The woman—Mara—put a hand on my forehead and then one on my belly. “Dirty tricks in this trial, the blades were edged with a nerve-damaging agent to make the pain worse. I bet you’re feeling pretty low right now.”
I opened my mouth to answer and ended up rolling to the side, puking into a bucket that had been strategically placed. I gagged and spat, my nose plugged with blood and my throat clogged with puke.
“Don’t you worry. I’ll get you all fixed up and then you can have your banquet.” She leaned into me, her hands pressing hard against both head and belly.
I groaned, sucked in a slow breath, and my body heaved as if I were going to puke again.
“Hold on, this will be uncomfortable,” Mara said with that gentle voice. My skin tingled under her touch, like her flesh was covered in tiny hot pokers that went from being warm and soothing to so hot they burned. But I held still, shaking so hard the table rattled and my feet banged against the foot of the gurney.
Wally and Pete were close to my head, and I focused on their voices as Mara did her thing.
“Wally,” Pete whispered, “are they pulling a blanket over that kid’s head? Is he dead?”
“Yes, he is,” she said. “I see his spirit leaving him. Sad, he fell and snapped his neck when he landed.”
I shuddered and was going to open my eyes, but Mara slid her hand over them. “Let’s get these fixed up for you. And that nose. It would be awful to have it set crooked.”
“Why? Chicks dig scars,” Pete said. “Let him keep his crooked nose.”
Mara’s hands tensed at that word—him.
Oh. She was a healer, trained in the human body, of course she would know I was a girl. Probably when her magic delved me, she could tell the difference. I was a fool. How was I going to keep this up?
I reached up and pulled her hands from my eyes. “Leave the nose.”
I put all the pleading I could into my eyes, begging her not to give up my secret. She frowned, her cupid’s bow mouth curving downward. “All right. For now, I’ll heal it as it is. But if you change your mind, we can fix it later.”
“Thanks.”
“You might have residual pain through tomorrow, and your appetite will be huge, but don’t overdo it in one go. Small meals, spaced out if you can. You’ll be ready in no time for the next trial.” Mara stepped back and I found myself staring at her, still flat on my back. Her words rang in my ears as though they’d been spoken in another language.
“How many of these trials are there again?” I asked with numb lips. “Also, can we skip any?”
Mara’s eyes were a little amused. “Five. You’ve successfully made it through your first trial, plus the bonus. You’re off to a great start. But you’ll have to run all five, young…man. One for each house, to be sure you are placed right.”
All…five.
My jaw dropped and I spluttered, at a loss for words. Or maybe not. “Are you yanking my chain?”
“Texan,” Wally muttered.
Gregory cleared his throat. “We need to have a discussion, Wild. We are a crew now and—”
I waved my hands across my body, cutting him off. “Not here.” I couldn’t say why, but I wanted to keep my lack of knowledge as close to the chest as possible.
Before I could even leave the cot, my most favorite of favorite people arrived on scene.
Mr. Sunshine. Sideburns himself.
And he wasn’t alone.
The world dropped away, dizzying, flipping everything inside me upside down. A rush of relief and comfort washed over me, bathing me.
I’m not alone.
A moment later, though, a newfound rage burned me through.
I stared, unable to believe who stood in front of me. Unable to believe that he had really come here, despite all we’d been through, and not said a word.
There, in the flesh, standing in front of me with a bloody blank face on his fool head was Rory Wilson.
I hadn’t wanted to believe this moment would come. I hadn’t wanted to believe my father. Rory should’ve had a better life in Nevada. He should’ve found a calm woman who never caused trouble and started a family.
Instead, he’d run full steam into more danger than he’d left.
He’d been here when my brother had died.
I could barely speak, I was so angry, and I completely ignored the traitorous memories of what he’d been to me. He’d been my protector when I’d been up to my eyeballs in bad decisions, my watchdog when I hadn’t needed protecting, and my partner in crime when I’d wanted to have a little fun. He’d been part of my world.
But he’d lied. Pushed me away. Left a note and snuck off in the night like a coward.
He had let my brother die.
My childhood buddy and fellow heathen was my soon-to-be nemesis.
Chapter 16
I was up and off the table in the medic tent in a flash, stomping my way across the small space between Rory and me. In those few seconds, I took him in, my first look after two years of nothing but memories.
He’d grown in the time we’d spent apart, muscling up, hardening into a man. Sure, he was still Rory, but…not. He no longer looked like the boy who’d left rural Texas for a better life. His hair was shorter, he had a new scar along the side of his jaw, and there was an aura of danger rolling around him.
Sideburns held up a hand. “I need to speak with you, Billy.”
I smacked his hand out of the way and kept moving until I was nose to neck with Rory. “You have some nerve showing up here, Wilson. You couldn’t be bothered to even come to Tommy’s funeral. You lied about where you were going and now you show up with this bitchasaurus rex at your side? What the ever-living hell?”
His smell permeated my world, and my stomach fluttered. Clean cotton, spice, and a hint of vanilla. Home. He smelled like home, and good memories and nostalgia rolled me like a wave.
My mouth dropped open. I hadn’t realized that smell was his until this moment. That smell had been there when I was at the airport getting mugged. “You helped them kidnap me, too, you sick sonuvabitch? Wow, you’ve sure changed. From a cool guy I used to know to a real sack of crap.”
Pete groaned. “He’s going to get us all killed.”
“He’s definitely getting closer to death, I’ll give you that,” Wally said quietly. “Be careful, Wild.”
Rory jerked a little when Wally used my nickname. He stared down at me. “Nice to see you too Johnson. Your brother’s death was a shame, but that’s what you get when you aren’t cut out for the academy. You die. You’d best remember that.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, his words worse than any blow from any weapon. I snapped a fist out in a hard hook, directly into his left side, driving it as hard as I could. He bent at the waist as he took the blow, a whoosh of air escaping him. I stepped back and he slowly straightened, face pale. I tipped my chin up, anger making my traitorous eyeballs water.
Damn him, he could always bring out the worst in me as well as the best. I could feel the angry tears pooling in the corners of my eyes. Definitely not a manly trait to cry when you were angry. I sucked in a slow breath, pushing the emotions down. “You were always sloppy on the left. Nice to see one thing hasn’t changed.”
His face tightened, jaw clamped, and eyes narrowed.
Sideburns stepped between us. “Enough.” His voice cracked through the air and more than a few people straightened as if he’d snapped them in the ass with a whip.
I turned my glare on him. “What? You going to try and knife me here, in front of everyone?”
He grabbed my arm and dragged me through the tent as though he were pulling a child along with him. “You will listen to me now, Billy, or you are going to get yourself killed.” He took something from his back pocket—the hat I’d lost—and jammed it on my head with enough force to make me wince.
“Now you want to act like you’re trying to help me? That’s a pile of horse crap, and I know horse crap, Sunshine. I used to shovel it—”<
br />
He came to a dead stop. “What. Did. You. Call. Me?”
Oops.
I hadn’t meant for that to slip out. “Sideburns,” I quickly amended, followed by a pronounced wince. Worse still!
He pulled off his aviators and his eyes were as dangerous and dark as I’d imagined, darker because I could see death in the black pools. He was a killer through and through, of that there was zero doubt. “There are more forces at play here than you realize. At some point, it will make sense. But for now, keep your head down and your hands clean. Stay out of the limelight.” I couldn’t help but glare. Anger at Rory still coursed through me and made me stupidly bold. “You threatened my family, so I’m here. You know—”
He jerked me closer so we were nose to nose, forcing me to stoop just a little. Strangely, though, he seemed bigger even though I looked down on him. “I know what you are, Billy. Let’s keep it to only me knowing. And stick to the middle ground, you idiot. You stand out, and what do you think is going to happen? People are going to notice you. You don’t want that, not here.”
There was an unspoken threat there. But I wasn’t one for unspoken anything.
“Or what?”
His hand tightened on me. “You’ll have to watch your siblings come through the trials and see them die firsthand. You might survive here, but do you think they will?” he growled. “Right now, you being here can protect them. Just like you wanted. But only if you keep the illusion up as long as possible.”
He let me go, shoving me a little so I stumbled back. “I’ve got my eye on you, Billy. Don’t mess up.”
With a snap of his fingers, he turned to leave. Rory studied me for a silent beat before turning without a word and following his new bestie. But I’d seen the flash of mirth in his eyes. The twinkle of excitement. That look had always meant we were about to get into something incredibly foolhardy and dangerous. I hardly knew the guy I’d grown up with anymore while still knowing him like the back of my hand.
First, he’d lied to me, then dismissed my brother’s death, and now he was helping Sideburns?
Fire burned through me even as my heart cracked.
I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from going after him. He’d get his; I’d make sure of it. But right now, I had to look after me. Me and my new crew. He wasn’t the only one with a new bunch around him.
I slapped away a trail of hot tears down my face. They had no place in this setting, especially with the image I needed to maintain.
I fisted my hands at my sides and turned away from them to see Gregory, Pete, Wally and Orin watching me with wide eyes.
“Did you…talk back to the Sandman?” Pete whispered. “You’ve got to have the biggest balls of any guy I know! You’re my freaking hero!” He clapped a hand on my back and tried to get me in a half hug, which I slid out of. Just in case.
“I hope you live long enough for the next trial,” Wally said, all seriousness.
Orin snorted and covered his lips with a hand. I glared at him until he withered under my gaze. Look at me making friends wherever I went.
“Where do we go from here?” I asked. I needed to change the subject. I needed to protect Sam and Billy with everything I had and that meant pulling my crap together.
“You follow me. As it should be.”
The five of us turned to see the blond pretty boy, Ethan, standing there, his wand tucked through a loop on his belt, hands on his hips. Like a wannabe Peter Pan if I ever saw one.
“We aren’t going anywhere with you,” Pete snapped.
I nodded. “What he said.” Tipping my head, I added, “And where’s your Tinker Bell?”
Ethan glared at me, his face going slightly pink. “Just what are you implying?”
“That you look like Peter Pan, idiot,” Gregory said. “The stupidity of the House of Wonder truly mystifies me. How in the world you got to the top of the food chain is beyond my ken.”
I pointed at the goblin. “What he said.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Ethan said, ignoring us. “We finished our first trial together, which means we are a unit in each subsequent trial whether any of us like it or not. Assuming you all survive, that is.”
He walked toward me, bumping me with his shoulder as he went by. Or trying to. I didn’t so much as budge an inch and I watched with amusement as he lifted a hand to rub his own shoulder. “They are announcing the winners of today’s trials. Then we eat and get tomorrow off.”
I didn’t want to follow Ethan, but…I needed to keep a low profile, and Peter Pan would clearly steal any spotlight he caught a glimmer of. Maybe staying around him wasn’t such a bad idea.
I glanced at my…friends? Were they friends? Yeah, they were. “Come on, we’re with stupid.”
Pete’s face said it all, he did not want to do this. And I didn’t blame him. “Seriously? After the stunt he pulled?”
I shrugged. “If he dies in the next round, we’re done with him. That’s got to give you hope.”
Wally hurried up next to me. “Depending on the trial we face, that is highly plausible. Though, with him being a Helix, I suppose those numbers drop. Likely he will have some superior training to help him survive.” Her lips pursed and I could almost see her working the odds out in her head.
The group of us followed Ethan like a flock of sheep to a shepherd. He never once looked back, as though he was so sure we’d follow.
Lambs to the slaughter.
“Let’s see how we can make it work to our advantage,” I said to the others in an undertone. “If he has knowledge about what’s coming, then all the better.”
Gregory was the first to nod his agreement. “We will all be more likely to survive with him in our group, that is true. Being a Helix will give him special privileges.”
They were quiet a moment, and surprisingly it was Orin who spoke next. “I’ll keep an eye on him. Like I mentioned, I know his style. He’ll play us like a fiddle if we let him.”
Gregory waved a hand. “No need. We will be dorming together. With the exception of our necromancer. No girls allowed. She might peek at us in the shower.”
Necromancer. I whipped my head around to stare at Wally, remembering the comment before the trial about walking memory banks. It made more sense now. But her name tag didn’t have a designation under it like mine did. Like Gregory’s did. Pete’s had fallen off, but there was no doubt about Orin. “You can raise the dead?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. I won’t know until all my training is done. But my chance of ending up in the House of Night is close to ninety-nine percent seeing as my entire family has trained there on both sides, going back four generations.”
And then the rest of what Gregory had said slipped into my brain. “Wait, we’ll dorm together?”
“Yes, the five guys will dorm together. And Wally will be put into the girls’ dorm. Maybe in another group.” Gregory rubbed at his pointed nose. “I smell roast beef.”
“I smell it too,” Pete said, grabbing at his flabby stomach as it let out a loud growl.
With the guys following their noses—and Ethan—I let myself drop back a few steps.
Orin fell in beside me. He said nothing for a moment and then spoke quietly. “I won’t tell.”
“Why?”
The question I asked was just as quiet, Sideburns’s warning still ringing through me. “You don’t even know me.”
He tucked his hands into the bottoms of his long sleeves so they disappeared. “You drew me to this group…my mother was a seer and I have a little of her talent. I need to be here, with you and the others. Besides, you let me into this group without much hesitation. Which, considering what I am, is saying something.”
I frowned. “Somehow a vampire is worse than a goblin?”
His lips twitched upward. “Depends on who you ask. But most would not sleep in a dorm with a vampire. I don’t believe that Ethan even realizes I am part of this group. He won’t like it when he does.”
“That’s going t
o matter why?” I frowned as I worked through everything he was saying. He thought he was meant to be here, which was fine—weird, but fine—but he also thought I’d drawn him to the group. I’d done nothing but do my thing. Run across a log. Beat up a girl. Dodge electricity. Outpace some golems.
Right?
“It’s going to matter because he is terrified of vampires.” Orin grinned then, showing off the tiniest set of fangs I’d ever seen. Smaller than the barn cats at home.
“I’ve seen housecats with bigger teeth,” I muttered.
His grin slid. “They get bigger when I am inducted as a full vampire.”
“I bet all the guys say that.”
Orin laughed. “Your secret is safe with me. Be careful though. I do not know if the others would feel the same way. And there is a chance they’ll be able to figure it out. If Pete figures out his sniffer. If Gregory looks too close.”
I nodded, not because I didn’t trust the others but because it seemed like the thing to do. I would do the best I could with what I had, and hope it was enough.
We followed Ethan across an open field and up a slight incline. At the top of the slope, the view spread in front of us like a scene straight out of a fairy tale. A mansion sprawled in the shallow of the valley below. Five floors of brick and ivy and dormer windows. The grounds were immaculate and movement drew my eye to the side. A caretaker walked with a pair of shears, cutting and trimming, his back bent, movements slow.
Pete, Wally, Gregory, and even Orin gasped a little and excitement bubbled out of them. “The mansion is bigger than I expected!”
“It’s every bit as plush; you can tell from here.”
“Brilliant!”
Call me a pessimist, but with my luck and the Grim Reaper aka Sideburns as my guardian angel, there wasn’t a hope in hell we’d be staying in luxury. “Don’t get your hopes up. The job here is to break us, I think. Giving us a cushy mansion dorm would not fit with that,” I said.
Ethan snorted and smirked. “Please. I’m a Helix. We’ll have the best rooms. You can thank me later.”
I wanted to bet him that he was wrong. But I had nothing to bet but…the money in my backpack that awaited me when I left the medical tent. A flush of excitement cut through the worry.
Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials, Omnibus Page 14