself. We have unfinished business from the day before.
I still feel kind of weird about confessing to her how I feel about the past, and what I want for the future. I hope I didn’t come on too strong. Yeah, I could blame it on my near-death experience, or the fact that I was injured, but I don’t want to. I kind of like that she knows now.
In the end, I want Izzy. I can’t fix the past--as much as I’d love to go back in time and slap my thirteen-year-old self in the back of the head--but I can show her this time, we’ll be different. If she gives me a second chance, I’ll be worth this bright, beautiful, kind girl.
It’s only when we’ve headed out of the house that Van looks over his shoulder, checking that no one is around, then asks, “Anyone else think it’s interesting that Beth is, like she said, always here?”
“You think she’s spying on us?” I ask.
Izzy’s lip parts, a flicker of hurt crossing her face. Jeez. Izzy is getting attached already, and we don’t know anything about Beth.
“Why else would the school set us up with all this?” I ask, sweeping my arm back toward the house, even though I hate to see Izzy even the tiniest bit upset. “The gorgeous house. The full-time chef…”
“Maybe that’s just what it’s like here,” Reid says, sticking his hands in his pockets. He looks awkward; I swear, our once-geeky friend has grown three inches since the day before, and he doesn’t seem to know what to do with his new height and muscle. “It’s not as if we’ve been invited into any other dorms.”
“Yeah, I’m going to avoid those invitations, personally.” Given how things have gone so far. Just thinking about it makes me scratch my hand absently across my abs. The vampires’ claw marks itch as they heal.
“We have to get to know other students here, or they’re never going to accept us,” Izzy says. “They can’t all be bad.”
“No one’s saying they’re all bad,” Van says lazily. “That’s a rather black-and-white perspective. But they’re all potentially dangerous to us because they think we’re bad.”
Aiden snorts at that. Aiden certainly has taken a black-and-white perspective, bordering on murderous.
Van flashes her a sexy smile, the kind that always made the cheerleaders hang on his words. “Until you win our fellow students over, we have to be careful.”
Izzy frowns; Van can never win her over as easily as he wins over all the other girls, but I certainly don’t want to be the one to argue with her. Luckily, the library is ahead of us. It rises like a castle at one end of the quad, spires jutting into the darkening sky.
When we step inside, we enter into the same kind of hush that blankets a cathedral. We stand in an enormous lobby with soaring ceilings high above, and through the domed glass roof above, the stars are beginning to blink into view. Beyond the lobby are multiple wings of books, and I glimpse elaborate staircases twisting up to more floors.
We glance at each other. This place gives me a strange, unsettled feeling, but it also ignites the strange spark that only bookworms know. This place is amazing.
“We’ll split up,” I say, checking my watch. “Just...get the lay of the land. Start to figure the place out. Meet back here in half an hour.”
Izzy nods, but when everyone else heads off, I add, “I’ll go with you.”
She shoots me a look as the two of us head into the east wing of the library. “You guys are driving me nuts, you know.”
“You’re driving me nuts,” I shoot back. “Yesterday, someone beat me half to death, so you’ll excuse me for feeling a bit protective of you.”
She turns and faces me, arms crossing her chest. “Maybe I won’t excuse you. Are you sure it’s protective that you feel?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Not possessive?” Her brows arch.
This isn’t how I pictured our time alone going. I shrug. “Whatever. You want to flirt with the creepy vampire, I don’t care.”
“Right.” She fixes me with a challenge in her gaze, as if she knows that’s a lie.
“Let’s go look around.” I touch the small of her back to urge her forward with me.
When my fingers brush her back, her spine stiffens, her chin rising. Maybe she’s mad, or maybe she feels the same crackle of heat that I do. Just touching her in the smallest way has butterflies rising in my stomach and my cock suddenly hardening.
I move ahead of her so she won’t see the effect she has on me. Everything with Izzy used to be so comfortable. She was one of my best friends.
I miss her, but I don’t want to go back to just being her friend, either.
The two of us skulk through the library. There are students scattered around, studying at the carrels or meeting in small groups. They speak in hushed voices, like everyone feels the spell this building creates.
The other students are easy for us to avoid, though. We’re looking for a hidden floor. It makes the most sense that there would be basement subfloors, but when we move quietly along the perimeter of the library, avoiding the stacks, we don’t find any entrances to a basement. It’s almost as if there isn’t one.
Suddenly, Izzy grabs my hand. I arch my eyebrows as I turn to her.
She looks pointedly in the direction of Mr. Time, who is headed our way. His head is down, studying the stack of books in his hands. He hasn’t seen us yet.
I pull Izzy into the stacks to our side.
To my surprise, she bobs up onto her toes, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. She gives me a meaningful look right before her lips press against mine.
Right. We’re just hiding from Mr. Time, watching where he goes and pretending we’re innocent--
But there’s nothing innocent about the way my body responds to Izzy.
Her hands slide over my chest, and her lips caress mine.
For a minute I forget to breathe. How can anyone’s touch make me feel this way? It shouldn’t be possible, but it is. It makes me feel alive and charged, full of electricity, even though her lips are soft and her hands on my body are tentative.
Shaking myself from her spell, I relax and let myself kiss her back, my hands sliding down, cupping her hips. It makes more sense to hide her behind my broad shoulders, I tell myself, as my fingers glide lower, tightening against the curve of her ass before I turn us both.
Now she’s hidden, her back pressed against the books. If Mr. Time looks down the aisle, he’ll see a big, blond guy making out with an unseen girl. Hopefully, he won’t recognize the back of my head. There are a lot of big guys here.
Suddenly, she breaks our kiss, and I look d
own at her, my thoughts spinning away. Izzy’s eyes have darkened with desire, and her teeth catch her lower lip in a way that only makes me want her more. My heart beats faster as I lower my face to hers again.
The two of us trade quick, wild kisses. Now that we’re touching, we can’t seem to stop. Hell, I hope we don’t stop. I hope she lets me lift that maddening little plaid skirt and take things in a direction I’ve only ever fantasied about with her.
Down the aisle, Mr. Time murmurs, “Liceat mihi, cor meum intrare pura.”
And just the sound of his voice makes me open my eyes and look toward the direction it came from.
A flash of blue-green magic comes from the end of the aisle. Izzy tears away from me as the strange light moves over us for the briefest moment. I groan softly when her body leaves mine, even though I know we have to separate.
When she creeps to the end of our aisle, I follow her without thinking. We reach the end just in time to catch sight of a hidden door in the wall fading away.
Izzy’s mumbling something under her breath, over and over. The words of the spell. I rush to get out my notebook and jot the words down. Together, the two of us capture the spell.
“We should get out of here,” I tell her, thrusting the notebook back into my backpack and reaching for her hand.
When she knits her fingers around mine, it feels comfortable and right, even though her touch sends sparks flying across my skin.
She nods, and the two of us head down the aisle away from the door, trying to keep our pace slow and even so we won’t look suspicious.
“We’ll be back soon,” she says, glancing up at me.
I hope we’ll be back to more than just this library. I hope we’ll be kissing again.
Because that didn’t feel like it was just a trick.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Izzy
Although we all go through a few more days of classes, I can’t stop thinking about the portrait. Or about sleeping with Reid. Or about my kiss with Wilder. Hell, I’ve been going a little nuts with all the loose ends in my life.
But since I can’t figure out a solution to the changes in my relationships with the guys, I focus on the painting. Even though I’d be lying if I pretended heated thoughts weren’t filling my mind nearly every waking minute of the day and night.
On Friday night, the quietest night in the library on any campus--even one for sociopathic supernatural students--the five of us hide in the library. We crouch together behind shelves in the unused Lit section; the students here aren’t really reading a lot of Dickens and Austen.
It’s weird to be back here in a library at midnight again, hiding again, but now I don’t feel scared...well, except for the fear of getting caught.
With the guys around me, I feel safe.
I don’t think that it’s because we’re gods now. I think I feel this way because the five of us have always belonged together. That has to be the reason we all became gods that night. It’s the only possibility that makes sense.
We wait until the library doors close for the night at midnight and all the lights but the emergency lights go off. Then we wait a little longer, tracking the movements of a lone guard as he moves through the library.
I’m surprised when I feel a hand rest softly on my thigh in the dark. Without looking, I know it’s Reid. His touch is strong, possessive, and he inches that hand of his slowly higher and higher up my inner thigh.
My heart races. Desire uncurls inside of me.
If we were alone right now, I have no doubt I’d be in his lap, exploring a new position with him. Seeing if our second time would be as good as the first time. But then, I’ve been going crazy since that day. Trying to hide the sexual tension that raged between us, so the others wouldn’t know.
But then, to my shock, I feel another hand on my other thigh. This time the touch is more hesitant, as if waiting to see how I’ll react.
I turn a little, and I catch the glint of Wilder’s eyes in the dark, staring at me. What does he want me to do right now? Or to say? We’re surrounded by the others.
Still, I feel like he’s waiting for something.
“I’ve always thought the library was boring,” Aiden whispers from across from me. “But this is a new low.”
Van chuckles softly. “You’d be surprised how much fun you can have in the dark.”
“Not with four guys and one woman,” Aiden mutters.
“Says who?” Van asks, and the question makes every muscle in my body tighten.
To my shock, Reid’s hand travels a little higher, leaving me panting. “Not funny,” I say, my words coming out breathless.
“I don’t think he was joking,” Reid says, a sexy note to his voice.
Everyone is quiet for a minute before Van speaks. “Have any of you guys been with more than one person at a time?”
Silence.
Van laughs softly. “I guess that’s a no.”
My cheeks feel hot. “Are we really talking about this right now?”
“Well,” Van draws out the word. “I guess I’m just wondering if it’s off the table.”
I swear I feel every head turn in my direction.
“I--I don’t know,” I find myself stuttering.
“That’s not a no,” Van says, his voice smug.
“How about we stop talking about this?” Reid doesn’t sound happy.
“Says the guy who clearly did something with Izzy.”
I stiffen, and the air seems to go out of the room.
Wilder’s hand leaves my thigh. “Something happened between you two?”
I can’t form the words.
“This isn’t the time to talk about this,” Reid answers for me.
“Well, I think--” Wilder begins.
Aiden cuts him off. “At least it wasn’t the fucking vampire.”
After a second, I see Van’s head shake from side to side. “As long as the rest of us still have a chance, I guess we don’t need to know everything.” He pauses. “Do we still have a chance, Izzy?”
“Of course!” I say, the words falling easily from my lips.
A minute later, Wilder’s hand returns to my thigh. “I guess that’s enough…for now.”
When the guard exits the library and begins to circle outside, Van’s voice changes. “I think it’s now or never.”
We rise and head to the door that Mr. Time had passed through. I’m trying like hell to not think about the embarrassing conversation that took place, but it shadows me with every step I take. All the guys basically just admitted to having an interest in me. It was strangely a relief to know my feelings weren’t one-sided. But also, some of the guilt I’d been feeling over the last few days fades too. The guys know about me and Reid, and apparently, they don’t mind.
So, take deep breaths, think about it later, and focus on the painting and knowing the truth about your mom and sister, for now. Briefly, I think about the microfilm I still had hidden in the strange book in my room. I hadn’t had time to look at it since that night so long ago, but I vowed that I would as soon as I had a chance.
Wilder flips open the notebook where he’d dashed down the spell, then reads the words out loud. His voice sounds soft and smooth and filled with power, as if he’s done magic spells every day of his life. The words ring out, mystical and ominous in the dark library, and a shiver runs down my spine. I almost expect to hear hoof beats again.
But nothing happens.
Van snorts. “Maybe you’re the wrong person to read anything about a pure heart.”
“You try then,” Wilder holds the notebook out to him.
“Oh please. I’m worse than you. We all know it.” Van jerked his chin toward me. “Izzy.”
If they knew what I thought about all of them, they wouldn’t think I was so pure-hearted.
“Maybe we wrote the words down wrong,” I say. But I try anyway.
The door materializes in front of us.
“Cheese and crackers,” Reid says, his voice sho
cked.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Aiden groans. “You’re a god now. You can’t be such a hopeless geek.”
Reid shoots Aiden a look. “Whatever. Mom hates it when we swear.”
“And I hate it when you act like your five. Just fucking swear,” Aiden shoots back.
Reid ignores him, but his jaw is tight now. “I just didn’t believe that it was real until seeing it…. Wow. Magic takes some getting used to.”
“You thought we were making it up? Thanks for the faith.” Wilder smacks his shoulder as he passes by, but he smiles, not looking particularly abashed. Wilder’s got that jock grin, all easy confidence. “Jeez. You’d think you’d believe Izzy, at least.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Reid looks frustrated. I know he doesn’t mean anything and the guys’ teasing gets to him sometimes--it always has--so I grab his hand and squeeze it. He smiles down at me.
Of course Wilder would be the first to go in.
The five of us walk into an enormous warehouse space. I blink, turning back to the door. This space didn’t make any sense. We’d be able to see the walls extending from outside the library.
“Magic,” Van says, rubbing his hand over his face. “I hope I’ll get used to that one day. Hopefully. If we live that long.”
“You’re always such an optimist,” Wilder says.
“Optimism is for people who are the star player on a team as bad as ours was,” Van mutters.
It has the feel of an old, familiar argument. I’d missed a lot, but the two of them seemed as close as ever—in their own twisted way.
“Hello?” Reid calls. His voice seemed to echo in the vast space.
Aiden slugs him in the arm. “What are you doing?”
“Better to find out if we’re alone or have company now,” Reid says pointedly. “We can still talk our way out now. It’ll be harder if we’re walking out with a painting.”
“You’ve got a point,” Wilder admits.
Reid slugs Aiden in the arm. Aiden purses his lips in a half-smile, pretending that it didn’t hurt, and then when Reid turns his back, he rubs his shoulder.
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