Page 19 of Stormbringer (Tracthesian Academy #1)
T he next morning, Wave woke up to a knock on her door.
“Wayla, are you awake?” Chrissy called.
“Unnnh.”
“Mr. Whitfurst is here to see you.”
“Tell him to go to hell,” Wave groaned. Silence followed, and then Chrissy was back.
“He said hell is not so nice this time of year and that you are late for your lesson.”
Wave climbed from her bed and stumbled to the door, wrenching it open. “Where is he?”
Chrissy pointed to the apartment door, where Mr. Annoyingly Hot Jerk was standing, looking annoyingly chipper. He was wearing a pair of jeans, another shirt that hinted at his abs, and a jacket. Casual and handsome with his hair a bit mussed.
“Ginny’s spell,” Chrissy whispered an answer to Wave’s unasked question. He could not enter. Thank heavens for Ginny.
“What are you doing here?” Wave growled, rubbing her eyes. “It’s like, the middle of the night.”
Jarred just grinned. “It’s nine am, sleepy head, and you have class.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I—”
“Mrs. Riverson’s request. She came by in person yesterday evening.” Now the smile slipped from Jarred’s face. “She wanted to make sure we knew you needed additional protection against ice magic. Care to tell me what that’s about, Wayla?”
“Fucking, Risha,” Wave cursed and rubbed her eyes again. “I’m gonna shove—”
“How about some coffee?” Chrissy broke Wave off loudly. She took a deep breath and threw a grateful glance at her roommate. Friend. Something along those lines.
When she turned back to face Jarred, he was pale and his eyes were blazing. Wave could almost hear the menacing rumble emanating from him.
“Risha, as in Irishen Sleethill, heir apparent to the ice clans?”
“The one and only,” Wave grumbled. “Idiot tried to bully his way into the faculty library. Mrs. Riverson backed me up when he didn’t have a valid ID.”
Jarred choked a bit at that, and Chrissy giggled behind Wave’s back. She came over and pushed a steaming mug of coffee into her hands.
“Drink up and go change. I can’t let you out looking like that,” she said. Then she handed a second mug to Jarred. “You can sip that while you wait. And if you tell her to hurry up, I’ll make sure none of your clothes fit right for the rest of the semester.”
W ave grumbled under her breath the whole way to the Powerhouse’s mansion. She’d taken her time getting ready, even going as far as brushing on some tinted lip balm and putting on a dash of waterproof mascara that Chrissy had handed to her.
Not for Jarred and definitely not for Hellion, but Wave had a feeling Marc would be there, and that made her want to look nice. He needed a quality fake girlfriend, not a river troll.
When she walked into the house behind Jarred, enticing smells of bacon and pancakes wafted to her, and her stomach growled.
“Come,” Jarred said, leading her deeper into the house. She stumbled to a stop as they entered the dining room, and Wave took in the breakfast spread. She’d bet her month’s salary that most hotels didn’t carry such a nice selection.
Yash walked in carrying a tray filled with pancakes of all kinds. He smiled widely and nodded his head at the side table, “We have coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice, water, and mimosas. Pick your poison!”
Wave went over and filled her cup halfway with coffee and then topped it up with hot chocolate.
“Well, I said poison,” Yash said, fake gagging as she walked to the table and took the plate he handed her. “Fill up. Marc has plans for you, and you’ll need every calorie you can get.”
“What was the thing with Mrs. Riverson anyway?” Sinister asked as he walked in a moment later, and the room started to fill with the rest of them. They were all dressed casually, t-shirts combined with sweatpants or jeans, and every one of them looked way too awake and aware for Saturday morning.
“No fancy partying till sunrise for you lot,” she grumbled.
Sinister chuckled. “Not when Marc is in a mood. Now, why are we all preparing to help you with ice magic?”
“You all—” Wave choked on her chocoffee. She quickly looked around the room, but the only ones missing were Marc and Grant. “You don’t need to do that.”
“Yes, we do,” Jarred cut her off and then looked at Sinister with an impressive scowl on his pretty face. “Fucking Sleethill spawn was all up in her business.”
The temperature in the room dropped and spiked at once as the comfortable clinking of cutlery cut off. Wave looked around the room. Sinister and Zahir were having some sort of exchange, Hellion looked furious, Hazard closed off, and Ilijas and Sim just focused on their food.
Yash was the one to finally break the silence. He handed Wave another plate filled with roasted tomatoes, bacon, some potato cakes, and beans. Wave glanced at her plate, still half full with pancakes and blueberries and banana slices.
“Eat up, doll, you’ll need it,” Yash said with a shake of his head, and pulled another plate in front of himself, too. “And may all creatures have mercy on our souls when Marc hears.”