“Well if you’re as good as you say, you won’t get caught,” I pointed out, daring him with my gaze.
Gabriel held my eye for a long moment then turned to look back towards the front of the room.
The movie played on for so long that I was convinced he wasn’t going to do it when all of a sudden a huge spark came from the DVD player, closely followed by a bang that caused a girl in the front row to shriek in fright.
Smoke rose from the machine as the screen went black and we were plunged into darkness.
“It’s okay! Settle down!” Miss Nightshade called out as she moved away to hunt for the light switch and murmurs broke out all around us.
While she fumbled for the switch in the dark, I flicked my fingers in the direction of the smoke which had risen from the DVD player, taking control of it with my air magic and sending the whole lot straight up towards the sprinkler on the ceiling.
It only took a few seconds of holding the smoke in place around the sensor before a loud bell rang out and the sprinkler burst to life.
Students screamed as they were drenched and I laughed, grabbing Gabriel’s hand again and hoisting him to his feet as everyone began running for the exit in the dark.
Someone threw the door open and everyone flooded outside, ignoring Nightshade’s cries for us to come back.
I kept hold of Gabriel’s hand, dragging him outside as we were drenched by the sprinkler and running on down the corridor. All of the students from the detention had formed a crowd so I tugged on Gabriel’s hand and yanked him away from them around a corner where I found a window ajar.
I released my grip on his hand and shoved the window open before jumping out to land on the grass outside.
I laughed as I sprinted away from Altair Halls and across the sweeping lawn which ran around the back of it. Gabriel kept pace beside me and we didn’t slow until we’d slipped into the cover of The Iron Wood.
I started laughing as I leaned back against an ancient oak tree, catching my breath while dripping a puddle into the dirt at my feet.
Gabriel pushed a hand through his soaking black hair with a grin, drawing the water out of it with his control of the Element. He siphoned the liquid away from his body, dispensing it onto the dirt before moving closer to me with his hand held out to offer me the same.
“What’s the matter, Gabriel?” I joked. “Don’t you like me all wet?”
His gaze slid over me slowly and he almost smiled. “I like you like this,” he admitted. “But not because you’re wet.”
“What am I then?”
“Happy,” he said simply.
My smile faded and I pushed my wet hair away from my face, lilac strands dripping everywhere.
“No,” I replied, the ache in my heart sharpening as he drew attention to it. “I’m not that.”
Gabriel’s brows tightened and he moved closer to me, reaching out to cup my cheek in his hand. “Feeling happy sometimes doesn’t mean you loved him any less,” he said slowly.
Something cold and dark was growing in me at his words and I took a step aside, breaking his contact with my skin.
“I can laugh and smile and have fun from time to time,” I said. “But the pain never goes. I can cover it up a little here and there but it still rules me.”
“The girl you are hasn’t changed,” he protested. “Just because you’ve had to live through-”
“The girl I was is long gone, Gabriel,” I countered. “And if you really have to question the truth of that then why not take a better look at that photo you have of me from last summer? She’s practically a stranger to me now. The things I’ve done…the things I’m going to do…she wouldn’t understand that at all. And I can’t even begin to remember what it was to live without this pain in me now.”
“But there’s so much more to you than that,” he protested, stepping towards me again, but I backed up.
“There isn’t. The only reason I get out of bed in the mornings is because I haven’t figured this out yet. Because I can’t let Gareth’s death go unanswered. If it does, it’s like he didn’t even matter. Like he wasn’t the only good thing I ever had in this world and he hadn’t deserved better than that. And I refuse to let that be the case. So I’ve gathered all the broken pieces left of the girl he loved and bound them together to seek vengeance for what was done to him. That’s all I care about.”
“And what about after that?” Gabriel asked, his frown deepening like he didn’t know what to think of me at all.
I shrugged. “I’ll figure that out if I get an after.”
“What the hell does that mean?” he asked, a bit of anger colouring his words.
“That I’ll do whatever it takes to bring down the person who took my brother from me. I’ll give anything, sacrifice anything. So if it takes every piece of me, my freedom, my future, my life and my soul then that’s what it takes. I don’t care. I’ve just got to get justice for him.”
Gabriel’s face paled. “Surely he wouldn’t want you to do that?” he demanded. “If Gareth loved you like you clearly loved him, he’d want you to have a life, be happy. He’d want-”
“The dead don’t want anything,” I interrupted. “Because that was stolen from them alongside everything else. So I’ll decide on my own fate and that’s this: I will find out what happened to him that night. Every. Little. Detail. And once I’ve figured out who took him from me, I’ll make them pay in pain and death.”
Gabriel’s lips parted in horror and he reached for me again but I just shook my head before speeding away from him and heading back to my dorm. I didn’t want comfort or kindness, compassion or pity. I just wanted blood. And I’d get it whatever way necessary.
Dante Oscura
Cindy Lou Galaxa
Harvey Bloom
Leon Night
Lorenzo Oscura
These were the students in school I’d seen Gareth hanging out with regularly. So could they possibly have a connection to what had happened to Gareth on the night of the Solarid Meteor Shower? If she was this determined to find this guy, I’d do everything in my power to help her. Especially if I wanted any chance of her accepting me as a mate. I had to do right by her and though I still couldn’t bear to tell her what I’d done the night of Gareth’s death, I would do everything in my power to help her figure out who’d murdered him before she got herself killed in this hunt for justice.
I eyed the list I’d made on my Atlas again. Lorenzo was dead too which seemed like a pretty big coincidence. I’d asked Bill to get a hold of the FIB records of his death and I was still waiting on him delivering them.
If any of the others were linked to Gareth’s death, it could save Elise finding out the truth about my own whereabouts that night. So I needed to dig up the dirt. And though it was dangerous as hell, I decided the Oscuras were most likely to have done something bad when it came to Gareth. If they had a motive.
It was early evening, but night had fallen already as I sat up on the roof of the Vega Dorms. Now it was dark, it was time for action. I released my wings from my back and leapt into the sky. A cool updraft pushed against my wings as I spread them wide and soared across the academy grounds.
There was only one place in this entire school where Dante Oscura would keep incriminating evidence. I’d been practising the spells to permit me access all week and hoped I was strong enough to manage it. If anyone was capable of it in this school, it was me.
I already had my own storage area in the Kipling Cache where I kept emergency supplies in case I ever had to run from this place so gaining entry to the main cavern wasn’t the problem. It was getting into the Oscura stash that was going to be a real challenge. But I’d stay there all night if that was what it took.
I circled around The Iron Wood, the moon flashing on my wings as I lowered down into the north eastern corner of the forest. I dropped below the canopy, silently landing on the soft earth and gazing around the dark trees.
I kept my wings out in case I had to make a quick e
xit. There were plenty of Fae in this school who could be slinking about in the woods at night.
I located the large boulder which marked the entrance to the cache and rested my hand on it, my magic slipping through my skin and granting me access. A hatch appeared in place of the boulder and I bent down, flipping it open and descending into the dark space. Sconces on the walls burned eternally up ahead and as I arrived in the circular chamber at the base of the ramp, my vision was fully restored. Tunnels led off in all directions, but I moved to the one marked with the symbol of a wolf on the wall beside it. The Oscura Clan symbol.
I raised a hand, feeling out the edges of the magical barrier which stopped me from entering. It was strong, created by the magic of each Kipling, but I’d studied this type of spell. I could undo it, though it would take a lot of my energy. And even then, there could be an alarm set to trigger the Kiplings or even Dante Oscura himself. I couldn’t sense one, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
I brushed my fingers along the wall, pushing at the barrier as I released a wave of my power against it. A hot amber glow built under my palm as I pressed harder, working to control the flow and direct it to pick apart the chains of magic binding this place.
After several painfully long minutes, I felt the first chain fall and gasped my relief. Another layer of power ran beneath it and I took a moment to catch my breath before lifting my hand and starting over again. I could feel my reserves draining and that was saying a lot considering how powerful I was. The Kiplings must have been adding magic to this barrier for years. I just hoped I could hold out long enough to make it through.
The second layer finally fell and I knelt on the ground, panting as my magic flickered and waned. I could do it. I’d fucking make sure I did it. For Elise. And Gareth. And all the guilt that choked me up and made me wanna puke. It pushed at the base of my tongue like bile as flashes of that night ran through my mind.
His blood spilling across my skin, the way he’d groaned and flailed. The way I’d held him close and spoken those awful words in his ear. You’re nothing.
Oh fuck fuck fuck.
I was on the verge of a panic attack, my mind buzzing as The Sight showed me that night like I was reliving it all over again.
Stop, please fucking stop.
My heart thumped, missing beats, totally wild as I tried to draw breath.
I’d do anything to take it back. How could I share a room with Elise knowing what I did to her brother? How could she ever forgive it?
The cold, hard truth descended on me like a ton of bricks. She couldn’t. If she found out, she’d want to rip me to pieces. And who could blame her? I’d do the same if I had a sibling. Who wouldn’t?
I blinked away the grip of that night, climbing back out of the void which had sucked me in and made me bleed on the inside. I rested my hand against the final barrier and put everything I had left into snapping the forcefield blocking my way.
It crashed down with a sound like a dying engine and the humming in my ears ceased. I rose to my feet, pushing my black hair out of my eyes and taking a shaky breath. I leaned forward, reaching ahead of me as I felt for any more magic blocking my path. There was nothing.
I waited for several long minutes to see if anyone would come. No footsteps sounded, no roar of an angry Dragon. So I assured myself there was no alarm.
I breathed a sigh of relief, walking inside and following the winding tunnel to a large chamber full of stacked wooden boxes. A huge tapestry hung on the wall picturing the Oscura crest in black and silver. The eyes of the wolf seemed to follow me as I started to move methodically through the room. The hardest thing about this was, I didn’t know what I was looking for.
I drew on The Sight, asking for its assistance even though it had just drowned me in the black pit of the past. It felt more like an enemy right then, but I needed its help if I was ever going to find something useful here. Something which might incriminate an Oscura for Gareth’s death.
I let my eyes fall closed, feeling the pull of its power deep within my chest. It was like sifting through grains of sand, trying to find the one I needed, a heap of visions burning on the edges of my mind, but never quite close enough to grasp. Something slipped through the net and a small golden box blazed in front of my eyes. It was gone as quickly as it had come, but it was enough.
I hunted the room, finding a whole chest of treasure full of gold and jewels, even a massive broadsword. I went through the entire box before I lifted my head with a grunt of frustration, having wasted nearly an hour. Then my eyes fell on the tapestry hanging there and I stood, gripping the edge and wrenching it aside on instinct.
A rectangular hole was carved into the wall and silk pouches were piled up in it around the golden box I was searching for. I snatched the box, flipping it open and finding a flashdrive staring up at me. Beneath it was a photograph, crumpled with lines as if someone had scrunched it up in their fist. My heart thundered in my chest as I recognised Gareth, his hand clasped with Ryder’s, the picture having captured the moment a flash of magic had passed between them as they struck some deal.
I swore under my breath, pushing the photo into my pocket with a promise to give it to Elise. I took the flashdrive too, closing the box. Out of curiosity I picked up one of the silk pouches and pulled it open, eyeing the substance inside.
I inhaled sharply as I found a portion of glittering black stardust. This shit was the most expensive substance in Solaria. And from the looks of the stash Dante had here, he was hiding at least a million auras worth.
Enough not to miss one pouch.
I stuffed it into my pocket, my jaw tight. Who knew when I might need a quick getaway? I wasn’t gonna pass up something that could transport me half way across Solaria in a blink of an eye. It was invaluable.
I dropped the tapestry and headed out of the chamber, pausing at the end of the tunnel. There was no way I could replicate the magic the Kiplings had cast on this cavern with the amount of power I had left in my reserves. So instead, I spent some time wiping any trace of my presence here with a cloaking spell before heading up the ramp to exit the cache.
It was only when I was flying through the sky toward the roof of the Vega Dorms that I started to relax. No one had seen me go in and no one had seen me leave. The Oscuras wouldn’t know who’d stolen from them. It was impossible.
I landed softly on the roof, stepping into my tent and letting my wings retreat, slumping face down onto my bed with a breath of exhaustion. I’d need the sunrise to replenish my magic in the morning, so I’d stay here tonight.
In the meantime, I was too damn curious not to find out what was on that flashdrive so I took my Atlas from my pocket and plugged it in, laying it on my pillow.
A long list of files appeared and all of them were named after Fae. Some of them I recognised, others I didn’t. The list went on and on and I paused as I spotted one with the name Randall Greyshine.
I clicked it, a frown knitting itself into my brow as I found myself looking at a low-lit room with the school principal kissing a guy covered in green lycra - and oh fuck me is that a giant strap-on dick?
I stopped it one second before our principal got fucked up the ass, grimacing as I turned it off.
Why the hell would Dante want this?
I’d barely had the thought before the answer came to me. It was obvious. This was collateral. All of it was. I scrolled through the list again, my heart jolting as I found the name Katherine King. Our former Elemental Magic teacher. She’d gotten fired from the academy and power shamed after it had come out that she’d been screwing Ryder Draconis.
The video started playing and I supposed I could have guessed what it was gonna be. Ryder held her over her office desk, fucking the life out of her, his hands locked tightly around her throat as she gasped for breath and clawed at his arm.
I swallowed thickly, closing the video and searching through the names again. Nearly every teacher in school had a file and I wondered if they even knew that D
ante had these or if he was just waiting for them to piss him off enough to warrant threatening them with it. They weren’t all sex tapes either.
One showed Professor Mars in an alley, paying for something from a figure shrouded in shadow. Another showed Professor Titan kneeling before his daughter’s grave, the short video ending with nothing but a picture of a shovel and a threat to dig up her body. Another showed Miss Nightshade’s lime green car on the driveway of a suburban house at night. A hooded man walked up to it, waving something at the camera which had a red light blinking on it before sticking it to the bottom of her car – is that a fucking bomb??
I kept scrolling, glad when I didn’t find my name amongst the endless list. But my heart jolted when I found Gareth’s.
My finger hovered over the button before I clicked on it, fearing what I’d find. Then I tapped the button and the video started playing.
A guy was on a tiled floor covered in blood while someone punched him again and again. My mouth fell open as whoever was filming stepped to the side and Gareth was lit up standing over the unconscious man on the ground as Leon Night drew him back. I didn’t recognise who the victim was as he lay curled in Gareth’s shadow. Blood speckled Gareth’s face and his eyes were wild with something dark and forbidding. The sound of a pack of Wolves howling came just as the footage ended and I ran a hand over my eyes, making a decision I hoped I wouldn’t regret.
I’d show Elise the photograph I’d found, but not that video. It would kill her to see what her brother had done. Never to have an explanation for it. I was already hiding a thousand things from Elise anyway. So what was one more lie?
I lay on my bunk, my mind whirling with questions and coming up with jack shit in place of answers. I was obsessing. I knew it. And as much as I needed to figure this stuff out, I wasn’t getting anywhere by turning it over and over and over in my head. I was flogging a dead horse. I needed new ideas, another perspective, a fresh outlook…
I glanced over at Gabriel’s empty bunk wondering if I should shoot him a message and ask him to meet me. He seemed invested in helping me figure out what had happened to my brother but he was also lying to me. It was hard for me to ask anyone for help anyway; I just wasn’t wired that way, but asking someone who was lying to my face was a damn bitter pill to swallow. And I didn’t think I could quite suck up my own pride enough to go there yet.
Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 2) Page 41