by Sadie Moss
And once a few people unleash their power, more students follow suit, creating a domino effect as everyone fights against an enemy they can’t even identify. People are yelling, screaming, and crying, lost in their panic, as bolts of magic fly around the room. Chunks of stone are blasted from the walls as smoke, fire, and dust choke the air. One student with petrification power has turned her entire table to stone.
It’s utter chaos.
“Get down!” Dmitri yells, grabbing me and trying to yank me under a table, but I can’t get down. I can’t be near other people, not with adrenaline and pain flooding my system. Not with my sonic boom. Last time it went off, I put two guys in the hospital.
I pull out of his grip and race for the nearest wall, scrambling up it and out of the way. I’ll be above the chaos like this, right? Safe and sound, where I can’t hurt anyone.
Maybe I can even see something from up here, figure out how the hell this started. It’s a total mess. Some students have a better handle on their magic—the second and third years, mostly—and are trying to use it to subdue the ones who’ve gone rogue, but it’s just adding to the insanity. Cam’s tackling someone to the ground, Dmitri’s yelling, and now, finally, security is running in.
It’s a good thing Dmitri has an eye on me, because I don’t have any idea what’s headed my way until I hear him yell, “Elliot! On your left!”
I turn just in time to see a fucking fireball flying straight for my head, set off by someone across the room.
I don’t think. I just react.
My sonic boom tears out of me, sending the fireball blasting back into the other direction.
But it doesn’t just hit the fireball.
Asher is below me, trying to grab my ankle, I think with the idea of yanking me down out of the way of the fire, when my boom goes off. He’s thrown back, hurled through the air, and his head slams into the table we were eating at with a sickening crunch.
“Asher!” I scream. But my voice barely rises above the din of the chaos.
More security pours in, along with the admins and teachers, including Roman. Most of them look pretty shocked, but they all roll up their sleeves and dive right into the fray.
It’s clear that while this might not have actually happened before, it’s a contingency that the school’s prepared for. The staff move calmly and quickly, subduing the most out of control students with spells. The magic flying around the room cuts off abruptly, and at first, I can’t see what the teachers are doing—then my stomach lurches as I detach from the wall with no warning.
I have just enough time to look down and see that a new brace has appeared on my scorched arm, almost like reverse disintegration, and think well, that’s just fucking great before I’m falling.
“Oomph!” I slam into someone’s arms.
Dmitri—the one holding me—glares, and for once it’s not at me but at a member of security. “Jesus. Be fucking careful! She could’ve been hurt!”
He sets me down, keeping a firm grip on my shoulders as his gaze rakes over my body. “You all right?”
I nod. This is the gentlest he’s ever been with me, and under different circumstances, I’d appreciate it a bit more. Seeing him like this kind of feels like seeing a fucking unicorn, and I could get lost in the depths of his dark eyes, the emotions churning behind them that he usually keeps so well hidden. But I can’t think about any of that right now—I’m too worried about Asher.
I move around Dmitri and hurry over to the tall, brown-haired mage. He’s sprawled on the floor next to the table, and he’s just… lying there.
My heart claws its way into my throat. “Asher?”
“Ell…?” He stirs slightly, his attempt to speak ending in a groan.
“Don’t move,” I tell him, running my fingers through his soft, thick hair and over his scalp. I don’t feel anything wet, so I don’t think there’s any blood. Not outside, anyway. He might have some internal bleeding I can’t see.
Dmitri puts a hand on my shoulder, squeezing almost painfully. I think he’s trying to comfort me, but I can tell he’s just as freaked out as I am.
“Hey! Medic! We need a medic over here!” he yells, his voice hoarse.
I cup Asher’s cheek, my heart thudding painfully in my chest. His eyes are rolled back in his head, and his breathing is low and shallow.
“It’s okay,” I whisper. “You’re going to be okay.”
Medical staff are moving around, checking on people. A couple of them come over, levitating a stretcher, and help Asher onto it. Then they dab a healing potion on our arms. The raw, blistered flesh on my forearm begins to repair itself, the outer layers of skin rebuilding until all that’s left is an angry red patch. That will fade too, given a little more time.
“Thanks,” Dmitri tells them. His voice is sharp, edged with worry, but the medics just nod as they start to move Asher toward the door. Moans and low voices fill the large dining hall, but it seems almost silent after the screams and booms of a few minutes earlier.
Neither of us speak, but he squeezes my shoulder again, more gently this time.
Doesn’t make me feel any less like shit.
I handled that so badly. I did everything wrong. Goddamn it, this was all my fault. I’ve been learning how to control my sonic boom in class, feeling so proud of my accomplishments, basking in Roman’s praise. But when the time came to use it properly in the real world, in a non-controlled environment, I panicked and lost control. I hurt Asher, the nicest person on this entire campus.
Fuck, I hope he’s okay. How could I have been so stupid?
“Don’t blame yourself,” Dmitri murmurs. “It’s hard to fight instinct.”
“I should’ve done better,” I snap, brushing his hand off. The comforting gesture physically pains me, making my skin feel too tight. I don’t want him to be nice to me, can’t handle his kindness right now.
Cam limps up to us, one hand pressed to his temple. A thin line of blood trails down the side of his face.
“Nobody’s dead,” he says, shoulders slumping in relief as he speaks. “Lots of injuries, though.”
“How the hell did that even happen?” Dmitri growls.
As they speak, my gaze drifts around the dining hall, and I catch Roman looking over at me, his gaze trailing up and down my body just like Dmitri’s did. Tears prick my eyes, and I force them back. I don’t deserve to have all these men care about me; can’t they see I’m just a massive disaster waiting to strike? I give him a jerky nod to let him know I’m all right.
He gazes at me for a long moment, concern creasing his brow, and then nods once, though he doesn’t look satisfied. Another teacher calls his attention, and he turns and resumes tending to the injured students.
“A spell,” Cam is saying. “And a hugely powerful one. It literally melted our cuffs off.”
“Yeah. It unbound our magic in the most painful fucking way possible,” Dmitri notes. “Do you think it was the same person who killed Trevor?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. This was different than the individual attacks, but it was still obviously meant to cause harm. We’re lucky nobody was seriously hurt.”
“We don’t know that,” I reply woodenly, staring at the door the staff took Asher through. God, I hope he’s okay. Head injuries are tricky things. If I’ve caused real damage…
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself.
“It has to be either a student or a staff member.” Dmitri’s gaze shoots around the room suspiciously. “Or else someone from the outside figured out how to get past the protection wards on the school grounds.”
“Well, one thing is damn clear.” For once, Cam’s voice is deadly serious. “Whoever this person is? They need to be stopped.”
A growl rumbles in my chest. Now that’s something I can get behind. Whoever organized this spell put everyone in the school at risk. They put me in a position to hurt my friend, and God knows how many other students did the same thing to their frie
nds by accident.
“Yeah.” My jaw clenches, and my hands curl into fists. “They do.”
I’m going to find out who did this, and I’m going to make them pay.
This nonsense ends. Now.
Chapter 21
You might think petty gossip would take a day off, given the disaster that’s just occurred.
You’d think wrong.
Alyssa and her three minions waste no time, it seems, in deciding this is a damn gift from God, and they’re going to use it to their advantage.
I realize something’s wrong the next day when people start avoiding me in the hallway. Classes weren’t cancelled this time, and I think it’s because the admins want to keep us where they can see us. As I make my way down the corridor after History of Magic class, I can hear people whispering, some of them loud enough that they clearly don’t care if I hear them or not. After all, why be polite when you’re talking about someone behind their back?
To my shame, it takes me a few hours to realize what’s being said or where the rumor is coming from. I should’ve figured it out right away. By now, Alyssa’s made her dislike of me well known, so I shouldn’t be surprised she’d stoop this low to hurt me.
“Do you know what they’re saying about you?” Raul asks in our Physical Training class, his voice a horrified whisper.
“No. What?”
“They’re saying you’re the one who burned off the repression braces!”
Motherfucker. My blood heats instantly, but I do my best to cool it down. We’ve all got our braces back on, and after another dose of healing potion applied this morning, the skin on my forearm is only a little pink. But even with the magic repression tamping down my powers, I’m determined not to lose control again.
“Well, none of the school staff think that, or security would be on my ass,” I murmur.
He shrugs. “I know. But that’s what all the students are saying. I’m sorry, Elliot.”
Now that I know what’s being whispered behind my back, I can’t not hear it.
“It’s because she can’t stand not being the center of attention,” I hear one person say. Another person whispers, “She sent the sonic boom on purpose. I hear she and Asher had a big fight yesterday. She wanted to get revenge, and that’s how she decided to do it.”
“She’s a pyscho.”
“Out of control.”
“Bitch.”
I always thought of myself as immune to gossip and all that stupid high school bullshit. But it turns out, I’m not.
The whispers and muttered accusations hurt.
I would never, ever hurt Asher on purpose. My hands curl into fists on my desk during my last class of the day, and I have to remind myself that turning around and punching someone isn’t going to help the rumors go away. The only thing that matters is that security knows I didn’t do this. They won’t listen to rumors.
They sure as hell aren’t doing anything to stop the gossip from circulating though.
As pissed off as I am about it, Raul seems more upset by the whole thing than I am. He’s a sweet guy, to care about me like that, but I promise him it’s fine.
“My friends know the truth,” I tell him in a low voice. Cam, Dmitri, and Roman believe I didn’t have anything to do with the braces melting off, and clearly, so does Raul. That’s what matters to me.
His freckled nose wrinkles, and he looks doubtful. “I mean, yeah, but… this can make life difficult for you.”
I shrug. “Won’t be the first time.”
Alyssa and her cronies are tittering like a bunch of hyperactive birds in the back of the class. It takes everything in me not to just march right up and demand a duel, right here right now, with magic or fists. Fists would probably be a bit fairer to the Queen Bitch, seeing as how my sonic boom’s a one punch knockout, but I’m sure I could take her out by non-magical means just as easily. And honestly, a good old fashioned brawl would be much more satisfying anyway.
I’d love to plant a fist in her smug, spoiled face, just once. Just one time.
But would it really be worth it for all the trouble I’d get into afterward?
And it’s not like it would convince everyone the rumors she’s spreading are false. It would probably just make them think she’s onto something, and that they’re right to be afraid of me.
This might be my loner status coming back to bite me in the ass a bit. Maybe if I’d made more friends before now, people wouldn’t be so inclined to think the worst of me. But it’s too late for that now—and besides, I’m not going to pretend to be some bubbly, fun, outgoing person that I’m not just to get some damn popularity points.
If people want to believe the worst of me then fine. I don’t care.
I don’t.
The guys hear about it too, unfortunately. I’m not sure about Asher—I don’t even know if he’s properly awake yet—but Cam and Dmitri definitely pick up on the rumors circulating. Cam’s popular and knows everyone, and Dmitri’s like Asher, good at listening. He pretends to be busy brooding in the corner, but he always pays attention.
I walk into our large dorm room, dumping my backpack and jacket on my bed. I thought I left all this crap behind when I graduated high school—both the studying, homework shit and the gossiping, social shit. Ugh.
“Rough day?” Cam asks carefully. He’s sitting at his desk, a book in his hands, but he’s not reading it. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s upside down.
I glare at him as I flop onto the bed. “I know you heard.”
He puts his book aside and turns in his chair to face me, sky-blue eyes shining with worry. “Look, I know you might pretend not to care about what they’re saying—”
Oh, God. I don’t need this. I don’t need a pep talk. If he tries to make me feel better, I’m going to fucking scream. Or burst into tears. I’m not sure which prospect is more alarming.
“It’s fine.” My tone is sharp as I cut Cam off, and I feel like an asshole. I don’t want to snap at him again, so I sit up quickly and grab my jacket again. “I’m going to the library; I need to study.”
“Sin—”
“I’m fine, Cam.” Damn it, my eyes are already burning. “Just let it drop, okay?”
Blinking rapidly, I make a beeline for the door, only to bump into Dmitri when he plants his large body in front of mine. He catches my elbows, steadying me—and also pinning me in place.
“Where’s the damn fire, Princess?”
I glare up at him. “Move.”
Dmitri glances over at Cam, who shrugs and gives him a what do you want from me look. When he shifts his focus back to me, his dark gaze seems to burn a hole in my skin. His expression isn’t exactly soft, but he’s looking at me like he sees me, all of me, the real me, and he doesn’t judge me for any of it. It makes my heart thump hard against my rib cage, and I simultaneously want to lean into his touch and run away to hide.
“You know Asher isn’t your fault, right? None of what anyone did yesterday was their fault. It’s all on the person who melted our braces off.”
“Right.” I duck my head and slip out of his grasp. Of course now that I’m trying not to cry, that’s when he decides he’s going to actually be nice to me. Although maybe “nice” is a bit of a stretch; his tone is almost irritated.
He rolls his eyes. “Elliot—”
“Going to the library, see you later!”
I bolt out the door before Cam or Dmitri can say anything more.
Walking across campus is the worst. I can see everyone staring at me as I make my way down the path, some of them whispering, some not, but it doesn’t matter. Talking or not, the expressions on their faces say it all.
I want to disappear into the ground.
Because the thing is, even if I didn’t do what they’re accusing me of, I’m still guilty. No matter how loudly I insist I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, that doesn’t change what happened. I did hurt someone—Asher. The nicest fucking person I know.
And I can’t take that b
ack.
What’s the point of having all this magic, all this power at my fingertips, if it only hurts people?
Instead of going to the library, I veer left, away from other people and toward the woods. It’s almost dinner time, so most people won’t be out here; they’ll be buckling down on studying for finals or thinking about getting food.
Maybe I shouldn’t have come here at all. Maybe I should call the Circuit and have Aurora come take my magic away permanently. Leave the academy and try to find some kind of peace with a magic-less life.
Ever since I came to this school, I’ve had girls with the emotional maturity of twelve year olds jumping down my throat, have made a mess of my confusing relationship-not-relationship with Roman, and have managed to push away or physically injure the three best friends I’ve ever had in my life—and that’s not even counting the attacks on students and the murder.
This whole thing has been a disaster, and a lot of that has to do with me. With who I am, with how I handle things. Maybe I should go back home, rent a little apartment and get my old job back or find a new one, and figure out what I’m going to do with my life. Going to school here is just staving off the inevitable freak-out over what I’m going to do for a career anyway. Maybe this whole time, I’ve just been using magic and drama to hide from that.
It’s time I face adulthood.
My cell service is actually pretty good out here in the woods, and as a side bonus, nobody can hear me and eavesdrop on my conversation. Hoping she’s free, I find a large rock to sit on—Cam and I have run past it a lot in the mornings—and call Maddy.
She picks up on the third ring. “Ellie?”
As soon as I hear her voice, the tears that’ve been threatening all day spill over. I wipe them away with the back of one hand, swallowing hard before I speak. God, I miss her.
“Hey, Mads, how’s it going?”
“Great!” I can practically hear her smiling, and the weight on my chest lifts a little at the happiness in her voice. “Having lots of fun. Nothing really crazy to talk about… I wish I had some hilarious story for you or something, but it’s all just been same old, same old.”