Chapter 30

30

The stars disappeared. Both from the sky and the ones I’d seen like chunks of diamond scattered across the lawn. Everything disappeared under the tearing of those fangs through my skin. Through veins and arteries until the warm rush of blood pooled beneath me and I could no longer feel my arms or legs.

I felt nothing.

Roman and I were falling together. Out of reality, out of existence. He continued to rip at me maliciously until I didn’t know where I left off and he began. Was he drinking my blood? Anger built up inside of me, straining for release, before disappearing under a wave of pure agony.

Every part of me went icy-cold. I tried to focus and couldn’t, tears leaking from the sides of my eyes. Darkness encroached at the edges of my vision until I lost myself on a tide of pain, no longer present. No longer able to fight back.

I was dying.

A pop sounded. Muffled. Far away.

Someone help me…

I didn’t want to die alone. I waited for visions of my life to flash before me and remind me of all the things I’d done wrong, all the things I’d miss when I passed from this life to the next. I’d never dreamed it would end like this.

My pulse beat roughly in my ears. I wasn’t sure what I heard. Until suddenly everything came to a screeching halt and Roman collapsed forward, his jaw releasing from my throat and hot blood, both his and mine, flowed over me.

A commotion broke out around us.

His body fell to the side just as hands reached for me and when I blinked, though he was distorted, Detective Wilson stood over me.

I watched his mouth moving but I didn’t hear the words. I heard nothing beyond my pulse until Nurse Julie gathered me up into her arms.

I was hallucinating. They couldn’t be here. They were glamoured. I felt the force of their words although I wasn’t sure I made them out.

It’s going to be okay.

“It’s going to be okay.”

Julie held me for the longest time as men swarmed the lawn. Wilson’s men, as he’d promised, those on his staff and those from his pack he trusted.

They’d come for me at last. How?

My head was spinning.

“Stay steady, dear. We’ve got to stem the flow before you bleed out. Try not to move. Tavi, do you hear me?” Nurse Julie rasped.

I glanced over toward where Roman lay in the grass near me, saw his unblinking eyes staring straight at me, and I caught a glimpse of the shard of quartz I’d managed to strike him with, still lodged in his neck, dripping with blood mixed with the crimson decorating the lower portion of his face.

Dead.

Somehow, I’d gotten away with my life.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here and get you cleaned up.” Nurse Julie pulled me to my feet with a flutter of her wings. “Stay with me, now. I’ve got you.”

Every inch of me hurt but I didn’t protest, teetering on the edge of consciousness. When I couldn’t walk, she lifted me easily and turned, carrying me off. I lay cradled in her arms, trying to see but everything blurred again. I rested there, nearly blind, each step sending a jolt of pain through my ravaged body. But I didn’t cry out as she whisked me inside the castle straight to her office.

“Stay with me,” she repeated.

“I’ll try.”

Was that my voice? It didn’t sound like me.

I lost myself to the pain. Was I awake? Asleep? The last thing I remembered was Julie’s concerned expression before I passed out entirely.

* * *

“Using the crystal against Roman was a stroke of genius on your part,” Julie told me later, once the blood had been cleaned, my wound dressed, and my newly re-broken arm reset again. “I swear, you continue to surprise me. How did you know it would disrupt his magic enough to release the glamour enchantment?”

I struggled to sit up by myself but when it proved impossible, I let Nurse Julie help me into a seated position. “I didn’t know. It was the only thing available to me. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Well, it worked. It weakened him just enough so Detective Wilson was able to stop him.”

I shook my head and winced. “Wait… You mean I didn’t kill him? With the quartz, I mean.”

“No, honey, you didn’t. Detective Wilson shot Roman. And just in time, too.”

My head still spun but at least I didn’t have Roman’s death on my conscience. “He meant to kill me.”

“And almost succeeded, judging by the damage, but you did good, kiddo. Unfortunately, touching the quartz negated your potion spell. Here’s another vial for you.” She reached into her drawer and withdrew a potion for me to take. “You really do go through these like candy. We are going to have to work on it. Now go get some rest. We’ll meet again tomorrow. I can teach you how to whip up your own batch. And I know this is a needless warning, but don’t touch another quartz crystal again. I’ll have to tell your divination professor to provide you with an obsidian ball if you want to do any more scrying. Marsh keeps a few in her office.”

“Thanks.” I offered her a weak smile and swallowed the potion. “I owe you.”

“No, sweetheart. You owe me nothing.”

We were interrupted by the clearing of a throat and Nurse Julie and I turned to the doorway in tandem.

“I hope you’re lucid enough for me to come in and ask you a few questions, Miss Alderidge.” Detective Wilson looked softer than normal, as though someone had shaken him out and smoothed away the rough edges.

I gave him the same smile I had given Nurse Julie seconds earlier. “Sure. Let’s get this over with,” I told him. Better now than later.

Nurse Julie made a perfunctory protest about how I’d been through enough and needed rest, but she stood and offered up her swiveling stool to the detective anyway. He thanked her with an inclination of his head but didn’t sit.

“I wanted to let you know. Roman did not survive the gunshot wound. Your secret will go no further than those in this room,” he told me softly. “We will keep your true nature hidden.”

Roman had been my friend, or so I’d thought. We’d spent countless hours together talking and laughing. Now he was dead. I tried to search inside myself and find the remorseI knew I should feel. Somehow, I found nothing beyond a cold edge of satisfaction. The situation was finally wrapped.

“Too bad two students had to die before he was stopped.”

Detective Wilson grimaced. “It’s unfortunate, yes. But at least we stopped him before he could commit a third murder.”

“Are you going to tell the headmaster about me?” I wanted to know.

Detective Wilson scoffed, turning his head away to give me a view of his strong profile. “Your headmaster is a prejudiced piece of crap. It would go against everything I believe in to reveal your secret to him. So nah, little girl. I’m going to be cheering you on from the sidelines. Continue to kick serious ass and get your Faerie citizenship so you can get the hell out of here.”

I held my hand out for him to shake, his callused fingers wrapping around my much smaller ones. “It’s a deal.”

* * *

After I was sewn up and bandaged and sent on my way, I met Melia outside of the office. When I looked over at her hastily covered sniffle, her eyes were wet and tears trailed down her cheeks.

“Meli, what’s the matter?”

“Oh my God, Tavi. Just…just—” And she stopped, hugging me to her chest as only Melia could. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”

Though my one arm remained in the cast, re-broken during the ordeal, I hugged her close with the other one. “I know, me too. But if you don’t stop crying then you’re going to make me cry too, and I already look bad enough.”

She laughed through the tears. “I’m glad you didn’t die. You’re my best friend.”

I rested my head on her shoulder and drew in Melia’s unique and familiar scent, like a flower in a thunderstorm. “You’re mine, too.”

Melia swiped at her cheeks. “Headmaster Leaves wants to see you in his office right away.”

I groaned. “Great. I guess it couldn’t wait til morning, could it? I’m dead tired.”

She wrapped an arm across my shoulders. “Come on, I’ll walk you there.”

We made our way to Headmaster Leaves’ office and I took a seat in front of his desk. I listened to him as he commended me for my bravery in assisting a law officer with the takedown. Obviously he didn’t know the full story and thanks to Detective Wilson he never would.

His soliloquy on my strength, courage, and powerful magic included an admission on how my actions would not bring back those who had passed, but he was proud to know I was one of his students.

Once I would have nearly preened with his praise. It was exactly what I wanted. Someone validating my place here. Someone in authority telling me I belonged and I’d done a good job.

Now it amused me, this prejudiced werewolf-hating loser praising my virtues while he had no clue who actually sat across from him.

Good. I wanted to keep it that way.

“One more thing before you go, Tavi.” Leaves fixed me with a stern look not in the least softened by his smile. “I took a glance through your file to find information on your family, to contact them about your heroic actions. I didn’t see anything. Most of your personal info is blank. There’s no permanent address, no phone numbers—”

I hurried to interrupt him, heart thumping. “I’m sorry, Headmaster. My, ah, my father is a very private person. He doesn’t like me giving out our numbers.”

“Well, we’re going to need a way to contact your father if you’re to continue here at the academy.”

“Oh, absolutely. I’ll have him call you. Thanks again!” I pushed away from the desk and bolted for the door, leaving Leaves stuttering behind me.

Close one. I’d have to be super careful going forward. Leaves couldn’t find a way to contact my uncle, or this whole thing would be blown.

I exited his office expecting Melia to still be there waiting for me. I certainly didn’t expect to see Mike.

Something fluttered in my chest. I stopped, taking him in for a long moment before speaking. “What are you doing here?”

He just stood there, swiping at his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. His eyes were red, shoulders slumped forward, and hair all askew. If I didn’t know any better, I would have called his look downright devastated.

Had he heard about Roman, then? Had the news spread through the school already?

“Hey. Can I walk you back to your dorm, Tavi?” he finally asked me, his words watery as if there were still tears yet to be shed.

My heart melted for him. “Sure.”

I started toward him and he stepped aside to let me walk past. Almost as though he couldn’t stand to be so physically close to me, which confused the hell out of me. But after a few steps he caught up and our footsteps fell into an easy rhythm as we walked side by side.

“Are you okay?” Mike asked, his voice cracking slightly.

“I’m alive,” I answered simply. “About the best I can tell you right now.”

“Tavi, I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you when you told me you’d been pushed off the balcony. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. I was acting like a jerk, and you didn’t deserve any of it.”

I tried to shrug and found the motion awkward with the soft cast and sling over my shoulder. “I’ve got some bumps and bruises. Nothing you could have prevented.”

“You have to believe me when I tell you. I didn’t know about Roman. I didn’t know. He kept a lot from me.”

His insistence nearly broke my heart. “I know you didn’t. Roman told me.”

Mike stopped in his tracks. “What did he say?” he asked, his voice strangled, eyes glassy.

“He said you were too honorable to do anything about your situation, so it was up to him to do it for you.”

Mike sucked in a breath and shook his head, his normally bright-gold hair gone dull. “He was my best friend,” he said slowly. “We’d known each other since my first visit to the mortal world. I can’t believe he was—”

It hit me then: Mike couldn’t have known Roman was half wolf-shifter.

“—a murderer,” Mike finished.

“We can’t always know everything about a person,” I said softly. Thinking about Uncle Will and how if I had my way he’d never know where I was. My heart lurched. “And I think it was because he was your best friend that he did what he did. He cared so much about you, he wanted to make sure you earned your spot in the academy. Even if it meant picking off those he saw as serious competition.”

We approached the door to my dorm and I stopped, not ready to go in just yet. Wanting the two of us alone for as long as I could manage. There were still a lot of unanswered questions. “Why do you need a spot at the academy, Mike?”

Instead of answering, he kept his gaze on his shoes, mouth zipped closed.

I sighed. If he wanted things to be this way… “We all have our reasons for being here, and maybe we don’t want other people to know them. But maybe we should work together instead of standing against each other in competition. And one day, when we feel safe enough, maybe we can share our secrets.”

I wanted to tell him, I realized. I wanted to tell him everything about me down to my last secret, even when he had the power to destroy me entirely.

Mike only smiled. “I agree. One day.” Then he bent and placed his lips on my cheek. And the simple action rocked my world to the point where everything tilted and I knew, nothing would be the same again.

My mouth rounded in an O. I didn’t let him see it.

“If you’re up for it, do you want to meet at the library tomorrow? Five o’clock?” he asked. “We still have a few tests coming up before winter break and Christmas. I mean, I don’t want you to push yourself if you’re not feeling well, but things haven’t been the same without you, Tavi, and I could really use some normalcy right now.”

How could I say no? “I promise I’ll be there.”

I watched him leave, Mike glancing over his shoulder at me before he turned out of the hallway. My heart fluttered at the sight.

Oh, crap.

The last thing I needed to add to my crazy life right then was falling in love with the future king of Faerie. Yet that’s exactly what was happening to me. My head was screaming at me to run but my heart didn’t seem to care.

I didn’t want to stop it. No matter how dangerous.

No matter what Kendrick Grimaldi would do to both of us if he found me.

The End

Continue the Fae Academy for Halflings novels with Faerie Gift.

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