INTEGRATION (Bonfire Academy Book Two) (Bonfire Chronicles)

by Imogen Rose

  “And it’s not like I took over or anything, I just went for a ride. I was kinda hoping that she’d bring up my scores, so I could have a look, but you came walking into her office instead.”

  “Well, why are you asking about Quinn then, boulder head? If you were possessing Mrs. Stone at the time, then you were there when she told me that Quinn’s in New York.” I was thoroughly exasperated with him. “And you shouldn’t have said anything to Mom. You know that’s against the rules, right?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t really say anything to her. Just asked if she’d heard from him. I have a bad feeling about it all.”

  “Why? Did you find out something else?”

  “Well, yeah. Something creepy. But I didn’t just hear about Quinn, I saw him, too. At first, I didn’t go over to Mrs. Stone’s office to spend time in her bod. What’s the fun in that? I was hoping that I could jump from her into The Smelt. Now that would be fun. Anyhow, I waited for Mrs. Stone to get called in by The Smelt. She did after what seemed ages. We went in, but very briefly. Quinn was in the office, looking tres chic in a new suit and all. The Smelt asked Mrs. Stone to order a helicopter for Quinn. I didn’t really pay them much attention; I was waiting for a chance to switch into The Smelt.” He paused.

  “And?” I encouraged.

  “Nothing, I guess. I rebounded off something inside her, right back into Mrs. Stone. I was lucky I didn’t get caught.”

  “Rebounded off what?” I practically yelled, getting frustrated with my brother’s storytelling skills, or lack of them.

  “I don’t know exactly, but it had to be a demon, right? All I remember is that it smelled like a really old woman. Creepy.”

  Pascal’s words gave me goose bumps. Was it possible that an old lady was involved—both with Mason and with Quinn’s disappearance? I had to get to the bottom of it and find Quinn, at least to know that he was okay and had left school on his own accord.

  Pascal hadn’t been able to tell me much more. He’d hung around while I had talked to Mrs. Stone and left just behind me, when she’d decided she needed to use the restroom. Even my brother had his icky boundaries.

  Still consumed with images of old people I had encountered in my life, I walked back to my room to get Faustine. Hopefully, the session would give Ryker some reprieve so he could go to his own classes. Jagger had told me that Ryker was at risk of being thrown out of school if he didn’t start showing up to sessions. I had texted him to let him know that Faustine would be fine with me for the rest of the day.

  She was still asleep when I got back to the room. I prepared some sides of beef ready and then woke her.

  “Come on, sleepyhead! Get up!”

  “Oh, what’s the hurry?” she moaned sleepily and rubbed her eyes.

  I wafted the meat under her nose.

  “Mmm, mmm. That smells so good! Thanks, Cordelia. Best breakfast in bed I’ve ever had.”

  “Not quite breakfast. It’s after one already. You’ve got your Integration test at two, remember?”

  “One? Already? I guess I better get up, huh?” She gulped down her food and headed for the bathroom, flinging off her clothes on the way.

  “Hey! No maid service here!”

  She stopped. “Huh? Yeah, what’s up with that? Let’s get Bern to cast a tidy spell on the room or something.” She turned around and walked into the shower. I could hear her sighing out loud as the drops of water hit her skin.

  While I waited for Faustine to shower, I turned on my computer and checked out the staff photos on the school website, looking for old people. I studied the pictures carefully, even those of the men. After what I had learned about gynandromorphy because of Mason, I couldn’t rule out that the woman could also be a man. In fact, the woman could be parading around as anything during the day. So, I looked through the whole lot, but didn’t come across anyone who fit the criteria—someone in her eighties or nineties. There were no staff members in that age group at all, not even among the auxiliary, foundation, or fundraising members.

  Next, I went through my Facebook account and then Quinn’s, looking at our friends lists and followers. Again, no old people at all. I decided to have a look at Faustine’s followers. She had over four thousand friends, plus she also had a fan page. With no time to waste, I started scrolling down her friends list.

  “What are you looking for?” she asked, peering over my shoulder.

  “Boy, you have a lot of friends!”

  “They aren’t really friends, just people I might have met, and some of them I don’t know at all. I don’t like not accepting requests. If you tell me what you’re looking for, I might be able to help.”

  “Old ladies.”

  She snickered. “Why?”

  “I’ll explain in a sec. Any old ladies among these friends?”

  “’Old’ as in thirty?”

  It was my turn to chuckle. “No, much older, like in their eighties or nineties.”

  “No, and I can’t imagine a lot of people as old as that having Facebook pages.”

  True. “Well, do you know any one that old?”

  “My great grandma is that old, I guess. And the Upper East Side is full of old ladies, but I don’t really know them. Some of my mom’s fundraising friends might be that old.” She shrugged. “Now tell me why you want to know.”

  I told her about my conversation with Pascal and also about the voice I had heard in Mason’s room.

  “And you’re sure it’s the same person?” she asked.

  “Well, I can’t be a hundred percent sure, but what are the odds of coming across two women that old at the Academy?”

  “And you think my dad recognized the voice?”

  “Not the voice—he didn’t hear it. But I think he might have recognized the smell or something. I’m just saying that because his expression turned weird and he just said that he’d deal with it.”

  “Which he obviously hasn’t if she’s back possessing the Academy headmistress,” she mused.

  “Yes.”

  “So let’s call Dad and ask him.” She pulled out her phone.

  “Wait. I’m not sure he’s going to love me sharing all this with you. I’m supposed to keep you away from all this stuff. Let me call him. I’ll tell you everything he says.”

  “Okay, call him then.”

  “Right now? We really need to head over to the lab. We’re going to be horribly late.”

  “Okay, but I’m not even dressed yet, so call him while I do that. Here, use this number; he always answers that.” She handed me her phone, then went off to get dressed.

  I dialed before I lost my nerve.

  “Faustine?”

  “No, it’s Cordelia. Faustine gave me this number to use. I hope that’s okay.”

  He was silent for a moment and then said, “Yes, it’s fine. Is Faustine okay?”

  “Yes, she’s fine. That’s not what I was calling you about.”

  “Go on.”

  He seemed curt, probably really busy, so I got straight to the point. “When you were here last, you seemed to recognize something in Mason’s room that changed your mood. I was wondering if you picked up on something.”

  “Like what?” His tone was guarded. I hoped I wasn’t overstepping.

  “An old lady.”

  “How does this concern you?”

  “Well, my brother thinks an old lady may have possessed Frau Schmelder, and now Quinn has disappeared.” I hoped I was making some sense.

  “Your brother? What does he have to do with this?” King Sebastian demanded to know.

  I gave him the rundown on Pascal’s body-hopping story. Once again, there was a silence on the other end of the phone. “King Sebastian?”

  “Can you get someone to watch Faustine for a while?”

  “Yes, no problem. What do you want me to do?”

  “Come over to my office in London.”

  I was taken aback. There was no way The Smelt or Professor Bern would grant me a leave of absence, especially while
we were in the middle of the tests. But I really wanted to find out what had happened to Quinn, and if going to London would help, that was what I had to do. “I’m going to have to find a way to sneak out of the Academy to do that.”

  “Ask Ryker to bring you over. Tell him I’ll run it past his uncle, and it’ll be fine.”

  “Okay, I’ll arrange it. Will Ryker need…directions?”

  “No, he’ll know what to do. Ask him to bring you for dinner tonight. That way you won’t need to worry about what time you can get away; he’ll time-adjust his wandering.”

  Cool! “Great. I’ll see you later.”

  “And, Cordelia, don’t tell anyone other than Ryker that you are coming over here, not even Faustine.” He cut the call.

  “Did you get ahold of him?” Faustine was all dressed now and looked smart in her school uniform, her tie neatly secured into a tidy knot. She was combing her hair while applying lip gloss.

  “Yes, he didn’t say much, but we’re going to talk later,” I said, not lying completely.

  She shrugged. “He’s probably busy. Oh well, make sure you tell me what he says. Did he say anything about me?”

  “He just asked if you were okay. I think he might have been a bit worried when he got me on the phone. Is that your private line with him?”

  “Yes.” She pursed her lips.

  “What’s up?”

  “He didn’t say anything at all?”

  “No…was he supposed to?”

  “It’s just that it’s my birthday soon. I thought he might have said something, you know, asked you for pressie ideas.”

  “Like I’d tell you if he did.” I laughed.

  “Did he?”

  I zipped my lips shut with my fingers and got up. “Come on; let’s go.” I made a mental note to ask her father if he needed any help with her birthday planning. She was obviously expecting a little—or big—something. I wished I had a way of wrapping up Ryker for her.

  Henri looked a bit annoyed when we walked into the dOME lab. He tapped his watch. “I was just about to send out a search party. Why didn’t you answer your phone, Cordelia? You are almost forty minutes late.”

  “That’s my fault,” Faustine interjected. “I slept in and then made Cordelia wait while I showered and got dressed. I hope I didn’t get her into trouble.” She batted her lashes.

  Henri’s anger melted instantly, and he beamed at Faustine. “No, no. It’s fine. Cordelia just needs to keep her cell on in case of emergencies.” He gave me a pointed look.

  “Sorry, Henri. Did you try and call me?” I checked my phone. “Oops. I forgot to turn it back on after Mason’s test. It won’t happen again.”

  He nodded curtly and turned back to Faustine. “Are you ready? Did you get time to eat?”

  “Yes, that’s the other reason we’re a bit late. Cordelia made me lunch.”

  “Good. Let me introduce you to Colton. He is Professor Kunz’s apprentice and will run the test with Cordelia and me observing. Is that okay with you?”

  “Yes! I remember you from the Professor Kunz’s last lecture. You’re the shifter that Cordelia had to hug onstage, right?”

  “Yep, that’s right, and before you ask, I’m a werewolf shifter.” He smiled.

  “Are you a hybrid?”

  “No, I’m a pure shifter. And from my notes, I see that you’re a demon-human hybrid. Interesting.”

  “Not really, but the vamps love me.” She giggled.

  “I’ll bet! Are you ready?”

  “Yes! Let’s get this show on the road.”

  “Cordelia, can you set Faustine up?”

  “Yes, I think so. I’ll ask for help if I need to.”

  I walked Faustine down to the chair and, once she was sitting, applied the various probes to her body, glancing over at the guide on the table to make sure I put them in the correct spots. Then, I pushed the button that activated the chair. I walked back up to Henri and Colton and sat down in my seat.

  “Faustine. Start counting back from twenty,” Colton instructed.

  As we watched her fall into a semi-sleep state, Henri’s cell buzzed. After mumbling into it for a few seconds, he said, “Can you two handle this? Professor Bern needs me at another laboratory.”

  “Everything okay?” I asked, concerned by Henri’s change in demeanor. He looked tense.

  “I don’t know. Looks like we might have just had another student disappear during a test—Ryker Darley. Know him?”

  “Yes,” I said, not the least bit surprised. “We’re good. Aren’t we, Colton?”

  “Yep, no problem. I’ll update you later, Henri.”

  When Henri left, Colton asked, “You were around for all of Faustine’s Initiation tests?”

  “Yes, she’s not done with them yet, though. We’re still testing her.”

  “What are the chances of her disappearing during our test?”

  “She hasn’t done that for a while, so I’d say pretty slim.” I said that with hesitation, wondering why Ryker had felt the need to wander from his test. If he’d done so out of fear for Faustine, she’d be gone for sure.

  “Good. We’re just going to do a repeat of what we did with Mason—with different stimuli, of course. Okay, let’s get started with the sounds.”

  Colton played through several neutral tracks, including a bit of opera, some rock music, and the sound of giggling, which actually made Faustine chuckle. He then moved on to animal sounds, including barking dogs, mewing cats, growling bears, cawing crows, and flapping wings.

  She reacted to all of them, mostly with a smile, even saying, “Aww,” when she heard the dogs. She had no reaction to the sound of a screaming eagle, an obvious nod to Mason. Her biological parameters remained constant throughout, showing no sign of fear or stress.

  After a short break, Colton moved on to the visual stimuli, shuffling them along quickly, not giving Faustine any opportunity to latch onto one. He started off with neutral stimuli—cars, bikes, the moon, and a pink summer dress, which elicited a little bout of excitement from her. Then he moved on to animal images, receiving pretty much the same responses as the animal sounds. Then a picture of Colton flashed across the screen, followed by one of Mason, which lingered slightly longer than the others. Although Faustine sat up at attention, her heartbeat remained steady.

  Before we started the last phase of the test, Colton turned to me. “Wouldn’t you have expected Faustine to transform at Mason’s image?” He looked confused. “I was told that he’d tried to attack her on several occasions.”

  “Yes, I’m as bewildered as you are. I totally expected her to go nuts. I don’t know what she was thinking. The fact that she didn’t show any self-protective response really sucks. I know you guys over at Integration are all aiming for peace and harmony, but Mason is a threat to her! She can’t be all hippy peace when he’s around. I can only hope that if he ever takes a step toward her, she’ll react. But I’m not so sure. So, we in the Initiation department obviously still have a whole lot of work to do with her.”

  “I can see that. I still have to go through the motions and do the olfactory tests.”

  I nodded. I sat back and observed, slightly bored. As expected, nothing happened.

  “And that’s it,” Colton declared after Mason’s aroma had been pumped into the chamber, with Faustine not so much as twitching her nose at it.

  I waited for her to descend from the chamber and come back out. Faustine had been through the routine enough times. She was a pro at taking off the probes herself.

  “Thank you, Faustine,” Colton said. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you. I’m going to give all the data I collected to Professor Kunz, and he’ll email you to arrange a time to discuss the results, goals, and schedule. Do you have any questions?”

  “No, but thanks. It was nice meeting you, too,” she said politely.

  I stood to leave. “I’ll take Faustine to get something to eat. Will you be okay closing up?”

  “Absolutely, and I hope to
see you soon, Cordelia.”

  I looked at him, wondering if he was leering at me, but he seemed sincere, so I smiled and waved.

  Once outside the lab, Faustine asked, “Can we go over to the dining hall? I’m hungry; that was a long session.”

  “I want to talk to you, so let’s go back to my room instead. I’ll cook you something.”

  “Oh, okay. What’s up?”

  As soon as we were behind closed doors again, I turned to her. “How did you not react?” I threw my hands up in the air, then turned to go into the kitchen for the steaks.

  Faustine followed me. “There was no reason to.”

  “No reason to? You see the shifter who wants to kill you, and you don’t feel that’s a strong enough reason to transform? How about to defend yourself?”

  “But he wasn’t doing anything! It’s not like he was coming at me or anything. Really, Cordelia, don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

  “Faustine,” I said as patiently as I could, “what if he had made a move to attack you?”

  “I guess I would have transformed then. Or I’d probably just have disappeared like I normally do when I’m in danger,” she said, biting into the steak I handed to her.

  And there it was. Complete faith in her guardian Wanderer to rescue her every time. Except she didn’t know that she was being rescued. The silly demon assumed she had a special power of some kind. Sigh. Much as I wanted, needed, to tell her what was really happening, I had to zip my mouth yet again.

  “Cordelia, you really don’t need to worry so much about me. I can take care of myself.”

  “Faustine, maybe you can. But maybe you can’t! Especially if you’re attacked by a group—”

  “I’ll just do my disappearing act,” she said triumphantly.

  “And what if it doesn’t work?”

  “Then I’ll transform into the biggest baddest demon of them all and kick some shifter azz.” She guffawed.

  “Well, that’s what we need you to work on—the ability to transform, just in case. Do you think you can do that? Just for me, Faustine?”

  She looked at me, and I hoped I oozed enough concern to sway her. “Okay. I’ll try. You want me to transform every time I see a shifter or just Mason?”