by Kirah Nyx
But, before she could reach the stream, a gnome jumped from its burrow—the very same one she’d treaded on earlier. It grinned toothily at her before it lassoed a long thorny vine.
“NO! DON’T!”
Her screams whirled away in the wind. The gnome guffawed and hurled the vine at her. The Shifter’s teeth caught the ends of whipping white hair.
Ivy kicked her feet against the soil as she tried to stop and change course. But it was too late. The vine snared around her torso and wrenched her off her feet.
Her scream ripped out through the forest. Her back crashed onto the soil. A thunderous pounding sensation cracked the base of her skull.
Ivy frowned.
Dazed eyes gazed up at the swaying leaves and branches. Fleetingly, she wondered if she’d hit her head on a boulder. It sure felt like it.
The warmth of the blood seeped into her hair, the hazy shock clouded her vision, and her muscles relaxed on the dirt.
Dark spots blotted the corners of her sight, spreading slowly, seeping over the night sky.
“Help,” she rasped. Her breath whispered away in the breeze. “Addie…”
A black distortion obscured her vision, and she sluggishly gazed up at it.
It came in and out of focus, moving in blurs. It appeared to be three skinless wolves. Bloody, damp noses lowered to her slack face.
Closer … closer they came … flooding her vision with darkness … until that’s all that was left.
8
Laying on her back, arms and legs sprawled out, Ivy slowly opened her eyes. The darkness had gone. Pink took its place.
River.
Her hoarse throat caught the name before it could rasp over her dry tongue. The pink fluttered, almost danced above her. Was River moving? Was he calling for help? Was he fighting the Shifter?
“River,” she whispered throatily. The word didn’t reach her ears. It evaporated in the air that pressed down on her. Ivy blinked again.
A crease knitted her brows as she gazed up at the pink. Gradually, it morphed, and took shape. It wasn’t River at all. It was curtains, shiny and glittery, just like the drapes above her bed in the dorm.
“You’re awake!”
Ivy turned her heavy head to the side.
Penny and Addie were on the bed beside hers. Both hastily tugged on their t-shirts, their cheeks rosier than the drapes above Ivy. She realised that she was in her own bed at the dorms. How did she get there?
Pushing herself the mattress, Ivy propped herself up on her elbows and frowned at the pair. Penny grinned excitedly and scurried over to Ivy’s bed, bouncing on the mattress. “How are you feeling?”
“Dandy,” she replied bitterly. “What the hell happened?”
“We were hoping you could tell us that,” said Addie disapprovingly. Ivy almost blanched under her stern stare. Addie perched herself on the edge of the bed. “You went to use the bathroom, and you didn’t come back.”
“Samael found you,” said Penny. “He brought you back to the dorms, and Felix came to the party to tell us.”
“Did … Did Samael see the wolf?”
Penny and Addie shared a bewildered look. Leaning forward, Addie placed her hand on Ivy’s forehead to check for a temperature. Ivy assumed she didn’t find one when her hand dropped back to the mattress.
“What wolf?” asked Penny.
“The one in the woods. I saw it in the clearing … It attacked me.” Her eyes averted to the duvet as she added, “I almost died.”
“Ivy,” said Addie with a small smile. “Samael found you in a tree.”
Penny explained, “He said you were singing and hanging upside down, playing with a nest of Pixies.”
Addie’s calculative eyes swept over Ivy. “How much of the Fae juice did you have?”
Gingerly, Ivy reached her fingers back to the base of her skull. Dry, crusted blood matted her dirtied hair together, but there was no pain. No wounds, no evidence.
Addie smiled. “Samael said that when he found you, you went mad and tried to run away from him. But, you fell and hit your head on a rock.”
“He used some Fae magic he had on him to heal you,” explained Penny.
“I wasn’t running from Samael. I was running from a wolf. It … It didn’t have any skin, and I could see its insides.” Ivy grimaced at the memory and fell back onto the mountain of pillows. “It chased me.”
“You were hallucinating,” said Addie.
Penny agreed, “There was something in our drinks, Ivy. I saw unicorns prancing on the lake, but everyone knows they’re not real.” She smirked slyly at Addie, and said, “Want to know what Addie saw?”
Addie lifted her hand to silence her. “Please, can we not divulge my shame.”
Shifting to sit cross-legged, Penny giggled. “Addie thought that a Videer was a Foundling. Poor Addie. She got thrown into the lake. The weeds tried to drag her down to the bottom. It took four Fae to fish her out.”
Ivy shook her head and looked at the window seat. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen that wolf,” she whispered.
The blush faded from Addie’s sharp cheekbones, and Penny’s smile vanished.
“I’ve dreamt about it before,” she explained. “It was the exact same. Yellow eyes, no skin, bloody, and really tall, taller than me. That’s got to mean something, right?”
Penny’s tongue darted over her dry, over-snogged lips. “It was just a dream. Most people have the same nightmare over and over again.”
“It was a Shifter, yes?” asked Addie. Ivy nodded. “Well, there’s your answer. It’s a nightmare you had because we saw the Shifter attack the marketplace. It didn’t have skin.” A light tremor rippled down Addie’s spine at the memory.
“What if it wasn’t a dream?” argued Ivy. Her pleading gaze shifted to Penny. “What if it’s because of you that I’m dreaming these things?”
“Me?” breathed Penny.
“You’re a clairvoyant. You can enter others’ dreams, can’t you? What if what I’m dreaming about is … like an echo of your dreams?”
Penny laughed feebly. “Ivy, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m the only other student that’s doing as poorly as you are in spirit magic. I can’t control my own dreams or form predictions, let alone get into anyone else’s head.”
“But I heard you,” she contended. “In my dream, or hallucination, whatever it was. I heard your voice. You said solstice. If you weren’t in my head, how …”
Ivy trailed off as Addie’s concerned gaze burned into the side of her face. Penny, too, looked at her as though she’d sprouted rows of Fae fangs.
“Forget it,” said Ivy. “It was just a dream.”
*
Atop the window seat, Ivy sat with her knees bent and a book placed on her lap. Her gaze looked through the barred window to the forestry, and the tome went forgotten.
She watched a pair of Fae frolic in the woods and dance around a particularly thick oak tree. They taunted a gnome that hid inside the trunk; the gnome frequently stuck his bushy head out of the hole in the bark and berated the Fae. They merely laughed and continued merrily.
Domenic straddled a chair facing the window in the library. His dark eyes were fixed on the side of Ivy’s pale face. He watched as a small smile would tug at the corner of her pink lips occasionally. He smirked as her nose scrunched up at times, giving her a snooty and indignant appearance. And he remained silent as she stayed lost in her thoughts. It wasn’t until her fingers began to wring and fidget together and her lips set into a thin line that he broke the silence.
“Something’s troubling you,” he observed. There was a tinge of concern in his tone, but it maintained its uncaring and silky coat.
It took her a few seconds to realise that he had spoken. Thoughts flittered from her sluggish mind as Domenic came to the forefront. Slowly, Ivy turned her head to the side to meet his gaze, and offered him a sweet, genuine smile.
He folded his forearms on the back of the chair he straddled. “Wh
at’s the matter?”
“Nothing, really,” she smiled, but there was a sadness in her eyes. He saw it.
“You’re a terrible liar,” he said, and rested his chin atop his forearms. “You can talk to me, Sky.”
He gazed up at her from beneath his long lashes. Ivy was surprised that she didn’t literally swoon and topple off the window seat. Their gazes stayed locked together as she considered him.
It was then that she realised she could talk to him—she could trust him. But there were too many tangles worries knotted in her mind. She didn’t know where to begin.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“About?”
“When I found out Coach Aldon was my new mentor, I thought I’d get a better handle on my magic. He’s the best. But it hasn’t happened yet, and it’s been months of starvation, practices, research … Nothing’s changed.”
Ivy intentionally left out the real reasons for her irrational fears, but it didn’t make what she’d said any less true.
“Like you just said, it’s only been a few months. Give yourself time.”
“I have,” she sighed. “I’ve been training since I was ten; since in my first year at the Academy. If my powers haven’t come already, they never will. I’ll be a disappointment to my whole family, and a disgrace to the Skylar name. What’s the point in being a Vampire if I don’t get my spirit magic?” She watched the blackness of his irises melt into his dilated pupils. “You know,” she continued, “I don’t have a fiancé yet. Almost everyone else does. Addie and Felix are engaged, Penny and some guy from Ichor, even Harriet Rosado has Noah Starlight. I don’t have anyone, because I’m weak. Powerless.”
Domenic sighed quietly before he replied, “You’re not a failure if you don’t get married. If anybody thinks you are, they’re not people worth your time. Marriage isn’t everything.”
“To the Vampires it is,” Ivy smiled sadly. “We need to marry before we’re thirty. Otherwise, we’ll miss the chance to have children. And then what? Our ancestry fades, and our spirit magic is lost forever.”
“Maybe the fault is with your society, not you,” he suggested softly. “You’re extraordinary in my eyes, and I will think no differently of you if you are unmarried in years to come. Even if your magic doesn’t develop, you’re still a strong woman with great potential. Why do you let others place value on you based on what you can offer as a wife? That’s not right, Sky. Your worth is much more than that. Your worth is your compassion, beliefs, and resilience. It’s the sassy and good person you are.”
Her cheeks flushed and she smiled bitterly.
Grinning, Domenic straightened himself on the chair. “It could be worse. You could be betrothed to a century-old crackpot.”
“My mum and dad have an age gap,” she smiled fondly. “Dad’s seventy years older than mum, and they have a good marriage. They love each other.”
“A rare exception,” he shrugged. “How many married Vampires do you know who are happy with their spouses? Other than your parents.”
Ivy licked her lips tentatively as her mind churned and attempted to offer him an answer. Her grandparents on both sides had age gaps in their marriages. They were all miserable.
“Exactly,” he said, arrogantly. “I’m more qualified to marry you than some stranger with spirit magic and fangs.”
Ivy wiggled her brows. “Is that a proposal?”
“In your dreams,” he scoffed gracefully, and slipped on his go-to arrogant demeanour. “You might a ten, but I’m an eleven. Besides, it’s not like you could possibly tame a bachelor as coveted as myself.”
Snorting in amusement, Ivy shifted around on the window seat to face him. Her legs swung over the edge, dangling her feet above the floor.
“Who’s going to tame the beast you are?”
“Nobody. My career path won’t allow it.”
She looked at him questioningly.
He explained, “I intend on becoming a Keeper when I graduate. I can’t marry.”
Ivy deflated visibly the moment the words left his pink lips.
Keepers were Videer who remained in the crypts from the moment they took their vows until the day they died. They never left, not ever. Their duties were to protect and decipher their mysterious scrolls, watch over the Seers, and Gods knew what else. It was a demanding position.
Keepers couldn’t marry, procreate, or entertain any friendships outside of their ranks. Which meant she would never see him again once he graduated at the end of the year.
Pools of coal drank in her puckering lips. The white of pearly teeth flashed as he grinned. “Don’t pout. I may change my mind, you know. I’ve always had an interest in becoming a Knight. It’s a second option.”
Perking up, Ivy couldn’t resist the brilliant smile that spread over her pretty face. Knights were always at Vampire functions, so she had a much better chance of encountering him again.
“You know,” she began, “maybe you could be my Knight when I graduate. I could talk to my dad about hiring you.”
He winked. “We’ll see.”
Haughtily, she replied, “All I heard was a firm ‘yes’.”
Running his fingers through his thick black hair, he glanced up at her. Ivy’s gaze couldn’t tear away from his hair falling back into place over his forehead. The dusty glow of the moonlight caused his black eyes to shimmer slightly, and she found herself smiling goofily.
“Being a Knight is my back-up,” he explained. “I’m better at it, the fighting, strategising, hunting.”
Curiosity glazed over her eyes as she thought. After a pause, she said, “I only ever see you in combat gear.”
Domenic winked suggestively. “I bet you’re just dying to see me all wrapped up in my crisp, brown cloak, and scrolls tucked under my arm.”
Ivy scoffed. “As long you’ve got clothes on, I’m happy.” Fidgeting her feet together, Ivy allowed the humour to flitter away before she asked, “Why would it be your second choice? Being a Knight? I mean, if you’re so good at it and you like it that much … Maybe you should be one?”
“I want to follow in my father’s footsteps,” he said. “Sometimes legacy has a greater significance than fleeting wants. Wants, they’re passing; Legacy is forever.”
The walls had erected behind the shadows of his eyes, but Ivy prepared herself to dismantle them without so much as breaking a nail. “Your father was a Keeper?” she asked, frowning. “I thought Keepers couldn’t marry.”
“They can’t. When he was a student, he had a weakness for my mother. I am the result of that weakness.”
Outrage festered in her white eyes. “And he just abandoned her to be a Keeper? After he got her pregnant?”
“No,” he said. “My mother died in the Battle of the Revolt. After that, I was raised by her brother. I was only a new-born at the time. My father, Silus, locked himself away in the crypts after her death. He died a few years ago in an accident.”
“What sort of accident?”
“The secret sort.”
She nodded as curiosity gnawed at her brain. But it would be rude to pry, and her nosiness would get her nowhere with a Videer. She said what she should have said seconds ago, “I’m sorry that happened to your parents.”
“Thank you,” he smiled, and rested his chin on his folded forearms again.
They fell into a silence. It was comfortable, but tinged with a deeper awkwardness that came with discussing dead relatives. Ivy decided to change the topic.
“I had a dream,” she said carefully. Watching him, she saw a bemused and patronising expression sweep over his handsome features.
“We tend to dream when we sleep. It’s not uncommon.”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “It was weird,” she said. “Something I’ve never dreamt about before.”
“Was it me?” he asked smugly. “Was I naked? Better yet, were you?”
“No, no and no,” she droned, but the tug of her lips and tint of her cheeks betrayed her indifference. “It was
about a wolf. Have you heard about clairvoyant spirit magic?”
He shot her an exasperated look, tinged with arrogance.
“Right,” she said, mildly embarrassed. “Of course you have.”
“I know all,” he drawled pompously. “And then some.”
Ivy laughed, which only seemed to further groom his ego.
He added, “I’m not certain I like that you’re dreaming of animals. Now, let’s get back to your naughty dreams about me—”
“I don’t have naughty dreams about you.” Her wandering gaze and shameful blush told another tale. She cleared her throat and met his twinkling black eyes, hating how he smirked knowingly at her. “That’s beside the point. In my dream, the wolf was chasing me.”
“Shocking,” he said. “Did it also look at you? Because, that would be simply outrageous.”
“Shut up,” she said, not unkindly. “Let me finish.” He held up his hands in submission. “I heard my friend Penny — she’s clairvoyant — say something. I think she said solstis.”
Arching his brow, Domenic parroted her, “Solstice?”
“Yeah, that. She mentioned solstice.”
“What did she say?” he asked.
“Nothing, really. She said that I should run, and that the solstice is coming.”
“That is strange,” he said pensively. “Did she say anything else?”
“No. But that’s when I saw the wolf. Only, it wasn’t a real wolf. I think it was a Shifter.”
A puzzled gleam shimmered in his dark eyes. “You’re certain it was a dream?”
It was her turn to give him an exasperated look. “I mightn’t be the smartest Vampire, Domenic, but I know what a dream is.”
He smiled apologetically. “All right. What can I say? That’s the strangest dream I’ve heard of.” He paused before he added, “I take that back. One time, I dreamt that I was stuck in a pond. There were loads of nymphs running around, and I was naked of course—”
Ivy stopped him, holding up her hand. “I really don’t want to hear that.” A feigned shudder rattled her shoulders before she cleared her throat. “So,” she prompted. “What does it mean?”