“I’m going to be sick,” Lily whispered next to me.
I glanced to her, noticing the tremble going through her body.
“Breathe.” I massaged soothing circles on her back. I had been so focused on the lesson that I had completely forgotten that PE wasn’t Lily’s forte.
“I can’t do this,” she squeaked as the girl next to me began her routine.
“Pull yourself together. You have to.” Lily shook her head, and I leaned closer. “I believe in you.”
She gripped my hand hard, and I let her, only extricating myself when Mr. Chad said, “Miss Onyx.”
I took a deep breath and pressed the silk right above my hips, then did a forward roll. Putting one foot into the sling, I rose, then shifted the silk behind my back, crossed my legs and fell into an elegant sitting position. From there, I shifted my upper body back and made a diamond shape with my legs, hanging upside down. With my left hand, I reached for my right ankle, making the ballerina pose upside down. I repeated this on the other side before maneuvering myself back upright, using my core and arm strength.
Mr. Chad clapped. “Well done.” I beamed. “Whoever gets you will be very satisfied.”
And just like that my smile slipped. No one cared about my skills, the amazing things my body could do. I was not a gymnast. If I was lucky, I’d end up like Candice.
“Miss Lily. Let’s hope you’ll do better with the silks than the beams.” Mr. Chad’s cruel comment earned him a snicker from Peony. “Nobody will want you for the pleasure of your company, but even servants need to have some grace.”
Lily trembled violently, and I wanted to slap the nasty grin off Mr. Chad’s face. I hated how the vamps pitted the courtesans against the servants, making each group feel inferior.
“Chop, chop,” Mr. Chad said impatiently.
Lily wiped her sweaty palms on her leotard and gripped the silk. She didn’t as much as land but rather fell out of the forward roll. After a few failed attempts, she managed to stand on the silk, but instead of sliding into the sitting position, she crashed to the ground with a thump.
Tears filled the corners of her eyes. Not thinking, I rushed toward her, but Mr. Chad held up a hand, stopping me. And I did. I was putting her at risk, and it took everything I had to step back into the line.
“Very disappointing.” Mr. Chad scribbled something into his notepad. “I’ll have to fail you for this one as well, but that doesn’t mean you get out of finishing the routine.”
Lily rose to her feet and sat into the silk. It was inversion time. But given the paleness of her face, I knew she was in no state to hang upside down, her face inches off the ground. Mr. Chad hovered over her. I couldn’t watch this torture anymore. An iciness tingled through me, and for once, I didn’t hold it back. Carefully, I shifted my finger, pointing it underneath Mr. Chad’s feet. Focus.
“We don’t have all day!” he yelled.
Lily gripped the silks like her life depended on it.
“If you don’t finish the routine, I’ll have to—” Mr. Chad’s next words were cut off as his feet slid forward, and he fell on his ass. There was shock on his face before it turned to rage as he examined the ground, which no longer sported a thin sheet of ice but rather a tiny puddle. “Your damn sweat made me fall!”
People burst into laughter, only to be silenced when Mr. Chad glared at the line. The gong rang, signaling the end of class, and I grabbed Lily’s hand, rushing her toward the changing rooms before Mr. Chad could come up with some punishment.
“Thank you,” she said with a hiccup once we were alone.
“I didn’t do anything,” I replied, not meeting her eyes.
Thankfully, Lily didn’t press the topic. We changed in silence and made our way to our first German class after she blew her nose. I walked slowly with Lily, in no rush to get there, to allow her a bit of time to breathe.
Footsteps sounded behind me—quick footsteps—and before I could whirl, someone grabbed my hair and tugged hard. “Ouch!” I whirled around to find a pair of catlike eyes narrowed to slits and blonde curls just inches from my face. Peony.
“A word.” She let go of my hair, but her nostrils continued to flare with fury.
Lily tried to step between us, but I waved her away. “Go. I’ll join you in a second.”
She hesitated, but then hurried into the classroom.
“I know what you did in PE,” Peony hissed, still invading my personal space. “Next time you pull such a stunt, I’ll make sure to expose you.” She gripped the lapels of my blazer. “And so that we’re clear, I know you’re the reason for why Preston is gone and we’re stuck with Ms. Rutherford. You got him fired, didn’t you? What did you make him do? Did you kiss him?” She shook here head. “We’ll all suffer because of you. Ms. Rutherford is as tough as nails.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. And I don’t think you need to worry about Ms. Rutherford given how far your head is up her ass.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Peony vibrated with fury, and my ice power begged to be released.
“Is there a problem?” a cool and familiar voice asked.
I turned toward Thorsten and breathed a sigh of relief.
“No problem at all,” Peony said sweetly.
“Miss Peony, the French class is that way.” Thorsten pointed into the opposite direction, and Peony flounced off. Since I still wasn’t moving, Thorsten gave me a gentle shove toward the classroom next to me.
“Tardiness is not something we German people appreciate.”
I blinked up into his arctic eyes. Of course, he’d be teaching German. Had I known it all along and chosen German for this very reason?
11
Thorsten taught under the supervision of Lady Cardinal, who took a desk in the front corner of the room and remained a silent predator. Was she observing us or him? Kristen hadn’t followed Peony to French, but instead was taking German, probably under Mei’s orders.
Thorsten’s gaze flicked to her every so often, but as he spoke greetings and goodbyes in his native tongue so we could respond with the same, he managed to make it all blend right in.
Lady Cardinal said nothing throughout class, which only served to make her scarier than she already was. I focused on Thorsten, while keeping Headmistress Cardinal in my periphery in case she was here to find the thief who had taken the twins’ blood crystal. Obviously it was a serious matter and dangerous in the wrong hands.
What if I could use it on someone?
Someone who would know for sure where I stood? Could I get answers about my future?
It was a crazy thought and might require more magic than I had, but it might be worth a shot. Mr. Chad’s comments were getting under my skin and I had no shot at getting top marks in Home Decor now that the witch had arrived. Lily, too, needed help. She waved her hand, struggling with the formal German goodbye, which happened to be a mile long.
“Auf...weiner…”
People laughed. Thorsten glowered and shook his head, motioning to the board. “How many times must I explain? All w’s are pronounced like v’s…”
The gong went off, dismissing class, but Lily’s cheeks remained red as she rose. She was having a terrible day.
“I’m going to scrub toilets for sure,” she said. “Why was I so excited about this?”
“It’s your first day,” I told her once in the corridor, patting her on the back. “German is a tough language to learn, but we’ll get through it.”
Down the hall, Peony emerged along with Virgie from the French class. She strode past me, casting me a small, evil smile. “See you later, Virgie,” she said loudly enough for me to hear. “I’ve got to go catch up on a few things.”
Great. “How does Ms. Rutherford know French?” I blurted to calm my nerves.
“I heard she’s been friends with Lady Cardinal for a long time,” Lily said. “She’s taught here before. Rumor has it she used to come to the human world to help keep the earthbound fae in line during the ea
rly days of the plague.”
That explained why she was such a bitch and a vampire wannabe. I suppressed a shudder as Lily watched Peony flounce down the hall, curls bouncing. The twins stood there, talking to Mei, and Peony stopped at their little huddle trying to join the popular clique. Kassius kept his back to her and Kayden wrapped his arm around Mei, leaning close as she whispered something in his ear. Peony stiffened, waiting for her turn to speak.
“Well, someone’s getting snubbed now that all the vamps are back,” Virgie said with an air of satisfaction. She had stopped next to us. When Kayden and Kassius were around, she became invisible to Peony, which judging by her smile I guessed she didn’t mind.
“We knew it was going to happen.” Even the sight of Peony’s face falling couldn’t lift my spirits. I watched the cool kids a bit longer, and that was when I got an idea. Waiting around for Peony to get me in trouble or killed wasn’t an option. All she had to do was suggest I was the blood crystal thief to the wrong person and my dorm would be searched. Even carrying the blood crystal in my backpack was dangerous. I shuddered at the thought of spending alone time with Mr. Chad in the dungeons. I needed help. “Can we, um, find another corridor and chat?”
Without a word, the three of us retreated to an empty classroom close to the one where I had broken down. Lily and Virgie waited, side by side, a pair of opposites.
I decided to start with the facts. Virgie needed to hear the truth. “Peony made me slip in the Outer Gardens.”
Virgie nodded without hesitation. “I know.”
Ice surged into my limbs. “Why hang out with her?” I suppressed the urge to cross my arms.
“The vamps respect her. Well, they did.” Virgie shrugged. “In this world, you have to make the right allies.”
So my theory of Peony being Virgie’s umbrella was true. “She’ll turn on you as soon as you stop being useful.”
Virgie sighed. “I know, but until then I have to make nice, at least as long as we’re roommates.”
I nodded. As tempted as I was to tell them about the blood crystal, I knew I couldn’t. I needed to dispose of it as soon as possible, but before I did, I had to put it to one good use.
“So what do we do?” Lily asked.
“I need you two to spy on Peony. See what she’s planning to do to me,” I said. “Virgie, I know it’s hard for us to talk, but you’re in the best position. We can meet here every day after our language classes.”
Virgie tilted her head. “And what do I get out of this?”
I stepped closer. How I wished I could tell her about my powers. “I’ll be in your debt. The more allies, the better, right?”
“Good allies have power.”
I gave her a slow smile. “Do you consider me weak?”
She studied me for a long minute. “No. You, Onyx, have a few tricks up your sleeve.”
I allowed my smile to widen. “Then allow me to use those tricks to benefit you in the future.”
Her eyes sparked with hunger. “Very well.” She extended her hand, and I shook it. Lily looked between the two of us, but wisely didn’t say anything.
For the first time since the fall term started, I felt good. I might have no room for friends, but that didn’t mean that I was all alone. I could be part of a team.
I hoped I wasn’t dooming Lily and Virgie like I had Blair. I crept away from lunch, leaving Lily pretending to study two tables over from Peony.
The blood crystal felt heavy in my backpack. I had gone up to my dorm and retrieved it from under my mattress right after talking to Virgie and Lily. Now I had to visit the gym and hope my easiest target was there. I wasn’t sure if blood crystals worked on vamps, and I didn’t want to risk one seeing me with it, so Candice was my best bet.
The staff all had to keep track of the students throughout the semester before and after the Placement Tests. If Candice was a pureblood fae, she wouldn’t be able to lie, but getting her to spill her knowledge would still require some help. And there was also the chance that she was a half fae, which would partially explain why she had ended up as a courtesan.
I found Candice seated on a mat, legs crossed, and eyes closed. She seemed to be meditating or something. Her eyes flew open as I neared her and fished out the blood crystal from my bag. It thrummed in my grasp, waiting to be used.
“Miss Onyx,” she said. “How can I help you?” Her voice was elegant and pleasant, and I understood why she was so sought after. Without undressing or doing anything at all, she could make a man feel welcome.
“I was wondering if you knew where we students all stand,” I said. “Career wise. Do the staff keep records and make predictions on who’s going where? Is the list, say, rigged from the start?”
Candice’s commercial smile turned into a frown. “I am not at liberty to divulge such information.”
“Please,” I said, grasping the crystal harder and holding it up. Icy tingles ran up my arm, and I eyed Candice, silently begging her to open up and tell me the truth. The crystal definitely required energy, because I felt it sucking the ice out of me, draining my arm.
Candice’s face relaxed slowly, and a glazed look filled her eyes. “The staff keep three lists of fae, based on predicted career.”
Three lists. “Are they changeable?”
“Only with testing, but students rarely change majors.”
My heart raced with anticipation. “What are the three lists?” I needed to hurry up. Someone could walk in at any moment and discover me holding the blood crystal.
“Magic. Service. And courtesan work,” she said.
“Which list am I on?”
She spoke without a beat. “Courtesan work. Last position.”
The world seemed to stop. Candice maintained her blank expression, clearly more in a trance than I had been with Preston. I wondered if she’d ever seen a blood crystal before because she wasn’t trying to avoid it.
“What about Lily?” My voice sounded as if it were underwater.
A knock on the gym door broke my concentration. I stuffed the blood crystal back into my backpack. Instantly, Candice blinked and looked around, confused. “Miss Onyx?”
Did she remember what I did? From the looks of it, no. I wondered if having magic made you less susceptible to blood crystals. Or maybe the more obedient you were in the first place, the more they worked on you. Anyway, it didn’t matter.
A second knock sounded.
“Come in,” Candice said.
I zipped up my backpack just as Mr. Chad entered the room. My skin crawled as his hungry gaze swept over me and landed on Candice. “Your master arrives at sunset to fetch you. Your next class will be on the fourteenth.”
“Thank you.” So Candice wouldn’t work here all the time. Good. I’d been banking on that.
Mr. Chad left the room, giving Candice no chance to ask him why she’d blanked out. I could only hope that she’d blame the vampire.
I rushed from the room before she could ask me any questions. My feet tingled with nerves as I ran up the steps to my dorm.
The door to my room was wide open. My mattress lay half off the bed, slashed down the middle. Fluff and feathers lay everywhere, scattered as if someone had eviscerated it. The drawers of our dresser had been flung open. Our clothes, some ripped, others dirty with footprints, were strewn all over the floor. I stepped into the mess. Lily’s mattress, too, had been yanked off her bed and cut open. Our dorm looked like a flock of chickens had fought with a flock of sheep.
The twins. They had visited, searching for the blood crystal.
Peony was onto me, determined to send me to the dungeons. If I hadn’t grabbed the blood crystal before lunch to wrench answers from Candice, I would’ve been caught by now and probably in the headmistress’s office. My knees quaked with the close call.
“Onyx?” Lily asked from behind me.
I whirled around, but she looked right past me at the disaster of our dorm, all color draining from her face.
“Where did Peo
ny go?” My voice shook with rage and terror.
“She left the cafeteria. I tried to follow her, but the twins were blocking the door and catcalling all the girls.”
I gulped even though I had expected an explanation like this. “She’s riling the twins up. We have to get rid of her.”
“How? The vamps love her too much. She’s not like us.” Lily glanced past me. “How are we going to clean this up?”
“We’ll worry about that later.” I knew what I had to do. “I bet Peony will have the staff search our bags next for the blood crystal.” That was my chance to set her up, pay her back for all the kindness she had shown me since I had arrived at Nocturnal Academy.
“Onyx?”
I smiled at Lily. “Leave it to me.”
Peony was going down.
12
The next day, I woke up with determination. Finally, I would teach Peony a lesson and save my own hide.
Our first class was History with Sullivan. Walking past Peony’s desk, I was about to drop the blood crystal into her bag, but hesitated. What if she discovered it and got rid of it? Worse, what if she put it into my or Lily’s bag when we weren’t watching and then we’d be caught with it? I gulped. I couldn’t let that happen. I’d have to bide my time until the teachers searched our backpacks. But what if I was too late?
I couldn’t wait around, hoping the vamps announced when they’d be searching our bags instead of ambushing us.
Did I have the nerve to set everything in motion myself? Go to the twins, after planting the evidence on Peony? No, that was cruel. She was an awful person, but by doing this, I’d be just as bad as her. I didn’t want to send her to the dungeons. I didn’t even want to watch her suffer, well, maybe a little, but not at the hands of Mr. Chad. I didn’t want anything awful to happen to Peony, but I was afraid that if I didn’t strike first, she’d be the one sending me to the dungeons, even if I got rid of the crystal in time.
My indecisiveness tormented me, and when the gong rang, signaling the end of class, I still hadn’t decided what to do and when. Should I frame Peony or chuck the crystal in the gardens?
The Nocturnal and Fae Prison Academy Boxset [A Complete Paranormal and Fantasy Series Boxset] Page 18