“I have to work.” Even though I really want to go, saying no is my only option. If I don’t fight this, Silas will definitely take it out on me later, or worse, my dad. Plus, these guys just barging in and bossing me around makes me less than thrilled to go anywhere with them. They may be freakishly gorgeous, but their manners leave something to be desired.
Silas looks at me with a strange expression before turning to the two hotties I can’t stop staring at. “She’s my servant. If she wants to stay, I grant her that right.”
“The law says even slaves have to go to the Unleashing ceremony.”
“Slave?” I demand. What the hell? I’m no one’s slave. Silas might own my working hours, but no one owns me.
“She’s headstrong,” Silas says, splaying his hand toward me as if to demonstrate. “I told her to go, but she refused.”
My jaw drops.
“You liar,” I blurt out, unable to hold my tongue any longer. I may be a lowly servant who barely earns enough to pay for bread, but I still have a spine. “I showed you my invitation, and you ripped it into pieces.”
Rocco turns to Silas and gives him a look I would hate to be the one receiving. Silas shrinks visibly, and I almost feel sorry for the bastard.
“Everyone must go,” Thorn says, his voice as icy as his gaze. “Now take off those gloves and come, or we’ll be late for the Unleashing.”
Chapter 2
Priceless is the only way to describe the look on Silas’s face as Thorn and Rocco drag me out the back door.
I wish I had that effect on him. Although I’m secretly reveling in it, I know there’ll be hell to pay later, so I do the only thing I can think to soften the blow. “I’ll make up my hours later, Silas,” I call. “I promise.”
“All right, Cinderella,” Rocco says with a smirk that makes a dimple appear in his cheek, too. “Let’s go. As much as I enjoyed seeing you on your knees, we’ve got places to be.”
“Well, I hope you took a mental picture of me on my knees,” I shoot back with a sugary smile. “Because that’s the last time you’ll ever see it.”
The smirk widens into a real smile, and he lets his eyes flick down to my breasts for just a fraction of a second. Long enough to let me know he wants to check me out, but not long enough for him to actually do the checking out. He might be tempted, but he’s not going to ogle the likes of me, in my canvas overalls and work shirt.
“Too bad,” he murmurs, holding my gaze for a second.
I yank my gaze from his, unnerved by this gorgeous guy who seems to be toying with me. Thorn strides ahead, crossing the parking lot toward a shiny black town car. Thankfully, the rain has stopped as they walk me to the vehicle. It’s one of those super fancy ones you see in the movies. They have a driver and everything.
Thorn opens the back door and points to the seat. “Move it, girl. We’re late.”
It takes everything in me not to go off on the guy as I climb in and scoot to the other door. Rocco and Thorn climb in beside me, and then the car takes off through the washed out and nearly flooded streets of Jacksonville.
“You know how this works, right, Cinderella?” Rocco asks.
I offer him a glare. “Are you seriously talking to me?”
“Yeah, I’m talking to you,” Rocco says. He grins, showing off a perfect set of glowing, white teeth.
Holding my tongue seems to be my superpower these days, especially considering how hard it is to do, but I refuse to acknowledge his insult. In answer, I turn and stare out the window, trying to memorize the route in case I need to get back home. Which at some point, I will, and I’m not trusting these assholes to return me to where they found me.
Thorn snorts with suppressed laughter.
“Hey, I think Cinderella fits,” Rocco says mockingly. “Did you see her working? The girl has a talent. In fact, I’ve got something else she can polish…”
Did I say holding my tongue was a superpower? Scratch that.
Turning back, I glare at Rocco, determined not to let his drool-worthy jawline and bright blue eyes deter me.
“You’re awfully brave, taunting a salty teenager with untested magic. Keep it up, and I just may turn your dick into an earthworm. You know. By accident.”
Rocco licks his lips. “I like my women salty.”
“I’m not your woman,” I say with a glare. “Why don’t you crawl back into your cave, Neanderthal?”
Rocco starts to speak again, but Thorn cuts in. “You know what to expect at the Unleashing?”
Peeling my death stare from Rocco, I turn to Thorn. “Sure. Everyone with magical heritage is called to the Unleashing Ceremony at age eighteen, and if we have magic, it’s unlocked by the highest sorcerers.”
“Do you know why we wait until you’re eighteen?”
“Everyone knows that.”
He raises his eyebrows as if sending me a message to grow up. “Magic is mature then, and hopefully, so is the one who wields it.”
“I’ve been working full time for the last two years. Don’t worry. I’m mature enough to wield magic responsibly.” Then, because I can’t help myself, I add, “I won’t turn any dicks into earthworms unless I’m absolutely sure they deserve it.”
“Those of us with the most powerful magic will unleash everyone else’s powers. If you have significant magic, you’ll go to the Academy of Sorcery to master your gifts.”
“You realize Silas will never go for that,” I say. “Even if I do have magic, he’d never let me out of my contract. The guy hates my family with a passion.”
“Silas will just have to deal,” Rocco says. “Everyone with powerful magic goes to the Academy. Period.”
I like the way this guy thinks. And looks.
Thorn raises an eyebrow. “Unless you’re just a psychic like your mother,” he says. “You can take online classes for that scant amount of magic.”
Just when I thought they might not be completely insufferable.
“I’m aware,” I say, giving him my frostiest smile. “I’m more interested in this Academy you mentioned.”
“Even descendants of magic often don’t inherit,” Rocco says. “Those who do are sorted into houses for light and dark magic.”
“Light and dark? Like, good and bad?”
That’s something I’ve never heard before. Since Mom didn’t go to any academy, I don’t know much about it. I assume her magic was light, since her psychic gifts were low-key. Silas? Dark all the way.
“Light magic generally includes wizards, some witches, casters, magicians and such. Then dark magic includes warlocks, other witches, enchantresses, and sorcerers.”
“What are you?”
“Higher up on the food chain than a psychic,” Thorn says with a frown.
I grit my teeth and ignore that little dig at my humble magical origins. “Does that mean dark magic wielders are evil people?”
Rocco throws back his head and lets out a belly laugh. Not even five minutes with these guys, and I already know Rocco is gonna drive me to drink. Reviving my death glare, I give him a one-word reminder. “Earthworm.”
Another chuckle erupts, this time from them both.
“Your mother was a psychic,” Rocco says, still grinning. “Not powerful enough to even break the skin, much less do anything else to us.”
“We’ll see,” I say lightly.
“Do you have any clue who you’re messing with, Cinderella?” Rocco asks.
Maybe this banter is a game for him. Fine by me. Two can play that game. You don’t live in the bad part of Jacksonville after twenty years of natural disasters uprooted the city and brought supernaturals into the light without learning how to deflect unwanted attention.
I’m no damn doormat.
“Do you have any idea who you’re messing with?” My narrowed gaze shoots daggers at him. “In case you hadn’t read my file thoroughly enough, my mother killed Silas’s wife. Clearly she was powerful enough to break the skin. And if my powers are anywhere near as fatal as hers
, you may regret getting on my bad side later.”
“Magical inheritance is a game of chance,” Thorn interjects. “It often skips a generation. IE, you.”
“Yeah,” Rocco says, crossing his muscular arms and giving me a gloating grin. “So, I wouldn’t be so cocky just yet. Right now, you’re nothing more than Silas’s servant.”
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to see how not powerful I am when my magic is unleashed.”
“If,” Thorn corrects.
“Fine,” I say, tossing my blonde hair back. “But where do you get off calling me girl? What are you, twenty?”
Rocco gives another little snort of suppressed laughter. Obviously, he likes it when I don’t just roll over for them. The way these guys look, they’re probably used to girls giving them whatever they want just for a smile. I don’t really know what to make of him. Thorn seems to defend me one second and join Rocco in his taunting the next.
This is kind of fun, though, I have to admit.
Being employed by Silas doesn’t exactly give me a lot of time to go out and party like other people my age. I try to accept it because that’s just the way it is, but if I’m being honest, my life kinda sucks. Even if I don’t have a lick of magic, at least I have this one morning to flirt with The Buff and The Beautiful. I may as well make the most of it. It sure as hell beats scrubbing toilets.
In fact, it’s shaping up to be a nice break from work either way. The sun is trying to peek out from behind the clouds, and the city has a nice clean look after the night’s rain. Ten minutes later, the car stops behind a really cool looking building with a sign over its doors, something in Latin I obviously can’t read.
My jaw nearly drops as I get out of the town car and glance around at the Academy of Sorcery, which I’ve heard of even though I’ve never been here. The campus is a sprawling old timey estate with some outlying buildings surrounding one main building that looks like Dracula’s castle. The front building even has one of those tall, skinny bell towers at the top.
Around it, a bunch of other buildings stand facing a quad of flowers and other pretty shrubbery. The campus is small but looks like it can house a decent number of students.
“So, this is where the Unleashing happens?” I ask. “On the campus itself?”
“Yes,” Thorn says. “Let’s go, girl.”
“How many students actually go here?” I ask. “Are they just from Florida? The greater Jacksonville area?”
Hand over my eyes to shield them from the sun, I stare at the archaic but beautiful architecture as we make our way up a concrete walkway. The building’s made of huge, pretty stones. Mostly gray, though some have different hues of other natural colors.
God, what I wouldn’t give to go here. But I know that even if I have more magic than Mom, enough to go here, it won’t void my contract. Silas can probably claim he’ll teach me himself, and then he’ll siphon off my magic to use for himself. The bastard.
With his hand on my upper back, Rocco leads me toward a walkway stretching toward a large building with a domed roof set back from the towering spires of the front building.
“Here we are, Cinderella. The Great Hall.” Rocco laughs as he pushes open the door to a huge auditorium full of a few hundred people. “Your last hour of freedom before you get sent back to the salt mines.”
“Is your family in there?” Thorn asks.
I shake my head, not wanting to go into detail about my family. They probably already know too much about my mother, and I’m not in a hurry to share personal details about my dad.
With his hand on the middle of my back now, Rocco guides me to a door off the side, which leads into a huge room where several dozen people my age are dressing and primping in front of mirrors. The moment we step inside, all eyes turn our way. I catch more than a few hungry glances fixing on my escorts.
Rocco snaps his fingers at a group of three girls, and they all scamper over like eager puppies.
“Jade, Bella,” Thorn says. “Bella, Jade. Can you make sure she finds some suitable attire?”
He gestures lazily at the trio, so I can’t tell which one is Bella. They all size me up like I’m a lioness approaching their fresh kill and they’re not sure they want to share.
“Keep an eye on this one.” Rocco points at me. “She’ll probably try to bolt.”
“I hope she’s running to the store to buy something decent to wear to the ceremony,” says the blonde in the group. “The clothes here are so off-the-rack.”
“Is that a she?” asks one of the others, an Asian girl with pin-straight black hair styled in an asymmetrical cut that perfectly highlights her cheekbones and full lips.
The third girl in the group has light brown hair with highlights, but she’s probably the type that calls that bronde and her shoulder length cut a lob.
“Hard to tell,” says the blonde. “I actually thought it was a troll, not a human.” Magic School Barbie is wearing a flowing silk gown, which looks every bit as perfect as her sleek platinum hair, flawless make-up, and glimmering straight teeth.
In contrast, I’m still wearing my work clothes, with my hair in a sloppy bun I threw in after getting drenched this morning, and I smell faintly of disinfectant. Luckily, Blonde Bella seems to have momentarily forgotten me as she smiles adoringly up at Thorn, fluttering her eyelashes.
Thorn doesn’t seem to notice. He reads something on his phone, shows it to Rocco, and they step aside to confer in the corner.
Brunette Bella’s brown eyes widen as she looks me over, and she holds in a laugh, covering her mouth with her perfectly manicured nails. You know, the long pointy ones that could put an eye out in one vicious swipe. “Where did you even get those clothes? Out of a Dumpster?”
I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. “I realize I don’t look like I’m going to the ball today, but in my defense, I was at work when these guys dragged me here.”
I was expecting to be cleaning toilets all day, not standing in front of the entire magical community of Florida, but I decide not to make matters worse by mentioning the toilets to a Bella.
Not that she’d care. She’s probably never cleaned a thing in her life.
“I suppose even magic schools need janitors,” says the blonde. She titters, and her posse giggles along with her.
I set my hands on my hips and give her a once over. “Guess every magic school needs a bitch.”
Bella’s mouth drops open, but her black-haired friend steps forward. “Oh, sweetheart. You really don’t want to mess with us.”
“Oh, but sweetheart, I really do.” I step even closer than she dared to get. Seems we’re about the same height, so I stare her right in the eyes. Two can play this game, and I don’t back down from this kind of girl. I’ve seen a lot worse on the streets of my neighborhood than a spoiled little princess with an attitude.
Just as Bella seems about to unleash her fury, Thorn grabs her arm, and Rocco grabs mine.
“I leave you alone for five minutes, and you’re already starting trouble,” Rocco growls as his huge hand grips my forearm with firm pressure.
“You don’t have to watch me.” I jerk away, halfway because his touch is strangely comforting, and I don’t want to be calmed. “I can take care of myself, and I’m not going to run away. If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that there’s no escaping some things. Magic and Silas are two of them.”
“And the Unleashing,” Thorn says. He casts a glare at Blonde Bella, and she turns in a huff and storms away with her posse.
“Look around you, Cinderella.” Rocco leans down, so close I can smell the clean, soapy smell of him, and a tang of masculine musk that intoxicates me. He taps the tip of my nose with a fingertip. “You’re surrounded by power. You don’t want to piss off the wrong person.”
His eyes lock on mine for a beat, so close I can see the darker flecks in his marbled blue eyes. My pulse flutters, and Rocco smirks like he somehow knows. Instead of mocking me, he abruptly straightens and push
ed out the door, leaving me standing alone with Thorn.
“He’s right, Jade.” Thorn’s emerald orbs are every bit as captivating as Rocco’s, but his are serious. “You don’t know if you’ll be attending the Academy for the next four years. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of some of the families here.”
Plenty of people still use magic to gain power and wealth, just as they did before ‘coming out’ to humans. Now they don’t have to hide it, but it’s not much different. I’ve never bought into the magic scene, though I’ve watched some of the reality shows—America’s Next Top Vampire, Kitty Chasers, My Fairytale Life. It hadn’t really occurred to me until this moment that some of the magic wielders in Jacksonville might be rich and famous. Magic has never been a big part of my life, even when Mom was alive. Hers was so insignificant it didn’t affect our lives much, and since then, just surviving took up most of my time and attention.
As I scan the room, I notice more than a few expensive gowns. I cross my arms, feeling even more like the Ugly Duckling. “Thanks,” I say quietly to Thorn. “For looking out for me.”
“I wasn’t,” he says, his jaw set. He looks like he’s about to storm out, but then he hesitates, dips his head and whispers in my ear, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
His mouth brushes against my ear, and warm chills rush across my skin at the contact. I shiver with anticipation, but Thorn straightens and disappears out the door without another word.
“Are the Bellas starting shit already? Figures.”
My eyes snap open, and I see a tall emo guy standing in front of me. Beside him, hanging a step back, hovers a pale girl with mousy brown hair and an ill-fitting dress.
“That was impressive,” he says.
I force a laugh. “Thanks.”
“I’m Asher,” he says. “This is Elowen.”
Asher is tall, thin, and adorable in a guyliner-heavy way. Elowen is unremarkable except for a pair of huge, luminous brown eyes peering out from her pale face.
“Hi,” she says with a tiny wave.
Academy of Sorcery: Term 1: Unleashing Trials Page 2