by Callie Rose
Chapter Eighteen
Hannah was back in class the following period, which was a relief. Her hand was bandaged and she looked a little loopy, but at least she wasn’t in pain. She sketched a brief smile at me as I slid into the desk beside her, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. It wasn’t just her; everybody in the room was subdued. Whispers floated around between desks and the rustle of notes being passed filled the air.
Even the professor was distracted. Jewel, the Human Relations professor, was a tiny woman with messy hair and big glasses. She sat on top of her desk at the front of the room, staring at a spot on the floor. I’d been a few minutes late to class, but it didn’t look like I had missed anything.
“Um… roll call,” she said distractedly. She held up the roll call sheet to read it, then put it down again. Instead, she just looked around at the faces in the room. Her eyes filled with tears. “Well, you’re all here. That’s good. No injuries? Oh, a couple of you. I’m so sorry, dears.”
She sniffled a bit and shuffled a stack of papers on her desk. She picked up the syllabus and put it down again, then picked up the primer. She put that away too and sighed.
“Okay. Why even bother? Nobody’s going to remember anything we learn today anyway.” She stuck her fingers under her glasses to rub her watery eyes. “But you’re stuck with me, so we’re going to talk. Let me tell you something, class. Up until the sprite attack, I would have sworn that this school was the safest place in the world for fallen. Now—between the sprite attack and the chaos downstairs, I just—I just don’t know anymore.”
“But it’s still this or the underworld, right?” The man’s voice sounded rough and forced, like he was afraid and trying very hard not to show it.
“I’m afraid so, dear. The Custodians won’t allow fallen to run loose all over the planet, that’s the whole point of their organization. Gods, but I wish there was something we could do.”
People began talking amongst themselves, and she didn’t stop them. She struck up a conversation with the question asker and the person sitting beside him. I took the opportunity to talk to Hannah.
“I think Sonja is trying to frame me and my guys,” I said quietly. “I think she did this, and I think she released the sprites. Or her minions did anyway.”
Hannah frowned the same way that Jayce had. “Piper, I know you’ve had issues with her, but—”
“I’ve had nothing but issues with her. She decided to hate me the day she picked us up, you remember? I think she’s still pissed off that she couldn’t pressure that guy to send us downstairs. I think she’s setting herself up for a leadership position with the Custodians, and I think she’s trying to make an example out of me.”
Hannah looked thoughtful for a moment. “I guess it’s possible. But how are you going to find out for sure? And what are you going to do if it’s true?”
I shook my head. I had no idea how to answer either of those questions, but I knew who might have an idea. When school was done for the day, I went to find Kingston. Maybe his dad had raised him to be an ethical businessman, but he was still a businessman. He knew how to think several steps ahead, which was exactly what I needed to do.
It took me a while to find him. He was tucked away on a tiny balcony in the library, curled up in a chair, reading a thick book. He was stroking the page with one finger as if he were scrolling on a tablet. Some habits die hard, I guess.
“Kingston,” I called out softly as I climbed the last few steps.
He jumped, startled, and nearly dropped his book in his hurry to close it. He tucked it behind him and scooted forward on the chair.
“Yes? What?” he asked briskly.
“Ah… whatcha hiding there?”
“A book.”
“And why would you want to hide a book? Afraid I’ll find out that you’re literate? Too late, dude, the jig is up.”
He sighed and rubbed his temples. “Did you need something? I’m busy.”
I frowned, taken aback. I’d thought things had changed between us after the locker room—not just physically, but emotionally. “Okay, did I hallucinate what happened this morning, or…?”
“Piper! Did you need something or not?”
I shrugged. “Guess not. See you around.”
He didn’t say anything else as I stormed down the stairs. What the hell was his problem, anyway? We were right back to square one, and now he was hiding shit from me. Poorly. I started plotting a way to get that book from him and find out its secrets when I realized I was already plotting a way to catch Sonja, not to mention, plotting out the structure of the essay that was due on Monday. Any more plotting and I’d turn into a bad super-villain.
A few days later, when the tension in the school had just started to dissipate, I was back in Combat sparring with a third-year. She’d managed to harness her power into an energy sword, which was fun to dodge but intimidating as hell.
We had found a good rhythm and were actively honing our skills when Dru rushed into the room. I hadn’t seen him since he’d brought me to the school.
Oh, God, what’s happened now?
I was distracted just long enough to take a low-energy blow directly to the rib cage. My sparring partner was pulling back to strike again when Dru called her name. She froze mid-strike.
“What is it, Dru?”
“Fallen activity is spiking all over the place,” Dru said softly as he reached us. “Hi, Piper. Anyway, we need volunteers for away missions.”
“Just third-year volunteers, I assume?” I was starting to get restless, but my hope was a futile one.
“Yeah, just third-years. Sorry. Anyway, Liesel, will you come?”
“Of course,” she said with a tiny bow. Then she turned to me. “We’ll pick this up again.”
“We sure will.”
I watched them go. Five other third-years followed Dru and Liesel out the door, and I wondered just how many third-years they were going to need for these away missions. How much fallen activity could there be before the human news stations got wind that something was terribly wrong?
For the first time since I’d arrived, I missed having internet access. I could have figured out what was going on in the human world with a couple of well-worded searches. Having to stay behind and wonder was going to drive me crazy, and now I didn’t even have a sparring partner to work that energy off with.
I gazed around the room to see who else had been left without a partner. As soon as I spotted the one I wanted, I grinned. I changed my appearance enough so he wouldn’t try to avoid me right away and sauntered over to him in my fresh disguise. I was taking a Morphology class this semester—which wasn’t anything like the morphology I’d taken in human college—and I’d gotten really good at shifting into whatever face I wanted at will.
“Need a new partner?” I asked in a voice that was deeper than my comfortable tone.
“Yeah, mine took off to save the world,” Kingston said wryly as he turned around. “I haven’t seen you before, have I? Are you usually in another section of this class?”
“No talking, just fight.”
“You got it.” He settled into a parry stance. His breeding was clear at once; nobody but a trained fencer defaulted to that. I took my own stance.
“Three, two, one,” he said, and immediately struck at my face.
As he moved, so did the floor. It knocked both of us off-balance and made me lose my concentration. I snapped back into my default version of myself just as he landed on top of me. I clung to him as the room shook around us. Students screamed. Bits of rock fell from the ceiling overhead.
“Why—is it always—my class?” Beedle bellowed from somewhere to my left.
The lights flickered off and I held my breath, but they flickered back on again almost immediately. Kingston pulled away from me and glared an accusation at me, but then an aftershock rocked the room and he threw his body back over mine protectively.
“Damn it, Piper!”
“What? I didn’t s
et off a fucking earthquake!”
Three more aftershocks shook the walls in lessening degrees. When it was over, everybody pretty much stayed frozen where they lay. Then one girl started crying hysterically and ushered in pandemonium.
“I’m getting really fucking sick of hysteria,” Kingston growled between his teeth.
“Same.”
“Well?” He drew his head back a little to stare down at me expectantly.
“Well, what?”
“You gonna fix it?” He shoved off of me and got to his feet, glaring his demand.
“No can do, buddy. I got no juice.”
He pursed his lips and glowered. I shrugged as students fell to pieces around us. He huffed, rolled his eyes, and gave me the most chaste peck on the lips imaginable. I arched a brow at him. Making a sound halfway between a frustrated sigh and an infuriated groan, he grabbed me around the waist and kissed me hard. Power trickled, then rushed into me from his touch. My skin buzzed, my blood ran hot. When he released me, I could have sworn my eyes were glowing.
“There,” I panted, the smug tone of my voice somewhat ruined by the breathy need beneath it. “How hard was that?”
He glanced down at his hips furtively. I laughed, then shook my head.
Persuasion. Right. “Everyone, calm down! Take deep breaths!”
People began to hyperventilate, and I face-palmed.
“Good job, Piper.”
“Take deep, slow breaths! You’re safe! You’re fine!” God, it was hard to reach that many people at once. I could feel their minds with mine, as if little tendrils of energy were reaching out from my skull to caress theirs. It gave me a damn headache.
“Good,” Beedle growled. He had appeared just behind me and to my left. “Now get them out of here without trampling each other.”
“Shit. Kingston…” I reached out for him, and he held my hand. My headache receded just enough for me to push the instruction. “Form a single line. File out of the door. Go upstairs.”
They did as they were told, but as soon as they were out of range they started to panic again. Whispers turned to mutters and then to panicked shouts. I sagged against Kingston, leeching his energy through the simplest touch. It was like osmosis or something, but it got me standing upright again.
We followed as soon as the other students had cleared out of the lower main hall. Once upstairs, it became clear everybody was congregating in the auditorium. I picked up the sound of Toland’s calm, deep voice but couldn’t make out what he was saying until we got into the room.
“I hear you,” he was saying. “But it was a simple earthquake. We are in the mountains, as you know.”
“Has there ever been an earthquake at the school before?” somebody demanded.
“I’m sure there has,” the headmaster said calmly.
“I don’t buy it,” someone else blurted. “First the sprites, then the lights, now this? It’s too much to be coincidence. We’re under attack, aren’t we?”
A chorus of shouted panic followed the question. Toland raised his hands, but the questions kept coming. Nobody was satisfied with his explanation.
“Enough. Enough!” he bellowed finally.
The room slowly quieted, but there was still a constant murmur fluttering around the room. “Coincidences happen. Everything is fine. Classes aren’t canceled, so I suggest you get back to yours.”
Angry shouts answered him. He slammed a hand on the podium, sending a sonic wave through the room. Everybody fell absolutely silent. His face went pale, as if that bit of magic had thoroughly tapped him.
“I said. Return. To. Class.” His voice was dangerously quiet. “No more of this hysteria.”
That did it. Everyone began to file out and section off to head to their next class. I stayed behind for a moment, studying Toland’s face. He looked worried. Very worried, and exhausted on top of it. If he thought all of this was coincidence, then I was the Queen of fucking England.
By the time I looked away, Kingston had disappeared again. Goddammit. I was getting real sick of that man dodging me.
Chapter Nineteen
The unrest continued for weeks. Third-years were still being pulled out of classes at random to help the Custodians with whatever they were trying to do outside the school, but I noticed Sonja was around FU more often than some of the others. There hadn’t been any more major disasters, but there had been plenty of minor ones.
One of the big bathrooms on the main floor had been closed down for five whole days. Apparently, the pipes had burst and created a huge sinkhole down into the basement, and even with magic on hand, the mess had taken forever to fix. A pillar had cracked in the basement, and the floor beneath it too. It could have easily become a disaster, but poor Beedle noticed the problem before it got that far. Things did always seem to happen in his class.
“Do you think it’s because he’s in the basement?” I asked Hannah over breakfast one morning. “Like, does magic just sort of sink to the bottom and stay there until it wreaks havoc in his classroom?”
“I don’t think so.” She scrunched up her nose. “I don’t think magic works that way. It doesn’t have a whole lot of actual weight, you know.”
“Neither does ash, but it always finds its way to the ground eventually,” I pointed out.
“Maybe the basement does have something to do with it though,” she said, completely ignoring my wholly valid point. I stuck my tongue out at her, but she ignored that too.
“I mean, what if somebody wants something that’s in the basement? Or what if somebody’s trying to break in from underneath? I read somewhere that these mountains are riddled with caverns and tunnels that nobody has ever managed to map, not even with sonar. Or radar, or whatever they use for earth. Do you think they’re trying an attack from below? Like, dig through the mountain or something?”
“They who?” I asked in frustration. “Whoever they are would have to at least have someone on the inside. You can’t release sprites if you aren’t in jar-opening range, right? Besides, an attack from below would be idiotic. This castle must weigh as much as all of Seattle. How would they keep from being crushed?”
“There are ways,” she said with a shrug. “But you’re probably right. They’d have to know where the school is for one, then they would have to know those tunnels well enough not to get lost, there would have to be a tunnel within digging range of the school—and if there is, that feels like an oversight—and they would have to be able to stop the tunnel from collapsing in on them once they got under the school.”
When she put it like that, it didn’t seem far-fetched at all. I frowned. “But you don’t think that’s what’s going on?”
“Not now that I’ve said it out loud. The attacks have been too clumsy for that. Amateur even.”
“And you know what professional magical sabotage looks like?” I nudged her with my elbow.
She grinned at me. “I actually pay attention in class, thank you very much.”
“Fair enough. Speaking of which, we better go.”
Apart from the tension in the hallways and classroom—which had become a constant—the day progressed as usual until lunch. Three times, I caught Sonja staring at my group, and all three times she looked away again as soon as she saw me looking. But it wasn’t me she was looking at. She’d been eyeballing Xero, which put my hackles all the way up. The man himself didn’t seem to notice, which was a blessing. He already felt like an outsider around here. I didn’t want him to know she was singling him out again.
After lunch, I broke off from the others to head to my next class. As I was walking alone down the hallway, I heard her voice around the corner. Her voice was low, almost secretive. She sounded like she was in mid-lecture, and I wanted to hear what she was saying. Knowing she’d stop talking as soon as she saw me, I shifted into a different face and sauntered around the corner like I wasn’t eavesdropping.
“He doesn’t even deserve to be here,” Sonja was saying. “How many people do you think h
e tortured when he was in the underworld? How much information do you think he’s slipping to Gavriel? He could’ve blown all of the school’s secrets already. I don’t know why they don’t just arrest him already. It’s obvious, right?”
“Yeah,” said one flunky.
“Totally.” Another nodded his head vigorously.
“I mean, if his past didn’t say it, his name sure does. He’s a big fat Xero,” a third student snickered.
I had to walk faster before I gave myself away. Fury rippled over me like red-hot electricity. I wiped my face and found it wet with tears. Xero had never been anything but kind to everyone in this fucking school. He was intelligent and sensitive and polite, and what were they even finding fault with, anyway? His trauma? Imagining his sweet soul locked into a rotten deal with Gavriel hurt my heart.
I did my best to focus for the rest of the day, but all I could think about was getting to Xero and proving to him that he wasn’t the monster everybody seemed to think he was. That he was loved, and lovable. I wanted him to know that he was seen for who he really was, at least by me.
The desire burned so hot in my chest I thought it would catch my tunic on fire. It was different from what I had felt for the others; sure, there was a sexual component to it, but that craving paled in comparison to the fierceness of my other emotions. I had never felt this strongly about anybody before in my life. It scared me.
It scared me so much that as soon as the last class of the day let out, I ran right toward the feeling at top speed, not stopping to think for even a second.
Chapter Twenty
I was vibrating with a kaleidoscope of emotions by the time I reached Xero’s door. Hannah and I were roommates, but not everyone here shared a room with someone else, and I knew the fire demon had a space of his own. At the moment, it seemed like just another the way the school had tried to isolate him from others.
He opened it before I could even knock, apparently feeling my presence. I wondered if they could all feel me that way—if they could feel one another. Then I stopped wondering anything, because I was in his arms and my mouth was on his, giving as much as I took, pouring myself out to try to heal his hurts the only way I knew how.