“Could you be a dear and please come to my office right now?”
Naya’s face froze.
The sentence was so polite, but there was a firmness to the right now.
What did Mrs. Belour want? Would she be expelled? Speechless, all she could do was nod and walk behind the Headmistress.
Every step was a dagger through her heart. Being expelled would be a terrible blow. What about her parents? They would try to look proud, but underneath that façade would be pity and disappointment. Not just that she failed everything, but that she failed to live up to their legacy.
There would be no going back to normal.
It was only a month, but the experiences she lived at Arumrose had changed her forever.
She couldn’t go back to regular, boring Grounder life.
Naya could barely step into the office as Mrs. Belour opened the door, feeling like she was crossing a terrible threshold. When the door clamped shut behind her, it was a coffin closing.
“Please sit, Naya.”
“Mrs. Belour, I’m really sorry. I tried my best, please don’t expel me! I’ll work better.” She couldn’t hold it back, pleading and hoping to make it work.
“Expel?” Mrs. Belour blinked in surprise. “Did you think I was going to expel you after one month at the academy?”
Naya felt equal parts stupid and relieved, letting her emotions get in the way and thinking the worst before she could even ask what her Headmistress wanted. She shrank her shoulders, wanting to disappear in her chair and make herself small, feeling foolish to have begged for leniency. As if it would have worked if she was really going to be kicked out!
“No, here at Arumrose, when a student is struggling, we help them. It was brought to my attention that you’ve been having trouble following in class. We’ve never had a witch vampire before.”
Witch vampire.
It sounded nicer than “two-kind,” that’s for sure.
“You’re taking more classes than any other student. So, we need to give you the support to succeed. We’re going to do everything we can to help you.”
Naya lit up with excitement.
“We’ve assigned you two tutors. One for witchcraft, and the other for vampirism.”
Her heart calmed. She wasn’t being thrown out of the Academy, and best of all, she was going to have some help dealing with her busy schedule. “Your potions teacher has volunteered to provide you with extra hours, and you can practice anything magic related with her.”
“Elizabeth? I mean, Mrs. Turner? Perfect!” She would get to spend more time with the most wonderful, supportive person in the world and she knew that with her help, she’d manage to pass the classes, even if it felt like an uphill battle. “And for vampirism? Who will help me?”
At that moment, there was a knock at the door.
“Perfect timing. Here he is. Come on in!”
“Hi, Naya.”
No! No! No!
That voice! It can’t be!
She turned around, and he stood tall and strong, with the hint of a smile on his face.
“Naya, please meet Ryan Voight. He’s going to be your tutor for vampirism this year.”
The floor felt like it was opening beneath her and she was falling, falling, falling.
10
Two days of constant self-denial later, Naya was on her way to meet Ryan due to the mandatory request from the Headmistress of the Academy. Every step filled her with regret. What did she do to deserve one-on-one tutoring sessions with the most despicable bully on Earth?
Since they were practicing vampirism in the woods, maybe she could miss the session and pretend she got lost. Surely it could be believable, right?
The trees loomed ahead, and she bit her lip and turned to leave, planning to hide in the dorm rooms. She would be alone, since Amy was on a date with her new beau from potions class, and they seemed like they were getting pretty serious. No one would see her missing class and it could be her little secret.
“Where do you think you’re going?” His voice was low and serious.
Her jaw dropped, but no words came out for a second. “How the hell did you find me? Are you stalking me?” She took a step back from Ryan, her skin crawling.
“Vampire, remember?” He pointed down to his whole body. “I took my pill already. We’ve got heat vision and hearing, which you’d also know if you were succeeding in your classes.”
She rolled her eyes, annoyed that she forgot his powers, and feeling caught that he saw her trying to skip the class. At least this proved he had a good set of abilities, and maybe with his help she’d be able to learn something. At least she could get something out of this misery.
“Come on, Naya,” he said, and walked forward. She had no choice but to follow him.
“So why are we here?” He stopped next to the river that crossed the middle of the woods. In the late afternoon, the colors of the sky were tinted and contrasted to the beautiful deep green tones of the trees. Flowers were growing from the ground and praising the sun. The place was breathtaking, and she wished she could have shared it with anyone but him.
“This is my favorite spot in the Academy. When I first came here, I felt…I felt so strange. Like my past was this awful lie. Everything I thought? Everything I did? It hit me, hard. One night I couldn’t sleep. I walked around the woods for hours, until I found this spot right before dawn…and it…it changed me.”
Why’s he telling me this?
As human as it sounded, it didn’t take back the things he did. It didn’t make him any better. Right?
His face was so honest and sincere as he talked that Naya wanted to believe he was good, deep down.
Don’t be fooled. Don’t be fooled, Naya.
“Well, I’m glad for you, but I don’t care. I just want to get this over with.” She kept her tone cold. She just wanted the lesson to be done as soon as possible and she was stressed out enough without him being sappy.
“I’m sorry, Naya…but I mean it.” He grabbed her hand, and for some reason it didn’t make her skin crawl like she thought it would. He looked her deep in the eyes and she felt so confused. “I was a jerk to you in high school and…you didn’t deserve it.”
All the memories flooded back.
She pulled her hand from him hard, anger boiling up. “You don’t get to be forgiven!” She felt like the world was going red. “You were the reason I had to hide in high school! You and your little minions! I hated you. I hate you! This is stupid, I’m leaving.” She turned away with a huff, then remembered something that she could use against him.
“By the way, Ryan, your precious girlfriend started dating your best friend two weeks after you left.”
Ryan stood, quiet, watching her leave. She thought he would come after her, but she was almost at the Academy when she heard a flurry of steps. He moved so fast it was a blur, making her feel even more worthless that she was unable to unlock her own vampiric powers.
“Hey. Naya. Don’t go. Let’s start over. From scratch, please.” His skills were activated and no matter where she tried to run, she knew he could find her. She turned her nose, looking at him with disgust.
“I’m not giving you a do-over, Ryan. You can’t do what you did and get away with it. You’re the person I hate most in life, and you don’t deserve pity.”
“I know. I know. I hate me too. Something in common, huh?”
She laughed with bitter irony, then clamped her teeth shut to stop it. That made him smile.
“A laugh! That’s progress!”
She rolled her eyes, but she stood there, letting him continue.
“Listen. I know I’m the worst person on earth, but we’re stuck together, and you just have to deal with it. Forgive me, or don’t, but we have to work together. Headmistress's orders.”
As much as she hated it, she knew there was no way out. Plus, even if she tried to get away, he could easily find her with those stupid, uninhibited vampiric skills she had yet to develop.
/> Yet.
Even with her current failings, she knew she was still a good student. If she was able to learn the skills, and fast, Mrs. Belour would cancel the tutoring and she could be free of Ryan.
“A small sacrifice for the long run,” she said with a sniff, and extended her hand.
“Good enough,” he replied with a small smile on his lips, shaking her hand.
They walked back to the beautiful spot, and he fished a pill from his pocket. She swallowed it dry. So far, the pills seemed to be a placebo because she hadn’t felt an ounce of vampiric power, much to the disdain of the pure-blood vampires who were developing their skills like wildfire. Still, she waited, and as she expected, nothing happened. The more Ryan talked, the more she felt like this was a complete waste of time. She couldn’t just make herself be able to leap in the air, or smell blood from a mile away, no matter how hard Ryan tried to teach her.
“I’m tired. I can’t do anything you’re able to! I can’t run like a vampire—I can’t even run as fast as most other humans! I can’t jump far, I can’t see heat, and the more you explain it, the more frustrated I get. It’s been an hour. I want to go back, Ryan.”
She could see the disappointment in his face. Whatever. As if she cared what he thought.
“Enough with the I can’t attitude. That’s not the right way. Do you want to succeed, so this whole tutoring thing can end? Then you have to try.” She looked at him with concern. It was like he could read her thoughts.
“Even if I couldn’t sense your feelings, Naya, I can see it on your face. You want to get this over with.”
“Sense my feelings?” Shock and shame hit her. She hated the idea that he could read her mind. Whatever—let him feel her hate.
“Yeah. It doesn’t happen with everyone, but with you, I can feel your anger just…pouring out from you. Most vampires never sense feelings. It’s an advanced technique. I know I should be grateful for it, but I don’t like it. People are treating me like I’m special for being able to do it. The government agents in particular want me to develop it for interrogations with criminals and spies but…I don’t like being treated like I’m better than others.”
He sighed. “I don’t deserve anything good after what I put you through. What I did to people. I have…so many regrets.”
She didn’t need vampire sense to feel the wave of regret and sorrow pulsing from Ryan. She reached out a hand, stroking his shoulder. His eyes were wide as he looked up at her. “I know you don’t want to hear this. I feel the hate you have towards me and I deserve it. But I want to make it up to you.”
“You don’t have to.”
He cocked his head, shocked.
“I don’t forgive you. I agree with what you say. You don’t deserve forgiveness. You did…you did horrible things to me, Ryan. You made my days full of fear. But if you want to make it up to me? Make me a great vampire. Find another way to teach me, because this isn’t working. Don’t sense my thoughts. They are mine, and they are private. I’m going to leave now, Ryan. I’m exhausted, and I don’t want you to drag me back for a third time for no result.”
He nodded, sad, and stayed by the river, lost in his thoughts as she left.
The next week, they met at the same spot, and Ryan did his best not to fail her. He didn’t talk about the past and forgiveness—he’d signed up to tutor and help her, not to try and get her to forgive him so he could stop feeling awful.
“We’re going to use your anger, Naya. Don’t hold it back. If that’s what you’re feeling, then that’s your true self. I know you’re frustrated with your classes. I know you still hate me. Fine. Close your eyes, and focus in on that.”
She clamped her eyes shut. “We’re not going to bother with the pill until you sense some abilities on your own, okay, Naya? I don’t want you to feel like it’s not working. The shots we take to inhibit our vampirism don’t block out all of our abilities. It just stops us from craving blood and limits our aggression. Think carefully. Were there any times you felt your vampire abilities? Something you saw, or heard, with superhuman ability?”
Maybe this approach could work—and at least he was trying something different.
“No, Ryan, nothing—” She stopped, remembering hiding behind the column and somehow being able to hear the whispers of the Headmistress talking with the seer about her. Would she have been able to hear them if she wasn’t a vampire?
“I know you’re feeling something, Naya. Home in on that. Just close your eyes, breathe in and out, and don’t force it. Just control your breath and think back to whatever time it was.”
Did the smells of the forest become more vibrant?
Did the birds chirping sound clearer in her ears?
Or was she just imagining it?
Every tutoring session, she felt the same thing. She felt the annoyance towards him clouding her mind, then she tried to empty it and focus on her surroundings. Each session, she felt more comfortable around him—trusting him more as a tutor and thinking of him less as her former bully, but it was impossible to forget the past completely.
By the fourth week of tutoring, she wasn’t sure if she had just gotten very good at meditating and concentrating on the outside world, or if her awareness was paranormal.
Either way, it was an improvement, and she was feeling less and less anger towards Ryan. He was trying his best and he seemed to really care about her, even when she had outbursts of frustration and anger when nothing seemed to work.
“So? Are you ever going to tell me what it’s like having a hottie as a tutor?” Naya deflected all conversations about Ryan as best as she could, but now, as they sat down in the cafeteria along with Trevor, she asked directly.
“I told you already! There’s nothing to say, and plus, he’s not a hottie.” She looked over at Trevor. She wasn’t about to talk about Ryan’s looks in front of him. “Besides, you have a boyfriend, Amy.”
“It doesn’t mean I can’t look! Plus, Kevin knows he’s first,” she said with a light laugh.
“Whenever we have football practice, there’s a ton of girls yelling his name from the bench.” Trevor rolled his eyes as he took a bite of meatball sandwich. “Even the shifters! They should be rooting for our team, but all they care about is his damn pretty face.” He took another angry bite, and Amy gave him a pat on the back to show support.
“See, Naya? The evidence is in. He’s a hottie.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She took a bite of her fries. “Changing the topic…” She glanced over at a poster hung in the dining room. “Are you guys going to the movie tonight at Middle Rose plaza?”
Amy grinned. “Sorry, Nay, Kevin and I have a scheduled make-out session in his room. His roommate is going to the movie, so we have to take advantage, right?” She couldn’t help but laugh.
“Oh no. That means a poorly covered hickey tomorrow.” Trevor hit his hand against his knee as he laughed along with Naya, and Amy’s smile disappeared from her face.
“I’m free though. Do you want to go with me, Nay?” Trevor turned his intense eyes onto her, and suddenly she felt nervous.
“To-together? Like you and me?”
Trevor nodded, completely chill.
Naya felt the opposite, and Amy kicked her leg under the table. “Yes! I’d love to, I mean, sure, that sounds fine,” she said, trying to seem like she didn’t care when inwardly her heart was pounding at the thought of her first real date.
“Perfect. I’ll meet you there at eight. Ugh, I have to go to class. Shifting 1 has so many students and unless I get a seat at the front, I can’t hear anything with all the growling. Good luck, Amy, and see you later, Naya!” He stood up, tall, and walked away.
“Eeeeeh!” Naya and Amy let out an excited little scream together, both of them savoring the moment. Naya had thought Trevor was never going to ask her out, and had been feeling insecure about it.
As the hours passed, she got more and more nervous. Her first freaking date! How could she not be ner
vous? Amy was no help—before the first date, she was already talking about double dates with her and Kevin, and laughing about a wedding date.
“You’re going to have such cute little witchy-vampire-werewolves!”
“Kids! Amy, give me a break! We haven’t even kissed!” she yelled at her friend as she tried on clothes for the date.
“I’m just kiiiiiiiidding,” she said, but Naya could tell she’d been at least a little serious. “Ooooh. You have to wear this.” Amy pulled a tight, black, off-the-shoulder, cotton mini dress out of her closet. “This baby never failed me.” She winked at Naya and made her try it on.
No matter how many times she tried to refuse, there was no stopping Amy. After a small battle, with Naya pleading that it “wasn’t her style,” she found herself trying it on in front of the mirror.
“This baby is perfect for getting over your date-ginity.”
“Oh my God,” blushed Naya. Then she looked in the mirror, and a smile lit up on her face. “Is that really me?”
“I knew it. Now try this peach corduroy jacket and, of course, these babies…” She pulled out a pair of golden stilettos from the bottom of her closet. It wasn’t enough that she’d never been on a date before—she’d never been able to walk in high heels.
She bit her lip. They do look cute. “Come on. Just try them on. For me?” Amy gave her puppy dog eyes, and Naya couldn’t help it. She put them on and stared at a brand new person in the mirror. Maybe it was the thrill of being on her first date with the cute guy who saved her life, or maybe it was the idea of how she looked in the dress, but she couldn’t help but giggle, feeling foolish. The two of them danced around together then swapped back into comfy clothes to relax after an afternoon of trying on outfits.
“And what did you say to Ryan to skip tutoring lessons? You have one scheduled for today, right?”
“Oh no!” She’d forgotten completely. “It started ten minutes ago, and I didn’t cancel! I have to go—I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t be late for your date with Trevor!”
The Mage-Blood Test: A YA Paranormal Romance (Arumrose Academy Book 1) Page 12