by Elena Lawson
“Is that a threat?” Elias bellowed, his body going rigid beneath his leather jacket, reassuming his protective stance in front of me.
Adrian shook his head. “No. It’s fair warning.”
14
They were gone within seconds, first walking back the way they’d come through the darkened forest, and then the sound of a howl broke the eerie quiet, and we knew they’d shifted and would be miles away in only a few moments. Shifters were fast.
“Come on, we should go before it gets too dark,” Elias said, holding out his arm for me. I took it gratefully, knowing that in the blinding blare of the sun just before twilight, I’d be tripping on every rock and tree branch.
I thought he might scold me for standing up to the Endurans, like he had when he found out I’d followed them into the woods. But he didn’t. He remained strangely quiet and thoughtful, his jaw flexing and relaxing and flexing again.
What was going on in that beautiful head of his?
“Have you found out anything more about my dad?” I asked, suddenly remembering I’d asked him to look into it. “I mean—I know it’s only been a day...”
“Hmmm,” he said, the faraway look in his eyes sharpening into focus. “Oh, right. Yeah. I did, sort of. Don’t get excited,” he said, and I tried to tamper down the rush of blood in my ears, and the pounding of my pulse. “I wasn’t able to learn much, but that’s where I was last night. I left to make some inquiries.”
So, that was why he never showed up. I’d have been lying if I said I hadn’t thought of him in my pain and fever addled stupor. That I hadn’t wished for him to come and be at my side. Hoped maybe just the sight of him might ease some of the pain.
“What did you learn?”
He held a branch away from us as we stepped over a thick, moss covered trunk and grasped my hand tightly to make sure I stayed upright. “Well, he was a,” he began, hesitating before he spoke again, his voice apologetic and strained. “A figurehead of sorts. In the group of witches who want to reveal themselves to the humans. The radical group, Manifesto.”
They had a name for themselves? I wondered how many of them there were... but the more alarming thought running and stumbling through my mind, was the thought that my father was a radical in a group whose aim was to reveal witch-kind to humans. To reveal all the races to them, if I wasn’t mistaken.
It seemed odd, but I thought perhaps that was only because I believed the exact opposite. I didn’t agree with him, even though I wanted to.
Humans could not be trusted.
Humans were dangerous.
Hadn’t history proven that time and time again? The fear of the unknown drove them to do horrible things. If something like a story in an old book could rally them to war, what would they do if they thought monsters lived among them? It would be chaos.
But, Alistair had been in love with a human woman—was love really enough to drive him to something so extreme?
“Are you sure?” I asked Elias, trying to roll the idea around more in my head. To make it make more sense to me.
He frowned. “I am. He even petitioned for a seat on the council, to give Manifesto a voice where it mattered, but he never got it. He died before they even had a chance to formally review his request.”
“Well, do you know what happened to him?” I stopped, pulling Elias to a stop with me.
There was an apology written in the fine-print of his stare as he closed his other hand over mine. “I can’t be sure. It’s all hearsay.” He hesitated, trying to dance around telling me what he’d heard.
I didn’t care if he thought whatever it was wasn’t worth repeating. I wanted to hear it. “Just tell me.”
He removed his hand from mine and a chill snaked up my arm. The twilight brought with it an icy breeze that had me shivering. “From the sounds of it, the majority of people seem to believe he was murdered.”
I want to say I was shocked. In total dismay of his words. But they only solidified a suspicion that had been slowly growing in my mind since overhearing the Magistrate and Headmaster Sterling.
Something awful had happened to my dad. He was stolen away from me before I even had the chance to know him. I wanted to know why. “For his beliefs? Who would do that?”
“Who knows,” he replied. “The Manifesto group is large and constantly growing, and cutting off it’s head would only be a temporary solution. I don’t really see the sense in it if that was the case... Sorry to be blunt. But then again, I suppose it could have been anyone who didn’t agree with his views. We may never know.”
But I knew who I thought it was. Or at least, someone who knew something more about it. Sterling. I would just need to find out for myself, and prove it. Whoever murdered my father wouldn’t go unpunished forever. One way or another, I’d find out what really happened. And why.
I tucked my hair away from my face, kicking at the ground. “That’s ok. I just wish I knew more,” I said innocently, offering him a wan smile. There was no need to involve him any more than I already had. If there was foul play at work here, I didn’t want him digging into dark corners he couldn’t dig himself out of.
“Thanks for looking into it.”
“Of course.”
We resumed walking through the trees in silence. My mind was racing. I was second-guessing myself. Questioning everything I’d learned. Leo used to tell me my curious nature and sharp mind would get me into the most trouble someday, if I didn’t fall down a manhole first.
But before I started asking questions and doing some digging of my own, I had to be certain. And I had to be willing to accept the consequences. If whatever this was went as high up as the Magistrate at the very tippity top of the witchy food chain then I could be in for some very serious shit.
The uncertainty and anger roiled and churned the magic within me. I couldn’t stop the surge of the earth’s energy from rushing into me, but it wasn’t wild like in New Orleans. This much, I could tamper on my own. Keep it at a consistently rolling boil that wouldn’t spill over. It wasn’t without some effort, though.
Good thing I was used to it.
I could make out the place where the woods ended, and the academy grounds began a little ways ahead.
Elias squeezed my hand, and I gasped as he pulled me back from leaving the cover of the trees. I looked to where my hand was still wrapped tightly in his. The contact soothing and warm and exciting all at the same time. And then I glanced up and was floored at the rugged beauty of his face in the shadows.
Why was he looking at me like that?
“You really are extraordinary,” he breathed. “I can feel the raw power coming off of you in waves.” He paused, and the way his teeth ran over his bottom lip turned my knees to Jell-O. “It calls to my magic.”
I gasped. So, it wasn’t just me.
He did feel it, too! The bastard. Making me doubt myself.
I opened my mouth to say something sarcastic, or was it going to be witty? I couldn’t remember because one minute he was an arms length away and the next I had the divine pleasure of watching his resolve snap.
Before I could blink he’d pulled me to him, our bodies colliding only a millisecond before our lips.
His fingers traveled up my arm to cup the back of my head, tilting me up while he pulled me against him. I softened at his gentle caress. An exquisite ache forming behind my breastbone and some place deeper—more primal.
A small moan liberated itself from my chest, and my arms wrapped around him—hungry fingers tugging at his leather jacket to keep him close. His spice and wood smoke scent was downright intoxicating, and I couldn’t get enough of him.
“Elias,” I whispered, and he jolted, whimpering as though in pain before he pulled away... but only far enough to rest his forehead against mine. Our heaving, broken breaths mingled in the pine-scented air. My fingers still clutched the back of his jacket. I didn’t want to ever let go.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” he said between breaths in
a whisper-soft voice, letting loose a throaty nervous laugh. “I’m sorry if I—”
“Shhh,” I said, covering his mouth with my index and middle finger. He shivered. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
But the moment I said it, I felt his spine go rigid where my right hand still held a fistful of leather at his back. I watched his adams apple bob in his throat, and a crease form in his forehead. Why hadn’t I just kept my damn mouth shut?
15
I was still in a stupor the next day when Bianca burst into our room just before dinner. After dealing with the Endurans in the woods, and processing Elias’ kiss, I thought it would be a good idea to bury my nose in a book for a while and went to library. But it didn’t matter how many pages I flipped through on familiar lore, and man was there a lot of it, I could find absolutely nothing on how to undo the binding magic.
And nothing even remotely interesting enough to evict the thoughts of Elias from my mind.
I chucked the book I’d brought back to my room with me to the other end of the bed, glad for a proper distraction. “Hey!” I said, trying to muster up a cheery voice. To shake off the million questions and confusing thoughts vying for my attention at the edges of my mind. “How was your visit?”
She dropped a couple of paper bags emblazoned with designer brand names down on her bed. I’d never seen her in regular clothes, I realized. But there she was in a bright yellow dress, with brown suede lace-up boots climbing her legs to her calves, and a purposefully faded jean jacket. She looked good.
“It was great! My little brothers just got one of those virtual reality video game things and they’re, like, addicted to it, so I hardly got to spend any time with them. But I managed to get some shopping in, and a soak in the hot-tub.”
Sounded glamorous. And here I was hiding out in our dorm room from the sidelong glances and outright stares of the other students as they returned from their weekends away. It seemed there were more than a few of them who believed I was in fact to blame for the freakish storm Friday night. Ugh.
I was about to ask her what she bought, when she gasped, whirling around to face me, her eyes wide and excited. “Oh! And I told them all about you—my brothers, I mean. They are dying to come into their powers, so when I told them I was roomies with the most powerful witch at the academy, they were all ears. They’re super excited to meet you!”
I snorted. Ignoring the fact that she’d told them I was pretty much a mega witch, which was so not true. A bit more powerful than most, maybe—but that was it. “Yeah well they’ll be waiting...” I pretended to glance at an invisible watch on my wrist. “Oh about another four years before I can leave.”
“Right,” Bianca said, deflating as she chewed her bottom lip. “Hey! Why don’t you just come with me? We have a guest room, or you can just stay with me in my room! Uncle Sterling never says no to me. We could go next weekend.”
My first instinct was to say no, I didn’t want to go anywhere near Headmaster Sterling’s house—but, wait... that wasn’t quite true, was it? I sucked in a breath.
Maybe it was exactly where I wanted to be. He could have council documents there. Or files. Or any manner of things that could lead me to finding out more about my dad. If I had something to hide, I wouldn’t hide it in the academy, I’d keep it someplace private, like in my bedroom, or in a private office in my home. Somewhere no one else would stumble on it.
“Yeah,” I said hastily. “Actually. I’d love that. Sounds fun.”
She smiled wide, and sat down, pulling her designer shopping bags onto her lap. My own smile faltered, and an ugly, guilty feeling weighed down my shoulders and pressed on my chest.
I wanted to talk to her about my dad. To tell her what I learned, but then I would have to tell her I suspected her uncle had something to do with it. And, I didn’t know exactly how close they were. Would she freak out? Tell him I was basically accusing him of harboring information, or worse, that I thought he might have actually had something to do with it?
That sure as hell wouldn’t be getting me any brownie points. And I had to admit, there was a chance I could be completely wrong. I’ll tell her, I told myself. I’ll tell her when I know for sure one way or the other.
“So,” she said, and I realized I hadn’t been paying attention. I looked up and she was holding out two headbands. A navy blue lululemon one, and a simple black one like the one I was already wearing, except hers wasn’t fraying at the edges and faded from years of use. “I noticed you had a thing for headbands.”
She must’ve seen the thrill in my expression because she laughed and I squealed, jumping off the bed. I didn’t think anybody had ever bought me anything, except for Leo and Lara, of course, but that was different.
I reached out to touch the navy one, the fabric looked so soft, but I stopped just before my fingertips could brush the fine fabric. “You really shouldn’t have bought me anything,” I said, realizing I wouldn’t be able to return the favor. I hadn’t so much as a dime to my name.
“They’re headbands,” she said with a mock look of annoyance. “It’s not like I bought you a damned Bugatti. Take them! Yours is... well, it was in need of replacement.”
I took them from her outstretched hands, immediately replacing the old ratty one I was wearing with the navy blue one. It fit snugly and held my hair firmly away from my face. “Thank you,” I said, more than a little awkwardly.
“You’re welcome,” she said, tossing the other bags into the closet. “Now, shall we get some dinner? I’m starved.”
It took Bianca four days to convince Sterling to let me go with her for the weekend, and when she told me earlier that afternoon I was shocked. Not like I doubted her or anything, but I really thought this was the one time her uncle may not give in to her every whim.
From what she told me, he was quite the doting parental figure. And I thought it so strange to think of him that way and not as the snake I thought he was.
“It’s super weird, though—him saying we aren’t allowed to leave the house. I really wanted to show you around,” Bianca whispered, glancing up from the thick volume laid out in front of her on the wide wooden table between us. “I don’t know why he’d say that.”
We were in the library. The both of us studying for a big test in incantations tomorrow morning, when really I should have been doing more research. Trying to come up with something—anything to do what I told Cal and Adrian I would find a way to do.
“I can think of a reason or two,” I blurted before I could stop the words from slipping out.
“What? What do you mean?”
I supposed it was alright if she knew the truth about that one thing. Now that I knew her, I felt fairly confident she wouldn’t judge me.
“Well, you never really asked why I just randomly started coming to Arcane Arts Academy more than halfway through the term...”
Her brown eyes sparked with interest, and her mouth fell open. “Dish!” she ordered me, a little louder than was necessary.
The librarian, an older woman with a large bun of silver hair and horn-rimmed spectacles on a thin gold chain, hushed us sharply from the front of the enormous room.
She must’ve had supersonic hearing. The library was a castle unto itself, taking up almost an entire wing of the academy. It had shelves stacked floor to ceiling on the main floor, with rolling ladders for the students to reach the ones higher up. Two study areas, which was where we sat near the back, in the smaller one of the two. And an open second level with carved banisters so the people above could see down below and vice versa.
It was my favorite place in all of the academy—or at least it was until I’d had to start spending every free second of my time scouring hundreds of pages for information I wasn’t even sure existed. I must’ve looked through over a hundred books since last Friday... and I had the papercuts to prove it.
“Harper!” Bianca urged. “Tell me!”
I leaned in over the table. “Alright! Just calm down. Quit being so
damned loud. You’re going to get us kicked out.”
“Pffffft,” she said. “Please. Have you forgotten whose uncle runs this place? Now, dish before I pry it from you. Pretty sure I just saw an incantation for that.”
I gave her a snide look, rolling my eyes before the whole story began to pour from my lips like a faucet left wide open. I told her what happened in the market square at the French Quarter. About the unintentional earthquake I’d caused. And the kind council member who took pity on me, and sent me here instead of Kalzir, or some other awful place.
When I was finished, she sat back in her chair, her mouth hanging open. “It makes so much sense now,” she said. “No wonder my uncle kept asking about you!”
“You didn’t tell him, did you? About...” I said, my gaze flicking to the windows behind her and what waited for me out in the woods there. I gulped.
“Of course not,” she said, looking only mildly offended.
I breathed. Relieved not to find a single trace of judgment in her eyes. She went back to studying like I hadn’t just finished telling her I’d broken two of our laws and was basically sent here as a prison sentence. She was surprised, sure, that much was obvious. But no more than that.
It was official. She was starting to grow on me. With some weight taken from my shoulders, I felt lighter when I went back to studying. But within ten minutes the tome I had open in front of me started to blur together and I realized how incredibly tired I was. Not just tired of reading a million words in old, boring texts, but also tired of so many other things.
I unburdened myself of one tiny thing, but there was a herd of others stampeding through my head to take its place. I was tired of tests and failing in class. Tired of not being able to get a private second with Elias to talk about what happened between us in the woods. Tired of not being able to learn anything else about my dad or what happened to him.
Just. Plain. Tired.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in anything but a suit,” Bianca said, breaking my focus, and I turned to follow her trail of vision, finding Elias on the other end. In his leather jacket and jeans.