Page 39 of Bonds of Magic (Vesperwood Academy: Incubus #3)

CORY

I was still burning with indignation when I met Rekha for another lesson in the library that evening.

“You’re late,” she said when I joined her in the alcove where we normally practiced. “If I’m going to be stuck giving you these lessons for the rest of the semester, you could at least show up on time.”

“Missed you too,” I said, but it was hard to summon up my usual frustration with her superiority complex. I was still too caught up in my own thoughts.

“Just stand over there so we can get started,” she said, pointing to a much-battered bookcase that looked like it might topple over at any minute.

“Sir, yes, sir,” I said with a little salute, moving into position.

“Very cute. A gold star in sarcasm. Your friend must be rubbing off on you.”

“Who, Ash? I guess he’s kind of contagious that way.”

“Why do you hang out with him anyway?” Rekha asked. “And that Felix kid.”

“Because they’re my friends. Isn’t that usually why people hang out?”

“Yeah, but why? You’re a witch. You should be friends with people who’ll have your back.”

“Felix and Ash do have my back,” I said, getting a little angry at her. It was a nice change from being angry at Noah. “They’re there for me when I need it, and I’m there for them.”

“Yeah, but they’re paranormal.”

“So?” I glared at her. “What’s your problem with paranormal people anyway? What did they ever do to you?”

“It’s not about what they did, it’s about what they might do. Statistically speaking, there’s a greater chance of violence from paranormal beings than there is from witches, or even mundane humans.”

“Right. Because you’re the czar of statistics all of a sudden.”

“It’s true. Do you have any idea how vulnerable humanity is to paranormal beings?

None of them are native to this world. Every single one of them came here from someone else, and they take advantage of humans.

Harm them. Kill them. Witches are the only people who can stand in their way and stop them. ”

“Really? What about shifters? What about vampires? I know Vesperwood has some of them, and as far as I know, they didn’t migrate here from the moon.”

“Maybe.” Rekha shrugged. “No one’s really sure where vampirism came from. But once you’re bitten, you’re not a human anymore. You can’t call yourself that while you drink human blood.”

“Aren’t there historical examples of cultures where—”

“And shifters,” she interrupted before I could finish my sentence, “aren’t really human either. Again, no one knows where the first shifters came from, but their biology is different enough from mundane humans to be considered to be separate species.”

“Who gives a shit what their biology is? I don’t care if someone’s technically the same species as me. I care about how they act. How they treat people. And Ash and Felix are nicer than I’ve ever seen you be.”

“I don’t have time to be nice when there are real threats out there.

And I don’t care about your friends being statistical anomalies.

Humanity is in danger. Threats against Earth have been growing, quietly but steadily, for decades now.

It might not look like it, but the world will be at a tipping point soon.

” Her voice had gotten steadily stronger, and now she was looking at me with an intensity that bordered on fanatical.

“All I care about is being the best witch I can be so that I can stand in the breach and help people.”

“Oh, come on,” I scoffed.

Rekha might believe what she was saying, but that didn’t make her right. Besides, where did she get off, acting like she knew so much about what was really happening in the world?

“You make it sound like you’re a thousand years old, tracking these threats. You’re a teenager. Like me. Like all of us. You’re not some battle-scarred war veteran. You don’t get to use that as an excuse to be prejudiced against people who’ve done you no harm.”

“Done me no harm?” Her voice rose an octave.

“Does a vampire clan killing half my town count as doing no harm? Does the war between shifters that claimed my aunt’s life count as no harm?

Does nephilim murdering my father count as no harm ?

Or would you like me to wait another five years to see who else around me dies at the hands of paranormal creatures and get back to you with more evidence? ”

My mouth dropped open. Whatever I’d expected her to say, it wasn’t that.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. And I was. What she’d been through was awful. “I didn’t know.”

“Well, obviously.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to go around bragging about my weaknesses. I’m not giving paranormals any more ammunition to hurt me or the people I love.”

“So why are you telling me?”

“Because I’m trying to convince you that you’re wasting your time.” She sounded almost desperate. “My family has been fighting paranormal threats for generations. We have tracked their growth over time. And we need every witch we can get to protect humanity.”

She crossed her arms and frowned. “Look, maybe your friends are miraculously, improbably innocent and would never dream of hurting humans. Maybe they’re the exceptions that prove the rule.

But a time is going to come when you’re going to have to choose between them and humanity, and I just hope you choose right. ”

I suppressed a shudder. I hadn’t known magic existed before I came to Vesperwood. I had no idea there were years of conflict between witches and paranormal beings. I definitely didn’t want to get caught up in it.

But I was only half human. The other half of me was an incubus. And I knew what Rekha would think about me, if she knew the truth.

It shouldn’t have bothered me. It wasn’t like I wanted to be her friend. She was rude to everyone, but especially mean to my friends. I didn’t care what she thought of me.

Still… What she’d said about her family—about her father—couldn’t help evoking some sympathy. I couldn’t imagine what that would be like, losing so many people you cared about.

At least she grieves for her father , whispered the voice in the back of my mind. At least she’s not glad he’s gone .

“I’m sorry,” I said again, pushing that little voice to the side. “I think you’re wrong about Ash and Felix. I think you’re wrong in general. But I lost my dad when I was young too. I know how much that hurts.”

It was the right thing to say, even if I didn’t actually know what she was going through. Her dad had died in an attack. Mine had died in an accident. And I doubted she felt set free when her dad died.

Rekha nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“So is that why you came to Vesperwood?” I asked. “To recruit people to join your…cause, or whatever?”

“I’m not recruiting people,” she said sharply. “I’m not marshaling an army or anything. But I hate to see potential wasted.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I thought university classes here would be more challenging. But this first year’s been pretty boring—especially now that Erika’s gone.”

“Were you guys friends?” I thought back to the day I saw Rekha, Sean, and Tim talking to Valeria.

“Me and Erika?” Rekha sounded surprised. “Not at all. But she was smart. Now that she’s gone, there’s no one to compete with. It’s boring.”

“Felix is pretty smart,” I couldn’t help pointing out. “If you got to know him better, you might actually like him. At least you’d have someone to spar with.”

“Felix is a nephilim.” She said it like I’d suggested befriending a rabid polar bear. “I still can’t believe the dean let him into this school.”

“Fine, fine.” I raised my hands. “I was only trying to help.”

“Well stop trying. Anyway, Felix is too quiet. You can’t compete with someone who won’t open their mouth.” She glared at me. “None of this matters anyway. We’re supposed to be working on you , not me. Did you sidetrack us on purpose?”

“I wouldn’t call discussing your prejudices ‘ sidetracking .’ I’m pretty sure that’s actually a very important thing to talk about.”

“Disrespectfully, I disagree.” She flashed me a bright smile. “Now close your eyes, stick your hand out, and find your fucking center.”

“Right, because that’s going to help.” I closed my eyes but added, “You ever think I might be able to do this better if you didn’t act quite so much like you think I’m useless.”

“Stop being useless and I’ll stop thinking that,” she retorted. “Now stop talking.”

“I’m just saying, you could stand to work on your bedside manner.”

“And you could stand to work on literally anything . Honestly, I can understand the dean letting Felix in more than I can understand him admitting you. Even if you’re playing catch-up, you should be able to do something by now.”

Rekha’s words stirred the anger in my core that had never really gone away from this morning. The hurt of rejection. The sting of knowing Noah wanted someone else. The humiliation of thinking he and I could ever have anything.

I attempted to clear my mind and ‘ find my fucking center ,’ but it was hard when she kept talking.

“I swear, the standards here are way lower than they should be. First, they have faculty members who should have been put out to pasture ages ago. Then someone breaks through the wards, a student dies, and we still don’t have any answers?

I seriously doubt Erika fell to her death.

But if someone wanted to kill a freshman, did they have to pick the one person in our class who was actually intelligent enough to be interesting? ”

My anger at Rekha’s self-satisfaction and rudeness grew. I felt bad for her, sure, but that didn’t give her an excuse to be so bigoted, or be so convinced she was always right. Had anyone ever challenged her view of the world before?

“And no offense,” she continued, “but I really don’t see why you’re here. If you have any shred of magical ability, I’ve yet to find it. It would be kinder to send you home so you’re not constantly confronted by your failures, you know? I mean, are you even actually a witch?”

Something inside me snapped. Her arrogance, her disdain, her endless opining about how pathetic I was set the fury inside me aflame.

“Maybe I’m fucking not,” I shouted, opening my eyes—only to see a tiny ball of light hovering above my palm.

I stared at it in shock. It was growing larger by the second. Was I really doing this? Was I making it happen? It didn’t make sense.

But I flashed a glance at Rekha, and she seemed as shocked as I was. This wasn’t some kind of trick from her.

“Are you serious?” she said, like I might be tricking her .

Which pissed me off more. The light grew larger still. It was the size of a baseball, then a softball, then a basketball, and holy shit , I was really doing this. It was feeding off my anger. I could feel the energy flowing through me, amplified by my emotions.

The light was beachball-sized now, and I was starting to freak out. Not just that I’d made it happen, but that I didn’t know how to make it stop.

“What do I do?” I asked Rekha.

“Turn it off,” she said, her voice high-pitched. The light was two feet in diameter now. “Just will it to stop.”

How did I do that, though? Stop , I commanded the light internally. I tried to direct the thought to the place inside me where I felt magic flowing through like a current. But nothing happened. Stop. Stop.

“Stop!” I yelled out loud, and the light exploded, sending sparks shooting through the air.

The sparks reached me, then Rekha, then the bookcases all around us, the ceiling and the carpet.

They burned as they touched my skin, hot enough that I looked for scorch marks.

I didn’t see any, though, and when the sparks disappeared, all I saw were a few singe marks on the spines of the books around us.

The alcove seemed even dimmer in their absence. I stared at Rekha in surprise, and her face mirrored the feeling right back at me.

She blinked and said in disbelief, “Maybe you’re not so useless after all.”