by Rain Oxford
Even the students who had supported the council completely before reconsidered as soon as they heard about the council’s plan to segregate us. While not all of them decided to fight with the rest of us, they wouldn’t fight against us, either.
By the time I ate breakfast and made it to Defensive Magic class, Professor Watson knew everything. I wondered how many people at Quintessence had been preparing for months under Watson’s lead.
He just shook his head with a smirk when I entered. Not to my surprise, he changed all his references to the oncoming events. “If a council member tries this…” and “Kale’s favorite attack is…” became the focus of the class. He explained in great detail every member of the wizard council by their weaknesses, strengths, and favorite attacks. If anyone doubted the professor’s loyalties before, they didn’t after this. Watson hated the council with a passion.
After class, I waited back until everyone else had left. “Why do you have it in for the council?” I asked.
“Pretty much every professor here does, and all for different reasons. The council killed my sister to use her blood in potions. In fear of wasting a drop of her regenerative powers, they kept her alive for as long as they could to take all of her blood. It was the most painful way they could possibly have killed a phoenix.”
“Who on the council did it?” I asked. I wanted to leave that person for Watson.
“John Cross. He wanted our regenerative power. Instead of going after him, I came to Logan. He knew I wanted to kill Cross myself.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know his death was already taken.”
“Don’t be. From what I heard, he killed your sister, too.”
“I never knew Reagan. Well, I guess I’ll see you at the party.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
* * *
Alpha Flagstone obviously got enough work done at the other schools because he taught class. He kept the conversation on shifters whether we liked it or not. He was explaining how the full moon’s effect on shifters varies according to the person rather than the animal species. Although it was very interesting, it wasn’t as important as the looming battle in our opinions. When Darwin asked why we couldn’t discuss combat, Flagstone said it was because the headmaster hadn’t stopped class. I assumed that there would be a flood of students in the headmaster’s office as soon as class was over.
“In the 1600s, a small society of wizards in Europe began capturing and experimenting on shifters. Up until that point, shifters were extremely secretive and there wasn’t much in the way of a paranormal community to begin with. The fae were entirely secluded from the rest of the world, which led to the entire species becoming endangered. The vampires were just as private as the shifters with covens no larger than a couple dozen members at the most. Wizards were the only ones actually working together for means other than to survive the world, which undeniably belonged to humans.”
“Wizards were still regarded as humans at the time,” Darwin added, suddenly interested now that Flagstone was talking about history.
“Yes, and they still are in many parts of the world. Although wizards are as supernatural as you can get, they are still considered human by many cultures. In fact, Europe and North America are the only places where wizards are predominantly considered non-human.”
“So what’s the difference between a wizard and a human?” I asked. “What’s different about us that we can do magic?”
“Your blood and your mind. It’s not something a human can detect in blood work, but it can be detected through brain scans and mental tests if someone knows what they’re looking for. That’s where we get back to the full moon. This diminutive, insignificant organization that tortured shifters is the reason wizards are considered paranormals instead of humans with powers. They discovered that every paranormal is effected by the moon phase. Its effects on wizards are so miniscule that it took many years and tests for them and others following their work to figure it out.”
“So wizards act differently under the full moon?” I asked.
“No. Your powers are affected by the entire phase of the moon, as are every other paranormal. Your powers are going to be most powerful either under the new moon or full moon, but there is a very subtle, constant change throughout every day of every month. It’s actually the exact opposite of the fae cycle. Shifters and vampires, however, are consistently most powerful under the full moon and most human under the new moon.”
“Is it because wizards and fae are more of a magical type of paranormal, whereas vampires and shifters are more physical?” Kana asked.
The professor nodded. “That’s exactly it.”
After that, everyone was more interested in talking about the moon than the wizard council. Then, just a moment before it was time to go, the door opened and Remington entered. Alpha Flagstone’s face instantly softened into a smile. His happiness at having her in his life was simultaneously uncharacteristic and blatantly obvious.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, holding out his hand for her as she went to him.
She gave him a quick kiss before stepping back, facing him with her back to us. “Sorry about this,” she said sourly. “I lost a bet with Keigan.” She then opened her shirt to flash her boyfriend. After a moment, in which every man on the first three rows desperately wished he had a longer neck, she buttoned her shirt and Flagstone blinked, still smiling.
“Well, that was definitely worth whatever Logan is going to do to me. You should lose bets with Keigan more often.”
She sighed. “Actually, I’m not done. That was just part one. I did a double-or-nothing and… I’ll see you after your last class.”
There were several cat calls as she left, including one from a snow leopard shifter, which I thought was a bit redundant. Fortunately, no one was stupid enough to actually try anything, but then again, she was a professor, so that probably discouraged them. The fact that she was younger than me made it difficult for me to see her in the same light as someone like Professor Aros. If it hadn’t been for her unending love for Flagstone, I would have… No, I wouldn’t have done shit. It hadn’t been that long since I got rid of Regina and Astrid always had my full attention when she was near.
Besides, although I knew for certain that Hunt would rather his daughter be with me than Flagstone, Remy and the wolf shifter were perfect for each other. More importantly, Flagstone would eat my entrails if I tried to hone in on his woman.
She also had at least two guns on her.
Darwin stabbed me with his pencil and I turned to see Flagstone glaring at me. I had been staring at Remy’s ass when she left.
* * *
My uncle was sitting at his desk when I arrived for his class. Unlike usual, however, he looked irritated. I froze at the door, not sure if I should skip or not. I missed my training, but it was for Henry, so he couldn’t have been mad at me. But I didn’t know my uncle all that well.
His eyes looked up from his book. Too late. I entered the library and sat at my usual seat. The others were already there and working. Apparently, they were continuing something from the previous day.
Nobody looked at me.
After a few minutes, I stood and went over to Vincent for instructions. As soon as I reached his desk, a circle of blue fire erupted from the floor around me and him. “We cannot be overheard now,” Vincent said without waiting for questions. He stood. “The tornado is caused by the sylphs.”
“I know. Adesra told me. How did you find that out?”
“Ghost saw them when several took a student right in front of me. The elementals are extremely powerful, Devon. Who is Adesra?”
“She’s the undine who helped me find Remy. She told me that the sylphs were turned against the balance by Krechea and asked me for help.”
“Sylphs are extremely powerful. Krechea couldn’t have done this by himself from Dothra.”
“No, Felicity is back, and she’s teamed up with Grayson. Her power is controlling the sylphs a
nd using them to gather students as sacrifices. None of them will die until the sylphs have thirteen sacrifices.”
“Then we need to capture Felicity fast; the tenth student was just taken.”
Shit. “If I can get my hands on her, that’ll be no problem. Darwin and Henry found the magic-neutralizing cuffs that were made in conjunction to the amulet. The hard part will be actually catching her. The council members will be trying to bring down the storm, as they think it’s made by Hunt to protect the school. Maybe that will work as a distraction. Can Ghost find her?”
“Unfortunately, he seems to be mad at me right now. He’s not answering me at all. If we can find her, I can help you cuff her. In battle, my visions kick into a mode where I can see every move and the result of that move in a split second. That, coupled with your instincts and mind control, should make defeating her doable.”
I actually thought of Darwin and Henry first, since I knew how they would react to whatever move I made, I could easily communicate with them, and if I told them to stop, both of them would freeze instantly because they trusted me. “What if the council makes it through the storm? They might need you here.”
“Trust me, any one of the professors here could take on any one of the council members, and they have the council significantly outnumbered. Add the students who want to fight, all of whom were only allowed in because they were exceptional, and the wizard council doesn’t stand a chance.”
That sounded way too overconfident to me. Something could easily go wrong to sway things in the council’s favor. However, if something did go wrong, Darwin could let me know and Vincent could get me back in just a few seconds via the shadow pass. “I’ve learned a lot about my mental powers since I started here. I think I can find Felicity by her mind.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean? You can find a person with your mind control?”
“Yes. I thought you knew that. That’s how I found Remy and had visions of Bob and Gale. Are you saying John couldn’t do that?” I asked.
He shook his head. “John could control your mind when he saw you. There was a lasting effect for a while; his control could last several hours after his victim was separated from him, but he had to see his victim in order to control them. That’s why he had his spiders search the school for students to control. He had to be able to see them through the spider’s eye.”
“We’re lucky he didn’t have the last key.” I shuddered at the thought of John Cross being able to transport to anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds.
“Right. He would have been entirely unstoppable. How long will it take you to find Felicity?”
“There’s no telling. Maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours.”
“Well, consider that your classwork and get to it.”
I walked right through the blue blaze, feeling warmth, but not burning heat from the flames. For privacy, I went up to the second level and sat in an easy chair in the corner of two bookshelves. The chair hadn’t been there before, so I figured my uncle added it when he came to stay. In fact, he was probably sleeping and living in the library.
I concentrated on the mind I sensed when I was at a motel with Remy and Hunt. We were looking for Gale and the amulet and I made the mistake of seeing into Felicity’s vulgar mind. She was not human by any means, which I hadn’t fully understood at the time. Felicity was from Dothra; anything humane or mortal was driven out of her from a very young age. She wanted everything to be hers. She didn’t just want something; she wanted to take it from everyone else.
There was also something else… something I didn’t notice the first time. It was a weakness, but it was so repressed that I couldn’t quite reach it. The realization that I was feeling her real mind was enough to snap me out of it. I flinched and sat up straighter in the chair. After a moment, I tried again.
Although it took longer this time, I did sense her mind again. She was awake, but not thinking a lot. I could feel that there was a lot of distance between us. It took another minute or so before I had enough of a grip that I could see what she saw without alerting her of my presence.
Felicity was sitting on a couch in a warm, sunny living room, but not alone. Grayson was sitting in a tan chair while a pretty, middle-aged, dirty blond-haired woman paced the kitchen, which was open to the living room. Grayson looked upset while the other woman looked devastated.
“Well, you were the one who let her out of the house when I specifically---” He had to duck to avoid the ceramic bowl the woman threw at his head.
“Don’t you dare tell me this is my fault!” she screamed at him. “You did this! You chose this skank over me! You chose to summon demons! You chose to create that storm over Logan’s school! You chose to sacrifice people!”
“For the greater good,” he said, then ducked out of the way of the coffee mug she threw at him.
Felicity was amused, but this wasn’t helping me to figure out where they were. I knew if I wasn’t careful, I would tip her off… but I didn’t think she could actually stop me anymore. As gently as I could, I tried to picture what the house might look like. Instantly, the image came up. It was an extremely unremarkable house; two story, brick, driveway, gauge, quaint little porch… nothing distinguishing.
And Felicity sensed me. Before she had a chance to push me out or do any magic, I locked down her thoughts, making it impossible for her to react. It was something I had always been able to do on animals naturally, and I knew I could do it to her. I had done it to Henry’s parents and I could do it to her. It didn’t matter how powerful she was, because I had both mine and John’s power.
The instant submission of her mind served to reaffirm what I already knew I could do. It was much deeper than what I had done to others; it wasn’t reading their thoughts, compelling them to obey, or even seeing through their mind. I commanded every facet of her. I could destroy her mind and take her magic for myself. I could make her heart stop if I wanted to. She deserved it since Gale would never have had the power to curse me in the first place if it weren’t for her.
Blaming everyone else was easy. Astrid, what she did, Reagan’s death, Gale’s curse, Marcus getting shot… it was easy to blame it on someone else.
Yet that didn’t help anything. It didn’t matter why. The more power I had, the more I influenced everything, for better or for worse. My mistakes were becoming more and more severe and the lines of what was right or wrong were becoming blurred. If I got the key, I knew even more power would go to my head and I could even become a threat to the people I cared about. If it came to that, not even Vincent could stop me.
But Langril can. The strange thought was simultaneously unsettling and comforting.
As a battle of morality brewed in my head, Felicity was building up a resistance to my power. I forced myself to redirect my attention and realized that Grayson knew something was wrong. He was staring into her eyes, probably concerned by her obviously vacant stare. He said something to her, but her brain was too muddled to process the words.
I pushed through her mind to find her recent memories. She didn’t actually know how to get to where she was and since Grayson drove, she had been reading a book most of the way. However, she was at least partially listening when he complained about Becky sneaking off to the school. Thus, I knew that they were heading to Grayson’s house so that he could yell at his wife. So this woman who was still throwing dishes at Grayson’s head was his wife.
I found it interesting that she was much less weak-willed than Becky had insinuated. Then again, Becky had to get her feminist, animal rights, tree-hugging nature from somewhere. Nevertheless, I could work with that much.
Knowing how quickly Felicity would escape should I let her go, I pushed exhaustion into her mind. It only took a few moments for her to completely pass out. Although she would only be unconscious for few minutes, I was relying on her being disoriented for a while.
I forced myself out of her mind and back into my own reality. Vertigo made me feel like the c
hair was tipping on its side and I ended up clutching the arms of it tightly, despite knowing that I wasn’t actually falling. By the time the sensation subsided, I was at serious risk of losing my breakfast.
I got up anyway and went downstairs. Vincent was helping a student, so I just left. There were more students in the hallway than there should have been, not that I was surprised. At least it made finding Becky pretty easy. She didn’t have class right then so she was in the dining room having a late lunch and visiting with Addison and Amelia.
I sat down beside Becky and all three women stared at me. “What’cha talking about,” I asked casually. At the same time, I opened my mind to Darwin. “Are you free?” I asked him.
“You mean, does Amy have me tied to a chair so she can torture me into being her willing slave and giving up my virginity? Not at the moment. What’s up?”
Becky looked a bit nervous. “Um, the council, of course.”
Lying was not a good look for her. “I need you to bring the cuffs and sword up to the north tower library,” I said to Darwin. “In fact, bring everything you got from the vault so Vincent can check it out.”
“Girl talk,” Addison said with a laugh. “What do you need, Devon?”
I really didn’t want to be around Addison until Henry told her about Scott. Whether it was going to work out between them or not, I was not the person she would want to hear it from. “I need your parents’ address,” I said to Becky, pulling a pen and notepad out of my jacket pocket.
She shrugged. “Okay.” She wrote it down without any questions.
“Are you sure we can trust Vincent that much?” Darwin asked.
Carrying on multiple conversations was harder than it looked. “No, I’m not, but do it anyway.”