Page 39 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty (The Legacy of Aquila Hall #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

ARCHER

“I take the right passage, and my Rebel takes your right-hand man out, which leaves your King defenceless, and I take the Sorcery’s Dagger to make the kingdom mine. Which means…”

“Can’t I challenge your Rebel to keep the dagger and my throne?”

Jesse looked up from the game and frowned at me. “That’s not—No. You can’t. If you’re out, you’re out. If you want it more visual, I can act like my Rebel stabs your King.” He picked up both ornaments and demonstrated his taking mine down. I just stared at him.

“You don’t have to demonstrate it. I get it.”

Jesse considered that for a moment, then placed my King and his Rebel back on the board—a labyrinth made of wood. You played it like checkmate, but instead of two teams trying to eliminate each other from parallel sides, this game had a monarchy to overthrow. The rebellion started at the labyrinth’s entrance and worked through the confusing path, while the King’s side had to defend from the inside out. This game was damn confusing and exhausting. Every time you played, the labyrinth walls moved, preventing you from using a pattern. Not that your opponent would play the same strategies anyway—at least not if your opponent was the grandson of the man who invented it.

For me, the only interesting thing about Spellbound was that nowhere in the rules did it state which side was the “good” one and which was the “bad” one. Was the King cruel, and the rebellion wanted to overthrow him? Or was it the other way around?

I leaned back in my chair. “I can’t believe this game is so popular.”

Jesse started to place the ornaments back in the wooden box, taking them off the board. He shrugged. “It’s my grandfather’s least popular one. But it was the one he was most proud of.”

Berkshire had designed dozens of strategy games over the years, and while Spellbound had made his name famous, he’d designed other games that had grown more popular over time.

“It was the very first game he ever taught me,” my friend said, swallowing thickly.

When Antony Berkshire had died two years ago, many people had mourned the man who made others laugh on TV and designed the games that tainted their childhoods. But his grandson was the one who spent his nights calling out for his grandfather, wishing he could say goodbye one last time to the man who had raised him like a son when his own father hadn’t been good enough.

He never came.

And even though I didn’t like this game, I played with him whenever he knocked on my door with the old wooden box squeezed under his arm. Because I knew this was how he felt most connected with his grandfather.

“You want to play another round?” I asked when I noticed his mood changing at the mention of his grandfather.

But Jesse shook his head and gave me a small, lopsided smile. “Nah, I’d rather sneak some biscuits from Betty to my room while she’s on her cigarette break.”

Jesse glanced at the door connecting the kitchen to the dining hall, where we were currently sitting at our self-claimed table. I smirked at him. “She’ll have your head.”

He swung his leg over the bench and stood up. “Only if she catches me, and as you may know, I’m the best thief this academy has ever had. The dozen spoons in my room are proof enough.”

I breathed a laugh and followed him up to the kitchen. “You’re a kleptomaniac with an odd obsession with spoons.”

Jesse pushed the door open and turned to look at me as he continued to walk backwards. “Spoons are considerably very useful when you’re a designer. Don’t tell me you don’t love my version of spoon chess. I’m brilliant.” He laughed and grabbed a cookie, knowing exactly where to find them. This wasn’t his first time robbing the kitchen. It’s like a once-a-week thing with him.

“Oh, Betty, darling, those cookies are dry as sand,” he muttered, disappointed, with a mouthful of food. I leaned against the wall and watched him devour two more before moving to grab a tissue, where he stacked the biscuits in.

“How is it going with sweet Dollie, brother?” Jesse asked, changing the subject.

I sighed, rubbing my hand over my jaw. “Fine. We’ve made a deal to be nothing more than friends. It’s nice to be around her. She’s been smiling a lot lately, and every time I see her look at me when she thinks I’m distracted, it almost feels like I don’t have any worries at all anymore.”

“You know, normal friends don’t necessarily talk about each other that way.”

“Normal friends aren’t necessarily cursed to fall in love only for their lives to end in doom,” I replied, and Jesse shrugged, folding the tissue over his biscuits to keep them safe and secure until he was in his room.

“You might be right there, mate.” He turned his wrist to look at the expensive watch. “We should keep going. Betty’s break ends in seven minutes, and she usually comes back inside five minutes before that to sneak one of those biscuits into her own pockets.”

I laughed as I pushed off the wall. “You’re such a freak, Jess.”

Jesse took the tissue bag and winked at me. “I prefer to be called a genius, but whatever works for you.”

We hurried back into the dining hall and down the corridors towards the boys’ dorms when Kane suddenly jogged down the stairs. I grabbed Jesse’s shirt at the back and pulled him against the wall with me so our professor couldn’t see us. He dropped the food in the process and cursed quietly.

“You nitwit.”

“Hush.”

I kicked the biscuits down the hall so Kane wouldn’t catch us spying on him.

Our professor looked around at the sound but quickly exited the building, and I spun around to look outside the massive windows that brought light into the corridors.

I watched as Kane stripped off his black trench coat and threw it in the back of his car before he sat down in the driver’s seat and drove off. I grabbed Jesse’s arm and pulled him with me.

“We have to follow him.”

“Oh sure, we’ll just run behind his car. In case you forgot about that, but we don’t have a car, and neither of us can drive, Archie.”

I didn’t turn to look at him as I dragged him outside and pulled my phone out of my blazer.

“No, but I own a horse, and I put a GPS tracker on the bottom of his car a month ago.”

Jesse’s jaw dropped, and he huffed a laugh. “Let’s play Spy Kids then,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder before we jogged towards the stables.

I opened the tracking app on my phone and watched the pulsing red dot moving north. I frowned at the direction he took.

“What if he’s just driving to buy new chalk to throw at us or something?” Jesse asked, stroking Ebony’s fur, who calmed at his touch.

I pulled up my phone and showed him where our professor was heading. He gaped at the screen. “But that’s a dead end. The only place out there is the graveyard.”

Nodding, I slid my phone back inside my blazer and led Ebony out of her box, saddling her on autopilot as I listened to Jesse rambling.

“What if he performs some kind of ritual there? Oh, great heavens, what if he tries to raise the dead? Are we going to have to fight in the apocalypse? I’m not made to eat beans out of a can, Archie. I live for fresh hot cheese pizza,” he panicked, walking up and down in front of me.

“Stop running around the stables like a field mouse. You’re making the horses nervous.”

He stopped, turning to look at me. “Sorry.” My friend was quiet for several seconds before he started again. “No, actually, I’m not. Far from it. I’m panicking here, brother. Have you seen Asher Kane? That man is a giant. He could easily kill us with his bare hands. I’m too fragile to take it up with him. Bloody hell, I’m too young to die.”

“Take your glasses off and give them to me,” I commanded, not bearing to hear him whine for another minute.

“Why?” he asked.

“Just do it.” I held my hand towards him, and he took his golden glasses off, folding them before he placed them in my hand, where I let them gently slide into my breast pocket and grabbed the bucket of water that stood by the stool to throw it at him. Jesse closed his eyes and brushed his hands over his face to get his hair out of his eyes.

“Better?” I asked, placing the bucket down and climbing onto Ebony, holding my hand with his glasses out for him to take.

“You’re a pillock, you know that?” He roughly put his glasses on and took my hand to help him up on the saddle.

I shrugged. “Tell me something new.”

Leaving the stables open, I slowly led Ebony out of the gates of Aquila. I knew Amberley would take her horse out in around ten minutes, and the horses were secured, so I didn’t fear anything by leaving them open.

Jesse held on to me as we made our way down the hills through the woods to where the old graveyard was located. When we arrived at our destination, Kane’s car was already parked next to the gates. I led Ebony into the woods and secured her to one of the trees to prevent her from being seen by him.

We hid behind the bushes where Doe and I had watched the bride and groom’s spirits a few months ago.

Kane bent down in front of a gravestone and brushed his palm across the name on the stone, removing the dirt and snow that had hidden the name.

Amita Khatri.

“I’m so close to finding it, Amita, like I promised I would,” he said to the gravestone, stroking the stone with his thumb as if he hoped her soul could feel his touch through this gesture.

I looked behind him where a beautiful woman, looking not much older than me, appeared at his back. She wore her dark hair in a thick braid and a white summer dress, making her look like an angel with the veil dancing around her limbs.

“Find it before any of them do,” she whispered, and Kane stood up, turning to look right at her.

“So he can see them like we do,” Jesse mumbled, and even though we had guessed it, it was still shocking to see. This was the first real evidence we had since we found out that the Kane’s are one of the seven families with the gift of death.

Jesse lifted his phone to film the conversation–even when none of us were sure if we could still see spirits on film. “Doe and Maisie will flip when they get back, and we’ll show them this.”

Kane stared at her hesitantly before he took a step towards her, reaching out. But as his hand slid through her form, he narrowed his gaze. If he reached for her with the opportunity of willingly letting her touch him, but he still failed… It meant that Amita did not want to feel his touch.

“Amita–”

“Don’t you start apologising. I accepted my fate a long time ago. I just wish I could leave, so I wouldn’t have to see your face every time you call for me,” she hissed with pure hatred in his direction, holding her head high for the sun that broke through the clouds to reflect on her deep bronze skin.

It always fascinated me how spirits could feel mother earth the same as they did before their souls were bodiless and only an image of what they used to look like.

Professor Kane let his shoulders hang as if he felt some sort of sadness, even though his face spoke of anger. The way he gritted his jaw and drew his eyebrows together.

“I’ll find the Book of Shadows and a way to set your soul free before I’ll fulfil the prophecy,” he promised, but the girl in front of him shook her head in a disapproving way.

“Burn this place down, Asher. Destroy Aquila Hall before even more souls suffer my fate. This place is the purgatory. And I hate you for begging my parents to bury me here.”

“I couldn’t let you go–”

“You couldn’t let go of the idea of me, Asher Kane. So you chained me to this place.”

“I should have protected you.”

She turned her head to the side, looking away from him. “You’re right. I gave everything for you, for us . But you did not.” Amita was about to walk away when she turned to look at him one last time. “Sometimes, I don’t know whether I should wish for you or him to suffer more. Because I loved you, Asher. I loved both of you. But all you saw was the power standing behind all of this. How could I have been so naive to believe you could love something– someone , more than your precious studies.” She turned, disappearing into the veil.

“Amita!” Kane called into nothingness, receiving no answer.

Jesse leaned over to speak into my ear. “He suddenly seems a little pathetic.”

I would have agreed with him if I hadn't felt a little bad for him, and I didn’t even know why. He was an arsehole. Insulting students on a daily basis. Making the exams twice as hard and almost impossible to pass, just because he hated us and enjoyed his position of power. And still, there was pain crossing his features for a girl he could never have, and weirdly, I understood that.

We took a step back to hide behind the trees after Kane returned to the gate, suddenly a loud crack sounded, and Jesse grabbed the back of my jacket to keep himself steady, but he pulled me onto the snowy ground with him instead.

I hit the ground hard and cursed under my breath as I looked over at my friend, who held his ankle, squeezing his eyes shut in pain. The snapped branch on the ground let me guess that he slipped on it.

“Fuck, Jesse,” I breathed, laying my hand on his arm as he let himself fall flat on his back, whimpering in pain.

“Yeah, fuck, Jesse,” A dark voice mocked, and I turned my head to look at Professor Kane, who stood above us.

I shot to my feet, staring at the man who was only a few inches taller than me, with my jaw locked.

“Are you eavesdropping on me?” He asked angrily, already knowing the answer to his question. Kane exhaled furiously, but something about his appearance revealed that he was nervous.

I shrugged, “you tell me. I took my friend out for a ride on school grounds and when we stopped here so I could show him the old graveyard, we met our professor going all insane speaking to prunella the poltergeist.”

Confusion crossed his eyes for a second, and I would have sighed in relief that he believed my lie of not seeing Amita. And by the way he frowned at me, I knew that he had been so sure we were able to see the souls of the lost.

But it was only a matter of seconds before his confused features turned hard again. “You don’t know what you saw, Kingstone. Stay away from things that aren’t meant to be discovered,” he hissed.

I narrowed my eyes on him in pure hatred. This was the man we had to outrun to find the Book of Shadows. For some reason, he’d be at fault for Doe’s death if he found the book before us. I wish we could go to the police, get him fired or some shit. But how do you explain that your arsehole professor will murder you if he finds some magical book that has gotten lost decades ago?

We were already the misfits. The crazy children of important people who couldn’t bear our existence, so they got rid of us.No one would believe a single word coming out of our mouths.

“I’ll give you honest advice, Kingstone. All that glitters is not gold. Things might look tempting in our world, but are they really worth the sacrifice? Stay away from me, or I’ll make sure you will.” Kane turned without giving me any time to answer and walked towards his car. Leaving us standing all alone in the graveyard.

I thought about the words he had said, and something told me that he did know who we were and what we were capable of. But the more we confuse his assumptions, the better. Let him be clueless and think he’d be the one to discover the place where the Book of Shadows was hidden first.

If he didn’t feel threatened, he might work slower and give us a little more time.

“All that glitters is not gold,” I repeated the words he had said to me. “I’m sure that’s Shakespeare.”

“Yeah, and you know what I’m sure of?” I turned to look at my friend, who had sat up again, looking a little pale.

“What?”

“That I broke my bloody ankle and Kane stepped on my phone!” He yelled angrily, pointing at his phone that must have slipped out of his hand as he fell. The screen was cracked, and it bent like a flip phone.

Perfect. Fucking perfect.