Letting go of Dracian, I glanced at Frankie, who stood staring at the vending machine. The professor was with his wife in a private room, only for family members. They had asked us to go back to the academy, but there was no way we were leaving James.
“Did you let the others know?” Dracian asked quietly.
Nodding, I checked my phone. Isabel had sent ten messages and Helissa had only sent one. Their different personalities were apparent in their style. Izzy wanted to know all the details, right now. Helissa had asked us to keep her updated whenever convenient. Both she and James had slowly been getting closer, but their relationship hadn’t quite developed into anything tangible. Unlike Dracian and I, who had been maybe a little too hasty to come together in the tough times recently.
“Izzy is panicking. Helissa is calm.”
Sitting back, Dracian scratched the stubble on his chin. He was so often clean shaven, it was nice to see him a bit rough and ready. Would it be unsuitable to ask him to grow out a beard?
The sound of high heels clattering along the hallway distracted me from my inappropriate thoughts. A friend of ours was in intensive care, and there I was, fantasizing over Dracian’s hairy man beard.
“Is he okay?” I spluttered, surging to my feet and almost running to her.
Mrs Hinley’s usual smooth hairdo was messed up into a bird’s nest, the strands almost standing on end. When she came to a stop, she took a deep breath and nodded.
“He’s… alive.”
Frowning, I resisted the urge to shout at her. Why did people have to keep others in suspense? Yes, it was a tough time, but we were all going through it.
Dracian gripped my hand, allowing me to squeeze it very hard. A magic spell would help me to get the truth out of the teacher, but it would be totally unreasonable.
Looking at her clasped hands, Mrs Hinley stayed quiet for a moment. I couldn’t tell whether she wanted the drama or whether she was trying to gather herself to talk. All I knew was that I was being totally unfair in my expectation. She would tell us in her own time. Hopefully, sometime this century.
“They beat him badly, causing a small bleed to the brain.”
My intake of breath was overshadowed by Dracian’s curse. Frankie hovered just behind us, listening with intent. He had asked the detective if he could hang around to make sure the boy was okay. The police station had been moved to a secret location to try and prevent any further attacks. The explosion was all over the news, plastered to every TV screen in the hospital. It was ridiculously lucky that no one inside the building had been seriously hurt.
“Will that resolve itself?” I asked Mrs Hinley.
Moving to the chairs, she collapsed in one, her knees giving out as soon as she got close enough. “Yes, they say that he is stable and unlikely to have any permanent damage to the brain. However…” Swallowing several times, Mrs Hinley choked back tears that erupted from nowhere. Going to her, I put my arm around her shoulders, patting her awkwardly as I comforted her. Whatever could be worse than a bleed on the brain?
“They took one of his hands.”
Shit.
“The bastards took one of his hands clean off!” she snapped, tears coming to her eyes.
Bile rose in my throat, the taste bitter as I swallowed it back down and resisted the urge to race down the hallway to James’ room. Surely, she was wrong? Why would the sickos cut off James’ hand?
“What the hell?” Dracian shook his head violently, his hands shaking visibly when he lifted them to scrub his hair.
“The authorities didn’t manage to find his hand?” Frankie asked Mrs Hinley.
Licking her lips, she blinked as tears dropped down her face. “No. It wasn’t at the police station. If we could’ve found it, we could’ve cast a spell to reattach it, but they obviously kept it to teach us a lesson.”
Although that sort of magic was frowned upon, I would’ve whole heartily agreed that James should have had his hand spelled back on. And yet, they hadn’t been able to. The poor boy would now have to get used to only having one hand.
“Can we see him?” I asked softly, hoping my soothing voice might prompt Mrs Hinley into being kind enough to let us go to his room.
Taking my hand, she squeezed it. “Yes, but not for long. I’ll give Frankie all the details for the case.”
I smiled, grateful that she was strong enough to allow us to see her son. I didn’t know whether I could be quite as contained as she was, although her nose was dripping with snot, so that wasn’t exactly too controlled. Still, I wasn’t surprised.
Grabbing up my backpack, I offered her a tissue before joining Dracian as he hurried down the corridor, towards our friend’s room.
“Are you sure you want to see him?” Dracian asked me.
Considering James was his best friend, it was sweet that he was making sure that I would be okay. However, I was more worried about him than me. He had known James for a long time, he would be extremely affected when seeing his maimed friend.
“Yes, I want to support him.” Taking his hand, I squeezed. “Plus, I like to think that he might be becoming my friend, too.”
His gaze had been distance as we came to the door, but he glanced at me, a hint of a smile crossing his lips before he knocked.
I followed him inside when we were cleared to go in.
The professor sat beside James, who laid ghostly pale on the hospital bed, his eyes closed. He was hooked up to a monitor, although he breathed on his own, so that made my tight chest relax a little.
“How is he?” I approached the professor as Dracian went to the other side of the bed.
Seaton had never shown emotion in front of me before, but his eyes were puffy, the redness around them an obvious sign that he cared for his son. Seeing both teachers vulnerable made my dislike of them melt away. They were decent people who were trying to keep the academy safe. Not only that, they were trying to help me and the other students who had lost their parents.
Rubbing his eyes, Seaton glanced up at me, blinking fast. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in. He’s stable. They said that he should be coming out of the anaesthetic soon.”
Trying my hardest not to look at James’ arm, I sat next to the teacher.
Dracian lowered himself near his friend, perching on the edge of the seat as if ready to jump up at any moment. Was he struggling to see his best friend in such a compromised position?
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to no one in particular. “If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t be in this position.”
Both sets of eyes darted to me. Dracian’s eyebrows pulled low, his energy shifting to anger.
“Don’t blame yourself,” he snapped. “This was the institute.”
The professor took a softer approach, patting my forearm twice before shaking his head. “He’s right, this is no one’s fault except the institute. The police were delving way before Frankie let you know that he was a police officer.”
“Still,” I said, resisting the urge to get up and pace. “If it hadn’t been for my association with James, he never would’ve been taken by them.”
Before the others could reply, James murmured something. All attention turned to him as his eyes fluttered open. At first, they cast around, wildly searching for something.
Seaton put his hands on his arm, shushing him and giving him reassurance that he was safe.
Leaning over, Dracian pressed a button. Within seconds, a nurse rushed into the room and asked us to move back.
“What happened?” James’ voice was muffled as he squeezed his eyes tight. “I feel like shit.”
After doing her checks, the nurse went over to the other side of the room. She would have to stay close by, just in case James had a reaction of any sort. She said that she was surprised by how well he was doing considering he shouldn’t be able to stay awake.
“I’ve given him some healing help,” Seaton whispered to me as James looked at Dracian.
A rush of warmth ran through me, comforting
my weary bones. My father would’ve done the same for me if I was ever in pain. In fact, he did.
The memory of being a ten year old slipped into my mind. I had been playing on my bike, much like mundane humans did, when I’d taken a nasty fall. My collarbone had broken, leaving me screaming on the playground floor. Within moments, my father had arrived and cast a spell to take my pain away. Painkillers had never quite hit the spot since he had gone.
“How are you feeling?” Dracian asked his friend.
Stretching his eyes, he went to nod, but stopped, groaning slightly. “Hungover. Did we get wasted? Wait… no.”
I kept silent as he turned his head towards his father. When his eyes landed on me, he squinted. “You,” he breathed. “They wanted me to tell them everything I knew about you.”
And they said that I wasn’t to blame?
White hot heat flared up the veins in my arms. How dare the institute harm a friend of mine to get information about me? He wouldn’t have even known anything, considering I hadn’t told hardly anyone about my secret.
“Start from the beginning, son,” the professor said, touching his hand briefly.
Swallowing, James glanced at him. “They ambushed me on the way out of the academy. I was on the way to the bar to meet Helissa.”
My friend hadn’t told us that she was meeting James. Was she embarrassed? A lump came to my throat as I imagined her sitting on her own, waiting for James to arrive. Poor girl hadn’t deserved that. The institute would pay.
“After bundling me into a van, they took me to an office block. I must admit, I was shocked at how clean and professional the place was considering they barrelled me inside, straight through the central office space. Several witches ignored me as they sat at their desk, obviously used to seeing people being dragged through.”
“What kind of people would stand by when you were clearly in distress?” Dracian asked.
“The institute.” Seaton took out a notepad and pen. Whispering a spell, he balanced the pen on the pad and let go. “Go on, son.”
As James went on, the pen took down his words, writing in a posh swirly font. I couldn’t take my gaze away from the mesmerising movement, too immersed to hear what James said. Until he mentioned a name.
“Frankie?” I blurted interrupting him.
“Yeah. They knew that he had been involved in taking down their members at the lake. They wanted to know your relationship to him.”
Licking my lips, I tore my gaze away from the pen and concentrated on James. “You told them?”
His cheeks flared bright pink as he let out his breath. A cringe ripped through me when he reached up and touched the swelling under his eye. I didn’t blame him for anything he had said. If I had been captured and tortured, I would’ve squealed like a pig straight away. Probably.
“I tried to resist, but in the end, the pain was too much.” Water erupted in his eyes as he ducked his head. “They used magic to cause the bleed on my brain.”
Leaning over the professor, I gripped James’ hand in mine. My heart hammered so hard in my chest, the noise resounded in my ears. “It’s okay, don’t be ashamed. We don’t blame you.”
Blinking, he looked at me, the corner of his lip trying to lift into his cheek. The smile didn’t quite form, but I returned it anyway.
“What else did they want to know?”
If we could work out the institute’s plan, we might be able to intercede. Although, if anyone else was put in danger because of me, I would run away to protect them. I wouldn’t allow any of my friends or teachers to get hurt again.
“They asked me how you got your magic. Who you hung around with. If you were doing well at the academy. It was all rather trivial, except when they mentioned your parents.”
My ears pricked up. “My parents? What did they say?”
Lifting the blanket, James took out his arm, wincing when his stump became visible. My stomach churned as my gaze traced the thick white bandages that replaced where his hand should’ve been.
“They said that your parents had been clever in hiding your gift.” His hand pulled at the bandage where it sat high on his wrist.
Seaton grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop. “What are you doing?”
Shrugging him off, James pulled gently, revealing a bright red burn mark under the edge of the white gauze.
“What is that?” Dracian asked, leaning forward to get a better look.
James sucked in a loud breath and gestured to Dracian. “Take a picture so I can cover it up again.”
Doing as he was told, Dracian snapped a photo of the tattoo on his phone. I stared as James covered it over again, his teeth gritted as the gauze rested back on his burnt skin. How would he live without his left hand? I would never cope with only one hand, I was clumsy as it was.
“James,” the professor said, his face full of concern as his eyebrows creased. “How are you feeling about…?”
We all knew what Seaton was asking, and yet, my gaze dropped to the white bedsheet, unable to watch the pain in my new friend’s eyes. It was the elephant in the room, the one that we’d all avoided.
When a small sob rent the air, I was on my feet. Almost throwing myself onto the bed, I wrapped my arms around James as best I could, clinging to him.
“I’m okay,” he squeezed between sobs. “I’ll be okay.”
Tears ran down my cheeks as he shuddered beneath me, his whole body vibrating from the trauma he’d suffered. I would get my revenge on those who had taken his hand, no matter how long it took me. I vowed to take much more precious limbs from them, ones that really would make sure that their bloodline never carried forth.
Pulling away when James had calmed, I wiped my face. Dracian touched my shoulder, his eyes glazed with unshed tears.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to James when our gaze met.
Using his intact hand to scrub his face, he took a deep breath and nodded. “They took my hand as a warning. I told them what I knew about you, which is nothing. It frustrated them. When I mentioned that Frankie worked with the human government, they knocked me out cold. I don’t know what happened after that.”
“I filled him in on the bomb at the police station.”
A squeak of a laugh escaped James, surprising us all. “I was left as a calling card. How many people can say that?”
About to reply with a quip, I stopped when a thought zapped into my head. “The tattoo.” Signalling for Dracian to give me his phone, I studied the picture. “Did they burn it on with heat or magic?”
Frowning, James looked at the ceiling, as if he were recalling when he last had something to eat, not a torture method.
“It was magic.”
When my gaze clashed with the professor’s, he inclined his head. He had known exactly what I was thinking, even without words.
“James,” I started, hesitating in my request considering what he’d been through. “Would you mind if I tried to retrieve the magic in your system? The magic that isn’t yours, I mean?”
If I could take the magic that belonged to one of the witches at the institute, there would be a chance we could trace that witch. If we could run it through a magical imprint DNA machine, it might match with our culprit, telling us who it is.
“Of course, do it.”
He didn’t hesitate or even flinch when I got to my feet and moved around to Dracian’s side.
Moving out of my way, Dracian gave me space to work. Once seated, I placed my hands on the arm where the tattoo had been branded into his skin. We didn’t know what it meant yet, but hopefully, if I could retrieve the magical imprint, we would get a clue.
Warmth simmered into me as the natural draw of magic tried to push into my hands. Using all my willpower, I released James’ magic and concentrated. An unfamiliar magical energy hummed in his veins, right near the tattoo. Somehow connecting to it, I pulled it from James’ aura and willed it to slip into mine. At first, it resisted, but as I grunted, it slunk into me, embedding into my energ
y.
“Got it,” I muttered, a shudder forcing me to release my friend. “It’s a tracking spell.”
The professor cleared his throat. “That would make sense. They probably know that Alishia would visit you. If they can keep tabs on you, they can find her.”
“And, now she has the spell inside her?” Dracian’s voice was tight.
James lifted the gauze on his arm again, cringing when it revealed that the tattoo was gone. A sudden burn on my wrist made me lift the sleeve of my jacket.
“Yep,” I said as sweat lined my palms. “I’ve got the spell.”
The bright pink circle symbol that had previously been on James’ wrist now laid on mine. I wasn’t surprised that the institute had used James as a pawn to get to me. Well, they could try, but it wouldn’t get them very far.
“You better get back to the academy.” The professor grabbed my arm, examining my wrist. “There are strong wards that will block this tracking spell. You need to get that magic out of you as soon as possible.”
“Don’t we need to ask the Hunted Witch Agency if we can use their magical DNA machine?” Dracian took up my backpack, urging me away from James.
“We have one of our own. No one knows about it until year three, but I’ll make an exception this time considering we need to help the police with their investigation.”
Taking hold of Seaton’s jacket sleeve when Dracian tried to pull me away, I looked up at him. “Why are you doing this all for me?”
He could’ve chucked me out of the academy as soon as trouble followed my sorry arse to the door. But, he hadn’t. He had tried to help me this whole time.
“This didn’t start with you,” he said, squeezing my arm. “It was about the students who were being drained. Now that I know why Damian was hurting others, I have to help you all. He doesn’t deserve to be absolved completely, but there are too many of you with missing parents. It has to stop.”
Thanking him with a whisper, I waved to James as Dracian marched me from the room. The poor boy lifted his damaged arm automatically, wincing when the stump moved back and forth. Before I could feel too bad for his situation, Dracian had taken my hand and whisked me away from the hospital.
Undercover Witch Academy Box Set Page 27