“You’re doing it again.”
I pulled my eyes away from the frosted windows. The warm, cozy interior of the Mountain Top Café swam back into focus. Gingerbread spice interlaced with chai tickled my nose. Groups of Supes huddled at different tables, talking in comfortably low voices. Nymphs played with the glittering dangles of garlands hung across the ceiling, even though Christmas had been over two weeks ago.
“Doing what again?” I said.
“Spacing out.” Asher put down his coffee and gently tapped me between the eyes. “What’s got you so worried?”
I pulled away from his insistent finger. “I’m not worried. Just waiting for Mia and Colson. They’re supposed to be here by now.”
“They just got back from their own practical hours. Maybe don’t expect them to come right here, Miss Impatient.”
I leveled a cool gaze at him. “I didn’t.”
“You totally did.”
Yeah, I totally did. But could you blame me? Between the mix of classes we didn’t share this semester, and the number of practical hours we were all taking, I didn’t get to see Mia and Colson as much as I had before. Yeah, we were all roommates, and yeah, no amount of time could match how much Mia and I usually spent together. But after your best friend had been kidnapped by an evil dudette and her rowdy gang of no-goods, could you really blame me for being a bit paranoid?
“You’re being paranoid,” Asher muttered, right before taking another sip from his drink.
I let out a low growl of annoyance and forced myself to turn away from the window. Snow flurries had picked up outside. The rest of the world had slowly started leaving winter’s chill, but the Village where the advanced Academy students and Masters could visit seemed to have missed the memo. It was always like this, trapped in a never-ending real-life replica of Santa’s North Pole Workshop.
“I’ve been thinking…” Asher said.
I put on an expression of mock concern. “Seriously? Should I be worried?”
“Har har. I have my moments. I meant about practical hours. We’ve been doing great and all, but I’m ready for something more. Something bigger.”
I crossed my legs. “Talk to your dad. He seems to think we should stay with the small stuff, just because we got in a teensy bit of danger last year. As if almost dying is a big deal or something.”
“Twice. Almost dying twice. But the Masters are still no closer to nailing down Kasia or the Society. I think that’s what we should do next.”
A cold clamp of fear tightened around my gut. As much as I tried to sound brave around my friends about the whole thing, the honest truth was I was terrified of Kasia. More than I had been of anything or anyone else. I still had nightmares filled with eyes from the darkness pinning me in place like an insect on a corkboard. Of shadows coming to life, writhing as they hunted me.
When you’re ready, you’ll come to me. You’ll need me.
I shuddered.
“I didn’t mean take her on directly,” Asher said, noticing my reaction. I cursed myself. Despite being my partner, despite us growing closer and promising to not keep secrets, he was the last person I wanted to see me like this. To see me weak. Vulnerable. “But we can go after the Society. Do a little digging. Maybe we should visit the Duke.”
I snorted. “And have him send us on another potion-themed errand? No thanks.”
But what Asher was saying had gotten my mind running. Despite my fear, I’d thought of trying to track Kasia myself. She and the Society had been unusually quiet the last few months. Which was never good. I may not know a whole lot about dealing with psychopathic, supernaturally strong crazy ladies, but if they were actively being a nuisance then at least you knew they couldn’t be plotting something else in the meantime.
And Kasia was definitely plotting something else.
Which brought me back to what I’d actually been mulling over earlier.
“I can’t get that house out of my head.”
Asher’s brow furrowed. His last sip of coffee had left a foam mustache on his upper lip. I resisted leaning over to wipe it off.
“From Greece? It was nothing, Skylar.”
“You don’t believe me?” I said, incredulous.
“You know I believe you; I just don’t believe it’s important. A magically hidden pocket of magic, remember? Not something to go chasing after,” he added when he saw my defiant expression. “There’re ten thousand and one magical anomalies in this great, wide, wonderful world. We just happened to run across one of them.”
“A giant mansion. Under a mountain. With someone waving at me from the inside.”
Asher shrugged it away. “Didn’t say it had to make sense.” Then, softer. “I’m just glad it didn’t kill you.”
I glanced over at him. He’d started looking out the window himself, lost in thought.
“What would you do if it had?” I said.
“Let’s not talk about that.”
“Practical assignments are always dangerous. And it only gets worse once we’re out of the Academy. What are you going to do then?”
Asher closed his eyes for a bit longer than a normal blink. I knew he was remembering last year, when I’d been even more hot-headed than I was now and put myself in slightly-more-than-potentially life-threatening situations. Not on purpose. Just…not with a lot of forethought. Asher told me it’d nearly killed him to see me in that kind of danger; it was part of the reason he’d stopped talking to me for a short time.
“Asher.” I scooted a bit closer. “Being at the Academy’s always been dangerous. Heck, with our parents, just being their kids is a hazard. So don’t pull this regretful protector crap now. I don’t plan on dying, but sometimes, with the kind of stuff we do, accidents happen—”
“Don’t.”
His eyes were suddenly locked with mine, the intensity of his gaze practically radiating across the table. A strange tingle started in my chest. A warm flush crept up into my neck. He looked so serious, almost masking the dread I knew he had; the dread of maybe losing me. I realized, then, this was more than someone scared of losing their Academy partner. This was potentially something more…
The front door burst open and Mia swept inside, half-carried by a gust of wind and an entourage of snow flurries.
“Sorry I’m late!” she panted, coming over to our table. Snow was caked up to her mid-calf. That might have seemed like a blizzard was gathering outside, but since Mia was a towering five-feet-nothing of unfiltered sweetness, complete with a heart-shaped face that would make a cherub fawn over her, I figured we weren’t in any danger of being snowbound. Her cheeks were flushed red. She brushed her frizzy brown hair, tucked under a wool cap, away from her wide eyes. “We just got back!”
“Where’s Colson?” Asher said. He glanced over her shoulder, as though there was any chance we would have missed Colson’s towering half-giant frame coming in after her.
For just a moment, I thought I saw Mia’s face flicker with concern. But then she was right back to her normal, six-packets-of-sugar-sweet self. “He wanted to do something first, over at the edge of the Village. But don’t worry, he said he’ll meet us later.”
I could tell Asher was trying to not look concerned. Colson not coming with Mia was a little odd. And Asher and Colson were best friends; he knew him probably better than anyone. If this was strange behavior to him, too, then this was strange behavior period.
“He’s fine, guys, honest!” Mia said, reading our silence. “Just a little tired. I’m pretty exhausted, too. Master Dorrison gave us an exorcism assignment in Romania. I think I still smell like sage and cumin…I’ll go grab a drink. Nice mustache, Asher!”
Asher furiously rubbed at his upper lip as Mia walked off. “Thanks for the heads-up, Skylar.”
But I was focused on a small letter that’d fluttered out of Mia’s jacket pocket. I picked it up and tilted it toward the fireplace to get a better look. My eyes widened. It was addressed to Mia Marquee in flowy, showy handwriting. The return address was magically concealed. There were only a few people who would write something this secretive to Mia: her family. The ones who still lived in France and resented her coming to the Academy. What did they want?
“Did you see they have a new drink called Angel Tears? Do you think it’s really made with—”
Mia stopped in her tracks, eyes falling on the letter I held.
“Mia—”
She pulled it from my hand and casually tossed it in the fire before taking a seat. “It’s nothing,” she added as I gaped at the smoldering letter, then back at her. “You know my family, Skylar. You can probably guess the kind of things they said.”
I knew Mia and her family…didn’t get along, for lack of better terms. They thought she was too weak, too fragile to take on the grueling demands of the New York Academy of Magic. Her kidnapping and possession last year hadn’t helped matters, but they’d always been resigned to keep their distance.
“The Academy is my family,” Mia said, voice softer now. “I still care about my mother and father, but…”
I put a comforting hand on her knee. “You don’t have to explain it to us if you don’t want to. I just want to make sure you’re doing okay.”
With that, Mia’s smile was back, reaching from ear to ear. “I’m fine. Like I said, just tired. And we have that report due in Norm Politics I haven’t started on.”
“And the sage and cumin to wash out of your clothes,” Asher added. He seemed to have noticed Mia was trying to divert the conversation and had gone right along with it. I was grateful for that. It seemed our friends were dealing with a couple different things, and we’d be there for them when they were ready to talk about it.
“Yes! The exorcism was a success. This nice Vamp named Raul was our guide, and he…”
I tried to let my earlier worry fizzle away as Mia dove into her story. She looked so happy, so alive and animated. Not that she hadn’t been like that before, but that happiness had been more subdued. When we’d first started at the Academy, she’d been super quiet around most people. I was beyond happy to see that partnering with Colson and gaining some confidence in our classes had helped her with that.
“…and then Colson—he was so incredible—picks up the possessed man and squeezes him—and you know how strong he is—and the spirit just sort of blech!” Mia pretended to vomit. “It just sort of dribbled out of his mouth. It was so weird and gross and amazing.” She sat back with a satisfied huff. “It was great. Everything was exactly how we thought it’d be.” A slight frown tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Well, there was this one thing…”
My cup stopped halfway to my lip, something in Mia’s tone giving me pause. She’d begun to play with her napkin, folding it and unfolding it.
“Except?” I nudged.
“We had to go to this marsh to find the spirits, you know? And when we were there…Colson was too busy to see it, but there was this weird house. Like the Haunted Mansion from Disney World.” She gave a light laugh. “Just sitting out in the middle of nowhere. And then it was gone and there was this weird earthquake right after. I know it sounds crazy.”
Asher’s eyebrows had risen so high they threatened to disappear into his hair. I smirked at him, feeling just a little bit vindicated as I leaned toward her. “Maybe you should tell us a little more about this house.”
I cut across the Village, heading toward the edge of town where Mia had said Colson was. Asher and Mia had already taken the Farcast portal back to the Academy, but I’d told a small white lie and said I needed to pick up some of last season’s Christmas decorations while they were on sale. A horrible lie, honestly, but if there was one place you could pick up festive greetings year-round, the Village was it.
I believed Mia when she’d said Colson had something to do. But I’d seen the concern on Asher’s face, and Mia’s description of seeing the same house I had during our assignment had perked my ears up to ‘Hey, pay attention to this, stupid!’ levels. The house might have nothing to do with Colson not meeting us, but I wanted to check.
The Village looked like a postcard from the Swiss Alps. It was built in a high alpine meadow with towering mountains on all sides and not another hint of civilization in sight. When I’d first heard of it, I’d thought it was some sort of supernatural ski lodge, complete with snow-covered thatch-roofed cottages, glistening pine trees, and spas. Then I imagined a werewolf in ski boots and immediately dismissed the idea.
The edge of the village was just ahead. The rest of the mountain range spread out beneath it: thunderous peaks of white and gray slabs of rock, all slightly obscured by the flurries of snow whipping up from the valley. In the few short months it was actually summer up here, older students from the Academy would gather here on sunny days to hang out and enjoy the view.
There was only one person there now.
“Colson?”
I slipped a little down the slight incline. Flat, snow-covered rocks were spaced like man-made stadium seating. Colson sat on one, snow dusting his shoulders, his immense frame hunched over like he had a stomachache. His head was down, shoulder-length hair flanking the side of his face.
“Skylar,” he grunted.
I paused. Part of me wanted to sit beside him. Something was clearly up, just as something had clearly been bothering Mia. Part of me felt…uneasy.
“We were waiting for you in the café.”
“Didn’t feel like going. Needed some time alone.”
“I can see that. Did…something happen during the assignment?”
“Nothing happened, Skylar.”
He shifted a little away so that it was harder to see his face. I took a step closer, then hesitated. I didn’t feel scared. Colson might have been the biggest and arguably strongest student at the Academy, but the guy was about as likely to lash out and hurt you as a ghoul was to actually floss every once and a while.
“I just needed to think,” Colson went on.
“Mia told us she saw some kind of house.”
Colson grunted.
“I saw it too.”
Another grunt.
I waited, shifting from foot to foot. I nearly reached out to put my hand on his back, but held back again. I was torn between wanting to help and wanting to give him the space he needed. Where was the balance? Maybe something had happened between him and Mia. And we all wanted some time alone every once in a while. I could respect that.
He shifted again, and this time the back of his jacket seemed to swell, as though he was taking an impossibly immense breath before returning to normal size. I sensed a tension in his body. A sense that he was holding something back.
“I’ll join you guys later,” Colson said, his voice coming out gruff. “In a bit. In a bit.”
“Okay…We’re heading back to the Academy.”
Colson nodded.
I tried not to let his lack of response bother me as I crunched my way back up into the Village and toward the Farcast portal. Friends had arguments all the time. Heck, Asher and I were the king and queen of getting on each other’s nerves. I know Mia had crushed on Colson for a long time—and the guy, for as smart as he was, had finally started to notice—but I really hoped nothing had happened to break that relationship between them. But whatever it was, I was confident Colson and Mia would tell me when they were ready.
Right now, I had a little digging to do.
I got to catch up with my other classmates all through the next day. Demarcus, with his ever-present scarf and mop of curly hair, kept whispering to us while we were supposed to be mapping star charts from memory during Astrology.
“I told Sylvia it wasn’t fair you guys got to go to Greece!” His pen swooped over his chart, but he was more focused on leaning over to talk to me than watching what he was drawing. “Was it fun?”
I briefly flashbacked to my last memory there: Relaxing by the pool, feet in the water, talking with Asher, thinking about nothing important at all except the warm sun and having him close to me. “It was okay.”
Demarcus snorted. “Sylvia and I had to go to the Amazon. Some kind of forest spirit giving the locals trouble. It was horrible. Do you know how big the mosquitos get in the Amazon?”
He made a fist, then stuck his finger out one end like an enormous proboscis. “They’re as loud as helicopters, and when you’re sleeping they stick you right in the—”
“Mr. Lambert!” Master Gingham whooshed over, a thick cloud of perfume in her wake. The numerous rings of beads around her neck clacked as she leaned over Demarcus’ star chart. “I see you’ve given Centaurus a second tail. Poetic license, perhaps?”
Demarcus quickly returned to working.
“The mosquitos weren’t that big,” Sylvia told me a couple hours later. She tugged on her bubble-gum pink hair as she, Jen, and I tried to feed one of the baby gargoyles in Beastology. For some reason, creatures made of stone didn’t like eating rocks. Weird, I know.
“And Demarcus’ snoring was the loudest thing out there,” Sylvia added. She ducked as the baby gargoyle let out a wail and hurled a rock as big as my foot just past my head. I hurriedly grabbed some limestone, thinking he’d like the texture more. I handed it to Jen who immediately began using her water sprite powers to cut it into smaller pieces. Her blue-tinted skin shimmered as her hand flashed and the rock fell into multiple pieces. She handed them to Sylvia who—shockingly—still had trouble forcing the little guy to eat it.
“Where we were staying didn’t help, either,” Sylvia went on. “I’m all for camping, but we’re talking roughing it. Nothing but trees, trees, trees. Though…” she paused, thinking, which I thought wasn’t the smartest thing to do considering the baby gargoyle’s stone wings whipping around us “…there was this weird house. Like, a mansion, just smack in the middle of the forest. Demarcus didn’t see it, but I swear it was there.”
I nearly dropped the rocks on my foot.
“It has to be connected,” I told Mia later when we left the medical wing after Beastology. Sylvia, Jen, and I had let Mrs. Rochester, the druid nurse, fuss over our not-so-impressive cuts the gargoyles had given us until she was satisfied we wouldn’t bleed out. “This random house appearing in all these different places? It can’t be a coincidence.”
“Asher said it was pockets of magic, like you saw in the cavern, right?” Mia said.
“Maybe…”
But maybe it was more than that. Maybe this house, this person, this whatever, was appearing wherever we did. But why? And what was in it?
And probably most important: what did it mean?
That’s what I was going to find out. At least, that’s what Asher seemed to think.
Mia and I met up with him and Colson outside Master Deltroy’s classroom. My eyes lingered on Colson for just a fraction longer than normal. He looked…like regular old Colson. No sour expression, no grunting. At least no more than usual. He smiled at the both of us and I almost believed that what I’d seen earlier had to be some kind of weird Colson from an alternate dimension.
“Good to see you, Skylar,” he said, his low voice rumbling the floor beneath my feet.
“Good to see you too,” I said. I continued to ignore my earlier concern and acted like everything was normal. If he wanted to talk about it, he would.
“Why did we need to speak to Master Deltroy again?” Mia said.
“He’s a whiz at history.” Asher pushed open the door and led us inside. “Plus, he knows tons about some of the more obscure elements of magic.”
“Like houses that randomly appear and disappear?” I said.
“Exactly.”
Master Deltroy’s classroom was kind of what I’d expected a history buff’s lair to look like. Replica shields, swords, and spears (at least, I assumed they were replica) were tacked along the walls. Unfurled maps lay strewn across the floor outside of rows of tightly crammed desks. In one corner was an entire set of Roman Centurion armor which I really hoped was for display only.
“Master Deltroy?” Asher brushed aside a clay model of the Trojan horse with his foot. “It’s Asher Dunadine. I was hoping we could ask you something.”
“Back here!”
I spied a squat man hovering behind a stack of open books. He flitted from one to the next, eyes magnified ten-fold behind his glasses. “Come in, come in! This isn’t office hours, but I’ll make an exception for my best student!”
I resisted rolling my eyes as Asher gave him a glowing grin. Yeah, yeah, so Asher was still technically number one in our class. The golden child, if you will. Not that I was still jealous or anything.
Master Deltroy finally looked up at us. It took his eyes a moment to refocus. “Ah, so many students! Excellent! What is it I can help you with?”
Asher and Colson looked at Mia and me. I took an involuntary step back. “What?”
“You two are the only ones who actually saw it,” Colson said.
“Saw what?” Master Deltroy said.
I took a deep breath, then jumped into recalling as much as I could about the house. Mia added a few details of her own, but between the two of us there hadn’t been much variance. Or much to go off of.
Master Deltroy was frowning slightly when we finished. “I was wondering when someone would come in to ask. I’ve heard quite a few rumors that it’s started showing up again.”
Again?
“But what is it?” I asked, my impatience getting the best of me.
“Ah! It’s what I’ve been looking into.” Master Deltroy turned one of the books around so that we were looking at an illustration of a very familiar-looking house. I could even make out a small, nearly indistinguishable figure sketched in one of the windows. “It’s known as the Cursed One. An ancient evil the Fae locked away on another plane long ago. But if you’re starting to see it now, their charms must be wearing off as they did hundreds of years ago.”
“The Cursed One?” Mia peered closer at the book. “That’s a pretty ominous name. What’s so evil about it?”
“My dear.” Master Deltroy’s voice turned grave. “If the wrong person were to find the Cursed One, if people like those in the Society of the Fallen Star got ahold of it, I believe they could end us all.”