Spark (Academy of Unpredictable Magic Book 1)

by Sadie Moss

  Roman doesn’t respond, but he’s gazing at me intently. He’s listening to what I have to say, at least. That’s a good start. Because I know I’m onto something.

  “None of the attacks make any sense—unless whoever was carrying them out was hoping for exactly this. Hoping for a school-wide assembly that would put all the students, faculty, and security personnel in the same place. Unless they wanted to throw the school into a panic and have admins going to check on the hidden artifacts, potentially revealing their location and how to access them. Unless they wanted to set everyone up as sitting ducks for a time-freeze spell so they could go in and grab the artifacts, taking their damn sweet time, and then bust out of there unimpeded.”

  “Fuck.” Dmitri’s lip curls in anger.

  “Holy shit, Sin.” Cam’s eyes widen, and he looks at me proudly. “You’re like a damn detective.”

  “Yeah, but why would whoever did this put Trevor’s body in Roman’s room, then?” Asher asks.

  “I was trying to figure out who was behind this.” Roman runs a hand through his hair, his dark eyes thoughtful. “Snooping around. It’s why I was roaming the halls when I ran into Elliot and we—” He breaks off, his gaze flashing to me. Then he clears his throat. “Anyway. I’ve worked for the Circuit in law enforcement before, and I’m one of the few people at this school, and the only one outside the security team, who can raise the dead to interrogate them for information.”

  “You were getting too close, and whoever it is wanted you out of the way.”

  “So now everyone’s frozen.” Dmitri crosses his arms over his chest. “Fucking fantastic. What do we do?”

  “We’re not frozen,” I blurt emphatically. “And whoever did this is probably going after some very dangerous artifacts right now. I say we stop them. If they think everybody got trapped by the time-freeze spell, they won’t see us coming.”

  Roman shakes his head. “No, I can’t allow you to get involved. I’ll handle—”

  “No fucking way!” I shoot him a glare. I don’t have time for his protective professor bullshit. Never mind that the thought of him facing some murdering psychopath on his own makes my gut churn with worry.

  “Elliot—”

  I raise a hand, cutting him off. “No. We’re not your students right now, Roman. We’re all you’ve got. I know we’re not as well-trained as you are, but there’s safety in numbers. And at least having us with you as a distraction is better than going in on your own. You need us. We need each other. And besides”—I can’t help the little grin that tilts my lips in triumph—“I think I know where the artifacts are.”

  Chapter 25

  Roman stares at me. The other three are looking at me as well, three sets of eyebrows raised.

  “How do you know that?” Roman asks, sounding surprised but not angry.

  “What did you think I was doing that night we ran into each other?” I reply. “I was trying to figure out what was going on in this place too. I found an area in the east wing where I sensed magic—really fucking strong magic. I tried to get in but couldn’t, so I gave up for the time being. And then… I ran into you.”

  He nods. I’m glad he doesn’t ask me why I didn’t tell him what I was doing. He’s a smart guy, he’s already figured out that I didn’t know at the time if I could trust him or not.

  But I do trust him now. And I hope like hell he trusts me.

  Something in my heart warms a little when he speaks with zero hesitation. “All right. Show me.”

  “Wait, first things first.” I hold out my arm. “Braces off.”

  Roman looks less than pleased with this. “Are any of you able to control your magic well enough?”

  Damn. That stings, I have to admit. “I thought you said my control has been improving. That I’ve been advancing well.”

  “You have,” he says carefully. “You all have. But using your magic in a life or death situation like this is different. And you’ll be around very powerful magical items. One wrong explosion or spell—”

  My sonic boom. I don’t know if Roman is thinking about that specifically, but I know I am. Guilt churns in my gut again, and I have to avoid Asher’s gaze. I can feel him looking at me, probably realizing how I’m feeling even without his ability to read minds activated. But I don’t need any reassuring. I’m fine.

  Swallowing down the acidic taste working its way up my throat, I take a deep breath.

  I’m fine.

  I have to do this. For Asher, and for the rest of my friends. For all the students here.

  “We can handle it,” Dmitri growls, stepping up to Roman. “Elliot’s right. Face it, you need us. And that means you need us at full capacity. We’re not backing down on this.”

  Cam and Asher nod. Roman looks from Dmitri, to them, to me, and then back to Dmitri again. “Fine,” he agrees, his jaw clenching. “But you need to be careful. I don’t want any of you getting hurt.”

  His gaze darts over to me, and I have to fight down my blush. As much as I want to tell him to stop worrying over me, the fact that he does worry is… annoyingly comforting.

  Roman walks over to me and presses the so-called pressure points on my brace. Only the professors know how to work the magic to activate the locking mechanism, freeing us from our cuffs for class and locking them back on us afterward. The metal bracelet comes free and Roman takes it off, his fingertips sliding along my wrist momentarily before he hands the cuff back to me. It’s a small touch, but it sends sparks shooting through my veins anyway. I have the feeling he wishes he could do more, and to be honest, I do too.

  I talk a big game, but I’ll admit, I’m a little scared. And if we die trying to stop whatever evil maniac is after those artifacts, I’m gonna be really fucking pissed I didn’t grab Roman and kiss him one more time while I still had the chance.

  Before I can work up the guts to do just that though, he releases my wrist and moves along to the guys, pressing on their cuffs until they fall off. I shake out my hand as I feel the pull of my magic, so much stronger now that the repressing brace isn’t muting it.

  Roman looks at me. “All right, Elliot, show us where the artifacts are.”

  I nod and lead them toward a side door in the auditorium. The place is eerie like this. The students and staff are all in the assembly, which we confirm when we walk by an open door and Roman pokes his head in. There are a few stragglers outside, running late, but we don’t find anyone else who’s free of the spell.

  “Do you have any idea which object the person could be stealing?” I ask Roman.

  He shakes his head. “I don’t know what’s stored here. I can guess, but I don’t know. There are places like this all over the world. Although I’m sure they use different methods to hide their artifacts.”

  Great. So we’re just going to have to play it by ear and hope nothing blows up. While the entire population of the school is frozen nearby.

  No pressure, right?

  I push open the side door and hustle down the path to the massive main class building. Once we reach it, I retrace my steps from that night when I wandered through in the dark. I go slow, dredging up my memory of that night, and am proud that I don’t have to double back on my path once. When I reach the wall that I was sure should have a door, I gesture to it.

  “There. Something is beyond here, I’m sure of it. But I couldn’t find any runes or anything to indicate an opening.”

  Roman frowns, his hands in his pockets. He looks like a model on set, darkly handsome and brooding. Only he could make a dangerous emergency look like an editorial photo shoot. “Well… only certain people know what’s here.”

  “But you can feel it,” I insist. “Right?”

  He closes his eyes for a moment, concentrating. I can practically feel him reaching out with his senses.

  “Yes,” he finally says. “I can feel it. There’s a great deal of magic concentrated somewhere nearby. But only those who are bonded to the lock can see the runes. They’d be the only ones who cou
ld open it.”

  Dmitri smirks. “We’ll see about that.”

  With that, he starts to look more… insubstantial. Like he’s no longer made of solid matter but of light. He’s vibrating slightly, making him appear almost blurry. He looks the way someone might in a dream, their edges softened by my subconscious.

  Then he walks forward—and passes right through the wall.

  Holy shit.

  “He’s phasing,” Asher explains quietly.

  “I can see that,” I say, my voice a little faint.

  I’ve actually never seen him do that before. He’s duplicated himself in our Combat class a few times, which is trippy as hell. But I think he still struggles with control a bit, like I do—so when given the choice, he prefers to fight with fists instead of magic.

  For a moment, there’s just silence, and I start to worry. What if whoever it is who’s doing all this was waiting on the other side? What if they’ve hurt Dmitri? What if he phased back in at the wrong moment and now he’s trapped inside the wall, or half in, half out?

  Then a loud scraping noise sets my teeth on edge. It’s joined by a deep rumbling sound, and then—the wall starts to move.

  A section of the wall swings outward, revealing a dark set of stairs leading downward. Dmitri’s standing on the third step, fully corporeal again, smirking with a smug I told you so look on his face.

  “These types of things always open way too easily from the inside.” He scoffs. “People think so hard about how to keep intruders out, they don’t worry enough about keeping things in.”

  I have to admit, that is pretty clever.

  “All right,” Cam says, rolling his shoulders like he’s itching for a fight. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  My palms instantly start sweating. Not that I’d ever admit it out loud, but those stairs downward into darkness look… pretty intimidating.

  I take a deep breath and force myself to stay calm. Whatever’s waiting down there, it’s just some asshole who thinks they can own the world. I dealt with privileged shit like that at the bar all the time, and you bet I kicked every one of their asses out when they got too gropey or inappropriate. It’s the same thing here.

  “What are we waiting for?” I ask. “A dramatic musical cue?”

  Cam laughs, Asher grins at me, and even Roman snorts in amusement. Dmitri’s trying hard to look annoyed, but he’s not quite managing it. I wink at him, glad beyond words that these four are with me, and step through the open door.

  Onward and downward.

  Chapter 26

  I’ll be honest, after all this build up and a whole semester of attacks, subterfuge, and even murder, I expected something a little… well… a little more elaborate. Like something out of National Treasure, with the dusty staircase and the questionable elevator shaft and the torches on the walls. A real Indiana Jones type deal.

  Nope.

  That is not what we find.

  Instead, we creep cautiously down a long flight of spiral stone stairs. The walls on both sides are covered in runes, and when we hit the bottom, the space opens up into a large storage room.

  And it looks like something you’d find at your local public storage company.

  I look around as we enter, a little confused. “Jesus,” I murmur. “They didn’t spend their budget on the ambience, that’s for sure.”

  Behind me, I can hear Cam trying not to choke as he struggles to hold in his laughter.

  Roman comes up to stand on one side of me, Dmitri on the other.

  “Would you prefer some mood lighting?” Dmitri asks quietly.

  “Or maybe an ominous warning that he who disturbs the slumber of the objects shall awake the guardian?” Roman intones in a low, dramatic voice.

  I narrow my eyes at him. “You two are ganging up on me, and I’m not sure I like it.”

  The two men shoot each other sly, conspiratorial smiles over my head.

  Oh, yeah, I definitely don’t like this. They should not be getting along so damn well.

  The area is massive, making me think of the roots of a tree and how they supposedly mirror the branches above. The school on top of us is huge, but so is this underground space. Bare gray walls are covered in more runes—all protection spells, I’m sure—and dotted around the space sit various crates, each of which, I assume, contains a powerful magical item. Despite the aura of magic hovering in the air, the vibe in here isn’t especially intimidating. In movies, ancient artifacts are always sitting on little podiums in glass cases like they have in museums, but I’m guessing the school admins decided to be smart for once and not put the dangerous artifacts on display where they’d be easy to grab.

  The five of us make our way quietly through the huge room. The organizational system probably makes sense to whoever stashed all this stuff down here, but things aren’t exactly laid out in neat rows, which makes it hard to scan the space for any intruders.

  My heart pounds so hard in my chest it’s difficult to listen for external noises, but I keep my senses alert as we creep forward.

  Finally, about halfway to the back of the massive storage room, I hear a noise.

  My hand flies up, bringing the men to a halt alongside me.

  We’re not alone.

  In the dim light up ahead, a figure is bent over one of the crates, using magic to literally pry open the lid on the large wooden box. The lid goes flying and lands with a crash before skittering across the floor ten feet behind him.

  “Any idea what’s in there?” I whisper to Roman, my voice hardly more than a breath.

  “No,” Roman admits quietly. “But we’re about to find out.”

  The figure straightens up, clearly sensing our presence. Before I can duck into the shadows or hide behind a nearby crate, the intruder catches sight of me. He straightens, his body tensing, and I get my first good look at him.

  My jaw drops.

  “Raul?”

  I’m frozen in place, muscles locked in shock. He’s the one who’s been after the artifacts? The one who attacked his fellow students?

  “Elliot?”

  His voice is soft, almost confused. He doesn’t suddenly sound like a cartoon villain or anything; he didn’t suddenly grow a mustache he can twirl while he cackles evilly. He looks and sounds just like Raul, the guy I sat next to in class and shared notes with.

  I don’t understand. How?

  Raul stares at me, and I stare back at him. The disappointment in each of us is palpable. I can practically hear him thinking, oh no, not you, like he’s honestly sad I’m the one who’s come to stop him.

  I’m pretty damn disappointed myself. He was such a nice guy, shy and earnest. I thought… I thought he was like me. I thought we were friends.

  And maybe he thought we were friends too, for whatever that’s worth. He truly doesn’t look happy to see me down here, and I have a sinking feeling that’s because he thinks he has to kill me now.

  “Elliot.” He says my name again, not as a question this time. Then his face smooths out, becomes blank. Like he’s forcing himself not to feel anything. “Darn it. This is…. not what I was hoping for. And you couldn’t even come alone, could you?”

  He glances over my shoulder. I don’t dare take my eyes off him, but I can physically feel the glares the four men are directing his way.

  “Hey, Roman,” the freckle-faced kid adds. He gives a little wave. “I’m not surprised to see you here. I really wish you’d stopped poking around after I gave you that warning though.”

  “What are you doing?” My voice is low, and even I can hear the emotion in it I’m trying to mask.

  Hurt.

  “What does it look like?” He shifts his feet slightly, his body tensing. The question might sound casual, but he’s ready for a fight.

  Goddamn it. This is why I don’t open up to people. This is what happens when you trust people. They betray you, they hurt you, they…

  “Raul, this is wrong, whatever you’re doing—whoever you’re doing it
for—”

  “No! I’m not doing it for anyone,” he interjects, his voice harder and angrier than I’ve ever heard it. “Not anymore. That’s the whole point of this.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You should.”

  He looks frustrated that I’m not getting it automatically. I want to tell him Asher’s the mind reader around here, not me, so I’m gonna need him to break it down for me real slow. But needling him with sarcastic comments when he’s so on edge seems like a very bad idea.

  So instead, I say in a quiet voice, “I really don’t, Raul.”

  He shakes his head in agitation, strands of dark blond hair falling over his forehead. “You know what it’s like to only rely on yourself. To have people try to take your powers away, take your family away. I’m not doing what the Circuit wants anymore.” He gestures wildly with one hand. “Look around you! They shove us off into a ‘special school’ where we’re contained, or they cut us off from magic altogether. Because they’re scared of us. We’re too much for them, too powerful for them, so they call us freaks and lock us up. When we should be the ones in charge! We’re more powerful!”

  “Okay,” I say, trying to adopt the soothing tone I use with customers when they’re drunk and getting worked up. “You have every right to be upset with how Unpredictables are treated, Raul. I understand that, you’re right. I really do get it. But hurting other students?”

  “I had to do it!” he snarls. “They poked their noses where they shouldn’t have! It’s not my fault. And I needed to create panic. I needed to get everyone into the same place on campus—my time freezing spell wasn’t big enough to cover the whole school, just this building. I had to rough them up a little.”

  “You killed a student,” I say, keeping my voice calm. I take a few steps toward him, ignoring the worried hiss of breath from Dmitri. “That’s not just roughing someone up. Trevor was a fellow Unpredictable, and he didn’t deserve to die.”

  “He knew too much!” Raul is unraveling a little. His voice goes higher with every word, and I’m starting to see the side of him that’s capable of attacking his classmates, of committing murder. “I couldn’t modify enough of his memory. He was going to tell! And Roman was right on my tail, so I killed two birds with one stone.”