Page 12 of Soul Bound (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #2)

12

VEX

Smiling enigmatically at the member of staff who shoves me unceremoniously into Uncle Luke’s office, he glowers at me and crosses his arms as he barricades the door. Luc, Draven and Tilly are already lined up as Blackthorn grimaces at them, but I was left to the subject of a debate as to whether I was there to help or put an end to it. Semi-staff perk, I guess. In the end, I didn’t stab my fellow conspirators in the back and offered myself up for a bollocking that is going to make what we just did to Night look like a fun Friday night.

“Leave us,” Blackthorn says in a tone that is so frosty I shiver as ice forms in the air.

Matilda is practically shitting herself but is holding it together for now. The brothers are less worried about Blackthorn and probably more worried about dear old Mum, who I’m sure will kick their arses from here back to Hell if they get expelled. I’m not worried about me. Luke will come down on me like a ton of bricks, sure. He has to. No one else knows we are related. I wanted to keep it that way and earn my place here on merit, not nepotism. But deep down, I know he won’t want to. He has a sense of justice, and once he knows the facts, I’m sure he will be chill about it.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

The door closes behind the staff member with an ominous thud. Blackthorn regards us silently for a long moment, his expression unreadable.

“Would any of you care to explain why you were caught in Night’s office, with him as dead as a doornail, albeit with signs of reanimation, along with a good old dose of heavy necromancy in the air?”

No one answers him, so I take the bull by the horns.

I clear my throat. “Sir, we have reason to believe Professor Night was involved in some unsavoury activities. We confronted him, and things escalated.”

Blackthorn’s eyes narrow. “Unsavoury activities? Care to elaborate?”

Luc answers for me. “Night has been manipulating and abusing Matilda for years, sir. He was masquerading as a warlock named Stryker who hurt her in the past.”

Tilly’s face pales, but she stands tall. Luc moves closer to her protectively.

Blackthorn’s expression darkens. “Is this true, Miss Matilda?”

She nods shakily. “Yes, sir. But also, Night admitted he is one of the Guardians for the Praxian magick.”

Blackthorn’s expression remains neutral, but I see the wheels turning. “I see.”

“There’s still more, sir,” Draven says grimly. “Night raised an undead army to try to kill us in the underground chambers, using energy he stole from us. He claims there is some larger ritual to fully uncurse the Praxian magick.”

Blackthorn pinches the bridge of his nose. “This is far worse than I imagined.”

“We know,” I mutter. “So the runes aren’t even the whole?—”

Blackthorn slams his fist down on the desk, making us jump and sending papers flying everywhere. “I mean, that the four of you are in serious trouble. You killed a member of staff and then brought him back to interrogate him!”

“He abused Matilda, sir,” Luc says stiffly. “I wasn’t taking that sitting down.”

Blackthorn’s eyes zoom in on him. “So you admit you killed him.”

Luc lifts his chin higher as Tilly whimpers. “I did what I had to do.”

“It wasn’t him,” Draven interrupts. “It was me.”

Luc hisses, but Blackthorn narrows his eyes at the Necromancer. “Oh?”

“They are both talking shit,” I pipe up. “It was me.”

“No, I did it,” Tilly says, catching on despite the fear on her face that she is about to get booted out and left to fend for herself while her family closes in on her.

Blackthorn lets out a low rumble, causing the artefacts scattered around to vibrate and activate. The magick level increases, and I draw in a deep breath as I sense the dark magick floating in the air.

He is pissed off.

Seriously fucking pissed off with us, and we are about to get our arses kicked massively. So much for him being chill about it.

Blackthorn’s eyes blaze with barely contained fury as he glares at each of us. The air crackles with dark energy, making the hairs on my arms stand on end.

“Enough,” he growls. “I don’t care who did what at this point. The fact remains that you four took matters into your own hands instead of coming to me with your suspicions. You confronted a professor, killed him, and then used forbidden necromancy to interrogate his corpse. Do you have any idea how serious this is?”

Tilly shrinks back, looking like she might burst into tears at any moment. Luc and Draven both tense up, ready to defend her if needed. I keep my expression carefully neutral as I meet Blackthorn’s gaze. He knows I’m not afraid of him or his threats, so this Headmaster bullshit doesn’t work on me.

“Sir, with all due respect, we had no choice,” I say calmly. “Night was a direct threat to Matilda, and possibly the entire academy. We couldn’t risk tipping him off by reporting him first.”

Blackthorn’s nostrils flare. “That was not your decision to make. There are proper channels and protocols in place for a reason.”

“Protocols that Night could have easily circumvented,” Draven argues. “We know he is new here, we know now why. Or rather, he is very, very old here. He has been underground with that other fucker—sorry, sir—and they have both got to Tilly on the outside disguised as her brother’s friends. They both put her in danger, and as soon as I get my hands on the other one, he’s going down as well.”

Blackthorn’s eyes flash dangerously at Draven’s words. “You will do no such thing. Your vigilante justice ends here and now.”

“With all due respect, sir,” Luc interjects, his voice tight with barely restrained anger, “Night deserved what he got. He abused Tilly for years. He is one of these Guardians that we know cannot be trusted. He wants a piece of the Praxian magick. He raised an undead army to try to kill us. He’s involved in some dark ritual that could threaten everyone. We couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.”

Blackthorn takes a deep breath, visibly trying to calm himself. “I understand your motivations, but that does not excuse your actions. You’ve broken numerous academy rules, not to mention laws. I should expel all of you immediately.”

Tilly lets out a small sob at that, her face pale.

“However,” Blackthorn continues, his tone softening slightly as he looks at Tilly, and I know she is his Achilles heel. He knows he can’t chuck her out and back to her family. “However, you are all lucky that I’m already aware of most of this story because you trusted me to tell me. Why you decided to leave out this part is anyone’s guess. How do you expect me to help you when you are hiding half the information from me?”

Tilly chokes back a sob. “We’re sorry, Professor. We knew that Night was powerful and, of course, a professor here. We didn’t think it was the right move to tell you what we thought we knew until we had confronted him about the undead army. The rest came out… earlier, including finding out he was using a glamour to infiltrate my home to abuse me.”

Good girl. I smile inwardly. That is the final nail in Night’s coffin. Blackthorn won’t be able to punish her after that. The rest of us, well, we will see.

Blackthorn sighs. “Miss Matilda. I’m excusing you from this office. There is no residual forbidden magick on you, so I can be sure you weren’t directly involved. You are dismissed.”

Tilly gapes at him and looks across at me. I nod and smile, telling her it’s okay to leave. I half knew this was coming, but I also know why.

“Go now before I change my mind,” he says gruffly.

“Go,” I murmur. “We will catch up with you at dinner.”

She nods and still hesitates, but Luc gives her a gentle shove towards the door, and she stumbles out, leaving us three to face down with the venerable Luke Blackthorn.

His gaze bores into mine, but neither of us backs down. Eventually, he sighs. “You are too much like me. Where’s the fear?” he grumbles.

“Sorry, Uncle. You don’t scare me.”

“I should. And you two…” he jabs his finger at Luc and Draven. “… you two should, at the very least, fear your mother. She is the Devil! Why would you do something so stupid knowing I have to tell her?”

“We are kind of hoping you won’t,” Draven says.

“You killed a professor and brought him back from the dead,” Blackthorn clips out. “On what planet do you think I wouldn’t tell her? My arse is on the line here as much as yours.”

“All the more reason for you to not tell her,” I point out.

Luc’s eyes narrow. “With all due respect, sir, our mother would probably congratulate us for taking out a threat. Especially one that hurt Tilly.”

“She knows about your affection for her?”

“Well, no,” Draven mutters. “But as soon as we tell her, she will.”

I roll my eyes. “Gods, this is a clusterfuck. Can we just call a spade a spade here? No one is telling anyone anything. The stakes are too high for all of us. We did the paranormal world a favour. Maybe even beyond. We don’t know the full extent of Praxian magick. We don’t know what it affects and what it doesn’t. We got rid of one of the Guardians whose job description somehow changed in the millennia he was lying underground. We know Christos has also had a change of mission statement. Xanthos, who knows? He led us astray and then ran from us. The fourth one? Tilly might have been onto something when she asked Night if the fourth Guardian was the one pulling all these strings. Or rather, he would be the first Guardian. We need to be concentrating on finding out who that is. Not to mention protecting Tilly from being impregnated by one of these ancient perverts, seeing as a child she bears, will basically be the Praxian magick incarnate. So that is something we need to avoid at all costs, wouldn’t you agree?”

Blackthorn looks like he wants to roll his eyes at me. “I do so loathe a monologue,” he mutters.

“Yeah, well, that makes all of us, then. Agree, or do we need to go over it all again?”

“You are far too bold for my liking, young nephew.”

“Nah,” I say with a shrug. “I think you enjoy the challenge. How boring to always be respected and obeyed.”

He snorts, and I grin.

I knew I could crack that headmaster exterior to get to Luke .

Blackthorn shakes his head, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips. “You’re incorrigible, Vex. All of you are.” He sighs heavily. “Fine. I won’t report this incident. But if anything like this happens again, I won’t be so lenient. Is that understood?”

We all nod solemnly.

“Good,” Blackthorn says. “Now, tell me everything you learned from Night, word for word. Leave nothing out this time.”

I sit down and recount every detail of our confrontation with Night and what he revealed.

Blackthorn listens intently, frowning in concentration. “This is grave news indeed. If what Night said is true, we’re dealing with forces far beyond what I initially suspected.”

“So, what do we do now?” Luc asks.

Blackthorn’s expression hardens. “We prepare, we study, and we make sure that Matilda is harnessing the power inside her. Both physically and mentally. She needs to be placed in some irregular classes.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“And absolutely no more vigilante justice,” he adds sternly. “If you discover anything else, you come to me immediately. No exceptions.”

“Yes, sir.”

Blackthorn dismisses us with a wave of his hand.

As we leave his office, Luc and Draven exchange a look.

“What?” I ask, dread rising up.

“We need to go home,” Luc mutters when we are out of earshot.

“Why?” I ask suspiciously.

“We want to know why Xavier came to Matilda and spoke to her about us.”

“Is it really that important?” I ask, exasperated. “We have bigger shit to deal with right now.”

“Xavi brought the Araxi to MistHallow,” Draven says quietly, and Luc shoots him a glare, which tells me this is new information. “The question is why. To help or to harm?”

“Go then,” I say immediately. “I will cover for you, but be fucking quick. Blackthorn is in no mood to be tested right now.”

The brothers nod and slink off into the shadows while I concentrate on finding Tilly. This night is far from over, and I need to know she’s safe from whatever is going to be thrown at her next.