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MEGAN

E ver since he’d come back from the Healer’s rooms, Avery was acting…off. I don’t know how else to say it. At first I put it down to his recent magical injury and missing Saint, who was still in the Sky Lands.

Ari had tried to go and get him twice, but every time some one else had been out on the athletic field and he hadn’t dared to Shift into his Drake so he could fly.

He was going to try again that night and if the field was occupied again, he was going to say that his father had called for him and he had to return to the Sky Lands for a while.

That would mean missing some classes, but we were all getting worried about Saint.

But that morning, I started worrying about Avery too.

We were sitting in the Dining Hall when he strolled over, carrying a cup of coffee, which was his usual breakfast. He sat down with us at the Norm Table—which was inaccurately named, now that none of us were Norms anymore—as usual.

But then I noticed something odd—his coffee was black.

Normally, Avery takes his coffee with so much cream and sugar it’s practically blond, so I raised my eyebrows as I watched him take a sip of the bitter black brew.

“Were they out of cream and sugar or something?” I asked.

“Yeah, Avery—I’ve never seen you drink your coffee plain like that,” Emma remarked. She was sitting to one side of me with Bran and Lachlan beside her and Kaitlyn and Ari were across from me.

“Cream and sugar?” Avery scoffed. “That’s not very manly. I like it black—puts hair on your chest.” And he thumped his own chest and took another sip.

Kaitlyn frowned.

“Since when do you want hair on your chest? I thought you said hairy men are gross.”

“Now why should we talk about my chest when we could talk about yours instead, sweetheart?” As he spoke, Avery stared pointedly at her breasts.

Kaitlyn gave him a confused look.

“My chest? What are you talking about?” She looked down at herself. “Did I spill something on my uniform shirt?”

“No, baby—that’s not what I’m talking about,” Avery growled. “Just saying I like the way your tits look in that top.”

We all stared at him.

“Avery, if that’s a joke it isn’t very funny,” I said, frowning.

“Who says I’m joking?” he asked, leering at me. “I’m sitting at a table with three gorgeous females—can’t I look a little?” And then he was staring at my breasts!

I honestly didn’t know what to say. I would have thought he was teasing Emma and Kaitlyn and me, but that wasn’t the way Avery teased.

And he’d never stared at any of us in a sexual way—which was what he was doing now.

His eyes on my chest actually made me uncomfortable enough to put a hand over the tiny hint of cleavage that was showing at the top of my uniform shirt.

Griffon, who had come to sit on my other side, noticed Avery leering and frowned at him.

“Is there a problem here? Why are you looking at my Blood-bonded mate that way?” he asked.

“Don’t worry—I know she’s taken. I won’t touch—I just like to look,” Avery told him. “Though of course, Emma’s tits are nicer,” he added and began eyeing her in a way that made both Bran and Lachlan bristle.

“Avery, if this has something to do with us not bringing Saint back yet, Ari has tried to go get him twice ,” Kaitlyn said. She looked as confused as I felt. Why was our coven mate acting like this?

“Why should I care if you bring him back or not?” Avery demanded, frowning. “He’s just my roommate. Who cares if he decides to stay in the Sky Lands?”

“Just your roommate?” I exclaimed. “Avery, he’s your boyfriend . I mean, you’re wearing his Mark!” Then I looked more closely at his forehead and gasped. The soft, glimmering Mark that had hovered like a tiny star between his eyes ever since he and Saint had Blood-Marked each other was gone!

Emma and Kaitlyn seemed to notice at the same time.

“Avery, where is Saint’s Mark?” Kaitlyn demanded.

“Did you hide it somehow?” Emma asked, looking puzzled. “Maybe so the other Drakes don’t bother you while Saint isn’t here?”

“Hide it? Hell no—I got rid of it!” Avery declared. “I’m not wearing another male’s Mark on my forehead! What do you think I am, some kind of fag?”

All three of us gasped at the same time.

“Avery, that’s hate-speech! How can you say that?” I exclaimed.

“And last time I looked you are gay,” Emma pointed out.

Avery glared at her.

“No I’m fucking not!” he growled. “And I’m not staying at this fucking school anymore where I’m the only Warlock either.”

“Avery, what are you talking about?” I asked, really confused now. “You’ve never identified as a Warlock before.”

“Well I do now,” he said flatly.

“But…you’re leaving Nocturne? Really?” Kaitlyn looked like she might cry. “Why would you do that? What about our coven?”

“Warlocks don’t join covens—that’s strictly for witches,” Avery informed us. “Anyway, I spoke to my father this morning and he told me he can get me into an exclusive school for Warlocks on the West Coast—Bruckers. I’m going to be majoring in Magical Finance.”

“Finance?” I said flatly. “Since when are you interested in that?”

“Father says it’s a great opportunity and a good career path,” Avery said loftily, and took another sip of his black coffee.

“Since when do you care what your father says?” I asked. “I thought you two didn’t get along? Aren’t you closer to your mom?”

“I might have been a ‘mama’s boy’ in the past, but that’s behind me now,” he told me. “I have to think about my future—it’s time to cut the apron strings.”

I had never heard him talk this way in my life and I felt completely bewildered. From the looks on Emma and Kaitlyn’s faces, they felt the same.

“But, Avery—you can’t just move away from Frostproof,” Emma protested. “We’ll miss you—your mom will miss you!”

“I have to go where I have an opportunity for personal growth,” Avery said, frowning. Honestly, he sounded like some kind of business brochure! “Anyway, it’s already done. I’m transferring to Bruckers at the end of the week—if not sooner.”

“But, Avery, ” I began. “You can’t just?—”

“If you’ll excuse me, I think I see an opportunity for ‘personal growth’ right now.”

Avery shot me a lecherous grin as he rose from the table and actually grabbed his crotch! Then he headed over to the Fae table and began talking to one of the girls. I couldn’t hear what he said, but whatever it was, it must have been offensive because she slapped him.

I stared at him in confusion and when I focused on my remaining coven mates, I saw the same look on their faces.

“What in the world has gotten into him?” Kaitlyn asked, sounding bewildered.

“Yeah—why is he acting like such a Neanderthal all of a sudden?” Emma chimed in.

“What worries me the most is that he removed Saint’s Mark,” I said grimly. “That’s not like Avery. He was head-over-heels for Saint—and now he’s saying Saint is only his roommate!”

Ari shook his head.

“Do you think the curse-breaking spell he worked for Saint did something to him?”

“Maybe it did!” Emma exclaimed. “Remember he was worried that if he took the curse off Saint’s Drake, it would turn him straight. What if it turned Avery straight instead?”

“No—impossible.” Lachlan, who had been brooding silently on her other side, shook his head. “I know of no magic—either in the Realm or in the Witch world or in the Sky Lands—that can truly change a person’s sexual orientation. Only spells which may mask it in some way.”

“And besides, Avery was extremely worried about Saint when he was in the Healer’s rooms,” Kaitlyn reminded us. “We had to force him to stay in bed because he wanted to go back to the Sky Lands and get him right away!”

“But what changed between now and then?” I asked, shaking my head.

“I don’t know—I never got a chance to talk to him again until this morning,” Kaitlyn said.

“Me either—every time I went to see him, he was sleeping and the Healer didn’t want me to wake him up,” Emma said.

I nodded.

“Same.”

“For me too,” Kaitlyn said.

I frowned—after comparing notes, it seemed we had all tried to see Avery but after that first visit when the three of us had been together, he’d been sleeping every time.

Now, here he was in the Dining Hall, apparently fully healed physically but acting extremely strange and out of character.

As we watched, our coven mate went over to the Nocturne table and said something to one of the girls there—and got slapped again.

“What’s wrong with him?” Kaitlyn and Emma and I all spoke at once.

“Why is he acting like that?” Kaitlyn added.

“And why is he thinking of transferring to a new school his father recommended. They don’t get along at all!” Emma exclaimed.

Her words seemed to spark something in my head.

“Wait—Avery seemed normal when we first went to see him,” I said slowly, working it out. “And then his father came to see him—remember?”

“I remember—I didn’t like leaving them alone together, even though they’re related.” Kaitlyn nodded.

“I didn’t like it either,” I said grimly.

“Neither did I,” Emma said.

“Well, maybe we were right to feel that way,” I said. “Do you remember what Avery told us about how his dad tried to get his mom to send him to one of those awful magical conversion-therapy camps where they ‘spell the gay-away?’”

“Oh my God!” Emma put a hand over her mouth. “You don’t think Avery’s father did some kind of awful conversion therapy magic on him, do you?”

“If he did, it was an extremely crude and clumsy spell,” Griffon remarked, watching as Avery struck out again, this time with a girl from the Sisters’ table.

“Yes, he has ‘no game’ as they say here in the human world,” Ari remarked.

“He definitely doesn’t know how to treat a lady—he seems to think women are just sexual objects,” Bran said, frowning. “At least, if the way he was staring at you is any indication,” he added, speaking to Emma.

“He was treating all three of us that way,” she pointed out.

“Which points to some kind of malevolent magic which Avery is wearing like an ill-fitting suit,” Lachlan said. He looked at me. “Since Avery’s father is a Warlock, I think it’s likely the magic is more up your alley than mine.”

“You’re right,” I said. “I’m going to do some research.”

“You’d better do it fast,” Lachlan advised. “I don’t know much about Witch magic, as I said, but I do know any kind of magic used to mask a person’s true self becomes more difficult to remove the longer it remains attached to them.”

“You should look in Avery’s family grimoire too,” Emma suggested.

“And maybe we should go get Saint,” Kaitlyn added.

“I agree with that—having his beloved nearby may help to break whatever magic or curse he’s under.” Lachlan nodded.

“I’ll go tell the front office that my father has requested me at home and try to get him right away,” Ari promised. “But even if I can get Saint’s father to release him, we probably won’t be back until night. It’s a long flight.”

“That’s all right—it will give me time to do some research,” I said. “I’m going to the Sister’s library right away.” I got up from the table at once and Griffon rose with me.

“Shall I come with you, my darling?” he asked. “I know it pains you to see your coven mate under a malicious spell.”

“No, it’s okay—there’s no point in both of us missing our first period class,” I told him. I would probably get into trouble for missing mine, but Avery was more important to me than any bad grades I might make.

Something was wrong with my coven mate and I was determined to get to the bottom of it!