They needed to talk soon. To figure out what might happen when she discovered the truth because the day was drawing nearer. Just the thought of her learning their deceit pained him. Terra deserved more, by the gods, she deserved everything. The situation sucked, for all of them. But it was her decision to make and one they would honor. So when the time came, and she learned the truth, he would step up to the plate and do whatever needed to be done.
For her.
Always for her.
14.
“I’ve been looking for you.” Amalia leans back against the counter in the dorm’s communal kitchen while I stir my soup.
“I have a paper due, I’ve been in my room all afternoon.”
“So, what did you think?”
“Think?” I play dumb, focusing on the way the spoon cuts through the tiny vegetable cubes. Amalia’s eyes burn into the side of my head and I can almost taste her desperation.
“Terra,” she says. “You’re killing me here.”
The corner of my lips lift. “It was… okay.”
“Okay? Only okay? It was amazing. Tell me you felt it.”
“I felt it.” My eyes meet hers, and she lets out a quiet shriek of delight.
“I knew you’d fit right in. It was something else. I mean, we’ve been building our power a lot the last few months, but with you there it was like the final piece of the puzzle, you know?”
I don’t, not really, but I did feel something last night. When I’d accepted Harry’s challenge to join them in the circle, I hadn’t known what to expect. They walked me through some spells and incantations. We started small. Violet extinguished the candles marking the five points of the pentagram, with her mind, and then Greyson brought them back to life. Carlie and Carrig went next, and then Harry and Amalia. But when they’d looked at me and asked me to do it, I thought they were insane. I couldn’t control fire.
No way.
It wasn’t possible.
Or so I’d thought.
“Do you know how long it took me to learn to control a single flame?” Amalia hops up on the counter, swinging her legs beneath her. “Four months, Terra. And you put out all those candles like it was as easy as breathing.”
“I…” It was strange. After staring at them for a good ten seconds like they’d completely lost their minds, Harry told me to focus. The way he barked instructions at the group annoyed me—he annoyed me—but his voice also grounded me. The first time I tried, the flames flickered wildly as if a gust of wind had swept into the room. A dull ache formed behind my eyes as I stared at the center candle, willing it to extinguish. I was so close to giving in, so close to admitting defeat when Harry's goading words unleashed something inside me. “What’s the matter?” he said. “Can’t you do it?” Anger and determination blasted out from my mind and the room plunged into darkness. “Now, bring it back.” He demanded. But I no longer needed his words. It was there, inside me. Like a switch.
“Harry was impressed,” she adds as I sip my soup.
“Good for him.” I shrug, remembering the look on his face when the flames reignited, burning brighter and higher than they had before. Impressed, he might have been, but Harry had also looked conflicted, somewhere between pissed and unnerved.
I wasn’t sure what to do with that.
“You really don’t like him, do you?” Amalia’s eyes narrow as if she can’t possibly understand why I wouldn’t like the cool, guarded guy.
“I don’t know him, but I get a strange vibe from him.” I admit, heading for the door. “Sorry, I need to get back to my paper, but I’ll catch you tomorrow?”
Amalia nods and I don’t know whether she senses the change in me, or just doesn’t want to argue about Harry again, but I feel it. The low hum of energy underneath my skin, simmering in my veins. And while I don’t trust Harry, Violet, the twins, or even Greyson yet, I know if I want to keep exploring my power, I need them.
Something wakes me, and my eyes flicker to the clock. I push up onto my elbows, listening for any clues as to what pulled me from my deep sleep. When I’m greeted with silence, I slide back the covers, pull on my hoodie, and slip out of my dorm room. It isn’t even midnight yet, but the rest of the building is sleeping as I tiptoe across the hallway to the bathroom I share with the nine other girls living on my floor.
“Hello,” I whisper into the darkness, waiting for the automated lights to come on. When they burst to life, I quickly pee, flush, and go to rinse my hands. But footsteps out in the hallway startle me and my body freezes. There’s more than one set. Instinct kicks in and my senses go on high alert. Creeping to the door, I listen. One… two… three sets, I think. It’s hard to tell. But they sound different to the soft thud of girls in pumps or the clatter of heels I’ve become accustomed to hearing. Heavy. Like boots, maybe.
My hand grasps the door handle to see what’s going on, but heat rushes into my palm and I yelp, snatching it away. I turn it over, inspecting my palm, but there’s nothing. No red welt. No signs of a blister. I lean down and reach out tentatively, hovering my fingertips over the metal. It’s cool. The way metal should be. So why—
The lights die, plunging the bathroom into darkness and my heart lurches into my throat. “Hello?” I call out straining against the void. “Who’s there?” I can still hear the footsteps but they’re further away now, moving down the hallway. Without thinking, my fingers curl around the handle again but the second my skin meets the smooth metal, pain and fiery heat sear into my skin. I cry out, clutching my hand close to my body. Trying to get my bearings, I search blindly for the edge of the counter. When I feel the marble, I manage to trace the sink and then the faucet. Thrusting my hand under the gushing stream, the pain evaporates. I dry my hand on my hoodie, waving my other hand frantically in the air to try to trip the automated lights but nothing happens. Darkness envelopes me and despite the runaway train in my chest, I force myself to calm down. It’s a prank. It has to be. Allender have come to seek revenge. Is Sol out there? Cael? I can’t imagine him being so cruel but then, he wouldn’t know I’m in here.
Think, Terra. Think.
I slip one of my arms out of my hoodie and wrap the sleeve around my other hand. If I can use it as a barrier between my skin and the handle, I should be able to avoid whatever it is the guys have done to it. But when I follow the edge of the sink to the wall and back to the door, something catches my attention. I spin around, the skin along my neck electrifying, matching the spike in my heart rate. Unmoving, feet rooted to the spot, I strain against the silence, the suffocating darkness, to hear it. It’s louder this time but still quiet. Like a whisper on a cool breeze. Taunting. Cruel. It invades my senses and turns my blood to ice.
I back up slowly, carefully, as my instincts scream at me to get out of here. And fast. Despite knowing it’s all a game, some elaborate prank, my mind is in overdrive imagining monsters lurking in the shadows. The footsteps outside come louder, and they’re right outside now. Fear and panic paralyze me until I can hear nothing but the thud of my pulse against my skull. Slamming my eyes shut, I drag deep, desperate breaths into my lungs. This is just a prank.
It’s just a—
Light floods the room and I crack open an eye, met with the sight of an empty bathroom. I check my hands. There’s no sign of a burn. Nothing. Rushing to the door, I yank it open and crane my head into the hallway. It’s empty, but it doesn’t stop me from running back to my room and locking the door behind me.
Just in case they decide to return.
“So, do we know what they did yet?” I join Amalia and Claire in the kitchen, helping myself to orange juice and a banana. I’m exhausted. After the bathroom incident, I lay in bed, clutching the covers, eyes fixed on my door. I don’t know what time I finally drifted off to sleep, but my usual two cups of coffee aren’t going to cut it this morning.
“What who did?” Amalia looks tired, her usually silky hair matted to her head.
“Well, I figured it was probably Allender, retribut
ion for last week?”
She stares at me blankly. “They didn’t retaliate yet.”
“So, it was one of the other dorms?”
Her eyes glaze with confusion. “Terra, what’s going on with you?”
“I woke up just before midnight and went to the bathroom. I heard—”
“What did you hear?” Claire joins the conversation, a mug of some funky looking tea in her hands.
“I thought I heard footsteps. Lots of them. And someone locked me in the bathroom.”
“The door on your floor sticks occasionally.”
“Oh, but I heard—” I think back remembering it as clear as day. The footsteps. The strange noise in the bathroom. Not to mention the door handle trick. But from the way they’re both looking at me like I’ve lost my mind, I shrug and say, “Must have been the wind.”
“Yeah, these buildings are old, probably explains the noises you heard.” Amalia smiles, but it’s forced. And part of me wonders if she knows something, something she doesn’t want to reveal.
I drain my juice, grab a banana, and say goodbye. I know what I heard, someone was in the building last night, on my floor. Right outside the bathroom while I was locked inside. But if they weren’t here to prank us, then what were they doing?
And why did no one else hear them?
15.
“I heard Canfield-Fisher got pranked by Monȃe last night?” I ask Endo as we eat our lunch, watching the world go by. To my surprise he was waiting for me after Psych 101. Everyone was talking about it when I arrived at my first class of the day. But there haven’t been any whispers of Earhart getting hit.
“Nothing compares to what we have in store for them.” His eyes burn with mischief and I stifle a laugh.
“And Earhart, what do you have planned for us?” My brow lifts and he strokes his jaw, narrowing his eyes until they’re smoldering at me. Full of intention and fire. And I can almost feel his arms around me, the way they had been at the party.
The party neither of us has since mentioned.
“We might be friends, Terra, but don’t let that blind you to the rules of war.”
“War, huh?” I smirk. “Rumor has it Earhart are in the lead after their move against Allender.” I’m still not entirely sure how it works, but Amalia explained the Student Committee are responsible for assigning scores and keeping rank.
Something darkens Endo’s gaze and I want to ask him if he knows anything about Allender playing dirty last night. But he beats me to it. “Be careful, Terra. Those guys are known for breaking a rule or two.”
And don’t I know it.
“You know, I thought the whole thing was lame. I mean, Prank Wars. It sounds so…” I search for the right word. “Juvenile.”
“But?”
“But, it’s turning out to be kind of fun.” And a distraction to all the other crazy happening around me.
“College is about having fun. New experiences. Giving yourself space to learn who you are and what makes you tick.”
“And here’s me thinking it was about getting a degree and preparing for the future.”
Endo swallows his last mouthful of his sandwich and runs a brisk hand over his head. “It is. Of course, it is. But it’s so much more. Don’t you think?” The question comes out of left field and I gape at him, unsure of how to answer.
“It’s something, alright.”
“You seem to have settled in okay? You have Amalia and the other girls in Earhart.” He shifts, and I get the sense he wants to say more. Has he seen me with Cael or Ross? Have they seen me with Endo? Does it even matter? We’re friends. Although Cael did kind of kiss me and invite me to his meet on Tuesday.
“What are you thinking?” Endo brings me back to the present and I blink at him, trying to formulate a reply.
“Do you ever feel like this is exactly where you’re supposed to be?”
“At the deli bar talking to a beautiful girl?” He says around an amused smile. “If this is my path in life, then I’m not complaining.”
“Endo,” I scold. “I mean college. This place. I can’t explain it, but it feels like home. Is that weird?”
“I don’t think so. You suffered a great loss, Terra. I think the fact you feel so settled here is a good thing, don’t you?”
“I guess,” I say softly, feeling embarrassed I just admitted that to him. But Endo is like the sun, you can’t help but want to be close to him. To absorb his warmth and let it wash over you, filling the cracks of your soul with light.
“Just roll with it, baby.”
“Baby?” I raise a brow and it’s his turn to smirk.
“Too soon?”
“Never call me that again, it reminds me of that annoying girl off Dirty Dancing.”
“Something tells me no guy in his right mind would try to put you in the corner.”
I start to reply but bow my head, giving my brain a chance to catch up to my fluttering heart. The banter between us is easy. Like a familiar taste or smell that reminds you of your childhood. Well, if your childhood was worth remembering. But when he teases me, showers me with compliments, I’m not sure how to feel.
“Terra?” his voice coaxes me back to him and I lift my head, our eyes meeting. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” I smile. “And you’re right, I’d never let anyone put me in the corner.”
I don’t know why I say it, but it feels like the right thing. The sparkle in his eyes agrees. I’m relieved when he changes the subject, telling me about one of his assignments for his history class. But as I listen to him, his words from earlier swirl around my mind. And I can’t help but wonder what I’m missing.
Something tells me I’m one step closer to finding out.
Tuesday at half-past six, I find myself in the stands, watching Cael do his thing on the track. The black shorts hug his lean, muscular thighs as he stretches with Omar and Duke, and I get another glimpse of smooth tanned skin as his running jersey rides up his stomach. Spotting me, he offers me a small wave and I return it, aware that I’m one of many girls here to watch the track team. A couple of girls throw me snide looks when they realize I’m the girl Cael’s waving at. I sit taller, making a show of waving back at him. At one time, I would never have been so bold but I’m not that girl anymore. Even though I haven’t been at Atchison two weeks, I’m changed. More self-aware. Confident. And I can’t deny, I like this Terra. The girl who isn’t afraid to experience new things and step out of the shadows.
For the next hour, I’m unable to tear my eyes from Cael as he runs race after race. Born to run, fast and fluid, he wins three out of four of his races. Although I’m not entirely convinced he didn’t throw the two-hundred meters, letting Omar take first. It wouldn’t surprise me. By the time, the meet is finished, there’s only a couple of other girls left. But Cael only has eyes for me as he makes his way over to the stands. I get up and make my way down to the edge of the field.
“So, what did you think?” he asks the second I reach him.
“You were amazing,” I beam because it’s true.
Shaking out his hair, beads of moisture smatter my face and I shriek, “Gross, Cael.”
“You mean, you don’t like me all sweaty and breathless?”
Looking up at him through my lashes, I grin. “It’s not so bad.”
“Didn’t think so.” He slings his arm around me, pulling me against his damp jersey. “Here, have some more.”
My hand presses against his chest as I fight back the laughter building in my throat. “You’re insufferable.” I stare up at him, my hands on his muscles. They ripple underneath my touch, shooting a thrill through me.
“Yeah, but you love me.” His eyes go wide as the insinuation in his words hang between us. “Shit, I mean… I didn’t mean…”
“I know.” My cheeks flush. “Now shouldn’t you go over there? I think they’re waiting.” I flick my head over his shoulder to where his teammates are huddled, staring at us with a mix of amusement and irritation.
“Wait for me, okay? I need to grab my things out of the locker room and then I’ll walk you back to your dorm.
I nod, stepping out of his hold. Watching as he jogs back to the team. They talk for a while, the coach barking times and praise. Not wanting to linger, I move back to the stands and sit and wait. When they start walking to the tunnel leading to the locker rooms, Cael mouths ‘ten minutes’ to me.
Twenty minutes later, I’ve watched guys leave in small groups but there’s still no sign of him, and it’s getting cold. Stuffing my hands in my hoodie pockets, I take the steps down to the field and double back to the tunnel. The door is open, and I slip inside.
“Hello?” I call out, not wanting to get caught snooping or anything. Moving further down the hallway, my eyes take in the rows of glass cabinets displaying various trophies and medals. I’m about to turn the corner when voices stop me in my tracks.
“You need to tell him to back off.” It’s Cael and I realize this is so wrong, that I shouldn’t be listening to his private conversation, but when I hear another familiar voice, I’m paralyzed.
“He’s only pushing her because we need her,” Violet says. “Besides, the stronger she is, the more it helps us all. She’s the key and you know it.”
“It’s too soon. She needs more ti—”
“Time, are you fucking kidding me? We’ve been waiting a year. She was supposed to be here last year. When she came into her full powers.”
My body beings to vibrate, a rush of energy flowing through me. I don’t want to hear this. I’m still not ready. But I realize now, maybe I’ll never be ready.
“It’s not that simple and you know it.”
Hers From The Start: A Collection of First In Series Reverse Harem Page 38