Discovery of Magick (Dark Light Academy Book 1)

by Tabatha Stephenson

  “Okay, same again, only we reverse the direction of drawing. Imagine we’re erasing the mathemegram, line by line,” Brent told me.

  I licked my lips, locking my eyes to his. “Okay, uh, that isn’t going to, like, I dunno, fall on us or anything, right?”

  “The wards won’t let it,” Laurent assured me. “It’ll just remain there until one of us can unrender it.”

  Well, that was a load off my mind. I raised my finger, ready to draw. Brent and Charles gave me matching smiles before closing their eyes and beginning to sketch the air in unison. I followed along, my shaky finger not quite as quick as before, but I hadn’t made any mistakes so far. Laurent spoke the spell, not reversing it the way I had expected, but I didn’t let that throw me. The pink and lavender lines began to vanish. Then we made the last movement, and Laurent’s voice fell silent as a single green leaf wafted down towards the floor. The movement caught my eye, and I tracked it as it hit the floor, coming to rest in front of an increasingly visible George who pounced on it. George growled at it, batting it across the stone tiles.

  “We did it.” I couldn’t believe it. “We did it!” I shouted, giddy with excitement. I ran forward, throwing my arms around Laurent. I kissed him soundly, then pulled back, surprised at myself. He leaned forward, recapturing my lips. Damn, he was a good kisser. No, scratch that, he was fucking brilliant at it. He pulled back, lifting a hand to brush a lock of my hair back as Charles and Brent stepped back.

  “As much as I’d like to continue this, we have work to turn in tomorrow, and you could use a good night’s sleep.”

  Way to kill a lady boner, dude. I sighed in regret. He was right. Now was not the time to rush headlong into touchy-feely hanky panky while on a magickal high.

  Chapter 12

  “Care must be taken when cleaning the cauldron. You must make certain to use the nullifying spell before adding the cauldron to your bowl of soapy water. Please ensure your scrubbing spell worked correctly, looking for any tells of magickal residue. Remnants of the individual ingredients are fine, it’s the imbued magickal aura which must be one hundred percent gone. Failing to do so will end up adding the water and dish detergent to the imbued potion —” Professor Leveau stopped, looking at the student who opened the classroom door to interrupt her lesson. With one eyebrow raised, she asked, “May I help you?”

  The male student swallowed, clearly nervous. “I was told to bring a Tuesday Adamski to the office.”

  Professor Leveau turned her attention to me. “Go. Leave your things, you can get them from me at the end of the day, along with class notes for you to study and your homework assignment.”

  I stood up. “Yes, ma’am, thank you.” My mind whirled. Why was I being summoned to the office? Had something happened to my uncle or one of my aunts? I hurried to follow the student who led me to Hargreaves’ office. Inside, sitting side by side, I was surprised to find the Royal Trio and a group of older adults I did not know. Given the resemblances I could see, I guessed they were the guys’ parents. My heart sank as I took in a face that could be me in twenty or thirty years. The student bringing me murmured something and backed out, the door to the office snicking shut with an air of finality.

  Hargreaves motioned for me to sit. I did so, taking comfort in being able to sit next to Laurent. George must have sensed my distress as she suddenly appeared in the room and jumped onto my lap, tucking her head under mine affectionately.

  “So it’s true, she has a familiar,” the woman who looked a lot like me said. She looked smug about it, as if this benefited her personally in some way.

  “Ms. Adamski,” Hargreaves began, “This is your cousin, Miranda, and her husband, James. They represent your mother’s parents.”

  “Um, hello.” I really wasn’t sure why they were here, but given the presence of the guys’ parents, I was sure it wasn’t anything we’d like.

  Miranda smiled at me. “We are so glad to see you here in the realm. We’ve been searching for you for years, really, the whole family has. After that big understanding with your mother —”

  “Misunderstanding? You mean the one where she was told my dad wasn’t good enough for her?” I challenged her.

  Miranda blanched a little then but soon regained her composure, a brittle smile soon put into place. “Like I said, it was a misunderstanding. Naturally, my aunt and uncle, your grandparents, had concerns. They wanted a chance to get to know your father better and wished him to pursue your mother’s affections in a more open manner. Not secret meetings in gardens and the like.”

  Oh, so now she’s making out that my father was some kind of predator, bent on seducing a young, naive witch.

  “Where are my aunts and uncle? Shouldn’t they be here?” I asked Hargreaves. I could see Miranda’s steaming face out of the corner of my eye. She did not like being ignored.

  “The thing is, you’re eighteen, so there was no need to call them.” Hargreaves looked just as uncomfortable as I did. I got a distinct impression that she had been ambushed, the same as me.

  “Now, dear, I know you’re probably feeling fond of your godmothers, but the fact remains, they’re not your family, while we are.” James leaned forward as he spoke. “When the unfortunate accident took your parents, you should have been returned to the family home in the Winter Court. I know it’s hard to wrap your head around, but you were wrongfully hidden from the family who should have raised you. You would have grown up surrounded by the things that had been your mother’s, which are your birthright.”

  “You’d have been educated the way a young witch should have been,” Miranda added. She dabbed at the corner of her eye with a handkerchief. “It was so cruel of them to kidnap you like that, knowing you were being searched for, the family wishing to heal the breach.”

  James pulled an envelope out of his jacket’s breast pocket and slid it across to Hargreaves. She took it and read the document within carefully. Sighing, she looked at me. “I’m sorry, Tuesday,” she began. Mental alarm bells began to ring at the use of my first name. “But it appears that your grandparents have been granted a conservatorship over you, due to your ignorance of our realm and the strong powers you’ve shown.”

  “We can’t risk someone untoward making you their target,” Miranda said, leaning over now to pat my hand. George hissed at her, and she hastily withdrew.

  “So, what does that mean?” I demanded.

  “It means they have the final say over you and your affairs until a court decides otherwise,” Hargreaves said.

  The man who looked a lot like Laurent stood up. “I was very disappointed to find out about Laurent’s triad via the father of another student. We certainly would not have opposed such a magickal union.”

  All eyes moved back to me. “And you’re a locii…their locii, if Lydia is to be believed,” Miranda purred.

  This was Lydia’s doing? I fought a sudden urge to storm out of the room and go punch that bitch in the nose. What the fuck?

  Miranda smiled at the guys and then at me. “All of us here want you all to know we have your best interests at heart.”

  Three more envelopes came out and were placed onto Hargreaves’ desk. I had a bad feeling that I knew what was in them.

  “You’re too powerful to go it alone,” Laurent’s father continued. “So, to safeguard you, the Courts have also granted us conservatorship over each of you boys.” Laurent’s lip curled at being called a boy, while Brent’s face became stormy. Charles looked down at his hands, a defeated expression on his face, his shoulders slumped. “Given the circumstances of you four being here at school and having found your locii, we’ve decided a formal four-way binding is a way forward. With each of our families having the right to oversee the direction your education and training is to take, of course. We’ll also vet any future job prospects you may receive, to ensure you are not being taken unfair advantage of.”

  I remembered the guys telling me how they’d avoided anything being made public until they were eighteen and
why. Their fears had just been realized anyway, thanks to me and my human upbringing. I felt wretched about it. Wait a minute, formal four-way binding?

  “She shouldn’t have to marry us all if she doesn’t want to,” Charles whispered, looking up at me.

  Oh, hell, no!

  “You’re making me marry them?” I demanded.

  “Just a formal magickal contract,” James said. “For now.”

  “I won’t do it,” Brent said.

  “I won’t either,” Laurent added.

  “I’m saying no, too,” I said. Ha! Take that!

  “The paperwork is already signed and submitted,” Laurent's father informed us. “We signed as your proxies. It’s just awaiting the judge’s seal and to be entered into the records.”

  “No ceremony?” Charles asked, his lips twisting. “You won’t be able to gloat in front of your friends at what a wonderful step up in power we’ve all had.”

  “Once you’re in a better frame of mind, we’ll arrange a party to celebrate,” Laurent's mother said. “And all being well, to announce a betrothal for a personal bonding.” She smiled at me. “I know this all seems a bit over the top and high handed, but it’s to make sure nothing more untoward happens to you all. There are people out there…” she glanced away, her hand flying up to her mouth. Damn, these people sure liked their drama.

  The man seated next to Charles nodded. “After the formal announcement, each weekend, you’ll all come to spend time at our family estates, so Tuesday can get to know us all. We’ve just become family, after all.” His eyes twinkled as he spoke. I felt that he was one of those guys who was fun to be around as long as he got his way. I bet he even thought he was doing what was best for everyone. The woman seated next to him gave me a watery smile, and for the first time, I took in the fact that her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed. I wondered if she might be on our side.

  “This weekend, I was going to ask my aunts to request a pass so I could go shoe shopping with my friends,” I said. “I need new shoes for P.E.”

  Miranda clapped her hands together. “What a splendid idea- a girl’s day out! Well, since you’re to be with us this weekend, you won’t need a pass.”

  Whoa! They were going to let me go shopping with Joanna and Felicia? That was something, I supposed. Maybe it wouldn't suck too bad while we all figured a way out of this mess.

  “Thanks,” I said, not wanting to make things any more awkward between my jailers and me. I mean, family.

  “You can all go back to class now,” Hargreaves informed us.

  “But, before you go,” James said, standing up. He pulled out a velvet box and opened it. Inside were four bracelets. Charles made a soft sound of distress. “You’ll need to put these on.”

  “What are they?” I asked.

  “Physical representations of our magickal binding.” Laurent said, his voice tight. “Once on, we can’t take them off. Ever.”

  Well, shit. I looked at them as if they were rattlesnakes. “And if I don’t put one on?”

  Miranda’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you wanted to study here and be their locii,” she said, her hand waving at the guys.”

  Oh, no, she wasn’t.

  Charles’ father held the box out even closer to me. “If you’re not bound permanently, you’re at risk of being taken and forcibly bound by someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart.”

  Oh, yes, they did. The terrible part? I knew they weren’t lying about the risk. If they knew about me and the guys and our powers, you can bet Lydia’s loose lips had ended up alerting enough folks that someone big and bad would definitely catch wind if they hadn’t already. Still, this was like a marriage, and I had not wanted to rush into anything other than dating. Dating Laurent, not inserting myself into Charles’ and Brent’s relationship. I lifted my eyes from the blue velvet box and met Charles’ eyes. Silent tears were coursing down his face. He mouthed, ‘I’m sorry,’ at me. I mouthed back, ‘It’s okay,’ then looked at Brent, whose back was ramrod straight, his whole being trembling in anger.

  I raised an eyebrow in query, sliding my eyes towards the box in front of me. He sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat., his whole body sagging as he gave into our fate.

  “You’re doing this?” Laurent whispered furiously. “You’ll be ours for all of time, there’s no getting a divorce or anything. Our magicks will tie us.”

  I knew that. I’d be his, and he’d be part of the Trio, and I’d be their locii, forever and ever amen.

  “I don’t see that we have a choice. Lydia’s kinda forced our hands with her big mouth.” My eyes begged him to please tell me we had a way out. He closed his eyes in resignation and reached his left arm out. Charles and Brent did likewise, so I followed suit. Their fathers each took one of the bracelets while Miranda took the fourth. The guys’ mothers began to draw a complicated mathemegram while speaking the binding spell. The bracelets were placed around our arms and began to burn.

  I cried out and could have sworn I heard at least one of the guys’ whimper. Then it was over, and I opened my eyes. Glancing down, I discovered the bracelet was now fused to my skin like a weird tattoo, a part of me. I flexed my wrist and could feel the metallic-looking skin flex. Yep, it was now a permanent fixture all right. They hadn’t been kidding when they said I’d never be able to take it off.

  Miranda turned to Hargreaves. “Considering the newness of their relationship bond, I’m sure you’ll excuse them for a week, yes?”

  “What?” I burst out. “You said we’d get to stay!”

  “The bond needs cementing in other ways,” Miranda said, turning her attention to me.

  I blushed, suddenly realizing what she meant. The physical bonding. Oh shit. We were being forced into a honeymoon of sorts where they expected us to, ah, bond on a deep physical level.

  “But of course. I’ll have their professors send their coursework along by courier. Take as long as they need.” Hargreaves looked at us with what could only be pity. Great. This was so not going to be a happily ever after if even hard nosed, Hargreaves felt sorry for us.

  “Mreow…” George chirped sorrowfully from my lap.

  I couldn’t have said it better.

  Chapter 13

  They piled us all into a minivan. For reals. I don’t know what I expected, but I certainly did not expect to be herded into a soccer mom-mobile. It was most unmagickal, and while my aunt and uncle brought me here in their human-world purchased car, I kind of thought bigwig families with oodles of cash would have something more fairy-tale like. But no, no carriages, not even a flying black cab to take us to the train station, just a nondescript middle-class America Mommy Wagon. And while being forced into bondage, so to speak, and bundled into a van was the stuff of many a thriller, I can’t think of a single one where the vehicle was a kid-friendly minivan.

  “Oh, that’s Ralphie’s,” Miranda said as she opened the door. The ‘that’ in question was a purple plush dinosaur, the one from The Flintstones. She snatched it off the seat. “He’s probably being a total nightmare right now,” she told her husband. “You know he won’t sleep without it.”

  I climbed in without saying a word, but my mind was going fifty miles an hour. She was worried about her kid throwing a tantrum while here she was acting like a complete bitch? I couldn’t even…

  “Don’t worry,” Laurent spoke softly, his lips against my ear. I knew what he was talking about, but his breath tickling my ear like that, well, it sent shivers down to my lady parts. I felt my nipples harden into peaks, and I admit I scooted around a bit in my seat, trying to alleviate the sudden gentle throbbing between my thighs. Was this just because I really liked him, or because of this binding magick-ma-bob thing on my wrist? “We’ll figure a way out of this.”

  What? He wanted to ditch me now? I knew it was irrational, but I felt quite put out by that. First, he says he wants to date me, to do a casual bonding with a view to it becoming permanent, with me as his one and only while also binding m
yself as his Trio’s locii. That would have led us to this moment, albeit at a time and place of our own choosing. Now he was saying we’d find a way out of it? Hadn’t he and the others repeatedly informed me that once bound, there was no unbinding? This bracelet was embedded into my body, for God’s sake!

  Charles leaned forward and whispered in my other ear from where he sat directly behind me. “Not that kind of way out. He meant this, with all of them.”

  Oh, okay. I felt my ire recede. Wait — how had he heard that? Or was I simply that transparent?

  Laurent chuckled, then licked the shell of my ear, making me go all tingly again. “There is much yet to tell you.”

  About what? About him and the guys and Charles having super-duper mindspeak hearing? Or about our families and what sort of complete bullshit we could be facing? Damn it, I wanted to know right goddamned now. I glared at Miranda sitting in the front passenger seat, looking all smug while clutching her son’s toy. Poor kid, having a complete bitch for a mother and a right wanker for a father. The two nefarious fools were actually discussing whether to have their staff prepare them a ‘simple repast’ or to go out for dinner after dropping us off.

  “Just where are we going anyway?” I demanded.

  Miranda shot me a look of disdain. “Home, where you belong,” she answered. I could hear the implied ‘duh’.

  My heart sank. Seeing as they’d accused my aunts and uncle of kidnapping me and keeping me hidden, I doubted we were going back to my aunt’s cottage or wherever my uncle and aunt’s new home might be. “To my grandparents’?” I pressed.

  “Yes,” she replied, sounding testy. “Your mother’s old home, where you should have been brought after she died.”

  I noticed she didn’t include my father in that statement. Misunderstanding, my Aunt Fanny, as old Mrs. Pruitt next door in Boring would say. My father had died in that same accident, but apparently, he still counted for nothing in their eyes. Nothing except for the Fae genes he passed onto me. Exceptional Fae genes at that, which made me into a rare type of witch, a locii. Seriously, they had only all swooped in once they found out about that. I looked over at Laurent, who was staring out the window, his face unreadable. His and the guys’ folks, too. They’d stepped back once their sons were off to the academy, uninterested in their personal relationships and all that, until they found out they had formed a successful three-way binding and found a locii. Power and prestige hungry assholes, the lot of them.