Senior Witch, Fall Semester

by Ingrid Seymour

  More people were arriving, ignoring the view and walking past us toward the roaring party.

  “We should probably…” Disha hooked a thumb over her shoulder.

  I would’ve rather kept admiring the view, but… “Let’s do it.”

  The illuminated stage was the first thing I noticed as we came around a patch of trees. Colored lights danced over the band and the crowd as they jumped and threw their fists in the air along with the beat from the rock music filling the air.

  “They’re not half bad,” I said, raising my voice so Disha could hear me over the song.

  As we got closer to the crowd, I quickly realized this wasn’t exactly like the parties I’d grown used to at the Academy. There were Regulars here. Actually, the majority of people were not Supernaturals. I don’t know how I could tell, but it was like I’d developed a sixth sense about my kind.

  Tiki torches and electric lanterns hanging from the trees created a warm atmosphere and marked a wide perimeter. It was nothing as amazing as the fairy lights I was used to, but it was as fancy as Regulars could get. Toward the back of the area, tables were set up with tablecloths and candles. To me, they looked terribly inviting, but that might’ve been because they were all empty since everyone was enjoying the live music up by the stage.

  “Disha!” a preppy blond girl exclaimed. “So glad you could make it.” She air-kissed my friend and spared no glance my way.

  “It’s for a good cause,” Disha said. “The shortnose sturgeon must be saved. The Hudson River is their home.”

  “I know, right?” the blonde said.

  Disha quickly introduced us. Her name was Joanne Pruitt and, along with other college-age locals, she was the event organizer.

  “I invited all the Supers who live in the area,” Joanne told Disha. “I thought you might be in Manhattan with your parents, but Cruise said you were here.”

  Disha’s smile died a sudden death, but she quickly tried to resurrect it. “You’ve met Cruise already?” she asked past a frozen grin.

  “Oh, yes. He’s wonderful. So funny.”

  “Yeah, very funny,” Disha said.

  As if on cue, the three of us glanced in Cruise’s direction just as a group of Regular girls shyly approached him. At their request, he waved his fingers in the air and, using the most basic incantation, created a dozen luminous butterflies that fluttered over the girls’ heads. They oohed and aahed, at least until the asshole turned the butterflies into bats and sent them flying after their asses.

  He laughed like the hyena that he was.

  “He can be so bad sometimes,” Joanna said with a giggle as if he were a toddler and not a grown-ass senior in college.

  She batted her eyelashes and peered dreamily in his direction. Then, leaning closer to Disha, she asked, “Does he have a girlfriend at the Supernatural Academy?”

  That was when I surreptitiously took a step back. I’d heard enough. Bobbing my head and moving toward the stage, I focused on the lead singer who was belting a rock ballad for all ages.

  For a bit, I tried to pretend I was one of these carefree Regulars, a student attending an Ivy League school with no portals or evil warlocks trying to control her world.

  The lead singer’s voice rose in a crescendo, wrapped up the ballad, then he announced the band would be taking a break. Pre-recorded music started playing over the speakers, which sent the ladies into outraged protests. Waving, he blew them an exaggerated kiss, sending ethereal roses flying over their heads before walking off. The girls reached out, trying to catch them, but the flowers disappeared when touched.

  Well, it turned out the dude was a warlock, and a very cheesy one, at that.

  “What a corny motherfucker,” a familiar voice said from behind me.

  I hated to agree with Cruise Knightley, but he was right.

  “Having fun, Cruise?” I asked as I turned to face him.

  “I sure am,” he said with an obnoxious smile. “You?”

  I shrugged.

  “You need to get out more,” he said. “You’ve been cooped up in that big house for a while.” He offered me a smug smile full of teeth.

  Sooo, it seemed he wasn’t going to be subtle about the fact that he’d been keeping an eye on us. That or he wasn’t bright enough to realize what he was saying. I voted for the latter.

  “Why don’t we dance?” he took my arm and started dragging me toward the crowd.

  “I’m not in the mood,” I said, trying to pull away.

  His grip tightened. “Don’t turn me down so quickly, pretty witch,” he said, leaning closer. “I’ll make it worth your while. The Supernatural Academy will be a different beast when we get back. You’ll want to… make some new, higher-quality friends.”

  He licked his lips and arched an eyebrow as if he thought he was sexy. He was not, and there was no spell that could fix that.

  “Thanks for the offer,” I said, “but I think I need a drink.”

  Jerking my arm, I tried to get free, but he held on. My skin crawled in disgust and my cuffs went from cold to smoldering in an instant.

  I was a millisecond from blasting him over the cliff and into the Hudson River when someone pushed us apart and walked right in between us.

  “Not right now, please. Not right now,” the guy was saying as he pushed past.

  It was the band’s lead singer, followed by a group of girls armed with Sharpies, their cleavages exposed.

  “Just one more autograph, Lawson, please,” one of the girls begged.

  They kept rushing after the guy like hungry seagulls and dragged me with them. I didn’t fight. They were taking me away from the dipshit, Cruise.

  A moment later, Lawson turned around and sighed tiredly, pushing luscious, blond curls off his forehead. He had dark brows and intense brown eyes that seemed haughty and impatient.

  “Alright, but just one more.” He snatched a Sharpie from a girl’s hand, and leaning straight into me, scribbled something on my chest. “There you go, sweetheart,” he said with a wink.

  I blinked. No one had ever written on my boobs! If shitheads didn’t stop turning up in my life, I was seriously going to blast someone.

  A bouncer-looking dude came out of nowhere and started pushing everyone away. “C’mon. Let Lawson have a rest.”

  I backed away, licking my thumb and scrubbing at the stupid autograph. Dickhead!

  “Move along,” the bouncer said.

  The girls whined but finally did as they were told.

  “Not this one,” Lawson said, snatching my wrist. He gave me a lopsided smile. “You can come with me, babe.”

  What?! I had gone from one creepo to another.

  “Um, sorry, but I’m not one of your groupies,” I said, yanking my arm away. “I just got caught in the fray.”

  I took a step back, but he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and started leading me toward a parked tour bus.

  What the hell? This was not my night.

  My cuffs heated up again, and I swear I was about to have him icing his privates for a week when he whispered in my ear.

  “Settle down, Charlie. It’s me, Rowan.”

  Chapter Four

  SUMMER BREAK

  APRIL

  Rowan was here?

  No way. He couldn’t be. He was wanted for numerous crimes. If he was caught, he’d be put to death. He had to know I was being watched. He wouldn’t risk it.

  I stiffened and dug my feet into the ground. This had to be someone else, a test from the Knightleys. Sure, I’d seen Rowan wearing a different man’s face last year, but he hadn’t looked anything like this guy. The real Rowan would know a new face would confuse me.

  As if he had read my thoughts, the guy whispered in my ear. “It’s really me. Don’t make me try to prove it to you like that night on the roof. Unless telling you that you’re not hurting anywhere right now helps convince you.”

  He was referring to the end-of-year party the fae had thrown in a warehouse last fall semester. I’d
broken my wrist during Disha’s botched landing after her first teleportation spell. Only Rowan and I knew about that nighttime encounter. Still, what if Nyquist had captured him? What if they’d tortured him and gotten all kinds of secrets out of him?

  Was this a trick? I had no idea. But perhaps this was the type of opportunity a spy would take advantage of. I could learn something valuable.

  I relaxed and allowed the guy to guide me in the direction of the bus.

  “Where are you from, sweetheart?” he asked, abandoning his whispering tone.

  “Georgia,” I said, watching him carefully. He wore tight blue jeans and a gray jacket rolled up to his elbows. Tattoos covered muscular forearms and several thick gold chains hung from his neck. I could see why the girls threw themselves at him. He was smoking hot.

  “Oh, a Southern Girl. How quaint. I’ve never tasted the likes of you.” He threw his head back and laughed, blond hair tumbling back.

  If this was Rowan, was this obnoxious act really necessary?

  The bus was large, and the band’s name was painted in giant, glittery letters across the side: Misty Cloak. It was a corny name, just like the act. Next to the band name, there was also a huge photo of the guy walking next to me: Lawson Rush, according to the scribbled signature underneath the picture.

  Outside the bus’s open door, I hesitated. It was pretty dark inside, and all I could see was the silhouette of the driver’s seat. This was a bad idea. Why would this Lawson Rush guy let Rowan borrow his face and his whole band for that matter? That would be some pretty elaborate ruse. Unless he’d made up this whole persona and somehow gathered a following since I’d seen him last.

  As I stood there pondering, the guy didn’t press me. He let me be, waiting until I made up my mind to climb in.

  I was a spy now, clandestine meetings were just part of the game, right? Plus, I had the cuffs. If he did something nasty, I would make him regret it.

  I inhaled deeply and faced him.

  “If you try something stupid,” I whispered, “I’ll turn you inside out. Understood?” My cuffs flashed with my words, helping me get my message across.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, looking a bit disturbed by the imagery.

  Finally, I entered the bus followed by Lawson. He pressed a button and the door hissed closed behind us. I turned around and backed away, moving down the aisle, keeping my eyes on the guy. The windows were tinted and track lights along the floorboards were the only illumination. Two couches faced each other in the front, while the back was sectioned off by a dark curtain.

  “The bus has triple cloaking spells,” the guy said. “We can talk freely.”

  “You start,” I said, extending a hand in his direction.

  “Okay… you probably already know this, but the Knightleys are spying on you.”

  He waited for me, but I said nothing. I wasn’t admitting to anything. Not until I was one-hundred percent sure this was Rowan.

  “We’re still working on a plan to defeat Nyquist and the regents,” he continued. “We’ve confirmed they all support him. Not a single one of them is to be trusted.”

  Duh! He wasn’t saying anything someone with a brain couldn’t figure out on their own. I wasn’t buying this. There were two sure ways to test if this was really Rowan. Pain and his ability to draw magic from me—both consequences of our blood oath. At this point, nothing short of those two would convince me, but I didn’t need to use them.

  This was not Rowan.

  “When classes resume,” the guy said, “the situation in the Academy will be more dangerous than we anticipated.”

  “Dangerous, huh?” I said, raising an eyebrow. So vague. If this was Rowan, I was a vampire-werewolf with a hint of lich.

  “Yes,” he said. “You can’t go back there. You and Disha should take some time off. Backpack through Europe or something.”

  Oh, this was too much. Backpack through Europe, seriously? Rowan would know better than to think I would ever do that. In one swift motion, I raised my hands and let my cuffs flash with energy.

  “Enough!” I exclaimed. “I suggest you get out of my way, Lawson Rush or whoever the hell you are. I thought I’d have a chance to blast Rowan Underwood into oblivion, but you’re not him. Now, get out of my way unless you want me to mummify you for wasting my time.”

  The guy’s eyes sharpened, eyes that sent a thrill down my body. “You’re being smart, Charlie,” he nodded in approval, “but it really is me.”

  “Prove it, then,” I demanded, anger buzzing in my chest like a smoking beehive. “Show me your face.”

  He sighed. “I can’t. The spell that keeps me looking this way is strong, created to resist any counterspells. Only the two people who put it there can take it away. It only needs a bit of magic from me to hide my vampire traits.”

  “How convenient,” I said. “And what about all this?” I waved my arms around. “The bus? The band? The popularity? There is no spell that can create all of that. It involves too many people.”

  “You’re right. That’s why we had to find a real person who would be willing to help us. Lawson Rush used to be an Academy student before he dropped out to play with his band. Luckily, at the moment, he’s having an existential crisis and is in Tibet, trying to find his true self with a Supernatural sect.” Lawson shook his head at the ridiculousness of a rich and popular warlock trying to find himself.

  “He’s taking an extended sabbatical that is very convenient for us. Not even his bandmates know where he is. Publicly, his existential crisis will be different. He’ll get his diploma at the Academy this fall and will make his daddy proud or whatever. I’m going to return to the Academy, Charlie.”

  He paused to let that sink in. “We’re taking no chances. Lawson Rush gives us a tight alibi. No one will suspect I’m there.”

  I shook my head as I tried to wrap my mind around the convoluted scheme.

  “Charlie, I couldn’t let you do this alone,” he said, lowering his voice and taking a step in my direction. “You won’t keep yourself out of trouble, so I have to.”

  “Stay away,” I said, deciding that it was time to confirm his identity by more definite means. Holding nothing back, I chomped on the tip of my tongue.

  I moaned as pain throbbed in my mouth. He screamed, then cursed, pressing a hand to his mouth and stomping his foot several times.

  “Oh, fuck! That hurts!” he exclaimed.

  My mouth filled with blood. I collapsed on one of the couches and started weaving a healing spell.

  Slowly, the pain subsided.

  “Did you have to bite so hard?” Lawson asked.

  I blinked up at the blond guy, still incredulous. This was really Rowan.

  “It felt like you almost split my tongue in two,” he said, his syllables awkward.

  “Your tongue?!” I mumbled around my swollen one. He could only feel the pain while I was the one bleeding, always.

  “Believe me now?” He glanced at me sideways, wiggling his tongue from side to side as if testing it.

  I shrugged, magicking away most the blood. “Got any water in this monstrosity?”

  He opened the door to a hidden mini-fridge and handed me a bottle of water. I took a few sips, wincing in disgust as I washed the rest of the blood down. When the pain was but a small twinge, I demanded the last bit of proof that would leave me absolutely no doubt of who he was.

  “Just to be sure, draw magic from me,” I said.

  He peered down at me in surprise. “But you told me never to do that again.”

  Just the reason I’d almost severed my tongue in the first place. I didn’t want him stealing my magic anymore, but what choice did I have now? I had to be triple sure.

  “Well,” I glanced away, “I guess our circumstances have changed.”

  “Okay,” he said warily, lowering himself into the seat right across from mine. “Look at me, Charlie.” His voice was gentle, undemanding.

  I met his dark eyes. The way he was gazing at me made
me feel like melting, like my spine had turned to goo and I would just dissolve into a puddle at his feet, no matter how much I told myself not to. Some things never changed. I shouldn’t need any more proof that this was Rowan. He was the only man who’d ever had this effect on me.

  He didn’t move, didn’t weave his fingers or give any sign of what he was doing, but I felt it. It was a gentle tug in my chest, a lurching sensation like he was pulling me into his private abyss, a place that I knew far too well and I’d inhabited for the first two years after I met him.

  Suddenly, I wanted to fall into his arms and draw his body onto mine. I wanted to kiss him until the entire world fell away.

  Would it always be this way?

  No.

  I had changed, and he had changed. Maybe what I sensed wasn’t an abyss anymore. And if it was, maybe I now possessed better tools to navigate through its depths.

  “I couldn’t let you do this alone, Charlie,” he said when his tug on my magic faded away. “I convinced them to let me come. Basically told them I would go with or without their help.”

  “Why now?” I asked, emotions lurching up inside me. “You went with Tempest. You didn’t have a problem leaving me alone then.” I hated my own words. They sounded jealous, full of resentment. Maybe I hadn’t changed as much as I thought I had.

  “I was lost,” he said. “I wasn’t good for anyone, much less for you. You deserve so much better.” His hand reached out to caress my face.

  I stood abruptly. I couldn’t deal with these emotions right now. “Well, now that this is settled, I guess I’d better go find Disha. She’ll be worried about me.”

  Avoiding his gaze, I stalked to the front of the bus, pressed the button to open the hydraulic door, rushed down the steps, and ran smack into Cruise Knightley.

  He gave me a sneer, his beady eyes full of suspicion.

  “What were you doing in there?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “That’s none of your business,” I snapped.

  He took a step closer just as Rowan descended from the bus. Moaning, Rowan stretched his neck and adjusted his crotch in a suggestive way. Lazily, he threw an arm around me and stared at Cruise with an annoyed expression.