by Wendi Wilson
“Even if it saves the school?”
“That’s just the thing. It won’t. Nearly everyone that opposes Robin Goodman will be gone, and he’ll have free reign to do whatever he wants. He could destroy this place and ensure the war to the Zephyrs.”
“I know you’re right,” I said. “I just wish there were something we could do.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he replied, pushing himself up and holding out a hand to help me to my feet.
He led me to the bed and pulled me down onto it with him, snuggling me against his chest. We lay there, wrapped in each other’s arms, with no words and no space between us, until we fell asleep. It was exactly what I needed. Easton, too.
It felt like us against the world. And the odds were stacked against us.
CHAPTER 19
The next morning, I skipped history and went straight to my dad’s room. I’d talked to Easton over breakfast, and he’d agreed that it would be okay to talk to Cris about Puck. I just had to make him promise not to do or say anything that might force Robin’s hand.
After I explained everything, curses spewed from Cris’s mouth as he paced the floor of his room. His face was red and his blue eyes swirled with darkness, soon turning to their natural, black color. He ran a hand through his hair, which was morphing from reddish-blonde to black, and pierced me with a harsh stare.
“He’s working with her. That’s how he knew who I was to her, and to you. She sent him here to wreak havoc and further her own cause. He’s nothing more than a lackey.”
Sebille. That’s who he meant, and as mind-blowing as it was, he was right. That Stark guy had mentioned Sebille by name.
“Stark said she’s tired of waiting.”
“Did you stay Stark?” he asked, his face paling.
“Yeah, that’s what Puck called him,” I replied. “Why? Do you know him?”
“I do,” he said, nodding. “He was second-in-command to Elias, and twice as vicious. Since you killed Elias, he’s probably taken over the army.”
“Do you think he’s here for vengeance?”
Cris laughed, but it came out humorless and full of bitterness. “For Elias? No. There was no love lost between them and Stark would probably thank you for handing him control. But he will do anything for Sebille. He would never admit it out loud, but he’s in love with her. You need to be careful.”
“I will,” I promised, his comment about love reminding me of something. “Hey, Easton told me the Fae marry for life, and that if they separate for too long, they will grow weak and eventually die.”
“You’re not thinking of getting married, are you?” he asked, his face turning a little green as his hair and eyes shifted back to their Glamoured colors.
“Ha, ha,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “No, I was thinking of Puck, actually. Shaela said after he was ousted from the school, he moved to a small village and married her grandmother. They had a child, Shaela’s father, but then he disappeared from their lives. How is he still alive, and so strong, if he left his wife?”
“There are any number of ways to work around that particular law of nature,” he said, his gaze turning thoughtful. “Puck could have Glamoured her to believe they were bound by marriage, when they really weren’t. Or if the ceremony was true, he could visit her regularly and Glamour her to forget. He could even sneak in at night and just sleep next to her, with no one the wiser. And that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many other ways straying Fae have managed to stay alive and gain their freedom at the same time.”
I thought for a moment, then asked, “But what about Shaela’s grandmother? How would she rationalize her continued health if she didn’t know Puck was visiting her?”
“That, I don’t know. Is she still alive?”
I hadn’t even considered that Shaela’s grandmother might be dead.
“Is the marriage bond broken with the death of one of the partners?”
“Yes,” Cris replied. “With the Fae, the term ‘til death, do us part is quite literal.”
“If she is dead, I bet Puck killed her to escape the bond,” I muttered.
Shame burned through me at the thought. Puck had given no indication that he was a violent person. A trickster whose wily stunts sometimes ended badly? Yes. But a murderer? I wasn’t so sure about that.
“You could just ask Shaela about her,” he suggested.
My mouth turned down into a frown. Things between Shaela and I were strained enough without bringing up past hurts. Plus, she’d just think I was bagging on her grandfather…again. No, I’d have to wait until this shitstorm was over before satisfying my curiosity over that one.
Or I could just ask Puck when Shaela’s not around…
I shook my head, saying, “No, it’s not that important. Not in the grand scheme of things. I was just curious.”
“Okay, then, I think you should probably get going. I can’t excuse you for missed classes anymore.”
That last bit was said with a slight lift of the lips. He was making light of his situation, but the sadness in his eyes belied his words. He missed teaching, I could tell.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and hugged him, then pecked a kiss against his cheek before pulling back. He smiled again, and this time the smile reached his eyes. I smiled back, gave him a little wave, and walked out the door.
History was almost over, so I headed in the direction of my Earth science class. The bell rang just before I arrived, and I leaned against the wall to let the first period students file out before I slipped in and took a seat in the back.
I was lost in my thoughts the entire class, thinking of Puck, his meeting with Stark, and his possible workarounds for the whole “married for life” thing. The sound of the bell startled me back to reality and I felt my face heat up. I hoped I didn’t miss anything too important.
I moved out into the hallway, my steps slow and sluggish. It was time for sociology with Professor Goodman.
It was also the first time I’d see Shaela since our latest argument. No doubt about it, I was nervous as hell. I never knew which Shaela I was going to get. My best friend, or the stranger that worshipped a traitor.
I stood in the open doorway and peeked inside. Shaela and Easton were already in their usual seats. I took a deep breath and stepped into the room, watching as my best friend’s eyes darted up to meet mine. Her lips tilted up and a slight blush spread across her cheekbones as she shot me an apologetic look.
“I’m so sorry about last night,” she whispered as soon as I slid into my chair. “I must have been tired, or something. I don’t know what came over me.”
I bit my tongue, hard, against the words that tried to spew out of me. I knew exactly what came over her, and the bastard was walking through the door at that precise moment. Shaela turned to follow my gaze, and my hand snapped out to grab her arm, pulling her attention back to me.
“It’s okay,” I said, my voice earnest. “Let’s not fight anymore, okay? I can’t take it.”
“Deal,” she said, pulling her arm from my grasp and holding her hand across the aisle for me to shake.
I wrapped my fingers around hers and we shook, smiling at each other like a couple of goofballs. I looked back at Puck, and noticed his eyes zoning in our clasped hands.
I could have sworn I saw his lips tilt upward in the tiniest movement, but I blinked and his expression was blank, his gaze scanning the rest of the room. I must have imagined it. I had to have. There is no way Robin Goodman was pleased with Shaela and me remaining friends. He’d worked too hard to rip us apart.
“When Queen Sebille makes her final move against the humans,” he said, starting right into his lecture, “what do you think the Sylphid response should be?”
The way he emphasized the word “you” struck me as a little odd. He was the third professor in seven months to teach this class, each with their own style, but the underlying curriculum had remained the same—the Sylphids train at Oberon Academy to eventually fight again
st the Zephyrs and Sebille’s plan. The purpose of this class was only to help us understand why everything had happened the way it had, so we could try to prevent history repeating itself.
Puck was making it sound like we had a choice. That we could choose not to fight, and let the Zephyrs succeed in their plans. Just let them take over the world while we sit back and do nothing.
I really hoped that was not what he was suggesting.
“We stop them,” I barked out, one eyebrow arched as I waited for him to contradict me.
I was pretty sure that if he did, it could have been construed as treason.
“So you think a bunch of teenagers can take down the Zephyr army?” he countered.
“I do,” I answered, “but the Sylphs aren’t comprised of just teenagers. Our parents trained here, just like us.”
“Your parents trained here, did they?” he mused, his gaze cutting me like a knife.
A giggle exploded out of Aubrey Ellsworth. Typical. Shaela gasped, a hand flying to her chest. I looked over to find her red-faced, her eyes wide. Like she couldn’t believe her beloved grandfather had mocked me like that.
As I watched, her face relaxed, and the blush of anger drained from her cheeks. She propped her chin in her palm with a smile as her eyes glassed over, her mood flipping from indignation on my behalf to hero-worshipping her grandfather in the space of a few seconds.
I turned my incredulous gaze to Puck, who was looking not at Shaela, but at me. He smirked, and his eyes glowed with vicious pleasure.
He did that on purpose. He let Shaela out of this thrall long enough for me to let my guard down, then wrapped her back up—just to show me he could.
And that he had, indeed, been using his Glamour on her the whole time.
“Miss Thorne is correct,” he continued, as if nothing untoward had happened. “The Sylphid army, in theory, is comprised of more than just the students at this school.”
“What do you mean, in theory?” Easton called out, his tone combative. “It’s a fact, not a theory.”
“Can you imagine your mother fighting on the front lines?” Puck asked him. “Or even your father, for that matter?”
My gasp wasn’t the only one that broke the ensuing silence in the room. Easton’s mother was being verbally and psychologically abused by his father, and while the other students might not know that, they were aware there was some dysfunction in his family. Easton had grown up at the academy and, other than a few brief visits by his dad, he never saw them.
I could feel the tension rolling off of Easton, tension pulling him so tight, he was bound to snap. I turned in my seat and placed my hand, palm up, on his desk. He stared at it for a moment before he rested his on top. I wrapped my fingers around his and squeezed.
“I do not mean any insult, Mr. Oberon,” the professor continued. “The same could be said of any of your parents. Sure, they attended Oberon Academy, but they trained for a war they were sure was never going to happen. They were certain Sebille would relent, that she would slither back to the black hole from which she came. In other words, they didn’t take it seriously while they were here, and they’ve grown lax since then.”
I glanced around the room at the others’ faces, gauging their reactions to Puck’s words. While some expressions held clear denial, most of them appeared to be lost in thought, like they were trying to imagine their own parents fighting the Zephyrs…and getting their butts handed to them.
“So, I’ll ask you again—operating under the assumption that the previous generation is useless and you will be the front line against Sebille’s army, should you fight? Or should you find a more peaceful resolution?”
“Peace is the way to go,” Aubrey called out. “Don’t you agree, Professor Goodman?”
“I am not here to give my own opinions, Miss Ellsworth. It is my duty to make you all realize your own.”
I barely held back a snort at that priceless little gem. Not there to give his own opinions? That’s all he’d done since the moment he darkened the doors of the academy.
He quickly turned and shuffled some papers on his desk, and I realized something. If I hadn’t been trying to kill him with my eyes, I may not have noticed, but the skin around his eyes tightened as soon as Tiana’s little minion spoke. His Adam’s apple bobbed erratically when he replied to her, like he was forcing those particular words out, rather than the ones he really wanted to say.
Puck did not like Aubrey Ellsworth, despite her obvious reverence of him.
Interesting. Very interesting.
CHAPTER 20
Shaela and Charles walked into the dining hall together at lunch, hands clasped and big smiles on their faces. Shaela slid into a chair across the table from me and Easton while her boyfriend went to go buy them some food.
“Lord, I’m starving,” she groaned before reaching over and plucking a couple of blueberries from my plate.
She gave me a cheeky grin as she popped them into her mouth. She was acting so much like the old Shaela, tears sprung to my eyes. I missed my friend and was tiring of the moody, angry girl she’d become since Puck started working his magic on her.
“How has your morning been?” I asked, reminding myself to choose my words carefully.
“Good,” she said, snagging more berries from my plate with a laugh. “Charles and I both earned study hour during fourth period.”
Her suggestive waggle of the eyebrows made me chuckle. I looked over at Easton, who was staring at his plate of untouched food with a crease marring his forehead. He’d been unusually quiet since Puck’s comments about his mom and dad, and Shaela’s presence seemed to intensify his displeasure.
Her devotion to her grandfather, magically induced or not, made him resent her. If I was honest with myself, I was resentful, too. Which was why I had to find a way to drag her out of it.
“It seems like you’re in a good mood,” I observed, forcing a playful grin.
“We’ll just say…we didn’t do a whole lot of studying,” Charles said before nuzzling Shaela’s neck.
“Charlie,” Shaela admonished with a giggle and a half-hearted attempt to push him away.
I turned my wide eyes to Easton, who had looked up to stare at the two of them with a frown. He glanced over at me and I mouthed, Charlie?
Easton just shrugged and looked back at his plate. I didn’t like the color of his aura. Orange swirled with maroon, indicating annoyance and resentment.
I bit my lip, waffling between staying and enjoying the moment of peace and happiness with Shaela while I had it, or getting Easton out of there and getting him to talk about what was bothering him. Shaela giggled again, drawing my attention away from my boyfriend.
She was practically sitting in Charlie’s lap with her arms looped around his neck. He had one hand fisted in her blonde hair and, as I watched, the other slid its way down her back to cup her butt and give it a tight squeeze.
My eyes chased away from the sight, drifting across the sea of faces in the room, and I caught quite a few students staring at the show those two were putting on. A show that was completely out of character for both of them.
“Hey, uh, guys? People are staring,” I murmured, kicking at them under the table.
I must have hit Charles, because he grunted in pain, but he didn’t stop groping my best friend. Shaela met my eyes and grinned before letting her eyelids droop with a quiet moan. My gaze dropped to see Charles’s hand kneading her breast through her shirt.
What the hell?
I stood up so fast, my chair made a screeching sound as it slid back. Charles and Shaela broke apart long enough to look at me with question in their eyes. Like they had no idea why I might have been upset or uncomfortable.
“Easton and I have some stuff to do before next class,” I said, and to his credit, he took the hint and stood up beside me. “Want to have a girls’ night tonight? You can pick the movie.”
“Oh,” Shaela said, glancing from me to Charles and back again, “sorry, but I
have plans with Charlie tonight. Rain check?”
“Sure,” I said, my fake smile hiding the disappointment that welled inside me.
I lifted my hand give them a wave goodbye, but neither of them noticed. They were already sticking their tongues down each other’s throats, oblivious to their audience. Or maybe they just didn’t care that people were watching with snickers and smirks.
As soon as Easton and I were in the hallway and out of sight of the other students, I stopped and leaned back against the wall. I rubbed circles into my temples, attempting to ease the ache that had started to pound in my head.
“Come on,” Easton said, and I opened my eyes to look at him. “Let’s go to the gym. I think throwing a little magic around will make us both feel better.”
I nodded and he took my hand, lacing his fingers through mine as we started down the hall.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly. “You seemed tense before, and your aura is negative.”
He sighed and tightened his grip on my hand.
“Yeah, I’m okay. When Puck mentioned my parents, like he knew what their life was like and was using it to put me in my place, it just pissed me off. Then there’s Shaela, who is supposed to be our friend, but she worships the ground he walks on and always defends him.”
“Her mood swings are giving me whiplash,” I replied. “But, Easton, he’s using his abilities to warp her feelings. He has to be.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” he said. “And that little show they’re putting on in the dining hall is courtesy of Puck as well, I’m sure.”
“What?” I chirped, pulling him to a halt. “What do you mean?”
He tilted his head, his brows drawn low. “That’s his specialty, December. You know that.”
“Making people fall in love,” I clarified. “Not making them exhibitionists.”
“That’s the general gist of his power, but there’s more. Making people lose their inhibitions to display their true desires is a huge part of it. Shaela and Charles are already in love, so it would only take a nudge to make them throw caution to the wind and do what they want to each other, despite their location and lack of privacy. Something like that is way easier than turning hate to love, or dislike to desire.”