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63

Summer

S he’s there, right in front of me. Her head is artfully tilted to the side, blood-soaked dark brown hair matted to her scalp. Her face is pale, and her eyes are gone, leaving dark pits in her face. The corners of her mouth have been pulled up, gruesomely stitched into an eternal smile. It’s the smile of death. The smile of pain. The smile of torture.

I reach for her, hoping to help her, but when I lift my arm, I see my own blood. It’s warm and thick against my cool skin. The pain explodes within me the second I see the wounds. Someone has carved the mark of Nimue into both my arms.

Movement from the desk catches my attention, but I can barely see. My eyes are blurred with tears? Blood? Who knows?

“You’re next,” a child’s voice whispers in my ear, followed by the most bone-chilling laugh I’ve ever heard.

I blink my eyes open. My body still feels numb and useless, nothing but a void. The mud beneath me is still cold. That girl will feel this forever, nothing but the cold, hard earth pressing down on her.

The sun has disappeared behind gray clouds, and a low fog hovers around me. The necklace pulses again, a little stronger than before, and I shiver as the fog becomes thicker, higher, and more menacing, creating a shroud where horrors can hide. I sit up a little and reach forward, moving my hand through it. I expect the mist to part for me and break beneath my hand, but it doesn’t. Instead, it clings to my skin and slithers past my wrist, curling up my arm like a serpent.

I yank my hand back and look down at my arm. There is a slight red mark where the fog held me, but I barely felt it. I shift, intending to stand and get the hell out of the forest, but the fog has wrapped around my ankles. I try to pull away, but this time it feels more solid. It still looks like fog, but it feels like something more tangible. The pendant pulses deeper, alerting me to the danger, but there is nothing I can do.

The fog snakes up my calves like ghostly tentacles, and I scream, struggling against its hold. When it gets to my hips, I twist, reaching for a tree, hoping to pull myself from its grip, but its grip on me is relentless.

Fuck. Fuck, what do I do?

I scream again, clawing at the ground when it starts to pull me deeper into the forest. Mud flies everywhere, and I try to struggle, but I can’t move my legs. I feel paralyzed from the waist down. The fog moves up my stomach and slithers around my chest, squeezing so hard it forces all the air from my lungs. It continues up my body until I can’t see or hear anything, and there is only darkness.

Suddenly, a bright light penetrates the fog, and an instant later, I am freed from its grasp. I look up at the trees, gulping down air. A violet-eyed fae pops her head into my line of sight, her chest also heaving.

“Are you all right?” she asks, tilting her head.

I press my hand over my pounding heart, trying to calm my panic. The fae stares down at me with wide purple eyes, waiting for a response. She tilts her head the other way and brushes her hand over her shaved platinum hair.

I sit up, looking around. “Fuck.”

“You good?” she asks, crouching in front of me.

I nod and slowly stand up. My muscles ache, and I can feel hundreds of deep wounds all over my body. I look down, assessing the damage. My uniform is covered in mud and holes. My skin is bloody, muddy, and bruised, but all in all, I’m in one piece.

“Thank you.” I force a smile for the fae woman. She rose with me, but now she is just standing there staring at me. My power objects to her proximity, but my reactions seem to lessen the more I’m around them. It’s now more of an awareness.

“You know, they frown on students wandering this deep into the woods,” she says, moving in a little closer, trying to brush some of the dirt off my arms.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say, stepping back, her touch making my stomach turn. My powers may not be objecting as much, but I am still uncomfortable being this close to another fae.

She smiles at me a little too brightly. “I’m Aqua.”

I nod. “Well, Aqua, we should get out of here. Talk to the headmaster.”

Aqua nods. “Absolutely. Wild magic is not a good omen.” She moves in closer and looks around dramatically before dropping her voice. “It’s a sign of the return of Darias, you know.”

I clear my throat, resisting the urge to take another step back. “Right.” I’d read a little about this. There is a cult of immortals who believe in a higher power figure called Darias. Supposedly, wild magic is a sign of his existence, but this didn’t feel like wild magic. This felt like… something else. Besides, there are bigger monsters out there.

We trudge through the forest, the thickets and bushes brushing painfully over my ruined skin. For some reason, I am barely healing. We don’t talk while we walk, which I’m thankful for, though Aqua hums an odd song.

The building is empty. It looks like the headmaster canceled classes due to the… event earlier. I don’t even glance at Aqua as I knock on the headmaster’s door.

“Enter.”

I step into his office for the second time today, again with bad news, and I’m aware of how fucking awful I look. My wounds still haven’t started to heal, probably thanks to whatever magic imbued that fog, and every one of them is burning and throbbing.

The headmaster is up and around his desk the second he sees me. “What happened?”

“I was… attacked,” I say, glancing at Aqua.

She nods, stepping forward. “Wild magic, headmaster. In the form of carnivorous fog.” She shrugs animatedly. “I heard her scream.”

“You’re dismissed,” the headmaster says abruptly. “Well done for your quick thinking,” he adds. I wouldn’t say there is warmth in his voice, but there is definitely a tone of relief that he didn’t lose two of his students in one day.

Aqua nods, and I feel her look at me before she leaves his office. I turn to follow, unsure what else I can add, given I was being consumed by the carnivorous fog and unable to see or hear when it was happening.

“Not you, Miss Tuatha De Daanan.” He clears his throat. “I apologize.”

Confusion furrows my brow. “Sir?”

“I was unfair earlier. I have looked in the face of death many times, and I have learned to compartmentalize. It is a skill that needs to be honed.”

I blink, stunned at his apology.

“I should have sealed the door so you could not follow this morning. I know you have a penchant for being where you are not supposed to be.” He gestures to one of his chairs and waits for me to sit down before looking over my wounds. “Wild magic?”

“Apparently, sir. But I’m not convinced.”

He nods, his expression tight as he waves his hand over a particularly deep wound on my leg. “Why were you so deep in the forest?”

I push away the memories and swallow down the lump of emotion. “I needed space.”

His eyes turn hard. “You are aware someone is toying with you?”

“Yes, sir,” I say, looking away.

“Why do you do that?” He waits until I lock my gaze with his. “Pretend to be meek. Is it because that’s what you believe others expect?”

“I’m never what people expect.” Or what they want.

“Hm.” He looks back at my wounds. “Wild magic will take longer to heal. I have a salve, but it will only help with the pain.”

“So you think it was wild magic, sir?”

“I think that wild magic has the potential to be controlled. So, yes, I do believe it was wild magic. However, I don’t believe it was a random attack.” I nod. “Did the necklace alert you to the danger?” he asks.

I nod. “Yes, but too late, sir.”

“Hmm,” he says but doesn’t pursue it. “Shall I summon Miss Legosi or Mister Morningstar?”

“My phone. I must have dropped it.” I look around as if it will suddenly appear.

The headmaster holds out his hand, and my phone appears on his palm. It’s cracked and a little worse for wear, but it’s still working. I unlock it and see all the missed calls and texts.

I’m about to call Connor when I look at the headmaster. “Does everyone know? About?—”

“Lucia,” he finishes. “No. Only Miss Legosi, myself, you, and the authorities. Though I assume the students have guessed something is going on.” He looks at my many cuts. “While you won’t be able to hide these, I would appreciate your discretion.”

I nod.

“The authorities are going to want to speak with you. They very well might wipe your mind after. I have been very strict about them speaking to students without my presence, but with a second murder, I will lose some control over the situation.”

I frown. “Surely, the news of her murder will need to be circulated. I need to remember, sir.”

“You are underestimating their authority. They are not bound by mortal laws. If they want something to be secret, they will do whatever it takes to ensure that happens.” He tilts his head. “Why would you want to remember what you saw?”

“She deserves to be remembered. Plus, I need to know what’s coming if they are after me. No detail is too small, right, sir?”

He nods. “Study the book I gave you, Miss Tuatha De Daanan.”

My phone rings again, and I glance at it, seeing Connor’s face on the screen.

“Thank you again, sir.”

He nods and walks around his desk. He sits down behind it and continues with his work. I leave his office before answering the phone.