by Allie Burton
A wooden counter filled with brochures and school forms sat between the door and where the headmaster’s assistant worked. She sat at a small desk with piles of folders and papers strewn across it. A large computer took up most of the other space.
Headmaster Griffin strode past and waved to his assistant, passing behind the counter. “I’ve got some calls and emails to catch up on.”
Perfect. He was going to login to his computer. This adventure was about to get interesting. A real adventure I experienced with Antony. It wasn’t searching for the latest fashion or the best sales. It wasn’t traveling the world in style. It wasn’t gossiping about so-called friends. I didn’t think I could go back or settle for that kind of life again.
Headmaster Griffin opened his office door and went inside, closing the door behind him.
My excitement fell like a droopy hemline.
Antony tapped his foot silently on the tile floor. He wanted to move forward, too.
Wanting to be of assistance in our quest, I sidled past the counter. He reached out to stop me, but before he could I turned the knob and opened the office door partway. Enough space for me to slip through.
Tension tightened my nerves. Sucking in my stomach, I skirted in sideways.
The headmaster raised his head, expecting someone.
At least, expecting someone he could see.
Smiling, I let satisfaction ease my tension. I was in.
Furrowing his brow, he shouted, “Did you need something?”
His assistant came to the partially opened door. “No, sir. Do you want anything?”
“No.” He shook his head and went back to his computer.
Antony slipped in beside me, fury showing on his face. He didn’t want me taking risks, and slipping inside the office had been a risk. “What were you thinking?” He whispered, even though no one could hear.
Shrugging, I knew he wouldn’t treat the warriors like fashion models without brains. He’d respect their decisions and allow them to take risks. It’s what the Soul Warriors did. Originally, he hadn’t wanted me to come along on this mission, but because I was the only one who knew the full layout of the school, I’d insisted. Disappointment brought my satisfaction down a notch. After our make-out session, I thought he’d want me to accompany him.
Antony moved by the desk. He used his long finger to poke at the dean’s half-empty coffee cup.
I thought the idea was not to be noticed.
He poked the cup again, tipping it. Coffee spilled and sloshed over the papers and folders on the desk.
“Shoot.” Headmaster Griffin stood and grabbed tissues from his desk. He attempted to blot the coffee.
I covered my giggle and shared a look with Antony. He wore a bold and radiant smile, and it warmed his earlier anger.
The headmaster tossed the wet tissues into the garbage and picked up his phone. “I’m going to the student union to get another coffee. Can you tell Xander I need him to help with some files?”
Antony’s eyes bugged out at the name of the Soul Warriors’ leader.
The name was unusual. Maybe Antony had never met another Xander before. An odd coincidence, but nothing to get excited about. Then again, between the headmaster’s weird comments about Queen Cleopatra, and the fact his student assistant was named Xander, the weird coincidences added together equaling something puzzling.
Grumbling to himself, the headmaster left to get more coffee.
“Now’s our chance.” Antony slipped a small, square device out of his pocket and sat in the headmaster’s abandoned chair.
“That was great. Did you see Headmaster Griffin’s face?”
“We don’t have much time.” Antony pulled out the keyboard and started typing. “The computer is on and he’s logged in. I’ll attach the device Piper gave me to track his internet usage. You start searching the room for clues.”
My pulse pounded, not in a fearful rhythm but in an excited, adventurous beat. I opened the top drawer of a file cabinet. “I feel like Veronica Mars.”
“Who?” He glanced up for a second.
“She’s a female television detective.” I thumbed through the files, gazing at the handwritten tabs. Every student and every teacher had a file. Did the mysterious Xander?
“I haven’t watched a lot of television.”
“We’ll have to watch together.” I was making plans for the future. For a future here in San Francisco.
I pictured hanging out with Antony, even after this adventure was complete. I wanted to get to know his group of friends. And I kind of wanted to continue going on quests with him.
I watched him intently tapping on the keyboard. I saw more than a handsome guy with superpowers. More than someone who was helping me because I blackmailed him. I saw a guy who was loyal and smart. Who cared and protected. Who was fun and intense at the same time. Someone who made me happy.
My chest swelled and my heart flipped. Maybe I was seeing this through a haze of love, but I truly believed my parents were wrong. Money couldn’t buy happiness. Or friends. Or boyfriends.
Antony didn’t see me as the rich, spoiled biatch. He saw who I was underneath. The real me. I refused to be defined by my past actions, or by my parents’ wealth.
My vision cleared. No haze and no confusion. Funny how it took becoming invisible to find the real person beneath my designer exterior.
* * *
“I’ll take an A in that class.” I pointed at the computer screen Piper was operating. The device Antony had placed on the headmaster’s hard drive gave access to school records.
Piper’s gaze raked across my hair, make-up, and stylish outfit. “Are you really an A student?”
Shrugging, I tried to ignore the bite of guilt. “I could be.”
“You don’t want these changes to stand out like a hot rod.”
“Fine. Give me a B.” I sounded like a peppy cheerleader shouting a cheer. I wouldn’t push too far. My goal was to get back into Exeter Academy. Afterwards, I’d negotiate to stay in San Francisco, around the warriors and Antony. “How did you get involved with the Soul Warriors, Piper?”
“I’ve been involved since I was born.” Her irony filled my understanding with holes, similar to rivets in a dress. I’d been told she was involved with the quest for one of Tut’s trumpets and that’s how she’d become part of the group.
“What do you mean?”
“My father decided my destiny before I was born.” She stared at the screen, but by her glazed eyes she wasn’t seeing what was in front of her. “My mother realized what was happening and escaped from him.”
Must be nice to have parents fighting over you. “My parents don’t care what happens to me.”
“Neither cared about me. They only cared about using me.” Her frown lifted a little. “That’s not completely true. At the end of my mom’s life, she tried to help.”
Piper’s mom was dead. Where was her dad? Having absentee parents was similar to not having parents. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Piper smashed her lips together. “I’m doing okay. Math has helped a lot.”
“You two are a couple.”
“Yes.”
A soft smile lit my face. If Antony and I became a couple, maybe I could become part of the Soul Warriors. “That’s why you were brought into the group?”
“Not exactly.” She pulled back her shoulders and refocused on the computer screen. “You need to ask Antony these questions.”
“You’re right.” I jerked my head in a determined nod. I had so many questions about the Soul Warriors, about Antony, about our possible relationship. “I’m going to ask him a few things right now.”
Before I lost my nerve, I exited the bedroom and headed toward the kitchen. He felt something for me, I knew he did. The way he held me and kissed me and comforted me. Sometimes I caught him staring. Once Piper finished the changes to my school records, I’d get reenrolled, and my parents would uphold their end of the bargain to take me home. Now, I didn’t
want to go home. I needed to know how Antony felt, and if we had a chance as a couple.
I heard his deep voice talking to one of the other male warriors. “I’ll never be a slave to any woman again.”
Pausing outside the kitchen door, I waited.
“Yeah, right.” Ash must’ve turned on the sink because I heard water rushing but couldn’t hear the rest of his sarcastic statement.
The water turned off.
“I hated being with Cleopatra, part of her entourage.” Antony spoke with bitterness.
He couldn’t be talking about me, yet his bitterness sliced through my chest, tearing it in two. Tearing my dreams in pieces. What if he didn’t like me? Didn’t want me around? The uncertainty shook me to my core.
“Nothing like saving someone’s life to make them grateful.” Ash’s laughter made me feel like a sweater vacuum-packed for the summer, small and squished with the air taken out.
Antony had saved my life outside the industrial area and the student union. They were talking about me.
“I’ll say.” The disgust in Antony’s voice shredded my chest and lungs into multiple tiny pieces. “Grateful and besotted.”
I wasn’t besotted. I was in love. Or I had been in love.
“This time it’s the perfect scenario.” Each word Ash spoke was a pin into the pincushion of my heart. “CC thinks she’s blackmailing you, but you’re romancing the Knot of Uset from her.”
Chapter Fifteen
Antony
“I’m not romancing the Knot of Uset.” Gritting his teeth, Antony held in his temper. The entire situation had been turned upside down. “CC and I made a deal. This does not resemble what happened with Cleopatra, and besides, that’s ancient history.”
Literally.
“CC is blackmailing you to get what she wants.” Ash’s insistence CC was using him braided the anger and fed the doubts.
“She’s not blackmailing me.”
“How can I get in on your deal?” Blaze came out of the pantry wearing sweats and a white apron, and carrying a bunch of spice jars. He puckered his lips. “She’s hot.”
Antony’s temper whipped into a tempest of jealousy. His head thundered. He didn’t want the other guys checking out CC as if she were a delightful morsel. Especially Blaze. He attracted enough female attention. “She’s gorgeous. And smart and brave.”
Her parents and her friends didn’t understand her depth behind the high-end fashion and perfect hair. While he loved everything about her.
Loved her.
The word love tattooed in his chest, marking the permanence of his feelings toward CC. He loved her. Loved her determination and her vulnerability. Loved her hidden thoughtfulness. Loved her style.
The realization stunned, like he’d taken a powerful, direct hit. He understood its truth. An old soul recognized deep emotions when experienced, and he was an old soul. Ancient.
Ash took a handful of flour from the bowl sitting on the table and threw it at Antony. “And she’s blackmailing you.”
The flour missed, but not the taunt.
Antony’s entire body vibrated, coming out of his shock. His blood pressure spiraled in a twisting-turning hurricane of love. It wasn’t blackmail if he wanted to help. “She’s not blackmailing me.”
“She can blackmail me any time.” Blaze took a carton of eggs from the refrigerator and set them on the table. “Her kisses would torch like an inferno.”
They did. Not that Antony would admit that to Blaze or anyone else. “She’s not blackmailing me.”
“She’s rich and spoiled, like Queen Cleopatra.” Ash opened the carton of eggs and took one, balancing it in the palm of his hand.
The blood in Antony’s veins flared from the thought of CC’s kisses and his friends’ rude comments. “CC’s nothing like Queen Cleopatra.”
He whipped out and grabbed Ash’s hand, forcing him to make a fist. The egg exploded in his hand. The yolk and egg white oozed between Ash’s fingers.
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“I can’t believe you insulted CC by comparing her to Cleopatra.” The two women were different in every single way. “Cleopatra wears a crown, while CC wears a mask to hide her true self. She hides behind her money. I don’t think she believes her own personality is good enough.”
That she’s not good enough.
He remembered their conversation about how her aunt had named her, not her parents. Her expression had been devastated and insulted. She’d worn what she believed was unlovable-ness like a mantle and acted defensively because of it. He wanted to protect her from ever feeling unloved again.
Falcon pushed open the door and shuffled into the kitchen. “What’s cooking?”
“A romance between Antony and Cleopatra.” Blaze grabbed the bowl of flour before anyone got a chance to throw the white powder again.
“Haven’t I read that story somewhere before?” Walking in behind, Math’s light tone and the glint in his gaze told Antony he was teasing. “Um, in history books.”
Flushing, sweat broke out under his pits. Was their relationship a cliché? Antony remembered one of the first things CC had said to him was they couldn’t date because of their names. They’d be laughed at and ridiculed.
He didn’t care. For the first time since he’d become a slave, he didn’t care what people thought about him. If he wanted to be with CC, he’d find a way.
His expression must’ve given something away, because Ash picked up an egg and threw it at him. “Another one bites the dust.”
Using his reflexes, Antony caught the egg mid-air, holding it gently so it wouldn’t break.
“Nothing wrong with that.” Falcon shared a secretive look with Math. A knowing look. A look Antony appreciated and would love to be part of.
The two warriors had steady relationships and were happy. Antony wanted the same happiness for him and CC.
He placed the egg back in the carton, refusing to throw it back at Ash. “I haven’t bitten anything.”
“Not yet.” Math chopped his teeth together a couple of times. He’d become less serious since dating Piper.
Blaze took the carton of eggs and placed it by the bowl of flour. He wiggled his eyebrows and winked. “Let me know how she tastes.”
Antony wanted to smash the entire carton of eggs over Blaze’s head. He knew how she tasted. Sweet and spicy and unique.
Xander pushed open the kitchen door and took in the tossed flour and the broken egg. He wiped his hand on his sweatshirt. “What’s going on in here?”
“They’re talking about their loooove lives.” Ash headed out of the kitchen, unable to stand the conversation.
“Really?” Xander patted Antony on the shoulder, somehow knowing he was the target of their teasing.
“Never mind. It was nothing.” Antony didn’t want his love life being dissected by a bunch of teenage guys. His feelings for CC were too new and fresh. “I wanted to talk to you, Xander.”
“About?” He grabbed a cookie off the counter and took a bite.
“When CC and I were at her school—”
“CC and Iiiiii.” Blaze emphasized the last word.
“Stop acting like children.” Chuckling, Xander tried to take control. “What about it?”
“We didn’t find any physical evidence the headmaster was involved with either the Society or the Order, but—” When he’d heard the student assistant’s name, Antony had gotten a woo-woo sensation. “—Headmaster Griffin has a student assistant named Xander.”
“It’s a great name. We all had it at one time.”
Antony remembered when they’d emerged from their shabti forms they all bore the name of Xander because of the Chosen status in their time period. That’s why each of the Soul Warriors had been renamed. “Don’t you think it’s a strange coincidence?”
Xander’s expression hardened. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Neither do I.” Antony was glad he’d mentioned the student’s name. It gave them
something else to research, to see whether there was a connection between the school and the Order or Society.
“What does CC know about this student assistant?” Xander, the only real Xander in Antony’s mind, asked.
“I didn’t mention it to her. She doesn’t know we were all named Xander.” Antony hadn’t given her their entire story. “I’ll ask her.”
Anticipation lit from the inside, hurrying his steps. He’d only been apart from her for a couple of hours and he missed her. Especially now he knew his feelings.
A cookie hit him on the shoulder. Crumbling, it fell to the kitchen floor.
He swiveled to catch Blaze’s guilty expression.
Blaze saluted with a second cookie. “Tell CC my taste is better than yours.”
Antony snorted. With squeals of laughter behind him, he slammed the kitchen door closed and headed toward the living room. He wouldn’t deliver the message. The male warriors should stay completely away from CC.
“Have you seen CC?” Antony stopped in the living room, where Olivia and Aria were rolling up the mats.
“She went past here about twenty minutes ago, headed toward the kitchen.” Olivia leaned against the mat, holding it in place with her elbow.
“I was in the kitchen the entire time.” Weird he hadn’t seen or heard CC.
“I thought that’s the way she headed.” Aria’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Maybe she went back to talk to Piper. She’s in her room.”
“Got it.” He headed up the stairs and knocked on the door of Piper’s bedroom.
The girly room held twin beds with matching comforters, a large dresser, and a window with a view of the backyard. Piper was sitting on the bed, a laptop by her side. CC wasn’t there.
His high expectations took a dive. “How’s the computer hacking going, Piper?”
“Better since you installed the device. The little black miracle box can detect signals and keyboard strokes.” Her enthusiasm about electronics never waned. “Did you know CC was absent for almost every single class for the entire semester?”