Page 17

The bell rings, signaling the end of my last class for the week.

Tension bleeds from my shoulders the further I get away from the field, but there’s no missing that set of eyes that seem to follow me wherever I go. And it’s not the eyes of the brothers. No, they’re bracketing me on either side, their gazes set forward, watching all the other students rushing around us.

Those eyes, so intent, bleed silver the moment he transforms into his Lycan form. Which seems to be the form I see him in more than his human one because of transmutation class. Not that I particularly like either one. His human side is an asshole, and his animal side is abusive.

Today marks the third time I’ve actually shown up for class since the incident that shall not be mentioned. But now that I think of it, I wouldn’t doubt all the other students can easily remember it and think I deserved every second of the pain he inflicted on me.

I shake my head, not needing to delve any further into those painful thoughts.

Aero is by my side, his trot now a familiar soundtrack to the chaos of my life. Classes have been… difficult to say the least with him. And it’s not even him causing problems. No. It’s the stares. The whispers. Worse than before.

Failed shifter. That’s what they’ve been calling me since Transmutation class on Monday. And they’re right. I am a failure. Because I didn’t shift. I… I don’t know what the hell I did. But whatever it was resulted in Aero—not that I’d trade him. He’s been a steady presence in my dorm to keep the loneliness away.

Without Marion in my life and my mates busy with their own lives outside of the academy, I’ve spent my non-schooling hours alone, locked up in my room. My bodyguards have tried to coax me out, but I just haven’t felt the need to socialize. Not even with them.

It would be smart to get to know them. Like, really get to know them. Maybe see if they are relaying every little thing about me back to the council. Not that I think they’d tell me. But everyone has a tell, and I don’t doubt that I’d be able to figure theirs out.

“Hey, Bailey?” Bane’s voice stops me before I can enter my dorm.

“Hmm?”

“We have that book for you from Councilman Cassian. Do you want to come in and get it?” He nods toward their door, an unnamed emotion resting in his eyes.

“Umm, I’ll just wait out here for you to get it, if that’s okay.” More than anything I just want to disappear into the solitude of my room. Get away from the judgment unfairly thrust upon me.

A flicker of sadness—there and gone—flashes across his face before he gives a sharp nod and disappears into their assigned dorm room. Zane continues to lean against the wall, watching me, waiting for something. What, I have no clue. But his stare has me fidgeting in place, wholly uncomfortable with the weight of his attention directed solely at me.

It’s only a heartbeat later when Bane comes back out, a thin leather tome grasped in his gray fingers. The aged spined is cracked, barely looking like it’s holding itself together, but the cover is soft beneath my fingertips.

There’s a reverence in my touch, an unspoken awe to the fact that this one small book holds all the answers to the etchings embedded in my skin.

“When you get the list compiled, you can give it to us, and we’ll get it over to Cassian.” A fleeting darkness flares in his gaze, telling me he’s not all that onboard with the councilman’s request, but instead of voicing it, he turns on his heel and disappears back into their room.

“If you need anything, we’ll be right here,” Zane murmurs, hiking his thumb over his shoulder toward their door.

“Thanks, Zane. I’ll see you guys later.”

Not one to shirk on his duty, Zane stays rooted to the spot, his gaze following my every move toward my dorm. It’s only when I get the lock clicks into place that I hear their door slam from down the hall.

Aero makes his rounds around the room—why, I have no clue—before he climbs up on the couch and lies down, closing his eyes. Not a moment later, his snores bounce off the walls, clearly exhausted after the day we had today.

Not that the flying pony did much, except follow me from class to class.

I glance around my dorm, the same walls, the same floor-to-ceiling windows offering the same view every day.

Same. Same. Same.

Everything is the freaking same, and I’m over it. I don’t know how much longer my sanity will last staring at the same things again and again. There’s nothing to break up the monotony that has become my life since the gala.

It’s not safe outside the walls of the academy. I get that. I really do. But going from having friends, doing things, exploring the city to absolutely nothing but the same damn four walls day in and day out for the past week is liable to make a person go crazy.

And I feel like I’m standing on that ledge, about to plunge headfirst into the realm of batshit crazy.

Almost like a lightbulb going off, I realize there is somewhere I can go. Somewhere relatively safe that very few know about.

My birth parents’ house. Or, well, my house now.

As uncomfortable as I was the first time Axel took me there, it now feels like it could be a much-needed sanctuary. A home away from—I look around and my lips twist in a grimace—home, I guess.

Decision made, I pull out my phone.

Me

If you guys are free, I’m going to portal over to my birth parents’ house.

Yummy Vamp

Any particular reason why, cor meum?

Shit. Think, think, think, Bailey. I can’t exactly tell him I’m running away from the bullshit here. It’s not like I’ve told him about the vile things people are saying about me. Especially the comment about raping me. He’d go psycho-vamp in a heartbeat if he knew.

Oh, oh, I know!

I quickly type out a reply.

Me

I wanted to see if there were any Transmutation books in their library. Maybe then I can figure out how Aero ended up outside my body, instead of me shifting.

I pat myself on the back. Good thinking, Bails.

A pang of sadness hits me at the thought of the nickname Dad used to call me. Damn, I miss them.

The double ping of my phone chases the thoughts of my adopted parents, but it doesn’t diminish the notion that I need to find a way to see them. To apologize. And a call over the phone won’t convey how truly sorry I really am.

Sexy Demi

I have a few things to finish up here, but I’ll swing by later. Stay inside, and don’t open the door for anyone.

Yummy Vamp

I just finished my last meeting, so I’ll meet you there. We’ll make a weekend of it. It’ll do you some good to get out of the academy.

My thoughts exactly, yummy vamp .

With a newfound excitement, I snatch my bag from the floor and run into my room, discarding my school shit for a few changes of comfortable clothes, my toothbrush, a couple of hair ties, and my hairbrush. I don’t need more than that. We won’t be going anywhere, so there’s no point in needing anything more.

“Aero!” I yell once I have everything packed up.

There’s a loud huff, startling me, as I spin around, my hand clutching my chest.

“Dammit, you scared me.” I thought he was still passed out on the couch like he always is after classes. He gives me the equivalent of a human glare, most likely because I interrupted his beauty rest. “Come on. We’re going away for the weekend.”

He gives me a look that easily says, are you serious? Why yes, yes, I am, pony. Deal with it.

“Let’s roll.”

In no time, after a quick call to my magic, a perfectly formed pink portal stands before us. Every time I use my magic, it comes quicker, easier, like I hadn’t just started learning how to use it a few months ago.

Aero stays right at my side as we pass through, coming out into the main living room of the house. There’s a pop as the portal closes behind me, but Aero pays no mind, heading into his rounds, checking out the new environment. I wish I had a direct link to his brain so I could figure out why he does this every time we enter a new building. It’s strange to say the least. But hopefully I can find some answers soon.

The familiar, yet unfamiliar surroundings leaches the tension from my shoulders that I’ve been carrying around all week. Part of me knows I should be afraid—wary even—being here alone. But I know Axel and his dad have taken care of this place for years, and if Axel was worried about my safety being here, he would have told me to wait for him.

Soft snores came from the direction of the couch, a smile curling my lips at the sight of my Pegasus snuggled up with all the pillows. As strange as it’s been, having Aero has been a bright spot in my life, even if it’s only been a week. He may not be able to speak, but his presence lets me know that I’m not alone.

Leaving him to his nap, I toe off my shoes, then make my way through the halls, my fingers ghosting over the photographs on the walls. The smiling faces of my birth parents. The ones I should have grown up with, learned from. I wouldn’t trade my adopted parents for the world, but I wonder what life would have been like if the genocide never happened.

The marble flooring is cool under my socked feet, and in the distance lies the door to a wealth of curiomancer knowledge. I still have numerous books I never looked through back in my dorm, but those were general knowledge. General history of my kind. Now, I’m looking for something specific, and this is the best place I have to find it.

A breathless sort of awe fills me as I cross the threshold. Dying sunlight filters through the floor-to-ceiling windows, leaving the stacks bathed in a glow of orange. Dust motes dance in the rays, the mere sight of them telling me just how long it’s been since this place has had a thorough cleaning.

One of these weekends, maybe I’ll come over and give this place a once-over and figure out what I need in terms of upgrades. The house needs it, especially if I make the move to live here after my time at the academy. From what Axel said, I have the money to afford it. So why not put it back into the house that saw so much love from my birth parents.

I take my time going up and down each row of books, keeping my eyes peeled for anything on Transmutation. In the thousands of books here, there has to be at least one. Finding it would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but just the reminder of Aero snoring in the living room gives me the motivation to keep going.

The bad part is there’s no rhyme or reason to how the books are shelved. They’re not in alphabetical order by title or the author’s name like standard libraries. It’s like someone was so flustered by the sheer number, they just tossed them on a shelf and left.

Luka would probably have a coronary in here. I snicker to myself at the thought.

A bend in the stacks that I didn’t notice the first time I came in here catches my attention. Something akin to compulsion moves my feet in that direction, taking the curve into a dim hallway, lit only by the sconces on the walls. A shiver rattles my frame, the air cooler in this corridor compared to the rest of the house. Not that I should be able to feel the difference, but for some strange reason it permeates deep into my bones.

The hall spills into a windowless room, but there’s a pink glow radiating from the ceiling that lights up every nook and cranny of the space. A soft breeze flows through the area, confusion swirling around my mind at how it’s even possible when there’s no windows, no doors, just the direction I came from. And even then, there’s no way for air to make it all the way back here.

On the walls, unknown faces stare back at me, and even though their features are different from one another, one thing stands out among all of them.

Their eyes. Pink. Just like mine.

Every one of these faces are curiomancers that came before me, but what strikes me as the most odd is that they all have different colored hair. Not the glaring white that I and my birth parents have. Was there something inherently different to give them the coloring, or did they dye it?

Questions for another time, I guess. But damn, what I wouldn’t give to have my black hair back.

As I continue to take things in, my eyes find what looks suspiciously like an altar resting in the middle of the space. Like that compulsive feeling before, I’m drawn toward the marble stone, an unknown entity pushing me forward, urging me that whatever I may find on there is important.

Time seems to freeze as I step up to the stone podium, but that’s not the only thing. The breeze that flowed around appears to have frozen in place, like it was never there at all. This room just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

Great. Now I sound like that Disney movie, Alice in Wonderland . I’m just missing a hookah smoking caterpillar and a disappearing cat. But I have a flying pony, so maybe my life is a mismatch between Alice and Hercules.

Focus, Bailey.

My fingertips brush a pristine, crisp piece of paper, sitting upon an aged tome. There’s a quiver in my hands as I pick up the sheet, the first few words making my breath catch.

My dearest little girl.

Oh no. No. No. No. I’m not ready. Not to read their words.

But for some reason, I can’t seem to put the paper down, to step away from the altar and flee like every cell in my body is demanding.

Against my wishes, my eyes follow every word on the page.

If you’re reading this, it means you made it to your twenty-first birthday. What I would have given to have seen you grow up, to watch you grow into a beautiful woman just like your mother. We prayed to the goddess for so long for you, and when you came, it was a miracle.

The moment your mom told me she was pregnant, I was overjoyed, so damn happy that I shouted to the world that I was going to be a dad. Curiomancers from all over came to the house, giving their blessings for a happy and healthy birth.

Because that’s what we did. Every time a curiomancer was with child, we traveled, blessing the baby. It’s just who we were. Children were the most important part of a curiomancer’s legacy.

But then as the pregnancy progressed, things changed. Took a turn for the worse. We became hunted. Scared. It wasn’t a life your mom and I wanted you to have. So we did the one thing we could to ensure you made it. We gave you up.

Please believe it was the hardest decision we ever made in our lifetime. All those firsts we were sure to miss out on. It tore at our souls, but it was the only way for you to have a future. Even if it meant we weren’t part of it.

Call it a premonition, but if you’re reading this, there’s a chance you’ve been found out. Your identity has been revealed, and you’re in danger. But fear not, my daughter. Mr. Pennington Sr. has taken the steps needed to keep you safe. I know you’ll need more than that, though. You need to learn your magic. Because if you’ve been found out and you’re reading this, it means someone has stepped forward and taken responsibility for you.

I wish with my whole heart that I was the one to teach you our ways, teach you how to use our special brand of magic. But the turmoil in our world won’t give me that chance. So I hope what I left for you will be the next best thing.

The book below contains everything you need to know. Secrets no one knows about us. It also contains part of the truth that we fought to find that started this all. But the council has been adamant not to listen, refusing to give an audience to clear our name.

Be wary, my sweet girl. For there is someone on the council responsible, though we don’t know who exactly. Just that they started it all.

Keep your soul spirit close and know that we love you with all our hearts.

If there’s another life after this one, your mom and I hope you’ll be our daughter again, and this time, we’ll get to watch you grow up and shower you with all the love we have in our hearts.

Loving you now and forever,

Dad