I frowned at him. “You haven’t been nice to me since you found out I was Pitch.”
He stared back for a really, really long time. “I can be nice to you.”
“I know. You were at the beginning.”
“It’s hard when I know you’re Pitch because you just ripped my face off. You didn’t want niceness.”
“I need it. I need love. Human stuff. Hugs and jokes and holding hands and saying nice things. Even when I’m ripping off faces.” I sighed and traced the mess of my cheek. “Were you serious about healing me, because I’m about to pass out again. I really messed up your wrist.”
He came over, arms still crossed before he rolled his eyes and plopped down on the bed next to me. He propped his head on one hand and started tracing over my face, sending pulses of blue light through my skin. It felt tingly, warm, nice.
He moved his hand over my shoulder, my arm, wrist, and down to settle over my ribs. I curled against him until his warmth soaked into my back. The curse. That’s where it lived.
“Tell me a story, Zach.”
“There are so many things I’m not saying. A story? Once there was a tricked out neutralizer with dial codes and mutli-shot options with a glazed overlay that had an invisible setting.”
“Wow. You really suck at stories. Keep going.”
He sent a wave of pleasant healing through me and I could feel my cheek grow smooth one layer at a time. “One day a boy with a big nose picked it up and shot his older brother’s duck with it.”
“What setting?”
“Stun.”
“That’s good.”
“Right? But the brother didn’t know it was stun setting and so…”
I fell asleep for real to the sound of Zach’s voice, the pleasant blue pulse and the warmth against my spine. Signore. I owed him for rescuing me from Teddy, from Pitch, from the Darkside in me. And Zach. He’d brought me back to Penny even though he loved Pitch. That meant something, but I wasn’t sure what.
Chapter 6
Witch
The next morning I woke up wrapped in Zach’s arms. It felt like Poppy. Like home but weird at the same time. I kind of dozed back to sleep when frantic pounding started on the door. Viney was screaming.
I sat up and Zach growled and tugged me back down. I elbowed him and rolled off the bed. Seriously. I was not his puppy. Sort of. I went to the door and opened it.
Viney’s face was white, her mouth open when she stared at me, opening and closing like a fish out of water.
“Are you okay?”
“Are you sleeping with Zach?”
I stared at her for a long time. “I guess?”
“We just passed out drunk,” Zach said coming over to grab the doorframe and stare out at Viney. “We’re just friends. I’m her nice friend.” He nudged me with his elbow.
“Right. Super nice. Super friends. Why are you freaking out?”
She grabbed my arm and yanked me towards my room. The door was open and when I stepped in, it was like the last time Zach had blown off my door, but this time it was the window. There was no window. Scorch marks were all around it. I went over and sniffed.
“Carbon nitrate,” Zach and I said at the same time before we exchanged glances.
“Where’s Señor?”
Señor? I stared at the hook where his cage should be, but no cage, no weasel, just a black card hung from the hook where I kept it.
I reached for it but Viney gripped my hand and yanked it away.
“Evidence. Don’t tamper with evidence. I called Drake. He should be here soon.”
I elbowed her hard and grabbed the card anyway. A spell hit me once I touched the paper and the scent of black licorice swelled around me like a heavy fog.
I stumbled into the wall before Zach pulled me against him, his hand around my waist.
“Are you okay? Sometimes you’re really stupid. In a really cute way, of course.” He snorted and I tried not to throw up. I ran to my bathroom and puked for a long time. Teddy had Señor. I was going to kill him. What if this was all an elaborate trap of Sooth’s? I gripped the edge of the ceramic sink, clawing my nails into the edge over and over while I stared at myself in the mirror. No, I wasn’t looking at myself. Maybe I should. I blinked at my reflection. I looked terrible. My clothes were ripped and blood-stained. That’s how Pitch and my witch liked to play. Teddy would regret this game when I was finished with him. My mouth watered as I thought of his blood. I licked my lips and shook my head.
“Drake’s coming,” I told myself.
Drake. I put my hand on my shoulder, the one that Signore hadn’t bitten this time. What was up with him biting me? He was like Señor only with sharper teeth. I had to get my sweet little darling back before Teddy ripped him apart. Teddy was Drake’s friend. Maybe Drake could get him for me. He loved me but didn’t want me. How could I possibly convince Drake to help me? It would start with me not looking like I’d enjoyed rolling around with Zach. I bit my bottom lip. Had I? Not like that. I washed my face and started on my makeup. I had my robe in the bathroom. I washed the blood off my hands and throat then pulled on the robe over my underwear. Did I look nice? Like Drake might like? Not that it would make a difference. I’d looked so nice on our wedding day.
My heart ached and throbbed with a mixture of sorrow and anger that I didn’t need.
I took one last look in the mirror before I went into my room. It was empty except for Ian who leaned against the wall next to the blown up window.
“Ian.” I swallowed as I stared at the golden mage. After my last encounter with a dragon mage I wasn’t about to underestimate him.
“Mistress.” He smiled, golden and dangerous, but not flirty.
“Can you not call me that?”
“Is that an order?”
“No, just a request.”
“In that case, no.” He smiled a little bit wider. “Are you all right? We’ll get him back. Teddy’s not going to rip apart your pet.”
“How do you know?”
He shrugged. “He’s playing a game. If he starts killing sweet animals, he’ll suffer the consequences.”
“What consequences.”
He straightened up. “I know it’s hard to believe, but Drake and I are something of a power couple. Throw in Stoneburrow and you’ve got yourself a nice little team of defenders. Besides that, this entire thing is a school rivalry. You didn’t read the note, did you? Your pet is being held for ransom. Blackheart is challenging our school to a tournament. Winner gets the Rosewood mascot.”
I wrinkled my nose and took a step away from him. “Señor is a personal pet, not a school mascot.”
“You’re the mascot, your weasel is just what they took when they didn’t find you. It’s almost a good thing that you spent the night with Zach. Drake’s in the Commons with all the other power players.”
“What about you?”
He laughed. “Everyone knows that I’m only good for one thing. If there are Blackheart witches to seduce, they’ll let me know.”
I grabbed his forearm. The bond didn’t throb very much. I could barely feel it, but there was still aching in him. I took that. “Teddy showed me his claws. I appreciate your restraint with me. I know that you could seduce me if you wanted to.”
He raised his eyebrows and studied me for a long time before he nodded. “You’re welcome. I’m only the third worst mage. I can have pity on a witch who is in love with my best friend. It’s for Drake, though, not you.”
I nodded and crossed my arms. “That’s why I trust it. I didn’t think that Teddy would seduce me either.”
Ian raised an eyebrow. “Did he try to seduce our sweet Penny? How did you resist?”
“I didn’t. Signore rescued me.”
He nodded. “Teddy is very beautiful.”
I smiled brightly. “Terrifyingly so.”
I headed into the Commons room where students were crowded in and overflowing into the hall.
“Someone blew off her door again, d
idn’t they?”
The students parted to reveal Wit, sexy in some kind of peacock blue silk pajamas, lace insert up top while billowy pants swirled around her legs, her hair gloriously mussed in a calculating way.
She glanced over at Drake where he stood next to the hideous amethyst fireplace. I pressed my nails into my palms. Her mussed and rumpled look was so much better than mine.
“Blackheart,” Viney said all raccoon-eyed, glaring at Wit probably for being in her domain.
Blackheart. Blackheart was going to die. All of them, any of them, I wasn’t particular. I stood in the middle of the room clenching and unclenching my fists while Professor Vale sent all the kids to their rooms leaving only a few grim faces in the Common room. I ran my fingernails lightly up and down my arms while I tried to think.
They had Señor Mort. They would pay in blood and pain and agony. Apparently thinking wasn’t going to happen, not while I was still freaking out. Viney put her arm around my shoulder and pulled me to the couch. She pushed me down next to Zach. He handed me a mug of hot chocolate with pink marshmallows and sprinkles.
I sniffed and everything got blurry when I saw the floating lumps of pink sweetness. Zach was my pink marshmallow. Too bad I kind of hated marshmallow.
Drake cleared his throat. He wasn’t standing like the Chemistry captain, no, he was lounging in a chair with his hands steepled in front of him, but everyone turned to him, maybe fifteen people, male and female who were in various positions of awesomeness at school, a lot of them extremely well-groomed, but a few not so smooth and sleek as well. In fact, the girl with glasses in my English class stood in penguin pajamas looking adorably messy while Lester leaned against the wall giving the room his sexy smolder.
“Have we gotten a message yet?” Drake asked.
Viney’s phone beeped and she pulled it out, looking cool and edgy in her black tank, flaming skull bottoms and authentically smeared eye liner. She scowled at Oscar who was wearing a matching outfit minus the flaming skulls and liner.
Ian stood beside Drake, shirtless, in golden silk bottoms that went with the rest of him. Even Ian without a shirt couldn’t keep my gaze from drifting towards Drake with his mussed red hair, intense green eyes, soft lips, hard cheekbones, strong jaw. He wore black and looked pale in contrast.
“Patrice sent this. I’ll put it up on the screen.” Viney pushed a bunch of buttons and then our TV showed a message, Blackheart challenge for Rosewood mascot. Free for all. Winner takes all. March 4th in the Sulap Swamps.
“How many contestants?” Oscar’s voice was quiet, but it didn’t have to be loud. He had a lot of charisma, maybe even more than Drake.
“Free for all. All. They want to play their whole school against ours.” Drake’s voice wasn’t particularly soft, or hard, or interested, but everyone looked at him, including me. He didn’t look up at me, still staring at his hands like they were the most interesting things.
Zach leaned back suddenly making my chocolate slosh. “They’ll win.”
Drake looked up at Zach with a fierce grin. “So we cheat.”
I grabbed Zach’s arm. “Wait, why will they win?”
Oscar cleared his throat. “Blackheart are better fighters overall, better Chemists too.”
Viney glared at him something cold in her eyes. “Then why did you come to Rosewood?”
He almost smiled. “Rosewood has certain advantages. I personally always wanted to be a ballerina.”
“Ballerinas are sexy.” I nodded at him then frowned. “Seriously, you’re just agreeing that they’re all better fighters than you?”
Wit sneered at me. “Poor Penny, so confused at how things work in this world. Drake’s family owns most of the best fighters who graduate from Blackheart. He’ll have to recruit this spring like he does every year. Being the best fighters doesn’t mean much when you can’t afford groceries. If we used the total resources of Rosewood against Blackheart, there wouldn’t be a Blackheart after we were finished. Of course then Huntsman couldn’t recruit any mercenaries. We can’t let some silly little school rivalry get in the way of what really matters.”
Ian cleared his throat. “Little school rivalries have a way of spilling over into reality, Wit. We can’t let this challenge go without making certain that we decimate them.”
Zach smiled and there was that look in his eyes, the wild, fierce one that came before something weird. “Decimation isn’t a problem.”
Viney made a face at him. “We don’t want to leave the swamps scattered with body parts. Sorry, Zach.”
“Set up would be a problem.” Oscar’s voice was precise. “The swamps are too deadly all on their own that it will put Rosewood and Blackheart on even ground, and that puts Rosewood behind.”
“Can we fly hot air balloons over the swamp and drop hurters on them? You know, non-lethal ones?” I peered over my mug at Drake, but he didn’t answer my question. Instead, Wit did. Oh, I loved her so much.
She laughed like I’d suggested that we piss on them while we were at it. Which some people might get into. Not me. “Penny, honestly, do you know how difficult it is to control balloons? It’s not like we have a mage who can control the weather.”
I glanced over at Drake because I clearly remembered the way that he’d manipulated the wind and the water. He didn’t look up from his hands, and Zach when I glanced at him winked at me.
Viney looked at Wit and they exchanged glances of contempt and mutual dislike. “I think it would be a good idea to keep Penny in a balloon away from the fighting. She’s the one they want.”
Wit inhaled sharply. “I have a crazy idea, how about we let them have her?”
Ian didn’t look at her and sounded bored. “Blackheart stole from Rosewood. We can’t let that go. We’d go after them if they stole one of your pairs of shoes. It’s a great opportunity to show Blackheart once and for all who is better.”
I raised my hand above my mug. “But why would you want to show everyone that they’re better?”
Everyone sighed while Zach laughed and Drake looked up at me, finally, his eyes glimmering with something. Rage? Humor? Irritation? I didn’t know. I should know. I slid my hand beneath my robe over my shoulder and scraped my nails over his initials.
He felt so many things, but the overwhelming thing was me in nothing but a robe with my long legs curled up around a cup of hot chocolate. Desire, ravenous, heart thumping desire.
He looked away from me and I took a deep sip of hot chocolate, staring at the melting pink circles where marshmallows used to be. The rest of the meeting went on in a buzz around me, but to me the only point of interest was Drake, sitting so close but not close enough. Finally, everyone left with the plan to make a plan, leaving me with Zach and Viney.
I closed my eyes and leaned back, hanging onto my mug.
“Penny Lane.” Professor Vale’s voice was sharp and impossible to ignore. “You’ll move into the usual room while your window is repaired.”
Without Señor Mort.
Chapter 7
Mage
Chromium magnesium. Zinc and manganese. Bromium.
“You’re worrying the other students,” Lars said in his low voice from his position at the end of the table holding a hose and two different vials in case of different accidents I might cause.
I slammed the beaker closed and slid it hard over the surface to him. He palmed it easily with his enormous hand, tucking it away.
“Blackheart wants to die. I don’t have time for games right now.” My hands shook as I slid my palms over the counter. I was planning presentation, attack, defense for the idiotic swamp battle, but what I needed to do was kill Teddy. Kill. Dead, dead, dead. He’d seduced my witch. I hadn’t married her, but my initials were carved into her. As long as I held her bond, she belonged to me and Teddy knew that perfectly well. So well.
I straightened up and ran a hand through my hair. My scalp burned because I’d forgotten to wash my hands. I spelled my head quickly using a neutralizer spell
Revere had drilled into me. Revere. I was meeting him tonight in Darkside. He’d specified what I should wear, and it wasn’t bedazzled. Business clothes for a board meeting, in Darkside? I would never get the scent out. Not naturally, anyway. I wouldn’t really wear a business suit. I wasn’t going to take off the coat Penny had made for me out of witch hair and mage cloaks. I’d spell it into a business suit. No, he’d been specific.
I sighed. That meant I’d have to go to Huntsman Manor, probably have a nice chat with my father, before I got my suit. Maybe he wouldn’t talk.
I had to get moving. “Lars, clean up this mess for me, will you?”
He nodded his ponderous head, eyes bright with malicious intelligence. “Of course. I don’t particularly want the school exploded today.”
“How convenient.” I stepped Throughside onto an icy plain then back into Huntsman Manor’s front hall, my lungs still a bit frozen as I walked up the steps towards my room. My footsteps echoed loudly, like the house was empty, but when I got to the top, I heard my father’s voice from the study.
“Drake, come in. We have a visitor.”
I took a deep breath before I headed into the study. I had a mostly indifferent expression on my face that didn’t change even when I saw the fabulously dressed witch sitting with my father. Merissa Pennmore, Witley’s mother.
“What an enchanting vision,” I said with a smirk that would have made Ian proud. “If there are any services I can offer, please let me know.”
She smiled at me, a smile that sent a drop of sweat down my back. “Little Huntsman. How is Witley behaving in school? Badly, I hope.”
“Atrociously. You have every reason to be proud. Father, was there something you wanted?”
My dad raised his eyebrows. “We were talking about this latest Blackheart hoopla. Are you going to let them win?”
I went to pour myself a drink. “It’s been universally acknowledged that wouldn’t be in the best interest of the first families.”
“And you’re included in that category?” Madame Pennmore said with a bland smile.
“Me?” I raised my eyebrows. “Certainly not. I only represent those above me in absolutely every way. I live to fulfill their desires.”
Deadly Morsel: Rosewood Academy of Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 5) Page 5