Page 8

Juniper

D rumming.

That was the only way I knew to describe what I was hearing. It wasn’t like drums, exactly, but more like my pulse pounding in my ears, but more musical. A steady beat but with a different, more intricate rhythm.

I could sense it was magical in its essence, calling to me like a siren’s song with the sole purpose of nudging me towards my fate. I knew that if I followed it I would receive the answers everyone sought, but my common sense told me not to. It could have been a trap, or worse.

And yet, even with that knowledge, it persisted, uncaring that I was aware of its intent.

It was a powerful enough force that I found my body moving of its own accord despite my desire to stay exactly where I was, comfortable in my bed wrapped up warm and cosy in my covers.

As soon as my bare feet hit the carpeted floor, however, the drumming stopped.

I shook my head, physically attempting to shake loose any dregs of magic that dared to remain, the rest of my sleepiness going with it.

That was weird…

With my newfound consciousness I found the earlier events were coming back to me. The headache; Hawthorne and Enid walking in on me and Oz hugging; passing out after bashing heads with Hawthorne. Gods, I was such a klutz sometimes. It was no wonder he never noticed me unless I was directly under his nose.

‘Junie?’ Oz’s voice called from the foot of the bed.

‘Oz? What are you doing in here?’ I asked, my voice scratchy from sleep.

‘Making sure you were okay. I tried to heal you, but there wasn’t actually anything wrong. At least that my magic could detect…’

‘Which means it was a magical attack,’ I surmised.

‘It seems that way, yes. How are you feeling?’

I took stock of my head and the rest of my body, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Beside the drumming. Perhaps I should have mentioned that.

‘I’m fine, but something woke me up, but then it went away,’ I admitted.

His brows furrowed, then he moved to sit closer to me as he stared intensely into my eyes. ‘What was it?‘

‘Drumming. Sort of. I’m not really sure, but it was like it was calling to me.’

‘I didn’t hear anything,’ he said, his scowl deepening.

I lifted my shoulders in a shrug, letting it go. ‘It’s gone now. No point worrying. I think I’ll head to my garden for a bit, though. Clear my head. It still feels a little fuzzy.’

‘Oh. Sure.’

I scanned the room, noting the tomes stacked neatly on my desk and remembered Hawthorne and Oz. ‘Hey, is Hawthorne okay? That bump was…’ I trailed off, embarrassment heating my cheeks and I couldn’t look at him.

‘They left after they helped me move you in here. Thorne started to undress you to make you more comfortable, but don’t worry, I stopped him before he could pull of your pants.’

My eyes widened until they stung. ‘ What? ’

He sniggered, the sound more like a pig snorting than a human being and I shoved at his chest. He fell back, not expecting the attack and laughed harder. ‘I don’t know if I’m more mad that he tried to undress me while I was asleep, I missed it, or you stopped it,’ I pouted.

‘Whatever. I’m heading out.’

It was that moment that I noticed that the darkness in the room wasn’t due to the curtains being closed since they were still open, but it was nighttime. ‘Hey, what time is it?’

He glanced at the watch on his wrist. ‘A little after one in the morning. Why?’

‘I was out for a few hours then. I missed dinner. Did everything go okay?’

‘Everything was fine. Prof. Sweeney came back so she stood in for you. I told her what happened just in case it had anything to do with what’s going on out there, so she was happy to let you rest.’

‘Oh. Well, thanks, I guess. I’m sorry I wasn’t there, though.’

‘Don’t worry about it. It was better actually. No one gossiped about me and Sweeney trying to get it on,’ he grimaced and I wrinkled my nose.

‘I didn’t realise you heard that.’

‘Unfortunately, I heard it all. I can’t wait to break this curse so people stop assuming we’re fucking just ‘cause we’re seen together.’

‘Truth.’

He studied the wall when I pulled on some fresh pants and a sweater, giving me some privacy. He turned back when I put my tennis shoes back on, then stood with me as I walked to the door.

As I was locking up he stopped me with a hand on my arm. I looked up at him, curious for what he wanted to say. He seemed to be hesitating, and eventually his shoulders slumped and he sent me a crooked smile.

‘Just be careful out there, okay?’

I grinned at him. ‘Don’t worry. I will be.’

‘And don’t stay out too late. We have breakfast duty in the morning.’

I gave him a two-fingered salute. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be in bed again soon. Promise.’

We gave each other a quick side hug where he pressed a brotherly kiss to the top of my head, then we separated. Him to his room and me down the stairs. I didn’t want to take the elevator because it made too much noise and might have clued in the kids that I was leaving, instead choosing the barely used stairwell at the back of the building.

Stepping through the ward felt like stepping through an electrical field, the magic crackling over my skin and making my hairs stand on end. I quickly smoothed down the hair on top of my head just in case I ran into anyone, though I doubted I would. It was too late for anyone to be out and about right now, unless I bumped into a faculty member doing the rounds to keep the academy safe.

It took me no time at all to wind my way through the pathways towards the forest. My personal garden that I’d cultivated here since I’d started at Aurora Academy twelve years ago resided just beyond the treeline, hidden away from prying eyes and protected by my magic so only I could enter. Luckily, it was inside the section of the forest that hadn’t been squashed by the black behemoth, and I counted my blessings for that.

I easily found the concealed entrance, an archway made of roses that, to anyone else, just looked like a bush between two trees. I could feel the call of my magic, a beckoning warmth that was eager to welcome me and I smiled in response. However, when lifted my foot to step through, my fingers grazing the delicate, velvety rose petals, a snap sounded close by like someone had stepped on a twig.

I paused, my ears alert as I listened for any sign of danger. There was wildlife that called this forest home, and not all of them were small like the squirrels, mice and rabbits. These trees were also home to larger predators, such as wolves, bears, and even a cougar or two. It had been drilled into us since we’d first began at Aurora Academy that the forest was dangerous and to enter with caution.

I didn’t see anything when I peered between the trees, nor did I hear anything else. The sounds of the forest’s nightlife still drifted to me, so I doubted there were any larger predators lurking about looking for their next meal. Regardless, I decided it was best to get into the safety of my garden. Just in case.

Except my instincts were screaming that something was off.

I glanced to my right where I felt the eyes watching me only to see another pair glinting silver in the darkness as they peered from behind the foliage, too high to be an animal stalking its prey. The more I stared, the more I could see the shadow of a person’s frame. They were large, bulky, and worryingly good at concealing themselves in the surrounding nature.

Slowly, the figure stepped forward into a beam of moonlight shining through the canopy, letting me seeing them more clearly. He was tall, perhaps twice my height with long, white hair pulled back away from his face in a series of small, intricate braids that revealed ears that ended in sharp tips, a single silver hoop dangling through each tip.

Holy fuck… he was a Fae.

His silvery eyes practically glowed in the moonlight, highlighting a chiselled jaw ended in a pointed chin that directed me down to the rest of his body. It was muscular, a warrior’s build, clad in dark leathers that did more to reveal the cover up.

My eyes trailed down his well-kept physique until I landed on the deep V of his hips, teasing me with what lay beneath tight-fitting leather pants.

I gasped when I felt the cold, sharp edge of a blade against my throat, threatening to slice through my neck if I made one wrong move.

The man in front of me had been a distraction while his friend had come up from behind. But damn, what a distraction he made.

‘Who are you?’ I asked, my voice breathless in a way it had only ever been when I was lost in a haze of lust. To be fair, my libido was definitely screaming at me to jump him. I didn’t even want to see who was holding the knife to my throat, because I was concerned he would be even more attractive.

Also, was it sick of me that I kind of liked it?

The white-haired Fae tilted his head to the side as he studied me right back, his eyes brightening even more as if he was using magic to search me. It wasn’t X-ray vision, was it? I didn’t think I’d be as mad as I was supposed to be if that were the case. His friend could hold me captive while he checked me out any day.

No. Stop it. Bad vagina.

‘Hoo… ah… yoo…’ the Fae repeated my words, testing them on his tongue, his voice a deep, lyrical bass that sent shivers scattering across my skin like tiny little erotic explosions. His accent was also delicious as it washed over me, but I supposed it was silly of me to assume he spoke English. He wasn’t even from the same realm.

Oh… shit.

No fucking way.

Deciding to take a risk, especially considering the blade against my neck was definitely real and not actually placed there with my apparently newfound kink in mind, I raised my hand to place it against my chest, keeping my movements slow so as not to spook them.

‘My name is Juniper,’ I said, tapping my chest. ‘Juniper.’

‘Joo… Ni… Purr…’

I beamed at him, probably looking like a complete psycho in my current position, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. There was something seriously wrong with me…

‘Right! I’m Juniper. What’s your name?’

He looked behind me with a single eyebrow raised as I assumed he shared a silent conversation with the person attached to the blade. When his gaze moved back to me, the intensity caused my core to clench, a gush of warmth leaking from me as every atom in my body lusted for him.

I wondered then if this reaction was a magical side-effect of some sort because I had never responded like this to anyone, let alone a stranger of myth. Besides Hawthorne, of course, but that was different. My attraction to him had been instant, but it had also evolved as we’d grown older. This was instantaneous and highly suspicious.

I narrowed my eyes at him, about to call him out on it but then he spoke again.

‘Evander,’ he said, patting his chest.

I blinked, then my earlier reservations dissipated into thin air and I grinned again. ‘Evander. It’s nice to meet you.’

I stuck my thumb out and jabbed it towards the guy still holding me hostage. ‘And him?’

Evander’s lips twitched as if her were fighting a smile. ‘Arden.’

‘Well, Arden. Would you mind removing the stabby thing, please?’ I asked in my sweetest tone while I gestured toward me neck.

Evander said something to his friend in his own language, so I didn’t understand what he was saying until the blade was lowered and I was free to step away from the danger. I turned so my back was to the entrance of my garden, already knowing they wouldn’t be able to follow if I needed to make a quick escape and took stock of this Arden fellow.

He was shorter and leaner than Evander with hair worn the same way only a shade darker. His ears were also a little longer and devoid of any adornment. His features were also a lot more delicate, rounder, almost as if he were a woman though his build was undeniably male. Honestly, Evander still held the title for sexiest man alive. No competition.

None of us spoke, the silence between us building as we studied one another with a curiosity that bordered on obsession. At least on my end. They were Fae , for fuck’s sake. A race of supernatural beings that were believed to have gone extinct a long time ago if they’d ever even existed. Well, clearly they did, but that didn’t change the fact that they weren’t supposed to be real.

With the way they were looking at me, I wondered if they thought the same of Humans. Were we merely myths and legends to them as they were to us? I giggled. How odd.

Suddenly, I stiffened. The drumming was back. It was subtle at first, a quiet thumping in the back of my head that I ignored until I couldn’t anymore. It crescendoed until it was all I could focus on, all I could hear. My head twisted as I attempted to gauge which direction it was coming from, and I almost missed the way the Fae men did the same. Could they hear it, too?

‘The drumming,’ I all but whispered, my voice lost beneath the sound.

And then we were moving, their bodies in sync with mine as the magic took hold and we were pulled towards the sound. It seemed none of us were strong enough to fight it’s grip, and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to. It wasn’t a feeling of safety, but more like a necessity. I needed to be wherever it was leading me, I felt it in my bones.

I lost track of the Fae, my instincts telling me that they weren’t important right now and they posed no threat. I didn’t think that would last forever, but for now they weren’t something to worry about.

The drumming got louder, faster, more intense as I got closer to the source. I stepped out into the middle of the courtyard I’d stood in yesterday morning, the one where we’d all gawped at the structure with the strange, Fae-like markings. I could see it now, though it was just a vague black mass obstructing my vision beyond what I really needed to be looking at. In fact, it brought it into better clarity.

A shimmer in mid-air, like a heatwave on a blisteringly hot summer’s day, only iridescent and fixed in place. It started off small, just a spec floating above the ground, but then widened and stretched into something so large it could probably fit a bus.

I’d never seen one before, but I knew what it was. A portal. And it wanted me to step through.