Second Chance Heat, a reverse harem magical academy HEA paranormal romance: Book Four of the Second Chance Academy Series

by Ella J. Smyth

  Mr. Odwell avoided looking at us and kept his gaze firmly trained to the floor. “It's not safe. I shouldn't be here.”

  Lance and I exchanged looks. That was pretty much what Mr. Denholm had said as well.

  I stepped closer. “What’s going on? Can you not tell us anything?”

  The healer seemed to notice me for the first time. “I'm sorry, Amber. If I could help you, I would. But I can’t be involved.”

  He looked around the room. “In fact, you should find somewhere else. You aren’t safe here.”

  Kiernan said dryly, “At least we agree on something.”

  I blurted out, “This is about the Fae.”

  Mr. Odwell's reaction was spectacular. He turned white as a sheet, and if Lance hadn’t grabbed his arm, he probably would have collapsed on the floor.

  “What do you know about the Fae?” His voice was trembling.

  I shrugged. Might as well tell him. “Farkas and Lawson abducted me to the Fae dimension or world or realm. I don't care what you call it, to be honest. If it hadn't been for Lance, Kiernan, and Julian…”

  I closed my eyes briefly, the pain squeezing my chest so sharply, I nearly gasped. Then I steeled myself and carried on. “Without my friends, I wouldn't have made it back alive. But we’re here. We think Farkas may be dead, but Lance and I saw Lawson today. So anything you can tell us, literally anything, could be useful.”

  Odwell gaped at us. “You were abducted by the Fae and lived to tell the tale? That is remarkable. Is that how Kiernan got injured?”

  His gaze flitted back to Kiernan who grinned and waved. “Yep. I took an arrow to the shoulder.”

  Odwell nodded, as if that explained everything. “I knew there was something odd about that wound. It took about twice as long to heal as any other comparable wound with my treatment.”

  The color had returned to his face, and he seemed to have made up his mind about something. “I can't tell you much. I can't help you escape from the academy. We’re all trapped here. After Farkas disappeared, the gates locked permanently. Usually staff were able to leave at will, but now we’re locked in just as much as you. We have enough food to last us for several weeks, so that's not the issue. Also, somebody informed the FBMA, so we are expecting agents any day now. All you have to do is not be caught by Lawson’s men while you're on campus. Find a place and hide out.”

  Lance stepped away from the door. “Thank you, Mr. Odwell.”

  Odwell raised his hand for a halfhearted wave. “I'm sorry. I wished I could do more, but I have family.”

  With another nod, he opened the door and fled.

  Kiernan muttered, “This guy has family?”

  I snickered. Imagining Odwell with a wife and kids seemed incongruous. The mood turned serious again soon after. The healer had confirmed our fears, but we were no closer to a solution. I needed to fetch the book from my room to see if my hunch about the librarian’s words had been right. When I told Kiernan and Lance, they weren't happy about the idea. Neither was I, to be honest, but I didn't see any other choice.

  We needed more information. Kiernan had taken the bandage off and was sniffing his armpit. “Lads, if we’re going on the run, I'd like to be clean at least once.”

  He walked to the bathroom to get his shampoo and shower gel. But when he opened the door, Macha jumped out, landing on knees and palms. He hissed at Kiernan with such venom that Kiernan stepped back, raising his hands in surrender.

  I stepped up. “What the hell, Macha. Why the hell are you hissing at Kiernan?”

  Macha’s blue eyes turned toward me, and he dropped his head like a sulky teenager. Kiernan crouched next to him. “Were you locked inside?”

  At the sound of Kiernan's voice, Macha hesitated, then nodded. I breathed a little easier. The article Lance had read to me had affected me more than I thought possible. Macha’s reaction, as he’d jumped out of the bathroom, had been so feral, for a moment I'd been convinced there was nothing human left in him.

  But he clearly was able to understand Kiernan and reacted to him. Kiernan stretched out his hand and patted Macha on the head as he’d done with Slug every time he’d seen him. “You're okay, pet.”

  I winced. Lance said, “Unfortunate choice of words there, Hennessy.”

  Kiernan shrugged. “When I say ‘pet’, I don't mean pet pet. I mean pet as a, well, a pet name. But if it upsets you,” he turned back to Macha, “I won't call you that.”

  Macha sidled up to Kiernan and rubbed against his leg. I sighed. It would take a long time for that boy to find his way back to humanity, if he ever did. Kiernan stroked Macha’s hair one last time and then walked into the bathroom to get the things he needed for a shower.

  Macha still squatted on the ground, staring at the only chair in the room. Then he pushed himself up with his hands until he was precariously balanced on both feet. He stood up straight, struggling a little for balance, but as we watched him, he seemed to find it easier and easier.

  When Kiernan returned from the bathroom, Macha had taken three wobbly steps toward the chair and plunked himself down.

  Kiernan smiled. “Well done, Macha. That can’t have been easy after walking on four feet for so long.”

  Macha returned the smile. A great weight dropped off me. My cat was understanding and communicating.

  While Kiernan was in the shower, Lance and I argued over how best to get the book. I tried to convince him he was too tall to make it undetected across the Academy square to the other wing of the building. Lance pointed out I’d been the target of the Fae abduction, so shouldn’t even try to go out by myself.

  In the end, we decided to wait until it got a little darker, and use the dusk of early evening for me to sneak into my dorm. Because the only thing that stood out even more than a six foot three guy was a guy entering a girls’ dorm by himself. Somebody was sure to notice and report him.

  Kiernan returned from his shower, moving fluently and with less wincing than the day before. Whatever cream Odwell had applied today, had done an amazing job.

  Macha had burrowed into Kiernan's bed and was fast asleep.

  “It's amazing how much he still looks like a cat.” Kiernan tucked the cover in around Macha’s body.

  It was uncanny. Something about the way his spine bent and his head curled towards his chest was far more feline than human.

  We had another couple of hours to kill until it was time for me to leave. Kiernan tried for half a second to talk me out of my plan, but I'd made up my mind. As the minutes ticked by, we were silent, each of us following our own trains of thought. None of us wanted to talk about the elephant in the room. But every time I looked at Julian's empty bed, my heart broke a little more.

  He hadn't deserved to die so early. I remembered sitting next to him, holding his hand, watching the light leave his eyes. It had been unbearable. It was still unbearable. The pressure in my throat, that had never left me since we'd returned, grew so strong, it felt as if somebody had a stranglehold on me.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my face with my hands because otherwise, I’d have broken into tears. I‘d never see him again. Never see that smile he’d reserved especially for me. Never feel his kiss, his hands on me.

  We’d all lost so much. Kiernan had lost his best friend, I had lost a lover, and who knows what Lance and Julian could have learned to be to each other. All that had been taken away.

  As I fought to control my grief, another emotion settled in my stomach. It took me a moment to recognize it as anger. And not just simple anger. But a horrible burning rage. I tried not to give into it, because I knew what happened if I allowed this fury to run untempered through me.

  “Amber. You’re sparking again.”

  I looked at my hands, and sure enough, white-blue sparks jumped from fingertips to fingertip as I held up my hands. I slowed down my breathing, tamping down on the rage bubbling through me.

  It was hard, but I managed it. The white-hot anger calmed down to a feeling of something
equally devastating, but less destructive in the moment. It was a thirst for avenging my Goth boy.

  My resolve hardened. “Guys, we can’t let this stand. Lawson, his men, and Farkas have taken what was ours. They gotta pay for what they did.”

  Lance’s reaction was different than I'd expected. He got up and walked out of the room without looking back. I was still staring at the closed door, trying to figure out what the fuck had just happened, when Kiernan said, “I don't think that's healthy. It won't bring him back. We need to move on.”

  My head flew around so fast, I nearly gave myself whiplash. “What do you mean, move on? How can we move on?”

  “It's over, Amber. We can’t fight this. They’re too strong. And if you’re thinking about avenging Julian, you’re just going to bring them down on us.”

  His words reignited my fury. I stood up, and as I spoke, my voice got louder and louder until I screamed at him. “What the fuck do you mean, move on? I didn't think take you for a coward, Kiernan Hennessy.”

  7

  Julian

  I avoided looking at Amber as she read Kiernan the riot act. Floating under the ceiling, I checked the cobwebs were all intact and smiled at the little spiders hiding in the shadows.

  Amber’s voice rose. God, I loved her, but she was intimidating as all hell when she got angry.

  I couldn't remember when I'd last seen her that incensed. There were literally sparks of anger dancing over her skin, making her cheeks red, and her eyes shine.

  I was proud of Kiernan standing his ground against her. “No, I'm not a coward, and you know that I'm not. But I don't think our actions should be driven by revenge, either. Julian is dead. You better get used to it.”

  That comment hit me right where it hurt. Of course, they had no way of knowing I was hanging literally above their heads and witnessing their argument. But hearing Kiernan say it out loud was more painful than I’d imagined.

  The words seemed to have also taken the wind out of Amber's sails. She deflated and dropped her eyes. I knew she hated being vulnerable in front of people, and my heart went out to her as she fought back tears.

  Kiernan tried to pull her into a hug, but Amber was still angry. Her icy tone was meant to cut. “I know you don't believe revenge is worth it. But Julian won’t have died in vain. I'm going to hunt down Farkas, and I will destroy her. You can either be with me or against me, Kiernan Hennessy.”

  Kiernan jerked his hand back. Without another word, he walked out of the room, just as Lance had done before him. Amber stood without moving for several minutes, burying her head in her hands.

  Eventually, she turned to look for Macha. While Amber and Kiernan had been fighting, Macha had reacted like a frightened animal would. He’d squeezed himself into the corner between one of the beds and the wall. Somehow, he‘d folded himself so tightly into the tiny space, only his black hair was visible.

  Amber stood over him, guilt written all over her face. “I'm sorry. I'm not angry anymore. Will you come out, please?”

  It took a few moments, but eventually, Macha’s head popped up, and he scrutinized Amber with a suspicious expression. When he was satisfied she wasn't going to shout anymore, he crawled out of his hiding hole on all fours.

  Amber sat on the bed and patted the space beside her the same way she used to do when he was her pet. Macha leaped onto the mattress and snuggled against her. It should have looked ridiculous—a tall, strapping guy, acting like a pussycat. But Amber sighed contentedly, and Macha closed his eyes as she ran her fingers through his curls. He lifted his head, and from under half-closed lids, our gazes connected.

  He seemed to want to say something, but I couldn't understand the sounds he produced. Amber drew away. “Try again. Please. Take it slowly and use your tongue.”

  Macha took a deep breath and opened and closed his jaw a few times. “Julian. Here.”

  The sound traveled clearly up to where I was floating below the ceiling. Amber looked thunderstruck. Anger warred with relief on her face. Macha must have felt how her emotions were running high again because he made himself small and pulled away.

  Amber put her arm around his shoulders and held him tightly against her. “No, stop. I won't get angry. I'm so happy you’re finding your speech again. But you know Julian is dead, right? He won't ever come back.”

  I had to hand it to Macha. The guy had guts. He raised his head and spoke again, this time louder and clearer. “Julian is here.”

  Amber put her head back and closed her eyes as a single tear ran down her cheek. “No, he isn't. And he won't ever be again.”

  I couldn’t bear it any longer. There had to be a way to let her know I was here, right above her. I floated as quickly as I could until I hovered next to her. But when I tried to brush the hair from her face, my hand passed right through her. She shivered a little. “Somebody must have left a window open. It feels drafty.”

  She had no clue I was right here. I kissed her cheek, feeling the warmth under my lips, but again, she didn't react. What could I do? Was there really no way to reach her? The disembodied voices might know, but they hadn't returned. No matter how creepy they were, I needed answers.

  My helplessness curdled my thoughts as I stared at the girl I loved. Hatred flooded me. Hatred towards all the living creatures able to communicate with my love when I couldn't. As I fought the swirl of emotion that threatened to pull me under, a little bit of me was carried away in the maelstrom. I just didn’t know it yet.

  I had to get out of here. I propelled myself across the room, only to bounce off one wall and ricochet onto the other. It didn't hurt, but the sudden obstacle increased my fury. I pinged off the lamp and broke the bulb.

  Amber shrieked while Macha was following my progress with wide eyes.

  “What the hell was that? Macha, did you see anything?” Amber sounded scared as she tried to figure out what was happening. Macha meowed, too shocked to wrap his tongue around human words. I whizzed past him, so close he had to pull his face back to avoid me slamming into him.

  Slamming into him. The same way I’d been slamming into the walls. I hadn't gone through the walls. No, somehow my anger had made me more solid. I was still invisible, but my heightened emotion made me less ghostlike.

  Amber looked spooked. “If I didn't believe in ghosts, I’d have thought there was a poltergeist.”

  Her words stopped me cold. Was that what I was becoming? A Poltergeist? Condemned to be a nuisance and wake people up in the middle of the night because that was the only way to reach them?

  The atmosphere thickened and tasted of ash. They were back.

  “Now you get it.” The voice sounded pleased. “Soon, all your emotions will have been burned away. Only anger and fury and jealousy will be left.”

  The second voice cackled. It buzzed past me, but like before, I couldn’t pin it down. “The angrier you get, the quicker you’ll lose your humanity. And then you’ll be like us, existing to cause havoc and pain.”

  “Yes. Havoc and pain. It's like nectar to us.”

  Amber yelped and slapped her neck. A moment later, the second voice whispered, “Sometimes, we can cause pain when people are awake. But it's much more fun to enter their dreams when they’re helpless. The more afraid they are, the more pain we inflict.”

  The other voice moaned. “I love it when they dream of torture. Only last night, I pulled out a teacher’s fingernails. His shrieking filled my soul with glee. What a pity it's over when they wake up.”

  “But when they die, they’re ours. Then we get to torture them for all eternity until their souls are shredded so thinly, they’ll never find their way back.”

  I shuddered. “What are you? Are you demons?”

  “No, we're not demons. We are wicked souls. Lobhadh Ocrach.”

  I’d never heard that word before. “What does that mean?”

  The first voice tittered. “We are embodiments of human fear and hatred. Some centuries, there are more of us, others less. But lately, we'
ve been multiplying. There are changes afoot. Many souls have joined us recently. We don't know why. We don't ask. We just take. Take. Take.”

  My anger had left me, and I found myself cowering with the spiders in the corner of the ceiling, as far away as I could get from the voices. I could still hear them, but they were moving away from me until they were gone.

  Much later, Kiernan and Lance returned. Kiernan placed a bag on his bed. Amber and Macha had already fallen asleep, curled into each other under one blanket. Kiernan stood over them, shaking his head as he watched both of them. Then he pulled the cover up over Macha’s shoulder and tucked them both in.

  Lance walked towards the door. “We should wake them in an hour or two. In the meantime, let’s pack our stuff. Once we’re gone, we might not have a chance to come back.”

  He left the room and soon returned with a full backpack. Kiernan had pulled a similar holdall from underneath his bed and packed some shirts, jeans, socks, and underwear. Then he grabbed the bag he’d brought with him and pulled out a large, ancient book.

  “So you’re running away?” I murmured. “Probably a good idea.”

  And now I was talking to myself like a crazy person. But it was such a relief to hear my own voice. Besides, there was nobody else around who could hear me. “At this rate, it won’t be long until I lose my marbles.”

  I floated to the outside wall and gingerly stuck my hand through it. Now that I’d calmed down, it worked as easily as before. I moved through the brick and began to patrol the campus. Maybe I could learn more about the forces threatening my friends.

  8

  Julian

  I took my time moving through the deserted academy grounds. The moon was still high in the sky, and it would take at least another hour for dawn to break. For now, I marveled at how different the school looked at night. The silver moonlight covered up how rundown the main building was with its peeling window frames and mold collecting in the corners of the glass panes.