by LJ Swallow
I've never stood this close to Theodora, or noticed that her perfectly made-up face is natural, from her plump, pink lips to her long lashes; there's no sculpting from layers of makeup for her. Theodora's perfume of lily and rose always pervades the room, and now I'm closer, the smell is overpowering.
My tension breaks into shaking because I'm scared to speak to Theodora. Does she know about the tunnels? Tobias? Me?
My discomfort grows as Theodora strokes my hair and smiles. "If I'd known about your history, I would've told you, without hesitation. You know I have always been truthful with you."
Her mellow tones elicit a half-smile from me, and I sit in the armchair, wishing I'd stop shaking. "Yes. Thank you."
Theodora sits opposite, the sympathetic smile remaining. "Tobias spoke to me last night." My throat tightens at his name. "I decided to wait until this morning to speak to you, once you'd rested. I have instructed Tobias to take a sabbatical from teaching but will not eject him from the academy."
"He's still on the grounds?" I ask, shocked she'd allow him.
"I don't believe he is a danger currently, but now I know what he is, I will speak to whoever allowed him to come to my academy, and I'll make my feelings clear." Theodora's eyes flicker with anger for a moment before she composes herself and folds her hands in her lap. "You are my biggest concern."
"And the academy," I blurt. "We've seen something beneath Petrescu. I've seen—"
"Tobias informed me about that too. Strong Confederacy witches arrive today to investigate and make the decision what to do." Her mouth turns down. "If we need to evacuate, so be it, but I'd rather avoid such a situation."
"April..." I begin.
She looks the other way. "They can look for her too. Without a body, I will not conclude she's dead."
Theodora won't admit another death occurred?
"This is all my fault," I say and my voice cracks.
"Goodness, child. How could you say that?" she exclaims. "Whatever exists beneath the academy was here long before you. Dominion attempts to infiltrate the academy also took place long before your arrival. At least now we know their specific reason and a location, and whether that's due to you or a coincidence is irrelevant." I nod, impressed by her capacity to look on the bright side. "Your skills have helped, not hindered."
"My visions? I had one today. I saw the academy collapse in flames. Students dead." I can't bring myself to say any more as the trembling and nausea begin again.
She takes my brief explanation calmly, almost too calmly. "Yes. And now we have identified the issue—your visions help pinpoint what will happen, now we need to discover when and prevent such a tragedy."
Theodora's pragmatism in the face of impending disaster shocks me. She's clinging onto the normality and harmony that her academy stands for, when that's impossible.
"And you trust the Confederacy?" I ask.
Her brows shoot up. "I have no choice. I can't lose any more students—which means you must now stay away from the tunnels and allow the authorities to deal with the circumstances."
"But—"
She silences my protest with a thin-lipped look. "I've contacted your aunt and she's agreed to come to the academy and speak with you."
Thoughts of tunnels and the academy fly from my mind at the news. My aunt. I want to see her as much as I don't. How will I react? Badly? Nobody else has answers about my heritage; only she can tell me what magic skills I might have that I'm unaware of—and how to use them against the Blackwoods.
I take a shuddery breath. "When?"
"Tomorrow. I thought it best to catch Marie before she leaves the country again, but I'm afraid I won't be able to vouch for her lucidness." She pauses then softly adds, "Did Tobias elaborate on your situation when you spoke to him?"
I shake my head hard. "I can't deal with him. I have a lot to process."
"I understand. This is an unfortunate situation."
"Unfortunate? I've discovered everybody in my life lied to me, that the man who protected me from the Blackwoods worked with them to kill my mother and family. A mother and family I never knew were mine!"
Theodora's face remains calm in response to my borderline hysteria. "Your aunt saved your life. Please remember that when you speak to her."
I take a shuddery breath. "Do you know much about the Winterfalls? Do I have any other powers if I'm a witch from their line?" I ask meekly.
"You are a direct descendant of an unparalleled witch family. You have great capacity to develop your magic, if you allow yourself. Do not use this news as an excuse to turn away from who you are."
I drop my eyes to my lap. Her implication is obvious: don't run away. How can I, now I've witnessed the horrors today?
Theodora stands and takes a folder from her desk. "The Confederacy delegates arrive in a few hours. I'll need to look over the account of events that Tobias gave me and speak to them first. Then Tobias can communicate what happened. I'd like to keep my students' names out of this."
"And everything continues as normal?" I ask, still shocked Theodora isn't taking action to protect her students.
Her serene smile drops. "For as long as normality can happen, yes. The academy needs routine and harmony. I will ensure this occurs."
She gestures towards the door and I stand, confused by the abrupt end to our meeting. When I reach out to her mind, I glimpse why before she immediately shuts me out.
Theodora doesn't know what to say to me.
Chapter Eleven
ASH
A whole group meeting in the cottage without Tobias feels strange, especially as nobody mentions his absence. I've held off telling the group my discovery about Clive and Remi until tonight. Maeve needs time to work through everything happening around her before I add another issue. Jamie voiced his concerns to me earlier—Maeve is coping, but part of her is lost in the shift in reality that happened earlier. She can't let go of what she saw.
At least my news steers us in a different direction.
"They shifted?" whispers Maeve. "Did they hurt anybody? Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I've avoided the pair so far today, but I'll speak to them tonight."
Jamie sinks back in his seat. "We need to find out where they went."
"I don't think they'd tell me," I say semi-sarcastically. "But Clive and Remi know that I'm aware, so they'll either stop or be more careful."
"Can you speak to Professor O’Reilly and warn him?"
"I thought about that. I intend to tell Theodora and she'll give them a warning. Shifting on campus isn't unheard of but also isn't encouraged, even for those old enough. Clive and Remi are endangering themselves and others."
Andrei snorts in amusement. "They're not the sharpest tools in the box. They'll get caught next time.”
"If they keep shifting, what would happen?" Maeve's confusion continues.
"There's a risk they'll hurt someone—or become mids, but their leaving campus worries me, because—"
"Vincent," interrupts Jamie, voice flat.
"They might lead us to him," Andrei suggests.
"With Confederacy watching out for him? Unlikely. We know witches have him under their watchful eyes." My mouth dries as I speak about my brother for what he is —a puppet for witches, created by a necromancer and the worst fate the guy who hated witches could meet. My parents are angry and frightened that he's disappeared again, and I lied to them and claimed he's taken a trip away. My heart tore when I saw the relief on Mum's face. How bloody cruel that we had him back, when the thing was never Vincent. But I'd rather they think he's walked away again than tell them the truth.
"Let us know what Theodora says, Ash."
“We have to find out,” says Maeve, and her eyes are fearful again. “In my vision, I swear I saw marks from animal claws. The shifters must be involved somehow.”
I clench my jaw. “If Vince is back, I’ll find him.”
“That’s dangerous,” whispers Maeve. “Not on your own.”
“H
opefully Theodora will step in,” says Jamie as he looks at Maeve. "How did your meeting with her go?"
She shrugs, and my anger at the world grows as her eyes tear. "My aunt is coming to the academy to speak to me."
I glance at the others, but nobody responds apart from Jamie, who takes her hand. She smiles gratefully at him.
Andrei glances at me and I shrug. What do we say?
"I hope she has answers," I offer.
"Me too." She looks the other way, cutting the subject dead.
Andrei asks the question on all our minds. "And Tobias? Has he left the academy?"
"No."
Maeve's quiet word has the greatest effect on us all as we loudly exclaim in shock. I move to sit beside Maeve and take her other hand, hating how confused she must be. I'm furious that we trusted the guy who hid his true self and disgusting secrets from us.
But did he hide? Maeve knew about the murders and the curse; he told her everything. However strongly she insists Tobias is no longer part of us, he's part of her. Their fates are inexplicably tied.
It sickens me to admit this, but if Tobias's curse saves Maeve's life, we need to involve him. Somehow.
"What's the next move?" I ask and look at Jamie.
He widens his eyes. "Why ask me?"
"Because you're a witch." He frowns at me in confusion. "Surely you can find out more about Maeve's—" I almost say family—"magic. Research."
"I’ve already started," he says and eyes Maeve. "Nothing helpful so far."
Maeve pulls her hands from mine and Jamie's and sits on them, brow creasing. "I need to work on the magic I already have and find out what the Winterfall magic can do. I'm scared I'll fail after how real my vision felt today."
"We could practice your mental magic skills—not the visions, but the mind control…thing." I never know how to refer to witch magic, but that's what the skill is to me. "That has to help."
"Do you think we should go back to the tunnels?" she asks.
"No," says Andrei sharply. "Keep away."
"What if April is down there?" she whispers and her eyes brim with tears again. "I could still save her."
"I think she's dead," I say. She blinks at my forthright response. "Besides, we won't be able to go down, now Confederacy witches are watching the place."
The three men arrived late this afternoon, in an unmarked car. I watched from where I sat with Jamie and Maeve as they walked into the building. We waited for an hour, but they never emerged. Once night fell, Andrei snuck up to take a look around the area close to the tunnel entrance and spotted two guys chatting to guards. How much do the guards know?
"If you're okay to work on the magic, I want to focus on Clive and Remi," I say. "If there's a link to Vincent, that's as important."
"Yeah," says Andrei. "Because if there is, we can trace him back to the Blackwoods."
Maeve stares ahead, not speaking. I'm familiar with grief, a process I'm suffering a second time with Vincent, and I recognise Maeve's shock and despair. She's grieving for more than her mother—she's grieving for a life she's lost that she never began. For the girl she could've been.
Please let the three of us give Maeve the strength to move on from this, even without the strength we all know she gains from Tobias.
Chapter Twelve
ANDREI
I walk with Maeve from the cottage to Walcott and glance across campus to the building beside the tunnel access. Few students have noticed or commented on the investigators’ arrival yet; Theodora and the house professors inform those who ask that this is extra security after ‘the recent tragedy’. No mention of April, although her disappearance will be noticed more once lessons begin again on Monday.
Like Maeve, this new side to Theodora surprises and worries me. She's above board, always. Is protecting her academy worth more than a student's life? I found the rune stone stained with witch blood, and later, Jamie felt her presence when he held the stone. Maybe April is alive, but I don't believe she is.
I hug Maeve around the shoulders as we walk, as if I’m protecting her from the threats around, and she’s tenser than ever before. This morning, I left her before dawn and we never spoke about the situation when I lay beside her last night. I’ve a shitload I want to say and ask, but I’ll wait for her to broach the subject. She’ll have questions for me, and I don’t know what I’ll say yet.
"Have the Confederacy spoken to you yet?" I ask Maeve as I hold open the Walcott door for her.
"No. Theodora only wants Tobias speaking to them. She doesn't want our names connected."
I raise both brows. "They haven't spoken to you at all."
"Tobias must have all the answers they need."
At the mention of his name, I drop the conversation. We’re walking the Walcott hallway and don’t want anybody nearby to hear. Well, that’s my excuse—not that I’m fighting a resurging urge to smack the bastard into next week.
As if I could.
I take Maeve's hand and slowly draw my fingers along her forearm. I don't have Tobias's skills in taking away her pain, but I can love her when she needs me. "How could he explain everything without mentioning us?" I ask, glancing around.
The hallway is empty, students either in their rooms or hanging out in the common room after lessons. Maeve told me Walcott has a new unspoken rule not to walk the campus late at night, which is ridiculous. Who did that idea come from?
She turns to me. "Exactly. We need to be involved in this," she presses, and the old Maeve's fighting spirit edges in. "I've seen what happens to the academy."
"It's tricky. If Confederacy are involved at some level, the less they know the better." As we stop by her door, I stroke Maeve’s soft cheek with the back of my hand, aching to kiss her. "And if Theodora won’t mention April's name, maybe Tobias will say he 'found’ the tunnel."
Maeve pushes the door open. "Which isn't suspicious at all," she says with a laugh.
I shrug. "I'm sure he'll find a plausible story. I wonder how the authorities will investigate what's down there?"
"What if they can't detect anything?"
"I'm sure they will. Why couldn't they, if you and Jamie could?"
We step inside and she closes the door behind us. "Jamie and I have Blackwood energy. The heartbeat started after I returned from their estate. That could be why?"
I blow air into my cheeks. "What's the deal with that dark energy? Will that last?"
"I don't know. I hope not. If I use enough Winterfall magic, that could overtake the dark." She looks to me. "Do you think?"
"You're asking the wrong guy, Maeve. I know zilch about witch magic."
Her mouth tips into a small smile. "I guess I'll find out."
But something in the way she says this worries me. How much does this worry her?
"What did you see in your vision?" I sit on Maeve’s bed and she sits beside me. "What came out from under the academy?"
"Nothing. I didn't see who or what caused the fire, or who killed the students, but now I’m certain shifters are part of this." Her heart beats faster and I swallow as her blood distracts me. "We need to stay involved, even if we're told to leave campus and—"
I place my mouth on Maeve's and push her back onto the bed. I've waited long enough to kiss her this evening and shutting her up gives me the best excuse. We haven’t kissed since the day in the hallway in front of other students, and I grip Maeve’s hair and delve my tongue into her mouth, pouring my desire into her as if we haven’t kissed for a month. She makes a soft sound and I roll over on the bed to pull her onto me. Misjudging the space, I land on the floor, mouth and hands still on Maeve.
Pulling away, Maeve laughs, hair dangling forward and tickling my face. She rubs her lips together and touches mine. "No mint again, Andrei?"
"No. I don't need to."
"You don't need to prove anything to me, Andrei."
"But I want to prove to you I'm not that person. I don't ever want you to feel unsafe with me."
Her ex
pression softens. "I know you're not."
When will we talk about this? Why are we both avoiding the conversation? I can't undo what she saw, but today isn't the time for serious talks about our relationship. If I'm honest, I'm scared the conversation would take us to the end of our road together.
My body groans in disappointment as she rolls off me and lies on the carpet. "What happened between you and Tobias last night?" she asks after a pause we both notice but don’t acknowledge. "You never told me."
"I told him exactly what he needed to hear," I say stiffly.
"Did you attack him?" I blink at her. "Andrei!"
"He's stronger than me, Maeve. Did you know about his weird hybrid state?"
"Yes, but you know I'm clueless about some things still. I didn't realise he was that rare." She wrinkles her nose. "Makes him sound like a creature in a zoo."
I scoff. "Yeah. He's an animal."
Maeve flops looks up at the ceiling. “Don’t fight with Tobias, Andrei.”
“Yeah, I know, he’s a murderous hybrid. Not the easiest opponent.” I lay down on my side and prop my head up with one arm. My smile drops when she looks unimpressed. “Is there anything I can do, Maeve? Do you want to talk about shit?”
She smiles and reaches out to touch my cheek. “I talked through a lot of ‘shit’ with Jamie yesterday.”
“Of course,” I mutter.
“Come on, Andrei, you’re as emotional as I am about what’s happened. You’re not the best person to discuss this with.” She arches a brow. “Don’t deny what I’m saying.”
I catch her fingers and kiss them. “He hurt you, Maeve. You don’t understand how deep that cuts me too.”
“Andrei…” Her eyes glisten and she props herself up to mirror me. “He isn’t the only one at fault.”
Muffled voices pass by Maeve’s room as Walcott kids wander along the hallway.
“Yeah.” I play my fingers over Maeve’s face, and I’m increasingly distracted, especially since her shirt dropped forward since she shifted position.