“Some neurotransmitter thing,” Ren rushed to say, likely feeling Knightley’s hot breath on his face. “Mom had it in her office. She said you probably had some beast in here.”
I inhaled a sharp breath. Neurotransmitter zappers? She’d probably gotten them from Bateson’s and Griswold’s research materials. What a hypocrite.
“She sent you here?”
“I would’ve come even if she didn’t want me to.” He pushed up at the vines and growled when he found no room to move.
“Sure you would.” Sissy mama’s boy.
“That neala is mine. It should be mine.”
“That makes no sense.”
He smirked, his face contorted as he had to crane up to look at me. “It was my father’s. He should have given it to me.”
I shook my head. “No, he still has his. This is my mother’s. Now mine.”
“They belong to a loyal elven family! Not you! Not a traitor like him.”
How am I a freaking traitor?
I scoffed. “You can’t even use it. You’re not a Pure.” Then again, I knew he’d use it—as a bait or form of leverage with another Pure. Like Aura.
“They belong to my family.”
Through marriage? I think not.
“I’m going to let you up. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Screw you.”
I ordered the vines to tighten around his wrists.
“Fine,” he said at the increase of pressure in the bindings.
I called off the vines. He brushed off his knees as he stood. Glaring at me, he snarled, “I’ll give you one last chance. Give. Me. The. Neala.”
I smirked. “You think you have the upper hand here?”
He lunged at me, a blade of some sort in his hand.
I could’ve asked Knightley to protect me, but I didn’t want him to risk a cut. An injury much more likely since Ren couldn’t even see the grog. I dodged his clumsy attack, stepping to the side. Even still, I had been surprised and he nicked my arm with the knife. Before I could let my shock distract me, I spun around and kicked the weapon from his hand.
“Get out of here. And tell your mother if she tries to mess with me again, you’ll both be sorry.”
He leaned toward me, rubbing his hand. “Big words from a little loser.”
I was the loser? I crossed my arms. “Chase him home, Knight.”
Ren’s eyes widened and he patted at his pocket. I raised my hand and wiggled the remote control I’d snatched from him. Nope, he wasn’t blindly calling off or tazing my grog again tonight.
“Better run fast,” I said.
In a flurry, he turned around and fled and Knightley paused at the door.
I’d spoken the command to mess with the idiot, but I’d mentally ordered my pet to stay.
“One more month, buddy.” I crouched to the floor to pet him. Staring at the closed door, I tried to loosen the tightness in my jaw. “One more month and we’re out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I didn’t plan to tell Suthering about Glorian ordering Ren to break into my room and try to steal the neala. I imagined me kicking Ren’s butt and sending him running away like a coward told Glorian enough. The headmaster had plenty of burdens. I didn’t need to add mine. I did tell Sabine, though, and she’d of course gotten mad.
We’d just taken off for our “run.” Flynn was a sweetheart and told me he’d run some other time, giving me and Sabine this time to be sisters and catch up. Perhaps he thought we needed to shore up memories of each other and be kind of close for a while before she went off to her law enforcement academy.
It seemed like she’d never get the hang of anything more than a jog, though. This morning, after Ren’s weak try to get the neala, I set the pace of walking. If we were to have anything resembling a conversation, it had to be at walking. Jogging left her too breathless.
“So, you have one and Nevis has the other?” Sabine asked after I’d finished about Ren and Glorian wanting the stone. “How come I can’t have one?”
“Because you’re not a Pure.”
We gasped and turned around at the voice. This far into the woods, we should have been alone. Knightley hadn’t alerted me to anyone coming, nor did I hear footsteps cracking through the brush.
Nevis walked up to us. Behind him was Radius. They must have just touched the earth and Nevis must have told Knightley not to let me know they were near. Sneaky. Yet, I smiled. Then I blinked at the enormous harpy eagle ancient. Sneaky, but not small. How that huge thing landed among the trees… I’d never know.
“Hey,” I called out.
“Who’s he?”
“Our uncle,” I said.
Sabine gawked at him.
“Nevis, this is Sabine.”
He nodded and I almost felt stupid. Of course, he’d know who she was. He’d been eavesdropping long enough to know we’d been talking about the neala.
“Nice to meet you,” he said and offered his hand.
Weathered line, or maybe they were dormant laugh lines, bracketed his eyes as he smiled at us.
“Same, dude.” She shook her head and laughed once.
“What brings you to Olde Earth?” I asked.
“You.” He went to a fallen log and sat. Then he gestured at us to sit on a log parallel to him. “Got a minute?”
Sabine nodded and took a seat. “Sure.”
If he only wanted a minute of our time, I bet that was because he was in a hurry to leave. I didn’t blame him. I wanted to be away from campus and Glorian as well.
Still, I’d hear him out. I sat and raised my brows at him.
“I found your chrajana. The one you sent to find Stu.” He smiled and shook his head. “I don’t even want to know how you managed to steal one from Glorian. Those are her prize tools.”
“We had a crockey break one out.”
He downright grinned. “Well, I found it.”
I shared a frown with Sabine. “How?”
“It flew near one of my homes in Ireland and I was curious. I chased it down with Radius and ordered it to approach. Once I took the camera off, I traced the serial number and then saw that you had logged in to the live feed.”
Live feed that I knew Lorcan watched hawkishly.
“When did this happen?”
“Yesterday morning.”
Lor had probably been too preoccupied reading and cramming and hadn’t checked the footage yet.
“We hadn’t seen anything recorded yet. No sign of Stu,” Sabine said.
He nodded. “My fault, perhaps. I sent the chrajana back out and followed it. Stu wasn’t far. He was living in a hostel. Quite far off the beaten path.”
We found him!
“If I hadn’t intercepted the chrajana, I’m sure he would have led you to him that day.”
“Perfect!” Sabine slapped her hand to her knee.
“How?”
I frowned at Nevis’s question.
Sabine cleared her throat. “Well, uh, I know you don’t like Olde Earth and left and all. Maybe you’re not aware, but Stu’s been—”
Nevis held up his hand to cut her off. “I know. I’m aware of it all. Suthering and I might not be colleagues at the moment, but I’ve always kept in touch with him. He may not have told you that he’s still in contact with me. I asked him not to let Glorian find out.”
“Oh. Right. So, then you know how bad Stu is. And now we know where he is.” Sabine smiled.
“Which means you’ll do what, exactly?” Nevis watched us calmly. He was a stranger in so many ways except for in title. His neutral yet commanding words brokered the manner of parental authority.
What would we do? Well, we can…
All right, so no one had planned that far ahead yet.
“Tell Suthering. And Wolf and Marcy,” I said.
“All of whom are still wrapping up the rest of this school year here. Plus, protecting and caring for the new longmas.”
Sabine set her hand on her hip. “Are you sayin
g we should let him go?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. The chrajana will continue to follow him and you can track him. I have a suspicion that Griswold’s employers might have a bounty out for him.”
“Is Griswold still alive?” I asked.
“That, I don’t know.” Nevis stood. “But I can tell you that it’s risky and far too dangerous for you to go after Stuart on your own.”
“We’ve never done anything alone. We’re all in this together,” Sabine insisted.
“Still, Stuart is a player that might lead to bigger rewards.”
Like Griswold, I bet. I could see his logic even if I didn’t like it.
“You’re just beginning your lives. You have careers to begin and degrees to earn. I admire your determination and bravery to seek Stu, but please, refrain from looking for trouble.”
I laughed bitterly. “There’s never been a need to look for it. Not for me at least. I’ve got plenty of trouble here.”
Nevis frowned and gave me a once-over, like checking for injuries. “How so?”
“Oh, like your son coming after her like a cut-throat, trying to steal her neala from her in the middle of the night,” Sabine retorted.
“Ren? He did this?”
I nodded. “Glorian can be just as dangerous as any other. She’s obsessed with power.”
He barked a sound of irritation. “Why do you think I left?” He rubbed at his neck, frowning as he said, “And don’t let Ren ever hear you refer to me as his father. She…poisoned him against me since birth. There’s no love lost there.”
“Why the heck did you ever marry her then? If you don’t like her at all?”
I smacked Sabine for blurting out such a blunt and rude question.
“Well?” she insisted.
“She sought me for my power,” he said.
I nodded. Made sense.
“She was…sweet, at first.”
“Duped you, huh?” Sabine asked.
I rolled my eyes. Could she be a teeny bit considerate?
“Yes, very much so.” Nevis’s eyes held so much sorrow. I imagined his life was a lonely one. “After we married, she became different. Treated me like a business partner, not a spouse. We’d fought a lot about Anessa—she loathed her and her powers. When Ren was born, she nearly forbade me from parenting him. By the time I left the school, he despised me, learning from her attitude. I was never…‘grateful’ enough for my power.”
I nodded again. Exactly how she treated me. As an object of my power, not a person.
Radius cawed behind us and Nevis nodded. “Please, promise me you’ll refrain from going after Stu. There’s no way any of you could possibly leave the country and fly to Ireland now. Not when you’re so near graduation.”
We nodded.
“And trust me in this. Things won’t always be so…restrictive as they are now.” He winked and returned to Radius.
Is that some general phrase of wisdom, like we’d be free to do as we wish after no longer being mandated to go to school? Or something is already planned to happen?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Seeing Nevis again increased my excitement for the end of the school year. In the month and a half since he’d surprised me and Sabine in the woods, I was eager to join him and everyone else in the normal world, outside the gates around campus.
I felt so many similarities with him, despite seeing and interacting with him so little. Most of the time that I’d known of him was embroiled with prejudice that he was a bad guy. Someone who’d abandoned the school and his elven life. A traitor.
Having witnessed and experienced all that I had, I could only sympathize with the desire to be gone.
The only major thing left to complete for this year, as we were cramming for finals and wrapping up the end-of-the-year reports and projects at the end of April, was the monthly exam and assessment. The very last one I’d ever have to do.
Suthering assured me he’d handle my “guidance” meeting, not Glorian. And I knew that was the time he needed my answer. Whether or not I would enroll in an Olde Earth affiliated program or simply leave. Go off and live my own life on my own terms. It was a discussion I’d long debated, but I was ninety-nine percent sure of what I wanted to do. What my gut instinct told me to do.
I hadn’t told anyone yet, and I’d asked Flynn to a “date”, a picnic, to break the news to him first. As soon as this day of exams was over, I’d finally get it off my chest. I hoped I’d feel lighter for it.
Mr. Hagin’s Zoology exam was a piece of cake, finding a mouse he’d hidden in a maze—some supposed test of our knowledge about basic animal behavior. I’d just asked the meek thing to walk to me. Tada. Done. All the other courses passed by in a breeze as well. Maybe they were going easy on us since they knew we all had one foot out the door already.
The last final I had for the day was for Alwin’s advanced Botany course. We crowded around a statue in one of the ornamental gardens lining the Main Hall. Several smaller fountains were symmetrically positioned in the landscape. Most students stayed on the pea gravel of the paths, preserving the spring bulbs that had sprouted and blossomed. Insects flittered about and I drew in a deep breath, relishing the freshness of the season. Summer was just around the corner and I couldn’t wait.
“First will be Layla and Flynn.” Alwin checked his notebook he’d brought.
We glanced at each other and smiled. For as laidback as all the other classes were so far, we’d already been considered passing. This test was going to be nothing, probably. More than anything, it was funny that we’d been partnered.
He droned on, naming the rest of the partners, and I smirked when I heard Aura had been paired with Ren again. Even though he’d named us first, we were the last to go. Drizzle began to sprinkle our faces and we all watched as one by one, students identified different spring plants.
Piece. Of. Cake.
I started fidgeting in my step, impatient to be done with it already.
“Relax,” Flynn whispered in my ear.
I rolled my eyes at him and smiled.
“All right.” Alwin finally beckoned us forward. He glanced at his notebook as he gestured for us to come toward the ornamental garden bed fronting the largest of the fountain pools. A massive sculpture of Poseidon stood in the center of the stone basin, water trickling out from a fish’s mouth on his shoulder.
Alwin wiped at his brow, smearing away the light moisture from the hazy drizzle and told us to locate different reproductive parts on plants.
Flynn lowered his face, pointing to a specimen. He opened his mouth to speak, but Aura screamed from the sides.
Frowning, I raised my gaze from the plant Flynn was about to identify and then spied what had freaked out the only other Pure in the classroom.
“Oh…dammit!”
Flynn spun around, after narrowing his gaze at my expression and light profanity. He turned to see what freaked me out.
Like, maybe the umibaza that had risen up from the pool of water. Towering taller than Poseidon, the umibaza stretched higher and higher, his tentacled arms waving out and slapping to the rounded rim of the fountain’s edge.
“Okay. I’m so over having Pures in my class.” Alwin slid his glasses up his nose and sighed. “Layla? Aura?” He cleared his throat. “Flynn? What is it now?”
Before any of us could speak, it dove toward Flynn, who’d been standing in the garden bed before the fountain.
You slimy bast—
Flynn growled at it as it hoisted him from the ground.
“Lor!” I didn’t turn to find him back with the rest of the class. “Alwin. Lor. Tell Wolf. We need the oiled arrows.”
“The what?” Lor yelled back.
I watched as the sea beast hugged Flynn to him. He struggled, tossing and turning, trying to punch at the monster.
“It’s an umibaza!” I yelled back.
“Umi…” He sucked in a loud breath that I could hear over the sea monster’s sickening gurgles. “Oh,
crap. One of those things. I’m going, I’m going.”
We weren’t exactly near Wolf or the Menagerie. I wasn’t sure where else those oil-flamed arrows might be. Maybe the archery equipment cabin. But that wasn’t near either.
“Stop!” I pulled my neala from my necklace, making sure to grip both it and the hematite. I’d need all the help I could get. At least this time, I knew what I was facing.
I hadn’t felt the worry that niggled in my mind every time it rained. It was drizzling. More like a fog. And it still had enough water droplets to form together?
Of course, it didn’t listen to me. Well, I wasn’t alone. I called for Knightley and even for Arthur, even though I’d last seen him near the greenhouse. After I removed my leather band, I took a deep breath and crouched to the mulched garden bed. Pinching a leaf in between my thumb and forefinger, I drew contact from the plant. Green light glowed at my chest where I still held the stones. Vines whipped up and out, faster and faster, each snaking branch studded with many glossy curved thorns.
“Aura!” Alwin called out. “Can’t you help?
“I…I don’t…”
Screw you. Maybe it was a little mean of me to criticize her. I could hear the fear in her voice. An umibaza was a gruesome sight to bear.
Vines spiraled at the umibaza still holding Flynn in the air, slithering one of his many arms around his waist and shoulders.
“Do any of you have Aquine skills? Anyone?” Alwin asked. “Are any of you Diluted Aquine elves?”
I tuned him out and refused to let my concentration waver. More and more rose extensions shot out toward the struggling monster.
Hold on, Flynn. Hold on.
“Can any of you even see anything?” Alwin asked.
“Just Flynn levitating in the air and…choking, sir,” a classmate replied.
I glanced up at him, gasping for air and I set my teeth together. My grip on the stones along my necklace grew slippery.
Come on. I willed the roses to speed up and thicken into a binding force, but my hopes faltered when the vines simply cut through the umibaza’s flesh, slicing him into parts of splashes of water that fell to the fountain.
Victory: Year Four Page 18