Dark Abandon

by Nicole R. Taylor

  “Who?”

  “Brax. He wasn’t there when we went back to the Sanctum to take on Wainthrope.”

  “He’s on the council, I’m sure he was just trying to protect himself from being captured. We just got there first.”

  Wilder shrugged. “Maybe.”

  I could tell it bothered him, but I didn’t know what else to say, so I let the conversation fall into a lull. Now, how did I start the story about how I accidentally killed the last Druid, the funky coin she gave me, and the supposed secret society my parents were a part of? Did I open with a hearty once upon a time?

  But Wilder saved me from myself.

  “I’ve got something for you.” He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a familiar plastic toy.

  I stared at the troll doll and a weird feeling flowed through me. I thought I’d never see it again.

  “Where’d you get that?” I asked knowing full well how he’d come by it.

  “I nicked it off Greer,” he replied. “She had it in her room and neglected to return it.”

  I snatched it from him and held it close. It felt tainted now, knowing it’d been in the room when they’d… ahem… but at least she didn’t have it anymore.

  “Things are frosty with you two,” he said, watching me carefully.

  “I guess.” I closed my hand around the troll’s hair and smoothed it up into a point.

  “Am I risking my life if I ask you why?”

  I had the feeling he already knew why, but I wasn’t at the stage where I was comfortable bringing it up with him. They’d been talking about my feelings as if they were an annoyance. She has feelings for you… Right after that part, Wilder had kissed Greer.

  “You’re right,” I murmured, my heart aching. “Something happened to me at the Necropolis.”

  “I hope this is the part where you tell me about it.”

  My shoulders sank. “When I used my piece of Arondight, I was… open… to everything. Then I was gone.”

  “Gone?”

  I nodded. “Someone called me back.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know. I barely remember it. So much has been going on, I forgot about it. After that, everything seems so much more…” I was having trouble finding the words to describe just how adrift I felt in the complexity of what I held inside me. “I didn’t understand it, not until now.”

  “That’s why you’re supposed to talk about things,” Wilder said. “Things might be complicated, but you can trust me.”

  I was beginning to wish he’d never kissed me. That’s when it all started to go downhill. If he was just surly Wilder and I was just annoying Scarlett, then everything would be fine.

  I took the coin out of my pocket and squeezed my fist around it. So much had happened since the Necropolis. How did I tell him about it?

  “Here.” I slid the coin into his palm, my heart leaping as my hand fit against his.

  “A coin?” He turned it over, studying the worn symbols.

  “The druidess gave it to me when I went back for Jackson,” I said.

  “Is this what you’ve been hiding?” He gave me a look, then went back to studying the silver disc.

  “She foresaw her death,” I murmured. “She saw me return. Everything she made us do—keeping Jackson as collateral, going after the runes… It was all just an elaborate scheme to get me to go back alone.”

  “Then that coin and the words she gave you were more important to the world than prolonging her life. She lived that long in hiding to give that to you, Purples.”

  I looked at him, the gravity of what he said too fantastical to comprehend.

  “Think about it,” he said.

  Had the druidess been in hiding for hundreds of years, prolonging her life, on the hope that her vision was true? If so, she’d been waiting for me all that time. Me, a smart-mouthed, purple-haired orphan with a penchant for danger.

  “The future is unwritten,” I said, echoing the druidess’ prophetic words, “but the past holds all the secrets. All the power. Past losses, reborn futures.”

  “The past holds all the secrets…” Wilder mused. “Past losses. Reborn futures? Is that what she told you?”

  I nodded. It sounded like a crazy prophecy and I wasn’t sure I believed in those. “I wish I understood what it means.”

  “Any number of things, I guess,” Wilder said with a grunt. “What do you know about the coin?”

  “Aiden’s been helping me figure out what the symbols mean.”

  “Purples.”

  “Don’t worry, I trust him,” I argued. “I wouldn’t know anything if it wasn’t for him. I only gave him the coin, I never told him about the druidess or what she had said. Somehow, I thought I should keep that to myself.”

  Wilder closed his fist around the coin and shook his head. “I hope he found something useful.”

  “Ordo Enim Geminae Flammae,” I declared.

  “The Order of the Twin Flames?” Of course, Wilder was fluent in Latin. He was such a know-it-all sometimes, it made me want to puke.

  “I think my parents were part of it,” I murmured. “I think they were keeping me hidden because of the piece of Arondight inside me. I think they were trying to recover Excalibur, too.”

  Wilder snorted. “That’s a lot of thinking.”

  “Questions,” I mused. “That’s all the answers I’ve found. No full stops, just more question marks.”

  “Maybe they found a piece and the only way to keep it safe—”

  “Was to put it inside me.”

  “No one would think to look for a piece of sword inside a kid,” he mused. “Even now, no one suspects it. They all think you simply touched it.”

  “If they only had a piece, then they probably never found the rest of it.” I turned the troll doll around so its face was peering across the landscape.

  “The druidess gave you that coin for a reason, Purples,” Wilder said. “Did she say anything else?”

  I shook my head. “I think they’re all gone now.”

  “Who? This Order?”

  “Yeah. I mean, wouldn’t they have contacted me by now? If my parents were the last, then no wonder they put the, whatever you want to call it, inside me.”

  “Don’t say that,” Wilder said with a frown. “All this is just speculation.”

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense, and trust me, nothing has made much of it since I met you.”

  “It’s my pleasure,” he drawled.

  “That flame symbol on the back, Aiden found it in the Codex.”

  “The Codex?” Wilder turned over the coin and studied the image. “What did the page say?”

  “Nothing we could decipher. It was written in code.”

  Wilder opened his mouth but closed it just as quickly. I knew what he was going to say. ‘Get Greer to consult the real Codex.’

  We fell into an uneasy silence, the night stretching before us. In the distance, I could just make out the curve of the hills around the Academy, the rises hiding the valleys the Cotswolds were famous for.

  I’d missed this. Just sitting someplace high with Wilder, simply watching the world pass below. It was a strange feeling, missing the thing that hurt me the most.

  “Sometimes I wonder if I’m going to survive this,” I said, staring out over the rolling hills.

  “Of course you are,” Wilder stated matter-of-factly. “If anyone is going to come out the other side of this war, it’s you, Purples.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Have you met yourself?”

  “On a daily basis.”

  Wilder’s lips quirked and I couldn’t help but smile back.

  “I still stand by what I said. You remind me of me when I was at the Academy,” he leaned closer, “brilliant and insubordinate.”

  “I’m not quite sure if you’re complimenting me or trying to inflict a mortal wound on my self-confidence.”

  “I’m complimenting you, Scarlett.” Uh oh, he was using m
y full name again.

  “Put this one on the back burner, teach,” I grunted and took the coin off him. “We’ve got more pressing problems right now. There’s a shadow creature that may or may not be a mutated student hiding somewhere inside this Academy.”

  “I believe you saw it, Purples, but I haven’t been able to find a trace.”

  “I heard you’d been out and about today.”

  “Jealous?”

  “Kind of. I miss my arondight blade.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “It hasn’t left anything behind. There were hints of Darkness on Kayla, but it didn’t lead anywhere. The grounds were clean, and the wards are airtight.”

  Maybe not completely airtight, but I was still holding out that Trent would suck it up and tell someone about how they got the beer through. If he didn’t come clean soon, then I would.

  “There’s one student I’ve been keeping my eye on,” he said. “I think you know him.”

  “Who?”

  “Trent O’Connor.”

  “Trent?” I asked, my eyebrows rising. “No way. Uh-ah.”

  “Think about it, Purples. He’s been around every single time something’s happened, and his behaviour is becoming more and more erratic.”

  “It’s not him. He was in the clearing when Kayla was attacked. I saw him. I was talking to him.”

  “Maybe so, but I think he knows something.”

  “And you want me to grill him?” I sighed. That kid was going to be the death of me.

  “It isn’t like the students are confiding their secrets to me,” Wilder drawled. “You’re one of the cool kids, Purples. You get invited to all the parties and sit with the cliques at lunch.”

  “It was one party,” I complained. “It’s not like I’m buying into the do-over.”

  He laughed and knocked his shoulder against mine. “Just keep an eye on him. We’re up against it and time is not on our side.”

  He didn’t have to remind me. Every day things were tipping closer towards Darkness, and Arondight was still out of reach. To make matters worse, the Naturals seemed to be falling apart and their new generation was severely under prepared.

  “These kids are under so much pressure,” I murmured. “And they’re too sheltered.”

  “It wasn’t like this when I was here,” Wilder confided. “Islington’s made them soft.”

  “They told me they haven’t even seen a demon before. They came to me and asked if I could help them prepare,” I scoffed and rubbed my eyes. “They asked me. Can you see the irony?”

  Wilder scowled and curled his hands into tight fists. “No matter what, things are going to change around here. I’ll make sure of it.”

  14

  “Scarlett Ravenwood.”

  My eyes snapped open and I stared up into a red-faced Masters. He was glowering at me, his displeasure apparent. It wasn’t the first time I’d fallen asleep during guided meditation, but this time, I hadn’t been able to quiet my mind.

  Two days after the party, things had begun to settle, even though there was a renewed heaviness in the air. Monday morning classes resumed as normal, and Kayla had been released from the infirmary with her report saying she’d received nothing more than a concussion.

  For what it was worth, the students believed the Infernal was killed and the threat was over, but I knew better.

  “Sorry,” I squeaked.

  “Pay attention, Miss Ravenwood,” Masters barked. “Remind me and the class why we meditate.”

  I pouted. Wilder had never made me sit cross-legged on the floor so I could clear my mind. His idea of centering oneself was violence and snarky teachable moments. I couldn’t get a handle on all this.

  “Meditation increases stress resilience,” I said.

  “And?”

  “Allows us to focus our Light.”

  “Why?”

  I squirmed. “So we don’t lose control.”

  “And it doesn’t help if we fall asleep in the middle of it,” he stated, causing the class to snigger. “Quiet!” He turned back to me with a glare. “Since you’re on probation, I want you to keep a meditation diary.”

  “A diary?” I moaned.

  “Yes, Miss Ravenwood, a diary. One hour every morning and evening, and I expect you to sign off with your Light so I know you’re not cheating.” He eyed me with a smug satisfaction. “Understood?”

  I made a face and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  He checked his watch, then waved at the class. “That’s all for today. Don’t forget your studies. Remember to always be vigilant.”

  The class erupted into a clamour of movement as they gathered their things and marched from the room. I slumped my shoulders and followed suit, wondering when I was going to get my schedule of torture. It must be something pretty damn sadistic if Islington hadn’t finished compiling it yet.

  “Miss Ravenwood?”

  I rolled my eyes at the sound of Masters’ voice, feeling like I was sixteen again. Turning, I hung back to see what he wanted.

  “Here’s your revised schedule.” He thrust a piece of paper at me. “If you ask me, you got lucky.”

  I nodded, sensing it was a good idea not to poke at the faculty any more than I already had. Threatening the headmaster was already well over the line, but enraging Masters might give the poor man a heart attack.

  “If it wasn’t for your quick thinking, Stewart might not be with us today,” he went on. “I can’t say I approve of the way you went about it, but…” he trailed off with a shrug.

  I stared at him in shock, barely believing what I was hearing. Masters was complimenting me?

  “You don’t need this school, Miss Ravenwood,” he said, waving the schedule at me. “But you do need control. Please take the time to listen, because we teach everything for a reason.”

  I took the paper from his hand and swallowed the lump in my throat. Somehow hearing those words come out of his mouth had me all choked up.

  “Go on,” he said, nodding towards the door, “you don’t want to be late for your next class.”

  “Thank you,” I muttered as I backed away.

  Masters smiled—though it looked more like a twisted grimace—and shooed me out of the room as the next wave of students began to file in.

  Outside, I wandered down the hall, catching up with the pack of seniors heading towards the gym.

  “I don’t remember how I got there,” Kayla was saying. “One second I was in the clearing by the bonfire, then I was in the forest.”

  Oh great, she was giving a rendition of her brush with death like it was a scripted scene on a reality TV show.

  “Did you see who attacked you?” one of the boys asked.

  “It all happened so fast,” she said with a flourish. “One moment I was standing there, the next, I was on the ground. It all happened so fast.”

  Typical Kayla. She loved being the centre of attention, especially since she had such an enraptured audience. I wondered if she’d still be boasting if she knew what actually had attacked her.

  “You were lucky,” Maisy said. “That Infernal could’ve hurt you way worse.”

  “Poor Stewart,” Kayla cried.

  “I heard they took him to London,” one of the girls stated.

  I snorted and looked at my new schedule and was surprised to see junior demonology had morphed into senior combat training. In fact, the word junior was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t sure if this was a promotion but moving from one-on-one to a group class was a step in the right direction. Maybe this was how I could help these kids prepare for the real world.

  What was it Wilder said to me after the showdown in Islington’s office? Buy now, pay later?

  I crumpled the schedule in my hand, narrowed my eyes, and followed the others to the gym. All my favourite people from Light studies were there—Kayla, Maisy and Trisha, Trent, Andy, Rhiannon, Fiona, Grant, Max, and Madeline.

  “Hey, Scarlett’s in our class now,” Trisha said, perking up as I joined the girls
in the locker room.

  “It seems like Islington’s got a sense of humour,” I drawled. Or maybe he’d actually listened to my rant in his office.

  “This is great,” Trisha said.

  “Finally,” Kayla said as she changed into her stock standard black Natural active wear. “We’ll get to see the infamous Natural touched by Arondight in action.”

  Madeleine emerged from a cubicle where she’d locked herself in so she could change away from the others. The door collided with the wall, causing everyone to stare.

  “What?” she spat, rolling her eyes.

  The girls looked at one another and burst into laughter as the goth girl strode out of the locker room.

  “What’s that all about?” I asked, casting out my imaginary fishing line.

  “Madeleine’s a freak,” one of the girls said.

  “Yeah,” Kayla declared, “she’s always so moody and weird. She wears all that black makeup and never talks to anyone.”

  I snorted and shook my head. “Just because she’s different, doesn’t make her any less of a Natural. You should be sticking together.”

  “Unlikely,” Kayla drawled. “Madeleine thinks she’s better than everyone else. She needs some cutting down to size.”

  The other girls laughed as their leader walked out into the gym. That was her royal decree, I supposed. Madeleine closed down and threw herself into her studies to make herself less of a target, but the others only saw it as her acting superior. The poor girl was in a lose-lose situation.

  Glancing after Kayla, I wasn’t sure what to call my punishment anymore. Detention? Probation? Torture? It felt like a combination of all three. Extra classes, extra homework, extra hassle, extra Kayla drama.

  Sighing, I stashed my bag in the lockers and went out to join the rest of the class, but when I saw who the teacher was, I began to wonder what I’d done to anger the universe. Gone were the days of private training with Patrick and here I was, stewing in my own self-inflicted sexual tension.

  Wilder smirked at me and nodded towards the mat. “Nice of you to join us.”

  I groaned and shoved past him.

  “You did this, didn’t you?” I hissed.

  “You said it yourself, Purples. They came to you for help. This is how we help them.”