by May Dawson
Nix swiveled to face me, his hands in his pockets, and cast an assessing look over me. “If you can master your magic and take care of yourself in a fight. Hopefully, as you come into your powers, we can get Malcolm on board.”
“I hate all of this, by the way,” Cade said.
“But he’s my best friend,” Nix said, reaching out to punch him in the shoulder. “He’s never backed out of one of my plans just because it was stupid before.”
“Do you need my help?” I asked. “Or are you willing to bring me along just out of the goodness of your heart?”
Nix stopped, and my momentum took me a few steps beyond him before I turned to face him. I crossed my arms, only to find his powerful, tattooed arms were already folded over his chest too, our posture mirroring each other’s.
“I don’t know yet, kid,” Nix said. “I don’t know if you’re going to shape up into something useful or just something destructive.”
I thought you might feel the same way. Maybe if there was a man responsible for Liam’s death, and I killed him, I’d feel a little less haunted. That was the closure I needed, more than any funeral.
“I’ll do my best to be useful,” I said, a sarcastic edge entering my voice even though my promise was genuine.
“Good,” he said. He checked his watch. “Physical training starts out here at six in the morning. My group meets at the east corner of Coville house. You’ll see it. Lots of blue shirts.”
Which way was East? I wasn’t Lewis or fucking Clark. I glanced up at the dark sky, like that was going to tell me.
He nodded to Cade and stalked off without saying goodbye.
I watched him go. His posture was as straight as his sword, which hung between his powerful shoulders and chiseled lats. That black t-shirt clung to his back and then draped loosely over the narrow taper of his waist.
He might’ve been a broken, dangerous man, but he sure was gorgeous, too.
I looked to Cade, who watched me with worried hazel eyes.
“Do you think he’s going to get himself killed, seeking revenge?” I asked.
It was all too easy to imagine myself doing something stupid in my rush to revenge. I could picture how it would feel the second before one of those boars ripped my throat out, when I realized I was going to die pointlessly, foolishly.
Cade’s lips parted as if he was going to tell me what he really thought, then changed his mind. “You don’t need to worry about that, freshman. Let’s go meet your roommate, get you settled into your room.”
“Cade. Come on.” It was exasperating that he held me at arm’s length, telling me I didn’t need to worry about anything. I had a whole lot to worry about.
“What?” he demanded.
I didn’t know what to say. We barely knew each other; it seemed ridiculous that I was annoyed at him for keeping distance between us.
I ignored his question as the two of us walked toward the building. Instead, I asked, “What’s it like being an instructor here?”
His gaze flickered to me as if he was gauging my change of topic. Then he said, “Weird. Nix and I didn’t get to spend very long Hunting before Malcolm lost teachers and…” He shook his head. “We stay away from the seniors, since a lot of them are our friends. Focus on teaching first- and second-years.”
“Who are not your friends,” I said mischievously.
“No, they are not,” Cade said, without a hint of humor in his voice. “I’ll do my best to help you fit in and thrive here, Deidra. But just remember. We’re not going to be friends. Find other first-years for that.”
For a second, I froze, stunned by his audacity. Then I flashed him a look like he was an idiot for even daring to say that, even though embarrassment prickled across my skin.
I’d taken so much comfort in just having him in the next room the night before. Maybe my neediness was on full, humiliating display, no matter how much I glared at him.
“You really know how to make a girl feel at home.” My voice came out cool.
“There are rules about fraternization,” he said, his tone almost apologetic. His eyes flickered over my face, like he was trying to meet my gaze, but I stared stonily ahead at the dorm. “I can’t be your friend, not if I’m going to teach you to survive out there.”
“I’m a black belt in multiple forms of martial arts,” I assured him.
“Then we’ll have to make sure you realize just how much you still have to learn.”
I rolled my eyes. “No fraternization, huh? That means you can’t date students?”
He headed up the stairs of Coville House in front of me, which put his nicely-shaped ass in his black leather trousers right in the middle of my vision.
“Correct,” he said. “Not that I would ever want to.”
“Of course not,” I said. “Plus, oh my god, what if dating was fun? You’d probably spontaneously combust.”
I certainly didn’t want to date him. I didn’t know why I was needling him.
“Thin ice, Ainsley,” he said as he held the door open for me. “I’ve been cutting you a lot of slack.”
“Because the one and only person who loved me in this world was brutally murdered in front of my eyes yesterday?” I clapped his shoulder as I walked past him. “Yeah, you’re a stand-up guy, Cade. Keep reminding me of how lucky I am that you’re being patient with me.”
His jaw flexed. “Third floor. Left hall. Room 312.”
He held out a key. I tried to take it from his hand without touching him, but my fingers still brushed his.
“You’re not coming up with me?” I asked. I felt strangely crestfallen at the thought of going up there on my own. “I thought Malcolm assigned you as my personal assistant.”
“You don’t want me around, right?” he said, refusing to take the bait. “I’ve got stuff to do. I dropped everything to babysit you for the last twenty-four hours so you wouldn’t be alone.”
Wouldn’t be alone. Those words echoed in my mind. I didn’t want to be alone; there was something comforting about Cade, even though he pissed me off.
“Right,” I said. “Now you don’t have to anymore. I’ve got my bearings.”
“Sure,” he said too quickly, as if he didn’t believe that I did. “Tomorrow, Tristan will be at your door at five-forty-five to make sure you make it to physical training. Stick with him.”
“Got it.”
Cade nodded and headed for the door. His boots squeaked faintly across the polished hardwood floor. I folded my hand over the key.
He turned around at the door. “You know where my room is if you run into any trouble.”
“Yeah.”
He shook his head impatiently, as if he regretted saying that or didn’t know why he had. Then he shoved open the door and was gone.
I’d been so obnoxious to him. I didn’t even know why. Chewing my lower lip, I headed for the stairs.
Tomorrow, I’d be a nicer person.
Maybe.
Chapter Fifteen
The trash bag with my new school uniforms was on top of the bare mattress in my room, along with a stack of blankets and plain white sheets. The other side of the room looked like a bomb went off; there was a mess of books and papers across the desk, and a trail of clothes leading across the floor. But the bed was neatly made up, with two pillows stacked neatly on top of each other and the sheet folded down precisely over the quilt. Apparently, my new roomie was a bit Jekyll and Hyde.
Relief flooded my chest. I was grateful she wasn’t here right now. I needed some peace before I faced another human being.
After I made the bed, I changed into a t-shirt and shorts from the bag since I didn’t have any normal clothes, then hunted for the switches to turn off the lights. I didn’t have a watch because I usually just used my cell phone. Hopefully I would wake up to my new roomie’s alarm in the morning. Tristan was too cute to face in the morning if he had to bang on my door at five-forty-five, before I had brushed my hair or teeth.
In my old life, the f
ear of sleeping through an alarm sometimes left me tossing and turning. But when I closed my eyes, I couldn’t sleep for entirely different reasons.
If I’d just walked away from a fight for once, if I hadn’t started trouble with Nick, I’d be in my own bed, with Liam sleeping down the hall. There’d be a framed Next Karate Kid poster hanging right across from my bed, a string of fairy lights tacked to the ceiling with duct tape—Kate had been scandalized by my décor decisions—and a stack of soon-to-be-over-due library books on the nightstand. Instead, this room was completely plain. It didn’t have a hint of soul. Would I ever see the apartment over the dojo again? What would happen if I never went back?
Even though I’d chosen to shove Nick back against his own car and make him into an enemy, those monsters weren’t my fault. Even Cade and Nix would probably say that.
Funny how I couldn’t stop thinking about the way they looked at me. I pulled my pillow over my face as I replayed all the stupid things I’ve said in the last twenty-four hours. Was this really the one and only school for Hunters in America? Maybe I should start over on a whole different continent.
Whatever. I needed to master my magic and bring down that witch. That was the only thing that matters. Not what people thought about me, not making friends.
Not that I could make friends with Cade and Nix. Cade made that very clear.
The door opened, then there was a pause as my new roomie was silhouetted in the doorway, studying the room, before she closed it quietly behind her. She was tall and lithe, her blond hair hanging in a long braid over one shoulder. She set her books down gingerly, scooped up the laundry and dumped it into a dresser drawer, then tried to straighten up the desk.
It seemed like she was trying to be stealthy as she straightened up her rustling papers, so I finally sat up. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not asleep yet.”
“Hey.” She began re-packing her backpack without looking up at me. “Sorry if I’m being annoying. I’m not used to having a roommate, and we never know if our rooms are going to be inspected while we’re at breakfast.”
“Inspected?”
“Some bullshit about a disciplined life, survival out there, whatever,” she muttered. She zipped up her backpack and slung it next to her desk. “They run this place like a military school. I’m Hanna, by the way.”
“Deidra.”
She moved briskly around the room. She pulled off her blue t-shirt abruptly, exposing taut abs and a plain black sports bra, and I turned over to give her some privacy.
“My alarm goes off at five-thirty,” she said. “You don’t have one?”
“No, I didn’t exactly get the chance to pack.” I assumed she’d heard my story. When I rolled back over, she was wearing a blue t-shirt and black athletic shorts, just like me. “This is your first year here?”
“And my last, if I don’t get my grades up.” She picked up her alarm clock and checked that it was set before she threw herself into the bed. “Welcome to the academy.”
She didn’t sound like she meant it.
Well.
She tossed and turned for a minute or two, burrowing her head into her pillow, and then her breathing slowed. She went from that quick frenzy of movement to dead asleep in minutes.
She’d left me feeling restless and unsettled. She did not seem happy to be here, and it made me feel anxious about what tomorrow would bring.
I’d been daydreaming about getting out of here. But maybe this place was my best chance to learn to control my powers so I could take my revenge. I couldn’t count on another freak blast like had saved me earlier from that beast. I hoped I wasn’t going to be miserable here.
I had to stay alive long enough to make sure I killed the witch responsible for the beasts that killed Liam. After that, who cared?
Hunters tended to die bloody; that was why Liam hadn’t wanted me to have that career. But there was no one who would miss me. Kate and my friends would, but they’d go on with their lives.
I could be the perfect Hunter. Save some lives and then when it ended, well, no big loss.
Chapter Sixteen
After waking up so late, I didn’t sleep much. Five thirty in the morning came very, very early.
I brushed my teeth, bleary-eyed, in the girls’ bathroom at the end of the hall. Apparently the fancy suites with the living room and the private bathrooms were for seniors and instructors only. No surprise. They probably hired a special architect skilled in making students miserable to design this building.
As I mused cheerfully about my current circumstances, stall doors slammed and water turned on and off. A few girls smiled at me in the mirror and said hi, and I smiled back around my toothbrush and raised my hand to wave. At least I looked better today than I had yesterday; there was some color in my cheeks again, and my emerald-green eyes looked bright against my tanned skin.
Hanna joined me at the sink as I started to pull my hair back into a ponytail. Her hair was long and thick, down to her waist, and she braided it quickly and deftly. She’d folded up the sleeves of her t-shirt to her freckled shoulders, and her arm muscles stood out, strongly defined. I wondered why she was so weird last night, and if she was always like that. Maybe the classes here were really stressful.
“So how bad is this going to be?” I asked.
She shrugged as she wrapped her hair elastic around the end of her braid. “It sucks, but it’s not the worst part of the day.”
Hanna took a step back from the sink and looked as if she was waiting for me. Maybe she meant to be friendly, and she was just stressed out. I flashed a smile at her as we headed together out into the hall.
“Move it along, baby killer.” A girl said right over our shoulders as we headed down the hall.
I looked at her, but her gaze was fixed on Hanna. The newcomer had a sleek, dark pixie cut and big amber-brown eyes.
“Really?” Hanna didn’t bother to look over her shoulder. “Isn’t it a little early for this, Julia?”
“It’s a little early to have to look at your face,” Julia said.
“What are you even doing here?” Hanna asked.
“Banging one of your housemates,” Julia said.
“Which one is it this time?”
Cool, cool, cool. This wasn’t agonizingly awkward or anything. What a way to start my first day of school. “I don’t suppose there’s coffee, is there?”
“Not until breakfast, and that’s a long way away,” Hanna said.
“I’m Julia,” the newcomer said to me, suddenly shouldering Hanna aside to slip in next to me as she stuck out her hand. She gave me a winning, toothy smile.
“Deidra.” I didn’t bother to return her smile.
Tristan was waiting outside my room, leaning against the doorframe. I hadn’t paid much attention to him at dinner, but he was tall, more slender than Cade but still leanly athletic.
“Morning,” he said as I reached the door. Around us, people were starting to stream down the hall.
“You probably don’t want to get on her bad side, FYI,” Hanna said as she slipped past me and opened the door to our room. She launched her toiletry bag into the room toward the bed, but it bounced off and hit the floor. “Shit. Oh well.”
Tristan shook his head. “She’s all bark.”
“Well, barking is pretty goddamn annoying when it never stops, Tristan,” Hanna trilled. She ducked under his arm, which was braced holding the door open for us now, and headed for the stairs at the end of the hall.
“Let me just drop my stuff,” I told him. “Sorry you’ve got to tour-guide me today.”
“I don’t mind.”
I put my stuff on my desk, being a bit more careful than my intense new roommate. “What was that all about, anyway? Julia called her a baby killer?”
Tristan’s lips tightened. “I should let you draw your own conclusions about everyone.”
“I promise I will,” I said evenly. “But still, I asked your opinion. Don’t worry, I won’t take it too seriously.”
“Fair enough,” Tristan said. “I think Julia is a jealous, haughty shrew. Did you know that shrews secrete venom to paralyze their prey so they can just graze on that animal’s misery for days, even weeks?”
“I’m right here, asshole,” Julia said as she passed us. She flashed Tristan a drop-dead glare.
“I know,” Tristan said, studying his fingernails. “That’s why I explained what a shrew is for your benefit. I assumed Deidra would get it.”
“You’re lucky your big brother is cute,” she shot over her shoulder as she headed down the hall.
“Don’t get your hopes up. He thinks you’re a dull little creature.” Tristan didn’t bother to look at her, but the look she flashed at him over her shoulder before she tossed her head was filled with hate.
“From the way she just looked at you, you should be dead right now,” I told him. “So I gather you don’t like her much, do you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care about her.”
“What’s the baby killer thing all about?” I might dislike Julia on sight, but I’d like to know why someone would call Hanna that.
The hall behind him was emptying out.
Tristan suddenly came to life, straightening from the doorframe. “Lock your door. Let’s go. If we don’t get down those stairs in the next two minutes, you’ll find out what a killer Nix can be.”
Chapter Seventeen
Physical training sucked.
We ran over to a field in the woods to warm up, and then after we stretched, we did multiple circuits on a makeshift exercise course set up in the field. Pull-ups, push-ups, triceps dips, so many abs exercises. Nix and Cade were both there—lucky me—and I couldn’t help stealing glances at their chiseled bodies in those t-shirts and shorts until sweat began to drip in my eyes. I was in good shape, but not good enough.
Then we paired up for conditioning work, striking light punches and kicks. Tristan and I faced each other. His strikes were very light as he punched at my abs and arms.
Nix stopped to watch us both. “You can go both go harder. Unless you’re a china doll and I didn’t realize it, Deidra.”