Page 24 of Nine Inch Nasty (Hemlock Academy #9)

The class starts moving chairs around to work on the project that feels very high school to me, but I suppose some people really need this breakdown.

Like Cory pointed out earlier, sooner or later, we’re all going to need to figure out what we’re going to do for living expenses and housing and how we’re going to balance everything.

Kind of coincidental we’d be talking about this in class now after it was just brought up at lunch, but I go through the motions and don’t rise to any of the barbs that the new members of my group try and rile me up with.

Wil is a good buffer, and it’s not too long before we’re dismissed for the day, me and Wil taking home our makeup work.

???

The rest of the week goes by fine, although I’m still in a bit of a daze.

I’ve been trying to throw off the funk I’m in, to no avail.

I’m hoping that now that we’ve made it to another weekend, I’ll be able to figure out how to clear my head and get my focus back, starting with watching Spencer in a football game.

He was so excited when we all said we’d come watch, and we haven’t had much time together since his schedule is even crazier than mine with practices, but the season is almost over now they’re in the playoffs.

He looked way too smug when he put his spare jersey on me this morning to wear to class, and I find myself looking forward to the game. I get to sneak in a quick visit with my brother too, who was unsurprised that we made it back home without issue.

It’s when we’re all sitting right behind the team (thanks to my brother) that things start getting... interesting.

I keep getting a sensation like somebody’s staring at me, which is a pretty damn hard thing to nail down when you’re in a stadium full of spectators.

Spencer comes to kiss me over the railing before heading back into the tunnel at halftime, and the game has been tense and pretty close, but he’s so happy to have me there that the smile on my face is pretty obnoxious.

“You okay? You keep looking around, all shifty-like,” Adam asks as he steals one of my fries.

I look around again, illustrating his point. “I just feel like there’s somebody staring at me.”

Cory snorts. “Did you see how short your skirt is? Lots of people are staring at you. You look hot.”

“Aww, thanks love.” I kiss their cheek and pull them onto my lap, running my hands up and down their thighs as I nuzzle their neck. “It feels like more than that, though. I don’t know, I’m probably just losing it.”

Ash drops in then with another armful of snacks from the concession stand, passing everything out and offering me a sip of soda.

“Madhouse back there. People were talking about a male conduit that’s here somewhere; took forever because everyone working the concession stand was too busy gossiping to do their job. ”

I grab a handful of popcorn and toss it into my mouth, being super sloppy about it and dropping several kernels. “Woah, no way. Our age? That’s cool. Huh.”

“Isn’t one of your dads a male conduit?” Cory asks as they start seat dancing on my lap. The marching band is taking the field, playing something super catchy.

“Yeah, two of them, actually.”

“I think male conduits are so fascinating,” Wil chimes in, getting amped up.

“Statistically, they’re so rare, and we don’t really know much about them.

The conduit gene is hard to track anyway because it’s not always a genetic thing, but the studies they’ve done on the males are super confusing.

They don’t know why some become conduits. ”

I laugh, remembering the stories I’ve heard from my mom when she was looking for her mates.

“So they just have the one fated mate, right? Well, because Papa Dar and Papa Cyrus were both fated to my mom, which, hello, is crazy odds, but since she was a conduit too, she didn’t have marks for them.

So, there she is, thinking she’s gotten all her mates figured out, and boom!

Two more. Their marks hit different. Can you imagine?

I’m such a diva. Having a male conduit to deal with would make you all crazy. ”

I shove more popcorn into my mouth, but everyone has gone a bit silent. “What?”

“Hey, uh, Delaney? Did I mention that the study found that in families where the conduit gene was excessively strong, the likelihood of having a male conduit fated for them goes up for every mate after five that they’re gifted by the goddess?”

I shake my head at Wil because I know where he’s going with this.

“I know, I know, that makes me way more likely to have one; but it’s not like there are even male conduits really known right now that are looking for mates; they have to register like the rest of us, and my mom has gone over that list so many times and tracked them so there wouldn’t be any surprises with me.

You guys are funny. I’d be all like, woah, that’s too many dicks! ”

I giggle and wipe my hands off on my skirt, grab another sip of soda, and lean my head back when Cory spins around and starts braiding a section of my hair in front.

“You still feel like somebody’s staring at you?” Adam asks, posture rigid.

“Somebody was staring at you?” Jackson asks as he jogs by, running perimeter with August.

“No, I don’t think so. Just had a weird feeling earlier. We’re good.”

“This seat taken?”

I don’t even look up. “You mean the seat in front of me with someone sitting in it? Or the one behind me with someone also in it? Or the one I’m currently in with two butts sitting in it?

Yeah, I think so, buddy. There are a bunch of seats over in that section, though,” I tell the rando as I keep my eyes closed, enjoying Cory’s motions.

His voice is deep though, making me shiver a bit.

“Delaney.”

I wave my hand around until I find the stone of Leo’s shoulder, grabbing onto him. “What’s up, rock daddy?”

“Ew Delaney, no,” Adam says with a fake gag, and the stranger laughs.

Okay fine, I’ll open my eyes.

The first thing I notice is his eyes. They’re…familiar, but why do they feel like the wrong shade? They’re purple. “Woah. Wicked. We were just talking about you. The only male conduits I’ve met are my dads. How’s it going? I’m Delaney.”

I reach out a hand, trying to be friendly. Every once in a while, someone approaches me and wants an autograph or something weird like that, but I can offer support to a fellow conduit, I suppose. Probably just curious about me since I have two male conduit dads.

He yanks on my hand, making Cory stumble off my lap, and I’m totally about to scold him for being incredibly fucking rude, but then his hands grab my hips and steady me, and I get hit with a strong cotton candy perfume and my mind immediately tells me why his eyes are familiar.

“H-how? What are you doing here? I- I thought you were fake! Oh my gods! Look guys, it’s Saladriel!”

I throw my arms around him and squeeze, days of anxiety and depression melting instantly. And fucking sue me, I leak a few tears.

“Ah, actually,” he says as he peels me off of him, “My name is Skylar, but—”

Just then the entire cadence of the marching band changes, and they make their way onto the field for a different type of show.

Their sound switches to a sort of pop/soft rock feel, and glitter canons explode around the top of the arena, making my jaw drop and all of my attention go immediately to them.

“What is happening? Adler didn’t mention there was anything special happening tonight, how fun!” I’ll be cornering him later for not ruining this surprise.

The not-Saladriel fellow sighs dramatically and rubs his forehead. “Damnit. I told them not to do this.”

“Not to do what?” I ask all innocent like, eyes like a puppy dog in an anime movie. The sky is now beaming with multicolored lights, and with glitter now falling everywhere, it is spectacular.

“They’re definitely not making it on our holiday card list,” this man mumbles confusingly, and then from the break in the arena roof floats down what else, but a herd. Of. Unicorns.

I squeal, because I was for sure in the mindset that they weren’t actually real after all and that I sort of fake-killed them all off. “I feel like I just won a magical prize! They’re so pretty! Even better than the ones we met in Glittertopia!”

At this point, my mates are all staring, just as slack-jawed as I am, entranced by the aerial delight happening above us all.

The unicorns are swooping and diving, spinning, and flapping those fucking magnificent white wings, and… “Are they singing? Those aren’t unicorns, they’re angels!”

“Technically, they’re one in the same,” male conduit says, still clearly exasperated.

That’s when I finally realize he likely has something to do with all this, because he’s not reacting nearly enough to everything that’s happening around us in such a glorious manner.

“What do you know about this?” I don’t turn to him because I can’t take my eyes off the unicorns.

His sigh is nearly as loud as the words. “Delaney, meet my family.”

“You clearly know my name, knew me by sight, are strangely familiar, but you claim you are not who I’m pretty sure you are.

You’re like a different brand of Saladriel.

Different enough that I didn’t recognize you at first, but similar enough that I still did.

Feel like filling me in? Holy fuck! They’re making a pyramid! ”

“They’re…fuck this is embarrassing. Look, I just want you to know that whatever they end up doing out there has nothing to do with me; I mean it does, but I specifically told them not to do any of this. I have much better taste than this, I promise.”

The unicorns start flying towards each other mid-air, forming a long line of perfectly straight rainbow hides, each one a pastel shimmer in multiple colors. One by one, they release a scroll that I’m not entirely sure I want to know where they were hiding, and they spell out a message.

“ Fuck him good Delaney, savior of our realm .” Okay, now I spin to him. “Skylar, was it?”

He nods, hiding his face entirely now with his hands. “I am so sorry.”

“Oh boy, I don’t think this is sanctioned,” Ash says as university staff members start running onto the field, snapping the marching band out of what looks like a spell.

The band starts panic running, some smashing into each other, sousaphones crunching and piccolos flying, color guard flags getting tangled with trumpet players as one by one the entire field becomes a gruesome battlefield of musicians in plumes and spats.

I watch on in horrified awe as the signs up above start rearranging, the unicorns yelling at each other as they shake out the scrolls they’re holding to chang the wording up as they switch places so their message with new letters now says, “Thank you Delaney, Savior of our realm.”

“Well, that’s a bit more family friendly,” Adam says in a mystified tone.

“What the hell is happening?” I ask, completely confused on whether I’m being thanked or told to go fuck Skylar somewhere. Also, what spell did they use on those scrolls? I have ideas.

“Could really use a distraction right about now, those idiots.” Skylar is staring at the unicorns in rage, and as he gets more and more visibly upset, he starts to sweat, but it’s shimmery. Fucking cool.

University staff then turn to where we’re standing, my brother is doubled over laughing his ass off, and I get the feeling we should be getting out of the stadium asap.

Spencer runs out, still in his uniform, looking at the carnage happening all around.

The unicorns seem to be panicking as runes are cast by university staff in an effort to trap the rogue flying shifters, and some of the unicorns are so nervous that they start hyperventilating and barfing up glitter, covering the field slowly, yard by yard.

“This is horrific, but I can’t look away,” Cory mutters.

“Oh fuck, we might want to get out of here,” Skylar says as he tugs me by the hand, and I tug Cory, who tugs Adam, and pretty soon all of us are running for it, the game is being called as a cancellation, and we all join the melee of students running to get out of the stadium.

Skylar shoves us into an empty room that looks like it’s used for meetings, and his eyes are wild as he waits for each and every one of my mates to make it in before shutting the door and putting some sort of enchantment on it.

Then he puts his hands on his knees and starts breathing heavily. “Okay. Let’s start from the beginning.”