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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

By the time Crystal arrived, I was up, though still groggy, and the bruises had really set in. I stared in the mirror, wincing as I looked at the puncture wounds that the doctor had treated. He’d managed to extract twenty-two thorns from various parts of my body, and in addition to that, I was black and blue on my knees and elbows and I walked like I was ninety.

I opened the door, still wearing the sundress. Crystal stared at me, her eyes running up and down, and she gave me a horrified look.

“What the hell happened?” she said, pushing past me.

“I met a Fae piggy who wanted to gore me,” I said.

She froze. “What did you say?”

“Yeah, the field trip? Didn’t go as planned. We ran into a ferandal, a Fae boar trained to kill, I gather. It targeted me. I managed to get away from it before it could touch me, but that included scrambling through a bramble patch.”

As I told her what had happened, she listened, her eyes wide.

“You could have been killed.”

“Easily. I’ve decided to drop out of Jason’s class, given he didn’t think about what might happen. There’s a reason the city keeps that portal behind a chain-link fence. In fact, I wonder how many teenagers get in trouble down there every year? There’s no way to close down the wild places, and it’s really not the city’s place to patrol them…but…”

“Shadow towns always have dangers other towns generally don’t. Parents need to teach their kids how to keep safe. I know that the schools do—we all know the rules by heart, but it has to come from the home, too.” Crystal grimaced, watching me gingerly sit down. “That looks so freaking painful.”

“It is. I feel like a pincushion,” I said, easing back against the sofa. “At least I got some sleep. It helped, but the next few days are going to be painful. Anyway, so yeah, I’m dropping the class. The teacher fucked up, Crystal. He could have gotten us seriously hurt.”

“From what you told me, yes. Well, that will give you Friday nights free.”

“And I can study it on my own.” I paused, then said, “I have to say, the one good thing that came out of it is I met Kyle.”

“Who’s Kyle?” Crystal asked.

“Well…” When I woke up, I realized that I was thinking about him. He’d been so helpful and he was so interesting, and I had thoroughly enjoyed eating lunch with him. Well, as much as I could, given how much I’d been hurting.

“He’s a guy from class. He helped me during the attack, and then he took me to urgent care, and then drove me back here. And yes, he’s single. And…I think I might like to get to know him. He seems like someone I’d like to have for a friend.”

“Just a friend? Tell me about him.”

I laughed. Crystal wasn’t going to let me off the hook until I told her all about him. “He works in a fetish bar as security—the Lace & Bow.”

“I thought he ran his own business,” Astra said from the hallway.

I jumped. “I didn’t know you were listening.”

“I took a little nap too, after I dropped Kyle off at his car. So, what’s this about a fetish bar?” She arched her eyebrows.

Crystal was grinning, watching both of us.

“Kyle’s in the process of opening up his own business. Remember? He didn’t say he had already opened it. Currently, he works security at the Lace & Bow.” I shrugged. “Honestly, it’s work, and he’s making a living.”

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it,” Astra said. “If the man is pulling his own weight, if he’s not leeching off a girlfriend or his parents, all the more power to him. I understand when someone is down and out—everybody needs help at some time. But I have seen a lot of people who didn’t want to work. Anyway, on the way back to his car, we had a good chat, and I fully approve.” She flashed me a knowing grin.

“What do you mean?” I asked, blushing.

“Of you dating.”

I stared at her. I wasn’t sure whether I was irritated because of her assuming I wanted to date him, or because she actually knew I wanted to go out with him. Because I did. And I wasn’t used to the feeling, so I decided that I was irritated at myself.

Crystal glanced at me. “Did he ask you out?”

“No,” I said, blushing again. “He hasn’t, but I think if he did, I’d say yes.”

“Why don’t you call him and invite him out to dinner? You could say it was a thank you for him helping you,” my aunt said.

I paused. That was actually a good idea. I decided to drop the pretense of not being interested, and took a deep breath. “I should. That would be the perfect excuse, and if he didn’t want to go, it wouldn’t be so awkward or embarrassing.”

“Do it now,” Crystal said. “While you’ve got the courage.” She grabbed my phone and slapped it into my hand.

Astra laughed, but she sat down near me too. “If you do, I’ll make you strawberry shortcake tomorrow. I know how much you love it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Really?” When they both egged me on, I shrugged. “I don’t even know if I have his number!”

Astra held up her phone. “I do. He asked me to give it to you.” With a self-satisfied smile, she texted me his number. “So, call him.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake.” Grinning beneath my grumpy exterior, I entered his number in my contacts, then texted him.

hey, kyle. i thought i’d ask you out to dinner, you know—to repay you for your kindness. if you aren’t available, no problem, but it’s my treat.

I thought I’d have to wait for a while, but within a couple moments, my phone chimed and I glanced at my texts. Kyle had already replied.

i’d like that. how about tuesday night? seven? where would you like to go?

I blinked. I hadn’t expected him to be so quick. how about flora’s, if you like seafood? she makes great fish and chips.

sounds good. i’ll pick you up, if you like. or we can meet there.

why don’t we meet there? that way if i’m kept late at work, you won’t have to wait. see you then!

great! take it easy till then and i hope you’re healing up.

“Well, I didn’t expect that,” I said. “We’re on for Tuesday night.” I allowed myself a satisfied smile. “I really do like him.”

“I know you do, and I’ll tell you this,” Astra said. “He talked about you all the way back to his car. About how brave you were, about how you managed to get away. About how impressed he was that you kept your head about you. He also said you’re pretty,” she added.

“He told you I’m pretty?” I felt like an eighth grader, finding out her secret crush thought she was cute. “How do we always end up feeling like we’re teenagers again when we meet someone new?”

“I think it’s encoded in our DNA,” Astra said. “But what are you going to do about Zandre?”

“What about Zandre?” Crystal asked. “Is that the vampire?” She perked up, turning to me.

I groaned, rolling my eyes. “I’m not sure what the hell to do about him.” I turned to Crystal. “Turns out Zandre has let go of the idea of Denise being his soulmate. He’s now decided he’d like to take me out.”

“A vampire asked you out? Are you going?” Crystal sounded unnervingly intrigued.

“Yeah he did, and no, I don’t want to,” I said. My elation drained away as fast as it had come. “I told him I’d call him tomorrow night, since I thought I’d be going out to dinner tonight. I’m not sure how to say no to a vampire. I know that they’re supposed to be just like us, but the truth is, he can drain my blood if he gets mad enough. He can turn me into a vampire.”

“Oh, he probably won’t even think about that,” Crystal said. “Given his position in the Northwest Vampire Collective. He might be disappointed, but I doubt if he’ll do anything to you. Still…are you positive you don’t want to see what he has to say?”

I flashed her a puzzled look. I thought she’d be horrified, but she seemed almost excited.

“I hope you’re right and he’ll be okay with me saying no. As to dating him? Why do you even have to ask? No, I’m not interested,” I said. “Maybe I can play up being attacked to my advantage. I don’t usually like doing that, but sometimes you use what advantages you get.” I sighed, then glanced at Crystal. “Okay, let’s talk about you. You passed your vision quest?”

She nodded. “I did. Nightshade called me earlier today to tell me. Next week I get initiated!”

I turned to Astra. “When do we get to talk about our quests?”

“After she’s initiated. Then you can gossip all you want about what you did and experienced. I should start dinner. Crystal, are you eating with us?”

“If you don’t mind,” Crystal said. “Can I help you?”

“No, I’m good. Do you mind hamburgers and fries?”

“That sounds good,” Crystal said.

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s good.”

As Astra left the room, Crystal and I began to talk and, of course, the subject turned to Kyle.

* * *

Next morning, I was a little less stiff, though the scabs were pulling on my skin. A couple dozen holes on my skin weren’t exactly the piercings I had envisioned. But I found another sundress—they were cool against my skin and didn’t rub or chafe on the cuts—and slipped on a pair of ankle boots. It was an odd combination, especially for mid-February, but I was going for comfort. I’d turn up the heat if I was cold. I had a light cape and I decided that would be easier on my arms than stuffing them into a jacket. I kissed Astra goodbye, grabbed my purse, and headed out for work.

As I got to work, it occurred to me that unless I started getting some more readings, I wasn’t going to even be bringing in enough to cover the rent on the place. Sighing, I unlocked the door and turned on the open sign. I also turned up the heat and took off my coat, shivering in the morning chill.

I settled down at my desk and checked my answering service. There were three calls that had come in over the weekend. Hoping it wasn’t Zandre again, I sat back and punched the first one. I had decided early on that I didn’t need to forward work calls to my phone on weekends.

“Hi, Maisy? I’m Serah Jakes and I’m looking…I want…I’d like to make an appointment to talk to you about your matchmaking services.” The woman’s voice was hesitant, but that wasn’t surprising. A lot of people had trouble admitting they were unlucky in love and needed help. Serah didn’t say much about herself, so I took down her number and put a question mark by her name.

The second call was more immediate—the man on the other end sounded frightened. “Ms. Tripwater? I’m Evan Frakes and I have a ghost in my house that won’t leave my wife and me alone. Can you come check it out? I think it’s becoming dangerous and I need someone to take care of it right away.”

I took down his number and wrote “ghost exorcism” on the line beside his name.

The third message was from Jason. I don’t know why it startled me, but it did. “Hey, Maisy, I wanted to check up on how you’re doing. I’m so sorry the trip turned out to be such a bust. It was a mess and I totally screwed up. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell the school about this.”

I stared at the phone, frowning. Jason wasn’t really apologizing, though I had no doubt he hadn’t planned for that to happen. No, he just wanted to make sure that I didn’t tell the administration about it. Then it occurred to me that he had previously taught seventh grade at the academy. Why had he ended up teaching adult education classes? Why wasn’t he in his old job anymore?

The thought intrigued me enough that I opened my laptop and began to search on his name. It didn’t take me too long to come up with a cryptic article from several years back.

Jason Willows, of the Midnight Manor Academy, has been reassigned to continuing education classes. Willows, who taught sixth grade for five years and most recently seventh grade for two years, is being replaced by Sophie Terakan, a new member of the Academy. Terakan will be taking over all former duties held by Willows, effective immediately.

I glanced at the name of the site. It was the PNW Magical Academy NewsLine site—a website that contained updates from all the academies in the general area. Which meant it was legit. I glanced through the other results that my search had returned, but there was little to find, until I came to a brief mention of Jason’s name on a blog site.

The blog was run anonymously, and it had very few views. But what I found made an impression, one that left me unsettled.

Rumor has it that Jason Willows, a professor at the Midnight Manor Academy, has been disciplined for inappropriate verbal exchanges with one of his students, a thirteen-year-old girl. The girl states he commented on her breasts—that she was filling out into a lovely young woman.

I read on. Apparently, it came down to a he-said, she-said situation, but the school took it seriously enough to remove him from having access to the kids, yet still offered him employment in case the accusation had been misconstrued or fabricated.

I frowned. I didn’t like that he was still in the school, but it was the only report made, and there was no way to prove what had happened. There were truth spells, but they were invasive and could interfere with mental health, so they couldn’t be used unless there was other evidence to suggest culpability.

I thought about it for a while. Jason had made a bad decision with the field trip. Taking that without anything else, I might have given him a pass. But given the fact that he had a prior accusation still hanging over his head, and my gut feeling that not only had he actually made the comment to the girl, but that he might have made other comments that went unheard, and adding to that the fact that he put his students in danger…well, I decided to contact the school.

Rather than call, I decided a trip to the academy was in order. Words were one thing, but the marks on my body were proof that the adventure had been more of a nightmare.

I adjusted my cape, put up a sign that I’d be back by ten-thirty and, keys in hand, headed back to my car. I didn’t like snitching, but I didn’t want Willows putting anybody else in danger.