11
I was becoming intimately acquainted with the tick tock of the grandfather clock in Islington’s office.
I stared at the hands as they flicked to midnight, the chimes filling the tense air with their metallic clanging. Turns out deep shite was pretty deep in these parts. Behind me, I felt Islington’s enraged stare burning a hole into my back. Adelaide sat in an armchair on one side and I sensed Wilder somewhere.
Outside, the night seemed darker, but it might’ve just been the lights of the office dampening everything on the other side of the wibbly-wobbly glass. I wondered if anyone else thought the cold, damp, mothballed stench of this place was annoying. I supposed they got used to it after a while.
I didn’t know why they were so angry. If I didn’t go after the Infernal, that boy would’ve died and who knew who else it would’ve infected. I also got visual confirmation that something was trying to infiltrate the Academy. A ‘good job, Scarlett’ wouldn’t go astray.
“You could’ve gotten yourself possessed,” Islington said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Then our only connection Arondight would’ve been lost.”
I swallowed my anger and turned. I looked to Wilder, but he gave a soft shake of his head—he hadn’t found any trace of the shadow.
“You’re lucky Greer isn’t here,” Islington fumed.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “She’s gone?”
“She went back to London this afternoon,” Adelaide explained.
Nice of someone to tell me. But then again, I wasn’t exactly a priority when it came to need-to-know information. I guess I’d have to find another way to decipher that Codex page.
“The wards—” Adelaide began.
“Are intact,” Islington declared. “They always have been.”
“Whatever you saw,” Wilder said, keeping his focus on me, “has gone to ground.”
“If you saw anything,” Islington stated.
“I know what I saw,” I seethed. “Did you see the gash on that kid’s throat?”
“The alarms haven’t sounded,” Wilder said, cutting in before I got myself in even more trouble. “Which means it’s still here.”
I scoffed, “I think you mean it’s still on the grounds since the first time.”
“If it’s a student who’s come into contact with the mutation, they’ll have come back to maintain their cover,” he went on. “For now, we take care of the injured and continue with our mission. We can’t raise any suspicions until we flush them out.”
“There has to be a way to detect them,” I said. “The alarms…”
Adelaide shook her head. “We’ve already looked into this. Apart from putting wards on every doorway and window in the building, we don’t have a way to test someone without their knowledge. We don’t have the Light for the first option, or the technology for the second.”
“So we have to go back to watching and waiting?” I complained. “Kayla’s in the infirmary.”
“We don’t have any other option,” Adelaide said. “Unless you can shed some light on the students, Scarlett.”
“Do you know anyone who’d want to attack her?” Islington asked. “Since they’re inviting you to their illegal parties, I assume you’ve gathered some actionable information.”
“Everyone has it out for Kayla,” I retorted. “She’s the mean girl queen bee of this entire establishment. The whole student body wouldn’t mind taking her down a peg or two.”
“We don’t encourage social hierarchy at this school,” Islington stated. “We’re training soldiers, not prom queens.”
I rolled my eyes. Was he really that blind? “We really are scraping the bottom of the barrel.”
His eyes narrowed in warning. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve got a lot more to worry about than a breach,” I declared. “Your senior class is being terrorised by a bunch of bullies, one of which is now laying in the infirmary. If that’s the best and brightest the Naturals have to offer, then we’re screwed! We may as well lay down our arms right now.”
“Is that your professional assessment, Miss Ravenwood?” Islington asked, his voice icy.
I squared my jaw. “One. Hundred. Percent.”
“Purples…” Wilder said, his voice low.
“I know you’re low on recruits, Islington, but should we be looking into you?” I demanded. “You seem out of touch.”
“Enough!” he roared. “Your arrogance is becoming quite legendary, Miss Ravenwood. Don’t let it be your downfall.”
I scoffed. Speaking of downfalls, I wonder if he realised how much he was sheltering these kids’ realities of life as a Natural. I knew I was older, and much less qualified, but even I knew the price this life asked of us. I just wasn’t so sure the students did.
“Just because you’ve seen combat does not make you above reproach,” Islington boomed. “You’re still a student here, no matter your celebrity status, and will be treated as such. You smuggled a cold iron dagger into the Academy, and you endangered yourself and others through your reckless actions. You’re bound to the immediate Academy grounds.”
“Seriously?”
“Your movements will be tracked, you’ll be assigned extra classes, and the moment you leave the boundary, you’re out of here. I don’t care about your mission, I won’t have you undermine the authority of this Academy. Do I make myself clear?”
I slammed my fist down onto the desk. “But—”
“We’re in his house, Purples,” Wilder drawled. “You better listen to what he says.”
Islington didn’t take his cold stare off me. “Adelaide, if you would…”
The student councillor rose to her feet and gave me a sympathetic look as she raised her hands. Silver Light ebbed from her fingertips, growing into tendrils that wove around my body, infusing me with what I knew was a Natural tracking device.
They’d know where I was every moment of every day until it was removed. I didn’t know if this was the dreaded detention everyone kept warning me about, but it still sucked. Being kept on a leash went against every fibre of my being.
When Adelaide was satisfied, she gave a curt nod in Islington’s direction.
“Dismissed,” the headmaster snapped.
Wilder grabbed my arm and dragged me from the office as if he sensed I was about to give Islington one last piece of my mind.
The door slammed closed, leaving Adelaide in there with the arsehat of the century. I began to walk away, the empty corridor throwing back the sound of my irritated footsteps. It had been a really great night until Kayla was attacked. Seriously, someone had to do something.
But how did it get in?
Trent had boasted about smuggling in the beer, which meant they had a way around the wards. I wasn’t entirely sure about the alarms that detected any demonic presence, but either that Infernal had been hanging around the grounds for the past month, potentially jumping into everyone it came into contact with or someone had let it in.
The shite would hit the fan if I dobbed them in. I didn’t want to say anything, not until I knew more. What a mess.
This year’s senior class was lucky to have twenty students in it. If they all got expelled and implicated in this, then there’d be no new Naturals joining the fight for a long time. In a time where we needed every sword we could get, this was bad news.
“What?” Wilder asked, sensing my turmoil.
“Why do I always feel like I’m hitting my head against a brick wall?” I threw my hands into the air. “It’s like they don’t believe me.”
“No one else saw it, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I believe you, Purples.”
“Then why does it feel like I’m fighting an uphill battle?”
“Bureaucracy is a bitch,” he stated. “You know my stance on these things.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Buy now, pay later?”
“But don’t get yourself into too much debt. Sometimes you’re better off paying upfront than taking one of those deals.”<
br />
“That’s quite philosophical of you.”
We walked down the hall, our banter seeming to track towards the Scarlett and Wilder of old. Maybe it was because Greer was gone. I wondered if— No, I couldn’t wonder about that.
“Do you think the arsehat back there is the thing I saw? He wasn’t around until afterwards.”
“Do you really want to ask him for an alibi?”
“Wouldn’t hurt. It isn’t like I can get into any more trouble.”
“Islington isn’t mutated,” he said with a smirk. “As much as it would explain his behaviour, he’s just a victim of his own arrogance.”
“I takes one to know one, I guess.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not sure what’s worse.”
“Personal development is always a work in progress.”
“Thanks for the dry assessment.”
“You’re welcome, Purples.”
We approached the student dormitories and I felt Adelaide’s tracking beacon—there was no other way to describe it—tingle. It felt like I was wearing an ankle bracelet. House arrest indeed.
“I feel like he’s got it out for me.”
Wilder lifted his eyebrows. “Who? Islington?”
I nodded.
“He doesn’t like anyone challenging him. Back when we were training, he was an annoying twat, but now he’s off the charts.” He scratched at the stubble on his chin. “He’s a stickler for the rules… If you want my advice, play his game.”
The cogs in my brain began to turn. Buy now, pay later on an interest free plan that played to the Academy’s rules and regulations.
“Don’t think too hard, Purples, otherwise your brain might explode.”
“Very funny.”
I turned towards the door, then paused. “Keep an eye on Kayla,” I added. “They might try again.”
“Don’t worry, Purples,” Wilder said, pushing the door open for me, “no one will be getting close to that girl, believe me.”
I shuffled into the kitchens the following morning, my head full of cobwebs. It wasn’t just the lack of sleep that had me fuzzy, but the endless rush of thoughts I mulled over well into the small hours. I’d fallen asleep somewhere around the witching hour and woken with the sun.
Things were getting complicated around here—mysterious coins, shadow students, Infernals lurking on Academy grounds, and now I was lumped with magical GPS.
Tray in hand, I was looking for a quiet place to sit and nurse my grumpy morning mood when two out of the three mean girls blocked my path to serenity. Maisy and Trisha were in their full tactical gear, both bright-eyed for six-thirty a.m., especially considering the night they had before. I was seriously starting to miss my youth—skin elasticity included—and I was only twenty-five.
“You know it’s weird at you’re at school when you’re old, right?” Maisy declared, glancing at my muesli. “It’s not a good reflection on your upbringing.”
“We shouldn’t associate with people who’ve had a severe social disadvantage,” Trisha added. “It takes years to become a full-fledged Natural, and you’ve only been around for, like, not even a year.”
“And you’re old,” Maisy punctuated.
“Thanks for the reminder,” I drawled, my hands tightening on my tray.
“So, what we’re trying to say is, that if you want to eat lunch with us, you can sit at our table.”
Trisha pried the tray out of my hands and set it down on the table. I guess I was eating my lunch with the cheerleaders today.
Sliding into the chair, I caught sight of Madeleine in the far corner, clearly disappointed with my new appointment. I shrugged and she turned her face away with a pout. I got it. She’d thought I’d sold out and all the advice I’d given her about things getting better was out the window.
Sighing, I picked up my spoon and stirred the muesli into the milk. The silverware clinked against the edges of the bowl as I glanced around the kitchen. There weren’t many people in here, but it was Saturday morning.
“Where’s Trent?” I asked, realising he wasn’t here.
“He’s still in the infirmary with Kayla.” Trisha shrugged. “I guess he likes her or something.”
“Oh, he totally likes her,” Maisy stated.
“You’re only just figuring it out?” I made a face. “Does Kayla like him?”
“He’s too childish for her,” Maisy said. “He acts like a ten-year-old.”
“He’s barely passing his classes,” Trisha stated like it was a juicy piece of gossip.
Seriously, had these girls been at the same party I’d been at last night? They could go from a traumatic experience to gossip in one millisecond flat.
“You had all that beer last night,” I began, testing the waters for some deep diving. “How do you get past the wards without triggering them?”
“Trent gets the stuff from a kid in the junior class,” Maisy said with a shrug. “His older brother already graduated and passed on the secret. Why?”
“That demon got in somehow,” I said.
The girls’ faces began to turn white.
Maisy was the first one to string together a sentence. “Do you really think someone smuggled that thing in?”
“Why would someone do something like that?” Trisha wailed.
I really wish I could slap some sense into them, but instead, I sighed. Maybe this was the wake-up call they needed. A war was being fought, and soon they’d be out there fighting it. This wide-eyed crap would only get them killed or worse.
“Something’s coming,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Something big. We’re all going to have to suck it up and do whatever we have to, to push back the demon incursion.”
Both girls swallowed hard and glanced at one another. They understood what they were training for, but they’d never get the reality of it until they faced their first demon. The Academy protected them a little too much for my liking, but the war was reaching all the highly protected areas now. If the Darkness could breach the London Sanctum and make a play for the Codex, then they could get inside the Academy… and they had.
“There was a false alarm about a month ago,” Trisha told me. “Right after classes started. But if something really got through, the teachers would’ve found it.”
I nodded, wanting to keep them alert but not frightened. There was still some sense in being under the radar about a mutant shadow lurking on the grounds.
“They do have it under control,” I said. “But it doesn’t hurt to keep our eyes on it, too.”
“It hurt Kayla,” Maisy said. “We have to be ready if it happens again.”
“That’s the spirit!” I smiled, hoping I wouldn’t get another strike for inciting violence.
“You went after Kayla last night like a proper Natural,” Maisy said. “Weren’t you scared?”
I shook my head. “There’s a reason the Codex makes a big deal about not hesitating.”
Trisha frowned, seeming to drop her cool girl façade. “Did you get into trouble? You had that dagger…”
I groaned dramatically and slumped back in my chair. “I’m Islington’s enemy number one.”
Maisy gasped and leaned across the table. Grabbing my wrist, she yelped, “They put a tracker on you!”
“No way!” Trisha looked impressed, and I wondered if I’d just won another golden teenage ticket.
“It was stupid,” I said. “I knew it might’ve been a demon, and all I had was a cold iron dagger. Without an arondight blade—”
“Andy said you saved Stewart Granger. His throat was all torn up.”
“You guys went and got help and kept the others safe,” I argued.
The girls glanced at one another.
“You’ve been out there,” Maisy said, leaning across the table. “You’ve seen… things.”
My brow furrowed. “Yeah…”
“Would you tell us about it?” Trisha asked, her cheeks flushing.
“Kayla always said they’re not telling us enough and now she
’s in the infirmary,” Maisy added.
“We’re… Well, we’re worried when we graduate and go out there that we’ll choke.”
What the…? They wanted me to be their Wilder to their Scarlett! How the tables had turned.
My lips curved into a smile. “I’ll see what I can do.”
The girls seemed to perk up at this and their shoulders straightened.
“Hey, we’re going to see Kayla after breakfast,” Trisha said. “Wanna come?”
I glanced at Madeleine, who was bent over her cereal and a book across the room. “Maybe later. I’ve got detention-like things to do.”
“Ugh,” Trisha said with a pout. “They’ve put you on extra studies, haven’t they?”
“Yeah, but that’s cool.” I shrugged. “I was doing twelve hours, seven days a week back at the Sanctum. This is a breeze compared to that.”
“Seriously?” they exclaimed at the same time.
Thinking about all the training I’d done with Wilder, I felt a pang stab me directly in the heart. “I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
“We have a training group this afternoon. Some the seniors get together to spar. You can come if you like?” Maisy offered. “Two o’clock, in the rear gym.”
Man, if only this was ten years ago and it wasn’t super demon hunter academy, imagine how much time I would’ve spent out of the principle’s office. On second thought, nothing had changed at all. I was still rattling cages—only these cages were bigger and carried magical knives.
“Cool,” I said. “Depends on what torture Islington’s got me signed up for.”
They spent the next five minutes consoling me before they decided to go see Kayla. Once they left, I scraped back my chair and stood. Dumping my tray with the kitchen staff, I ventured over to Madeleine.
Sensing I was standing in front of her, she raised her head and stared at me. She was doing her best anti-social ‘you don’t bother me’ impersonation.
“Hey,” I said.
“What?”
“Are you okay? I didn’t see you last night.”
She looked me over as I sat down, her expression changing. “I’m fine.”
“There’s a group of seniors training this afternoon. If I can get out of whatever extra classes Islington’s lumped on me, you wanna go?”
Dark Abandon Page 11