Tricky Witch: A Reverse Harem Academy Romance (Academy of the Dark Arts Book 2)

by Nikki Dean

Maybe he’s not such a dick after all. She slid it into her pocket and dialed Nico’s number while she hurried to the maintenance door. He answered on the first ring, then told her to put the phone someplace they could listen in without being obvious about it.

  Shoving it into her bra, Mallory took a deep breath and pushed open the unmarked door to find a dark stairwell, lit only by a few flickering fluorescent lights that buzzed in the silence.

  “That’s not creepy at all,” she muttered. The door at the bottom of the stairs was locked, and Mallory tapped on it softly as she checked her watch. “Shit, I’m a minute late.”

  The door swung open without even the faintest squeak, much to her surprise. She wasn’t sure why, but Mal had expected some sort of protest from such a beat-up looking thing. The handle had looked rusted as hell, and she just assumed the hinges were, too.

  “Hurry up,” Janae whispered. “I don’t want to get caught.”

  Mallory allowed the other girl to pull her into the dark recesses of the basement. It wasn’t at all what she’d expected from the images in Janae’s mind, and was instead a dripping, dank room that smelled like mildew and was, again, only lit with flickering fluorescents.

  In other words, the total opposite of the pristine white room with its hospital-grade bed that Matt had been strapped down to.

  If anything, this basement looked like the perfect spot for the black plague to make its comeback.

  “Where are we going?” Mallory demanded. “Where’s Matt?”

  “Shut up and follow me,” Janae ordered. “Just trust me, but you have to be quiet about it.”

  Mallory nodded, hoping that her cell even had signal down here. Not that she knew how the guys would make it past the locked door that Janae had opened, but hey, where there was a will, there was a way. Plus Alec had decimated her dorm door, so what was one more for the evening?

  Janae hurried to a decrepit-looking stack of bookshelves that had been leaned over in the far corner of the basement. Mallory pulled back a little. “Well, that looks like a murder corner. Where are we going?”

  “It is. Now shut up and come on if you want to find your friend.”

  As long as we’re all on the same page, I guess. Mallory quit complaining and followed the other girl, only to hear a tiny beep. Jane cursed and grabbed Mallory’s hand, then bolted back behind another stack of junk. Mallory ran to keep up, staying as silent as Janae was and knelt beside her, curling up into as small of a ball as possible. Janae clutched her hand and put one finger over her lips, her eyes begging Mallory to be quiet.

  Mallory pulled on her mask. Two men in white lab coats walked by, then went out to the unmarked door.

  Oh, shit, I hope the guys aren’t already standing on the other side! Mallory panicked. Guys, run!

  Chapter 28

  The men opened the door and went out without comment, and both girls breathed a sigh of relief.

  “What the fuck are you wearing?” Janae demanded.

  Mallory shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  The other girl rolled her eyes, but Mal could sense a twinge of reluctant approval from her. “Come on. That was too close,” Janae whispered. “There’s a door in the back corner. The lab is through there.”

  “Like another section of the basement?” Mallory asked.

  Janae nodded. “There are tunnels that go out beneath the entire campus. The special ops building is connected, and a few others, I think. They’re relatively new.”

  A basement and tunnel system with a lab, just like the one that Matt told me the amaroq destroyed a few years ago. The government said it was a cult, but Matt knew better. Could this be by the same people? Some kind of research and development bullshit about the amaroq again?

  “And Matt’s in the lab? Why?” Mallory whispered as they hustled back to the hidden door. Nico’s light was close on her web, too close to be outside with the other guys. She hoped he’d sped inside and was hiding in the dark, waiting to see where she went. It might be her only hope if this went badly.

  “You’ll see, girl. I don’t know how to help him.”

  With those ominous words, Janae punched 6, 6, 7, 9, 6, 1 into the keypad and it lit up green with a beep. Mallory tried to breathe the numbers into her phone, but wasn’t sure that anyone on the other end would have been able to hear her. If the phone was still connected, that was.

  “Come on. You can’t tell anyone about this, and I would get into deep, deep shit if anyone knew that I brought you down here, but I just can’t do this anymore. Not to a human. Especially not one that didn’t agree to this.”

  He didn’t even agree? What the fuck? Mallory pinned Janae with a furious glare, grinding her teeth together as she tried to keep from yelling. “What the fuck does that mean? He doesn’t know what’s happening to him? Who is responsible for this?”

  Janae flinched, then shook her head before peeking around a corner into what looked like a deserted break room. Lockers lined one wall and Janae went to them, grabbing lab coats from two.

  “Put this on, and take that ridiculous mask off. I’ll show you what I can, then explain the rest when we get out of here.”

  “With Matt.”

  Janae stared at her in surprise, then began to shake her head.

  “I’m not leaving without him, Janae. I don’t know what you thought was about to happen, but I’m not going to abandon him down here, especially since you already said that he’s not here voluntarily.”

  “We can’t get him out now,” Janae whispered urgently. “He’s in the middle of a medical procedure. If we take him off the meds, he could die.”

  “Can’t you fix him?” Mallory demanded. “I’m not letting anything else happen to him. Who’s doing this, and why? Why Matt?”

  “I know you’re upset, but this is a lot bigger than him, or me, or you, Mallory. I can’t fix him because it’s not just him anymore. He may already be gone.”

  No. No, it’s not possible. We can’t make it without him. She had no idea where the thought came from, but the other guys’ faces flashed in her mind as she imagined what they’d do without Matt. What she would do without him.

  Mallory growled and lunged before she even knew what she was doing. Janae’s back hit the lockers with enough force to dent one and Mallory lifted her until her feet were dangling in midair. “The fuck do you mean, he may already be gone? He’s dead?”

  She pulled up her web, searching for the truth. Matt’s dim light still pulsed with its steady little glow, surrounded by more just like him, although dimmer. Nico, Damon, Alec and Everett’s brighter lights illuminated the space just behind them, in the other room. She didn’t stop to ask why Ev was there, and had a brief flash of reassurance that they had another ally.

  “I can feel him. He’s not dead, so what do you mean?” Mallory demanded.

  “What do you mean, you can feel him? What else can you feel?” Janae wheezed. Mallory lowered her a little, just enough that she wasn’t strangling the other girl with her own shirt.

  “Don’t worry about that. I like you, Janae, but Matt means everything to me, so I suggest you start talking. What do you mean, he might be gone, when you know he’s still alive? Have you been lying to me all along?”

  “What’s the code, Mal?” Nico’s voice came from her chest.

  “6, 6, 9, 6, 7, 1,” she answered. Janae’s eyes bugged out as she realized what was going on. The door beep rang through the open phone connection.

  “You bitch,” Janae hissed. “I told you to come alone. I trusted you, Mallory. I fucking trusted you.”

  “And I trust them. I’m part of them, where one goes, you get all of us. They’ll help, and help protect your family. You just have to tell us who and where they are.”

  “That’s not the code, Mal,” Nico said. She heard another beep and Everett swear in frustration.

  “I can just break it down,” Alec said.

  “No!” Janae protested. “I’ll tell you the code, asshole. Don’t break an
ything or they’ll know you were here!”

  “Good call. What’s the code?” Mallory asked.

  Janae glared at her for a minute. Mallory narrowed her eyes and lifted her a little higher.

  “6, 6, 7, 9, 6, 1,” Janae bit out. “Now put me down.”

  “That’s what I said,” Mallory muttered as the door beeped again and they heard it open in the hallway beside them. “You promise not to do anything stupid, like sound an alarm or something?” Mallory asked.

  “That’s clearly not what you said,” Everett shot back from the doorway. “Or it would have worked.” He wore a ski mask like the rest. Alec must have brought enough for everyone.

  “Hello to you too,” Mallory said without turning around. Alec laid his hand on her shoulder.

  “Wow, Bunny, I had no idea you had this in you. Almost reminds me of me, but you should probably put her down if she’s going to be giving us the tour. We shouldn’t be here long.”

  Mal growled. “She lied to me.”

  “Right back at you, bitch. I didn’t lie to you, but the room full of TAs and whoever that is says you definitely lied to me,” Janae replied. “That’s what I get for trusting someone. They know you can heal, too?”

  “Hey, babe, it’s time to let her go,” Nico murmured. He put his hand over hers, urging her to lower Janae. She did, setting the other girl on her feet. “What’s going on? I didn’t know you could lift this much, and heal?”

  Mallory shook her head. “It just happened yesterday, and now. My magic is flaring up again, changing.”

  “Or not.” Everett gave her a suspicious look.

  “I don’t have time for your shit right now, Ev. Get it together or get the fuck out,” Mallory ordered. “We’re here for Matt, not a pissing contest.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “So what’s the plan here, genius? Or are you rushing in and trying to get us all killed, like I said you would?”

  “Shut up, Ev.” Damon spoke for the first time. “We wouldn’t even know there was a problem without her. Care to explain that?”

  Everett bared his teeth and turned, stalking out into the hallway. His presence on Mallory’s web rippled strangely, but came back as strong as ever.

  “You’re clearly uncomfortable with whatever’s happening down here,” Nico said to Janae. “We can help. Will you take us to Matt? Please?”

  “Guess I don’t really have a choice now,” Janae retorted. “It’s going to be hard to get there without being seen. I was taking enough of a chance with just her, but now with four more big fucking guys? We’re all going to be shot.”

  “Shut up, Everett,” Mallory ordered before he’d even had a chance to open his mouth. She could feel his seething anger rolling up and around his mind, twisting it until it was almost unrecognizable. “And calm down. You’re going to be the one that gets us killed unless you can control your temper.”

  His mind shifted so quickly that she blinked in surprise, going from burning fury to icy stillness in the blink of an eye. “Stay out of my head.”

  “If you’re all finished dicking around,” Janae muttered, “I’d like to get this shitshow over with.”

  Nico, Mallory, Alec and Damon all exchanged a look, then nodded. Everett just sighed and followed along as Janae led them out.

  “You said you feel things?” Janae asked Mallory quietly. “Like Matt? Can you sense anyone else? Maybe an empty room nearby that we can dodge into if we need it?”

  Mallory stretched out along her web. There were several rooms that weren’t necessarily empty, but didn’t exactly have people in them, either. Several held cages with small, energetic animals, rodents, maybe? Others held larger animals trapped in unnatural stillness, with sedatives coursing through their veins.

  “This is where that big cat was,” Mallory murmured in shock. “A few weeks ago. The one that died and almost took me with it.”

  Nico, Damon and Alec stared at her, then looked around at the lab.

  “They’re doing animal experiments down here, aren’t they?” she demanded. It was a stupid moment to ask, and probably obvious already, but she had to know.

  “Not just animals.” The note of despair in Janae’s voice made them all tense.

  “Take us to him. Now.” Damon wasn’t waiting around anymore. The others agreed.

  “This way,” Janae said with a wince. The hallway that she turned down was blessedly empty, although Mallory felt other people moving in the rooms around them. She grabbed Janae’s hand, then lifted one finger and pointed to the room on the right, then two fingers and pointed to the room on the left.

  Janae nodded and pushed her gently against the wall. Holding up one finger, Janae walked by casually, glancing into the rooms on either side. She nodded and waved once she was on the other side and they all ran silently to join her.

  “Which room? Nico can get us there faster,” Mallory whispered. Everett glared and she flipped him off without comment.

  Janae’s eyes bounced between them as Damon elbowed Everett with his own glare.

  “Thought you trusted them?” Janae whispered. “Because it seems like you hate that one.”

  “Don’t have to like him to trust him,” Mallory whispered back. “He’s part of the group, whether I like it or not. He’d die for Matt, or any of the others, just as much as the rest of us.” Mallory wasn’t sure why she was so positive about Everett’s devotion to the other guys, but she knew it was true. Just like she knew she wasn’t on that list, yet.

  Janae’s brow creased as she gave Mal a doubtful look. “He’s in the last room on the left. Don’t get caught.”

  Mallory didn’t even have time to thank her before she was moving, the hallway blurring as Nico carried her to Matt’s room. He set her down and she opened the door quietly, then Alec was behind her, then Damon, Everett and Janae.

  Matt was shirtless, wearing only shorts and a ton of medical tape that held various needles and tubes in his skin. Mal’s eyes filled with tears as her heart filled with fury.

  It was matched in Everett.

  The others, Nico, Damon and Alec, at least had a slight grip on the situation, and divided up to address it.

  Nico zoomed around the room, checking out the setup and different equipment to see if he could figure out what was going on before he started unhooking things. Alec took care of the restraints, popping them off with almost negligent force.

  “What drugs are these, and what’s been done to him? Is it safe to move him?” Damon questioned Janae. “Can you help?”

  She began to answer, but Mallory couldn’t focus on her words. Her skin tingled, itched almost, and she looked down to see a million tiny tendrils reaching from her shadow to the five guys around her, especially Matt and Nico.

  Everett jumped and whipped his head around to look at her. His eyes tracked the darkness, and Mallory shook her head to clear it.

  “You can see them.” It wasn’t a question.

  “What is that?” he asked. “Your magic?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I never did it until I came here, and the others can’t see or feel it. But you can.” Lifting her hand, she watched as the black magic wrapped around her fingertips and arced out toward him.

  He caught it easily, mirroring her action. Their hands didn’t touch, but their shadows entwined, curving in and out, around each other until a ball of darkness hung between them.

  “You have it, too. What is it?” she asked.

  “Rage.”

  Chapter 29

  “Keep that one plugged in, and you’ll just have to carry it. It’s a sedative, but he needs to be weaned off slowly. Jerking it out will cause him to seize.”

  They all looked at her in horror. Mallory felt the darkness rising up in both her and Everett, and she shoved it back down as well as she could. Nico simply nodded and unhooked the bag of light blue liquid in question and laid it on the bed beside Matt.

  “There’s time to be angry later. We need to work now, then
burn this place to the ground. But only after we’ve gotten Matt, and anyone else stuck in here, out,” Mallory whispered to Everett.

  He didn’t respond.

  She walked away, trusting the shadow magic to either come with her, or not. It didn’t really matter either way.

  “See if you can feel him, see how he’s doing,” Nico said softly. “I know your friend said these were okay to unhook, but I don’t know. I don’t trust anyone involved with all of this.”

  Nodding once, Mallory sat on the bed beside Matt. She put her hand on his chest, feeling for his slow heartbeat, hoping that he could feel her just a little. It would make slipping inside his mind so much easier.

  “Still the same. Passed out cold, no idea what’s going on or anything else. Wait, something else is in here,” she murmured, confused.

  All of the guys tensed.

  “What do you mean, something else is in there?” Damon asked. “Inside Matt’s mind?”

  “Sort of? But not really in there, in there, just tied to him? It’s a link of some kind, to something outside this room. I can sense something else breathing, but it’s sedated too.” She opened her eyes and squinted at him, studying him. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

  “They did it. They really fucking did it, then,” Janae said in shock. “I never would have thought it was possible.”

  “Did what?” Damon demanded, whirling on her. Alec put one arm across his chest, holding him back when he would have gone at Janae, who shrank back anyway.

  She wasn’t stupid.

  “They’ve been trying to link a human and animal. Create a partnership, of sorts, that goes beyond training. I think it’s some kind of reconnaissance project, trying to gather intelligence from animals. They’ve tried on dozens of pairs, but never successfully.”

  That’s my magic. Why are they trying to duplicate my magic? “That’s why Fitzam was so determined that I come to the academy,” Mallory realized. “He thinks I can link with animals.”

  “Dozens of pairs? Animals and people?” Nico demanded. “What happened to the others?”