by Keary Taylor
“The telekinesis book,” he said confidently. It was like his child, the first book he ever discovered. “The Coin of Compulsion. The healing book, and the weapons one.”
I breathed out a curse. Four books. They’d gotten four of our books, a huge portion considering the small number of them we had.
“We’ll get them all back,” Borden swore. “No matter what it takes. No matter what we have to do, we’ll get everything back, Nathaniel. I promise you.”
Overhead, a few raindrops fell from the sky.
Borden turned to walk out, but my hand whipped out and gripped him around the arm.
Black and red sparks fanned out with my hand, casting around Borden. And the second I touched him, he dropped to the ground.
Instantly, the rain outside stopped.
“Shit, Margot!” Mary-Beth yelled as she crossed the solarium and dropped on the floor next to him. “What the hell did you just do?”
I gaped, looking at my own hand, and the embers that slowly fell to the ground. “I…I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t…”
Nathaniel crossed to Borden as well, crouching to the ground. He pressed two fingers to his neck and was really still for a moment.
“He seems like he’s fine,” Nathaniel said. “Heartbeat is steady. I think he’s just unconscious. Just like before.”
“This has happened before?” Mary-Beth asked in horror.
“Like I said, there are some parts about all of this you’ve missed,” I said, my throat tight. I looked down at Borden, who laid there, his expression slack, laying in a heap.
“We probably shouldn’t stay here,” Nathaniel said as he looped his arms under Borden’s and straightened him out a bit so he wasn’t laying at such a painful angle. “If the Society Boys come back, we’re in no position for a confrontation. Not with you knocking people out, and not if Borden wakes up. We all need to cool down and make a plan.”
“Life was so easy and uncomplicated before you walked into my class,” Mary-Beth said as she looked over at me. “Come on, grab one of his legs.”
I didn’t argue. I stepped forward and grabbed one. Mary-Beth took the other, and Nathaniel hefted his top half.
Borden was heavier than he looked. He was only about an inch or two shorter than Nathaniel, but he probably outweighed Nathaniel by twenty pounds, maybe more. I’d never looked at Borden in anything more than a glance, but he was fit. Strong and lean, he was made of muscle and healthy meals. So, hauling him across campus was no easy feat.
We half dragged him across the grounds, and we were probably grinding off the seat of his pants as we made our way down the sidewalk toward my house. I opened the door to the house, and we dragged him up the stairs and dumped him unceremoniously on the floor.
Dad came clamoring down the stairs at the noise.
“What happened?” he asked, his eyes wide with panic.
“He’s fine, just unconscious,” Nathaniel explained.
“Was he attacked?” Dad asked as he crossed the living room and did exactly what Nathaniel did, putting his fingertips to his neck to feel for a pulse.
“I kind of might have accidentally knocked him out,” I said. “Like what happened on the beach that night. I’m sure he’ll wake up in an hour or two.”
My father looked up at me, his eyes questioning and narrowed. “Well, was he trying to attack you?”
I shook my head. “Like I said, it was an accident.”
“There was an incident,” Nathaniel said. “Borden was getting worked up and we were all a little nervous he might go and do something he would regret. Margot is telling the truth that she accidentally knocked him out. But she did diffuse the possibility of an altercation.”
“An incident?” Dad questioned.
“It looks like the Society Boys came and stole all of Nathaniel’s shit,” Mary-Beth said, never one to have much of a filter, no matter who she was around. “Like, literally everything.”
Dad turned wide, surprised eyes on Nathaniel.
“Is it alright if Borden and I sleep here tonight?” Nathaniel asked. “Borden has been staying with me for the last week.”
“Of course,” Dad replied without hesitation. “You’re always welcome, any night. Is there something I need to talk to Dean Lowell about, though? If the Boys are getting out of hand…”
“Yes,” I cried.
“No,” Nathaniel said calmly at the same time.
I glared at Nathaniel. His non-confrontational ways annoyed me at times.
“If it gets any worse, we will get the Dean involved,” Nathaniel said, still looking at me. “I believe the situation will blow over before long, and things can go back to normal.”
“Normal is them always being assholes and tormenting you, and causing hell for all of us,” I said, my anger flaring hotter. “What is it going to be next? Them, burning all of our books so we’re back at square one? They don’t even know what they’re doing to us, but they’re just making things worse and worse, Nathaniel. What is it going to take?”
He didn’t say anything as he held my gaze, and for once, I just wanted him to yell. To fight. To take this to action.
I knew his history. I knew what he was capable of.
But I couldn’t stand bullies. I had no problem standing up to them.
So, Nathaniel just stepping aside and letting them do what they would, burned me inside.
“Come on,” Mary-Beth said, looping her arm through mine. “We’re all tired and a little emotional. Let’s get you to bed. Is it okay if I crash here tonight too, Professor Bell?”
“Of course,” he muttered, not knowing what to say.
I was angry. And for this moment, I wished I hadn’t knocked Borden out. I wish he was here to back me up, that something needed to be done, something that would get them out of our way for good.
But maybe Mary-Beth was right. Maybe I needed to sleep on it before I did something I would regret.
So, I let her drag me upstairs.
She shoved me into the bathroom and told me to brush my teeth, which I did with such gusto, my gums were bleeding when I spat in the sink and rinsed my mouth. I yanked on pajamas and threw a clean pair at her to change into.
She must have known me well enough, because as I clicked off the lamp and we both climbed into my bed, she didn’t say a word.
She let me be angry, and she let me plot in my head what I was going to do to fix this.
Chapter Eighteen
I didn’t sleep the entire night. I thought eventually I would fall into a restless sleep, maybe have some vengeful dreams. But I stared at the ceiling the entire night coming up with my plan.
Mary-Beth was out like a light within twenty minutes of lying down. She did everything to one extreme or another.
She was still sleeping when I decided to crawl out of bed at five o’clock, even though it was a Saturday.
I dressed quietly, and she never once stirred. I slipped out of my bedroom, closing the door as much as I dared without making it squeal. I listened at my father’s door and heard his deep breathing. A quick peek in the extra bedroom revealed Nathaniel sleeping on the twin-size bed my dad had gotten a few weeks ago.
On light feet, I made my way down the stairs.
And I froze solid when I got to the bottom of them, and saw Borden there, pulling his shoes on, looking up at me with wide eyes.
I held a finger up to my lips to tell him to stay quiet. I nodded toward the door, and slipped on my own shoes and coat, and without a word, the both of us stepped outside.
The ground was frosty and the streets entirely empty. The sun was barely starting to creep up into the sky, so I could hardly see where I was going.
“I’m really sorry I knocked you out last night,” I said in a quiet voice as we set off down the street, headed back toward the opening to Alderidge. “It was a total accident.”
Borden shook his head. “You were probably right to do what you did. I had some pretty violent thoughts rolling through my head
. Plus, that was probably the best night’s sleep I’ve had in months.”
I huffed a laugh and shook my head. “Still. I didn’t mean to do it, and I’m sorry.”
“Already forgotten,” Borden said. He followed me, even though he didn’t know where we were going.
I shook my head again, and I hated this feeling inside of me. This anger. This antsy need to go do something. Something harsh and final. Something that would unleash all the feelings pent up inside of me.
“What do you think needs to be done?” I asked as we got to the end of the fence and hooked into the grounds. “Because I don’t see this ending. The Society Boys have been determined to make us miserable for months. And their attacks on you are getting more and more dangerous.”
Borden looked over at me, and as he read my face, I saw something deepening in his own. Like his view of me was changing. “I think we need to do something to put an end to this shitbaggery. We need to cut David off at the ankles. Make it so he doesn’t bother us ever again.”
Something coiled and riled in my chest. I nodded. “I agree. And I have a plan.”
“What about Nathaniel?”
My jaw grew tight and I shook my head as I cast my eyes around the grounds. “What about him? He can handle this his way, but I’m going to handle it my way.”
I caught a glimpse of the small, controlled smile that crossed Borden’s face. “I’m in. What’s the plan?”
“You have your keys to your building?” I asked.
Borden reached into his pocket and pulled out a single key on a ring with a cutout of the empire state building. I nodded, and we cut across the grounds as I explained the plan to him.
The beautiful brick building in the middle of all the student housing was reserved only for the Society Boys. While the core five of them were our main tormenters, they were all seniors. There were equally as many juniors, sophomores, and freshman who all belonged to the same rich, inner circle. Each grade went up a level in the building, with the seniors all residing on the top, fourth floor.
No wonder Borden had been living with Nathaniel for the last week. Having no escape from the guys who were trying to make your life miserable had to be terrible.
Silently, Borden unlocked the main door. It was quiet inside, and there were no signs of life in the living room or kitchen. There weren’t any showers running. No sounds of footsteps in the halls.
Quietly, we worked our way up to the fourth floor.
We cut straight to David’s bedroom first. And I watched in admiration, as Borden used telekinesis to unlock the door without an ounce of trouble.
The door swung open without even a squeal.
The light was still dim, but we could see just enough. There was David lying in his bed, his back turned toward us. There was a grand desk against one wall, homework and books scattered over its surface. A bookcase lined another wall, and it was only a quarter filled. There was a chest at the foot of his bed, and a closet on the far side, lined with well cared for, expensive clothes.
We started with the books first. One by one, Borden and I used telekinesis to float the books to us. We checked them to see if they were ours. I didn’t know every one of Nathaniel’s books, so in the end, I sent all of them floating down through the building, out the door, and back to the solarium. I doubted David would truly mourn their loss.
And toward the end of the process, I found every single one of our mage books, all on one of his shelves.
Thankfully we’d glamoured them, so to David, they would look like a mix of Latin and German, utter nonsense, even if he could speak or read either of those languages.
When we were finished with the books, I smiled and nodded to Borden.
Using my concentration, I made the huge window inch open as wide as it could go.
I was grateful it wasn’t windy. That might wake David immediately. But it was still cold, so we had to act fast.
Borden and I both went to work. We started with the clothes in his closet. One piece at a time, and then whole piles and hangers, we sent them sailing out the window. We didn’t aim them anywhere in particular, just far. On top of the roof, the roof of Alderidge. Scattered across the grounds. Out to the beach or the ocean.
We flung every single piece out the window until the closet was stark empty.
We went after his desk next, which was a trick to fit out the window. But with some very careful telekinetic maneuvering, we managed to fit it out. We put it up on the roof of the building next door.
Next, we went after the chest at the foot of his bed. It was filled with shoes, and various things. We scattered them around the grounds and the ocean and beach as well. And then we maneuvered the chest outside, setting it down on top of the tallest tower of Alderidge.
Then we carefully closed the window before it could get too cold inside.
It was as if I had a balance list in my mind of everything the Society Boys had done to us.
David had relentlessly pursued me. They’d tried to kill Nathaniel. They’d gotten into numerous physical fights with him and Borden. They’d tried to get Borden expelled. And they’d invaded Nathaniel’s personal space and taken all of his possessions.
Some of those things I could never balance or make right. I wasn’t going to trade a life for a life. I certainly wasn’t going to romantically pester David. And I wasn’t going to get my hands bloody with a physical attack.
But I could take their things.
I could expose the truth about these boys when it came to their grades.
And I could make sure none of the other things ever happened again.
Glancing around to make sure that there was no one watching, I carefully walked through the room. I watched David as I approached, and his eyes remained closed, looking so innocent in sleep.
But I touched my fingertips to his temples, and instantly, I knew that he wasn’t innocent in anything.
I knew he was guilty, that he’d taken all of Nathaniel’s things. But it was a relief to get absolute confirmation when I dove into his mind.
I watched the memory of him and his lackeys avoiding James all day. He’d been acting annoyingly, trying to change the subject whenever they’d brought up their retaliation against Borden. He’d been acting like a pansy and David had had enough. So, they’d all met together without James—David, Donald, Gerald, and Howard, and made their plan.
They’d followed Borden to the solarium on a few occasions. They’d seen him staying with Nathaniel. And they waited for their opportunity, which presented itself on Saturday night.
They’d gone in. They’d brought a truck even. And then they’d taken everything. Loaded it all up, huffing with the effort and laughing and making fun of all of Nathaniel’s used belongings.
They’d hauled it all to a storage unit across town. But for good measure, David had taken most of the books back to his own dorm.
They’d waited for a while outside the solarium, so they could get a good laugh when they saw Borden’s angry face. But it had gotten late, and they were all tired from moving all of Nathaniel’s things in a hurry. So, they’d gone home and went to sleep, without feeling guilty about any of it.
I hated him. David was the worst kind of bully, the kind that thought others deserved this kind of treatment for daring to step a toe outside of his version of normal. And he thought it was funny. He got pleasure out of other people’s pain.
The memories flashed red. I left the memory of taking Nathaniel’s things there, I let him remember that he’d done something terrible. But I made David forget where the solarium was, or that it even existed. I pushed confusion and uncertainty into his mind. I pushed guilt into it. And I erased Borden from David’s mind. I made him forget that they’d ever been friends, that Borden had ever been part of the Society Boys.
I couldn’t make him be a better person. So, all I could do was erase us from his mind.
I tried to be thorough. I tried to think of every angle and every complication.
I plucked us from David’s existence.
And when I was sure I’d done all I could do, I let go of David.
He still laid there, sleeping like a baby.
On tiptoes, I walked across the room, back to Borden. We locked the door and closed it behind us.
And one by one, we went through the bedrooms of each of the senior Society Boys. We emptied their closets. Their cluttered corners. We took their shoes and their books all went to the solarium. We sent every bit of furniture out the windows and scattered them out on the roofs around campus where they would be near impossible to retrieve.
And then I dove into all of their minds. I did to them what I’d done to David. I removed us completely from their minds. I made them forget their connections. I erased every possibility of being their target.
I didn’t know if it would work. Not to the extent I hoped for. Surely I couldn’t take it all. Because if I could take four years of history between them and Borden, what else could I take? Their entire identity?
I didn’t think so.
So, we would only have to wait and see just how deep this worked.
When we were finished, Borden and I went to his bedroom.
And it was… strange, being in his space with him.
We went inside and closed the door behind us, locking the door.
“I don’t know about you, but that felt pretty damn good to me,” Borden said as he walked around his room. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, or what he was looking at.
“Revenge does taste pretty sweet,” I said as I took in his surroundings.
The walls were all paneled wood, and even this room screamed money. The bedding on his bed looked more expensive than all the furniture in our living room. The clothes in his closet probably cost as much as my entire house. The books in the room were neatly lined up on the row of shelves opposite of his bed. Everything was neat and tidy, in its place. And it smelled just like him. Like money and some kind of clean spice. He smelled like a bourbon commercial, if that made any sense at all.
“I’m going out to find an apartment today,” Borden said. I realized then he was trying to decide what he would take, and what had to stay here in the dorm. “Want to come with me?”