Drowning Studies (Artemis University Book 2)

by Erin R Flynn

  “Fair enough, but I don’t care about pissing people off. Claudia will get them. If not, I have…” I trailed off, swallowing loudly. Right, I couldn’t threaten my fae dogs on them.

  Since I wasn’t supposed to have a pack of fae dogs that answered to me as they only did fairies.

  “Best not to tell us secrets with so many around,” Hudson surmised.

  That and I shouldn’t tell them at all.

  “Are you going to just carry me around like this for the rest of the day?” I chuckled when he sighed and set me on my feet. I pulled out my ID and handed it over to be swiped in. “I knew she was instigating me to be violent but I still think it would be worth the punch.”

  “Apparently you weren’t the only one as the moment you were hauled off, that group was hit with everything from water to power claps and someone conjured snakes all over them,” Mel said from behind us. “My money’s on Campbell for that one but I would never implicate the faculty in such obvious behavior that would be frowned on.”

  “I like her. White too.”

  Luckily the parents were getting better at catching the hobgoblin kids when there were issues now, but I had to go back in the kitchen and assure them I was fine and the bad women were punished. They so reacted to anything with me and I couldn’t get over it.

  “They’re young and sensitive to it,” Irma explained. “You’re the first they’ve been around and it’s a bond of love like any other. You’d scorch the world around them if someone hurt them. You can’t even try to say otherwise.”

  “No, I would absolutely do that,” I agreed.

  “Fanks for ressent,” one of them said.

  It took me a moment to catch up, smiling at them when they all said the same. “You’re very welcome. I hope you guys like it.”

  “What did you get them now?” Mel asked. “The chalk wasn’t enough?”

  “No, it’s getting cold and they needed indoor fun,” I defended as we walked back to the buffet line.

  “What did you get them?” Mel asked again.

  “Huge coloring kits with markers, pencils, crayons, and all kinds of goodies,” Irma said as she stepped up on a stool to change out one of the trays. They were the only ones who worked weekends, but there was still generally one hobgoblin on every meal shift and more cleaning the campus. “One for each of the children. They came with books teaching letters and numbers.”

  “They looked fun,” I muttered, giving Irma a wink when she simply sighed at me. I glanced at Mel when she left. “Thanks. For earlier and what you did to him.”

  “Always. I’ve always got your back, kid.”

  Darby met us at the table and handed me back my phone. “Claudia said she’d handle it. She actually thanked me as every associate is required to do four pro bono cases a year and she was short one she felt comfortable putting her name on.”

  “Glad she can help. I hope it works out for your cousin.”

  “Thank you.” He cleared his throat when we started eating. “After you do well on your geometry midterm—as I know that’s the one you’re nervous about—I have some place I’m taking you, so we’ll need to use one of your portal passes.”

  “Um, okay,” I agreed, frowning as I ate. So that wasn’t a date, right? That was a reward from a tutor. I glanced at Izzy to find her staring at Darby as if she didn’t know if he was an alien or just dense.

  Oh good, it wasn’t only me. Glad to hear it.

  “What are we doing for break, officially?” Mel asked as she glanced around the table. “Craftsman’s crashing whatever it is, I know that. He already told me, especially with the shit started at the competition. He’s sure there will be backlash on that and wants to make sure you don’t get the brunt of it when you did it for him.”

  “No, not just him but yeah, he was the catalyst,” I muttered, not against having him around. “We were going to do the curry party after the last final on Thursday with the scholarship students, faculty, staff, and guards. We need counts of who’s in and get it all ordered. After that… I haven’t gotten that far.”

  “I’m going home,” Izzy sighed. “My brothers are coming to get me and Mom will make me help her with fall cleaning before the holidays. Shoot me now.”

  “I didn’t realize you were leaving for break,” Darby muttered. “I thought we could get a good jump on those other studies you have.”

  “Oh, right, so no break at all,” I grumbled. “Well fine, come home with us.”

  “Is that an open invitation?” Mason joked as he sat down by us with Lucca.

  “No. It’s not for fun and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” I said, giving Mel a look.

  “Yeah, we do, and we need to get some plans on how to make that happen.”

  “I have an idea on that,” I promised. “Calloway got me that thing and I want to find the right spot for it but I think I can work what we need.” I’d read in one of the Evans family journals that there was a lot more to those fairy barriers than most do and there were more options for them besides up or down.

  Doorways could be made into them and that was what I planned on working on. That way if there was a door built into it, we could let in work people for updates and fixing without taking it down or risking they had permanent access.

  Oh, and cloaking the essence of the power. If the charm I bought from Calloway could hide my fairy power signature, something could be worked out for the barrier to hide it. If people didn’t know it was the Townsends’ property, the fairy magic could give too much away.

  I thought it was a pretty good plan at least. Worth a shot?

  19

  I walked out of the classroom building after the geometry test and all I wanted was to get on my bike and go for a ride. I actually thought I did pretty well but it was such a struggle and that brought up all my feelings of inferiority and that I was a fraud being in college without having completed high school. It was hard to balance all the feelings in me and it seemed my head popping was imminent.

  “No racing off,” Hudson said as he pushed off the building, clearly noting I was already heading for the faculty parking lot. He shook his head when I went to object. “I have to head home for a meeting. Come with and I promise you that you’ll like the meeting, get to take another shot at the mountain, and I asked the pastry chef to make you two dozen dragon donuts.”

  Damn. He had me there on all fronts.

  I blew a raspberry and nodded. “Do I need to change?”

  “No, we’re going in right at the castle through the family portal.”

  “Cool, but I meant I’m in jeans and I’m armed.”

  “You’ll have to take off your weapons when we get there but I promise you’re safe with my family.”

  “I’ll get it all back?” I checked, already following after him.

  “You have my word.”

  “So your stalking me pays off again, huh?”

  “Now if I could just get you to stalk me back,” he grumbled, the energy dancing between us since it had been a couple of days since we’d been intimate. It was honestly easier to deal with now that it wasn’t a shock but yeah, the chemistry was still killer after weeks of hooking up.

  Always a good thing.

  “I am literally following you home,” I reminded him.

  “Tell me it’s not for the donuts and I’ll drop it.”

  I couldn’t. The chance to take another shot at the mountain to practice was good too but I wasn’t into the idea of meetings sprung on me so no matter how good, that wasn’t a plus to me. The mountain and meeting might have balanced out but the donuts won me over.

  We headed to the student union, where two guys wearing the same guard uniforms I saw at the Vogel castle were waiting for Hudson… But didn’t look surprised I was there.

  We went through the portal and this time we came out right in the foyer of the castle. I glanced around, not having seen this part last time, and was seriously impressed with the architecture and glass artistry of the windows.

&
nbsp; “She needs to get some energy out on the mountain and we’ll be right there,” Hudson told them, nodding for me to follow him.

  I did, getting we needed to book it for this meeting, which made me glad I didn’t need the full time for my test or I would have made Hudson late just by inviting me. I handed him my bookbag and jacket as we arrived at the terrace.

  “No bridge and platform this time, right?”

  “Wait, I need to radio it in,” one of the guards called over, talking into a radio and getting a response before waving for me to go ahead.

  I let out some quick breaths and rubbed my hands together before calling my magic up and letting it out. This time I was focused just for the level line of where they wanted it for construction. I clapped and immediately flattened my hands palms down as if showing the energy where to go.

  It wasn’t nearly as big or devastating, but I cut a full slice at the exact line I wanted. I couldn’t see from there how far in it went but there was a line.

  “That’s some precision,” the guard praised, squinting his eyes a bit. “I’d say that’s two feet into the mountain. You keep giving claps like that and you could take that remaining top off in one shot to be broken up.”

  “Nice,” I chuckled.

  “Impressive,” Hudson agreed, handing back my jacket and bag.

  We rushed back into the castle and through a few more doors before we were led into a very large and fancy conference room for whatever looked about to start.

  “Crap, didn’t I need to get disarmed?” I worried, all the guards in the room reacting to hear someone had weapons on them. I held my hands up in surrender. “Chill out. I’m the one who offered.”

  “Still, you’re in the room with not only the Vogels but some very important leaders,” that same guard said. “I’m going to disarm you then.” He waited until I nodded before moving closer.

  “I thought this was a fun meeting,” I hissed at Hudson. “Meeting other leaders like this isn’t my idea of fun.”

  “That’s what you told her when she needs to testify?” Mrs. Vogel asked Hudson, chuckling when he gave a nod.

  “You better not have lied about those donuts because dragon or not, I will kick your ass all over our next physical training class.”

  Hudson cleared his throat when several people chuckled at the idea. “You laugh, but she can. She holds back because she doesn’t feel she has full control of her new powers and doesn’t risk them coming out.”

  “Well, aren’t you just so clever,” I grumbled as the guard moved to touch me. I sighed. “You didn’t even buy me dinner and now you’re going to feel me up. I offered to take them off myself.” I lowered my hands and raised one foot. “Knife and extendable baton in there.”

  He chuckled as he took off my boot and found them before putting it back on and switching. I angled my body so he could go in my pockets, but then I shot Hudson another angry look.

  “What did I say about not being disarmed in front of people because then they knew all the places I hid weapons and could disarm me?”

  “How many more could you have?” someone asked.

  I glanced around and found Mr. Rothchild. “Your daughter taught me all I know about carrying weapons. You want to guess and see how good she is?”

  He actually gave the first lip twitch I’d ever seen. “Her belt is a weapon and the buckle has a blade in it.” I nodded, letting the guard take it. “She’ll have a blade in a lower back sheath. I think one on the arm as well.” Again I nodded, letting the guard grab both. “I’d prefer not to tell a guard to check your bra if you don’t have one.”

  “Normally I don’t but there was more crap on campus about me being… Yeah, so I hid another one,” I grumbled, pulling up my shirt so the guard could see the knife I had clipped around the middle of my bra. “Anything else?”

  “No,” Mr. Rothchild said confidently.

  “Spoken like a man who doesn’t know how a woman can work all her assets,” I teased him, holding off the guard. “I can’t tell you this one as you’ll cut my hair as you pull the blade. Worth it in a fight but I have a sheath hidden in there too.”

  “No way,” someone chuckled.

  I smirked as I took out my hair tie and shook my bright red locks over the table. A small throwing knife in its sheath fell out. “If I have a braid I can get six of those tucked away with my massive mane.”

  “Anything else?” the guard asked.

  I sighed and handed him over my bag. “Yeah, a few in there. Have fun, it’s all password protected but don’t look in my wallet. There’s not one in it and you’ll piss me off.”

  “You don’t need to touch her wallet,” Mrs. Vogel confirmed, dipping her head to me. “Thank you for being so honest.”

  “I wouldn’t have come armed at all if I had known I was being whisked away after a geometry test to testify for… Something?”

  “How did the test go?” she asked, looking amused.

  “I don’t think math and I are going to be friends, but we might make it out of the year without killing each other.”

  Hudson snorted, pulling out my chair for me as people started sitting. I felt like a kid sitting at the adult table as most of the people were men and rather large, filling up the big fancy chairs whereas I felt tiny. Even Mrs. Vogel was bigger than me as a dragon.

  “You brought up some serious concerns and as such—” a man started but I cut in.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be rude here but I have no idea who you all are and before I risk sticking my foot in something again, can I get a heads-up on who is here and why?”

  “Of course,” he easily agreed. “I am Chaddus Thane, vampire elder and member of our council assigned to handle the investigation into the Edelman family.” He chuckled when my eyes went wide. “Yes, well, you made some grave accusations and we take them seriously.”

  A few people chuckled when I winced. Glad they took things seriously but I’d been a pretty big brat.

  From there others introduced themselves. There were two dragon elders, two vamps, and two warlocks, but then five shifters as they had so many animal species theirs was larger and more votes so more for the investigation. Made sense.

  Still made me nervous.

  “Now that we’ve settled that,” Chaddus said after the introductions, not seeming miffed at all. Was he the mythical nice vampire? I hoped so. “We would like to hear in your own words what happened with your interaction with Joshua Edelman, former headmaster of Artemis University.”

  “For the record I didn’t know a whole inquiry would happen like this. I just wanted to start enough shit that he couldn’t sweep what he said—or me—under the rug.”

  “We know,” he assured me. “Mrs. Vogel was quite clear on that. We’ve also spoken to Dr. Craftsman, who said the same.”

  “Wait, she’s wearing some charm,” someone interjected.

  “It’s an essence suppressor as she’s chosen to remain undeclared,” Mrs. Vogel assured them. “I spoke with Katrina Calloway myself and commended her vendor as it’s of the highest quality.”

  “Is that true you bought it from Ms. Calloway?” the same guy asked. He waited until I nodded. “I withdraw my objection then. Please continue.”

  I blew a slow breath and told them exactly what happened, admitting it wasn’t verbatim but pretty close when it wasn’t a long conversation.

  “How was his attitude towards Dr. Craftsman?” Chaddus asked.

  “Like a pimp expecting his ‘boy’—as he called Dr. Craftsman that—to dance, monkey, dance if he said so. I’ve never seen someone act so much like they were master to someone not related like parent to child. It was creepy. I mean, to be that creepy in such a short conversation raised every hair on me.”

  “So your magic reacted to him?”

  I didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know. Is a gut feeling or early warning system a magical talent? I’d say a vibe you get from people.”

  “What vibe did you feel from him?” h
e asked, frowning like he wasn’t ready for me to be so frank and maybe blunt.

  “To not be close to him, back away,” I muttered. “It was weird, especially since I get the opposite vibe from Headmaster Edelman. He exudes safety, like that adult vibe certain truly adult adults have where you know if they say they could handle something, you don’t have to doubt them and you know they got it. But Josh Edelman was the opposite, like oil sliding along and caustic.”

  “You’re very sensitive to auras and power maybe,” he said, several people taking down notes. “But that leads us to your impression of Headmaster Kyle Edelman’s possible involvement or any wrongdoings on his part. Have you seen any?”

  “I don’t know because I didn’t come in the normal way,” I admitted. “I know he’s protected me and didn’t tell his father much about me because Josh was in the dark.”

  “And this information?” Chaddus asked.

  “Is not your business,” I answered, shrugging when several people gave me shocked and appalled looks. “You don’t need to know about how I was found, my species, or bunch of other information the headmaster knows, having been the one who sent Dr. Craftsman to locate me. You don’t.”

  “No, we don’t,” he agreed. “I meant what you just said, he protected your species when you’ve said you wish to be undeclared, and so on. His father assumed you were a scholarship student when Mrs. Vogel told us you received an inheritance via a distant cousin all thought the family was lost from.”

  “Yes, sorry, everyone’s always trying to get specifics out of me.”

  “People are nosy by nature,” he agreed.

  I snorted. “Answers don’t always lead to enlightenment but a lot of times are a burden. This situation is a good case of that.”

  “You are wise beyond your years,” he praised.

  “And you’re the first outrightly nice vampire I’ve ever met,” I blurted. “Can you come to campus and show the ones there that they don’t actually have to be snooty Underworld vamps and life is better if they aren’t?”