by Cali Mann
A radiant woman stepped in front of me. Her robes were rich yellow, almost gold, and her hair flowed over her shoulders. Her eyes were a piercing blue, and I shivered when she met my gaze. Even in my weakened state, I could feel the power rolling off her. The Oracle. It could be no one else. Why had they brought me before her? What was she even doing here?
Then I remembered. Professor Ward had talked of inviting her here to convict Hailey. He’d promised me we’d do the unwinding ritual on my brothers first. Was that why she was here?
“Have you come to do the unwinding ritual?” I asked, my voice rough from lack of use. How long had it been since I last ate food, let alone blood? My skin was parched, and my head ached.
Her head tilted. “The Unwinding?”
“Yes,” I said, trying to nod, then moaning at the headache blooming in my temple. “Professor Ward said—”
“No one has spoken to me of this ritual in many years.” She smiled. “Although I’m not surprised that Samuel Ward knew of it.”
My forehead crinkled as I tried to make sense of her words. She looked no older than me, yet she spoke of ‘many years’ as if they had been eons. I tried to remember what I knew about the Oracle, but my brain was mush. “Yes, he said we had to perform the ritual—”
“To unbind your mates before you were killed, spirit shifter?”
I swallowed. “I’m not a spirit shifter.”
“Hmm . . .” she said, turning from me and sprinkling dust along the circle. “We will soon know the truth of that.”
They were testing me as a spirit shifter? I snorted. What idiots! Hailey was among them even now, probably working for the foul Kaiden Hartsman.
The guards yanked me into the center of the circle and pushed me to my knees. They released me and walked out of the circle.
Standing at the edge of the circle, the Oracle began to chant. The language wasn’t one I was familiar with. Not Latin or Greek or even a modern one.
Good. Let them do the ritual. They’d see I was no more a spirit shifter than them. Maybe then, they’d realize I couldn’t have killed Professor Ward. I closed my eyes and prayed, as my foster family had taught me to do. I didn’t know if their god believed in all this, but I could use all the help I could get.
I shivered as the elemental energies crossed over me. A sudden wind for air, a warm blaze for fire, a splash of water, and a sprinkle of dust for earth. None of them hurt me. They only passed through me, one by one, and passed on. Except for air. It roared around me, stroking my skin and soothing my head.
“An air shifter,” the Oracle said.
Shrugging, I said, “I tried to tell them.”
“This doesn’t absolve you of Professor Ward’s murder, but it does give me something to think on.” She gestured to the guards to fetch me again.
When they hoisted me by my arms, the comfort of my element vanished, and all my pains roared over me again. My head felt as if a train were plowing through it, and my skin was tender and dry.
The Oracle had turned away, and the guards dragged me from the room.
“There is a spirit shifter at Thornbriar,” I said weakly, but no one listened.
12
Hailey
I sat in Shifter Biology, watching Professor Alexander pace across the room. Neither Brenton nor I had even begun the project. The test tubes sat untouched on our table. We weren’t the only ones.
Some people went through the motions, but most of us were staring off into space or whispering madly. The idea that there was a spirit shifter among us had really shaken the student body. I supposed it was like the boogeyman had come home to roost, something they almost didn’t believe in but had heard horror stories about since they were small.
I dropped my eyes to the worksheet, but the words blurred in my vision. I was trapped in Thornbriar with the very people who wanted to kill me. I couldn’t imagine a worse outcome. The guys pretended confidence, but I didn’t know how it was real it was. I knew they were brave.
I wasn’t.
Fear ran through everything I did. The ghostly visages that I’d seen in my madness had filled my dreams last night, making me toss and turn. I was sure huge dark circles lay under my eyes. I’d bonded with my men. Why did the madness still trouble me?
“It’s probably her,” Monica hissed behind me.
My heart sank. I’d thought perhaps I’d get through at least one day without her nastiness. We weren’t fucking kids. She needed to grow up.
“They have him locked up,” Greta responded. “In the basement.”
“Even the Oracle wasn’t sure, though, and she’s going to test all of us,” Monica said.
Brenton laid his hand over mine, sensing my agitation.
“Can’t you hear. . ?” I asked, anger swirling in my stomach. This was better than fear. Give me something to punch.
“Ignore them,” he whispered.
“How can I?” The flames began to pulsate under my skin as I narrowed my eyes at him. “She’s so infuriating.”
Our conversation was a lot quieter than Monica’s had been. I think she delighted in pissing me off. But she heard that jibe.
“Infuriating, am I?” she said with satisfaction coating her voice.
I swung around, planting my hands on their table. “Yes, like a whiny little bitch.”
She scowled. “I’m only telling the truth. You are the only new one here, and you’re certainly evil enough for it.”
A growl rose in my throat. “I’m evil?” Red coated my vision, and the fury burned within me.
Heat sizzled along my skin, and Brenton swung around behind me, holding me tight against him.
“You fucking bitch,” he roared.
I blinked. He’d gone from zero to sixty in like ten seconds. What was wrong with him? I frowned.
Students screamed. Professor Alexander’s calm voice cut through my fog, “Brenton, put them out at once.”
My head swiveled and I stared at the fires around us. Had I done that?
Brenton and I both ran around dousing the flames, and the other students joined us. These fires were tiny compared to the ones he’d started after our lovemaking, but they were hardy. It took a real smothering before they were all out.
Professor Alexander called Brenton to the front of the room, and they talked in hushed whispers. My fingers dug into the tabletop as I tried to listen, but to no avail. My vampire phase had passed, and I was fully in fire. I looked around guiltily. Very into fire. Shit.
I had hoped that maybe I could access other phases as I grew older. Hadn’t my father said he could? Being bound by a phase was as bad as being bound to the moon for a period. I had no control over my emotions or my reactions.
You choose. Professor Frank’s words came back to me. With focus and control, she believed we could master our natures and not be ruled by them. I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. No use panicking.
Brenton came back to the table looking contrite, but he winked at me. Brat. What had happened?
“We’re getting nothing productive done today,” Professor Alexander said with a sigh. “Class dismissed.”
A whoop rose from the students, and we all took off for the door. Freedom was something we all appreciated, even if it was only freedom from a class. As we darted down the hallway, Brenton grabbed my hand and pulled me into the office we’d used before. The place was still blackened from his fires, but I guessed the school had been too busy to clear it out.
Brenton closed the door behind us and then pulled me to the desk. His lips came down on mine, scorching to my toes. I wrapped my arms around him, curling my fingers in his auburn hair.
When he came up for air, he said, “You’re spectacular.”
I huffed. “I set fire to the science lab.”
He chuckled. “Might have a dragon in you yet.”
“Fuck.”
His eyes darkened, and I licked my lips. He kissed me again on the lips and then down my neck. His hand slid under my shirt and
trailed heat across my stomach. His fingers unhooked my bra. He stroked and cupped my breast. The tender nipple was already peaking before he touched it. When he ran his thumb across it, I moaned. Heat pooled between my legs.
“I don’t want to . . . fire—” I murmured, my hands clenching at his muscled arms.
“Fuck ‘em,” he growled. Under my skirt, he ran his fingers across my thighs. Pushing aside the underwear, he delved into my folds, stroking and petting my sensitive nub.
I thought I might burst into flame on the spot. The pressure built inside me and a gasp escaped my lips.
Brenton smiled. Pushing me back against the desk, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the aching skin of my thigh. He kissed his way across it, nibbling and licking. When he came to the apex of my legs, he swirled his tongue around my clit, and I bucked on the table.
“Now, now,” he said, holding my legs and inflicting delicious torture across my sex.
“I can’t control—”
He backed away, and I whimpered. Cool air ran over my heated body.
“Yes, you can,” he said, watching me with his smoldering eyes.
Heat roared along my skin, desperate to escape, and the mix of sexual heat and shifter heat intensified. Scattered flames erupted on the already blackened office. I reached out for him, pleading. I needed him in me, to cool the flames.
He chuckled as if he could read my mind. “Two flames can’t cool each other.”
I growled, reaching for him, and he backed farther away.
“Breathe. Focus, Hailey, and douse the flames.”
“How?” I whined.
“You’re a spirit shifter. You control fire and water. Use them.”
“Use them to do what?” I knew I was being stupid, but the fire and lust were riding me, and all I wanted was him.
I forced myself to take a breath and catalog my emotions as Professor Frank had taught us: lust, anger, pain, annoyance, love. The fire licked along my skin, and I focused on it, leaning into the feeling. Then I scanned my body for places that felt cooler. I had shifted into mermaid form, even when I’d been in air. I could do this.
Underneath the flames, I found the river. Focusing on it, I let the water wash over me. Once I was cooler, I stood, crossing to a small fire that smoldered on a burnt pile of books. I focused on that knowledge, whatever it was, lost forever, and tears fell from my eyes, dousing the flames. I put each one out and then turned to Brenton. I smiled.
He grinned and scooped me into his arms.
“Okay, I did it,” I muttered. “Can we get back to that delicious thing you were doing with your tongue?”
Brenton laughed and set me back on the desk.
* * *
The alarms rang, and the guards moved alongside us as we were marched to our rooms. We’d barely gotten our clothes on when the loud gongs had started. I didn’t even know that Thornbriar Academy had alarms.
“What’s going on?” Terrin hissed, coming to my side.
“I don’t know,” Brenton replied.
“Sciro isn’t a spirit shifter,” I whispered. A cold dread settled over me.
At the entrance to the dorms, they split us up by gender. Each student was walked to their suite, and the doors closed and locked. A guard was posted on each floor.
I stared at the other girls in my suite. I didn’t think I’d ever seen them all here at the same time. Monica had taken a spot on the sofa, clicking on the TV.
“What are you doing?” Jocelyn asked.
“We’re gonna be here for a while,” Monica said. “Might as well get comfortable.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, knowing the answer but just needing someone to say it out loud.
“We’re locked up until they rule us out as spirit shifters,” Jocelyn said.
“I have nothing to worry about,” Monica said, crossing her legs. “And I’ve known these girls my whole life.”
Jocelyn and the other girl—I didn’t even know her name—sat down with Monica.
“How about you, Hailey?” Monica raised an eyebrow.
She looked so pleased with herself that I just wanted to punch her. I shoved the fire back down into the pit of my stomach and shook my head. “No, nothing.”
Then I turned on my heel and strolled into my room. I dropped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. This was it. I was caught. The worst part was the waiting. Couldn’t I volunteer to go first and get it all over with? I didn’t care for me. I never expected to live long. As soon as I’d found out I was a spirit shifter, I’d known my days were numbered. Even before that, at Hastings House, I hadn’t really expected to live long. But it was the guys I worried for. They didn’t deserve to die.
13
Terrin
They came for Adrian and me first, partly because we were Sciro’s roommates. The Council still suspected him in Professor Ward’s death, and it made sense that his roommates might have had something to do with it. But it was also because of Adrian’s mom. She was a politician, but the good kind. She had nothing to hide and volunteered her family to go first.
We were marched down the hall to the chapel, and it seemed longer than it had ever been. Adrian laughed and joked with the guards because of course, he knew them. My jaguar bristled within me.
One of the guards had killed before, and recently, if my jaguar’s pacing was anything to go by. A line of duty kill, maybe, although the big cat rarely saw the difference. Murder was murder to him. It took all my concentration to keep from growling at the man.
I swallowed. Really, all I should have been worried about is Hailey: an angry fire shifter locked up with one of the people best able to push her buttons. A spirit shifter doomed to be tested by the oracle and exposed. There was so much that could go wrong here.
We stepped through the door into the chapel. The central space had been cleared out, and the pews had been pushed aside. A large chalk circle had been drawn on the ground and symbols for the four main elements placed at intervals around it: a bowl of water, a lit candle, a bowl of dirt, and an empty bowl for air. The Oracle sat on one of the tall chairs near the altar, but, other than the guards, she was alone. Why hadn’t the Council wanted to come and watch? It sounded like just their kind of sport. And wouldn’t they want to execute the shifter right there on the spot?
One of the side doors opened, and Adrian’s mom came in. She looked professional and almost prim in her gray suit. With a slight bow to the Oracle, she sat on one of the pews. Her eyes met mine and they were calm, assessing.
I frowned. I knew she didn’t suspect her own son; of course she’d watch over his testing personally. But I had a violent history, and while I had shifted into a jaguar, it was possible I had more than one form. Shit. I’d been so worried about Hailey, I never thought I’d be a suspect. They knew my jaguar killed murderers. Why would they think . .?
Shaking my head, I turned to watch Adrian’s ceremony. They stood him in the center of the circle, and the guards backed away. I noticed that they were concentrated on my side of the room. I guess they really did suspect me. I shrugged and leaned against a nearby pew.
The Oracle chanted, walking around the circle to each element. I didn’t understand the words. As she passed a hand over them, the flame seemed to shoot higher, the water coiled up toward her, the dirt shook, and the empty bowl swirled. Then she stepped into the circle, focusing those energies on Adrian. He cried out as they pummeled him, shaking. After a few seconds, the Oracle nodded, seemingly satisfied, and did something so Adrian relaxed.
“Water shifter,” she said aloud, and Adrian’s mom bowed her head.
I hadn’t ever thought how awful it must be to be a day-old infant and get hit with that much magic. It was a wonder we all weren’t scarred for life.
The guards walked Adrian over to beside his mom. Then the ones behind me pushed me forward with much less gentleness. My cat hissed in complaint.
Inside the circle of chalk, the residual energies swirled, and my cat prowled withi
n me. I knew I had nothing to worry about, but I still felt nervous. The Oracle was shorter up close, but she didn’t seem any less intimidating.
Her eyes studied me thoughtfully. “Terrin Matos, the shapeshifter hero of Mexico.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Not anymore.”
She nodded. “So much death around you. It’s like a shroud.”
Could she see something of our souls? I didn’t understand how her magic worked. Was it just because I was in the circle? “I didn’t kill Professor Ward. I wouldn’t.”
She didn’t respond, but repeated her actions, activating each element. She entered the circle and began to chant. The energies ran through me, and I felt pulled and tugged in a million different directions. My skin pressed against my bones, and I held back a cry. The energies disappeared, and I stumbled.
“Earth shifter,” the Oracle pronounced.
Adrian chuckled, and his mother looked bewildered. She really had thought I was a spirit shifter in disguise, then.
With a huff, I crossed over to them, ignoring the guards moving behind me. I jerked my thumb at the guards and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think we need them, do we?”
His mother waved the guards off. Then she held out a hand to me. “Nice to meet you, Terrin.”
“You as well.” I shook her hand, realizing that Adrian’s mother had never visited Thornbriar Academy before. Sciro and I, as orphans, had always been left out during family events, but Adrian had hung with us, too. In all this time, I hadn’t even considered where his family was. Well, I knew his dad was in rehab. He’d been bouncing around to different ones as long as I’d known Adrian. But his mother was a different story.