It’s amazing what some people will believe. And by some people, I mean the Norms.
Like how an ‘unexplained’ fire burned through part of the Ravenswood Generating Station and how there was absolutely nothing fishy at all about it. Except that a power plant had randomly caught fire and no one seemed to have any explanation for it. The only real issue was that a chunk of New York lost power.
But I suppose life waits for no one. Not even spontaneously combusting public facilities.
Beside me, Mia suppressed a giggle. I followed where she was looking to see Colson slouching his way toward us across Remembrance Hall. More than a couple students eating lunch around us stopped chewing to gawk. And not just at how grouchy he appeared. In the wake of our second little escapade out of the Academy, we’d become somewhat minor celebrities among other students. Master Lipstuck would technically classify us as “bad influences”, but hey, to each their own. At least we weren’t getting punished since technically running for our lives wasn’t against the rules.
“What are you laughing at?” Colson said when he reached us.
“Nothing.” Mia’s innocent face had gotten so much worse at being innocent. “It just looked like you were having trouble getting to Miranda.”
Colson grouched deeper, though the corners of his mouth twitched. “She’s too popular.”
That was an understatement. Once we’d returned to the Academy and the situation had been explained to Lucien, Miranda had pretty much become our in-house mascot. Whatever adorable, magnetic appeal that’d affected the four of us had swept through the rest of the students like wildfire, leaving her with a personal entourage pretty much wherever she went. Like during lunch. You could easily tell where Miranda was sitting based on the cluster of people around her.
“You could always sit with us,” I said, patting the grass beside me. “We’re not as cool, but…”
“Thanks, but I can’t.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “Got a meeting.”
“Is it…” Mia lowered her voice, though there was nobody close by who would overhear, “is it with Brune?”
Colson gave a jerky nod.
The other thing that’d happened once things had calmed down was that Colson decided to tell the others about his issue, including Lucien. It wasn’t long before Lucien had gotten in touch with my grandpa Brune. He knew Brune would be able to help with control over his giant side, but we all agreed it was best to keep the specifics of why Colson was meeting with him under wraps. We might have understood what he was dealing with, but with half giants and giants having so much sour history amongst the rest of the Supes, there was no reason to start any false rumors.
“Headmaster Lucien’s making me take extra lessons with Master Vencroft,” Colson said, voice tinged with a hint of disgust. “Supe 101, can you believe it? It’s embarrassing.”
“You’re going to do it,” Mia insisted. I noticed her hands were clenched in her lap. She’d been extra prickly about Colson’s condition. She’d known there’d been something wrong, but not the specifics. The fact that he hadn’t told her had only upset her more.
Colson gave a solemn nod at her fierce expression. “I’m going to do it.”
“Without complaining?”
“Without complaining.”
“And with a big smile!”
“Don’t push it.”
Mia’s cheeks puffed in annoyance, which only served to make her look like a slightly agitated, adorable pufferfish.
“Anyway.” Colson rubbed the back of his neck, not looking at Mia. “See you guys soon.”
He walked off. Mia let out another huff and I let her stew. Colson was getting help and he’d told her without any prodding from me. That was the best I could hope for right now.
We finished our lunches and went to extract Miranda from her groupies.
“Skylar!” Miranda squealed with delight when she saw us. “Mia!”
I was briefly knocked off balance as she leapt up and latched onto my legs like a starfish. “Did you already eat? Would you like some lunch? There’s so much good food here and everyone’s so nice and—”
“I’m afraid we have to go back,” I said. “Mrs. Rochester wants to make sure you’re still doing okay.”
“Aww…” Miranda’s face fell. I was pretty sure a couple of the students were also giving me dirty looks, like it was my fault we wanted to keep her happy and healthy.
“Let’s go.” I about-faced and managed to detach Miranda enough so she could walk. Miranda happily bounced between us, taking turns hanging off our arms.
Lucien had been the most surprised to discover Miranda was the Cursed One. I’d rarely seen eyebrows raise that high. But once over the initial shock, he’d gotten straight to work setting up a temporary bed for her in the medical wing and assigning Mrs. Rochester to monitor her practically twenty-four/seven. Knowing Mrs. Rochester’s usual clientele, I was sure she enjoyed taking care of someone who wasn’t covered in rupturing boils or wounds inflicted by magical creatures.
“…and then Colson said when he’s got time he’s going to let me taste something called ice cream, and then Mrs. Roche—Rocher—the nice nurse lady, said that when she’s done making sure I’m okay I’m going to get my own room, and then—”
I looked down as Miranda stopped swinging. She was staring ahead, her eyes growing wide. Lucien had emerged from the stairway that led to his office, Headmaster Wendell at his side.
Mia and I immediately formed a defensive front. “Stay behind us, Miranda,” Mia said firmly.
The two headmasters caught sight of us. Wendell’s red eyes immediately focused on Miranda peeking between our legs. For a moment it appeared as though he wanted to come over, but at the last second simply gave a jerky nod and excused himself. Both Mia and I waited until we were absolutely sure he was gone before we joined Lucien.
“Now, now, none of that,” Lucien chastised. “I completely understand your reluctance, but I assure you things are peachy keen once again.” He gave us a chagrined smile. “At least, as good as they can be considering the circumstances.”
“Lucien, I know we told you what happened, but I promise anything he might have said—”
Lucien gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder while nearly blinding me with his usual smile. “Wendell and I have come to an understanding. And I take full responsibility for not making him more aware of the situation beforehand. As well as not making you all more aware of how…er, passionate he can be about protecting his students and Academy.”
“Is that what you call it, passion?” Mia muttered.
Lucien let out a mirthless chuckle. “I’ll admit, Wendell is still a bit sore about the entire thing, but we’re still on good terms.” He knelt so that he was eye level with Miranda. She didn’t shy away from him at all, but instead rushed forward to give him a big hug. I didn’t know if it was because she knew he was the reason she was being allowed to stay at the Academy, or that Lucien had one of the most likeable faces ever.
“You don’t have to worry about him, Miranda,” Lucien said, holding her tight. “And I want you to know that everyone in this Academy will do everything they can to make you safe. You can trust me on that.”
“I will!” Miranda said, giving a fervent nod.
“Excellent! Why don’t you and Mia go play for a bit while Skylar and I chat.”
Mia gave me a look that said Chat? I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that, either.
“I’ll tell you everything, I promise,” I said.
“Of course she will!” Lucien said. “Why do you suppose I don’t bother telling her to keep anything just between us?”
Mia walked with Miranda down the hall, swinging her around every so often. Miranda’s squeals of delight made me happier than I could say. I noticed Lucien watching them sadly.
“She’s not safe here,” he said.
I looked sharply at him. “But you just said—”
“Don’t get me wrong, she’s safe enough. Our Academy is arguably the safest place she could be. But even safe, she is still a potentially powerful weapon. I don’t agree with how Wendell handled things, but I do understand his fear. Even inside these walls, there’s only so much we can do to prevent others from trying to reach her.”
An undercurrent of uneasiness gripped me. It was similar to how I’d felt back when Kasia had first attacked us and I believed someone from the Academy might have been helping her. The idea that someone within the walls of my home might want to hurt Miranda was horrible to imagine. “Lucien, you don’t think…nobody at the Academy would ever…?”
“I don’t believe so. But it’s a risk. We all must remain vigilant while Miranda stays here. We might even teach her to defend herself. Though whether teaching a being of pure innocence anything violent is possible…Or whether she even ages…” He sighed before another smile broke across his face. “There’s just so much we don’t know! So many mysteries still surrounding her. It’s terrifying and confounding and wonderful!”
I was pretty sure it was only the terrifying part, but Lucien often had a very different point of view on things most normal people would find troublesome.
“Our biggest threat against her now lies elsewhere,” Lucien said.
“The Fae.”
“The Fae,” Lucien agreed. “Soon both the Day and Night Court will be on their way back from whichever realm they’ve stayed these past months. I’m sure when they learn that Miranda’s not where she’s supposed to be, one of their first stops will be here.”
“Well they can’t have her,” I said fiercely.
“We may not have that choice.”
My jaw dropped. “Lucien, you can’t seriously think we’re going to give her to them! They were the ones who trapped her in the first place!”
“Perhaps for the right reasons. We don’t know.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We hadn’t just gone through all the trouble of ferrying Miranda away from Kasia’s clutches, fighting off friend and foe, getting slobbered on by a dragon, and nearly dying more times than was in my weekly quota just so we could bring her back here all nice and safe to hand her off to the Fae. The Fae, who had started this whole thing in the first place. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right!
Lucien must have noticed my angry expression, but per usual he merely gave me a knowing smile. “For the record, Skylar, I agree with you. The Fae had their reasons for locking Miranda away, but it’s clear things have changed forever.”
They had. Not just with finding Miranda, but also with what I’d learned about Kasia. I hadn’t dwelled on the vision I’d seen in the factory. Mulling over it when I couldn’t get any straight answers was only going to give me a stomachache.
“Is my mom still away?” I said.
“Unfortunately, yes, and will be for a while yet. Some job involving a particularly ornery lake monster in Montenegro, and a goblin uprising in Albania. She didn’t fill me in with all the details. I’m sure she’ll be delighted to hear how much excitement you’ve had under my watch. Again.”
Excitement. Right…
“When we ran into Kasia…” I said, choosing my words carefully, half of me still unsure whether I should be telling Lucien this at all. “She showed me something.”
“Kasia is a master manipulator and someone who would gladly use any means to get what she wants,” Lucien said sternly.
His immediate defense didn’t reassure me. “I learned she had children. A family. She said…she said my mom killed them.”
I waited for Lucien to deny it. Instead, he was watching Mia and Miranda as they continued playing, hands clasped behind his back.
“Lucien…”
“She may have,” he said softly, and a sickening feeling settled in me. “Skylar, I’m not sure exactly what Kasia showed you—”
“Enough. And if half of what she claims is true then my mom—”
“Has always done the best she could and never, ever, tried to hurt anyone in the process.”
“That doesn’t mean she didn’t.”
“There are two sides to every story, Skylar. You know that. And each side has their own motives and ways to twist the truth. I suggest you wait until you can ask your mother.”
“Believe me, I will.” It wasn’t that I wanted to believe my mom had done something like that. I knew as well as anyone that Kasia could have easily tricked me just like she did everyone. I knew, at least I really hoped I did, that my mom wasn’t the kind of person Kasia made her out to be.
But for the first time in my life I wasn’t sure. There were parts of my mom’s past—both my parents’ past—I knew they kept from me. Maybe for my safety, maybe for their peace of mind, or because, like my mom had told me the last time she’d visited, she hadn’t thought I needed to know. But they were secrets all the same. I could try to pretend that this one was just like all the rest. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off.
“In the meantime,” Lucien said. “Let’s try to get things back to normal.” I jumped as he gave a boisterous laugh. “Who am I kidding? Nothing’s ever normal around here! But you do have to go back to class!”
And with that, he swept around and took the stairs back up to his office, leaving me to shake my head in disbelief. Seemed some things never changed.
Asher was waiting for me in the hallway outside Metal Works. I stopped when I saw him and quickly checked myself over. Metal Works had never been my strongest subject, and skipping the last week or so (again) hadn’t exactly helped my skills. I smelled slightly burned. I was pretty sure I had iron shavings in my hair.
I slowed as I brushed my hands down my robe for the fourth time. Why was I worried about how I looked? Asher had seen me bloody and tired and singed and pretty much every time I looked as bad as I possibly could. It hadn’t bothered him then. I was sure it wouldn’t bother him now.
A group of girls gave him dazzling smiles as they passed. Asher grinned back, sending them into a fit of giggles. He pounded fists with a group of guys. I waited until they were done before I approached. “Should I get in line?”
Asher turned slowly to me. He smirked, a look that for some reason gave me an irregular heartbeat. I shrugged nonchalantly, hoping my face wasn’t flushed. “I mean, it looks like you have a system here. I wouldn’t want to mess that up.”
“I’d say you have a VIP pass,” Asher said.
My skin tingled as his smile widened. He’d cleaned up since the trip. His golden hair was back to being practically perfect from any angle, his tanned skin not marred by cuts and bruises. Despite my earlier unconcern toward my appearance, I tried to inconspicuously tug at a stray strand of hair. A few more iron shavings fell out.
“I thought you had Paranormal politics,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve got time. I wanted…” His grin seemed strained now.
I frowned. “You okay?”
“No. Yes. Yeah, I’m good. I just…I wanted to ask you something, actually.” The last bit came out a little rushed.
“Something like…what?”
Asher looked around. Most of the students had cleared out for their next class. Before I could get a straight answer, he took my arm and gently pulled me over to a small alcove. Okay, now he was seriously acting weird. What was with him? Barely anything shook the guy in a normal situation.
“Is it Miranda?” I said, worried now. “Is Colson okay? Did Mia tell you—”
Asher held up a hand. “I wanted to see if you…wanted to go out. Like, tonight.”
My skin was practically buzzing now. I wasn’t sure I’d heard right. Asher cocked his head when I didn’t answer. He fidgeted. His nervousness seemed more out of place than the question he’d just asked.
“Like, with Mia and Colson? I said.
“No.”
“You mean just us…Like a date?”
“I mean, yeah. If you want it to be.”
“Do you want it to be?”
“Of course. Absolutely,” he added firmly.
My heart was pounding a million miles an hour. There was something about seeing him so off his usual game, so different than his usual poised attitude that was…cute. I couldn’t help grinning. “You seem a little nervous. And here I thought you were super smooth with all your girlfriends.”
Some of the usual devilish glint returned to his eye. “None of them were you. So what do you say?”
Say? I wanted to blurt out yes, of course! I mean, I wanted this, right? We’d almost kissed a couple times. He kept me on my toes more than anyone else. He was my partner for Supes’ sake. I wanted him as that. But I also wanted him as more. I think a small part of me had always wanted him as more.
But something held my tongue. Asher was asking the Skylar he thought he knew. The one who hadn’t told him the entire truth. It wasn’t fair that he only got to see part of who I was.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
I internally winced the moment the words left my mouth. That hadn’t come out the way I’d wanted it. Way to deliver the line that would send most guys screaming, Skylar.
But Asher simply held his ground, waiting for me to say what I needed to.
I spilled everything about the Dark Prince. When it’d started, what he did, how I’d spoken to him, how Kasia had given him to me. Asher listened silently the entire time, only occasionally nodding to coax me to go on. Pouring out the secret was like releasing a long-pent-up breath that’d been painfully pressing against my lungs.
“…and I’ve wanted to tell you for a while but I was scared and I still don’t know what to do, but I knew it wasn’t fair to you and…yeah.” I let out another breath. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before—or Mia and Colson—but especially you because you’re my partner and we should trust one another and I do trust you, it’s just this whole thing has been so crazy I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do but—.”
“I knew.”
I gawked at him. Say what now? “You knew? How?”
“Well, I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I had an idea there was something darker you were struggling with. Call it a hunch.” He shrugged. “Well, more than that. I know you’re an incredible fighter, and your magic is strong, but that manticore I found you beside in the caverns? I could tell you’d beaten it yourself, not stumbled across it. And you managed to hold off Kasia, one of the strongest Supes I think anyone’s ever faced not once, but twice. You’re good...” He grinned. “But not that good.”
“But…” I blustered, temporarily at a loss for words. “If you knew, why didn’t you say something? You could have told your dad or one of the Masters. I could be a danger to everyone!”
“Skylar.” Asher’s warm hand cupped my face. His eyes pinned me with an intoxicating ferocity. “Whatever this thing is, it doesn’t own you. I know you’d never purposefully hurt one of us. I don’t think we should let the Masters know just yet; they might not see it the same way. But we can try to get you some help, just like Colson’s getting help for his problem.”
“Kasia said she could help.”
Asher chuckled darkly. “Maybe someone other than a psychopath.”
“But if you knew, then why not call me out…?”
“I wanted you to tell me when you were ready. I wanted you to trust me enough.”
“I do trust you.”
“I’m glad. And I want you to know I’m here for you. We can figure this thing out. Together.”
Together. Just thinking it was enough to quell my anxiety. No longer did I have to handle this thing alone. Maybe in time I could even tell Mia and Colson. They deserved to know, too. Especially after Colson had divulged what he’d been struggling with.
I noticed Asher was smiling again. “What?”
“It’s nothing.”
I gave him a playful shove. “What?”
“To be honest…I was actually worried you were going to tell me you were seeing someone else.”
“Oh, so you’re saying that learning I have a curse embedded inside me is a relief?”
“Objectively, yes? And Skylar, I mean it: I’ll be by your side through it, curses and all.”
Just the words I wanted to hear.
So this was weird.
Not the whole actually-going-on-a-date-with-Asher thing, though my heart was still throwing a party about that. I mean, it was kind of weird that we both lived in the same room and were still getting ready like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. I hadn’t felt this excited—this jittery and nervous and a total wreck—in a while. My dating record at the Academy wasn’t abysmal, but…let’s just say if you’re looking for long-term relationship material, a school full of teenagers with varying levels of magical powers wasn’t the best place to start.
I’d thrown about ten potential things to wear on the bed and had finally settled on something simple-ish: a cable-knit sweater with jeans to match, and boots that were warm enough to tromp through the snow that’d begun to fall in just the last couple hours. I wished Mia was here to give me the final thumbs up of approval, but I hadn’t seen her since she’d dropped Miranda off at her room.
“Okay…” I smoothed the sweater over, making sure the turtleneck collar didn’t cover the bottom half of my face. With this I’d only have to wear a light jacket instead of bundling up like we were going to the arctic. Now all I had to worry about was if he’d think I looked cute.
It’s Asher, I firmly reminded myself. Not a stranger, not an acquaintance, but the boy who knew me better than almost anyone. The guy who held my darkest secret and accepted me without a hitch. I felt warm all over thinking about the way he’d listened carefully to what I had to say; his deep, assuring tone when he’d told me that he’d help, no matter what, that it didn’t matter what I was struggling with…
I shook myself out of my daydream. What was I doing? That’d only been a couple hours ago. Looking cute? Pining after him? This wasn’t my first crush. I’d fought monsters and wielded a sword on a daily basis. This was nothing. Nothing at all!
I still checked myself three times in the mirror before I left.
Asher was waiting for me outside our room. The moment I saw him I stopped, the reality of what we were doing truly hitting me. Could I go through with this? I wanted to, really I did. But this wasn’t something we could take back. If this didn’t work out, I wasn’t sure we could ever return to the way things had been between us. We were friends and we were partners, and we were comfortable with that and knew each other so well in those roles. But this…this stepped beyond it. This was taking a risk that hadn’t completely settled in until this very moment.
Then Asher saw me. His eyes lit up, mouth going just the littlest bit slack. “You look…wow…”
And all my jangly nerves went poof!
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should.” When I reached him he slipped a warm, jacket-bulked arm through mine like it was nothing. As though it’d always been like this. He smelled of sharp spice and deep earth and charged, unbridled energy, if that sort of thing came packaged in a cologne fragrance. “I’m loving the earrings.”
I involuntarily touched one, a gift from Mia a few birthdays ago: a couple of crossed swords blazing with magic.
“Thanks.” Compliment him. Compliment him. “I, uh, like your…face.”
Had I seriously just said that?
Asher’s deep laugh sent a few heads turning. I wanted to drop my eyes, ignore their curious stares, but I forced my chin high.
“I’m glad you like my face. Hopefully you like it even better when it’s not bruised or cut open.”
“That’s debatable.”
We strode to the entrance of the Academy, my legs still feeling wobbly, my heart pounding. I repeated a mantra in my head: This is natural, this is totally normal. The stares didn’t matter, the few dirty looks from some of the other girls didn’t matter. This is Asher and me. Nothing to see here. Just two friends—no, two…
“Asher! Skylar!”
Colson came running up. He was uncharacteristically out of breath, broad shoulders heaving up and down. His eyes swooped over the both of us, lingering for a millisecond on our locked arms. “Headmaster Lucien said he needs to see us. All of us.”
“It can’t wait?” Asher said. “We’re kind of busy.”
Colson shook his head. “Said it’s important.”
“It’s fine,” I told Asher. “We’ll go out after we talk to him.”
Asher nodded, though I could tell he was a bit irked.
“You had a whole thing planned out, didn’t you?” I said slyly.
“Maybe…”
“Have you seen Mia?” Colson said as the three of us hurried up to Lucien’s office. “I went to our room but she wasn’t there.”
“I haven’t seen her since this morning,” Asher said.
And I’d thought at least Colson would have seen her. Where’d she run off to?
I strode into Lucien’s office without knocking. Lucien was sitting at the edge of his desk, a small piece of paper clutched in his hand.
“We couldn’t find Mia,” Colson said. “Do you know—”
Lucien simply held out the note. “An hour ago I sensed my Farcast portal being used without my permission. I found this nearby. I’m not sure whether it was left intentionally or not.”
I took the note, pulling it close so Asher and Colson could read it.
Your family needs you, Mia. Come home and set things right.
My hands had begun to shake, my insides turning cold. Mia barely talked about her family. They were as powerful and elitist as a Supe family could be, always looking down on her, always thinking she was less than perfect because she’d come to the Academy instead of staying with them. I’d seen her burn the letter she’d said was from her family and thought nothing of it until this very moment. I never believed they’d be dangerous to her.
I’d been wrong.
Colson’s voice was tight when he spoke, “She didn’t…she hasn’t…”
“Where is she?” I demanded. “Did they take her?”
Lucien took an agonizingly long time to shake his head. “No. Apparently she believed she needed to handle this alone.” He looked at all of us. “I’m afraid Mia’s gone.”
Mia is missing, and Skylar will have to trust a terrible enemy. Grab the next book, Enemy of Magic!