Phoenix Academy: Awaken: A Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance
Page 23
“Ah, right.” Petra fishes something out of her pocket and hands it over to me. “It doesn’t have a picture of you. We don’t seem to have any. But it’s got your name on it.”
Taking the ID, I’m struck by the weight of it, heavier than I thought, even without a case like Olivia’s. There’s something about the rounded corners and magnetic strip that suggests permanence; now made, it can’t be undone.
“I thought I’d only get this if I got a teacher to apprentice me.”
She shrugs. “The headmaster is a fickle lady sometimes. I guess she decided when she hired that new instructor that you’d apprentice under him as a matter of course.” A hesitant expression crosses her face, and she bites her lower lip. “A Grim. I can’t believe she found one she trusts enough to work with you.”
I swallow. “Yeah, they’re... murderous sorts.”
“I know you’re not one of them.” Reaching out, she grasps my hand. “You’re one of us now, through thick and thin. A phoenix, like it or not.”
I’m touched by her solidarity, even though I doubt it’s going to be the overwhelming opinion of our classmates. “Thanks.”
“If you need anything else, just let me know.” Petra starts towards the door, stops, spins back around on her back foot and adds, “Oh, and Dani?”
“What?”
“Don’t run away this time. It ruins all my classwork when I have to go look for you.”
There’s a wry smile twisting up her lips, one I echo. “You don’t have to go look for me. It’s not like anyone made you.”
“I did, though. Can’t exactly let you die out there when I’m responsible for dragging your ass here in the first place. Just try to stick around through finals, okay? That way I can preserve my grades.”
I’m touched. Breaking out of the joke, I tell her, “Thanks for coming to get me. Even though I’m kind of an ass sometimes.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
As she closes the door behind her and heads back to her own room, her words echo in my head, a record skipping over and over again. Friends.
Do I have those now? Apparently. Dying is a funny way to get them. Maybe I won’t be alone after I let the demons go.
Flopping down on the bed, I let my eyes close, thinking of all the things I have to do: unpack, get a not-bloody change of clothing, figure out this whole Black Phoenix thing, maybe start actually applying myself to my classes since apparently I’m going to stay.
But I slip off into sleep before I manage to make myself get up and start on it all.
A sound rings in my ears. No, not one sound; a series of notes, long and high-pitched, that drum against the inside of my skull. A strange, haunting melody that refuses to be ignored.
Something about it is familiar.
Dragged from sleep, I get up out of bed, my limbs stiff, drawn to the song. It calls; I answer.
Step by step I creep out into the hallway, feet bare, still wearing the headmaster’s borrowed blazer. I slip my arms into its sleeves and push them up towards my wrists, staring out one of the windows into the night, a strange kind of symphony rising inside me.
Come, whispers the song, to my ears alone. This way.
I don’t know where I’m going or why. But I can’t stop my feet from obeying. Despite the alarm that screams inside me as I head down the stairs, despite the cold that curls against my toes when I step out onto the frostbitten front lawn, I let the song lead me.
Straight towards a grinning mouth full of sharp teeth.
It’s a mask, I realize, through the fog wrapped around my brain. A mask painted black, with a row of white teeth and beady red eyes. It looks like the sort of thing you’d wear on Halloween if you wanted to play a demon but were being cheap about it.
The man who’s wearing it is dressed in black from head to toe, blending into the night. Next to him, a chain wrapped around her neck and leading to his fingertips, is a half-naked, skinny pale girl with long bedraggled hair. The song slips from her mouth, piercing and high-pitched.
Jerking on the chain, the man makes the singing girl stumble, and I can suddenly see the energy living beneath her skin. She’s no girl, but a demon. As he tightens the chain around her neck, her song rises in volume and pierces my head. I curl up around my middle as pain shoots through me.
Demons. I try to call them, but there’s nothing there except emptiness.
“Tsk tsk. None of that now.” The voice is muffled by the thick plastic of the mask. “Why, aren’t you a pretty thing. Come with me.”
I don’t want to.
But I obey.
27
It continues…
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Also by Lucy Auburn
Phoenix Academy
Phoenix Academy: Awaken
Phoenix Academy: Unbound
Selena Pierce
Fae Like Me
Hell Sucks
Godspring
Wild Heart Chronicles
Primal
Feral
Savage
or… get all of the above as the
Wild Heart Bundle (free!)
Standalones
Three for a Witch
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About the Author
Lucy Auburn is an urban fantasy/paranormal romance writer who lives in the Southwest. She loves writing interesting stories about strong women. Some of the writers who inspire her include Patricia Briggs and Sarah J. Maas.
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