Page 4 of Immortal Consequences (The Souls of Blackwood Academy #1)

“Knowledge is everything, ” Olivier challenged. “It’s a source of power. An echo of life itself. And if you’re capable of acquiring knowledge at a rate most of us can’t even fathom, then you’re an asset.”

“Right,” Emilio muttered. “An asset. A part of a machine. Something to be used and manipulated—”

“That’s not what I meant.” Olivier placed his hands on Emilio’s shoulders.

“You, my love, are an asset to yourself. And that’s a quality every Ascended should have.

” When Emilio didn’t respond, Olivier assessed him intently.

The realization washed over his face almost immediately.

“Do you not… want to become an Ascended?”

Emilio fidgeted. “You sound surprised.”

Olivier slipped his hands away and leaned against the window. “It’s just, well…I can’t imagine wanting to cross over to the Other Side. What if you just…cease to exist?”

“You don’t know that,” Emilio countered. “What if the Other Side is really—”

“Oh, come on.” Olivier chuckled, an unfamiliar bitterness laced through his words. “You can’t possibly believe there’s some sort of celestial paradise waiting for us on the Other Side.”

“I don’t know,” Emilio whispered, aware of the flush creeping onto his neck. “There has to be something, right?”

“If there’s one thing Blackwood has taught me,” Olivier said, hoisting himself onto the windowsill, “it’s that people’s rudimentary idea of death is nothing but a shortcut.

Simple, clean-cut answers people can wrap their pea-sized brains around.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the afterlife is so much more than a clear division of good and evil.

It’s…complex. And considering nobody really knows what’s waiting for us on the Other Side, I’m not entirely inclined to toss myself into the unknown and end up somewhere I might not be too fond of. ”

“So you’d rather exist here forever?” Emilio asked. “In Blackwood?”

Olivier blinked at him, as if he hadn’t been expecting that question.

“Yes…I suppose.”

“But you’d eventually transition,” Emilio reminded him. “Forget who you were. Your old life. Your memories.”

Olivier grimaced. “I still have time before I need to start worrying about the Forgetting.”

“How much?”

“I…” Olivier chuckled, but there was something dark clouding his eyes. A heaviness in his shoulders that wasn’t there before. “Don’t worry about me, Emilio. I’m indestructible. You, on the other hand…” He shook his head. “There has to be a way to convince you not to cross over to the Other Side.”

An acute twisting sensation tugged at Emilio’s chest. He wanted to tell Olivier the truth…that a part of him was desperate to prove he was good enough to cross over. That he was worthy. It had haunted him almost every day since he had arrived. The doubt. The uncertainty.

Because maybe he wasn’t good enough. Maybe he deserved this punishment. Emilio had always been a coward, plagued with self-doubt and insecurities. Never really trying. His parents loved him, but he knew they were constantly waiting for the switch to turn on. For his potential to be met.

But he’d only left them disappointed.

“Emilio?” Olivier was watching him intently, concern creasing his face. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t know.” Emilio rubbed the back of his neck. “I just…I just wish I didn’t have to think about this. I just wish I were still alive.”

“But you’re not,” Olivier shot back with surprising intensity.

“And despite that, you’re here. You can think.

You can talk. You can feel. And sure, perhaps you have no pulse, and you can’t feel pain and so much of this doesn’t make any sense, but…

you’re here. And you can continue to mope and yearn for a life that no longer belongs to you, or you can take control of the existence you’ve been given.

” He inhaled a sharp breath, a playful glint sparking in his eyes.

“Not to mention, the circumstances aren’t all terrible.

If you had never come to Blackwood…we would never have met. ”

Emilio’s breath hitched in his throat. He was attempting to formulate a coherent response when he spotted a flurry of movement outside. He darted toward the window, elbow pressed firmly against Olivier. His stomach involuntarily tightened at their closeness, though he pretended not to notice.

“Look.”

Two shapes. A girl and a boy, he assumed. The boy was tall with broad shoulders, his raven curls illuminated by Blackwood’s ethereal glow. The girl’s auburn hair was tied messily into a braid that fell to her waist.

Weird.

She wasn’t wearing any shoes.

“Is that…” Olivier’s voice trailed away as he leaned in closer. “I think that’s August and Wren. It looks like they’re heading toward the main gates.”

A deep sense of dread settled upon Emilio.

The infamous pair were the last two people he wanted to bump into in the dead of night.

He’d never been able to muster up the courage to speak to Wren, seeing as she was top of the class and one of the most brilliant people he’d ever encountered.

And August was…well… August. If you even looked at him for too long, you might end up with a dagger in your gut or poison in your morning tea.

Not that either of those things would actually hurt, but it was still an inconvenience.

All Blackwood students held the ability to heal themselves magically, but a fatal injury could take weeks to heal.

Sometimes even months. Nobody wanted to be the unlucky bastard who spent nearly half the year in the infirmary in a comatose state rather than focusing on grades and solidifying their chances at the Decennial.

Emilio had been so transfixed by the sight of the pair crossing through the dense fog that he hadn’t noticed Olivier sauntering toward the door.

“Where are you going?” he called after Olivier in a frantic whisper.

“Where do you think? If those two are getting into trouble, then I want to be a part of it.”

“Why?” Emilio groaned.

Olivier paused by the doorway, swiveling on his heels to face Emilio. He smirked at him with that infamous crooked smile, dimples sprouting on his cheeks.

“Why not?”

Emilio would much rather have stayed in the comfort of the Library studying for tomorrow morning’s exam, but he knew Olivier had no intention of staying behind, and despite himself, Emilio had no intention of letting him go on his own.

So, with one simultaneous nod, the pair turned toward the door, shoulder to shoulder, step by step, and walked into the night.