He shook his head. “I don’t think that.”
She pointed to those behind him. “No, but they do. It’s crazy. Stupid, but kind of flattering.”
Before she could even think about what she was going to say next, Benedict grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room.
“What the hell are you thinking?” he hissed as he dragged her down the hall.
She pulled her arm free. “I’m sticking up for myself, something you’re clearly not doing. How the hell am I a goddamn spy, Benedict? Who would I be a spy for?” It was then that she realised no one had actually answered that question. Who did they think was going to spy on them? The protesters, maybe?
He raked a hand through his thick, brown hair and ran it over his face to his beard. “How did you even know they thought that?” His eyes shot to her. “Thornton?”
Thornton knew? That hurt; that hurt big. Why hadn’t he said anything?
She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, actually. Your Angel friend told me.”
His eyes widened in shock. “Azrael? You spoke to Azrael?” She had no idea why it warranted that kind of reaction.
“Yeah, and I don’t even know the guy, but he told me more than you did.” She jabbed him in the chest with her finger. Now, he looked pissed.
“Don’t do that again,” he warned, and it was a warning she received loud and clear.
“Okay, my bad,” she whispered quickly. “But a spy? Really? Are they serious?”
He pressed his lips together, hand on his hips, and not looking at her. “How did you know where we were? Did Azrael tell you that, too?”
Now her eyes widened. “You believe them? You actually believe them?” She didn’t even try to hide the shock and hurt in her voice.
“Tell me; how did you know where we were?”
There was no way in hell she was going to tell him about the voices in her head.
“I got lost,” she lied. “I got lost and I was trying to find my way back to my room when I heard you talking. I mean, honestly, if it was such a secret conversation maybe, you should have locked the door.”
He stared down at her, his eyes boring into hers. Finally, he pulled away, breaking his intense eye contact.
“You would have thought shutting the door would have been fine, but okay.” His hand went to his beard. “I’m sorry. Everyone’s just on edge, especially after today.”
She stayed silent.
“Go back to your room. We’ll leave first thing in the morning, make sure you’re ready.”
She bit the inside of her cheek, not even giving him any indication that she had heard him.
Instead, she turned away, heading back to her room.
“Jaycen!” She looked over her shoulder at Benedict. “Don’t worry about this. Okay?”
“Okay.” Then, she headed to her room, not knowing who she could trust, and not wanting to trust anyone.
Chapter 16
Jaycen closed her revision book just as they pulled through the school gates. Even with everything going on, she still wanted to pass her upcoming test. It was just after lunch and students were still outside.
“I’ve been speaking to Drake; he tells me you’re helping to teach the younger years? That’s a big step, Thornton.” Benedict pulled into the parking space. Jaycen was ready and opening the door before the car had even stopped.
“Yeah.” Thornton shot her a weird look as she shuffled forward on the seat towards the door, wanting to get out of there as soon as she could. She had spent most of the car journey in silence. They had tried to make conversation a few times but gave up when she kept answering with one-word answers. In the end, she buried her head in her revision.
“It’s not hard, though, I’m just teaching them the basics and it’s all after class, so it doesn’t interfere with my own studies.” He got out of the car before reaching back in, grabbing Jaycen’s bag before she could reach it.
“I got it,” she mumbled, her eyes downcast on the car seat, refusing to look up, and meet his gaze.
“Hey.” He leant into the car, leaning on the back seat, and waiting until she looked up before he continued, “What’s up?”
“Nothing.” Her answer was quick, too quick. He narrowed his eyes at her.
“Are you going to give me my bag back or are you just going to keep on holding it?” After another moment, he let go, and Jaycen was standing up, throwing her bag over her shoulder, and heading off to her dorm.
How could he not have told her what everyone had thought? How could he not have told her what they were all saying? Rumours were one thing—she’d been dealing with nasty rumours her whole life. But an entire government thinking she was a spy… She snorted at the thought; it was even crazy to think about it. Why hadn’t he told her?
“Jaycen,” Benedict called after her. She didn’t stop walking, just turned around, and slowly walked backwards. “I’m busy today, but first thing tomorrow morning come to my office. We need to talk.”
It wasn’t a request. “Tomorrow’s Saturday.”
“Tomorrow, Jaycen. First thing.” He shut the car door and walked away. Thornton was still standing there, watching the exchange, his expression curious.
Jaycen turned back around and picked up her pace. Clearly, Thornton didn’t know that she knew about the spy theory. She wasn’t going to tell him either, just like he wasn’t going to tell her.
She’d nearly made it to her dorm when her phone buzzed. She pulled it out, smiling when she saw Gemma’s name and a text message that read: Hey, when you back?
Instead of replying, she changed her direction and was knocking on Gemma’s door a minute later. It took a second, but Gemma answered the door, her eyes widening when she saw Jaycen.
“Hey, I just texted you.”
“They think I’m a spy and I’m worried they’ll put me in a magical prison or something.” The outburst shocked them both, the words falling out of Jaycen’s mouth like vomit.
Gemma just stared back at her, mouth slightly agape as she processed what Jaycen said, and then she replied, “What?”
Jaycen walked into the room and started pacing as she unloaded everything. From the moment she first saw the attackers in the alley to the last attack at the Cure. Gemma sat on the end of her bed, silently listening. Her eyes widened now and then when Jaycen tried to describe the fighting. When she had finished telling her everything she sat down on the floor, breathing heavy.
“So, what do I do?”
“They think you’re a spy?” Gemma asked carefully.
Jaycen nodded.
“But Benedict and Azrael don’t?”
“That’s what they said, yeah.”
Gemma shrugged. “Then, don’t sweat it. I mean, you’re clearly not a spy. They have no evidence that you are. You have two of the most powerful people on your side. I mean, you actually met Azrael, the Azrael. That’s crazy and huge.”
That was very true; Jaycen thought, the weight lifting off her shoulders the more Gemma spoke.
“He’s scary as hell,” she shared, involuntarily shuddering at the memory. He hadn’t even been trying to be scary. “But he gave me some good advice about magic and stuff.”
“What did he say?” Gemma leant forward, resting her chin on her hand, and her elbow on her knee. Her expression was almost wistful.
“Just that I was over thinking stuff and that I needed to let the power flow.” Saying it out loud again didn’t help her understand it any better. Think about it, but then don’t think about it. Yeah, that didn’t make sense.
“You’re so goddamn lucky that you got to meet him. My mom swears she saw him on a train once, but my dad said she was seeing things because someone like him wouldn’t use public transport.”
Yeah, Jaycen couldn’t imagine him on a train either. Before she could tell Gemma that, Gemma spoke again. “I do get what he means about not over thinking though. That’s why we have so many active classes. If you were just sitting in a classroom all the time you
’d only be focused on that, but if you’re running and using magic, you’ll concentrate more on the running. Does that make sense?”
It actually did make sense. Because apart from moving a book, which she had gotten pretty good at, every other time she had used magic she’d been running, or under attack. Her body had been taking over, only stopping when she tried to think about it. “That actually makes perfect sense.”
“I have an idea.” Gemma stood, motioning to the door. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“The school gym; we should try this out.”
Now, Jaycen was excited. She let Gemma lead the way into the courtyard and to the gymnasium, mainly because she didn’t know the way. The campus was now empty apart from a few college students who were still milling around.
Gemma opened the two main doors to the gym and entered a corridor. Jaycen could hear a class that was currently underway in one of the rooms. Gemma peered through the windows in each of the doors, stopping at one at the very end of hall.
“There will be a class in the main gym, but we should be okay in here.” She opened the door, letting Jaycen enter first. The room was a lot bigger than Jaycen had thought. The middle was covered in blue mats, the outside left empty but the walls covered with weapons. Not just pictures of weapons, but actual weapons capable of inflicting some serious pain.
“I’m going to quickly get changed; try not to touch anything, okay?” Gemma disappeared into a small room just off the main one, leaving Jaycen to take in the weapons on the walls. One wall was covered in spears, large silver heads sitting on long black sticks lined up like they were ready for an army to come marching through any minute. Another was covered in swords, dozens of them. All different shapes and sizes, some more decorative while others just looked ready for blood.
“How are these allowed to be at a school?” Unguarded and not protected? She traced her finger over the edge of a blade, wincing and pulling back her hand as blood dripped down her finger. Damn, they were sharp.
“Only the older students are allowed in here,” Gemma called from the other room, then Jaycen could have sworn she heard a, “This is a lot heavier than it looks.”
What was Gemma doing in there?
“Still, an older student could go loco, get angry at a teacher, come in here, and have their choice of weapon.” She shook her head. “Who would stop them?”
“Anyone with magic,” Gemma called out. Well, she had Jaycen there.
Jaycen heard a shuffling like someone was dragging a bag, and the noise was coming from the room that Gemma had just gone into.
“Gemma, what are you doi…” She saw the shadow first, a shadow of a large figure slowly making their way into the doorway.
“This is a workout all by itself,” Gemma huffed, shuffling forward, and taking very small, baby steps. Then, Jaycen burst out laughing. Gemma was wearing what could only be described as a sumo wrestler costume. The whole suit was padded, and an odd beige colour. It was so big and made Gemma’s head look so small.
“What the hell is that?” Jaycen burst out laughing, covering her mouth with her hand, unable to stop.
“Yeah, yeah, get it all out.” Gemma stood there trying to cross her arms but unable to, which just set Jaycen off again. The only part of Gemma that she could see was her small, bare feet, hands, and head.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Jaycen wiped her now streaming eyes, her shoulders still shaking with laughter. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”
“This is the training gear for the third years.” She lifted her leg as much as she could, which really wasn’t that far off the ground. Again, Jaycen laughed.
“Train? In that? You can barely walk.” Jaycen walked closer, lightly kicking the side of the suit.
“I can’t feel a thing,” Gemma said, a little smug.
“You also can’t walk,” Jaycen stated simply, her laughter finally dying down.
“I’m not going to be running along with you. I’ve been in one of these classes before. You start with something like, I don’t know, gymnastics, martial arts, running. Then, try and use some magic on me.”
Jaycen stared at her friend, blinking slowly. “First of all, do I look like the gymnastic type? Second, why can’t we start trying magic on something that isn’t a person?”
Gemma grinned and patted the place where her stomach would be under the enormous suit. “That’s what this is for, silly. If I say, open the door, you’ll start thinking about it right off the bat. If I jump on you at some point, then you’ll just have to react.”
Jaycen shook her head. “This is a bad idea.”
“You have very little faith.” Gemma motioned with her head in the direction of the open area. “Go and do something, then when you least expect it I’ll jump on you.”
“This really isn’t going to end well.” Jaycen took off her shoes and started running around the room. It didn’t take long for her to start sweating. Goddamn she was out of shape.
“How long do I have to run for?” she panted as she crossed paths with Gemma who was just leaning against the wall watching her. “Because I am not sure I can keep this up.”
“Yeah, me and you are both going to start sweating soon.” She pulled the neck of her suit. “And besides, I can’t tell you when I’m going to jump you. It needs to be unexpected.”
“Well, the unexpected should hurry up, because I’m going to stop soon.” She made another lap of the room, passing Gemma again.
Her back was to the door, so she didn’t see it open. She just heard the male voice boom, “What are you doing in here?”
She turned just as a beige blob of material jumped at her.
“Attack!” Gemma screamed, launching herself as much as she could into the air. Jaycen fell back, her hands lifting and sending Gemma flying back; Jaycen’s heart stopped when she saw the wall that Gemma was about to hit. The wall full of swords.
“No!” she screamed. What happened next happened so fast she wasn’t even sure what had happened until Gemma came flying back at her, landing hard on top of her.
“Oh my god, are you okay? How did I get on top of you?” Gemma wiggled, unable to get up. “Oh god, I’m like a turtle right now.”
Jaycen couldn’t answer; she could barely breathe as the plastic material pressed into her face.
“What is happening here?” the male voice boomed again, and Gemma’s weight was lifted off her as someone rolled her off.
Drake stood over them both, his face furious. “What the hell are the two of you playing at?”
“We’re training.” Jaycen sat up, coughing. “We just didn’t think about all the weapons here.”
Actually, when she really thought about it, the room was a terrible place to practice in. They probably should have thought about it a little more, but in her defence Jaycen had no idea how she was going to react.
“That wasn’t training. That was two amateurs playing. Either of you could have been injured in here; neither of you have any idea how any of these weapons work or how dangerous they are.”
Jaycen smirked. “I think we know how swords and daggers work.”
If Jaycen thought he was furious before, it was nothing to look of pure outrage that he showed now. Oops.
“Get up,” he ordered, moving away to one of the walls while Jaycen helped Gemma get to her feet.
“That was amazing,” Gemma laughed once she was up. “You pushed me away so quickly and then pulled me back again. How amazing is that? You did it so fast.”
“You could have been really hurt.” Jaycen winced, hating to admit it, but Drake had been right.
“Yeah, that might be true. Also, I could have smothered you if he wasn’t here to lift me off.”
Gemma hit Jaycen on the arm. “But, big bonus, you did amazing.”
“Excuse me—Gemma, is it?”
They both turned to Drake who stood at the side of the room.
“Erm, yes, sir.” Gemma nervously smiled.
“Please, step aside.” He picked two large spears off the wall and turned to Jaycen.
Jaycen gulped as Gemma practically ran to the other side of the room, leaving her very alone in the middle.
“You say you know how this works.” He held one long spear out to her, the sharp tip inches from her face. “Show me.”
Oh no. “Well, I know how it works,” she started, taking a step back, “I just wouldn’t know how to actually use it.”
Now, he smiled, still holding out the spear. “So, you’re saying you’re backing down.”
“I didn’t say that,” she shot back, the words coming out quicker than her brain could process what she was saying.
“Good. Take the spear, your point first.” He stepped away and got in a defence position, his spear held just away from his body.
Your point first? What the hell did that mean?
“Ready?” he barked.
Oh god, she was in trouble. Still just standing there, holding the spear that was a lot heavier than it looked. “Yes?”
He started to circle her, holding the spear across his body, his eyes not leaving her.
He really wasn’t messing around.
“Hit me, Jaycen,” he commanded. She shuffled on the spot, worried that as soon as she took her eyes off him he’d lunge at her.
“What if I hurt you?” They already thought she was a spy; how would she explain stabbing a teacher with a spear?
He chuckled. “Don’t think; just go for it.”
She twisted the spear, so the head was at least facing him. He carried on circling her, but she stopped following him. She waited until she knew he was behind her. She jabbed her spear backwards, feeling him deflect it, then the wood of his spear hit the back of her leg, sweeping them from under her. She hit the mat hard.
“Point one for me. Get up.”
She got to her feet, her eyes connecting with Gemma who looked completely petrified, still standing there in her sumo suit.
“Ready.” It wasn’t a question as he lunged at her again, turning the spear, and hitting her hard in the stomach with the blunt end.
“Oof.” She bent over winded. Drake didn’t stop there as he hit her again on her back, making her drop to her knees as she gasped for breath.
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