Page 44 of Messenger of Death (Ouroboros Academy #2)

T he next few weeks were quiet. No one went missing, and I didn’t scream again.

Morgana said that was the result of her ritual with the witches.

They could keep doing it, but eventually, they’d learn to break the bindings the witches placed on them because the witches didn’t have their true name.

It should have given us breathing room to research, but we had literally nothing.

Khalid and I were looking into any being associated with snakes and there were a lot of them.

Lucian and Liam were digging into messages and not finding anything.

Professor Gefn had been working with Khalid and me on traversing the veil. Neither one of us had mastered it. It was probably one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Khalid, who was much smarter than me hadn’t managed it, either.

Professor Gefn was pretty blunt, but I liked her. We were frustrated we weren’t getting it. She told us we were morons who wanted instant gratification, but she also told us how long it took her to master this and we felt better.

I liked my work study with Headmaster Mykene.

She was brilliant and I could tell she loved her job.

I was still trying to figure Radames out, but she seemed to be taking a ‘hands-off’ approach with him because he didn’t want help.

She had just let him go do his thing again at the start of our work study.

“I can’t get a read on him at all. Don’t you think he needs help?”

“Absolutely. I’m also familiar with men like him.

You can’t press it. He’s stubborn and wants to do it alone, but eventually, he’ll get frustrated and ask for help.

Sometimes, students’ parents and upbringing get in the way of their future and education and we have to stand back and let them come into their own.

Or in some cases, put them on the right path.

No one was expecting the Horned God to be raised by the Irish Mafia. ”

“Yeah, but he ran away, and he only kills bad people.”

“You know that’s still not okay, right? We have a justice system.”

“He kills rapists. The justice system doesn’t always do its job with those.”

“No comment. How are you feeling? Between you and Alexios and your foretelling abilities, you’re probably our best bet at figuring out who Hemlock and Harami are in this life.”

“This is all new to me. I’m not used to trusting my feelings. Blue Matthews frequently acted like they weren’t valid and my mother always backed him up. I just need a little proof right now.”

Because I didn’t think anyone would believe me without it and I wasn’t even sure I believed me. I needed it.

“You can use me if you need proof, you know. It’s what I’m here for.”

“You had files on all of us, right?”

“Yes. I’m guessing you want a peek. It’s highly unusual, but so is this situation. I’ll get them to you on a flash drive.”

My new laptop had come in. It was Lucian approved and once he got his hands on it, the thing was a fortress of security. Lucian might like peeking into people’s electronics, but he didn’t like anyone looking into his. He’d borrowed our laptops and phones. It would be difficult for anyone to get in.

“Fill me in when you feel comfortable? I know all of this is new and scary, but your particular group is very powerful and so is your roommate’s.”

“So, I don’t think Iman is stuck. I think she wants to be a cat.”

“Oh, I’ve been aware of that for months. Iman is a prodigy and had a hard life before we brought her here. Plus, she’s a cat. We’ll see her again when she’s ready.”

Someone knocked on the door and Headmaster Mykene’s secretary came in. He handed her something and then she handed it to me. I looked down at my palm and it was a flash drive.

“Is this…?”

“The files you asked for. I never gave you these. I’m guessing there’s a file in particular you want to look at and you’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

Before someone else died or was consumed by the void. She didn’t have to say it. I needed one more thing.

“Is there somewhere I could find the location of all the pools like the one here?”

“Talk to Professor Kane. She’s gathered all of them in her research to find potential gateways to other realms. She thinks they are connected.”

I could do that. I knew it wasn’t much, but if I could pinpoint Lola near one of those pools, I’d feel comfortable saying she’d had time to be awake longer than all of us and had sought out her mate to wake him up, too.

And I could begin the process of trusting my own feelings.