The door slammed shut behind me and the knob wouldn’t turn when I jiggled it.
Only forward, eh? Okay, Kenny. Forward it is.
I walked through the mushroom forest until I spotted a hand-painted sign reading, “Royal Croquet Game.” That had to be where I needed to go.
Approaching, I could hear the crack of croquet balls and the shouts of players. When I walked under a hedge arch, the game came into view. Several students were playing with frozen flamingo mallets. Card soldiers danced around, forming the rings that the balls rolled through.
“Wanna play?” a girl called, holding up a flamingo to me.
I shook my head. I wasn’t here to play drunk yard games, and I didn’t feel great about using birds as clubs. The sooner I got through the maze and back to Disha, the sooner I could get back to my bed.
“Not your game, eh, Rivera?” a voice said.
When I whirled around, Rowan stepped out from the shadows.
“Rowan.” My heart climbed up into my throat as I tried to decide what to do. Every other time we’d met, we’d ignored each other, or Disha was there as a buffer. Here, there was no one but the grinning moon to see what would be a terribly awkward conversation. Even the croquet players were too far away to create a distraction.
“Didn’t think you’d be here,” I lied, crossing my arms over my chest. “Thought you might be following Daddy around Kingdom Come.” I didn’t know what made me say that. I guess I was resentful.
Rowan winced, covering it up with a smirk. “Daddy has bigger fish to fry. Mainly Answorth. You don’t know where he is, do you?”
“Who? Answorth? Why would I know where he is?”
His eyes lingered on the spot on my neck where two puncture marks would now always be.
“Did it hurt?” he asked.
I nodded. “Like a bitch.”
His hooded eyes tightened. Then, as I watched, he put a flask to his lips and took a long pull. The smell of hard liquor was unmistakable. So that’s why he was talking to me.
“My father,” he said drunkenly, “is back to thinking I’m useless. It’s better actually. At least now we have a dynamic I understand.”
He took a few steps and sunk onto a downed mushroom cap. Then he took another drink.
Reaching out, I snatched the flask. “I think you’ve had enough.”
“Have I?” he laughed dryly. “Tell me, Charlie. Am I still a disappointment? Hmm? Will my magic return? Will these ever go away?”
At this, he reached down, grabbed the hem of his sweater, and pulled it off over his head.
I expected the sight of his half-naked body to turn on the faucet of my desire, but it was pity that flooded me instead. His chest, arms and neck were covered in dark blue veins again. They had spread like a cancer onto nearly every square inch of his body.
Oh god! The curse was back with a vengeance.
Was this why he’d pushed me away? Had he been alone, suffering, all this time?
“How did this happen? It’s worse than before,” I said, gasping.
“It just came back, and at an inopportune time, too. My father found about it during our little excursion. All that hiding… Useless. After hunting down all those rabbit trails that lead nowhere, he did take me to the best magical doctor money can buy. And do you know what they said?”
“No,” I whispered.
Rowan’s teeth flashed. “They said there was no cure. That I would lose magic completely. So my father plans to pull me out at the end of the semester. He wants to set me up as an accountant.” He said the last word as if it were a curse in itself. I couldn’t imagine tasting magic and then losing it all. A life like that would be so... empty.
Falling to my knees before him, I reached out to touch his skin.
Rowan pulled back, hurt playing in all of his features. “Don’t. Don’t touch me.”
A second before, all I’d wanted was to help him, but his attitude angered me.
“So if I can’t cure you, I’m nothing then?” Was that time in his room only because I’d taken the curse away? Now that it was back, I was worthless. Tears sprung to my eyes. Oh Jesus, I was going to cry in front of Rowan Underwood. I could not let that happen.
Jumping up, I turned to leave, but he was up fast, grabbing my wrist. When I faced him again, he just looked… broken.
“I don’t... want to hurt you,” he said, one trembling hand cupping my cheek. His touch felt so good, but there were tears in his eyes, too. And I could feel the sickness rolling off him like heat.
“Rowan, let me try to heal you again,” I whispered.
He shook his head, letting his hair fall into his eyes. “It’s not worth it. I’m not...”
His hand on my wrist found the scars from my first attempt. His thumb brushed over my damaged skin, sending tingles up and down my body. Even in my rage, my fear, I wanted nothing more than for him to pull me into his arms and press his lips on mine.
Instead, he snatched the flask from my hand and drained it. “I’m going to have to do something… drastic.”
“Drastic? Rowan?”
He pulled away, staggering off down the path. “Stay away from me, Charlie. You will, if you know what’s good for you.”
I watched him disappear into the dark.
The irony was, I never did know what was good for me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
SPRING SEMESTER
MID FEBRUARY
I wandered down the mushroom path, the ache widening in my chest. If I still had Rowan’s flask I would chug it just to drown out the voices in my head. Rowan was going to do something crazy, but what? We’d already tried everything legal we knew. That left unimaginable, unspeakable things.
I had to stop him.
But his words echoed in my ears. Stay away from me, Charlie. You will, if you know what’s good for you.
Was I turning into one of those girls who threw their own lives away following after broken men? That couldn’t be my fate. I was more than an attachment to some male, no matter how much he’d grown to mean to me. I vowed then and there to help Rowan, but to not let it take me down, too. If he was planning some of the things we’d studied in Spells like using blood magic or summoning some demon, I would not get involved.
But still, my heart ached for him. Ill-fated was his middle name.
I had to find my way back to Disha and get her advice. She knew more about what Rowan might attempt than I did. Plus, she cared about him. Maybe, between the two of us, we could stage an intervention.
The question was how to get back?
I walked the path, noticing the change in landscape. Here, the mushrooms grew smaller as large gnarly branches took their place. Without the mushroom’s glow, the shadow’s deepened, making each branch look like gnarled hands ready to snag and catch. A chilly wind made me shiver and shook some wind chimes that jangled off key, only adding to the fear creeping up my spine.
If I was in one of Alice’s wonderlands, this had to be the Tim Burton one for sure.
My bracelets throbbed. A bad sign. But when I turned around, the path I’d just traveled on was gone. Behind me, the trees closed in, blocking the way.
“Oh, shit,” I whispered.
“Hello, Alice,” a voice said, echoing above me.
I spun around, heart pounding. “Show yourself.”
“I knew you’d come.”
The voice boomed from all directions so that I couldn’t get a read on where it was coming from. I spun around, eyes roving over branches and darting past shadows. Was this part of the game? Maybe, but I drew power from my cuffs anyway.
As I watched, the moon floated down toward me, morphing into a set of sharp, glowing teeth. Yellow feline eyes blinked above them.
The Cheshire cat. I should’ve known. My terror eased off a bit as the cartoon face of a pink and purple cat came into view.
“Alice,” it said, hissing the last syllable.
“Hey, how the hell do I get out of this maze?”
Its yellow grin widened to an impossible length. “To get out, you must pay the toll. Hand over something valuable and I will let you pass.”
“This isn’t part of the movie. And, besides, I don’t have anything valuable.” I hadn’t even brought a purse since Disha always insisted on paying for everything.
The cat’s grin morphed into something more hostile. Fangs that once appeared harmless lengthened and sharpened.
“You lie. The bangles on your wrists.” Yellow eyes trailed down my arms.
“What? No.” I took a step back. On second thought, this really didn’t feel like part of the game.
The cat’s face began to change. Its eyes and mouth shrank as the fur turned pale and a body took shape. A moment later, the cat was gone and in its place stood a man.
Answorth.
“You.” I fisted my hands, drawing as much magic as I could and running through battle spells in my head. There were only a few I knew. Freshmen year focused on defenses, not attack. Quickly, I formed a shield charm and cast it over myself.
The vampire ran a hand over his white-blond hair and laughed. “A shield charm? How quaint. We really should do a better job as teachers. I’ll be sure to bring it up with Dean McIntosh.”
His right eye twitched, and he seemed to flicker like an image on an old TV. Was he really here? Or was he just a projection? He took a step forward. A leaf crunched under his foot. Yep, he was here, all right. Or maybe the mushroom spores had addled my brain.
He waved his hand dismissively and my defensive charm disintegrated before my eyes like a popped soap bubble. He must have gotten hold of another magical item to be able to perform spells. Hell, he probably had a stash of them somewhere.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, backing up as I tried to stall, but branches closed together behind me, forming an impenetrable wall. Woodsy fingers dug into my clothes and I jumped away.
“There’s no use running,” he said, flashing his vampire fangs.
They were longer than I remembered. The punctures at my neck tingled, remembering his attack.
“I made sure no one else could come down the rabbit hole,” he added.
That’s why Disha didn’t follow me! No one else could come down. My mind turned to Rowan who might still be nearby. But his magic must be gone, and who knew if he was even still in the game? There were the few other party goers playing croquet, but would they be close enough to hear and sober enough to do any good?
I opened my mouth to scream. Answorth flicked two fingers. My lips clammed up like they’d been zippered shut. My legs locked next. I was frozen in place.
Terror ran riot over my useless body. Would he attack me again? Drain me lifeless for once and for all. I was done for.
As panic coursed through me, another sensation grabbed my attention, my bracelets were growing steadily hotter, making my skin feel as if it would melt. Answorth’s eyes locked onto the radiant bands.
“You have no idea what these are. How powerful,” he said, moving closer. The light from my bracelets made his pale face almost translucent as he stared, transfixed. “You need to hand them over to someone who knows what they’re doing.”
He placed his hands over my wrists, closed his eyes, and started muttering. I shuddered with impotence and fear, knowing there was nothing I could do.
Heat burned my flesh where his skin touched mine, as if he were planning to burn my hands off to take the bracelets. When my desperate gaze darted up to his cruel face, I could tell from his muttered spell that was exactly what he intended to do.
There was no growth spell in the world that would replace my hands. Magic would be lost to me, too. A shock went through me as I realized I would rather die.
My skin felt as if an inferno was eating every inch. Pain made my eyes water, but I couldn’t cry out. Rowan! I thought. My only hope was that he might save me, but then I thought about how drunk he’d been.
No one was coming.
I had to save my damn self.
The image of the Shadow Puppet flashed before my mind’s eye. I had been frozen then, but I’d been able to break the spell by conveying all my energy outward in one big blast.
Pushing everything I had in me outward, I thought Stop!
There was a blast of power like the shockwave after an explosion. I spilled on the ground as Answorth’s spells fell away. On my hands and knees, I sucked in a deep breath.
“What?” he gaped, his face flickering as if it had also been bewitched. It must’ve been residuals from his Cheshire Cat trick.
I didn’t give him time to recuperate. I used the first spell I could think of—a propel defense.
I put my hands on his legs and pushed.
Answorth flew back like someone had turned a firehose on him. Arms wheeling, he crashed into a tree, and fell into the brush.
Staggering up, I found my voice. “Help!”
I didn’t wait for the cavalry. I ran.
I tore through the landscape, having no idea where I was going but desperate to get away. Maybe if I could get to the party, Answorth wouldn’t risk trying to attack me. There’d be too many witnesses. Plus, Disha would be there.
But the landscape was still a tangled mess. The thorny trees died away, but now giant chess squares dominated the rolling hills. I scanned the horizon, panting. I saw no door, no ladder, no way out.
He would come after me. He had to be right behind me.
Then I heard a familiar baseline. Someone was playing the song Under Pressure.
The party!
I ran toward the sound, plowing into a field of flowers and smashing right into a bale of hay.
I spit out dry grass, whirling around. The barn.
“Charlie!”
Disha clomped on her wedges and, like a freight train, barreled into me.
“You’re okay! I couldn’t get in. Something went wrong. Your hands!” She touched my throbbing mits.
When I glanced down, each wrist had bright red burn marks in the shape of hands. Great. More scars.
“Who did this?” a male voice asked.
Glancing around, I saw a dozen students had gathered inside the barn. More awaited outside.
“It’s like I need to put you in a bubble or something,” Disha murmured, waving her hands over my burns. I felt them cool under her healing spell. “Seriously, Char. Why does this keep happening to you?” she said a bit hysterically.
I stared down at the golden rings on my wrists. A blessing and a curse.
“It’s the cuffs. Answorth wants them and I don’t think he’ll stop until he gets them.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
SPRING BREAK
EARLY MARCH
I plodded down the empty corridor of my dorm, the sound of my flip-flops bouncing against the walls. All the doors were closed, no rowdy girls hollering at each other from across the hall, begging to borrow a flat iron or demanding to know who ate their chocolate.
Happy spring break to me, yay!
Coming to a stop in the common area, I kicked at a sofa in frustration.
“Ow!” My fat toe throbbed.
Literally everyone was gone to the beach, to parties I wanted the opportunity to turn down. But no, I was stuck on campus. By myself. Even Disha had abandoned me. Not that I blamed her. Kenny had invited her to Cancun, no less.
Charlie…or Cancun? Charlie…or Cancun?
Yeah, I’m sure she pondered that choice for about two seconds.
I stared through the glass doors to the lawn outside. Sun seeped down from the skylight above. With a sigh, I went out, my book and towel tucked under my arm.
A few moments later, I found a sunny spot close to the Enlightenment Fountain, determined to sunbathe while I enjoyed the sound of rushing water and the steamy words of my novel. If I couldn’t get real romance, the hunk in the book would have to do.
Kicking off my flip-flops, I spread my beach towel over the grass and lay down on my stomach, facing the standing turtle. Of the five marble sta
tues in the middle of the fountain, it was the one I found least intimidating. Plus, as water jetted from its mouth, it made a pretty rainbow in the sunlight. Beautiful to say the least.
Since I was the only student on campus, I was breaking all the rules, wearing a pair of cutoffs and a bikini top. Warmth rippled over my bare legs and torso as I made myself comfortable. The sun felt wonderful. The hottie on the cover of my thrift-store novel tempted me with his six-pack. I smiled and began to read.
After only ten minutes, my eyelids began to droop. Well, this wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. It was actually very relaxing. I closed the book, rested my cheek on folded arms, and shut my eyes. Soon, the warmth and the sound of rushing water lulled me to sleep.
I woke up sometime later with a weird tingling sensation on my back. I shot up to a sitting position and glanced around, certain that someone was watching me. I spun around. A distance away, in front of the Humanities Building, someone stood, partly hidden by a column.
Rowan?
According to Disha who’d heard it from Kenny who’d heard it from Counselor McIntosh who’d heard it from Macgregor, Rowan was supposed to be out of town, enjoying the break with family in Savannah. I narrowed my eyes. The figure was too far away to tell, but it seemed the right height, the right hair color. Looking down for an instant, I pushed to my feet and, when I glanced back up, he was gone.
Damn!
Had I imagined it? No. Someone had been there, but was it Rowan? Was Answorth back to drain me of all my blood and possessions? I shook my head. I was getting carried away. For all I knew, it was a creepy janitor, getting his kicks by watching me sunbathe. My skin crawled with disgust.
Great, Charlie! Way to ruin the fun.
With a huff, I snatched my towel and book and marched back toward my dorm, my thoughts inevitably back on Rowan. God, I was so tired of trying to keep him out of my mind. It was work, worse than all the history essays Mrs. Middleton loved to assign us.
I’d been fighting his presence in my mind since Christmas break, and his drunken threat to do something drastic had made things harder still. He was constantly in my thoughts. I fretted over what he might do, even though Disha told me not to worry since Macgregor wouldn’t let anything bad happen to his son now that he knew about the curse.
Supernatural Academy: Freshman Witch Page 20