by Nikki Dean
Why is he so different than the rest? He likes me a lot and is still a little sad that I chose Nico, but I don’t think that’s it. Is it because they're together so much more, and he feels left out? But he spends nearly every weekend here in Nico's room. Maybe it's because Nico's dating me now, and he feels like a third wheel? Mallory finished her food in quiet introspection, then got up to rinse her container and throw it into the recycling bin. She pulled the drapes closed and settled onto the bed between them, her head on a pillow in Nico's lap and her knees hooked over Matt's lap.
He patted her leg to move and got up to dispose of his own trash, and Nico's as well before he sat back down. Mallory shifted her legs again, allowing Matt to pull them back into his lap as his side pressed against her ass. There must be at least another foot of space on his other side, but he wants to be close. It's like he craves it, she thought. There was nothing but nervous yearning in his mind, his trepidation that she and Nico would move away from him clear in his head.
She never would have been able to tell from looking at him. Maybe I wouldn’t have picked Nico first if I’d known how much this means to him. I have to admit, it’s really nice to be wanted. Maybe they’re right, and this would work with the three of us. Probably not though.
“What are you guys going to watch?" Mallory asked. “Matt, throw that blanket over my feet."
He looked around and grabbed the fluffy chenille blanket that had been left in a pile at the foot of her bed and spread it over her, settling back a little as it draped across him, too. It was like that one small act of acceptance soothed him.
I'm going to have to figure this out. He's not the type to be insecure, so what's going on right now? He was saying something about not wanting me to hate him. As if I could.. Tired of thinking about it, she made a semi-positive noise in response to some show that Nico was asking about and laid her head against his thigh. It didn't take long before she closed her eyes and went to sleep.
Chapter 14
Sunlight was streaming in through the crack between her drapes when she woke the next morning to the sound of soft snores filling her room. Nico was snuggled in beside her, and Matt's face was pressed into the small of her back. All in all, it was rather uncomfortable on a twin-size bed.
She poked them both, too tangled up between them to have a hope of escaping without waking one or the other. So she woke them both, just to keep it fair.
“Hmm?" Matt looked up first, then snaked an arm around Mallory's waist and buried his against her back again. “No."
“No? That's it, huh? No 'good morning' or 'sorry for grabbing your ass in your sleep'? Just 'no'?" she teased.
“Doesn't count if I was sleeping," he mumbled back. “I can do it again while we're all awake if you want me to apologize for it afterwards."
Nico rolled his eyes and kissed her good morning like he usually did. Mallory relaxed into him, kissing him back until she heard Matt's breath catch behind her, the jolt of his arousal hitting her hard. Nico didn't stop, instead grabbing her leg as he brought her thigh up over his hips.
Matt groaned and kissed the back of her hip, making her jump even as heat shot through her. He moved his arm, sliding his hand over her belly and down her thigh to her knee, then back up the other side.
Straight toward her center.
Mallory pulled her lips from Nico's and sat up quickly, pushing both of their hands away. Nico just stared at her with a little smile on his lips, like he knew exactly how hard she was struggling not to give in to them both. Matt just flopped back down on the bed with a muttered curse.
“Sorry, Mal. I don't know what came over me," he said, refusing to look up at them. She patted his shoulder and climbed over Nico, not trusting herself to stay wedged between them without things really getting out of hand.
Why am I like this? What is it about both of these guys that I just can't resist? I should be furious that he was touching me like that, and instead all I can think about is what would have happened if I'd let him keep going. Nico was clearly into it, and Matt, too. Not to mention me.
Nico looked up at her, letting her sort through it in peace. He had a patient smile on his face, like he knew exactly what she was thinking about as her gaze traveled down over his shirtless torso to the basketball shorts that he'd worn to bed. The metal of his piercings stood out against his tan skin, beckoning to her like they always did.
Fuck, if I'd noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt, it might not have mattered that we should talk about this before all falling into bed together. I love those piercings. It was a testament to how much Matt had distracted her enough to keep her from noticing the rather large detail, since running her hands and mouth over Nico's skin was one of her favorite things to do.
Feeling what he felt as she brought him pleasure was addicting, and she wanted to do it again. Soon. He held a hand out to her, inviting her back to bed.
His phone went off at the same time. Damon's name flashed across the screen, along with a picture of... balls?
“What the fuck?" she asked, grabbing the phone and flipping it around. Yep, balls. A pair of testicles flashed on the screen again, along with someone's fingers as they stretched the skin out to either side, forming a sort of bat-like shape. “Are these Damon's, or did one of you just randomly snap a picture of your nuts and set it to his contact information?"
Matt gave a thumbs-up, but she could see the back of his neck turning red.
“Matt, are these yours?" Mallory knew she shouldn't ask, but did anyway.
“No, actually. But I took the picture. Nico left his phone upstairs one night last week, and Alec and I got bored."
Nico grabbed the phone from her and laughed. “That's hilarious, I'm leaving it like that."
“Just pray that Everett doesn't call you. That one's much worse."
Her lips curled up as she thought about it. “Is it... someone's asshole? Hopefully not anyone I know? Because that's not a mental image I want to remember when I see your friends, Nico. Alec's hairy ballsack is bad enough."
Nico burst into laughter. “Oh, god, tell me it's not Alec's ass," he wheezed. “It is, isn't it?”
Matt finally looked up, a grin on his face. “Just his cheeks. Not the actual hole. How'd you know?"
“Powers of deduction, my friend. And just the cheeks aren't any worse than his nuts. Speaking of which, you should probably call Damon back. He's probably pissed that none of us were at physical training this morning."
Nico winced as Damon called again, then someone pounded on her door.
“I know you're in there! I can hear your phone ringing!" Damon yelled from the other side. “Open up, Nico."
“It's my room, what the hell," Mallory muttered as she grabbed a towel and extra set of clothes, then hurried into the bathroom. She slid the deadbolt into place just as Nico flashed to the door and whispered, “Coward," through the crack.
“Absolutely. I'm not getting in the middle of whatever's about to happen out there," she replied. “Especially when I need a shower and then to get ready for my classes."
She heard the door to her room open and shut, then Nico’s, Damon’s and Matt's muffled voices in the hall. “I guess they all left, then. Fine with me."
The rest of the day went by smoothly. Two questions on her pop quiz in military history threw her off, but she ended up guessing one correctly, so she passed. Runes was fascinating, as usual, and she practiced a simple memory rune until she could make an object hold an echo of a memory. It was a strange thing, like smelling a half-forgotten recipe that she'd baked in the diner as a child and being not quite able to place the scent, even though she knew she'd smelled it a thousand times before.
It made her hungry.
Technical charms was a different story, but only because Chris was there with another cup of black coffee, deep circles under his eyes as he struggled to stay awake through class. Mallory took notes for the both of them and told him to hit the right buttons on his participation clicker when the time cam
e, determined that he'd at least get credit for showing up even though he was mentally barely there.
Even his presence on her web was dull, faded out almost to the point of concern. She didn't ask him any questions after the first one or two, and he'd nodded at her as he sipped his drink. He grabbed his stuff and hastily shoved it into his backpack when the bell rang, muttering a husky thanks before he stumbled out of the classroom.
The hour-long break between her last class and the meeting left her plenty of time to overanalyze everything. She grabbed an early dinner from the dining hall and took it outside, choosing a sunny spot along the low border wall that separated the main campus from the forest beyond. She'd been there before, between classes when she didn't feel like going all the way back to the dorm. The wall was low here, only about waist high and almost two feet wide, more like a tall bench than a wall.
The stones at the top had been worn smoother than the rest in this particular spot, and it didn't take Mal long to see why. It was quiet here, tucked out of the way near the special ops building, yet close enough to the woods that she could hear the birds singing, and sense a fox tumbling along through the brush nearby.
Not that just anyone else would know that detail, but still. The wildlife was quickly making this her favorite place on campus.
Mallory ate and stretched out, lying on her back in the sun. Its rays warmed her clothes, and finally her skin as she allowed its gentle kiss and the birds singing to lull her into a kind of trance. She pictured herself stepping out of her body and onto her web, skating along its thin strands to visit the minds of the animals nearby. It had been one of her favorite games as a kid, to see if she could identify each individual mind in range.
It was quite a bit more complicated now. Even she was surprised to find out just how many creatures she was linked to that she hadn't been before, indicating that her powers had grown exponentially in the short time that she'd been at school. Before, she couldn't detect anything under the ground unless she looked for it, but now, she discovered that a myriad of worms, moles and other crawling things lived just under her feet, all tunneling around in the blinding darkness as they tried to survive.
It was a different world. One she was glad she didn't have cause to connect with much.
One by one the birds fell silent a few hundred yards away. It didn't take long before she noticed, since she was more connected to them than usual, but she couldn't figure out why.
Until it hit her. They were afraid.
Something large moved through the trees, stalking beneath their waving branches as it hunted, completely unperturbed by the moving bubble of silence that its presence elicited. Or at least, that's what Mallory assumed, since she couldn't actually sense anything in the center of the silence, much less on the outskirts.
Nothing registered on her web except fear, and despair radiating from the circle. She'd rarely felt anything like it before. In fact...
It's the amaroq. It has to be, she realized. Or there's something else on campus that I can't sense. It makes sense that it would live in the woods. There's nowhere else it could be.
She sat up and swung her feet over the wall, looking out into the trees. It was pointless, she knew, since the damn demon was so far away, but for some reason, she couldn't help it. At least it's not angry this time. Not from what I can tell. I'd imagine that the birds would react differently if it was.
“You ready?"
Mallory jumped with a little shriek, so intent on what was going on in the forest that she had no idea Matt had snuck up behind her. He grabbed her shoulder to keep her from falling off of the wall.
“Ha! Did I really scare you?" he demanded in glee. “I wouldn't have thought it was possible."
Pulling her shoulder free, Mallory shot him a dirty look. “I was distracted. There's something out in the woods."
“There are probably a lot of things out there," he replied, nonchalant. “I guess you can only sense people when you're looking? Or did you have your powers turned off?"
“Not turned off, just not focusing in that direction. I was distracted. The birds are reacting to something in the woods, all going silent in fear as it passes by, but I can't feel anything from the actual threat. I think it might be the amaroq."
“What?" He dropped onto the stone wall beside her. “Are you fucking kidding me? You can sense it?"
The alarm in his voice made her pause. “Not sense it, exactly, but sense everything else's reaction to it. Unless there are more than one."
Matt shook his head, his face pale. “No, there's not. It's impossible."
“Why would it be impossible? It had to come from somewhere, right? And it must bed down somewhere, too. It makes sense that it would live in the woods, but what doesn't make sense is why no one would have figured that out yet."
“Because it doesn't live anywhere, Mal. It's a demon. It fades in and out of existence."
“Everything has to sleep."
“So what's your plan then? Go traipsing out there looking for its den?" Matt demanded harshly, running one hand over his closely shaven head. “Because I gotta say, Mallory, that sounds pretty fucking stupid."
“Hey!" She jerked back from him, offended. “I never said I was going after it. Or that I ever want to see it again. One time nearly being eaten was enough, and I'm pretty sure it would be even less thrilled about seeing me. Fuck off with your assumptions and calling me stupid. I shouldn't have told you."
“I didn't call you stupid."
“Close enough," she shot back as she stood. Climbing back over the wall, she grabbed her backpack and set off toward the admissions building, where the professors' offices were located. There were still a few minutes to go before the meeting with MacKenna started, but she figured being early was better than late, and walking off her annoyance was better than punching her boyfriend's friend in his stupid, condescending mouth.
“Mal, I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that, but you can't tell anyone else about this. If Fitzam found out that you think you can sense the amaroq, it's all over."
“What's over, Matt? Why does it feel like you're keeping something from me? Something big?"
He looked away, his jaw and chest flexing as he clenched his teeth.
“You've got to be kidding me. Well, if you won't tell me, maybe someone else will," she muttered as she grabbed the door and wrenched it open.
Or tried to.
Matt's hand slammed down onto it, pulling the handle from her grip. She turned to him with a glare and stepped forward, her chest grazing his. “What. The. Fuck?"
“I'll explain it all later. Just don't tell MacKenna. He'll pass the information along to Fitzam, and I won't be able to help you anymore."
“Is that a threat?"
He blew out an exasperated, angry sigh. “Of course not. Won't be my decision. Just promise me that you won't tell anyone except Nico and the guys. I won't ask you to keep it from them, but you can't tell anyone else. This is a big deal, Mallory."
“I wasn't going to mention it to anyone, thank you very much. It honestly never even crossed my mind until you started making a big deal about it. Whatever it's doing out in the woods, it can just keep doing as long as it doesn't come back here and hurt anyone."
“It's a monster, Mal. It will always end up hurting someone."
“Then why are you so determined to protect it?"
Chapter 15
They had walked to the meeting in silence, Matt refusing to respond to her question. That told her enough, and they’d subsequently ignored each other for the first half of the meeting.
“So the birds told you where the black team students were?" Professor MacKenna asked in surprise, his delight evident on his face. He sat behind a utilitarian desk, its clean top uncluttered by anything more than his computer, mouse and a notebook. The wall beside it was another story though, covered in multiple layers of sticky notes, printouts and some sort of photos. They were each charmed so that they were indecipherable to anyone but
him, so Mallory couldn't tell what they said. A mail organizer hung on the wall below the window, and it, too, was stuffed to overflowing with papers that had been haphazardly shoved in.
Did he clean up just for us, or is he always like this? He seems so organized in class, but that wall and mail thingy are pure chaos. Mallory nodded, trying not to stare at the multicolored sticky notes. They were just so random, yet somehow not. Like there was a pattern at the edges of her mind, if only she could see it.
“I don't know who is where specifically, or anything like that, but I can listen to the different tones of their songs to know if they're alerting the other birds of an intruder. I pretty much assumed that anyone the birds were talking about had to be an enemy, since the rest of the red team was stuck in our base."
“What about Caroline and Brighton, who had been sent to retrieve the blue flag? Do you mean to tell me that you wouldn't have been able to tell them from, say, the black team students?" Professor MacKenna asked.
Matt remained stoic, but Mallory could sense his unease. So far, the professor's questions had all been about Mallory's performance in the battle simulation, and nothing about prerequisite classes or anything else that Matt could help with. All he could do was sit and listen, hoping that she gave the best possible answers to diffuse some of MacKenna's interest in her.
“I guess it could have been them, but I just thought they would still be busy trying to get the blue flag. The birds don't speak English, so I don't really have a way of telling who is who when they're panicking," Mal hedged.
“Right, right, it would all be so much easier if they did," Professor MacKenna replied with a chuckle. “What else are you capable of? How did you get the owl to take your flag, and keep it safe for the duration of the class?"
Shit, what do I say? It's pretty obvious that I told the owl to stay within the battleground boundaries. “It only had the flag for the last twenty minutes or so," Mallory answered after a minute. “The blue team was up our asses at the outpost, I mean, were attacking us a lot," she muttered, looking away. MacKenna smiled again and waved his hand in a 'go on' motion, ignoring her language.