When her eyes darted back down to my schedule, they widened. “Whoa, your schedule is full.”
Her lips parted, and the smile disappeared from her face so fast, I would’ve sworn someone told her, her dog died.
“Oh,” she said as though she found something that disgusted her. “You’re taking Lessons for Mortal-Raised? Do they offer that? I thought Elsa put a stop to that nonsense.”
She shoved the paper back into Jared’s hands.
There it was, the unasked-for hatred. I felt it coming from her in waves as she crossed her arms and glared at me like I was scum on the bottom of her shoe that needed to be scraped off.
I glared right back, in no mood to deal with her crappy attitude after everything I’d been through the past few days. Hell, the past few years. If she wanted to stand there and judge me, that was just fine by me. I didn’t have to make friends while I was here. All I had to do was learn and get the hell out.
“Yeah, yeah I am. Problem?” I said as brightly as possible.
She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, they might as well let mortals go to this school if they’re going to start that nonsense again. I thought this school had standards. Whatever happened to quality control?”
“Alana, enough,” Jared growled, with an actual growl to his words.
“What? I’m just saying, we haven’t had a mortal-raised at this school in years. Why does she suddenly get to come?”
“You would have to ask Headmistress about that. If you’ll excuse us, I need to get Everest settled into her new dorm.”
He glared as he walked past her, but I kept on grinning, never wanting to punch someone so much in my life. Ever.
Well, except the asshole that tried to kill me, but that’s a little different.
Once we were away from Alana, Jared leaned in closer again. He really needed to stop doing that. My emotions were messed up enough already without him lose focus because there was a cute guy… dragon, whatever… so close to me.
“She’s a Shannen.”
“Let me guess, one of those old, traditional families you told me about?”
“Yeah. Big family name. The Shannens are some of the most well-known witches and warlocks. They think they’re more important than they actually are because they can trace their ancestry back to the Great War.
Claim without their aid specifically, it would’ve been lost. Now, they’re all about keeping the bloodlines pure. That sort of nonsense.”
I wanted to ask about this Great War, but felt that might be pushing how much I could mentally handle today. “My uncle acted like the Winchester name was pretty important,” I said instead.
Jared smiled proudly. “Yeah, I guess so. We’ve played a pretty big part throughout the years.”
We took an elevator to the top floor, and as we started walking, I noticed the doors were very spread out, farther than the apartments in the city.
“Looks like your uncle must have bribed someone to get you into the specialty dorm,” Jared explained when I stopped to stare back at the last door we passed, wondering how big these rooms were. “You’re going to love your roommate, by the way.”
We arrived outside a door, and I could hear more loud music blasting from the other side.
Jared had to knock four times to get an answer.
The door flung open on its own, and the two of us entered onto quite a scene: three girls dancing around, but I could hardly pay attention to any of them, I was distracted by the enormous dorm room.
It boasted tall ceilings with skylights overhead, and I could just make out the wing of one of the gargoyles that guarded the roof. There was an enormous kitchen to my left, and an even larger sitting room to my right, where the girls were currently partying.
Double glass doors led from the sitting room to a huge, stone balcony. There was a staircase leading up to a loft area with a hallway I could see from where I stood; I assumed this was where the bedrooms were. This entire place was at least four times the size of our apartment, probably bigger, and I only shared it with one other girl.
My hopes lifted again that I could tolerate people like Alana if I got to stay in a room like this without it costing me anything.
“Get off the chandelier,” Jared wailed.
I frowned at his choice of words, thinking he was getting onto the girls for dancing and being so loud.
But then I heard something creak and looked up. My mouth fell open in shock, and I stepped back in surprise, realizing one of the girls was hanging from an intricately crafted silver and iron chandelier on the tall ceiling.
“Boo,” the girl cried out and let go.
I felt my stomach flip to see her willingly to fall from such a height, but she transformed into this tiny green dragon and fluttered down to the ground in front of us.
The green dragon hopped up onto one of the couches in the sitting area and curled up, pouting about getting caught goofing around. She was the size of a large dog and nothing like the dragon Jared had transformed into. A shimmer ran over her body, and in a blink, the girl was there instead of the dragon.
“She’s… she’s a lot smaller than you,” I muttered to Jared under my breath.
“What?” the girl questioned with a slight smirk. “You’ve never seen an Emerald Petite before?”
“Is that a type of dragon?” I asked.
“Jared, is this girl for real?” one of the other girls asked, not snotty like Alana, but curious. She wore a long, black cloak and had her dark brown hair pulled back in a stylish, moderately messy ponytail.
Jared shrugged slightly and then waved at the girl in the black cloak. “Everest, this is your new roommate, Amelie. Amelie, this is Everest, the newbie.”
“Oh, you’re the mortal-raised witch I’ve been told will be staying with me,” Amelie said, still smirking.
I frowned. I really was getting tired of this mortal-raised nonsense.
“Yeah, so?” I asked, with a bit of my mother’s famous attitude coming off me.
“Oh,” Amelie exclaimed, suddenly looking embarrassed. “I didn’t mean it as an insult. I’m sorry. I’m sure you get tired of hearing that.”
She held out her hand with an apologetic smile, and I took it, forcing myself to calm down.
“It got old pretty quick,” I admitted. “But, honestly, this is only my first day knowing any of this is real. I’m a bit on edge, I guess.”
“Wait, any of this? Are you saying you just found out you’re a witch today?” Amelie asked, as though this fact had turned me into some sort of rare find that needed to be studied.
Jared cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the three girls. “Amelie, why don’t you start by introducing Everest to your friends and showing her the other room, so she can get herself settled in for the night?”
“Oh, right. Of course, Jared, my bad,” Amelie said, blushing as she looked at Jared.
I didn’t blame her. He was handsome, and I had a feeling many girls here had their sights on him. Not me, well, not really. I doubted I’d be able to handle any sort of relationship with any guy until I figured out who I really was.
Amelie looked at me with a grin plastered across her face. “These are my friends. This is Penelope, the Emerald Petite Dragon. And, this is Janelle.” Amelie nodded at the girl with the fiery red hair and equally stunning red eyes.
“Are you a dragon?” I asked, and the girls exchanged glances as though the answer should have been quite obvious.
“She’s from the Hollow Well clan like me,” Jared said. “Although, she’s pureblood. Hence the hair and fiery eyes.”
I looked at Penelope, and I noticed a slight emerald tint in her hair. It was subtle, but her emerald green eyes were certainly dragon-like.
“Interesting,” I said, happy to know I might have a chance at telling the other students part of what they were, or weren’t.
“I think it’s kind of fun,” Jared said. “I’ve never really hung out with mortals before. None that knew I was a dragon, at
least. This will be exciting.”
“But, Jared, she’s not mortal,” Penelope said. “She was just raised that way.”
“Practically the same thing. I bet she even fell for Elsa’s broom question.” Jared winked.
I groaned until part of me wondered what the answer really was to that question.
“Wait, do witches fly on broomsticks or not?” I asked quietly.
“No,” Amelie exclaimed, looking quite embarrassed. “Don’t tell me you answered the question about the stupid broomstick? She does that to weed out mortal-raised students during admissions.”
“This school really has a beef with students who were mortal-raised, huh?” I asked.
“It’s a good school,” Janelle said with a slight huff, then smiled at me. “You must be special to have gotten in. And rich, too, to get this room. Amelie lucked out her freshmen year because her room was flooded, and this was the only place that was open. Returning students get to have their rooms from the previous year on reserve, so she’s had this killer one ever since.”
Jared put his hand on my shoulder, and I wished he didn’t have to leave me alone with these girls. Not that they didn’t seem friendly enough, but I was enjoying his company.
“I’ll leave you ladies to it. Penelope, stay off the chandelier, got it?”
“Got it,” she moaned.
“If you need anything, Everest, I already put my number in your phone,” he said as he departed. “See you later!”
Amelie leapt over near the door, snagging my bag. “I’ll show you your room. There are actually three bedrooms in this dorm, but it’s just been me for a while. So, it’ll be nice to fill some space around here.” She darted up the stairs.
Penelope and Janelle each offered me a smile, and I nodded awkwardly before hurrying after Amelie.
Thirteen
Slade
I stalked along the roof as the sun broke over the horizon. This was as close as I dared to get to the school and I was lucky I managed to find this warehouse.
Trees had broken through the unused parking lot, and most of the windows were shattered and gone, but it had a roof with a perfect sightline to where Everest now resided. That was all I really needed.
Throughout the night, I’d woken to hear Morg pacing around restlessly, back at the apartment. He never spoke a word, but he never had to. I knew what he dreamt about because I did the exact same thing.
Sometime around three, I gave up on sleep and scoped out a better place to set up camp while here in the city.
I sat on the roof until the sun came up and then checked my cell, waiting to hear any news from Tank. When another hour passed, I paced around the entire length of the warehouse, stomach growling from needing food. I was about to head back downstairs and hop on the bike to go out and grab a few supplies to store here when my cell finally went off.
“Tank? Is it him?” I asked quickly.
“Yeah, it’s him, and Preston’s already done the once over on him, but he’s not saying much.”
“They usually don’t.”
A yell echoed through the phone followed by a stream of curses.
I heard Jenny shouting in the background, but it faded away as Tank probably left whatever room they’d thrown the man into.
“We do know what he is at least, and it’s not the one you’re going to want to hear.”
I gripped the metal edge of the roof and glared at the school. If they were sending their higher-up assassins, they were getting desperate to carry out the plan we knew so little about. “No name? No location for a hideout?”
“Nothing, especially about the target.”
“You think there’s more coming after her?”
“Jenny’s pretty convinced she’s not going to be safe, not even at that school. I’ll be coming back in a few days, but she’s sending Davis, until then. He should be there by this evening.”
I grunted. “Why is the techie going to be here? I can’t waste time watching out for his ass, on top of ensuring no one gets to Everest, again.”
“If they’re coming after her, you’ll need him to watch the camera feeds in the city,” Tank argued in the tone of voice that said I’d do better if I said nothing against the plan. “You just keep your head down, and your eyes open. The last thing we need is you getting caught so close to that place.”
“Not like I have a choice,” I grumbled. “You can thank her uncle for that one.”
“I know, but this is what we have to deal with, so deal with it.”
I ground my teeth and said nothing.
“Fine, be a sourpuss. I’ll be back in a few days,” Tank told me. “Do not get yourself into any trouble until I get back.”
I rattled off the address of the warehouse I set up in, and shoved my cell back in my pocket. If I had been there, I’d get the assassin to talk, but I wasn’t, and Jenny probably wanted me nowhere near the man. I’d only rough him up a little. We couldn’t keep protecting every single individual out there forever.
Our numbers were thin enough as it was, and now with more dead from our ranks, it was only going to make things harder. We needed answers, needed to know their plan. I hated to think someone was going to have to sneak back into the hell we all escaped from to find out, but there may be no other option.
Once at my bike, I climbed on and drove out of the warehouse to find some food and try to get myself in somewhat of a better mood before Davis got here and reported my bad attitude to Jenny. Which he would do.
I was just stepping away from my bike at the curb, a few blocks away from the rundown warehouse, when a sharp scent I knew I would never forget wafted across my face.
Here? They couldn’t be here. I wasn’t in a major part of the city, but there were people everywhere, innocent, mortal people.
I told myself I was losing it, just like Morg, but when I sniffed again, closing my eyes to throw all my focus into it, there it was, the harsh smell of burnt cinnamon and sulphur associated with the dark magic they used, which corrupted them and us.
I growled, scaring several bystanders before I got a hold of myself and stalked into the crowd bustling down the sidewalk.
Every few steps, I took another deep breath, following the trail. They were close, two, maybe more of them, but they were here.
My hands slipped to my lower back where I carried two, long silver daggers. With so many people around, they wouldn’t be foolish enough to shift.
At least I hoped not.
Exposure and blowing my cover all in one day would get my ass dragged back to Jersey in no time at all.
The scent drifted away from the sidewalk, and I moved with it across the street, around another block, and down a less traveled road.
They headed towards the campus of the private school, and I cursed under my breath, picking up the pace.
It could be a coincidence. Unless they had the numbers, they wouldn’t dare attack such a highly protected place. Not unless they were that desperate to kill Everest.
She was just a witch, but this perseverance made me think she was much more than that. I made a mental note to talk to Tank about our intel and figure out who exactly I was protecting, when I turned another corner, and there was a deadend road.
“Damn it,” I snapped and turned to head back when whistling met my ears.
I stopped, my hands gripping the daggers tighter as two figures blocked my escape from the dea-end street.
A quiet thud behind me said another had dropped in. Three here, but there were more, I felt them, pressing in around me.
“Well now, are you lost?” one with dank, dirty brown hair trailing over his shoulders asked as he stopped whistling. “Hey, boy! I asked, are you lost?”
I steadied my breathing and lifted my head. “No, I think I found just what I was looking for.”
I didn’t pull the blades, not yet. My timing would have to be perfect if I was going to have any hope of getting out of this mess alive. I needed to tell Jenny, let her know they were already
here, and they were too close to the school for it to be a coincidence.
Everest. They were here for Everest.
And possibly more.
“Oh yeah?” he asked as he stalked closer. Mistake on his part. “And what are you looking for? Please, share with us, and we might go easier on you.”
Either they were stupid, or blind not to notice who I was. I doubted they would have stopped to chat first.
The man drew closer, closer… a few more steps… but then the man behind me stomped towards me.
I had been in plenty of fights in my day, no matter I was barely nineteen. But if these three wanted to think taking me down was going to be a cakewalk, I’d let them. Make getting rid of them that much easier.
The one in front of me slipped his hand to the dagger I could now see sheathed at his hip. But he was too slow on the draw.
I sucked in a deep breath and attacked silently, pivoting on my feet as I drew my daggers and spun in a circle, slashing the one in front’s throat, but only managed to catch the shoulder of the one behind me.
He cursed and dropped back, but the third one who hadn’t made a move yet, leapt over the dying body of his comrade to join in the fight.
I barely managed to fall to my knees and spin to the right when a sword came down where my head would’ve been.
“We need him alive!” one of them shouted.
I smirked. Good to know they couldn’t kill me, but I could definitely kill them.
“Him and the witch!”
“He killed Fredrick!”
“Yes, yes, I did,” I said proudly as I straightened, flipping my daggers over in my hands so the blades were flattened against my forearms and I used the knobs of the hilts to attack as I charged forward, not giving them time to figure out their next move.
I met the dagger of one and the sword of the other, fending off their attacks and kept them on their toes as we moved in a dizzying circle of slashing and dodging.
I kicked one in the gut and sent him flying hard into the brick wall as I knocked the other across the face with the hilt of my dagger.
He jerked to the right, sagging to the ground and I kicked the sword from his grasp before landing a knee to his face for good measure.
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