Academy of Mages and Shifters 2

by Laura Wylde

  “Felicia, calm down.” Evan rested his hands on her shoulders and managed to silence her in a heart-beat. That was pretty impressive actually, how he managed to contain her like that. “Don’t forget that you are one of the most powerful druidesses in the whole academy. You are one of the best students around. Before you argue that that doesn’t mean anything because you haven’t had experience in the real world, I’m going to remind you that it makes no difference. You don’t know how well you can do until you try, so you don’t know that you’ll be bad. Plus…” He stepped back and made a sweeping gesture with his hands that seemed to include me as well, strangely. “We all have very different skills and abilities to add to the mix. It isn’t like you’ll be fighting the demon alone. Any demons that have any experience fighting will be more accustomed to groups of people who shift in to the same animal anyway, so it will be a shock to be faced with a variety. We have a better chance of fighting than you know. But it may not come to that anyway. Chances are these are all just rumors, and there isn’t anything there. Right, Andrew?”

  “Er…” Was he really calling on me? This was crazy. I never ever thought that Evan Harrington would need my help. “Sure. Of course, Felicia. You know that most of these things are just rumors anyway. They start off as a little story and spread and change as they go from mouth to mouth… they mean nothing. It will be fine.”

  “But why is Professor Eccles sending us there?” Felicia demanded, refusing to be assuaged. “She must know something, right? She must have some suspicions or something. That freaks me out. I don’t like it.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t want to fight; I don’t think that I am ready for it.”

  “You are,” Evan insisted, with admiration lacing his tone. “You really are, Felicia.”

  She nodded and leaned her head against his shoulder, drawing comfort from him. I couldn’t stop the pang of jealousy that gripped my chest as she touched him that way. I couldn’t help it, it was almost like I wanted her to touch me that way, that I wanted Felicia to more than accept me, but to like me as well. Like me as much as she liked Evan. Maybe even more so. I wanted her to maybe even love me. I nearly wanted to bend forward, to grab my stomach in agony.

  I wasn’t the sort of person who wanted to be loved that way, I couldn’t ever hope for someone to choose me to be in their harem, because it wasn’t destined for me. I never saw love in my future before, but the way that I could see Felicia softly touching Evan in a sweet way made me yearn for that myself.

  Goose bumps popped up and down my arm, I nearly stretched across and brushed my fingers lightly across Felicia’s arm just to make that connection, but I forced myself to stop at the last moment. That wasn’t for me at all. I turned my head away and refused to look any longer because it was getting to be too much for me.

  “Should we get going?” Joshua asked, finally breaking the silence. “We need to get to Edinburgh Castle before it closes.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Actually, maybe it’s best if we wait for it to be closed. Because then we can have a look around in the quiet, can’t we? In the dark, because that would show demon activity.”

  Felicia shuddered visibly, but I nodded. Yes, that probably was for the best. Much as it wasn’t my idea of fun, we did need to go in at night because not having humans around would make it easier for us. We could all look after Felicia anyway to make sure that she was okay. And I knew for sure that the moment any trouble started she would snap into action and be better than all of us put together anyway. I wasn’t worried about that.

  “We’ll go now and make a decision when we get there,” Evan agreed, automatically taking control. That was in his nature though, as an alpha wolf. He couldn’t help but take charge of any situation. It didn’t annoy me actually. We needed someone to make the hard decisions when it came to it. It was a shame that it had to be someone who couldn’t stand to look at me, but whatever. “See if day or night suits us best. Try to work out what Professor Eccles knows and wants us to look into. Because there has to be a reason. She wouldn’t do it for nothing.”

  “And how are we going to get there?” Felicia demanded. “We have to be quick, right?”

  “I can fly.” Joshua shrugged and grinned. “Get there and scout things out.”

  “And we can run.” Trent elbowed Evan in the side. “We’re quicker when we’re running. I’m sure.”

  “You and I could always go by magic?” I offered Felicia, knowing this wasn’t going to go down well with Evan. He didn’t seem to like any guy being alone with Felicia, it made him all protective and jealous. I wasn’t sure if he could remember what he said to me the other night when he was incredibly drunk, but he basically told me that he didn’t want me to go near her again because he was scared to lose her to me… which was obviously crazy, but whatever. This was all for the project and not because I wanted to seduce her, even if I could.

  “Yeah, that makes sense.” She grinned at me happily, seemingly unaware of the glower coming from Evan behind her. I had to struggle not to meet his gaze because I didn’t want this to start off a negative vibe. “We can be there soon, can’t we? Meet everyone else there. Maybe we can even get a few moments to scout the place ourselves.”

  Evan grabbed Felicia and pulled her to one side, leaving us all standing around awkwardly while they hissed angrily at one another. We both knew what was going on between them, they were rowing about me and my coming along and spending time alone with Felicia. It was so sad that I nearly broke down, but I wasn’t going to let these guys see me in a mess. Perhaps there would be a time when it wasn’t like that with all of us, when they actually saw me as someone that they could like rather than just a freak, but that wasn’t going to happen today.

  Then the argument came to an end, seemingly with Felicia winning, and the guys all went their separate ways, leaving us alone.

  “Well, today is going to be fun,” I said with what I hoped was a wry laugh. “And I suppose it will only get better.”

  “Are you okay with this? I won’t let it be bad. I will make sure they behave…”

  “I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me. It’s going to be good…”

  My words trailed off as she took my hands in hers, getting us ready for a magical transportation, and for a second my heart stopped beating. There were little bolts of electricity darting all the way through my body, leaving me more alive than I had ever been before. I stared into Felicia’s bright eyes, knowing that I was tumbling into trouble, unsure what way my feelings were going to take me in the end…

  One thing was for sure, I wasn’t going to win her heart, that could never happen. Not with much better people like Evan vying for her love. Andrew Mullen couldn’t win that race, no matter what.

  Chapter 5

  Felicia

  “So, what do you think?” I asked Andrew as we settled a fair distance away from Edinburgh castle, just so we could see it, but couldn’t be seen ourselves. As we waited for the others to arrive, it was up to us to work out what our best plan of action was going to be. “Do we wait until it’s empty and sneak inside?”

  “I think so,” Andrew replied seriously. “I mean, this is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Scotland, isn’t it? So, I don’t really think that we will be able to get what we want with other people around.”

  “Right, sure.” That made sense but I had to admit it was a little nerve wracking to imagine sneaking in there at night. “So, why do you think that we were asked to come here? What do you think is magical about this place?”

  “Well, it is one of the longest continually inhabited places in Scotland, isn’t it?” Andrew shrugged and half smiled at me as he reeled off historical facts like he was counting to ten. I liked that about him, he was easy to read sometimes and I understood his passion for history. I shared the same thing. “Druids lived here in the Bronze Age. So, perhaps there are some hidden spots we don’t know about. I do know that there were a lot of suspicions back when Janet Douglas a
nd Lady Glamis stood trial after being accused of using witchcraft against King James the Fifth and was eventually burned at the stake. Right over there actually.” He pointed over to just outside the castle walls.

  “Oh right, yes. Of course.” I nodded slowly. “I don’t know much about that. So, what happened?”

  “She wasn’t a witch, so she was obviously innocent. But the King had decided that she was, because of his vendetta against her and her family. There was a lot of torture of her staff members to get them to accuse her of having cursed him, so obviously in the end someone said that she was a witch, and so he burned her.”

  “Wow.” I didn’t know what to say to that, it was so sad how judgmental people could be about magic. Of course, there were people who did bad stuff with it, there always would be with anything, but that wasn’t the way we all were. “That’s awful. So, did they ever find out who was the one who put the curse on the king?”

  “That is something I don’t know… which means that no one can be certain.”

  Of course. If Andrew hadn’t got the fact somewhere in that big brain of his then it wasn’t worth knowing. I couldn’t stop thinking about it though, about all those people who were targeted because of magic, whether they had it or not. It just wasn’t right, was it? No one deserved to have bad things happen to them like that.

  Then again, the innocent people who had nothing to do with these demons didn’t deserve to be targeted either, but that was going to happen if we didn’t sort it out. It was up to us to make sure that we finished off what Megan and her harem started a few months back. We needed to make sure that we did it right.

  Soon, I caught the sight of a hawk flying above us, soaring the castle grounds like it was looking for something. He was a beautiful bird with gorgeous brown, white, and black feathers that made me want to reach out and stroke them. To the people visiting the castle right now, I was sure it looked like a bird of prey hunting for a mouse, but I could sense the magic emanating from him. That was a shifter for sure, and there was only one person it could be.

  “Joshua.” Andrew nodded beside me. His elf senses were obviously firing off wildly. “He’s here.”

  “The others should be here soon as well. Then… it’s time.”

  It wasn’t long before a fox and a wolf joined us, and they shifted back in to their human forms to sit with Andrew and me. There wasn’t anything to be said between us, so we sat in silence and waited for Joshua to finally give up the flying and join us. Evan sat closest to me, his fingers edging towards me. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to reach out and hold his hand for some comfort, but I didn’t. I was too nervous to move at all. My heart thundered painfully in my throat, it made it challenging to breathe at all, which left me dizzy. I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous really, I had all of these amazing guys around me who could look after me if needed, and I could damn well look after myself as well… but there was something indescribable in the air, something that put me on edge.

  “He’s coming,” I whispered as I finally sensed Joshua swooping down towards us. “Good.”

  I bounded up on my feet and waved frantically at him, probably drawing far too much attention to myself, but instead of stopping me the other guys joined me in waiting for Joshua while we stood up, all on edge. He hit his hawk feet on the ground before racing behind the nearest tree to shift back to his human form. It made sense since he was younger than the rest of us that he wanted to change in private until he got used to doing it quicker.

  Not that those rational thoughts did anything to calm down the hot rush of anxiety racing through me. I bounded from foot to foot, hardly able to stop myself from running towards him to find out what he knew.

  “Guys.” Joshua was flushed with a redness as he skipped towards us. “There is something going on…”

  “What did you see?” I jumped in, unable to contain myself. “Did you sense any magic in there?”

  “I don’t know what exactly, I can’t put my finger on it. Sorry, I didn’t spot anything directly, but I know we will find something there.” He was excited, I could tell by the edge in his tone. “We will have to wait though.”

  “I want to take a look as well,” Trent jumped in. “I can sneak in as a fox, I don’t think that people will pay much attention to me. I might be able to see much more on the ground, you never know.”

  Trent looked around at all of us, basically silently asking for permission. I wasn’t sure which way to go, whether it was better for him to get in there and take a look for us, but I was scared that he might get in trouble. If there was something dangerous in there, then there was a chance he could end up getting caught by… well, whatever.

  “I don’t know,” Evan warned. “I think it might be better for all of us to go together.”

  “No, I think having a warning would be better for us,” Andrew argued. “Joshua has been in the air…”

  “Being in the air is different though, isn’t it? There is so much less risk. On the ground, he could get…”

  All of a sudden, they began talking loudly, at the same time, so no one could really hear what was being said. Andrew was viewing this in a clinical way, just seeing it as an observer rather than someone with feelings and care towards Trent. I could understand it, but that didn’t mean it was right. Evan was all emotion because this was his best friend so he couldn’t see the logic behind it, which I also got but wasn’t necessarily right. Not that it mattered what I thought because I wasn’t able to get a word in.

  I stared at Joshua desperately, as he was the only other person who wasn’t directly involved in this, and silently begged him for help to put an end to this. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, before he finally settled on the right words to say, thank God because I ran out of words before this argument even began.

  “I will continue flying overhead,” Joshua said, luckily loud enough for them both to turn and look. “To keep an eye on Trent. I know that I might not be able to see everything, but I will keep an eye out. Then I can alert you all if there is any sign of danger and we can shut it down before anything gets out of hand.”

  “Good idea,” Andrew snapped, clearly over the moon to get his own way. “I like that a lot.”

  Evan stared at Trent for a while and when he finally accepted that his best friend was determined to do this, he nodded. “Fine, but make sure you let us know right away if there is anything that we can do.”

  Joshua and Trent moved quickly, clearly wanting to avoid any more confrontation, and headed off towards the castle. I blew out a breath of relief as I watched them go, until I realized what an awkward position that put me in. Left here, alone, with Evan and Andrew, who already didn’t care much for one another, but would be even more tense now. The air was already thick with tension. I was going to have to start a conversation before it overwhelmed us completely. I spun slowly and took a look at both of their set jaw lines in turn.

  “Okay.” I clapped my hands together and breathed in deep. “So, we need to work out what might be drawing the demon here. The crown jewels? The power that might be within them? The witches that were burned here…”

  “The volcano?” Andrew offered, all of a sudden spouting out another new fact. “I mean, this castle is built upon an ancient dormant volcano. I was just thinking about it… there could be something there.”

  “Like what?” I sat back down to listen intently to Andrew, and he joined me. I could tell that Evan didn’t really want to come with us, but it was either that or stand on the out skirts of our conversation with a sour face, which was worse. It would make him look pathetic and petty, so he joined us. “What could the volcano mean?”

  “There are many things that the volcano could mean.” Andrew shrugged. “There are lots of magical properties in lava. It isn’t the sort of thing that they would teach us at the Academy because it’s not recommended magic. More dark stuff. The magic that might be linked to demons and the sort of thing we could be looking for here.”

  �
��Fuck…” Surprisingly, it was Evan who talked first. “That’s pretty intense, isn’t it?”

  He glanced towards the castle once more and I could see the worry in his eyes. I then gave up the desperate need to be by myself and made a connection with Evan, to reach out and touch his arm. I needed to let him know that I was worried about Trent as well, but that everything would be okay in the end. It had to be. We couldn’t fall at the first hurdle here; we needed to keep together and remain strong. Even if we weren’t exactly the best of friends, we had been chosen to work on this for a reason. We had been given a chance to prove ourselves and we needed to show the academy that we could overcome obstacles.

  “Okay right. So, it could be the volcano. That’s something for us to work with. It could also be the jewels. Is there anything else about this place that we need to know? Let’s try and figure it out so we can help the guys when they finally come back. Make a list of things that we could search for…”

  Finally, we had a common goal, something for all of us to work on so we didn’t need to argue about petty little things anymore. Getting Andrew and Evan on the same page wasn’t going to last, they had too much they didn’t like about one another, but even five minutes was enough for now. That was all I could hope for…

  “Hey.” God, we managed to get so lost in our conversation that we didn’t even notice time passing until Trent returned. Surprisingly unharmed, which was a good start. “The castle is closed now, but I have a way for us to get inside. I think that I might have found something that I want you all to see.”

  “Okay, good.” Evan jumped up, immediately ready to join his friend inside the castle walls. He was so much better when he was a part of the action, not being left on the side lines. “Let’s get going.”

  “Wait, where is Joshua?” I demanded. “We can’t go without him.”