Payne gave me a tight smile. “Are you settling in with the shadow cadets all right?”
“It’s fine.”
“Good.” He cleared his throat, and there was an awkward silence.
Madam Mariana broke it with a deep sigh. She steered us from the room and closed the door on us.
Time was up, I guess.
“How can this happen?” Harmon said softly. “How can they not know anything?”
Shit happened, though. It happened all the time, and sometimes there was no rhyme or reason to it, and the only thing that kept us going was hope.
“You heard what Madam said. Maybe seeing you will jog something. Just because she can’t remember now doesn’t mean she won’t.”
“Yeah.” Harmon smiled, but it didn’t touch his eyes. “I never thought I’d say this, but you’re right.”
I snorted. “I never thought you’d stand up for me, but you did.”
He ducked his head. “Yeah, well, Mal’s a wanker.”
Nah, it was more than that. It was about Harmon being a decent guy, despite his dickhead player façade.
“It’ll be okay.” I patted his taut bicep.
“Yeah. It will.”
We parted ways, and I headed to Minnie’s dorms. I’d said what I needed to make him feel better, but the whole virus shtick felt wrong. I mean, how did that explain the blood we’d found or the fact that Lottie’s shoe had been discovered in the gardens and her body in the hothouse?
* * *
Minnie greeted me with a hug and then yanked me into her room. The familiar scent of her raspberry shampoo hit me. The room looked different. My side anyway. Bed stripped. Books gone. Dead.
“Bloody hell, did you hear?” she said.
I focused on her eager face. “Huh?”
“About Lottie.”
“Yeah. I was just at the med bay with Harmon.”
She blinked up at me in surprise. “You and Harmon are hanging out now?”
Were we? “No. Yes. I mean the cadet thing means we kinda have to.”
“And how is that going?” She flopped down on her bed and crossed her legs in the familiar let’s gossip pose.
“Um … good.”
“That’s it?”
What could I tell her without breaking the oath? Not much. “I can’t really talk about it.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I figured.” She gnawed on her bottom lip. “But are you okay? I mean, how is your room, and the other guys … Are they accepting you?”
“There’ve been a few issues, but your brother was actually nice to me.”
She mock gasped and clutched her chest. “No! Lloyd?” Then she grinned. “He can be an ass, but he’s not an idiot. If you have the mark, then you’re one of them. He’ll treat you with respect.”
“What about you? How’s the studying going?”
“Urgh. I have literally spent every spare moment in my library nook. I have it all set up for study. Books and notepad and pens, and so far, no one has touched my stuff.” Her expression sobered. “What about you. You have a test coming up too, right?”
She must know some stuff from Lloyd’s first year. “Yeah. In three weeks.”
“I remember Lloyd was super tense before that one. I figured it wasn’t a written test.”
“No. No, it isn’t.”
We lapsed into silence for several long beats.
She blew out a breath. “I fucking hate that there’s this whole part of your life I’ll know nothing about now.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Did it? “We have shit loads of other stuff to bond over.” Didn’t we?
“Yeah, course we do.” She smiled weakly.
Two days … it had barely been two days, and we were already lapsing into uncomfortable silences.
“Ooo.” Minnie bounced on the bed. “Did you hear about Oberon?”
“No.”
“He’s gone. His family sent for him. Rumor has it his mother wasn’t entirely faithful, and Oberon isn’t a Hyde by blood. It’s super rare for a Hyde not to get the mark, so I guess that’s what tipped them off. In fact.” She frowned in thought. “I can’t recall a Hyde who’s been sent to the Academy that hasn’t ended up with the mark. They didn’t all take up the shadow knight mantle back then, of course, but they got marked.”
“Yeah, no conscription back then.”
“Yeah.”
We fell into silence again, but then the shrill ring of a bell had us both jumping, and a voice filled the room. My gaze shot up to the speaker fitted high up on the wall. An old Tannoy system.
“All students, please return to your dorm rooms immediately,” Brunner said. “All students, please return to your dorm rooms immediately. This is not a drill.”
I headed for the door, and Minnie made to follow me out.
I gently pushed her back into her room. “No, stay here. You heard what Brunner said. I’ll see you later if possible. If not, I’ll catch you at lunch tomorrow.”
She looked like she wanted to argue, but Brunner’s voice blasted through the Tannoy again. “All students, head back to your dorm rooms immediately, this is not a drill.”
“Urgh. Fine. Be careful,” she said.
I nodded and headed out into the dimly lit corridors.
* * *
Ten first-years and thirty second-years were squished together in the lounge, which felt way too small. Lloyd and his troop had congregated by the kitchenette; the rest of the second-years had claimed the available seating, leaving us newbies clustered by the door.
Larkin slipped between us, tail switching, eyes scanning each face. Finally, he leapt onto the table and stood, legs shoulder-width apart and arms crossed over his chest. He was dressed in a maroon velvet waistcoat, cream shirt, and black cargo pants today. It was an odd combination, but he made it work with his undaunting confidence.
“All accounted for,” he said. “Two troops are at the barracks. Good. Good. You’re probably wondering why the urgency? Another student went missing an hour ago. However, I received word ten minutes ago that he’s been found safe and sound and is now in the med bay.”
The room erupted with variations of the same question—was this the same as the Lottie incident?
“Hush!” He held up his hands for quiet. “Yes. Yes. Memory loss. Yes, they are investigating, and even though no one asked, yes there is now a two a.m. curfew for all cadets, shadow and Nightwatch. Unless you are on barracks duty, you will be in your dorms by two a.m., no exceptions.”
“What about the boy?” someone asked. “What’s doing this?”
“Not our problem.” Master Hyde entered the room, bringing his citrus fresh scent with him.
Do not inhale too deeply. Too late. Shit, he smelled good.
“Our focus must remain on the mist,” Hyde said. “Newbies, you need to focus on preparing for your first trial.” His gaze skimmed my face before moving on. “Leave the investigation of these incidents to the administration.”
“They think it might be a virus,” Harmon blurted out.
All eyes were on him now.
He shrugged. “Fomorian.”
Larkin frowned. “Who told you that?”
“Madam Mariana mentioned it to Justice and me earlier.”
Hyde looked from me to Harmon. I tried to catch his eye, but his gaze slipped away.
“An Otherworld virus.” Larkin tapped his chin with a claw. “Ingenious.”
“Bullshit.”
I looked to the back of the room at the speaker.
Carlo shrugged. “If they wanted to take us out, they’d target the shadow cadets first. Make us sick and stop us patrolling. Why target Nightwatch cadets?”
He had a point.
“It isn’t our problem,” Master Hyde reiterated. “We have a job to do, and we need to focus on that. If shadow cadets start losing their memories, then we’ll reassess. Until then, it’s business as usual.”
God, he could be cold.
Harmon muttered something under his
breath that I didn’t quite catch.
Master Hyde strode out of the room, and Larkin clapped his paws together. “As you were, cadets. As you were. Make sure to check your rotation for the next two weeks.” He leapt off the table and vanished.
“This is bullshit,” Harmon said. “We need to know how this student lost his memory, where he was found, and if he was hurt.”
He was right. There wasn’t nearly enough information. “I don’t think it’s a virus.”
“Me either,” Thomas said. “A virus doesn’t explain why Lottie’s shoe was found one place and her body in the other. It doesn’t explain the blood and the signs of struggle.”
I agreed with all of this. “We can pop to med bay tomorrow and speak to the nurse. Find out what happened to the second victim.”
The guys nodded.
The lounge was emptying out, but Lloyd loitered.
“Hey, Justice,” he called out.
I looked over. “You and your friends are on barracks one duty with us next week.” He jerked his head toward the notice board on the other side of the room. A white sheet of paper was pinned to it. “Rota is up.” He followed his troop out of the lounge.
“We better get some rest,” Thomas said. “Only thirteen days until the trial.”
He and Harmon left for bed, and I headed out of the lounge toward the master quarters.
Although nightbloods didn’t need as much sleep as regular supernaturals, I’d always reveled in it. Besides, being awake during the day while everyone else slept didn’t appeal. The extra sleep would come in handy because I had a one-on-one session with Hyde at sunset, and for some reason, I was eager to impress.
Nineteen
Oomf. I body-slammed the ground for the fifth time.
“Up,” Hyde ordered.
Shit. I shook myself off and leapt to my feet, fists up, ready to defend.
“No.” He shook his head. “Attack.”
Fuck. I lunged. He blocked and then slammed a palm into my chest, sending me flying backward in some kind of move from a martial arts movie. Damn, any minute now, he’d leap up and start running in the air or something.
I rubbed my breastbone, shooting him a disgruntled glare and earning a slight smirk in response.
The fucker was enjoying this.
Losing was not in my nature. It wasn’t in my DNA, and it wasn’t happening today.
Not a competition.
Training.
Fuck you, inner voice of reason.
He hadn’t been kidding about not holding back. Dried blood coated the back of my hands and crusted my lips from where he’d landed a punch to my face. Thank God I healed fast, but damn, it had hurt. Twenty minutes of being thrown around was starting to bruise my ego.
We’d met at sundown. No breakfast or shower yet. Official training started in two hours, and I hadn’t succeeded in landing a hit yet.
Yeah, he wasn’t messing about, and now he was studying me with his head canted to the side.
“You fight with passion,” he said. “But you’re rash in your moves. You’ve been lucky with your opponents thus far.”
“Thus far? Who says thus far?”
He shrugged while I reveled in the sting of his words.
“I’ve fought some hardcore fighters.”
“A-huh.” He smirked. “In the pits?”
“Yes, in the pits. It’s brutal in there.” I sniffed. “Not like you’d know, Hyde. Legacy feybloods have it easy.”
The smirk vanished. “You think so? You think being a Hyde means I had it easy?” His eyes were chips of flint in his face. “Being a Hyde comes with expectations, and we’re trained hard from infancy to ensure we meet those expectations.”
“Aw, did you have a tutor come to your house?” I fluttered my lashes, mouth turned down. “Must have been sooo hard for you.”
“And yet you haven’t been able to knock me down once.”
I threw up my hands. “I’m not an arrogant idiot. You’re a fucking shadow knight. I mean, how long have you been doing this? Nine, ten years?”
“Six,” he said. “And three of them have been as a tutor.”
What? “Wait … How old are you?”
“Twenty-five.” He looked away. “I graduated at nineteen and served for three years before …. Before taking the tutor role.”
“Nineteen? Wait, you were Trial Master. How can a nineteen-year-old be Trial Master?”
His eyes narrowed. “You want to know my story? I’ll make you a deal. Knock me down, and I’ll answer your questions.”
Adrenaline rushed through my limbs. Now that was motivation. “Deal.”
He fell into a defensive stance. “This is the trial, and I’m a hound. Take me out, Justice.”
He charged.
I spun and dodged his attack. He was a tank, but he was also light on his feet. A lethal combination. It didn’t take him long to be on my tail again, and fuck, I was running from him in blur speed. I doubled back to get behind him and deliver a kick to his back that should have sent him sprawling but simply knocked him forward several paces. And then he was spinning to face me, arm shooting out to snag me out of the air as I attempted to blur past him. I went down but rolled away before he could pin me. His hand almost snagged my ankle, and there was only one thought in my mind as I ran for the shadows. I needed to get away, to put some distance between us.
A tingle ran through my body, and then the world went black. Moonlight bloomed, and I was back. But not in the training arena. I was standing outside the hothouse under a rapidly rising moon.
What the fuck had just happened?
* * *
Master Hyde was standing, arms loose at his sides, staring at the spot I’d run at with a dazed expression when I got back to the training arena.
He turned to face me. “Where did you go?” His tone was wary.
“I … I came out at the hothouse. I mean … everything went black, and then I was just … there.”
He walked slowly toward me as if approaching a skittish animal. My pulse sped up as he got closer. His sweat mingled with the citrus scent to create an aroma that was pure sex. It washed over me, soothing the panic at what had just happened and replacing it with the distracting heat of desire.
I took a step back and clenched my fists. Fuck, I did not trust myself to jump him right now.
He came to a halt a few feet away. “Have you been able to do that before?”
“What? No.” My voice came out thicker. Shit, Justice. Focus on the weird teleport thing. God. “I don’t even know what that was.”
He rubbed his bottom lip with his index finger, drawing my eyes to his mouth. “Your genesis isn’t exactly a conventional one. Leave it with me. In the meantime, keep your newfound ability to yourself.”
“Why?”
“Trust me, being special can often end up biting you in the ass. You’ve got enough on your plate right now as it is.”
His tone was reflective, the gruff edges somewhat softened.
“You sound like you speak from experience.”
“You don’t get to be Trial Master at the age of twenty without special skills.”
Okay, now I was even more intrigued. “What kind of special skills?”
There was an amused twinkle in his eyes now, and oh, God, was that a slight smile to accompany it? My heart beat a little faster, and heat bloomed in my chest and up over my collarbones.
“Uh-uh.” He wagged a finger at me. “You need to knock me down before I reveal my secrets.” He grabbed his sword holster off the ground and strapped it to his slender hips.
His biceps flexed through the thin material of his shirt as he worked, and I took a moment to appreciate his form. The deep V of his shirt offered a glimpse of his hard pectorals and molded to his body like a second skin, lovingly caressing his eight-pack.
“Justice?” His baritone teased my senses.
I snapped my attention to his face, need brimming in my eyes. He sucked in a breath as our gazes collide
d. His lips parted, and his eyes churned with an indecipherable emotion.
We remained locked like that for long seconds in which every ounce of my will urged me to bridge the gap between us. To touch him. To taste him, and the way he was looking at me screamed that he wanted it too.
He broke eye contact first, his jaw hardening. “Go grab a shower and some breakfast. Official training starts in an hour.”
Twenty
A five-minute shower and I was hovering outside the Nightwatch dining room. The clink of cutlery and the hum of conversation swelled to fill the large space. I’d barely had a chance to speak to Minnie last night. If I could grab a half hour now …
I spotted her when a tinkling laugh drew my attention across the crowded room.
Harper Bourne—golden-haired, bubble-gum-lipsticked Harper.
Laughing.
And sitting opposite her, with her back to me, was Minnie. Minnie must have said something funny because Harper laughed again, eyes twinkling. A hot needle stabbed at my chest, and my breath caught.
Damn.
Is this how Harper felt when she’d seen me and Minnie together?
It was at that moment that Harper glanced up. Her gaze locked with mine. I raised a hand in greeting, but she was already looking away, back to Minnie—smiling and nodding and continuing the conversation as if I wasn’t even there.
And maybe I wasn’t. Maybe I shouldn’t be.
I was a shadow cadet now. I couldn’t be there for Minnie, not like Harper could.
I turned and walked out of the dining room.
I had training to go to.
* * *
Despite my best intentions, I found myself swinging by the med bay. Maybe I could get some info on the second victim? Maybe I just needed a mental distraction. I stepped onto the foyer and peered into the quarantine room. Lottie wasn’t alone; a young man was sitting up in the bed beside her, and they were deep in conversation. He wasn’t anyone I recognized, though.
Maybe Master Payne would have some answers. I went to knock on the lab door, but voices stalled me—male and female.
Shadow Caster: The Nightwatch Academy book 1 Page 13