Drowning Studies (Artemis University Book 2)

by Erin R Flynn

  “Fair enough. I’m not telling you, but if you stay with me, you might figure it out. It protects me so if you do, I’m covered as much as possible as even Izzy’s family was going to try and get it from her head. You might see something that’s a clue and I’m sorry if you do, but just ignore it and we’re fine.”

  “As Claudia said and I signed it.”

  “Cool.”

  “I’ll pack and meet you somewhere?”

  “I’m taking my bike back, so work it out with Mel or Craftsman.”

  “Are you tired or angry with me?”

  “Tired.” I wasn’t sure that was the full truth but it was my answer.

  It was my answer and I was sticking to it.

  25

  “How are we going to let in Darby and workers not permanently?” Mel asked me under her breath as we finished loading up her SUV a couple of hours later.

  “I figured out how to play with the barriers,” I muttered. “It’s how I threw up that barrier in our dorm room. It’s how I’m going to lock our room down. It’s a mix of the barrier at the house and what Craftsman showed me.”

  “Okay then, that wasn’t the answer I was expecting.”

  “I live to keep you on your toes.”

  “We’re heading out now, Craftsman and Darby following soon. Drive safe.”

  I snorted, giving her and Izzy a wave before jogging to our room to lock up. I sealed the room and door so no one could open it but me no matter their key. Fuck, they couldn’t get in there if the building collapsed.

  Or so I hoped. It felt as strong as the fairy barriers but without the fairy signature. That was my hope, at least, and I had a feeling the charm from Calloway helped that. It hid my fairy essence or whatever so it made sense that didn’t come out in the magic I did.

  It worked out in my head and I hoped true.

  I headed for the faculty parking lot and hopped on my bike, seeing Craftsman and Darby getting into his SUV—well, mine technically, but so was Mel’s.

  “Please try to watch the driving,” Craftsman called over.

  “Do you want me to lie to you?”

  I could practically feel his swearing from there. I had to watch my speed to get to the guard station as there were a lot of people leaving campus not by portal or picked up as well. Craftsman even caught up with me there while Mel was several vehicles in front.

  “She thinks she’s all that because she rides a motorcycle, oh, sooo cool,” someone said loudly from behind me, the air filling with giggles from the vehicle.

  Like I gave a fuck about being cool. Seriously? Were we twelve again?

  I just wanted to be me and true to myself.

  “Be safe, yeah?” Marshall checked when it was my turn.

  “You bet. Come on out and visit if you and Sean get a day off or something. You need a break from this place too.”

  “I’ll take you up on that,” Sean called over.

  “Cool. See you guys.” I signed my name and waited until Marshall stepped back before hitting the gas.

  I didn’t peel out or anything dramatic with so many people around, but the moment I was on the highway, I shifted gears and punched it. Most of us were all heading the same way towards Topeka, but I would turn off before then and I doubted that was the final destination for most of them.

  But the highway wasn’t busy otherwise so jumping around the vehicles was no problem… Until one was a jerk and every time I tried to pass it swerved into the oncoming traffic lane.

  Please, child’s play.

  I dropped back in the oncoming traffic lane and then kicked the gear up to get some real speed. When they saw me coming this time and went to swerve to block me, I went right and took their spot so they were now in oncoming traffic or they had to run me off the road.

  They didn’t even see me there at first, almost doing just that, honking up a storm when they saw me.

  But I kept the spot, moving with them even as they laid on the horn. I saw a vehicle heading towards us and pulled ahead, letting them get back in the lane safely. I made sure I was clearly flicking them off though as I did.

  Hopefully that would teach them they weren’t as clever as they’d thought.

  Apparently not, because when the oncoming vehicle passed and I went to jump around the next vehicle the asshole tried to keep up with me. But they couldn’t.

  Normal vehicles couldn’t keep up with bikes, which was why I preferred to drive them in case there was ever a problem. Hopefully they gave up before they reached Topeka, as the cops there were attentive to speeders from what I heard.

  I’d be long turned off that highway by then but I doubted they would have noticed. Idiots.

  No one was in sight when I made the turnoff, so unless someone put a tracker on my bike… Maybe I should talk to Mel about making sure no one was putting shit on our vehicles.

  That seemed like on the level of crazy we kept dealing with. The thing with Izzy’s family left me unsettled. That was some hardcore dedication just to find out what I was, and they thought I was just normal.

  Maybe that hybrid rumor was still going around? I knew the criminal one was now after Holly’s stunt, even if we’d proven she was the problem. That was too good to let die without people trying to make it into something more.

  I didn’t know what kind of trouble they were going to get into, but Claudia and the school were on it.

  I did know I got a lecture from Geiger that I didn’t tell him my fingerprints were in the system as he needed to handle that. I just laughed.

  Right, because lawyers normally did illegal things like removing fingerprints from the system or could have that kind of pull over several different police stations and maybe federal.

  How silly of me not to have thought of that.

  I followed the turns and arrived at the Townsend estate, wondering when I would think of it as mine.

  The moment you finish his novel of requests for his estate. Yeah, that seemed fair and smart, it was so easy for me to answer.

  I hopped off my bike and punched in the code before moving in the middle of the drive. I had read more about the fairy barriers and glamour after visiting the Vogels’ castle.

  I had only meant to glance at the scans Headmaster Edelman’s assistant had sent me of the journals I’d donated for Conall Townsend, but I’d caught a mention of fairy barriers and had stayed up until two in the morning reading the whole thing.

  I didn’t understand it all and I thought that was my lack of magical knowledge and experience, but I did understand the part about building a doorway. Basically it was like a pause button on one path into the barrier.

  The framing of the explanation was a lot like how I thought of portals in general, so in a way, I was making a hallway that wasn’t covered by the barrier for people to travel through to the house and back.

  And when I was done, I’d close the door again, completing the circuit of the barrier and max effectiveness. It was so I didn’t have to take the full barrier down, and it took a while to get back up if there was a problem.

  It also left the rest of the property covered so no one could try and sneak in the back, because I let people in the front. Nope, still covered.

  The best part was just because I let someone in once, didn’t mean they had access again or could invite others. Problem solved. I just had to be there to do it.

  Maybe I could create a magical remote door opener for when Mel needed it?

  Meh, it was good enough for now.

  Just in case, I whistled for the fae dogs and gave orders for them to run the entire property and check the barriers and magic. And who said people couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks?

  Or I guess in this case a young pup, given my age. The important thing was I planned to work hard to catch up and make sure I was always catching on to what I needed to. I would be ahead of the curve if I could manage that.

  The End

  THANK YOU for reading this book!!

  Thank you so much for trying
a new series of mine and coming on Tamsin’s journey with me. I woves all of you lots for your continued support and wanting more of my books. If you want more of Tamsin, please, please leave a review. It really helps me out to know which series people are looking for more from. And it’s encouraging to get back to series when people are excited for more. I appreciate the time it takes and hopefully you guys love Tamsin and this world as much as I loved writing the series!!

  Erin

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