by Jody Morse
Everly didn’t look entirely convinced, but she said, “Well, if that’s true—with the keyword being if—then that’s really sweet and chivalrous of him.”
“It’s extremely sweet.” I found myself getting lost in the thought of Kaden again. I had already lost myself in thoughts of him so many times since last night. Snapping myself out of that, I continued. “Also, it looks like Kaden won’t be able to go back to the Dark Coven, anyway. Headmaster Crane let it drop that Kaden is the ‘object of my affection’ and that Kaden is in love with me, so the Dark Coven now believes Kaden is their enemy. Headmaster Crane wants to use Kaden to get to me. His goal is to convince me to work with them, and he thinks he can do it by dangling Kaden.”
“You’d better make sure you don’t take your eyes off that boy for a second, then,” Everly commented. “The one thing I know about Headmaster Crane is that if he says he’s going to do something, he usually does it. So, if he says he’s going to put Kaden in a dungeon full of fire-breathing dragons and force you to get to him in order to let one or both of you live…” She glanced over at me. “Well, you’d better be prepared to walk through fire.”
So, it really didn’t sound good when she put it like that. It was strange. I knew that Headmaster Crane meant his threats. I knew that what he was planning and scheming wasn’t good. But at the end of the day, I didn’t feel scared by him, for some reason. Don’t get me wrong. He intimidated me at times, but mostly I worried about getting in trouble and missing out on my education. I didn’t actually think he would really hurt me.
“Anyway, the reason I was asking you about Brett is because I’m not over him,” Everly said, going back to her original question. “I was thinking about asking him to the Halloween Dance.”
“I think you should go for it,” I replied with a shrug.
“Yeah? Do you think he’ll actually say yes?” Everly asked.
“It’s hard to say. He actually told me he didn’t want me to be his girlfriend anymore because he’s not ready to be in a relationship with anyone. He says he’s working on himself.” I shrugged. “But the two of you have an actual history—a bigger history than I have with him. So, I’m sure he probably will go with you.”
“I hope so.” She paused. “This may sound crazy, considering everything, but I really want him back.”
“It doesn’t sound crazy at all. As Selena Gomez says, the heart wants what it wants.” I knew that feeling all too well. There was nothing my heart—my body, my mind, my everything—wanted more than Kaden.
Chapter 18
After that weekend, time seemed to go by fast and slow at the same time. The weeks seemed to both creep and fly by, all at once.
Kaden and I spent all of our free time together. I spent the majority of my free time in his dorm room, since he didn’t have a roommate. We had so much more privacy there than we did in my dorm room, unless Draia and Ambur were with their own boyfriends. We spent most of our time talking and cuddling. In fact, we’d spent so much time cuddling that I now knew every single groove of his body like the back of my hand. We’d also made out a lot. But that was where it all stopped. We hadn’t crossed any lines. Not yet, at least. I knew that it was going to happen, but I wanted the time to be right. Actually, I wanted it to be more than right. I wanted it to be perfect. Magical.
But I was enjoying the way things were for now. We sometimes met each other in between our classes just to kiss or exchange a love note. I knew we could have just texted each other, but there was just something so romantic about old school, hand-written love notes.
Everyone at Paranormal Academy knew that we were a thing, so I knew that meant that word had already traveled back to Headmaster Crane. He may have threatened Kaden to stay away from me in the past, but he didn’t seem to be too concerned about it now. Or if he was concerned, he hadn’t addressed it with either of us.
I might have been wrong, but I really thought that him telling Kaden to stay away from me last year had just been his way of seeing how much he could manipulate Kaden. He’d wanted to see how much of the situation had been in his control. Now that he knew he couldn’t control it as much as he previously believed, he had figured out that he could use it to his advantage. When the time came, he was going to use Kaden to get to me. And that scared the shit out of me. I just really hoped that the Headmaster wouldn’t do anything to actually hurt Kaden in the process, the same way I was convinced he had somehow hurt Avery to get to me.
In between this romance that was blossoming with Kaden, I also managed to get completely caught up in my studies. The classes that interested me the most were Water Magic and Magical Weaponry.
Brandon taught us to use a fire gun, which was, quite literally, a gun that lit shit on fire. I was really good at using it. We’d also learned how to use all types of magical bows and arrows, daggers, swords, and pretty much every kind of weapon under the sun—you name it.
In Water Magic, I had begun to learn how to create rogue waves. Professor Hart had conjured a ghost ship, which we had to stop from making it to shore with our rogue waves. Apparently, it wasn’t an easy assignment, but both Kaden and I found it to be a breeze. It was kind of interesting to me that his affinity for water was just as strong as mine was, even though his elemental blood was fire. It made me wonder if he had another kind of elemental blood, or if it had something to do with the fact that he was both witch and warlock.
It was just yet another one of the things that made me feel like the two of us were connected on some deeper level.
What was most frustrating was that I still had yet to unlock my water race. Even though I spent my time in the water every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I still hadn’t been able to figure it out yet. I was beginning to wonder if my water race was ever going to come out.
And then there was the fear about the Dark Coven and the raven shifters. I knew we had time to prepare, but it was hard to recruit people to join our army when I was also trying to focus so hard on my studies. I’d told Ambur and Draia everything. They were, of course, going to fight with us, and so were Marcus and Gavin. I felt relieved that I had at least managed to recruit a few people to join our army, but I knew it wasn’t enough. Would it ever be enough, though? Would we ever be able to get our numbers to be even close to theirs? I wasn’t sure.
There was another part of me that was just waiting for some sort of bomb to drop, for something crazy to happen. Everything had begun to feel so… quiet. It scared me a little.
It felt like the calm before the storm. The worst part was that I was pretty sure that when this storm did finally strike, it was going to take down everything with it.
***
By the time October had rolled around, everyone in my life was excited for the Halloween Dance… except for me. I just couldn’t seem to get into it the way everyone else was.
Draia and Ambur kept bugging me to go dress shopping, but I wasn’t in the mood to pick out a dress. A part of me still wasn’t sure if I even wanted to go to the dance.
To be honest, I was sort of disappointed about how unenthusiastic I was about it. The thing was, I had always loved school functions, and the Halloween Dance was huge at Paranormal Academy. It was basically the paranormal equivalent of prom, not to mention the event that kicked off our week-long Halloween break.
But something about it just felt different this year. I was pretty sure it was because I knew that this war was just around the corner, and we were the furthest thing from ready. We should have been focusing on building our army, not having fun… even if this was the last time we would probably have any sort of fun for a long time.
One afternoon, Kaden and I were hanging out at the fountain, just like we always did before dinner, and he glanced over at me. “So, what are you wearing to the Halloween Dance?”
“I wasn’t planning on going to it this year,” I replied with a shrug.
“So, you’re going to make me go to the dance by myself?” He shot me a pouty look.
I r
olled my eyes at him.
“Did you just roll your eyes at me?”
“Maybe. So, what if I did?” I asked with a flirty tone.
Kaden leaned in closer to me. “Your eyes are beautiful, even when you’re rolling them at me. In fact, everything about you is beautiful. So, my beautiful girlfriend, will you go to the Halloween Dance with me?”
A blush rose to my cheeks, and I sighed. “Well, when you put it that way, how can I say no?”
Moving in closer to me, he kissed me.
“You guys are so stinking cute,” Ambur’s voice sliced through the air then, interrupting our kiss. “Simply adorable.”
I glanced over at her with wide eyes as she down next to us at the fountain. “Why are you sucking up to me?”
“Who says I’m sucking up?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Anyone with suck up radar could tell from a mile away. So, what do you want?”
“Who says I want anything?”
“Ambur, come on. I know you.” I laughed.
“Okay. So, there might be something I could really use your help with.” She paused. “I really, really need to borrow Spike.”
“Why would you need to borrow my pet dragon?” I questioned.
“So, there’s this guy in my Fae Magic class,” she began. “And he won’t leave me alone. He knows I’m with Gavin, but he’s hellbent on taking me to the Halloween Dance. He’s even gone to the extent of saying he’s going to murder Gavin just go to the dance with me.”
“This dude sounds crazy as fuck,” Kaden commented.
“He is! That’s what I’m saying. So, anyway, I was thinking. What better way to scare him off than to show him my pet dragon? Leave me the hell alone or I’ll sic my dragon on you.”
“In theory, that would be great. But you do realize that Spike is maybe forty pounds, at most, right?” I asked. “I’m not sure if that’s really the sort of fear factor you’re going for.”
“Why don’t you just report him?” Kaden asked.
“Do you trust reporting anyone to our Headmaster?” Ambur asked pointedly.
“Good point.” He seemed to consider it for a moment. “You could conjure a scarier dragon.”
“No. Conjuring has already led to enough problems this year,” I insisted.
“Here’s an idea—one that Gavin might not necessarily like. You could go to the Halloween Dance with this guy. Step on his feet and do all sorts of crazy stuff to be a bad date—be the world’s sloppiest kiss ever. He’ll never want to go out with you again.”
Ambur frowned. “But I want to go to the Halloween Dance with Gavin.”
“As you should. That was a really dumb idea.” I shot Kaden a look.
At that moment, I heard the sound of someone clear her throat. I glanced up to find Ember standing in front of us.
“Maybe I can assist you with your problem, Twinnie,” she said to Ambur. “I’ll get rid of him for you, but it will cost you.”
“I’m listening,” Ambur said.
“I will get rid of him for you, but in exchange, I want a piece of your soul.”
“A piece of my soul? Are you crazy?” Ambur just stared at her with wide eyes.
“If you were to give me a piece of your soul, it would make me good. Being bad sucks sometimes. I’m tired of being bad and dark. I want to be good.” Ember shot her a sad look. “If you gave me just five percent of your soul, I would have some goodness in me. And that has to be better than no goodness at all.”
Ambur shot her a sympathetic glance. “That’s really… sad. Ember, you’re my twin. Of course I’ll give you a piece of my soul. You don’t have to do anything in exchange for it.”
“Really? You would do that for me?” Ember just stared at her, completely shocked.
She wasn’t the only one. I couldn’t believe that Ambur was actually agreeing to this. If Ember was my twin sister, I wouldn’t have given her a piece of my soul—not after the way she had threatened her and been so cruel to her in the past.
“Of course I’ll do it for you. We did share a womb. You’re my sister—and not just my sister. My twin!” Ambur stood up and threw her arms around Ember in a loose hug.
At first, Ember looked kind of stiff and unaccepting to the hug, but then she leaned in, giving in to her embrace.
“So, I don’t know how this works. How do I give you a part of my soul?” Ambur asked.
“Well, if you want to come with me, there’s someone at the House of Darkness who’s done this before. She does it all the time. She can do it for us. I think it’s just a really simple potion.”
“Let’s do it. I want to make you better. I want you to be good. Once you’re good, we can be actual sisters. Actual twins,” Ambur said as she followed Ember towards the House of Darkness.
Once they were gone, I glanced over at Kaden. “I have a really, really bad feeling about this.”
“About the fact that your friend is just randomly giving her sister a part of her soul? Me, too. We need our souls. You can’t just give them away like that.”
“You can’t?” I asked.
“Not without consequences,” he explained.
I swallowed hard, almost afraid to know what the consequences of this decision were going to be for Ambur.
“I don’t understand how she made this decision so… fast. Don’t get me wrong. I know Ambur has a really good heart and most of the time she would give almost anybody the shirt right off her back. You’ve seen how she’ll go out of her way to save an injured unicorn, and I can’t even tell you how many pets she’d love to rescue if she had a chance. She’s probably the most well-intentioned person I’ve ever met,” I said. “But it was like she didn’t even give this whole soul thing any real thought. She just decided to do it on a whim, without any hesitation.”
“Coercion. Compulsion. I bet that’s why. Ember completely compelled her into giving her exactly what she wanted,” Kaden pieced together. “The only thing I want to know is why. Why does she want this piece of Ambur’s soul so bad?”
“Well, maybe she really wants to become good,” I said with a shrug.
“No, trust me. It doesn’t even work like that.”
“It doesn’t?”
He shook his head. “I’ve never heard of it working like that, anyway. I’m pretty sure she just completely lied to Ambur and convinced her to give her a part of her soul for some other reason. I’m just not sure why.”
“Well, crap. We have to stop her.” I glanced over my shoulder at the House of Darkness. I didn’t even see Ambur and Ember in the distance; they must have gone inside the building already.
I thought really quick then. “Where is Ondraia? She might know where they went.”
“I don’t know. It’s strange to even see Ambur without Draia,” Kaden commented.
“Yeah, it’s weird. It’s almost as if Ember knew that this was the perfect time to catch Ambur off-guard. Draia probably would have figured out a way to undo her compulsion spell if she was here. Or she would have done something to stop her—which was exactly what we should have done.” If Ambur gave Ember a piece of her soul, I was going to end up blaming myself now that I knew what this all meant. Unless I could figure out a way to stop this from happening now.
“We have to find, Draia,” I said firmly. I was pretty sure I had a better chance of finding Draia than I did Ambur and Ember. I didn’t even really know the full layout of the House of Darkness, and the idea of going there seemed scary.
But maybe with her intuition, Draia knew where Ember had taken Ambur or what we could do to stop this whole thing from happening.
I began to make my way towards the House of Mage, figuring that Draia might have been in our dorm room.
I was about halfway there when she came running in my direction.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my,” she said, pressing her fingers to her temples, as she approached me. It was as if she was having a vision, and it was causing her a lot of pain. “This is not good. This is not good at a
ll.”
“Draia, what’s going on? Are you seeing what Ember is doing to Ambur right now? Can you see that she’s trying to take a piece of her soul?” I asked.
“No, no, no, no. She’s not just taking her soul, Juliana. Ember is doing worse than that. She’s taking Ambur’s whole entire body.” Draia’s dark eyes locked on mine.
“What? Why would Ember want Ambur’s body?”
“To use it for evil. Ember is capable of evil things, dark magic. But there’s one thing Ambur has that Ember doesn’t have. Everyone trusts Ambur. She can get away with so much more dark magic without anyone even suspecting it just by being in Ambur’s body.”
This was getting really scary. Ambur giving Ember a piece of her soul had been scary enough, but knowing that Ember wanted to steal Ambur’s whole entire life was even scarier.
“If this whole change takes place, if Ember figures out a way to get inside Ambur’s body, things are going to get bad. Really, really bad. She’s going to be so dangerous. Everyone is going to be at risk.” As Draia spoke the words, I knew she was telling me what she was seeing in the future. And that made this whole situation much scarier to me.
“How do we stop this from happening?” I asked. “What do we do? Tell me what you see. Tell me how we can stop this.”
Draia squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment. When she opened her eyes again, she met my gaze.
“It’s already too late. The change has already occurred. Ember is now officially Ambur.”
Chapter 19
“So, what do we do?” I asked Draia.
“Well, one thing is for damn sure. We can’t tell Ember that we know she’s Ambur,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s too dangerous for us to call her out on it. We don’t know what she’s capable of, and I’m not sure how far she’ll take this whole thing. Will she kill us or hurt us in order to stay Ambur without the risk of being exposed? Either way, I think she’s likely to use her dark magic against us, and that’s the last thing we need.”