I shrugged and went up to floor three, Supernatural Historical Texts. If anything, I wanted to start reading more about the previous oracles, if they’d ever said anything about my “coming,” about me being the one.
Could someone just tell me what was going to happen so I could prepare for it?
The third floor looked out over the main part of the library, like a little balcony. I stared down at the big drop below, and then up at the beautiful mural on the ceiling, a night scene of the Louisiana coast. I wondered if anyone had ever fallen off from the top of the library, crumbling to the tables below.
I scanned the many shelves of books, looking for signs of oracles. Before long, I did find a historical text about Dramatis, the man who had written the Scripture from the original tribesman book. I spread out the book on a little wooden desk, hoping to pour over it. But as my eyes scanned the first pouring paragraphs, I heard something one aisle over.
Someone breathing.
Someone watching me.
I shot up from my chair and stared at the books that blocked me and whoever this was. I hadn’t heard anyone coming up from below. It felt like whoever it was had wanted to remain hidden.
“Come out. Show yourself,” I stammered.
Finally, someone crept out from behind the shelf with his hands up. It was Quintin, the dragon, and his face was stoic, handsome, and his cheekbones high.
“Why are you spying on me?” I demanded, although my voice wavered a little bit. God, he was fucking handsome. I’d never been so close to one of the kings, alone on my own.
“I wasn’t,” he said, giving me a crooked smile. “I just came up here to do some light studying before class.”
“That doesn’t sound like the truth,” I said.
“How would you know? We’ve hardly met,” Quintin replied. He took a large step forward, drawing himself up against the desk. His face was only about half-a-foot from mine, and I could smell his musk: thick and masculine, simmering with smells of the forest and sandalwood.
I hated that he could tell his being there affected me. His eyes glittered.
“I just know,” I returned, finally. “You’ve probably got all the other boys back there behind you somewhere. And they’re just waiting to jump out and make my life a living hell again.”
Quintin shook his head slowly. “What Margot did to you at the party was really fucking lame. She sometimes picks people to destroy and you’re her plaything for now. But I heard that you made it back to your room before Professor Springer caught you.” He winked. “That’s pretty fucking impressive if you want to know. Margot was furious. How did you do it?”
I shrugged. “Maybe my talents aren’t so lackluster after all.”
Quintin chuckled softly. “You’re certainly a girl with secrets. I know that.” He swallowed and then glanced down at his hands. Something about him shifted, becoming more tender. “If you must know, I’m actually up here because it’s been fucking hard for me lately.”
I couldn’t help it. There was something about the way he said it that made me ask him.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you know I’m a dragon, right?”
I nodded. “I’ve heard.”
“Well. Fuck. I mean, there are so few of us these days,” he continued. “We’re basically going extinct. And beyond that, people really don’t fucking respect us, you know? Ezra picks me apart every goddamn day.”
“That’s ridiculous. As if vampires are the rulers of the supernatural world...” I said.
“Right. They’re not. But they’re so fucking arrogant.” Quintin made a fist and smashed it against the top of the desk. His eyes shimmered like he was on the verge of breaking something.
I felt completely panicked but overwhelmed with compassion. Hell—I was turning into something that terrified me to death, so I knew what it felt like to be completely alone and lost.
“I’m sorry,” Quintin coughed. He drew his body against the side of the desk, rubbing at his eyes. He gave me this earnest smile and my heart ached. “It’s just I really don’t have anyone to talk to about this shit. I guess I just saw you and...”
I reached up and gripped his shoulder. It was firm, muscular—like nothing I’d felt before on a boy. His lips shimmered. I stepped around the side of the desk to stand beside him and my breasts heaved with desire.
“You don’t need to apologize for feeling this way,” I whispered. “Really. Whatever it is you’re experiencing, know that you’re not alone in this world.”
God, what was I saying? But I didn’t care. I took a slight step toward him, drawing my breasts across his chest. My thigh snaked up against his. His cock surged up, pressing hard against my belly. It seemed like it was built just like him—thick and solid. One of his enormous hands draped across my breast and then edged beneath my uniform to find the softness of me, the roundness of me. He pinched the nipple a little too hard, making my lips open and a soft moan escaped my lips. But before it could fully release, he covered my lips with his.
The kiss was powerful, wild as our tongues dueled for top spot. He thrust me around, shoving me against the desk so hard that the desk moved a full foot back. His hands fumbled with the buttons of my uniform, then yanked it over my shoulders and unhooked my bra in a quick flourish. My breasts spilled out, the bra falling toward my belly. I had never been handled like this.
And it fucking turned me on.
I didn’t have time to question it.
“I’ve never really met anyone that was easy to talk to before,” Quintin whispered, kissing my ear, drawing his teeth across my neck. “Until I laid my eyes on you for the first time in that shop in town and then here at school. I know you’re different, Ivy. You must be. There’s something so strange about you that I can’t place my finger on.”
He yanked my legs apart, and then stripped my robe the rest of the way off. My underwear was wet. His hand plunged at the juncture between my legs, drawing apart from the soft, wet pink folds. He stared at me, wanting to watch my expression as his first finger entered me. I bit down on my bottom lip, trying to suppress moan I needed to let out.
It was a funny thing, kissing this dragon. He ripped my underwear fully from my legs and then returned to kissing my lips. And as he rubbed at my clit, I could feel small scales spike upon his shoulder, on his cheeks, on his neck—like getting turned on made him nearly transform.
Suddenly, he dropped to his knees. I gasped with pleasure, watching as his lips dotted little kisses along my milky thighs. I arched my back, my fingers snaking through his curls. When he reached the center between my legs, a tongue that seemed much longer than any other tongue I’d ever fucking seen—snaked out of his mouth and drew a long line from the bottom of me, all the way to the nub of my clit. God, it was intense and powerful. I gripped the sides of the desk as I felt and the pleasure rolled through my body. I could feel my orgasm building and felt like I would explode at any minute. I dropped my head back as his tongue played with me, tempted me.
As I began to crest, I pumped my waist up and down, pressing harder and harder against his tongue. I felt delirious like I had when I’d been in the middle of seeing Professor Binion’s past. When Quintin’s tongue dug deeper into me, against me, I felt flickers of imagines—something about him.
But I shoved them back, wanting to live in the moment. My shoulders flung back as I came wildly, my voice ringing out a bit too loudly in the quiet library.
I gasped. Sweat poured down the back of my neck and I blinked out over Quintin’s head as he dotted little tender kisses on my clit.
To my surprise, someone was standing just behind Quintin, watching me.
I sprung up, yanking my body away from Quintin’s lips. It was Ezra. He was standing just behind Quintin, his tall, muscular body leaning heavily against the bookshelf. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his blue eyes flashed with desire—proof that he’d seen every single minute of what Quintin and I had just done.
I was c
ompletely naked, still a little delirious. I wanted to leap off the desk and run. Instead, I remained right where I was, watching as Ezra walked toward me, sauntering and slowly licking his lips.
“Well, well. There she is—our little fuckable human. How does she taste, Quintin?” he asked in a deep husky voice.
Quintin gave me this horrible, ghoulish grin. His lips glistened with my wetness and I wanted to smack him across the cheek.
Ha. As if I could pick a fight with a dragon and a vampire.
Ezra slipped between my legs, standing there with his face just a few inches from mine. He drew his hands across my thighs, clenching them.
“I want to get in there, Human,” he muttered. “You know I’ve been dreaming about it.”
I was completely cornered. He could do whatever he wanted to me. My heart pumped with panic. Slowly, he drew his lips toward my neck, and then yanked them back to reveal his shining fangs. Delicately, he tapped his fangs against my porcelain skin—so tender, so fucking alive.
But he just left them there, pressing lightly against my skin.
It was so fucking sexual—knowing that with just a quick thrust forward, he could break the skin and drink my blood. I could feel how much he fucking wanted it. His cock drew a line across my belly, just like Quintin’s had. Quintin still watched us from behind, his arms crossed over his chest. It both disgusted me and thrilled me that they liked to watch each other like this—
I didn’t know what was wrong with me.
Finally, Ezra drew himself back, licking his lips. His blue eyes glittered. “I guess it’s about time for class, isn’t it, human? Get dressed. It’s going to be a long fucking day.”
I sat there with my shirt pressed up against my shirt as I watched them leave. I wasn’t sure how I got out of the library without falling apart. The boys sauntered away from me, leaving me naked and strung-out on the desk. With a lurch, I leaped up and grabbed my bra and uniform and dressed quickly. I knew that classes were about to begin, but I didn’t fucking feel up to it. Instead, I rushed out of the library. I assumed that the teachers would hear from the nurse, anyway, telling them I was too exhausted from my morning classes to attend.
I followed the path from the edge of the arboretum, toward the docks, my arms swaying back and forth. I was happy that I didn’t run into anyone on the way. I couldn't fucking handle any more socializing.
When I reached the water, I gazed out across the glittering waves and reached for my phone. I missed home; I missed Aunt Maria.
The phone rang three times before she answered. Her voice was soft and welcoming but then became nervous.
“Ivy, what are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”
“Sorry, Aunt Maria. I just wanted to hear your voice.” I said.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, so far. I’ll see you soon, hopefully. I love you.” I said.
“Oh, honey, I miss you too,” she whispered.
AS WE SAID OUR GOODBYES, my stomach started to burn a bit. I lifted my shirt to see a small outline of a unity circle that had started out looking like a circle but continued to keep going.
My fingers traced the marking and I knew then that I would be feeling lonelier than I’d ever felt in my life.
Chapter Fourteen
The first few weeks at Origins Supernatural Academy kind of played out like the first few days. It was really fucking difficult to get into any sort of routine, that was sure. It was overwhelming to sit in classrooms and here the backgrounds of each of the races. Learning what some of their abilities were, what could potentially kill them, or even make them deathly sick and immobilize them. And then in my private tutoring at night, Professor Binion all-out destroyed my mind, trying to get me to control the powers that I could feel growing in every part of my body—
I had learned so much about the supernatural history, how to integrate into the world—classes that didn’t seem to matter to me since I knew I would be the oracle and everything was about to change forever.
Of course, in the midst of all of this, Margot, Zelda, and Riley continued to make my life a living hell whenever they could. What I’d done with Quintin and Ezra in the library had gotten around, making Margot hate me even more, since she was still in love with Ezra. One morning, I woke up to find my pillow absolutely swimming with maggots. The maggots clogged my hair, hung out of my ears and I had screamed, flailing my arms every which way, trying to fight the horrible feeling.
My first instinct was to jump into the shower, to scream and yell. But I knew who had done this. I jumped up from my mattress, lifting the maggot-filled pillowcase along with me and I marched through the living area, feeling the eyes of every single girl on me as I whirled toward Margot’s room.
I wasn’t going to be fucked around with.
Hell, I would soon be the most powerful student at Origins, even if I couldn’t let anyone know yet.
But I could fight back using the abilities I had.
I rapped at Margot’s door and then she called out in her über-French way, like, “Bonjour, mon cherie! Come in!” I nearly vomited. I hated her so fucking much. I was supposed to be afraid of the shapeshifters and vampires coming to get me—but Margot was a thorn in my side and I wanted to destroy her, like stepping on a bug that won’t stop bothering you.
Finally, Margot pulled open the door. Her vibrant smile dissipated quickly when she saw me. I held the pillowcase of maggots high up, shaking it back and forth.
“What is this, Margot? Is this a housewarming gift? Because I’ve already lived here for three weeks and I don’t really think it’s necessary anymore.”
Margot looked at me like I was a wild animal. She licked her bottom lip and crossed her arms over her chest. “What are you going to do about it, Ivy?”
I stared her down as best as I could without wavering. I thought back to my training in soccer. When you had to fling the soccer ball out across the field to get back in play—you had to throw it with everything you had, using muscles you didn’t even know you had in your stomach and in your chest, not just your arms. With that logic, I brought the pillowcase of maggots back behind me and then thrust it toward Margot. She didn’t have time to react—hell, no powers in the world could have been enough to save her.
The pillowcase exploded when it met with the top of her head. The maggots rained down on her, sticking to her thick black hair, her cheeks—with one even piling up on top of her eyelid. The maggots had to have been in the thousands, absolutely uncountable. And the shriek that rang out from Margot’s lips was the most thrilling sound in the world. It was music to my ears.
Margot reared back and vomited across her hardwood floor. Her skin green, she snapped her fingers, muttering some kind of incantation. By this time, most of the girls in the second year had appeared behind me to watch the chaos. I was fucking thrilled.
At the end of her incantation, the maggots had transformed back to pillow fluff. Even the maggots in my hair were pillow fluff, now. They fluttered to the ground slowly, looking like snow. Margot drew herself back to standing there next to her pile of green vomit.
“I hope you’re fucking happy, slut,” she muttered. “I hope you’re fucking pleased with yourself.”
Then, she drew back and slammed the door closed.
When I turned around, my eyes met with Celeste’s. One corner of her mouth was cocked up in a sly grin. She was clearly impressed. I gave her a slight shrug before stomping forward, returning to my bedroom. Celeste followed after me, entering my bedroom and clipping the door closed.
Although Celeste had been a great guide over the past few weeks, I had half-lost her to Peter. She was all-out smitten—which was nothing I wanted to mess with. But of course, it made me lonely, knowing that my best friend had found love and I had become the third wheel. They were always off fucking someplace, trying to keep their relationship a secret from the teachers and other students.
Now, she said, “I can’t believe you fucking did that.�
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I flashed her a satisfying grin and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I felt this immense amount of power, knowing that what I had done was probably going to come back to bite me twice as hard in the ass.
Celeste looked at me, curiously. “You’re um. You’re feeling more of your powers, now, aren’t you?”
“How did you know?” I asked her, tilting my head to the side out of curiosity.
Celeste shrugged. “It’s only a month until your birthday. And I can see it in your eyes sometimes. Like, if you touch my hand—I can tell you, um. See things.”
She was right. Normally, what I saw wasn’t necessarily important or was just images that I had no idea of what they were or if they were important. Sometimes, I saw Celeste as a much older woman—in her sixties, even, with long, wild white hair. In these visions, she was always laughing and looking at me with those electric green eyes, like we were both that age together and we were sharing a joke.
Other visions I had of her involved children—when we were much older, thankfully. The visions I had seen about her pregnancy had been rectified, if possible, by me warning her about it and she had since gotten on birth control — at least some of the visions that I had come in helpful.
But it was true that there was a real eeriness to being able to see someone’s future and sometimes even their thoughts. It was why I had started to wear gloves frequently during lunch period and the second round of classes, just in case I came in contact with someone around me. Since I was deemed the girl that was normal or with no powers at Origins, people were always trying to knock me over, belittle me, or bully me in any way they could. As long as they didn’t touch me with their skin, I normally avoided having to experience any visions.
And Jesus, seeing any kind of vision, made me fucking exhausted. Sometimes, during my sessions with Professor Binion, I was so strung-out that I got nosebleeds and my headaches would be so painful that I would have to be excused anyway. Professor Binion and Headmaster Chesterton didn’t seem to care much about me missing those classes. My health came first. As Binon said, I was going to play a very pivotal role in this supernatural realm among all the races.
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