by Sadie Moss
“More like a cockroach if you ask me,” I overhear Alyssa muttering to her groupies as the rest of the class joins Cam in his song.
Ah, yeah, those four. They’re still a problem, unfortunately.
I’m sure I could come up with rude nicknames based on each of their powers—physical transformation, disintegration, conjuring, and telekenisis—but I’m trying to be more mature than that.
If I were a psychologist, I’d probably theorize that Alyssa and her three cronies feel inferior to most of their peers outside the academy because they have Unpredictable magic, and that they’re under a lot of pressure from their families to compensate for that and to be the best.
But I’m not a damn therapist. So I’m sticking with the theory that they’re just spoiled brats who are pissed they’re at the “weirdo school”, and they’re taking it out on me.
And I really don’t appreciate it.
There’s not really much I can do about it though. And just ignoring them, as much as I hate to admit it, is the best thing.
If I retaliate, it’ll become an all out war. Maybe that’s exactly what the four of them want. It would give them some drama and excitement in their boring lives, make them feel like they have some control in a world that just yanked the rug out from under them. But I can’t afford to play that game. I’m not risking getting in trouble. Sure, I already broke one rule by moving in with the guys, but that risk seems worth it somehow. I like living with them, and I’ve gotten used to having them all around—even cranky-ass Dmitri. Besides, crashing in the men’s dormitory is a bit different than getting into a fight and getting hauled into the dean’s office for it.
I’m not hurting anyone by staying in a room where I feel safe. We’re all adults, we’re all consenting, and I haven’t even been in the rest of the men’s dorm.
But engaging in a petty high school level catfight with four spoiled girls who can probably call their rich parents and have them put pressure on the school to get me suspended?
Ha. Yeah. Not risking that.
At least my new room is nice. Cozy. Safe. Dmitri has upgraded from ignoring me to sniping back and forth with me, but even that feels like it’s starting to soften a bit. Like we’re settling into a rhythm of sorts, throwing rolled up balls of paper at each other, grousing at each other in the morning before we’ve both had our coffee, taunting each other about who could take who in a fight—none of it really backed by malice.
It’s done nothing to get rid of the heat I feel when I look at him. Or when I look at Cam or Asher, for that matter. Asher is incredibly sweet and helps me with my homework, and we’ll sit on the couch together at night and watch movies on his laptop. Cam makes me go running with him every morning, up through the woods, and always insists on carrying my meal tray when we go to dinner.
I’m not sure what to do about the attraction I feel. I don’t want to jinx things or ruin them by making a move on any of the guys. Especially when Dmitri’s only just decided that my presence isn’t a total waste of space, even if he still spends most of his time giving me shit. And especially when… well… it’s not like I have a favorite.
And I’m not going to trick them into thinking we could have some kind of serious romantic relationship when that’s the last thing I can afford. We’re friends—for once, I have actual friends—and that’s new enough, thanks. I don’t need to add romance into the mix and make a mess of this whole thing. I’m not pushing my luck.
So I try to keep myself distracted from fantasizing about my roommates by throwing myself headfirst into my training.
A week after I manifest my second power, Professor Tamlin, Dean Hardwick, and Nathan Perkins, my Practical Magic professor, call me into the dean’s office to have a talk.
I settle into the plush chair in front of Hardwick’s desk, trying to surreptitiously wipe my sweaty palms on my pants. Being stuck alone in a room with a bunch of very intimidating magic users who all have the ability to flunk me has my heart racing.
Roman’s there too, and he’s got an almost protective expression on his face as the other professors question me about my new magic. I get the sense that maybe he came to the meeting to look out for me, which I both love and hate.
But fortunately, everyone’s surprisingly kind.
They explain that this isn’t all that unusual, but it does mean I’ve likely got a lot of magic contained inside me. They’re not sure how many abilities I’m going to manifest in total, but they urge me in serious tones to keep a close eye on myself and take note of any changes or odd feelings.
You’re very powerful, is the general consensus.
I actually don’t get the feeling they’re scared of me, which is what I honestly expected. Instead, it feels more like they’re all… happy for me. Something like pride gleams in Roman’s cobalt eyes as the other professors explain how well I’m doing in class.
“Just don’t push yourself too hard,” Tamlin advises me. “That’s all we’re saying. But we’re very excited to watch your progress, Elliot.”
I can’t remember the last time people talked about me, to me, like that. Not since before Mom died. Maybe even earlier than that. Mom loved me and was proud of me, but it’s not like I was making the honor roll or anything. And now… now my professors are smiling at me like I’m something special, and it overwhelms me.
It’s almost enough to make me forget my suspicions about the school, my worries that something odd is going on here beneath the surface.
That is, until another student gets hurt a few weeks after midterms.
I’m not the one who finds him this time. I don’t know his name, but I recognize him when I see them floating him out on a stretcher—he’s another third year, graduating soon.
“He’s okay. Or he’s going to be,” Asher tells me in a low murmur as we watch him drift away down the corridor. Even with his brace on, keeping him from reading minds, my roommate is good at reading people.
Something is going on here. I fucking knew it.
That thought bounces around in my brain as I head back to the men’s dormitory after finishing up my last class of the day, Magical Theory. I could barely focus on Professor Binns’ lecture about the seven pillars of magic, and I know I wasn’t the only one. With the second attack so closely resembling the first, whispered theories and rumors are running rampant again. And while I’m normally not one to buy into gossip or drama, I can’t sit this one out.
Something strange is going on. This isn’t just a random set of events. The attacks were carried out on two students, neither of whom have anything major in common. Not their gender or race or magical abilities. They only had a few classes together and didn’t seem to be good friends—nor were they enemies.
I know all this because I’ve been doing a little digging. And the more I ask around, the more confused I get. It doesn’t make any damn sense.
What is going on? Why are students being attacked?
The admins don’t have much to say beyond the standard safety speeches. They ask us to report any suspicious activity and to avoid walking alone on campus at night if possible. But those are normal ways to avoid normal danger.
These attacks are not normal. There’s something strange going on at the Academy of Unpredictable Magic.
And I’m determined to find out what it is.
Chapter 15
Sneaking out of a dorm room you share with three roommates is a lot easier than you might expect.
Dmitri’s paranoid, so he’s a light sleeper—but I don’t sleep near him. My bed is set up over by Cam’s side of the room, and Cam snores and sleeps like a sack of potatoes. Asher’s a pretty heavy sleeper too, although he’s quiet. Sometimes I worry he could die in the middle of the night and none of us would know, that’s how deeply he sleeps and how little he moves.
I put on a pair of gym shorts and a tank top then steal Asher’s black hoodie and pull that on because hey, it’s chilly outside, and also, I’ll blend in better in the dark.
&nbs
p; Something has been bugging me about the first student who was attacked—Jessica, the one I found in the showers. Her memory of that day was apparently wiped out, either from the head trauma or by magical means, so she couldn’t give any details about the hours leading up to her attack. But as far as I’m concerned, it makes absolutely no sense for her to have been in the showers.
She was fully dressed, dry, and had no signs of assault besides the bruises on her face. And a shower in a busy locker room is the worst place for a clandestine meeting. If she was meeting someone for some reason, there are better places on campus. Places where people either can’t see you, or where you can blend in with everyone else, like the dining hall.
Not to mention, if she’d been attacked in the locker room where she was found, someone outside the room would’ve heard.
That tells me she was attacked somewhere else and then moved into the showers so nobody would wonder about where she’d been or what she’d been doing there. They’d be asking all the wrong questions based on her location.
I’m not sure how Jessica was moved, but there are plenty of ways that could’ve been managed. Magically or otherwise.
The guy who was attacked, though, Sebastian. Where was he found?
I was walking out of my History of Magic class when I saw them wheeling him out past me. And that class is over on the east wing of the main building…
The campus is dark and silent as I creep through the grass and along the path toward the main class building. The late hour makes this familiar, friendly place take on a whole new vibe—a much less pleasant one. I keep looking over my shoulder, paranoid. It feels like the whole campus is holding its breath. The darkness seems to hide things in its depths, things I can only glimpse out of the corner of my eyes.
Steady girl, I tell myself. You’re just letting nerves get to you. Nothing’s out there.
The front doors to the building are unlocked. Not surprising. The professors often have their own projects, and a lot of them have teacher’s assistants who I imagine might want to stay late to work. Considering how hard the midterms were, I bet come finals week, there’ll be a bunch of students in here studying at all hours of the day and night.
I make sure the door closes softly behind me, tiptoeing on the balls of my feet so I don’t make any noise. I don’t know who might be in here, and I have no desire to get my ass kicked by some custodian for wandering around where I shouldn’t.
Besides, two students have been attacked. I really don’t want to be the third.
I reach the spot on the third floor where my History of Magic class is, then move past it to the right. The student was taken from around this area.
Wellwood Hall is massive, with a complex, convoluted architectural style. Corridors and doorways are situated in odd places, with no rhyme or reason to the sprawling design. Moonlight shines through the windows, casting blue-white shapes over the stone floors and walls as I search for clues.
Nothing.
Frustrated, I give up searching the third floor after half an hour and head down one level, and then another.
I’m wandering around the far east wing of the first floor—a part of the building I’ve never been in before, where no classes are held—when I feel… something.
My breath hitches, and I stop short.
Something’s… pulsing? No, radiating, it feels like it’s radiating…
It’s like the feeling of being bathed in sunlight, only I can’t see anything. What is that?
I think… it’s magic.
Very, very powerful magic.
For me to be able to physically feel it like this, it either has to be coming from a person using magic, from a very powerful object, or from a place that has magical runes of some kind etched into it, like for protection. If it was someone practicing magic, I’m pretty damn sure I would’ve heard the sound of movement by now, so that rules that out.
Exactly how powerful would an object have to be to send out this much magic? Crazy powerful. That seems unlikely.
So it’s probably a room of some kind, with runes on it that radiate gobs of magic.
But as I follow the corridor I’m in all the way down to its end… there’s nothing. It just dead-ends.
I feel along the walls until I find a spot that’s practically warm with magic. Something’s got to be here—it has to be. But there’s no door, nothing. Just a blank wall.
Hmm.
I try tapping on the bricks. Nope, nothing.
I look for runes that’ll let me open it. Nothing again.
What the hell?
Fine. I don’t need to figure this out tonight. It’s not like I have a deadline. I’ll do some research in the library, maybe, see what I can dig up. Cam’s pretty knowledgeable about magical history, maybe he knows something about the school.
I head back toward the building’s main entrance, almost getting lost twice. I’ve learned how to get to all my classes, but it’s easy to get lost in the rest of the school.
When I finally find a familiar hallway, I pick up the pace, moving quietly as I turn the corner—
And run smack into a broad, firm chest.
My feet shuffle backward as I rebound off the hard planes of muscle, peering up through the darkness.
Dark blue eyes flash in the dim light. Roman.
“Jesus Christ!” I hiss, my heart thundering in my chest. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“Likewise.” Roman grabs my elbows to steady me. “What are you doing in here?”
Ah, crap. I don’t really have an excuse ready. I was counting on nobody finding me. Or that if anyone did find me, it’d be the asshole who’s been attacking students, and I’d be a little too busy fighting for my life to worry about making up a story. Of course this had to be the night my hot professor decided to work late grading papers or something.
“I’m… what are you doing here?” I reply, turning the question back on him.
Roman gives me a thoroughly unconvinced look. “Deflecting is not going to help, Elliot.”
“Oh, like you do with me in class? Trying to avoid anyone thinking we fucked by treating me like I’m less than?”
He looks genuinely pained at that, his chiseled features stiffening. He draws me out of the hallway toward an alcove. As if someone would actually come along and see us.
The idea almost makes me laugh, but I guess it’s possible someone might. You never know. Roman’s here late, and so I am. Maybe we’re not the only ones.
“I’m sorry about that,” he murmurs, his voice low and serious. We’re standing so close together I can feel the heat of his skin. My body is already responding to the proximity of his, lighting up under his touch. “I was trying to protect your reputation and mine. Even though neither one of us knew who the other was, it would be our word against people’s opinions. And we didn’t even have friends with us that night who could corroborate our story. My behavior in class was unfair to you though. Especially…”
“What?” My brows draw together as I push him to continue.
We haven’t really spoken since we accidentally made out like horny teenagers in his classroom, but he has been slightly less hard on me in class. After that incident, I resolved once again to let things lie between us, but I’ve never been very good at leaving things alone.
He clears his throat, and his large form shifts toward mine in the darkness. The lighting is so dim in this little nook that I can only see the silhouette of his face, but it’s breathtaking. He looks like a living sculpture of the perfect man. “Especially”—he reaches out, brushing a stray lock of hair away from my face, his fingers lingering on my skin—“because you’re one of the strongest magic users I’ve ever taught.”
“That sounds a hell of a lot like a compliment.” I huff out a breath, leaning into his touch despite myself. It feels so damn good. “Better watch out, or I might start to think you actually like me.”
“Elliot, our problem has never been that I don’t like you.” His voice i
s gravelly, and something in his tone makes my whole body flush. His fingers catch my shoulders, squeezing gently, holding me in place.
This is a bad fucking idea. Not only are we on school grounds, we’re in a public building. Never mind that it’s the dead of night and no one is around—we’re still risking getting caught.
I hear the little voice in my head whispering all those warnings, I really do, but… sometimes I don’t listen to that voice, okay? Sue me.
“Are you saying you do like me, prof?” There’s a taunting lilt to my voice, and I angle my head up, licking my lips. “How much?”
Roman gives a small growl, and his body stiffens, like he can’t decide whether to pull me toward him or shove me away. “Don’t push me, Elliot.”
He’s right. I am reckless. I’m straight up playing with fire now, but I’m too high on the chemistry between us to stop. I rest my palms on his chest and his hands slowly slide down to my waist, like he can’t help himself.
“Or what?” I whisper. “You’ll punish me?”
Oops. I guess I pushed.
Finally, his control snaps. He makes a delightfully possessive noise and yanks me to him, kissing me hard.
Oh God, yes. I dig my fingers into his soft, dark hair, happily messing it up as Roman’s lips move against mine, destroying all rational thought. For having only done this a few times, he’s quickly figured out how to kiss me in a way that makes my knees buckle. His arm moves around my back, a band of iron, and soon I’m panting helplessly against his mouth, practically writhing as I press my body flush to his. I can feel his cock hardening against me, and I’m getting slick in return, wanting—wanting so badly—
We really shouldn’t be doing this.
But dear Lord, I’m not going to be the one to stop it.
“Goddamn it. You drive me insane,” Roman grunts, tearing his mouth from mine as his hands slide under my shirt, roving possessively over my bare skin. I’m sure he means that in about every way possible. I haven’t exactly been making his life easy since I got here.