“By breaking even more Academy rules?”
His lips quirked. “Aw, you know me so well.”
I made a face and lined up with the rest of the students, but Wilder had other ideas.
“Scarlett, choose your weapon.”
“Huh?”
“Everyone wants to see what you can do, so let’s show them.”
I glanced at the others.
“Go on, Scarlett,” Maisy coaxed.
“You’ve fought demons before,” Trisha added. “We want to see you up against Mr. Wilder.”
“Mr. Wilder?” I shot him a look.
“The first rule of sparing is to respect your teachers,” he stated. “Don’t dilly-dally, Miss Ravenwood.”
Dilly-dally? Since when did Wilder use words like that?
I snorted and approached the rack of practice weapons against the wall, my bare feet padding across the cold mat.
There were various things to choose from, like wooden swords, staffs, and daggers. I’d fought with them all, but I’d always liked the staff the best. Nothing could beat an arondight blade out in the field, but in here, the staff was my go-to.
I picked up my weapon of choice and turned to face Wilder.
“Good choice,” he said, taking the second staff. “The long reach compensates for your stubby arms.”
The students began to laugh, and I narrowed my eyes as I assumed the position at one end of the mat.
“You know the rules,” Wilder began. “A strike is a point. First to ten, or yield, ends the bout. If you use your Light, you forfeit.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” I said as we began to circle one anther.
“I always know what I’m doing.”
While he was busy smirking, I lunged, feigning left, then weaving right. I tapped him on the hip as he blocked the wrong strike.
“Pay attention, Mr. Wilder.”
He attacked, striking hard and fast. I met each blow with my staff, twisting and ducking, then returning fire. I cried out as I swung, trying to keep my emotions in check. I was dying to put him on his arse, but he’d taught me that desperation was a surefire way to wind up on mine instead.
Wilder rapped me on the leg, then I clipped his arm. He swung, I ducked, he leaped, I twisted. It was like old times and before long, we’d fallen back into the easy rhythm we had when we trained at the London Sanctum.
In the end, Wilder had to call time because we weren’t getting anywhere. He was either my match, or he’d taught me so well that I could anticipate his moves… because they were the ones he’d make.
Maybe now the rest of the students might take me more seriously—as if facing off with an Infernal with nothing more than a cold iron dagger wasn’t enough.
For the rest of the class, we were put through a series of drills that had everyone pushing up against a wall. Dripping with sweat, Wilder didn’t let us off. If anything, this workout was more stressful than the ones he put me through at the Sanctum. I guess he really meant it when he said things were going to change.
By the time we’d hit the showers, if someone wasn’t in a bad mood, they were about to drop. Thank goodness it was lunchtime because we were all a little hangry—so hungry we were angry.
I was sitting on a bench outside the locker rooms lacing my boots when Kayla made a face at me. Everyone was on their way to get prime position in the lineup for crumbed chicken Monday. I couldn’t blame them—it was good chicken.
“What?” I asked, bracing myself for a blast of ’teenage girl’.
“Are student-teacher relations a thing if you’re a geriatric?” she declared in her best snooty voice.
“Next time I run towards danger to save your life, remind me of this moment,” I replied, turning my attention to Trent. He was skulking across the gym, watching the other boys.
She gasped dramatically. “You didn’t just say that!”
The female obsession over handsome, damaged brawn in this place was infuriating. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, Kayla.”
She flicked her hair over her shoulder and stalked off, taking the others with her. Trisha was tugging at her sleeve, trying to talk sense into her, but she was just slamming her head into a brick wall.
I lingered, my gaze sliding to Trent, who’d just ducked into the boys’ locker room with a dodgy look on his face. Wilder was right about something at least. Trent was up to something.
Taking advantage of the empty gym, I crossed the mats and barged past the boy sign that forbade girls from entering.
To my shock, it wasn’t the stinky urinals that made me recoil. Trent was leaning over the counter, snorting lines.
“What is this?” I demanded, stalking across the bathroom. “You’re doing drugs?”
He let out a yelp. “Just a little. I—”
“Trent.”
“It’s not like that!”
I snatched the baggie that was sitting in front of the mirror and began to dump the contents into the sink.
“Scarlett!”
“If it’s not like that, then explain it to me,” I demanded, turning on the tap. Water rushed out, swirling around and around, sucking the powder down the plughole.
“I just need a little extra energy, that’s all,” he wailed. “I promise.”
“Don’t lie to me, Trent,” I snapped. “I’ve heard it all before, you know. Growing up, I wasn’t one of the cool kids. I was always getting into trouble and hanging around the wrong crowd, so believe me when I say I’ve heard these excuses before.”
“Scarlett…” He fisted his hands into his hair.
“You need to get it together,” I said. “If you’re struggling, you can ask for help. You don’t have to go through it alone.”
“I can’t. They’ll kick me out and… If I can’t keep up, they’ll expel me.”
“There’s better ways of going about it than snorting some weird arse magical Natural drug.” Reaching out, I slapped him on the back of the head.
“Ow!”
“You do realise you’ll get expelled over this, right?”
“You can’t tell anyone,” he wailed.
Oh, for heaven’s sake… I was trapped in the ultimate supernatural teen movie.
Trent began to pace, his anxiety rising with each lap.
“Talk to me,” I told him. “I’m here and I’m listening.”
He blinked, but his mouth remained closed.
“I took the rap for you with Masters, remember? You owe me one.”
He came to a standstill, obviously torn as to what to say. I caught him, so he had to tell me something, but if it was the truth or a lie to get himself out of trouble was another thing entirely.
“I…” He took a deep breath. “After seeing how you went after the thing that attacked Kayla, I knew I’d never make it. I choked, Scarlett. I’m barely passing my classes and… I couldn’t protect her.”
“If you focused more on training and less on impressing girls and looking cool, you’d pass as one of the top seniors,” I stated. “Fact.”
“You really think so?” The hope in his eyes broke my purple heart.
“There’s too few of us, Trent. I know it’s a big deal, but we’re dedicating our lives to stopping an apocalypse. No one can shoulder that alone. We’re here to help one another, but if you need to cheat to pass training, then you’re just buying yourself a one-way ticket to an early grave.”
He ran his hands over his face and cursed. “I’ve really screwed up, haven’t I?”
“No,” I murmured grasping his shoulders. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. It’s not too late to knuckle down and get your grades back up.”
“I don’t know how.”
I let him go and bit my bottom lip. Trent was a good kid, he just needed some guidance and someone who wouldn’t take any shite when he slipped. He needed someone like…Wilder.
“You can go to Wilder,” I said, hoping I was doing the right thing. We were on rocky ground, but that didn’t
mean my one-time mentor wouldn’t help. After all, Greer said he was a changed man.
“Mr. Wilder?” Trent starred at me. “But that guy’s so mean.”
“No, he’s surly, there’s a difference.” I shook my head. “You can trust him. I’ll have a word, okay?”
He nodded and looked at the sink.
“We’ll help you get back on track, but you have to promise me one thing,” I said.
“Anything.”
“No more drugs, okay?”
He nodded furiously and wiped at his eyes.
“Take a beat before your next class, okay?”
“Thanks, Scarlett.”
Sighing, I walked out of the boys’ locker room, realising I was going to miss lunch. Way to go keeping on time for my first day of punishment. My stomach was going to complain until dinnertime. I wondered if I was going to get demerit points for disrupting other students with all the gurgling.
Rounding the corner, I almost smacked into Wilder. My heart leapt into my throat and I cursed the way I wished that if I had kept going, I’d be in his arms right now. Moron.
“Don’t do that!” I exclaimed, giving him the dirtiest look I could muster. It wasn’t hard, all things considered.
He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“I saw you slink into the men’s room. Did it live up to your expectations? Were the urinal cakes well stocked?”
“You’re clutching at straws,” I replied, ignoring his baiting. “Seeing things where there isn’t any.”
“Like?”
“Do you think this place is getting to you more than you’d like to admit?”
Wilder eyed me and shrugged. “I know how to leave the past behind, do you?”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“Then what is it about, if it isn’t about that?”
I glared at him, annoyed at his over-achieving skill for saying everything without actually saying the words outright. He was with Greer now and anything that happened with us, including that one time he kissed me, was on the way to going exactly where he implied it should be. Still, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“Trent’s a teenage boy dealing with teenage boy things,” I hissed at him. “Except with the pressure of life and death on his shoulders.”
“It’s been done this way for a thousand years, Purples.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Failure isn’t an option. Do you understand how that can screw with a kid who’s barely passing their classes? Not everyone is like you, Wilder.”
He ground his teeth together and leaned against the wall.
“You’ve got all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.” I glanced across the gym where a group of older boys were tossing a medicine ball back and forth. “Let me talk to him. He just needs someone to knock some sense into him with a gentler hand.”
“A hammer instead of a sledgehammer,” he stated with a sneer.
Man, I wanted to slap him right now. Bad.
“Listen,” I said, leaning closer, “I’m a twenty-five-year-old in the middle of a high school do-over, but for all intents and purposes, I’m one of them… and I’ve been out there. They trust me with things they don’t trust with the faculty. I got into a lot of trouble to earn that, you know.”
“Shite.” He ran his hand over his face. “I’ve become an authority figure.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “The irony.”
“Someone attacked that girl,” he said. “It wasn’t a demon, so it had to be someone from the Academy.” He was just voicing his thoughts now because neither of us had any clue.
“If Trent comes to you, you need to help him, Wilder. He’s terrified of asking for anything in case he gets kicked out.”
“If he’s failing—”
“He’s going to make a brilliant Natural,” I snapped. “He just needs to learn how to focus. If I remember correctly, that’s something you taught me.”
“You volunteered me, didn’t you?”
“You bet your bulging biceps I did.” I punched him in the arm and made a dash for the exit.
“Scarlett!”
Not this time, buddy, I thought. This time I was getting the last word.
15
After a few days of rigorous punishment—meaning extra classes with my favourite teacher, Mr. Wilder—I finally had time to make it back to the library.
I really liked Aiden. He was nice, intelligent, handsome, had a good job, and if I had parents, I’d totally take him home to meet them. He’d get along with Jackson like a house on fire, too. There was no comparing him with Wilder—the two men were as different a night and day.
If I took out all the threads that were weaving through this school in their confusing, looping patterns, having a friend who was outside all of that was a welcomed distraction. A friend who knew tonnes of interesting things was just an added bonus.
I flicked through the card catalogue, the musty smell of paper and silverfish filling my nose. Honestly, I didn’t know where to start looking for cyphers and old-fashioned runes. Science? Ancient History? Speculative Fiction?
I ran my fingers over the cards, wondering how people ever dealt with hardcopies before computers. I suppose that was one of those pesky first-world problems.
Sighing, I slammed the drawer closed, the sound echoing through the silent library. I turned and looked at Galahad’s suit of armour and wondered what he’d do. He’d probably ride in on his white horse with his sword aloft. I wondered if the stories about gallant knights and maidens were really true, or if it was just a rose-coloured flourish on an otherwise bleak time. I mean, what did a whole race of people do when their little bubble was destroyed by demons and their only hope at driving them back was destroyed? Most likely the same thing we were doing now, but with less technology.
Deciding I was in over my head, I ventured back to Aiden’s office. The door was open as I approached, but when I nudged it open, it was Madeleine who I found inside.
“Hey,” I said, watching as she set down a book on Aiden’s desk.
She turned and stared at me. “I was looking for Mr. Thompson, but he isn’t here.”
“Damn,” I cursed. “I was looking for him, too.”
“He promised to give me another book,” she blurted, which sounded like something he’d do.
I felt a pang of remorse as I met her gaze. I’d been so wrapped up in my own problems, she’d seemed to have faded into the background. The way she’d isolated herself bothered me, but in my search to find the threat hiding at the Academy, I’d been part of the problem.
“Maybe he’s in a fancy teacher meeting,” I offered.
Madeleine shrugged, then made to step around me, but I wrapped my hand around her arm before she could disappear.
“I know you think I’ve sold out, but if you need anything you can always come to me,” I murmured.
She pulled away, her brow creasing. “Sure. Whatever.”
“I know this place is hard and the others are arseholes to you, but I’m reaching out to you, Madeleine. If you want things to change, you have to reach back, okay?”
She lowered her chin, averting her gaze from mine.
“Okay?” I prodded.
“Sure.” Another shrug and she was off like a rocket, blasting out of the library so fast I was sure she’d left skid marks behind.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath. If only I knew how to help her come out of the shell she’d been forced into. That was Adelaide’s field of expertise, but that woman was as illusive as that bloody sword everyone was searching for.
Deciding I had time to wait, I stepped into Aiden’s office and began to read all the framed certificates on the wall. Where there weren’t shelves of books, there were hints of all the academic achievements he’d made over the years. There was his Academy graduation certificate with a rather large honours ribbon attached to it. Beside that was a degree from Oxford Uni
versity. Then a master’s and a a Doctorate of Philosophy. I wondered what he’d researched to get that.
A pile of papers I hadn’t noticed before were perched precariously on the end of the already overflowing desk. I wondered if it was something to do with the cypher.
I glanced at the door. I should probably wait for Aiden to come back before sticking my nose where it wasn’t appropriate. Looking at the stack of folders, my thoughts went to the coded page in the Codex. The standing stones, the flame symbol, the Order… What if it was a calling card left for the remaining members? I wasn’t exactly a part of the alleged secret society, but my parents were probably the last. That meant…
Curiosity won out over sense, and I flicked open the cover of the top creamy manila folder, but what I found inside wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
A photograph of a woman sat on the top, the colours faded and the questionable fashion marking it somewhere around the 1980s or 90s. Turning it over, I saw someone had written on the back in pencil. Andromeda Abernethy, age eighteen.
This was Aldrich’s sister who’d gone missing thirty years ago. He’d said his family had a thing for the letter A, but I didn’t know it extended to their surname. They all had the initials A.A., which could be amusing and awkward depending on how you looked at it.
Flipping the picture back, I studied Andromeda. There was something startlingly familiar about her features. She had the same warm chocolate-coloured eyes, the same cascading hair, and her smile… She was younger, but not by much. You have to hide, Scarlett.
I closed my eyes, discarding the memory of as quickly as it arose. Could Andromeda be my mother?
Her familiarity almost confirmed it. That meant Aldrich could be my uncle. If that was true, then I wasn’t as alone as I once thought.
Don’t jump ahead of yourself, Scarlett. You’re acting on too many assumptions.
I set the picture down, wondering why Aiden would have a copy of it in his office. Had he been doing more research? I wouldn’t put it past him, especially since I knew history gave him a hard on.
Moving the photograph aside, I scanned the papers underneath. Notes were attached to other photos and files with Aiden’s scrawling handwriting covering all of them. Yellow Post-its poked out of a tired-looking notebook, and they also covered the back of the manila folder.
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