by LJ Andrews
I glanced over my shoulder, certain someone would barge in my room at any moment. The house was still.
I faced her, waving my hand. “Okay, but be careful, this house is ancient.”
“I can handle myself, Teagan, but I find your ever-increasing concern for my wellbeing charming.” She moved gracefully, hardly making a sound, and soon she was there, accepting my hand as I pulled her over the edge of the roof. “See, no need for rescuing.”
I laughed and relaxed after Jade sat by my side. “So, what brought you back tonight? Need to talk to Sapphire again?”
“I know what you’re thinking, but no. I’ll give Konrad a break tonight. I came to see you.”
“Really? And what if I hadn’t decided to step out on the roof? Then what would you have done? I don’t think Sapphire would let you come in through the front door.”
“Broken in through your window,” she said with enough confidence, I believed her. Jade drew in a long breath, and tilted her head. “You’re intriguing, Teagan Ward.”
“Compliment or insult?”
“Not sure. I’ve never met anyone like you, someone who sort of challenges me in a way.”
“We haven’t really talked much,” I said. “You must meet a lot of dull people if our conversations have challenged you.”
“Not dull people. But no one that fascinates me quite like you.” I didn’t know how to respond, and filed through our limited interactions searching for one moment I might have done something particularly amazing. I came up empty. Jade used her shoulder to nudge mine. “How are you enjoying Wyvern Reform, Teagan? I see you’ve made some friends. Jenna and her posse enjoy the reform house.”
“Shouldn’t I make friends?” I licked the dryness from my lips and inched closer.
Jade nodded mutely, then stared at the forest, hugging her knees to her chest.
“Why do you come out into the forest so much, Jade?”
She paused, studying me for a few breaths before turning to the moon. “I enjoy the peace of it all.”
“Does your mom know you always come to the reform house?”
“She does. I don’t know if she likes my interest with it lately, though,” Jade said. “I don’t understand you, Teagan. I feel like there’s something you’re keeping from me—like a secret reason you’ve come—then in moments like this I believe you are telling me the truth completely.”
“Are you magis?” I asked bluntly.
Jade glanced at me, then shook her head. “No. Not anymore. I had a bit of power once, but it faded.”
“So like reverse defective.”
“I guess,” she said.
Now she wasn’t telling me everything. I scooted closer until our legs touched. “Jade, I haven’t lied to you. I’m here because it’s better than the alternative—but don’t tell Sapphire I said that.”
“What’s the alternative?”
I didn’t want to admit my mishaps. Jade’s opinion mattered, but the way her eyes pleaded for something—something I wanted to give her even if I didn’t know what it was—I put pride aside. I would rather tell her from my own mouth, than someone making me out to be worse than was true. “My next option is MPF rune cells for two years. Solitary confinement with ghosts for company.”
Jade didn’t say anything for a moment and folded her legs beneath her. “Sounds intense.”
“You haven’t asked what I did,” I said.
“I didn’t think it was my business unless you want to tell me.”
I could have kissed her right there. Everyone always wanted to know. “I helped steal the Glacier Pack Alpha’s car. With his son.”
“You ran with wolvyn? Is that what you are?”
I shook my head. “No. My aunt said my folks were witches or something.”
“Hmm.” Jade said, then looked at the moon once more. “It sounds like you were looking for something and acted out in order to find it.”
I turned my eyes to the velvet sky, too. “That’s deep.”
“Is it?” Jade asked. “Perhaps I was wrong about you. You aren’t who I thought. But I think you’re like me in a lot of ways. What are you looking for, Teagan?”
My smile slowly faded. Who did she think I was? “I don’t know. I haven’t ever found that place I belong, I guess.”
“Maybe you’ll find it here.”
“What are you looking for Jade?” I countered. “You said we’re alike. What brings you to the forest at night—don’t say it’s because you like nature. I do too, but I don’t wander around in the dark.”
Jade’s green eyes pierced a hidden piece of my soul when she met my eye again. “I’m looking for my place, too; searching for the right road to take—a road that will help those I care about the most. I’ve been lost for a long time, but lately I’ve felt stronger and ready for whatever fate has in store. It’s been since I’ve met you.” She leaned her face close to mine, so I drew in a sharp breath. “There’s something so familiar about you, but it isn’t like my memory recognizes it, more like my heart.”
In the quiet of the night, when the crickets slowed their song, I began to understand what she meant. Jade had this aura about her, something I’d never noticed on anyone else, and it reeled me in, like my spirit had found a missing piece.
Clearing my throat, I wasn’t positive how to proceed. Normally, I’d be locked in passion with a girl this close to me, but with Jade it was different. I didn’t want to rush anything, didn’t want to ruin anything. The little things of Jade Drake mattered.
“Glad I could help,” I whispered after a pregnant pause. “So, can I ask you a question? What’s the deal with your bodyguards?”
Jade snorted a laugh. “Raffi and Dash? We’ve been friends since the beginning. They get a little protective of me, that’s all. I’ve had a few encounters in the past with people hurting me, so they don’t trust strangers. You’ll have to forgive them. They really aren’t unkind.”
“Hurt you? What do you mean?” I recalled what Jenna had said. Hearing it from Jade caused my blood to boil.
“Nothing to fret over, Teagan,” she said. “It’s all in the past, and I’ve cut ties with those people. Raffi and Dash are like my older brothers. I know people think I’m romantically involved with one or the other, but it’s not like that.”
“Does Raffi know?”
Jade laughed again, reclining back on her palms. “Has he gone and said something to you?”
I crossed my ankles and leaned back too. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Oh, I have no doubt you can handle more than people give you credit for,” Jade whispered. Her shoulder brushed up against mine. “Don’t let it get to you. Raffi can’t help himself, it’s just in his nature to be protective I guess, so he’s the most outspoken. I should go now.”
“Whoa, just like that?”
She grinned. “Just like that.”
Her shoulder pulled away and I thought I might do anything to get it back. “Wait you shouldn’t go through the woods alone. Let me at least walk you.”
“Teagan, I’ll be fine. Besides, you’ll get into a lot of trouble. Konrad is stubborn, and I’m not sure I would have the ability to convince him to be lenient. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
I watched Jade slip like a ghost across the lawn. She paused, glanced over her shoulder, and waved. We stared at each other for a moment longer, then the black of the forest shadowed her from sight.
I flopped back on the roof. My first real smile broke over my lips and I greeted the cool shine of the moon with open arms.
Chapter 9
“Wait, you’re saying Jade came to the house—just to talk to you?” Mitch asked in a low whisper.
I nodded, and Graham lifted his brow, more interested in what I had to say since I’d arrive. “What did she say?”
Quickly, I recounted the main points, Graham fascinated with the smallest details—even curious about her relationship with Raffi and Dash.
“So they aren’t together?” M
itch asked.
“According to Jade, Raffi is like her older brother who’s protective,’” I said.
“Sounds kind of like a cop-out for this guy wants me so he tries to control me.”
I grinned wryly. “My thoughts exactly.”
“I still can’t believe Jade Drake came to the reform house,” Graham muttered. “She’s never had the slightest interest in anyone before. But she really said that? Raffi and Dash are protective because someone tried to hurt her?”
“What’s with you?” Mitch shoved Graham’s shoulder. “Isn’t that what he just said? She probably means some guy hurt her—you know, like a broken heart. Nothing violent ever happens here. That’s probably why people have such an issue sometimes with a magis reform house. We’re heathens.”
We were different. Not that I liked being halfway to nineteen and still strolling the halls of a high school, but even here the reforms were treated differently. Today, for example, anyone living in Wyvern Reform, wouldn’t be attending classes. No, we’d be on labor duty. On the grounds making certain the school gleamed with perfection.
Mitch shouldered a pack when we descended the bus. Graham was assigned to the baseball fields with some of the defective boys. Mitch and I were to join Melinda and more of the actively magical students at the track and field.
“Melinda, beat it,” Mitch said, halfway to the field. “I’ll mesmerize you.”
She’d been winking at the two of us, the tug of her seduction magic driving a hole through my chest. She frowned. “Shut up. You’re not even a strong fae.”
Mitch raised a hand. “Want to find out?” She squealed and hurried on with her friends. Mitch shook his head and made an irritated noise in his throat. “That kid needs to get a life.”
“Maybe it’s an instinct.”
“It’s hormones,” Mitch said. “She wants to stretch her magical limbs because she’s a stupid teenager. Succubi are the worst when they’re young. And for your information, I’m pretty decent with fae magic. Even if I was raised human, Sapphire made sure I learned.”
I believed him and told him to keep his fae-changeling hands off me. Fae were tricky creatures who could manipulate you into doing almost anything. Not that I thought Mitch would, but . . .
“Mr. Ward.”
My head snapped up and my heart dropped.
Mitch’s eyes widened. “Dude, that’s Ms. Drake. You’re screwed.”
Ms. Drake had inky black hair that spilled around her shoulders. Her face was made of sharp lines, a beautiful face, but intimidating all the same. She offered me a tight smile. “I’d like a word with you, if you don’t mind.”
I nodded and handed my pack to Mitch. “Meet you later.”
Mitch grinned and a bit of excitement lived in his eyes as he walked away, glancing back at least four times before he disappeared down the slope of the lawns.
My heart thudded against my chest all the way to her office. Ms. Drake ushered me ahead of her, the stiff smile in place.
Inside, wall to wall, was lined in different crystals and gemstones and geodes. Light broke into prisms across the gray paint. An impressive collection. Each stone was unique in its own way; a vein of sapphire stones or amethyst, or sharp points of ruby and emerald.
Ms. Drake rounded her massive desk and pointed to four bowls filled with sweets: fancy licorice cuts, wrapped taffy, gummy bites, and caramel chocolates. I held up a hand, refusing, and took a seat in one of the chairs.
“How are you adjusting to Wyvern High, Mr. Ward?” she asked after a short, deafening pause.
“Fine, Ma’am.” Be respectful, this was Jade’s mother.
“Oh, call me Ms. Drake. I’ve heard positive things from your teachers. No problems, you’re keeping up all right, yes?”
“Yes. No problems.”
“Have you met any new friends? How are the students treating you?”
“I tend to stick with others from the house.”
“Of course,” she said sweetly. The way she eyed me down her narrow nose, I couldn’t figure yet if she knew I’d spent time in the middle of the night on a roof. With her daughter. “Wyvern High is a welcoming place, Mr. Ward. Even in our unconventional summer semester. We pride ourselves on our community outreach, and that includes the Wyvern Reform House. Mr. Sapphire has done an amazing job. All I ask from you is you respect our school, do your work, be courteous to your fellow students, finish your degree, and remember boundaries are what keep our school safe and flourishing. You understand?”
I shifted in my seat when Ms. Drake kept her eyes locked with mine. She wasn’t glaring, she wasn’t sneering, she was still smiling pleasantly. It almost made the discomfort worse. I was almost positive what sort of boundaries Ms. Drake was talking about. “I think so, Ms. Drake.”
“Good. I pride our school on being welcoming. I pride myself on it. I’d hate for any of it to change.”
My fists balled over my knees. I offered her a curt nod.
She grinned. “I don’t expect any sort of problems. Keep up the good work, Mr. Ward. I’ll be sure to let Mr. Sapphire know you’re showing exemplary behavior. You’re free to go.”
The words weren’t supposed to slip out, but my mouth had a way of spouting off. “Mr. Sapphire is close with your family, right? Especially Jade. He’s talked with her a few times at night at the house. It’s cool you have such close relationships with your neighbors.”
Ms. Drake’s smile faded and she cocked her head, peeling back my skin with her eyes. “It is nice. You know, Mr. Ward, Wyvern Willows is a close community. Has been since it was founded two hundred years ago. We’d rather not stir up any hypothetical problems.”
“Right,” I said wryly.
“Thank you, Mr. Ward. Have a nice day.”
I stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Ms. Drake turn toward the monitor, typing something quickly and turning her shoulders away from me. I left with the feeling I was missing something obvious; a part of my brain was pounding against my senses to simply open my eyes and see it.
The work on the field wasn’t unbearable. I preferred it to indoor work, and when we broke for lunch, I earned a glimpse at Jade. Raffi and Dash, too, naturally. They were worse than over-protective brothers. They were stifling.
I sat on the bleachers with Mitch, eating lunch, my gaze turned to the fifty yard line where Jade laughed with the guys.
“So, did her mom threaten to have you arrested for seducing her daughter?” Mitch asked, biting into a potato wedge.
“No, she didn’t say anything about Jade. But there was that tone, you know. An underlying threat.”
“Don’t mess with mama bears, man.”
I grinned and tossed out a shriveled grape from my bag. “Graham didn’t want to eat today?” He’d been absent since this morning.
“Guess not.”
“You ever going to tell me what he is.”
Mitch shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I don’t get fae vibes from him—I can usually sense it. But he could be some kind of wraith maybe. He’s sullen enough.”
A wraith would explain why Graham was hushed about his bloodlines. Dark spectral kind weren’t always favored in magis society. Known to be untrustworthy and, frankly, deadly. I picked at a few carrot sticks, listening to Mitch go on about a tussle between one of the human football players and a forest fae student earlier, until a shadow on the field caught my eye.
My blood chilled.
Someone cloaked in a black hood darted toward Jade, Raffi, and Dash. The newcomer held something in his hand; something glowing a poisonous sort of color.
Raffi and Dash were laughing, not even budging. My skin, on the other hand, had gone from ice to flames. Not one to jump to conclusions, but some deep-rooted instinct whispered this person could not touch Jade.
I shot to my feet. “Who is that?”
“Who?” Mitch followed my eyes toward the field.
“That guy. He’s moving right for Jade.” I didn’t wait for Mitch to catch
up with what was happening. The hooded figure sprinted to the middle of the football field. Raffi, Dash, and Jade were doing nothing to get out of his way.
Wyvern High School was not a large school, so in turn, their athletic field was on the smaller scale. Today, I could not have been more grateful. I wasn’t an athlete, but had always had the natural talent to move like one. The hooded figure ran straight for Jade’s back and I ran faster. I cleared a small fence between the bleachers and track, blood thudding in my head. My eyes were locked, unblinking, on the guy in the hood.
Who the hell was he and why was no one doing anything?
He was unmistakably aggressive, and after Jade had mentioned she’d been hurt in the past, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Out of the corner of my eye, Raffi and Dash pricked to life, but they weren’t focused on the would-be assailant—no, they raged at me! They wanted me to stop. Not going to happen.
The guy in the hood raised his glowing bottle like he planned to throw it at Jade, but I slid in front. The slick, gush of liquid splashed over my hands, my arms. Whatever was inside scorched through my skin, my muscle, down to my bones.
An electric pulse, the same shock I’d felt when I saw Jade the first time, rushed through my veins. It countered the burn, but not enough. My head twisted in a sick vertigo, my knees buckled, and I fell back the same moment the hooded guy fell.
Next, Raffi’s thick arms coiled around my body, pinning me to the grass. I burned with whatever electric surge of adrenaline pulsed through my blood and caught Raffi’s fist midair before it struck against my face.
“What are you doing?” Raffi bellowed, drawing several odd looks from other students while his eyes drifted to my grip still holding firmly against his fist. “I’ll kill you.”
“What are you t-t-talking about? I stopped that g-guy from hurting Jade!”
“Raffi,” Jade’s quivering voice broke his focus long enough that I could roll out from underneath him. Jade pointed to the black bottle. Steam rose from the grass where the drops touched the ground. Did no one see my flesh was melting away? I cried out and flopped my head back when a wave of hot pain shook my body. Jade’s voice was small, broken. “All gods,” she cursed an ancient curse. “Zomok pyre.”