by Jody Morse
The raven swept down in his direction—in our direction—and snatched Kaden up with its talons.
“No!” I screamed out watching, helplessly, as the bird carried him into the air above me.
Chapter 28
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
The shifter wasn’t supposed to take Kaden. It couldn’t happen.
Scanning the area for the Headmaster or one of the instructors, I didn’t see anyone who could possibly help nearby. There was just a swarm of students, all watching as the bird hovered in the air with Kaden.
I knew that if I didn’t do something, this raven shifter was going to kill him. And it would have been my fault, since I was the one who forced him to help in the first place.
It was in that moment that I knew what needed to be done. I just hoped I was capable of it.
Trying to fight away the fear I felt, I focused all of my energy, all of everything, into the raven shifter carrying Kaden.
Fire, I mentally called upon the element. Help.
I watched, in complete awe, as a flame nipped at the raven’s wing.
I stared into the flame, urging it to grow.
As the flame rose, the bird screeched loudly. I knew I needed to be careful. I couldn’t allow the flame to spread too far or I risked hurting Kaden in the process.
I needed to keep the fire under control, but I needed it to burn this bird shifter badly enough to make it drop Kaden if there was any chance of him surviving.
Focusing harder on it, I watched as the raven’s other wing began to catch on fire.
The bird screeched louder, but it wasn’t enough to stop it from flying further into the sky with Kaden. If anything, it was flying faster.
I needed something else to happen.
At that moment, there was a clap of thunder and then lightning. It was followed by a strong gust of wind—so strong that it caused all of the trees surrounding the courtyard to quiver, some of them even bending at their core.
My head throbbed. It was the only thing that somehow let me know that all of this was my doing.
I focused in on the bird and on the wind.
Make the bird unsteady. Make it drop Kaden, I urged the wind.
A stronger gust of wind blew in the raven’s direction, causing it to waver back and forth. The wind caused the flames on the bird’s wings to grow, rising higher and spreading further.
I began to worry about Kaden when the raven shifter fell to the ground, Kaden falling with it.
Oh, no. That fall… I hoped he had survived the fall.
Another crack of thunder sounded off in the distance.
As I began to move in the direction of where the raven shifter had fallen, I was relieved to find that Kaden had emerged. The bird, however, looked like it was a goner.
I breathed a deep sigh of relief.
He was okay.
When Kaden came over to me, he wrapped his arms around me in a close embrace. “Thank you. Seriously, Juliana. You saved my life.”
“I only returned the favor,” I replied, my mouth pressed against his shoulder.
“That was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. I was so afraid I would never see you again—so afraid that thing would kill me.”
I pulled him closer. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I’m glad we’re both okay.”
At that moment, I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. Pulling myself out of Kaden’s embrace, I turned and saw Headmaster Crane staring straight at me. He didn’t look happy.
“Juliana, I want to see you in my office tomorrow at eleven p.m. Don’t be late.”
I swallowed hard. I was pretty sure that I was in trouble—big trouble—for using my magic on campus.
But honestly? I didn’t care. I had done the right thing. The alternative would have been allowing that raven shifter to carry Kaden off to his death.
No, if what I had done was the wrong thing, then I wanted to be wrong. And I would fight Headmaster Crane, and all of Paranormal Academy, tooth and nail if they tried to kick me out of this school for saving a life.
Kaden glanced over at me then. “Hey, can I show you that thing now?”
I turned to him and smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter 29
“Let me just find Ambur and Draia first,” I told Kaden.
“Okay,” he agreed with a nod. I expected him to wait for me, but he didn’t. Instead, he took my hand and followed after me. I thought it was a cute gesture, even though I knew he was probably only following after me because it had been an intense night. I didn’t want to be separated from him, either.
As we passed Everly and Brett, who were playing one of the games, Brett glanced over at me.
I wasn’t sure why, but I felt the slightest bit of guilt about going off with Kaden. I wasn’t even sure why I felt that way. I really had no reason to. It wasn’t like I owed any loyalty to Brett. He had a girlfriend—a girlfriend who he’d made it very clear he would never leave for me unless we just happened to turn out to be mates, and what were the odds of that?
Finally, I spotted Draia and Ambur with their dates near the snack stands. Draia was popping some orange cotton candy into her mouth, while Ambur ate a candy corn ice cream sundae—a sundae which was made up of layers of white, orange, and yellow ice cream, topped with candy corn.
I noticed that Ambur’s light purple fairy wings were out, and so were Gavin’s. His were a translucent shade of lime green.
I glanced over at Kaden. “I’ll be just a sec, okay?”
He nodded and then leaned over and kissed me on the lips. “I’ll be right here waiting.”
Smiling, I headed over to Ambur and Draia.
“Hey, you guys. I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to go off with Kaden,” I informed them.
“Okay. I’m going back to Gavin’s dorm room with him after this,” Ambur informed me. “And Draia is going back with Marcus to his.”
“Meaning, you and Kaden will be all alone if you go back to our dorm room.” Draia winked at me.
“Well, alone besides Max,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, Max can be a total mood killer. But if you do decide to get it on with Kaden tonight, just make sure you’re careful. It’s Halloween,” Ambur said.
“What does it being Halloween have to do with anything?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“All paranormal races are extremely fertile on Halloween,” Draia explained.
“Oh. Well, that is definitely not happening,” I informed them. And it was true. I wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t even know which guy I liked the most. I wasn’t about to lose my V-card to any of them.
“If you say so,” Ambur replied with a shrug. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“Okay,” I agreed with a smile. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” Draia said.
I headed back over to Kaden then. “So, where are you taking me?”
“I’ll lead the way.” Grabbing my hand, he began to walk me up the stone walkway, which lead past the House of Mage. In the same direction I had seen him go off on his own that one time…
Just when I thought he wasn’t going to lead us to the Enchanted Forest, he did.
I began to walk slower, holding back.
Eventually, I came to an abrupt stop. “I thought we weren’t allowed in the Enchanted Forest by ourselves. It’s in the student handbook. I don’t want to get in trouble for breaking the rules.”
“So, do you mean to tell me that you follow every rule in life?” His blue eyes, which shimmered under the light of the full moon, flicked over to meet mine.
I shrugged. “Rules are rules.”
“Rules are meant to be broken.” He continued to hold my gaze. “Do you trust me?”
“Well, yeah.” How couldn’t I trust him? He had saved my life.
I hesitated as he continued down the walkway that led to the forest. As much as I didn’t want to get caught breaking the rules—especially when Headmaster Crane w
as already on my back for breaking another rule—I also wanted to know what Kaden was going to say to me.
Fuck it. I was about to get into trouble, anyway, so I figured I might as well have made it worth my while.
He led me into the woods, intertwining his fingers through mine.
We reached the clearing Magical Animals and Creatures class was held in before continuing deeper into the woods. I had never been here before, and the unknown scared me.
We walked for about ten minutes in the dark. I kept wondering what was so dangerous about the Enchanted Forest that coming here alone was even against the rules in the first place.
We reached another clearing when I spotted a pink glow from somewhere beyond the forest.
“W-what is that?” I whispered. I wasn’t going to lie. It looked like lights from some sort of UFO or something. A part of me thought that sounded crazy, but did it really? If vampires, witches, and fairies could be real, then surely aliens could be real, too… right?
“Actually, that is what I’m about to show you.” Kaden’s blue eyes slid over to meet mine, a hint of mystery behind his gaze.
Still holding my hand, he led me over a little hill and then to another clearing. I saw what the pink was coming from then.
It was a narrow river, and it was lit up with a pink glow. Steam billowed off the river.
I glanced over at him. “What is this place?”
“I haven’t quite figured it out yet,” he replied. “But as of right now, it’s my own personal swimming hole. Want to take a dip with me? The water is warm.”
I hesitated. A part of me was secretly afraid that we would somehow end up getting caught. But who was going to come this far into the woods looking for us, especially when the world’s most beautiful carnival was going on in the courtyard and people were taking their dates back to their dorm rooms to get it on? The chances of anyone figuring out we were here—especially this deep in the woods—seemed slim.
So, I said, “Sure.”
It dawned on me then that he was asking me to swim with him, and I didn’t even have a bathing suit. I was still wearing my gown.
I watched as Kaden untied his tie and slipped out of his suit jacket.
Okay. Apparently, we were doing this in our underwear or naked.
As he went on to take off his white undershirt, I unzipped the back of my gown. Slipping out of the dress, I gently laid it down on a rock, hoping it wouldn’t get dirty.
I was thankful for magic makeup right now, because it meant that it was going to withstand this swim. That was one nice thing about the paranormal world that I could really get used to.
Once Kaden was down to nothing besides his boxers, he headed into the water. He took just a few steps in, which brought him in over his waist.
Wearing nothing but my bra and panties, I followed after him.
The water was warm—and by warm, I mean like hot tub temperatures. “Is this some type of natural spring or something?”
“Something like that,” he replied. “I’ve been coming here for a few weeks now.”
“Oh.” Were you bringing other girls here? I wanted to ask him, but I didn’t want to sound completely crazy, either.
“You see, I think this place is more than just a place to go swimming,” he explained.
“What else do you think it is?” I questioned.
“A portal.”
My eyebrows shot up. “To what?”
“I haven’t quite figured that part out yet,” he replied, shaking his head. “But I think I’m getting closer to figuring out the answer.” He paused for a moment and then added, “I also think it’s the real reason they don’t want us coming here by ourselves. I think they’re afraid of us figuring out what this portal may lead to.”
“Wow,” I murmured. “So, what you’re saying is that the Academy has… secrets.”
Kaden nodded. “This is just one of them. But I didn’t bring you here to talk about that tonight. This place is beautiful, and I wanted to share it with you.” He moved closer to me and pulled me onto his lap in the water.
All I could feel was all of the tension that had built up between us.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I began to kiss him. He kissed me back, this time with far more passion—more hunger—than he had on the dance floor.
He began kissing my neck, which sparked a moan from me.
He pushed away my bra strap and began to kiss his way down my breast. It drove me crazy…
I could feel his hard bulge underneath my thighs. A part of me wanted to know, so bad, what it would be like to have him in me…
Kaden had just begun to run his hand over the material of my lacy panties through the water when I heard someone clear their throat from behind us.
I jumped off of him, causing a huge splash, as I turned around to see who was there. I was afraid that Headmaster Crane was about to catch me swimming, in this forbidden place, half-naked with Kaden.
I was slightly relieved to see that it wasn’t Headmaster Crane standing there, but the person who was there wasn’t a whole lot better.
It was Kaden’s sister, Kayla.
Chapter 30
Kayla’s steel blue eyes, which were identical to her brother’s, fell on mine in what I could have sworn was a glare before she quickly glanced over at Kaden.
“You need to get the hell out of there. We have a problem,” she told him, grabbing his suit from where he had laid on the ground. She turned away from him—obviously afraid to see him fully naked.
“What is it?” Kaden asked as he moved out of the water, taking the suit from her.
“Connor is missing,” she informed him.
“What do you mean he’s missing?” Kaden questioned as he pulled his suit back on over his wet body.
“You heard me,” Kayla replied.
Uncomfortably, I pulled myself out of the water. I grabbed my dress from the rock I’d left it on, but I was too afraid to put it on while I was still wet.
I knew it was a longshot, but I thought about how I wanted to be dry.
It worked. Thank god for my affinity for water.
I stepped into the dress and then searched in the dark for my shoes.
“He’s probably run off and joined the Dark Coven,” she went on. “We need to go and find him before it’s too late.”
“It might already be too late,” Kaden told her. “It’s Halloween. That’s when they do their initiations.”
“We have to at least try,” Kayla insisted. “Not trying would mean that we’ve given up on him. And if the Headmaster finds out what he’s done, he could be expelled.”
“Okay. I’ll come with you to look for him, but I need to walk Juliana back to her dorm room first.”
Kayla glanced over at me with a frosty look in her eyes. “She has feet.”
Damn. His sister seemed like she hated me. What had I ever done to her?
“It’s Halloween,” Kaden insisted. “I’m not about to let my date walk herself back to her dorm room knowing what type of creeps are out tonight.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You walk her back to her room and then meet me by the fountain.”
Then, his sister disappeared into thin air.
“I-is she gone?” I whispered.
“Yeah. She can transport herself anywhere she wants. It’s one of her abilities,” Kaden explained as he grabbed my hand again and began to lead me up the hill.
“Why does she hate me?” I asked him.
“How could she hate you? She doesn’t even know you.”
“Call it what you want, but I’m pretty sure she hates me. Unless she’s always that delightful to everyone she meets.”
“She’s just really worried about our brother,” he explained as he led me through the Enchanted Forest.
“What’s the ‘Dark Coven’?” I asked.
“It’s exactly as it sounds,” Kaden replied. “It’s a coven of dark magic users. They’re supposed to be one of the most dangerous and de
adliest covens in the paranormal world. I don’t know how she even got word that our brother may be joining them, but she’s not wrong. If this is true, Connor could get expelled from Paranormal Academy.” He paused for a moment and then added, “He could also be sent to a paranormal prison if anyone finds out.”
“I see.” I swallowed hard. “That doesn’t sound good. But how will you even stop him? If he wants to join the Dark Coven, won’t he just do it anyway?”
“Probably,” he said with a nod.
“Then why does she want you to go after him?” I asked.
“There’s a difference between Kayla and me. Kayla has always believed in our brother. She thinks there’s good in him—that somehow, some way, we can do something to save him.”
“And what do you believe?”
His blue eyes met mine. “I don’t believe that everyone can be saved or that everyone is worth saving.” He paused. “I’m sorry you ended up being dragged into this tonight.”
“It’s okay,” I replied.
“No. It’s really not okay. It’s not how I imagined that tonight would go. None of this was what I imagined. Let me make it up to you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I insisted.
“But I want to.”
“How?” I asked.
“Have lunch with me tomorrow afternoon. I’ll get permission from Headmaster Crane for us to leave campus and go into town. Please.” His blue eyes settled on mine, as he waited, expectantly, for an answer.
I nodded. “Yes. Assuming that I don’t get expelled from school tomorrow.”
“Why would you get expelled?”
“I can’t think of what other reason Headmaster Crane wants to talk to me,” I replied, shaking my head. “Though I guess it’s possible that he might have my DNA results back.”
I hoped that was the case, anyway. At this point, I just wanted answers.
“I guess you’ll find out in the morning, but I wouldn’t be too worried about it,” Kaden said gently. “How about I come to your dorm room around one o’clock?”
“Sounds like a plan.” I paused as we exited the Enchanted Forest completely and began to head back to the House of Mage. “I was going to invite you back to my dorm room tonight.”