by Jayme Morse
“Thanks for walking me back to my dorm room,” I told him. Then I quickly added, “I mean, I know you don’t exactly have a choice, but—”
“I would have done it, anyway,” he interrupted. “The truth is that if Kieran hadn’t assigned me to be your Guardian, I would have applied for the job.” He paused for a moment, staring into my eyes. “When I went into Kieran’s office, you know what my biggest fear was?”
I shook my head.
“That he would revoke my duties as your Guardian. I was so afraid, Lux. I might not be the best protector at Demon Blood Academy, but I fully believe that no one will protect you the way I will.”
“I know,” I agreed.
“You do?” He just eyed me curiously.
I nodded. “Yes. I just—it’s hard to explain, honestly. But I feel like we have this connection…”
I trailed off, knowing that there was a good chance he might have thought I sounded crazy. We barely even knew each other, and yet here I was rambling off about some connection that I wasn’t even sure he thought existed.
“Are you saying you have feelings for me?” Zay asked me quietly.
“I—” I began, but at that moment, the door to my dorm room was pulled open.
Kassidy stared back at us.
Crap.
I wondered how much she had overheard. If things weren’t already going to be awkward between them before, I had a feeling that they would be now.
“Lux, you’re back! Where have you been all afternoon? I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends,” Kassidy said.
I glanced over at Zay. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was thinking exactly the same thing I was. If Kassidy had overheard us, she wasn’t letting onto the fact that she had.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to keep her from you. We were just taking a walk,” Zay quickly answered.
It took me a moment to realize that the reason he wasn’t telling Kassidy the truth about where we had really gone was because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. The stream had obviously been their place at one point in time, and now he had taken me there.
I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed that he was keeping it from Kassidy, though. Even though I knew they had been lifelong friends, him hiding it from her was obviously his way of protecting her feelings. And even though I didn’t want there to be any drama for any of us, I just couldn’t help but feel like he was putting Kassidy and her feelings first.
Of course, I knew I was being ridiculous. It wasn’t like me and Zay were anything. I had just been about to confess my feelings to him before Kassidy had opened the door. Though I suspected that Zay felt the same way, I didn’t know for sure… but did it even matter?
I couldn’t let myself fall for a Demon, even if I was part Demon myself. It may have already been too late, but I wouldn’t let myself fall harder than I already had.
“Well, I’m glad she’s back now,” Kassidy said, snapping me out of my thoughts. “We’re having a sleepover tonight so you can meet some of the other girls. You can also pick out your dress for the dance tonight. It will be fun.”
“Oh. Um, sure,” I replied with a shrug as I stepped into our dorm room.
A sleepover wasn’t exactly at the top of my to-do list, but I was pretty sure there was no saying no to Kassidy.
“Okay, great.” Kassidy turned to Zay. “You need to leave.”
“All right.” Zay turned to me awkwardly. “Have a good night.”
“You, too,” I replied with a smile.
“Now, get out of here,” Kassidy told Zay.
“Fine. I’m going,” he told her. As he began to turn away from us, Kassidy called after him. “Wait! You didn’t kiss me goodnight.”
Shooting a wicked smile over her shoulder at me, Kassidy closed the door to our dorm room behind her.
It was in that moment that I realized that Kassidy had overheard my conversation with Zay, that she was only kissing him on the other side of the door to taunt me.
I had a feeling that I was in for the sleepover of my life.
***
Lux
Kassidy ordered some pizza from the cafeteria (who heard of a school with pizza delivery service?) in preparation for the sleepover. Our guests were supposed to come to our dorm room at seven o’clock.
Promptly at seven o’clock, there was a knock on our dorm room door. Kassidy opened the door, and three girls came into our room, backpacks and sleeping bags in tow.
I recognized them right away. They were the girls who Kassidy sat with in the cafeteria—the girls who looked like they had probably been cheerleaders back in the human world.
“Hey, guys. Meet Lux Whitmore. Lux, this is Brittany Darling”—Kassidy pointed to the girl with long, straight blonde hair and whose pink outfit blended in with the dorm room— “the most badass Demon you will ever meet. Seriously. She once killed a grizzly bear with her bare hands.”
“I mean… I wasn’t going to just let it eat me,” Brittany replied with a shrug, tossing her blonde hair over one shoulder.
I just stared back at her. I was a mixture of impressed, surprised, and horrified that a girl as tiny as Brittany, who couldn’t have stood any taller than five foot two, could have been physically capable of killing a grizzly bear.
“This is Angela Gibson,” Kassidy went on, introducing the girl with fair, freckled skin and short, auburn hair. “Don’t let her name fool you. She is the furthest thing from an Angel.”
“My parents apparently thought it was some sort of sick joke to give their Demon child a name that meant Angel,” Angela added with an eye roll. “But whatever. I wear my name with pride.”
“It could be worse. Your name could be Daisy,” Brittany said, wrinkling her nose. “Can you imagine a Demon named Daisy? I sure can’t.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. The truth was that it was sort of hard to picture a Demon named Daisy.
“And this is Camille,” Kassidy continued, introducing the third girl, who had caramel skin and dark hair. “She might seem quiet at first, but once she opens up to you, you will wish you could get her to shut up.”
“Hey.” Camille shot a glare in Kassidy’s direction. “I am not annoying!”
“Um, you definitely can be,” Angela said.
“Camille is dating the most popular Demon guy at Demon Blood Academy,” Kassidy went on. “Sparrow Winters. All of the girls want him, but he chose Camille.”
“Because she’s just so cute,” Brittany said, reaching out and pinching Camille’s cheek, the way a grandma pinches a baby’s cheek.
Even though Camille laughed, I couldn’t help but think that she looked annoyed by the gesture. It was almost like she cringed inside when Brittany had touched her.
“So, what about you, Lux?” Angela said, turning to me. “Tell us about yourself.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my shoes. No matter how many times I had to introduce myself to new foster families, I still absolutely loathed talking about myself. I should have been used to it by now.
“I, uh,” I began, glancing around at the group of girls who stared back at me, waiting expectantly for an answer.
Before I had the chance to come up with something to say, Brittany asked, “Is what they say about you true?”
“What do they say about me?” I asked, a hopeful feeling washing over me.
Maybe I was finally about to find out what all of these secrets revolving me had to do with.
“That a human can die just by kissing you.”
Chapter 20
Lux
“What? That’s absolutely ridiculous,” I said with a chuckle, even though I wasn’t entirely sure that it was all that far-fetched.
After all, it wasn’t like I had been some sort of make-out queen or something back when I was in the human world. I had only ever kissed Nick, but still… it wasn’t like he had dropped dead on the spot or anything.
Now, I couldn’t help but worry about him. Was it possible that Nick had
died after we had kissed?
I wondered if there was some sort of way I could get in touch with him from Demon Blood Academy. Did they have cell phones or Internet access here? Considering we were in a completely different realm and I had yet to see one student with a cell phone or computer, I somehow doubted it.
“Well, that’s what the legends say,” Angela chimed in with a shrug.
Legends. There was that word again.
Why had multiple people said there were legends about me?
That also proved one thing. That girl Alice must have been a Demon, too. How else would she have known about those so-called legends?
“What else do the legends say?” I questioned, glancing at the other girls.
“You guys, I really think we should talk about something else,” Kassidy said in what was an obvious attempt at changing the subject.
Her eyes flitted back and forth between her friends in what looked like an effort at warning them.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Camille agreed. She turned to me. “Have you seen any cute guys here?”
“I’ve only been here for two days,” I replied with a nervous laugh. “I’ve barely had the chance to notice anyone.”
“Really? You haven’t noticed anyone?” Kassidy narrowed her eyes at me.
I might have been paranoid, but I could have sworn that it seemed like she was staring at me almost accusingly, probably trying to let me know she was aware I had feelings for her boyfriend.
“I haven’t really been looking,” I admitted.
“Why not?” Brittany asked with raised eyebrows.
I shrugged. “I didn’t come here to date. Besides, I’m not sure that I would even want to date a Demon if I could.”
“Why? What’s wrong with Demons?”
This time, it was Angela who was narrowing her eyes at me.
“Oh. Nothing,” I quickly replied. “I’m just not used to the idea that I’m part Demon yet. Just used to humans still, I guess.” I let out a nervous chuckle.
A pin-dropping silence hung in the air as they all just stared at me for a few moments. I swallowed hard. I hadn’t tried to offend anyone, but they had to have all realized how weird it was to be at a Demon school… didn’t they?
Except… maybe they didn’t.
Unlike me, these girls had probably grown up knowing that they were Demons. They had probably known that they would have to come to Demon Blood Academy for training one day, whereas it had been a total shock for me.
“I think we need to find you a date for the dance tomorrow night,” Kassidy said, her voice breaking through the uncomfortable silence that filled the air between us.
“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t mind going solo,” I replied with a shrug.
It wasn’t like I even knew anyone at Demon Blood Academy who I would have wanted to go with. Well, besides Zay and he was already going with Kassidy, I thought bitterly.
“Nonsense. You have to go with someone,” Kassidy insisted.
“Who could we set her up with?” Brittany asked, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
“I know!” Angela exclaimed. “What about Andy?”
“Hmm. He’s kind of nerdy,” Kassidy noted with a frown.
“That doesn’t matter,” Brittany said with a wave of her hand before turning to me. “Do you like nerds?”
“I-I don’t know,” I replied with a shrug. “It all depends on the nerd, I guess.”
“I can’t picture the two of them together,” Camille chimed in. “What about Joe Pencil?”
“His last name is Pencil?” I asked. “I’m sorry, but this is where I draw a line. I am not going on a date with a guy whose last name is Pencil.”
Brittany laughed. “When he first got here, he was seeing this girl named Melanie Sharp. Can you imagine if they ever got married? Her name would be Melanie Sharp Pencil.”
Angela snorted. “Well, it’s better than a dull pencil.”
“You guys, I think I thought of someone!” Kassidy chirped excitedly.
“Oh, who?” Camille asked, her eyes full of intrigue.
“Tyler.” Kassidy glanced around at them with a mischievous grin. “Wouldn’t they be perfect together?”
“Yeah, I could see it,” Angela agreed with a nod.
“Me, too,” Brittany added.
Camille nodded her approval.
“So, it’s all settled then,” Kassidy said, glancing over at me. “You’ll go to the dance with Tyler.”
I noted a sense of finality in her tone, as if I didn’t even have a say in all of this. As if Tyler didn’t even have a say in it, either.
“I’ve never even met him. He might not want to go to the dance with me,” I pointed out.
“Oh, he will,” Kassidy replied. “I’ll make sure of it.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “How are you planning to do that?”
“Easy. I’ll compel him to,” she replied with a shrug.
“You wouldn’t!”
“Oh, just watch her,” Angela said. “Kassidy is awesome at possessing.”
I frowned. “I thought it was hard for a Demon to compel another Demon.”
“Oh, it is, but Kassidy comes from a really powerful Demon bloodline,” Brittany explained.
“And I definitely do not hesitate to use it in order to get what I want,” Kassidy said with a wicked grin. “That’s one thing you should probably know about me, Lux. I always get what I want.”
As our eyes locked, I knew that Kassidy wasn’t just sharing something about herself. Nope, one look into her amber eyes told me that Kassidy was warning me.
I was no fool. I knew that this warning had everything to do with Zay. Kassidy was trying to warn me to stay away from him or there would be consequences.
I was pretty sure that, under normal circumstances, I should have been afraid. Who wouldn’t have been afraid of a Demon who was threatening them?
And yet, for some crazy reason, I wasn’t afraid. For the first time since I had arrived at Demon Blood Academy, I felt anything but fear.
I wasn’t sure if it was my own inner Demon coming out, or if it was because I knew there were far bigger threats than Kassidy Blake.
Chapter 21
Lux
“I have a question,” I told Zay as we sat together in the cafeteria the following morning.
“Oh?” His eyebrows lifted in question.
“Is it possible to get in touch with someone from the human world?” I asked. “I mean, are there cell phones or computers here?”
Zay shook his head as he crunched on a piece of bacon. “No, I’m afraid not.”
“Oh.” I frowned.
Ever since the girls had mentioned that myth or rumor or whatever it was about me killing any human I kissed, I couldn’t help but wonder if Nick was okay.
“Why? Is there someone you want to get in touch with?” Zay asked, eyeing me curiously from across the table.
I shrugged, not wanting to tell him the entire truth. “I just miss some of my old friends, I guess.”
“Like Nick,” he said matter-of-factly.
I glanced over at him sharply. “How did you know his name?”
He looked caught off-guard by my question. “Oh. You, uh, mentioned it.”
“I didn’t think I did,” I murmured.
“You did,” he insisted.
“Oh.”
Who was I to even argue with him? I probably had mentioned Nick’s name. With everything I had learned since arriving at Demon Blood Academy, the truth was that I half-wondered if I had begun to lose my mind.
“There is one way you could get in touch with someone from the human world,” Zay went on.
“How?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“You could mail a letter. Demon Blood Academy has this portal that drops off mail instantly so that students can stay in touch with their families,” he explained. “If you sent a letter to him that way, he would get it.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll have to do that t
hen. Thank you,” I said.
“It’s no problem.” His amber eyes lingered on mine for a moment in what looked like hesitation before he said, “Though I’m not going to lie. I have to wonder why you would want to write him a letter.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, you said his feelings for you weren’t mutual,” Zay explained. “Do you really want to stay in touch with someone like that?”
I shrugged. “Maybe I just want to be his friend.”
“I just can’t see the sense in staying friends with someone who doesn’t appreciate how great you are.”
I sighed. “Okay. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I guess I will. Last night at the sleepover, it was mentioned that there’s this legend that any human I kiss will die,” I explained. “And since I kissed him on the Fourth of July… Well, I’m just nervous that he might not be okay. He didn’t die on the spot or anything, but what if he died afterwards?”
Zay’s jawline hardened a little. “I’m sure he’s okay, Lux.”
“But I don’t know that for sure,” I insisted. “And I need to know it. What if he’s not alive? What if he died because I made the foolish mistake of kissing him?”
“A lot of the time, legends are really just that—legends. They don’t always hold any significance,” he insisted. “Nick is fine. You shouldn’t worry about him.”
“I would just feel a whole lot better if I wrote him that letter,” I explained. And if he was alive, there was a chance that Nick might have been worried about me. As far as he and Cara and anyone else knew, I had just disappeared into the middle of the night. They probably thought I had run away or, maybe even worse, that I had been kidnapped.
“Well, if it makes you feel better, then maybe you should write the letter,” Zay replied.
“Yeah. I think I will,” I said with a nod.
“Anyway, aside from that, how was your sleepover last night?” he asked.
“It was… okay.” I shrugged nonchalantly, even though I was lying.
I had survived the sleepover, of course, but okay wouldn’t have been the best way to describe it. Boring and borderline torturous would have been more like it. They’d spent the night questioning me about all of the guys I had dated back in the human world, which hadn’t been fun considering I hadn’t had a boyfriend back in the human world.