"Hmm. And are you just going to kill them now you've had what you wanted from them too?" He crossed his massive arms in front of his chest.
"What? No, of course not. I don't want to kill anyone," I insisted. Though I had to admit, a small part of me wanted to teach Estelle a very violent lesson right now.
"Then what did Kristi do?"
"Can you sit down, Jayse? Please?" I schooled my face into the most pleading and innocent look I could muster. "You know me, I wouldn't do this." We didn't know each other very well yet, but well enough for him to know I wasn't a murderer.
Something flitted over Jayse's face, and for the first time, I felt a glimmer of hope. I knew he wasn't going to be as easy to convince with kisses like I had with Francis and Brooks.
He perched on the end of the bed, his eyes boring into me. If I'd planned on lying to him, then I might have rethought that plan based on his attention. Fortunately, that wasn't part of my plan. The truth was the only way for me to get through this mess, and that was what I was going to stick to.
"So?" he prodded.
I ran a hand over my face. "If you have questions, just ask them." I was starting to get frustrated with trying to explain everything all the time. But it wasn't fair for me to treat him badly for that. He wasn't at fault for any of this.
"What did Kristi do to deserve that?" he asked after a moment.
"I don't know," I answered honestly. "As far as I know, she's just a tool."
He raised an eyebrow. "So why do it to her?"
"I didn't. That was Estelle."
Disbelief flickered across his face. "She doesn't seem the murderous type," he countered.
"Seriously? You're going to try that one on me? If murderers looked like murderers, then we wouldn't have to wait for them to kill someone before they got caught." I paused as the implications of that statement set in. "Wait, do you think I look like a murderer?" Should I have been insulted by that? Or perhaps in a weird way it was some kind of compliment. That was certainly a stretch, but I'd heard weirder things from people before.
"What? Of course not. You..." he trailed off, realization setting in. "Oh." He shook his head.
"I hope that oh means 'I'm sorry I thought you were a murderer Lou, let's make out.' The last part is optional," I muttered under my breath, though I wouldn't be opposed to a kiss or three to make up for his assholeness.
Jayse chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far. But you're right. Just then, when I was talking about you and thinking about you as a killer, it just...it was wrong. I can't put my finger on why it is, just that it doesn't feel right." He narrowed his eyes. "As soon as I denied you being a murderer, or not looking like one, it was like clouds in my mind broke and I could think clearly."
"That's because of the book," I admitted. "Estelle is using it to control what everyone is thinking and feeling."
His wary eyes widened. "That's dark magic."
I bit my lip. He wasn't wrong. "Very."
"And that's what's making me feel as if I hate you?" He rubbed his chest. Damn it. He still felt the book's influence.
It felt as if a knife stabbed through my heart. But at the same time, our bond pulsed and strengthened. He was fighting her control without any kind of physical contact.
"I think so." My voice came out small and twisted. I hated it. I should've been stronger than this. "Why is our bond getting stronger?" I blurted.
A half-smile spread over Jayse's face. "I have a couple of theories."
"Do they involve you believing that I didn't kill someone?" And that I didn't sleep with someone else before coming to Brooks and Francis? I didn't want to say that part out loud, it just sounded bad.
"I think so. But there's something else too."
"What?" I relaxed a little, the confirmation that he was starting to see me differently setting in. I knew it would still take time before the two of us were back where we should be.
"What do you know about shifter mates?" he asked.
I shrugged. "That it's a bit different than for witches and vampires. We can choose to an extent, though there are people who are more suited to us." Like me with Brooks and Francis. Both of them fit me right, that was something no one would be able to deny. But we'd have to refresh our bonds for the rest of our lives.
"Yes, the others explained it to me when we realized we were all into you. But for shifters, it's different. We know the one we're meant to be with, and there's no going back once we've met. Sometimes, people can fall in love again after they've lost a mate. But the first one..." The earnestness in his eyes told me all I needed to know. And yet, I had to ask.
"And you think that's me?" I asked quietly.
He nodded. "And I think being in the same room as you is helping build that bond, and it's cutting through the enchantment from the book."
I sighed in relief. That was all I wanted to hear.
Taking a chance, I finally moved from my spot and crawled over to him, keeping the sheet wrapped around my lower body, since I was still naked down there. I cupped his cheeks in my hand and brought our lips together. The bond between us snapped into place, every bit as strong as the other two. I'd expected it to take longer, he hadn't bitten me to seal it or anything. But maybe this was just the nature of a shifter bond.
His hand tangled in my hair as he kissed me back. I sank into him, enjoying the warmth his body provided and the relief that being so close to him brought. I didn't have to worry that he wouldn't believe me again. All three of my guys now knew the truth, and so long as we kept the bonds strong, Estelle wouldn't be able to gain more control. At least, that was what I hoped. Now I just had to work out how to defeat her.
Chapter Seven
JAYSE GOT OFF THE BED to go get Brooks and Francis.
"Now what?" Francis asked.
"Now, we need to get proof to someone in authority. Someone that can make sure the book is destroyed." I looked at my guys. "She has to be made to pay for her crimes. This is bigger than school bullying."
Francis nodded. "Should we just go now? Go tell them?"
"I think we should." Jayse squeezed my hand. "They can find the book and deal with this."
"Okay." I agreed. It was too big for us. The book was damn powerful. "Give me a sec to clean up and get dressed?" We'd done very personal and naughty things to each other the night before, but somehow getting dressed in front of them felt intimate. Private.
"Sure, of course." They'd dressed while I was still conked out, so they waited in the hall while I found my clothes and wiped my face off in their bathroom. After using my finger to brush my teeth and borrowing someone's comb to untangle the nest of my hair, I was good to go. I joined them in the hall.
"Ready?"
"Sure," Brooks said. "What are we doing today?"
I was game for whatever. "I'm hungry. Breakfast?"
Jayse grinned. "Sure. I'm ready to show off this new thing we've got going on."
We made our way down to the cafeteria, and I held Jayse's hand as we walked in. Brooks insisted on holding my tray, while Francis filled it. On the way to the table, I held Francis’ hand. Not really my decision, they sort of flitted around me and I went along with it. Why not? It worked for us.
Eyes were glued to us as we carried our food to an empty table and sat down to eat.
I chewed thoughtfully. "I feel like there was something we were going to do today."
Jayse nodded and held his fork full of eggs midway to his face. "Yeah. That sounds right, but I can't think of what it was."
Francis nodded. "We don't have class for another day, so it wasn't that."
"I could stand some time in the woods," Brooks said as he picked at his bacon.
Being in the woods was one of my favorite things, so no arguments from me. "That sounds amazing."
Brooks had the genius idea to have the cafeteria pack us a picnic lunch. I watched as he charmed the ladies working in the kitchen, and before I knew it, we had a basket full of goodies.
"Let's go." J
ayse's face was lit up like a child on his birthday, excited to get some time outdoors. Shifters were naturally tied to nature. Of course, Brooks and I were in our element. Francis was more of a take it or leave it attitude about being near the earth and plants, but we all enjoyed ourselves anyway.
Far too soon, the sun began to turn pink, then orange, and we knew the night was fast approaching.
"I guess I'll go back to my dorm tonight." The regret at leaving them was strong. We walked inside, taking our time and talking. I'd learned a bit about their childhoods and told them about mine. We'd talked about everything and nothing. Such a good day.
Francis turned as we reached my dorm door. I pressed a kiss to his lips, then one to Brooks’.
"I need a shower and fresh clothes. I'll meet up with you in the morning?"
I got hugs and more kisses from all three men, then Jayse cupped my face. "I'm glad we fixed it all. I'm glad we're together," he whispered.
Pressing my lips to his, I sighed. Happiness bloomed through me, only marred by that tickling remembrance that there was something I needed to do.
I walked into my dorm room on cloud nine. Tyler and Estelle sat at the small table near the kitchenette, playing a round of some card game or another.
"Hello," I called out in a sing-song voice. "How was your day?"
Tyler arched an eyebrow. "Fine. Been looking for you."
"I spent the day with my guys in the woods. Near nature, getting to know them. It was perfection."
Estelle laughed, and the sound of her voice slammed into me like a freight train. The connection to my guys flared to life, and I realized all day it had been layered with something akin to a cloud full of sunshine. All my emotions had been manipulated, leaving me with a day of wonder and happiness. It had been lovely, but it had been fake.
Catching my breath, I schooled my face to remain pleasant and placid. I didn't want Estelle to know whatever she'd done had worn off or been blown away by the sound of her nasally voice. If she thought whatever the last thing she'd written in the book was still holding, she might not write anything else.
"I'm exhausted." Untrue. I was wired and starving. But that had to wait. Nothing mattered but getting my hands on the book before Estelle had time to do something else.
I didn't want to leave the room even for a shower, then heading to get a bite to eat was what I'd do if I could. Leaving Estelle alone in the room with the book wasn't an option, however. I saw it on her bedside table. She wasn't even attempting to hide that she had possession of it anymore.
Quickly changing in the bathroom, I slid into my bed and turned on my side, which was my natural sleeping position, but fortunately put me in direct sight of the book.
Tyler and Estelle played another couple of rounds, then turned in themselves. Tyler went for a late dinner, but Estelle bustled around the room, rubbing lotion into her face and trimming her fingernails. Normal stuff if you weren't plotting murder and mayhem.
Finally, Tyler returned and settled into bed, followed by Estelle. When their breathing was regular and even, I sent a trickle of magic to Estelle, imbibing her with good dreams and deep sleep. It wasn't complicated magic, but I didn't dare send too much. I didn't want to kill her or anything. Just make sure she didn't wake up while I got the book.
Tiptoeing in my pajamas around Estelle's bed, I grabbed the book as quickly and quietly as I could, then went back to my bed for my cell phone and shoes. Skipping socks, I slipped my feet into my sneakers, put my phone in the pocket of my pajama pants, and took off. As soon as I was out in the hall, I texted my guys in a group text we'd set up earlier in the day. Hopefully, they were awake.
They replied a few minutes later. Brooks said they'd meet me in the library.
I headed to the back corner, to the little spot I'd found to be most private. Nobody was around this time of night, but the library was always unlocked. Never knew when a student would need to study.
She had to have written something in the book to make me forget to turn it into the authorities. I wasn't even sure what would happen if I decided again to try it. For the time being, I had no intention of turning it over, though eventually I still hoped to.
My mind remained my own, best I could tell, so the eventual desire to turn the book over apparently didn't defy whatever was written in it about the discovery of Estelle. It would take hours to look through everything written in the book. I didn't know what else to do but sit and go through it.
I skimmed the pages as I turned them, but every page I turned it felt like another one grew in its place. Yet somehow the total size of the book didn't grow.
By the time Brooks, Jayse, and Francis arrived, I'd read over thirty or forty pages, yet it didn't look like I'd made a dent in the inch-thick tome.
"This is it?" Jayse put his hand out as if to feel the aura around the book. "Doesn't feel ominous."
Brooks narrowed his eyes on it. Probably sending magic toward the book, probing it. I'd done that, too, but I wasn't a strong enough witch to make a difference.
"It's dark. Very dark, but it's buried under layer after layer of protection spells." He sat across from me, eyes on the book. "I'm not sure if we can destroy it."
I sank back against the stack of books behind me. If we couldn't destroy it, I wasn't sure where to go from here. If we at least could keep it out of Estelle's hands.
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I had the best idea. "We should go dancing." I looked at my guys, a hopeful expression on my face.
"No, wait." Francis covered his eyes. "Stop. Think about the book. What did you just think that would make the book change your train of thought and make you want to go dancing?"
What had I been thinking about? "I'm not sure. I was thinking about not being able to destroy it, then I thought if we could at least keep it away from—Oh, I have a great idea. We should go dancing." I'd love to spin around the dance floor with their strong arms around me, making me feel small and cherished.
"You did it again." Jayse touched my chin, pulling my attention to him. "Stop thinking about taking the book away from anyone. We aren't taking it anywhere. We're just looking at it. That's all."
I nodded. "Right. Thinking about taking it away or hiding it or showing it to the authorities makes my mind go nuts."
We will not remove the book from the school. We won't give it to the authorities.
As those words crossed my mind, the fog lifted again, and I was able to think rationally again.
“Let’s just look through it and see if we can find the spell that’s keeping us from doing things...” I struggled to find the words that wouldn’t trigger the spell. “From doing the things we’d truly like to do with the book.” My mind felt fuzzy for a second, but I fought against it and succeeded.
We combed through the book for the next several hours, and finally, finally, I found a page that explained so much. The top had my name written in what was almost definitely blood. Underneath was a list of actions that were crossed out with another written beneath. Some of the ones crossed out included “Embarrasses herself in front of most of school and blames Kristi,” “Kills Kristi by writing something in the book that will lead to Kristi’s death,” and “Can't seem to get her potential boyfriends alone.” The latest one was “Keeps getting distracted by new boyfriends and doesn’t do what she thinks is important.”
Well, that explained a lot. Before I knew what I was doing, I’d grabbed the page and yanked it from the volume. To my utter surprise, it ripped out with no problem. I’d expected the book to resist any damage to it.
“We can rip pages out,” I breathed. I grabbed another and yanked, but only got a paper cut for my efforts. “Oh, no.”
“Let me try.” Jayse grabbed the book and before he ripped, he stopped and gently tugged, just in case the same thing happened to him. His page ripped out with ease. “Hey, cool.”
“Try another,” I urged.
He did, but it wouldn’t budge. It was like made from stone.
> Francis and Brooks were both able to pull one page, and one page only, out of the book.
“Okay, so we have a few options,” I said, staring at the evil tome. “We can ask other people to take pages out, slowly removing the worst pages we find. We can try again later. Maybe it’ll let us take another tomorrow.”
“First, can we destroy the pages we took out?” Francis said. We all sucked in a breath, as if waiting to see if the book had repercussions for his statement, but nothing happened.
Brooks held out his page. “I know how to create a spark, hang on.” He focused on the page, and a quick spark jumped in his hand. He held the paper in the same spot, then focused again, and the spark hit the paper, but didn’t ignite. I put my hand on his arm and pushed a bit of my magic into him, and the next spark was bigger. The page ignited, burning until it reached his finger and he had to drop it. It burned itself out as it drifted to the ground. “Let it fall on the book,” I suggested, and Jayse quickly pushed the book under the falling ember. When it touched the paper of the cursed book, the ember disappeared in a puff of smoke.
I handed Brooks my paper, and he did the same. As soon as my page disappeared into smoke, I sat up straighter. It was as if someone had taken a huge weight off of my shoulders and left me more carefree and less stressed.
Sighing, I watched Brooks burn the other pages. “Well, it’s a start.”
Chapter Eight
THERE WAS SOMETHING different about the academy today, though I couldn't put my finger on exactly what that was.
The pages.
How could I have been so stupid? Of course, burning the pages would make a difference. I'd felt it myself after we'd burned the page with my name on the top. The things that had been controlling me had lifted away and no longer stopped me from doing them.
I should've taken the book this morning so I could turn it over to the authorities. Even as I had the thought, I pushed it away. It made me feel foggy, plus Estelle had been watching me from the moment I'd woken up. As much as I hadn't wanted to leave her unattended with the book, I'd escaped the room, unable to stand the scrutiny.
Magical Misfit (Magic And Metaphysics Academy Book 3) Page 4