by KC Kingmaker
“We’re not Hudson’s Glove without Quentin or Myria,” Sunny snapped.
At that, I glanced over and saw Genevieve stiffen. Her face twisted at mention of my sister’s name.
“You have to stop living in the past,” Venn explained, which was entirely the wrong thing to say to an angry guy like Sunny Conway—a guy who also had a much longer past than the rest of us. “We have to at least act like a team or we’re screwed. Can we all agree on that?”
“Agreeing is one thing. Doing is another.” Our eyes turned to Dax, who stood off in the corner, examining us. “Actions speak louder than words.”
“Thanks, Confucius,” Venn mumbled, shaking his head.
I felt bad that Venn’s optimistic pep talk turned south. Something inside me wanted to defend him. I narrowed my eyes on Dax, who probably didn’t deserve my ire after vouching for me during the Physical Intent midterm. “What happens when you leave again, Dax? You’re our goalie.”
His lips firmed. “I’ll be back before our first game. We have a couple of weeks yet.”
Sunny cast a wary glance at Dax. We were all dying to know where he’d been running off to on the Academy’s dime. Instead of pressing the issue for the fiftieth time, Sunny addressed the rest of the group. “Vivi and Coralia, you two will have to learn to get along. If not ‘get along,’ then cooperate. Venn is right about one thing: We won’t win a game if we’re squabbling with each other.”
Maybe you should have thought about that before you invited your bitchy girlfriend, the bimbo bully, to the team. I fumed, keeping my mouth shut. My words would only reignite the petty arguments, and I was too tired for that.
After a long bout of silence, I let out a heavy sigh. I’m not innocent in this, I guess. I can’t act like a spoiled child every time things don’t go my way. Perhaps the first step to adjusting to Vivi’s vicious barbs is to let them roll off my back. She feeds on the reactions. If I don’t give her an audience, maybe she’ll back down. I remembered learning a similar lesson as a toddler . . . which was how I saw Genevieve: a mean toddler in a busty, overconfident body.
The thought made me chuckle to myself.
“What?” Sunny shot, breaking the awkward silence that had been building.
“Nothing,” I said. “You’re right. Venn’s right.”
“I take it you’ll be apologizing for besmirching my honor then?” Genevieve chided.
I bit my tongue to conceal my snort. “Absolutely not. Besmirch your honor, Vivi? Really? Did you just step out of Medieval Times?”
Venn chuckled. Sunny smirked. Genevieve’s jaw clamped, the muscles bulging.
“Did you blow Lancelot before leaving King Arthur’s court? Or is Sir Gawain more your speed?”
Venn’s chuckle turned into full-blown laughter. Sunny shielded his mouth with his hand, but couldn’t hide the rumbling of his shoulders. Even Dax cracked a shiny smile.
Genevieve looked ready to invoke the wrath of the gods on me, the vein in her forehead pulsing.
Dammit. I couldn’t help myself. Not two seconds after I said I was going to act like the adult. I put my hands up before Genevieve could pounce on me. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? That was mean. I apologize.” At least I can recognize when I’m being an ostentatious bitch, unlike some people. I hoped my lackluster apology was enough, and that it could be used as an umbrella apology for “besmirching” Vivi’s “honor.”
Genevieve stared at me, nostrils flaring. It was like she hadn’t heard a word I’d said after my little Knights of the Round Table jab. “Humans are the fucking worst,” she snarled. Then she strutted off the field.
Sunny gave me a pointed glare, his eyes glittering from chuckling. He took off after Vivi and left me, Dax, and Venn alone.
“You’ll never win her over if you fight fire with fire,” Dax said.
“Maybe I don’t want to win her over, Dax. Maybe we just aren’t meant to be friends? Not everyone has to get along.” I stood with a groan, all the pooling blood in my body rushing to my head.
“Yes, and I know that as well as anyone,” he said. “For the sake of this team, however, I’ll ask you to try.”
Says the guy in the middle of a disappearing act. “Fine. I’ll try, Dax. For you.”
He nodded in apparent thanks and took his leave.
Once Venn and I were alone, the fae rubbed the back of his neck and ran a hand through his silver hair. His shoulders rose to his ears. “I dunno, I thought that was hilarious.”
I shot him a lopsided grin. “I wish everyone had your sense of humor, Venn.”
“So do I.”
We walked off the field and out of the park. The sun was beginning to set, painting the horizon in a vivid orange-pink smear. I noticed our lengthy stroll through campus, with the sunset overhead and the air crisp and the tension heady, was kind of romantic.
I watched him out the corner of my eye. Slowly, my eyes trailed to the empty hand at his side. I bit my lip and took my shot, gingerly sliding my hand into his and threading our fingers together.
He flinched, the expression on his face surprised, but it quickly mellowed out and his body language loosened.
We walked hand-in-hand to the women’s dorm. When we got to the door, we stood facing each other. “Thanks for being on my side, Venn.” My voice was unexpectedly low and throaty. “It means a lot to have a friend. To have someone believe in me.” It was hard to fight back the feelings blooming inside me.
A startled expression kneaded Venn’s brow for a split second. He opened his mouth, hesitated, closed it, and tried again. “It’s no problem, Cor.”
His raincloud scent was close enough to taste. I watched his full lips for a sign, and his eyebrows arched in a sad way. He cleared his throat and took his hand away from mine. As our warmth separated, a sense of longing and disappointment rattled my nerves.
He nodded to me, wheeled, and then I was watching him walk away. I waited to see if he would look back over his shoulder at me.
It never happened.
What was that all about? I hadn’t expected him to become so abruptly withdrawn. It made me wonder if there was something about Venn I didn’t know; if he was hiding something from me.
Heading inside the dorm, I shrugged. We all have our little secrets, don’t we?
THE BED IN MY ROOM swallowed me whole, cocooning me like a burrito. With the exception of a napping Bruce Kittenson, I was alone in the room—Thank the spirits—and knew sleep was close at hand after the rigorous day.
Then the door to the room creaked open and I opened one of my eyes.
Charli came in giggling, her dimples on full display from her wide grin. “Oh, Cor Cor! You’re back. How was it? You look tired.”
Yes, as if my enchilada arrangement hadn’t hinted at that. Wrinkles lined my forehead. “Please, Char, a little quieter . . .”
Her loud voice hushed into an exaggerated whisper. “Right. Sorry. I’m just excited.”
I knew she was waiting for it, so I opened the floodgate for her. “Why?”
“There’s a party tonight! To celebrate the end of midterms. Letting loose. It’s Friday, y’know? Mya told me about it just now.”
“A . . . party? I didn’t know shadowblades partied.”
“Heh, silly. Shadowblades might not, but Ghosts and Phantoms do! I guess it’s something of a tradition here. You should come.” My bed creaked and sagged as she sat on the edge of it. “Get yourself out of this stuffy room for a night.”
“Really? That’s sweet, Charli, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Of course it is! I’m inviting you. No one will mess with you if you’re with friends. Besides, it’s in the woods surrounding campus. You’ll need a guide.”
I blinked. “The woods? Oh yes, of course. The woods. Doesn’t sound like a place where anything terrible will happen at all.”
Chapter 28
Coralia
CHARLI WANTED TO LEND me one of her pretty dresses to wear to the party, but there w
as no way I was fitting into it. My boobs would have literally popped the buttons of her quaint, skinny-person blouse. Maybe that was the point.
I desperately needed to go clothes shopping if I was going to be stuck at Shadowblade Academy for the foreseeable future, and there were extracurricular activities like pagan, woodland parties going on. Up until then, I had gotten by using the three or four Academy-provided uniforms, since I never left the damn place.
Charli did let me use some of her makeup, however, and that was nice. It was the first time I’d gotten dolled up since my twenty-first birthday. And remember how that ended? I asked myself drearily.
“Don’t look so glum, Cor Cor! This will be fun. You look beautiful.”
My eyes found her in the mirror, over my shoulder. I smiled at her infectious grin. In the past, her constant bubbliness probably would have annoyed me because I was a Debbie Downer. At Shadowblade Academy, it was refreshing. “You do too.”
She blushed as pink as her shoulder-less, bubblegum sheath dress. It was loud and fit snugly against her slender frame, showing off her enviable, slight build. Her orange hair was fluffed and expertly curled, the orange strands falling wildly over her pale shoulders. If not for her pink knee-length dress, I’d have thought she was a forest nymph in the flesh.
I wore a more demure outfit, since I didn’t have many options. I made the checkered Academy skirt work by pairing it with a silk blouse Charli had snagged from a friend of hers. The slightly off-red hue paired well with the red-and-black checkers of my skirt and hair, and it had little silver accents to complement the color scheme.
Charli was loud enough for both of us.
After I finished touching up my face with some light mascara—nothing like the full wings Charli had slicing from her eyes—she put a hand on my shoulder. “Ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then let’s just go out there and have some fun, y’know?”
CHARLI WHIPPED OUT a crumpled piece of parchment from her tiny clutch. Her forehead creased as she read it.
I looked over her shoulder to try and decipher what she was looking at, which was impossible. The writing had what looked like hieroglyphs and ancient characters all over it. “Uh, what’s that?”
“Directions.” She pouted.
“That’s definitely no Google Map I’ve ever seen.”
“Portal directions,” she explained.
“Oh.” My blood ran cold as I recalled the previous times I’d been in a portal. They didn’t induce happy feelings. Other than meeting Dreamcatcher, shadowwalking always seemed to go sideways. I didn’t mix well with portals.
Charli and I had made it to the eastern side of campus, past the Gable Training Facility. Passing the dojo made my pulse spike and brought a prickle to the back of my neck. It made me think of Venn, with his family name on it. I wonder if he’ll be at the party?
After the dojo, we were camped out next to a building, looking sketchy in our outfits as we hid out of lamplight. From there, Charli said we needed magic to get off campus because huge, high walls with guards hemmed us in. Sounded like a prison to me.
It suddenly dawned on me that this little woodsy celebratory “party” was likely not sanctioned by the Academy. I piped up, saying, “Damn, we’re gonna get in big trouble, huh? You didn’t tell me that when—”
“No, no. You worry too much, Cor Cor.”
“And here I thought you were an innocent little wallflower, Char. When you’re actually a devious little delinq—”
“Oh, here we go!” her excited whisper cut me off. “Port thirty-four east, two in the grove.”
“Huh?”
“It’s the portal that correlates to the party. The shadow we need to walk through. These maps can get a bit confusing.”
“Um, are you gonna be able to bring us in? I’m not exactly looking for another Sunny episode where I Slipped into oblivion.”
“Yeah, and into the arms of a dashing himbo.”
I blinked, barely able to contain my laughter. “Himbo, Charli?”
Her cheeks blossomed pink. “Sorry.”
“Are you sure you can do this? Shadowwalking, I mean? It seemed a bit spotty—”
“I passed the midterm, Cor Cor. I can do it.” She nodded decisively, and it was the most confident I’d ever seen her. “Take my hand.”
I did. As we stepped into the nearest shadow, the world shielded itself in a purple layer. Trees and buildings became blotted smudges. Familiar anxiety flooded through me.
Charli was nothing more than a shape I held onto for dear life. The dark, mystical world around me buzzed on both sides as I noticed we were moving much faster than our feet would have dragged us. Rather than being slowly pulled toward a shadow like last time—when I had resisted the sensation—Charli was moving us at lightning speed.
I had no idea how long the transfer actually took, but it felt like a matter of seconds before we were in a pine-smelling, earthy copse, surrounded by trees. Adrenaline set me on high alert as we stepped out of the shadow of a birch tree. The forest we found ourselves in was thick, chirring with insects and wildlife. Canopies blocked the moonlight overhead, with thin rays of the dim light snaking in through the branches.
“Spirits blow me,” I muttered, head twirling. “You did it, Charli!”
Staying quiet, she nodded. Considering her successful shadowwalk, I wondered why she wasn’t more celebratory. “This way,” she said, unlatching her hand from mine. She jogged through the trees, making sure to bob and weave between branches so her frilly dress didn’t get dirtied or ripped. “This place gives me the creeps.”
Somehow she seemed to know where she was going, and she did it in heels for God’s sake. I was stunned. I followed as closely as possible, scared to lose sight of her. She was a woman on a mission.
Minutes later, the first signs of life hit us. Little red candles, ensconced in crystal bubbles that hung from tree branches, lit our path. It was like a magical faerie runway, or a moonlight ritual sending us to our grisly deaths. I got both Peter Pan and American Horror Story vibes.
Following the candles, sounds rumbled to our ears. The incessant, nerve-wracking clicking of the forest—noises that told us we were constantly watched—died and gave way to laughter and chatter.
The heavy “cabin in the woods” atmosphere turned into a “cottage in the forest” one. Those were two very different things, in my mind. Things got lighter, both in tone and actual brightness.
We popped through the foliage and came to a clearing in the woods, and that’s where, and when, the party really started.
I WATCHED AS A STUDENT did a keg stand without any help. Well, he probably had magical help to keep his legs slanted high in the sky.
My eyes dropped to a group of people playing a game with flares shooting out of their fingertips, similar to a Roman candle war. They ran around like headless chickens.
Ghosts and Phantoms alike laughed, reveled in their stories, and gossiped. For the first time, it seemed, they were able to let loose after the ordeal of the midterms and first half of the semester was behind them. I recognized some people, such as a kind student named Benji Gamlet, and Charli’s first roommate, Mya Todden—who was now Genevieve’s roommate and, I suspected, minion. Luckily, I hadn’t seen Vivi yet.
I also hadn’t seen any of the men I’d hoped to see, namely Venn, Sunny, or Dax. Those three called to my inner being in a way I couldn’t articulate. They made me feel things no human man had ever done. Certainly no one from the Crust.
I sipped on a hoppy beer in a red cup, trying to make myself comfortable. And failing. I stood alone in the clearing. Off in the trees, I could hear low, muffled conversations between students who were either antisocial and didn’t want to be seen, or wanted to hide whatever they were doing.
Charli had escaped into a group in the clearing. Seeing her jive and giggle with her peers made me smile. She reminded me of Marlow back home. In her element. The life of the party.
&nb
sp; “Hey there.”
The voice behind me made my heart leap to my throat. Recognizing it, I was already breaking into a smile before I spun around.
Venn Gable looked dapper in a black swallowtail coat that gave him a distinct leading-actor-in-a-French-film-noir quality. The coat hugged his frame and strained against his biceps. The dappling moonlight made his light lavender skin glow and his silver hair shimmer.
He looked radiant. Seeing him smiling coyly at me, like he only had eyes for me and I was the one person he had hoped to see here, made me feel important and special. In a place where I had felt decidedly un-special, practically all the time, Venn managed to topple that lonely feeling with a simple gaze. It tied my stomach in knots.
My face fell as I remembered earlier that evening: a romantic walk; holding hands; dismissal.
He saw the look in my eyes and reached out, cupping my chin and tilting it so I was staring up at him. Lightning pinged through me at his touch, which morphed into warmth spreading through my limbs. “I’m sorry for earlier today,” he said, voice low. He sounded more serious than usual. “I get lost in my own thoughts sometimes.”
I gulped, nodding into his palm. My eyes fluttered from the heady sensation of his touch. “I-It’s okay. We all do.”
“Yes, true. My thoughts are dark though, Coralia. They’re a burden I don’t wish to share with people I care for.”
My brow arched hopefully. “Are you saying you . . . care about me, Venn?”
His smile broadened on one side. “Of course I do. Isn’t it obvious?”
I chuckled like a nervous schoolgirl. My hand dragged over his knuckles on my face. I inhaled his rainy scent on a crisp breath and exhaled slowly. “You can never be too sure.”
“Well, I do.”
We stared into each other’s eyes for a long time. My heart started to race. The sounds of laughter and conversation all around us drowned away. His royal purple eyes, I noticed, were flecked with silver. They were some of the most unique, intriguing eyes I’d ever seen. Then again, Venn was one of the most unique, intriguing men I’d ever met. He was kind where others were cruel. He defended me where others bullied me. He helped me where others hurt me.