Sparking Magic (Protectors Academy Book 1)

by Nika Gray

  “I wish Aiden was here,” I said. “He’d be able to suss out who’s all been here.”

  “How?”

  “His sense of smell, Fergus. He’s a shifter remember?”

  “Oh, right.”

  “If the door was open and this place isn’t ransacked, that’s good news,” Fergus said. “They must know she’s in trouble.”

  The hope was evident in his voice.

  “Is she?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not feeling that extreme need to save her. Are you?” I asked.

  Fergus was still and quiet for a moment.

  “No.” He shook his head. “They must have saved her,” he continued, trying to convince himself.

  “And who exactly is this ‘they’ you're talking about?” I asked.

  “Headmaster Hotchkiss, the resistance?” he offered.

  “I don’t think you’re supposed to say you know they exist,” I said dryly. “That blows their cover and you know who my father is. Yours, too for that matter.”

  Fergus had never been the sharpest knife in the drawer. He had a sunny disposition and was carefree and happy-go-lucky most of the time. Between him and Declan, it was definitely Declan who had the brains. I could see how Sadie might want to have some sunshine in her life. Fergus was that. Just a little Sunshine.

  “I’ve seen your blue flame, Cole,” Fergus said. “Like it or not, she’s changed you too. That’s why I felt safe mentioning the resistance to you. I’m sure you’ve guessed that’s Faerie fire coming out of your fingertips.”

  Okay. Maybe he wasn’t as dumb as he looked.

  Neither of us said anything more as we turned to leave the Headmaster’s Manor and sprint back to the lake.

  I noticed his skin changing texture. If I hadn’t been dealing with my own curious magical manifestations, I would have been shocked. His skin turning to what looked like liquid gold told me he’d forged a connection with Sadie just as deep as I had.

  She’d chosen him and I’d have to respect that. I didn’t like it. But I respected it.

  Her scent drifted up to my nose from the pale lavender settee in the headmaster’s sitting room.

  “She's been here,” I said.

  Fergus snapped his head back at me.

  “It's her smell,” he said and inhaled deep.

  “Cotton candy and some kind of flower mixed together. It's sweet…and her,” I trailed off feeling self-conscious.

  Fergus wasn’t paying attention to me. He sat on the settee, shoving his hands in the crevices between the cushions.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Checking to see if she left anything behind. Proof she’d been here.” I let him look, but doubted he’d find anything.

  As I’d suspected he came up empty several minutes later.

  I’d been with her just a few hours ago and I could still feel her body on mine. I was tuned into her frequency and the connection we had was beginning to tug even harder. She was somewhere out there and getting closer.

  “She's safe. I feel her getting closer,” I said attempting to put him out of his misery.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. I could see the gold roiling in his iris. “How do you know?” He didn’t like my sensing her before he could.

  “I was with her a few hours ago,” I said. “That’s probably why. I don’t know exactly how this connection between us works. I just feel her getting closer.”

  He looked pissed and I understood. I wasn’t happy to find out she’d been with him, either. My mind was changed by his liquid gold skin.

  It suddenly occurred to me that her gifts joined us. They changed both of us. We weren’t in competition with each other. We were different, but also the same. I understood that now.

  “I know you're not gonna want to hear this,” I started.

  “Go on,” Fergus snapped.

  “She joined us together, Fergus.” I let that sink in. “Look at us. We’re all in this together somehow. Whatever this is. We’re stronger as a group and she’s our center. Like a key.”

  “A key?” Fergus seemed skeptical, but he was listening.

  “That's what keeps coming into my head,” I explained. “That she’s the key to something. Something really big. And I can tell by the magic that's flowing through your skin and turning you gold, you must be an important part of this. Just like I am.”

  He stared at me and I watched him struggle with the different emotions that had to be churning within. Anger, jealousy, confusion, doubt, and then a recognition what I said was true.

  He nodded his head.

  “Maybe you’re right,” he conceded. “Maybe Sadie’s the key. The moment you called her a key, the center, something clicked. Like I’d always know that somehow?”

  The moment I saw Fergus on the path looking as frantic as was, I knew he was the same as me. We were the same kind of beast and she’d brought it out in us.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Fergus asked.

  “We should stay here and wait for her,” I said.

  He looked around the comfy chairs and nodded. “Yeah,” he nodded. “She’s on her way back here. I can feel it.”

  “Are you ready for this?” I asked.

  “I feel like I've been waiting for this my whole life,” he said as he draped himself over the lavender settee. I settled into the headmaster’s leather armchair that would hold my height and closed my eyes. I inhaled her lingering scent and the sweet memory of her writhing beneath me invaded my mind.

  I couldn’t wait to be near her again.

  Chapter 21

  Sadie

  I sat between Fergus and Cole on the headmaster’s settee. I took comfort from their closeness and my exhaustion faded as I sat back and allowed them to each to hold my hand. Everywhere our bodies made contact sizzled and sparked. I focused on relaxing and letting the terrifying rollercoaster of emotions from the day wash away.

  The fear and confusion I felt after discovering Alexis gone left me when I saw the both of them. Together. They’d come for me!

  The moment we had entered the manor, they rushed me. Our connections snapped and crackled into place. Cole embraced and kissed me, and I pulled Fergus over and kissed him, too. Cole released me and Fergus hugged me hard.

  “You scared the shit out of us,” Fergus whispered.

  “Well, I was scared shitless, so I guess the feeling was going around,” I said.

  He let go of me and Kelly ushered the three of us into the sitting room and closed the door on us for some privacy.

  I flopped down on the settee in exhaustion and Fergus and Cole squeezed in on either side of me. My magic tendrils went shooting off toward the both of them, igniting Fergus’ gold skin and Cole’s cool blue fire. Our energies intertwined and I sighed blissfully. I finally felt at home.

  “Who did this?” Cole demanded, an undercurrent of rage in his voice.

  “Alexis Schoenberg.” I yawned as I answered. “She used some sort of persuasion spell on me to drink a potion. I blacked out after that.”

  “What potion?” Fergus asked.

  “No idea,” I said. “Kelly knows, I think. One of the professors alerted Hotchkiss about missing ingredients and having seen me with Alexis. It should have killed me.”

  “Where is she now?” Cole murmured. His fury roiled off of him. I pressed my hand into his knee to still his anger.

  “I don’t know,” I answered. I was too tired, but also too energized to tell them everything that had happened. “She kidnapped me, but I got away. She crashed the car and got hurt. She’s out there somewhere. But honestly, she’s the least of our problems.”

  Cole and Fergus glanced at each and I got a knowing look. Each of them nodded and I wondered what kind of understanding they’d reached in my absence.

  “The potion didn’t do what she expected it to,” I explained. “In a way, it was a gift. It took me to a place where I could see more clearly.”

  “What do you mean?�
�� Fergus asked as he caressed my hand.

  “I came here to put us all on the right path,” I said.

  “What path?” Cole asked.

  “I don’t know. There’s a promise. Or a prophecy of some kind.” I searched my mind for the information that must be there.

  “Prophecy?” Cole asked as he gently stroked my cheek.

  “We’re part of something,” I struggled to explain. “All of us…”

  “It’s okay, Sadie.” Fergus said. “You don’t have to try and explain anything to us. You’ve had a big day.”

  I sighed. I was exhausted and knowing Alexis was out there certainly offered no comfort at all, but as I tried to explain to Fergus and Cole what I’d experienced in the void and what the voice had said, it felt like I was trying to catch a balloon that kept floating just out of my reach.

  “You need to rest,” Cole agreed.

  “We belong together,” I told them. “This was supposed to happen. Us. We were supposed to happen. That’s all I know. I’m not even sure where to look for answers, but for the first time in this life, I don’t feel alone. Because of you.”

  I met Fergus’ dazzling golden eyes and then Cole’s icy blue ones.

  “We’re meant to do something here and we’re meant to do it together,” I continued. “Do I sound completely insane?”

  “Absolutely,” Fergus said and he kissed me on the cheek.

  “Absolutely what?” I smiled.

  “Absolutely yes,” Cole said and nuzzled my neck.

  I turned my head slightly and accepted his deep kiss, allowing his tongue to embrace mine. He released me and then to my surprise, Fergus did the same.

  “Look, Sadie,” Cole said. “Whatever you ask, we’ll do.”

  I could see that blue fire burning in his eyes. I looked over at Fergus and he nodded in agreement.

  How should I tell them about the Fae magic, though? They’d been mages all their lives. And what if Hotchkiss was wrong? What if my magic wasn’t Fae, but something else entirely?

  “Both of us felt you were in danger,” Fergus said.

  “We both came running, looking for you,” Cole added.

  “We’re connected now,” I nodded.

  Cole stroked my cheek again and said “We should probably get you back to your room. You’re exhausted from your ordeal.”

  “Wait,” I said. “I can’t leave.”

  “We’re waiting for something?” Cole asked.

  “Hotchkiss spoke about people who could help us,” I nodded. “A group of mages he said we can trust,” I explained.

  “The resistance?” Fergus asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said truthfully.

  “We’ll find our way out of this,” Cole said. “Stop talking about the resistance, Ferg.”

  Cole took my hand in his and his pale blue magic entwined my arm. My red tendrils met his and I knew in my heart he meant every word.

  The voice in the blackness of the void was right. I was exactly where I was meant to be.

  We would find our way through this. I knew that now. I brushed my lips first against Cole’s mouth and then across Fergus’ lips as our magic frolicked together across our bodies.

  We heard people moving in the other room and Cole stood up, giving Fergus and me the settee. His blue fire was gone.

  “I don't think it’s a good idea to let the others know about our magical abilities,” Cole said.

  “You think,” Fergus snorted.

  “We agree to keep what we can a secret,” Cole said.

  “Hotchkiss already knows about mine,” I said.

  “Then that’s all he should know about it,” Cole said.

  “Agreed,” said Fergus.

  “Okay, but why?” I asked.

  “Because if our families found out about any of this, that we had special magic powers, then all of this is over like that.” Cole snapped his finger. “And we wouldn’t be able to protect you like we can now. As long as he’s a Mathonwy and I’m a Trahern, we have resources and latitude. If anyone finds out what magic we wield now…”

  “They would kill us all,” Fergus finished.

  “If my father had any inkling about this…” Cole said.

  “He’d hunt you down and kill you himself,” Fergus finished.

  Cole nodded and I could see the pain in his face.

  Fergus grimaced. “Same here.”

  “No,” Cole shook his head. “It’d be your bitch of a mother. She’d probably drink your blood like a vampire, too.”

  Fergus nodded and shrugged because he knew it was true.

  I didn’t know what to say to that. The horribleness of their certainty darkened my mood. The road we were on was treacherous.

  “We keep this a secret until we no longer can,” I said.

  They both nodded and we settled in separate seats, making sure we weren't touching so the magic that was so new to all of us couldn't show itself.

  From outside the door we heard at least four voices and I recognized the one of them as Declan. I had no idea what he would think about seeing both Fergus and Cole here with me. What I did know was that he too, would soon be part of our group.

  I hope you enjoyed reading Sparking Magic!

  I’ve had so much fun writing this love story. If you want to continue loving on Sadie and her men…stay tuned for the next installment!

  Copyright © 2020 by Nika Gray

  All rights reserved.

  Sparking Magic: Protectors Academy #1

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.

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  About Nika Gray

  Nika Gray is living her happily-ever-after with her family in sunny California. She loves stories that are both supernatural and have a big swoon factor to them. Her heroines are strong, strong-willed and sassy and are fully appreciated by their mates.

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