by W. J. May
“Is Lily all right?”
He remembered his own orientation all too well. If asked, he’d tell you there was quite a bit more to it than simply rolling up his sleeve.
She nodded quickly. If she was being honest, Lily had done brilliantly. She was the one who’d been infuriated by the whole thing. If she was being very honest, she was still there.
“Did they make her eat the mud?”
She nodded again, more impatiently this time.
“Yeah, Benji—she ate the mud.”
With that she pulled out her notebook and a pencil, sliding down in her chair and trying to summon the concentration to take in a word of what the teacher was saying. Something about the vocational differences of men recruited into Britain’s colonial army. How each soldier was judged not by their rank or birth, but on the merit of their skills.
Tell that to the general’s son who became an automatic officer, versus the newsboys who had to walk out in front carrying a giant waving flag.
“Arie.”
Jason’s voice was so quiet that for a second she thought she’d imagined it. At nine years old, he’d mastered the art of speaking so softly that only she could hear him with the fox. She couldn’t hear him until she was sixteen, but still... the guy was clever.
She shot him a covert glance, only to see him staring with concern.
“Are you okay?”
How did he always know? Sometimes, he knew even before Benji. It was like the guy was a secret hybrid himself. One part cryokinetic, the other part telepath.
She started to nod again, then stopped herself suddenly—turning to look him in the eyes.
Had Jason ever considered saying no? Had Jason considered telling them that they couldn’t get something for nothing, then walking away? Would he consider it differently now?
“—quite a bit like our own Privy Council,” Dorf concluded, tossing the marker onto his desk with a self-satisfied smile. “We work together as a system. Every person does their part.”
In hindsight, Aria didn’t know exactly what set her off. Maybe it was that she’d been set on fire just a few hours earlier. Maybe it was echoes of the word ‘specimen’ ringing in her ears.
But whatever the reason, she simply snapped.
“That’s not true,” she said quietly.
The professor’s smile faded as everyone swiveled around to stare in her direction. There were whispers of excitement and confusion. On either side, Benji and Jason exchanged a quick look.
“Did you have something to add, Miss Wardell?”
She pulled in a breath, then smiled sweetly at him from her desk. “Not at all. You’re doing a fine job bullshitting everybody all by yourself.”
There was a gasp from the students as Dorf stared at her in honest surprise.
“Excuse me?”
“Arie,” Benji cautioned quietly, “back off.”
“You really think that’s how the Privy Council works?” she asked caustically. “That we all work as a system? That each person plays a part?” She pushed to her feet, gesturing in a wide arc to the teenagers sitting beside her. “What about all of us?”
Dorf glanced around quickly, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, Miss Wardell. I don’t follow—”
“What is our part?” she demanded, cupping a hand over her ear. “Your precious Privy Council stopped recruiting, even though they’re more than happy to keep going on cataloguing all of our ink. So if we’re all just sitting here, tell me again...what’s our part?”
A muscle twitched in the man’s jaw, and he pointed slowly to her chair. “Sit down, Aria.”
A flash of adrenaline spiked in her veins, tunneling her vision down to that one man.
“Why? What’s the point?” Her eyes flashed with sarcasm. “So I can sit through another lecture about our ‘supernatural togetherness’? How we all matter just the same?”
His voice lowered dangerously, though each word was clear for all to hear. “I don’t know what’s behind this little outburst of yours, but I can promise you’re going to have a long time to figure it out sitting in detention. Now take a seat before I—”
And that’s when everything started to go very wrong.
“—before you what?”
Her hand flashed up between them, freezing him in place.
There was another gasp as several students leapt back in shock. The new students simply stared in disbelief as Benji sprang to his feet, grabbing her arm.
“What the hell are you doing!” he hissed. “Unfreeze him—now!”
She gave him a look before turning her eyes back to the teacher. He was rigid as a statue, staring in a palsied sort of rage. She tilted her head to the side with a frightening smile.
“Careful, sir. Don’t make threats you can’t back up.”
With that she picked up her bag and stormed out of the classroom, slamming the door behind her. The second it shut the teacher unfroze, falling to his knees in astonishment.
Chapter 12
Oftentimes, in moments of panic the mind shuts down and simply reverts to routine. It might seem counterintuitive, given that she’d recently attacked one of her teachers using her own bare hands, but short of any better ideas Aria did what she always did that time of day.
She went to lunch.
The entire cafeteria was buzzing by the time she walked in. There were few things more powerful in the supernatural world than the Guilder rumor mill, and as she glided between the tables to her regular seat in the back every single person turned to look her way.
Look while you can, she thought, biting the inside of her lip and trying to stay calm. I’ll be expelled before long. Consider this my farewell tour.
For a fleeting moment, she thought of James. Would they let him keep coming to Guilder if he didn’t get a tatù and his sister had recently been kicked out? For a fleeting moment, she thought of her parents. They would be so disappointed, she couldn’t even imagine it. She wondered if Julian had seen the outburst coming. If he’d already seen the outcome. If they were already on their way.
“Arie!”
The door burst open and Benji swept inside, looking as upset as she’d ever seen. He ignored the scores of frenzied onlookers and marched straight down the middle of the room, slamming his hands on the table so hard that it made her jump.
“What the HELL were you thinking!”
Her eyes flashed quickly to both sides, taking in the sea of wide-eyed faces. “Lower your voice—”
“You attacked a teacher, Arie!” he shouted. “You used your ink against a freakin’ teacher!”
She flicked her finger, sending a chair flying towards his legs. “Sit down and lower your voice.”
Most people would have done it. Benji wasn’t most people.
He stayed right here he was, glaring down at her with such intensity that the rage bubbling inside her temporarily gave way to fear. His eyes—the brightest blue she’d ever seen—crackled with electric energy as he stood rigid as a board, both fists planted on the table.
“Or what?” he challenged. “You’ll use your ink on me, too?”
She clenched her jaw, trying desperately to find the anger again. It was the only thing in the world that was making sure she didn’t cry.
“It’s just happened,” she whispered, holding very tight to her own hands. “I wasn’t trying to do it. I was just so angry and it-it just happened. And now I’m going to be expelled.”
Benji’s eyes softened ever so slightly as he relaxed his rigid pose. A second later, he hopped over the table and took his regular seat beside her. A second after that, he squeezed her knee.
“They’re not going to expel you,” he said softly, waving away their classmates with a threatening hand. “Jason’s in there right now talking to Dorf. He’ll find a way to fix it.”
A forbidden tear streaked down Aria’s cheek, and she wiped it quickly with the back of her hand. “How? What could he possibly say?”
“I don’t know, he’ll say you
were drunk or something.” Benji tilted his head, trying to catch her eye. “That you ate some mushrooms in the park and now you’re permanently high.”
She snorted in spite of herself, shooting him a watery grin. It faded quickly, replaced with a belated shiver. “I can’t believe I did that.”
He stared at her for a moment, then gave her leg another squeeze. “Yeah, I can’t believe you did that either.”
At that moment, the doors burst open again and several more people flooded inside. Lily was in the front, looking positively incensed as she hurried across the room. Lisette and Catalina were close behind her, walking as quickly as they could without breaking into a run.
“Are you crazy?!” Lily hissed the second she got close. It wasn’t often the girl lost her temper; it was almost as jarring as seeing Benji do it himself. “Have you completely lost your mind?!”
Benji held up a calming hand, kicking out a chair for her to sit. “We already did the lecture, Lil. Moving on to penance and pastries now.” With that he grabbed a chocolate croissant off a tray that Lisette had grabbed by the door, popping it into his mouth with a grin. “Besides—it’s going to be fine. Jason’s fixing it.”
Lily folded her arms tightly across her chest, keeping her eyes on Aria.
“How?” she asked coldly.
“He’s talking to Mr. Dorf,” Aria mumbled. “Something about drunken mushrooms.”
Lisette and Catalina shared a curious look, while Lily’s eyes flashed dangerously. “You’d better hope it works. Otherwise, we have to get Aunt Natasha over here to brainwash the whole school.” The other girls giggle nervously, and she shot them a murderous look. “You think that’s a joke? You’re going to be first on the list.”
“There he is.”
Benji dropped the pastry and straightened to attention, watching as Jason walked quickly through the room. The new students entered just a moment behind him, staring after him curiously before following along at a safe distance.
“Well?” Benji demanded, staring up at him expectantly.
Aria lifted her eyes as well, almost too embarrassed to meet his gaze. They’d bailed each other out of trouble countless times in the past. But nothing even came close to this.
He was breathless and a little pale, but there was a calmness about him that was reassuring. “No expulsion—just detention.” The others stared at him in astonishment, and he lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I said you were having a bad reaction to diet pills.”
...diet pills?
There was a sudden burst of laughter as the entire table exhaled in relief. Benji stood up with a grin, giving Jason one of those bro-ish handshakes, while Aria closed her eyes and slid lower in her chair. No expulsion? Just a detention? She was going to bake Jason a cake. Or twelve.
“I can’t believe you pulled that off,” Lily gasped—in a considerably better mood now that she knew her best friend wasn’t going to be exiled in disgrace. “How did you manage it?”
“I can be charming when I want to be.” Jason abandoned his usual place and sat next to Aria instead, pulling a phone from his pocket with a wink. “You left this at my house the other day.”
The morning’s shadows suddenly fell away as she took it with wide eyes, blushing faintly as she remembered how the other day ended. As usual, Jason seemed to be thinking the same thing.
He leaned a little closer, eyes twinkling with a secret smile as the rest of the friends chattered obliviously about the dangers and delights of mushrooms. Their knees were touching beneath the table. She felt the heat radiating off his body as another delicate blush washed across her face.
“About the other night...are we cool?”
All at once, the butterflies vanished and her face lit up with a genuine smile. It was such a Jason way to address it. Head tilted with a little grin, blond hair spilling into his eyes.
“Yeah, we’re cool.”
Their eyes danced as they shared a secret smile, arms folded on the table in front of them, legs brushing against each other as they looked into each other’s eyes.
Then a bag dropped in the middle of the table.
Aria looked up with a start as the trays clattered, only to see the trio of shifters standing in front of her. The boy from before—the one who’d dropped his bag—tilted his head with a smile.
“Mind if we sit?”
Jason straightened slowly as Benji eyed the newcomers with a trace of dislike. Only Lily was instantly welcoming, scooping her own things onto the floor to make room.
“Sure,” Aria said with a touch of hesitation. “Anywhere you like.”
The tall guy in the middle flashed another smile before sinking into the chair directly across from her—keeping direct eye contact the entire time. The girl was a little more tentative, glancing around the table quickly before sitting next to Lily, while the third sat at the very end.
“That was quite a little show you put on in history class,” the guy said casually, looking her up and down with a secret grin. “Nothing compared to the one in the hallway, but I have to admit it came pretty close. Are things always this dramatic at your school?”
Benji’s lips pursed with a hint of annoyance, while Jason tensed at the mention of their previous encounter in the hall.
“Just on the weekdays,” he answered briskly. “Who are you?”
The guy tore his eyes away from Aria, giving Jason the same appraising stare. A few seconds passed before he finally replied. “Alexander Hastings. That’s my sister, Sofia. And Eric Lach.”
There was nothing overtly strange about what he said, but there was something strange about the way he said it. As if English wasn’t his native language. Or like he was censoring each word very carefully before letting it leave his lips.
Aria studied the trio closely while the others went around the table with introductions.
He was just as tall as her towering friends, with a spattering of jet black hair that fell in little points all around his face. He was handsome, too, with darkly glittering eyes that seemed to pierce right through her. But there was something about him that put her on edge. Like, even when he was looking at you, he was always thinking of something else.
His sister was the exact opposite.
Graceful and slender, she had long waves of hair the color of rich espresso, a creamy pale complexion, and green, almond-shaped eyes. There was nothing aggressive about her whatsoever. Quite the contrary, cowering in the shadow of her intimidating brother, she seemed almost shy.
Which just left Eric.
Truth be told, Aria wasn’t sure there was all that much to Eric besides what she’d already seen on the surface. Wearing a bulging t-shirt and a perpetual scowl, the guy had the muscles of a forty-year-old bodybuilder. He sat with his arms folded tightly across his chest, glancing occasionally around the cafeteria like he was sizing up threats.
Aria tuned back in just as the conversation circled back to her and Benji.
“Alex?” he asked, reaching across the table to shake his hand.
The guy stared for a moment, then shook his head. “I prefer Alexander.”
The hand retracted.
“Which just leaves you,” he continued, staring at Aria with that same inexplicable twinkle in his eyes. “The girl who just can’t stay out of trouble.”
She flushed slightly, but held his gaze. “I actually go by Aria.”
His lips twisted, like he was trying to remember how to smile. “Yes, I think I’ve heard that shouted around the cafeteria a couple of times...”
She shifted uncomfortably, wondering if someone was high after all, when Benji swooped in for the rescue. “So you guys just transferred in from the Abbey? You been there long?”
They nodded in unison and he stared across the table with a slight frown.
“I’m surprised we haven’t met.”
Sofia flushed as Eric tightened his fists, but Alexander leaned forward with a cool smile. “That’s right—you’re a little god over there.”
Alexander smiled again before turning back to Aria.
“Just like both your grandfathers run this place.” His eyes flickered over the arched stone ceilings and buffet line before sharpening ever so slightly. “Must be nice.”
The friends froze uncertainly as Aria sent up a telepathic SOS.
Okay, what the heck is WRONG with this guy?
Fortunately, not everyone got the message. And Lisette, who had wheedled around the table to sit beside Jason, was more than eager to turn the conversation to other things.
“So a bunch of the juniors are trying to get Gabriel to do another demonstration.”
Jason tried valiantly to appear interested. “Another one? Why?”
She giggled behind her hand as she and Catalina exchanged a knowing look. “...because your dad’s hot?”
Interesting strategy. Seduce the son by lusting after his father?
Jason made a face like he was going to be sick. “Dude—gross.”
The others cackled with laughter. They’d all found themselves in similar situations over the years. They were terrible. But they were always funny when they happened to someone else.
The trouble was their parents were young. Mid-thirties. And while the children were unable to see them as anything other than the people who doled out allowances and chores, to the rest of the world they were famed for their beauty. They were ogled at the theater, propositioned in coffee shops, shamelessly approached as they walked their kids down the street. When she was a toddler, Lily was once handed a note at the playground to bring to her father. Angel’s response was epic.
“Your dad is Gabriel Alden?” Alexander asked suddenly, one of the only people not to have laughed. His eyes dilated in sudden intensity, making them seem to jump right out of his face.
Jason glanced over in surprise. “Yeah. Why?”
The guy opened his mouth, then shrugged.
“No reason.” Ignoring the baffled expressions he was leaving behind him, he turned to Aria instead. “So this teacher—Mr. Dorf. He’s giving you a hard time?”