That’s it? he complained.
“I’m sure you can have more later when you finish this.” I passed the meat back to Dawn, on my left.
“I found the wild mushrooms in the springtime,” Clay piped in while scooping rice onto his plate. “We dry them and use them up throughout the year.” He pursed his lips at Aspen, next to him. “But Aspen’s not around to help anymore since he’s off at wizard school.”
“The Borealis School of Magical Arts,” Aspen corrected.
“Yeah, wizard school.” Clay side-eyed Aspen.
Aspen lowered his brows at Clay in a half playful way, but something told me it was not entirely a joke. Still watching the two of them, I ripped Nine’s meat into small chunks, and before I’d even finished, he was already halfway done eating.
“Aspen is an excellent wizard, but the work you and your family do out here is amazing. Dawn said that you all hunt?” I directed the question to Clay to pull his attention off Aspen.
Clay puffed up, and in an instant, I knew my plan had worked. I stuffed a bite of meat into my mouth, and it basically melted. The juicy, savory flavors danced on my tongue. No wonder Nine scarfed it down so fast.
“Our family is from a long line of hunters and homesteaders.” He sliced his roast and ate it.
“And I might come back after graduation?” Aspen said.
“If there’s a graduation,” Clay muttered, his mouth full, and glanced at me briefly.
“Clay,” Aspen’s dad warned and leaned his elbows on the table.
Nervousness fluttered in my stomach. “What do you mean—if there’s a graduation?”
Clay placed his knife and fork down. “I’m sure you are a nice person, Josy. Aspen wouldn’t like you if you weren’t. But your being here is bringing this Morelli war a little too close for comfort. I’m sure Aspen’s told you already that our family doesn’t have strong magic in our blood, so the Directorate mostly leaves us alone out here in Tumbling Falls.”
“He’s just worried for his brother—that the Directorate might try to draft promising students to fight in the war,” Dawn added.
Clay swore under his breath and pushed away his food. “I’m worried for all of us.” He eyed his parents. “You should be, too.”
My stomach twisted into a knot, and the room went silent.
Nine finished up the last of his meat, and before he could even ask, I reached for the platter and used the fork to get him a second helping. I figured the less he talked, the better.
Chapter 4
The rest of lunch was mostly eaten in silence—small talk, if anything. After four slices of roasted elk, Nine excused himself and fell asleep on one of the living room couches in front of the fireplace.
For me, it was a choice between heading to my room or taking a walk outside. I chose my room since I didn’t know the area, and who knows who or what I might run into outside.
“Maybe you should just take me home.” I flopped on the bed, leaned my head into the fluffy pillow, and grabbed the photo of my parents. The thought of spending Christmas in the dorm felt pretty lonely, but I did have Merrygold, and I’m sure she’d like the company.
Aspen stepped in and closed the door behind him. “Clay is always like that, and it’s not you . . . it’s everyone who’s not from Tumbling Falls. He would have hated anyone I brought home for the holiday, half Morelli or not.”
“So now he hates me. Great.”
Aspen scoffed. “That’s just an expression. Clay doesn’t actually hate you.”
I let out a long, frustrated sigh. “I’m going to ruin your family’s Christmas.”
He walked to my side of the bed and sat on the edge while I kept my attention on the photo. “If it means anything, I want you here.”
I peeked around the photo at him and pressed my lips into a thin line. He rubbed at the back of his neck nervously, and a chocolate wave of hair curled onto his forehead from under his backward cap. The sight of him and his close proximity made my stomach whirl. I laid the photo aside, reached for the lock of hair, and ran my finger along it.
Aspen closed his eyes, savoring my touch. He leaned down to me and ran his hand under the back of my neck. He lifted me slightly and drew my lips to his. My entire body tingled with warmth and magic as I kissed him. When we did that, everything else in the world fell away and there was nothing but the two of us. I ran my hand over his warm back and drew him closer to me. Unfortunately, all Aspen and I had were stolen kisses since our relationship was a secret, but for now, I was fine with it.
All too soon, he eased back and smiled at me. The grin completely melted the rest of my heart, if it hadn’t been melted already.
“Fine, I’ll stay,” I said and rolled my eyes. “Stop being so convincing.”
There was a part of me that still feared the threat of the Morelli curse on us, but if Aspen’s ancestors were from The Other Side and not even witches and wizards by blood, then the curse would not affect them. I did my best to just put the curse out of my mind since, judging by the conversation at lunch, it was painfully obvious that my life would never be normal. On top of that, there was the vision where I’d felt my own last breath. I wanted so much to live in the now because the future was too painful.
With that in mind, I sat up and grabbed Aspen’s hand. “Let’s go for a walk. I want to see the place you grew up in.”
✽✽✽
Bundled in our school-issued wool coats, we slipped out the back door as Aspen’s parents’ muffled voices came from the kitchen. Clay had left immediately after lunch, and I could only hope that we didn’t run into him on our walk. He did live here too.
“Nine will be okay in the house by himself, right?” I asked.
Aspen chuckled. “Do you really think we are wild animals?”
“You were the one joking about your family eating him, and you were worried about him tagging along.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
He led me down a well-worn path running behind his house. “Yes, we hunt and occasionally shift to our wolf forms, but we don’t eat cats—even the non-talking variety. I’m sure that my ancestors might have, but stuff like that is generally frowned upon these days. Believe me, the people of Tumbling Falls are reclusive because it makes keeping our secrets easier, so we don’t do anything that might increase the chances of anyone figuring out what we are.”
Overhead a light wind blew through the treetops and the crisp, afternoon air nipped at the tops of my ears. I reached back and pulled my hood through my coat and over my head to block the chill. “Well, I think he’s going to spend most of the holiday napping anyway. Hopefully, that won’t get him into too much trouble.”
“And my parents cook up a lot of meat, so that should keep him happy.”
I chuckled. “Thankfully.”
A brownish-gray squirrel with a puffy tail skittered up a tree and disappeared into a small hole in the trunk. Our boots crunched over the path, and I studied the occasional lumps of packed snow on the forest floor mixed with pine needles and soil. The air was earthy yet fresh from the cold and all I wanted was Aspen’s arms around me, but again, we had no idea who might be around. We already had enough explaining to do.
“Tumbling Falls is a lot like the woods around the Academy. It’s no wonder you like Eagle’s Height so much.”
“Clay and I played out here pretty much every day when we were kids. Part of the reason I think he gets so upset is that my dad sent me to live in magic schools from the time I was about ten. So Clay lost his playmate for much of the year except summers and holidays.”
“And me being here ruined that, too.”
Aspen tightened his jaw. “Likely. But we’re not kids anymore, and Clay can’t expect things to stay the same.”
I peeked back the way we had come and figured that we were far enough from the house. Gingerly I took Aspen’s hand and intertwined my fingers with his. “We also have to figure this out. I know we can’t say much on campus, but we can’t keep everything about our
relationship a secret. If you truly are bound to me, your family has a right to know.”
Aspen stopped walking and brought his free hand to my cheek. He ran the tips of his fingers across my skin, and I leaned into his touch. How could I ever tell him about what I had seen in my vision? I didn’t even know if I should. It wasn’t fair to have to live based off a future that I didn’t even know would come true.
I stretched up on my toes to kiss him again but got no further than an inch when rustling came from our left. From the woods, a snarling giant gray wolf headed straight for us at full speed.
My heart dropped into my stomach, but I was ninety-nine percent sure this was not how I was going to die. Aspen pushed me to the side, and his body illuminated with a blue glow. In an instant, he had transformed into a black wolf and shot toward the gray one, teeth bared.
“Aspen!” My eyes widened, and on instinct, I threw my hands into the air. My hands burst with white light, and the magic propelled toward the gray beast and threw its body backward onto the forest floor in a heap.
Aspen slid to a stop and changed to his normal self.
In seconds, the gray wolf reverted to its human form—Clay. Just as when Aspen reshifted, Clay was fully clothed. He shook his head and leaped to his feet, seeming unharmed from the blast. “You told her! She knows about us!” His chest heaved and his hands balled into fists, still ready for a fight. He charged Aspen, but Aspen muttered a few Latin words and threw out a shield of blue magic, stopping his brother in his tracks.
“I’m not going to fight you over this, brother,” Aspen growled.
“There you go using magic to solve your problems, just like your Morelli girlfriend. You can’t do this. It’s risking everything we’ve built out here. You’re endangering all of Tumbling Falls.”
Aspen, his chest heaving for air, released the magic and glared at his brother. “Tumbling Falls is a beautiful place, but it’s our prison. Our people have done nothing but hide. We couldn’t continue living on The Other Side because we were hunted down—and here? We do the same thing. We live in hiding, fearful that our families will be found out and murdered.” He turned to me. “Josy is no different! The Directorate mistreated the Morelli ages ago, and now they are nothing but a scapegoat.”
“The Morelli declared war!” Clay growled.
“It’s more complicated than that,” I muttered.
Clay narrowed his eyes into slits. “It’s convenient for you to say that, being a Morelli.”
Aspen held out his hand to block Clay from me. “People are full of complications, Clay. It doesn’t make them evil. You should know this.”
Clay’s body relaxed slightly, and he took a step back.
“Josy understands me, and I love her.” Aspen reached his hand to me.
I took it as my heart sped up faster than it already had. Aspen loved me? He hadn’t said those exact words before.
Clay lowered his brow. “Then you are bound to her?”
Aspen peered down at me. “I am, and we want to fight to change everything.”
Chapter 5
Time seemed to slow as Clay glared at Aspen. I gritted my teeth, expecting him to shift again and attack—but he didn’t. Instead, he remained in his human form, only balling his fists while he continued to stare at Aspen for way too long without speaking. Aspen had said that natural animal shifters did not have the same kind of control over their shifts as those who performed it by magic. It’s why the Directorate hunt them down: they are too unpredictable and wild. Perhaps he couldn’t even shift with the emotions involved from learning that Aspen was bound to me, but that was only a guess.
Out of discomfort, I accidentally cleared my throat, and the flow of time returned to normal. Clay’s attention whipped to me. I fought the urge to take Aspen’s hand because I knew doing so would only make the situation worse. I scanned over him. In the short time since meeting Clay, I could tell he was proud, and no matter how much of a hard time he gave Aspen for being different, he was protective of his entire family. In some ways he reminded me a bit of Rosalee, who was always trying so hard to prove herself that she put up walls to make everyone believe that she was strong and in control. “You know, you could help us.”
“She’s right.” Aspen made no moves toward me or his brother. I’m sure he knew standing perfectly still was his best option, too. “Josy thinks that the coming war is going to affect the entire Side of Magic. So that means it will come here, too. We should do everything we can to prepare Tumbling Falls.”
A low growl came from Clay’s throat. “And out ourselves to the Directorate?” He dropped his attention to me. “Who is this war even going to be with if it’s not the Morelli?” he snarled.
I gulped down the lump that had formed in my throat and admitted, “I don’t know the answer to that yet.”
Clay lowered his brows and trained his intense stare on me. “So you’re telling me that some half Morelli girl who didn’t even know that The Side of Magic even existed a few months ago suddenly has all the answers?” He let out a belly laugh and I cringed, but before I got the chance to defend myself, he continued. “And if you truly believe that this horrible ‘enemy’ that you can’t identify is coming to destroy us all, then why are you here? Why aren’t you trying to warn people . . . warn the Directorate?”
My hands tingled with magic, and a part of me wanted to use it to teach Clay a lesson for talking down to me, but I fought off the urge. Clay was not my enemy. “It’s not just me. Mrs. North came to the Academy and revealed herself to the chancellor and a few of us. He instructed us to wait until there was more information. Aspen, I and the others were sworn to secrecy.” I looked at Aspen and flattened my lips.
He took my hand and laced his fingers with mine. “Josy is right. We were told to say nothing. The chancellor doesn’t want to create mass panic or let information fall into the wrong hands.”
Clay scoffed uncomfortably. “One of The Four Points is involved with this? Why would they do that now when they’ve never gotten involved with anything before? Our kind has asked them to help us for centuries, and the answer has always been no.”
Aspen tipped his head back in frustration. “I know the Points have remained neutral in the past. But apparently, this is too big. All of Magic is at risk.”
“Well, most shifters don’t have magic; all we have is our ability to shift. So that means we can stay out of it,” Clay said between his teeth. “No one bothers us back here in Tumbling Falls. We can just sit back and allow the storm to pass.”
I winced at not only Clay’s dig at Aspen but also his unwillingness to see the truth. “You are not getting the full picture. If The Side of Magic is destroyed, that means that Tumbling Falls won’t be allowed to remain as it is either. This Darkness will come for you, too. It’s coming for everyone.” My mind flashed with the vision of the war I saw, the Black Mist Wraiths taking over and devouring the entire Side of Magic. If they could do that, what was to prevent them from taking over The Other Side, too? The Shifters would have nowhere to go. Fear settled in my stomach and tightened. “To defeat it we are going to need all kinds of strength, including that of your people.”
Clay studied me for a moment, and his eyes softened slightly. He ran his fingers through his hair as if in thought. For a split second, hope crept into my heart. Maybe he’d seen that I wasn’t lying. But the hope was dashed when Clay shook his head and said, “I can’t trust you, Josy. The Morelli are the ones who declared war on The Side of Magic. They are the ones causing all of the problems.”
I closed my eyes tightly for a moment and then reopened them. This was not a time for tears.
“I trust her.” Aspen’s body tensed.
Clay slowly turned his gaze back to Aspen. “You have been away from Tumbling Falls for too much of your life. The part of you that’s a wolf has been tainted by magic. The wildness is gone, and you have no idea anymore what is best for this community.” He spun on his heel, and the ground crunched as he turned.
“Are you going to tell Mom and Dad?” Aspen asked in a low tone.
Clay twisted his neck to glare back at us. “Not yet.” He broke into a sprint and within seconds was gone from view.
Aspen swore under his breath and dropped his attention to me.
“What do we do?” I closed the gap between us and wrapped my arms around his waist. My touch seemed to instantly relax his tense muscles.
Aspen ran his hands along my shoulder blades. “I don’t even know why I thought anything about bringing you here would be normal. I should have expected this exact thing to happen.”
“Nothing is normal about the last few months for me,” I said into his chest.
He eased back slightly. “I had this stupid idea that something could be ordinary for you.”
I slid my right hand up from Aspen’s waist and brought it to his cheek. His light stubble was rough against my palm, and I stared intently into his eyes, wishing I could get lost in the blue color.
Aspen kissed me on the forehead and released me.
“Do you think your brother will tell your parents that you’re bound to me?”
“If anything, Clay is honest. He’ll give me the chance to do it first.” He shoved his hands into his coat pockets and kicked at the ground.
“How do you think they’ll react? Since you lied to them about us.”
Aspen shrugged. “They warned me that a relationship could happen, so it was never out of the question.” He shook his head and took my hand. “But for now I don’t want to talk about it. All this talk about wars and darkness reminds me that I have no idea how much time we have left to have a day to walk in the woods.”
My breath hitched at his words. I didn’t know how much time Aspen and I had either. My vision hadn’t revealed that information— but I didn’t have the heart to tell him.
Spellcaster Academy: Episodes 1-4 (Spellcaster Academy Omnibus) Page 27