Chapter Seven

"Oh, what's that?" Levi questions.

"I'm also here to help you with the Warrior Bond. As it strengthens, so will your magic, and you'll likely get a couple of extra gifts too," Cain replies.

Everyone stares at him for a moment; I don't think any of us are really sure what to do with that information.

"Even those of us who already have more gifts than we technically should?" Kysen asks carefully.

Cain raises his eyebrow, "You mean all of you?"

"You know a lot of information that no one else knows," Damon points out this time, his arm wrapped around Erin's shoulders as he watches Cain cautiously.

Everyone is watching him cautiously, and I can't blame them. Cain knows so much too much, which means he has a direct line to the Goddess, which is unlikely, or I guess that it is possible that he is some kind of seer and has been gifted by the Goddess the foresight of what is going to happen.

Cain nods, "I do. To answer your previous question, yes, all of those who have the warrior mark will gain extra gifts when the time is right to help protect Sage and yourselves in the future that awaits you."

"Why do I feel like you know something about this future?" Cole asks.

"The way that you worded it then did sound rather ominous," Erin adds.

Cain chooses not to reply and instead turns around and heads toward the door, "I'll meet you back here in two days" time, and then we will train every two days unless something comes up. We may switch it up between training and learning about the Warrior bond, but I haven't completely decided about that yet. Due to the current circumstances, I think training might be more of a priority. Oh, and talking about the ongoing situation with teachers and Kronos," his voice lowers, and I'm not sure we're supposed to hear the next part as he mutters, "fucking jealous twat."

"What was that?" Kysen questions, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who heard it.

Cain lifts his hand and waves it in the air dismissively as he steps through the door, "Don't worry about it."

Once he's gone, the rest of us just stare at each other in silence before I say, "Well, that was unexpected."

"I'll fucking say," Erin agrees as we head toward the door again. She then adds, "You were fucking badass in the air though!"

I grin, "Thanks, I had no idea I could do that."

"Do you think he's legit?" Jax asks me.

Before I can answer though, Erin interrupts, "Shit, one second, guys, I forgot to move the shield from the gym to us."

We all stop moving as we wait for Erin to do her thing, which doesn't take very long at all, and once she's done and we're heading back to our rooms, I answer Jax.

"I think he's legit. Cain is one of the reasons that I'm still alive. If he hadn't given me the skills that he did, I likely wouldn't have survived. Not only does that mean that I trust him, but none of my instincts have gone off to say otherwise either, and the Goddess hasn't popped up to say that we shouldn't trust him; all of those are reasons to think that he is legitimate," I reply.

"I still think that we should be cautious though, because there is obviously so much that he knows, things that he probably shouldn't and I think that he has a link to the Goddess too, one that may even be similar to Sage's," Harry suggests, with a worried frown on his face.

"I agree. Hopefully, he'll open up more the more time we spend together." Kyle says. "I think with everything else that's going on at the moment though, we should definitely proceed with caution and not give away everything that we know at once."

"That's smart," Levi agrees as we finally make it to our floor, and I feel Erin's magic pull back. "For now, I think a good plan is to go to the training sessions that he's providing; we could certainly do with the help and especially any knowledge of the Warrior Bond, which we have absolutely no idea about."

"And we need to keep an eye on the teachers too. It's clear that we need to be extra careful whenever we're with them and never let them isolate us away from the rest of the class or each other," Hunter suggests.

"Erm, that's a slight problem for us," Cole says, his eyebrows furrowing with a heavy frown.

"He's right. We don't share classes with anyone else; we're the only ones in there," Erin adds through a yawn.

"Actually, that might be why you're separated from the rest of the students; maybe they're trying to isolate us. Think about it: if something happened to us, then our Bonded would be so focused on that they wouldn't notice anything else happening, or if they did, they would be so focused on us that they wouldn't do anything about it," I suggest.

"That's possible. I know from my perspective that if you went missing, there is absolutely no chance that I would be focusing on anything but finding you. The world could be set ablaze, and I wouldn't care. My sole focus would be on you," Kai replies, honestly.

"Aww, that was really sweet," I reply, without meaning to, my heart melting. I probably shouldn't find it cute that he'd let the world burn in order to find me, but I do.

"But how are we going to get around that?" Kysen asks. "I highly doubt that they're going to let us sit in with you."

"No, not after they put a guard outside the door," I reply, trying to think of a solution and coming up blank.

"I don't feel comfortable being in that room like sitting fucking ducks," Cole replies.

"You managed just to walk out today without too much trouble; you could always just not go," Jax suggests.

"We could, but then we're still going to be sitting ducks if we come back here. We will still be isolated, and if that's what they want, then they will take advantage," I reply.

"Shit, you're right," Levi replies, looking worried and running a hand through his hair, avoiding his horns.

"Why don't you stick to what you have been doing? That way, you won't be raising any suspicions because we want them to remain as in the dark as possible, and we don't want them to know that we're onto them." Kyle suggests, although he doesn't look that pleased about the suggestion.

He's not the only one. None of them seem happy about the suggestion.

I shrug, "Although I don't like it, I think it's probably the best idea, especially as Kysen suggested we need to keep everything as normal as possible. We can all make sure that we keep the Bond Lines open, and I'll have Ghost and Knot with me as well. They'll let me know whether we're under any threat before we realise that we are."

The familiars in question both squawk loudly, letting us know that they're in agreement. I'm just hoping that whatever happens, they will be able to help us with it because they were with us when we got pulled into the Goddess" vision, and they didn't follow. I can only assume that's because they couldn't and not because they didn't want to. They never allow me to go somewhere dangerous without them, and although we were fortunate enough that it was the Goddess that pulled us in, I have to assume that's a power that all Gods have, and therefore, Kronos does too, so there is a chance that if he chose to, he could pull me or even us into a vision and the familiars couldn't help us.

There really isn't a better situation though, so I'm going to have just to hope that if Kronos can do that, he would've done it already, and since he hasn't, he's not going to. That doesn't mean that there aren't other risks, the teachers are a big one, especially now that we know that they're being controlled, and could be commanded to do pretty much anything. The other issue though, is that because of that, I don't want to have to hurt them in order to protect ourselves because, at the end of the day, they are actually innocent in this situation. They have no control over their actions.

That makes this tricky and prompts me to say, "Is there any way that we can disarm and render someone useless instead of hurting them?"

"Why?" Cole asks.

I quickly explain my reasoning and looks of understanding cross all of their faces.

"So, we need something that can keep us and them safe, but that doesn't involve us having to stay present or use our own magic to keep them disarmed. Maybe like a spell or something?" I conclude.

"I have a lot of books in my room; I'm sure I saw a spell in one of them that could pretty much just put the person to sleep for a predetermined amount of time," Asher says, his eyes furrowing as he tries to remember. He's a knowledge demon, which means knowledge is what he feeds on, but he consumes so much that he obviously has trouble remembering it.

"That would work," Kyle agrees. He then adds thoughtfully, "I know you guys want to keep everything as normal as possible, but you did walk out of a lesson yesterday, so why don't you take advantage of that and use the fact that no one bothered to turn up to teach you yesterday as an excuse to stay up in one of the rooms and study the books that Asher's got?"

"I agree with Kyle. We've actually had a good opportunity this time to stay up here, and it won't rouse too much suspicion, so you should take advantage of it," Levi agrees.

"And as you stated, Sage, you're going to be just as at risk up here as you are down in the classroom. At least up here you have a chance to look for some spells that could help us as well," Harry adds.

I share a look with Erin and Cole, making sure that they're okay with it; when they both shrug, I reply, "Yeah, that sounds good. We can actually surround ourselves with more weapons in our rooms too."

"Good point, and since books are heavy and I know for a fact how many he has in there, I suggest that we set it up in our room," Cole adds.

"Yeah, that sounds good. We can meet there after breakfast and when the guys go to their classes," Erin agrees, and I nod. I'd much rather be up here actually doing something rather than in a classroom either being insulted and spoken down to or just ignored altogether.

"The same rules apply though, don't close down the Bond Lines and check in regularly. If any of you get even a whiff of a strange feeling or anything along those lines, then you tell us immediately. I know that we'd all rather rush up here for a false alarm than have you alert us too late and risk something happening to you," Jax adds firmly, worry evident in his eyes.

I nod, "Okay, those rules are pretty easy to follow. You all need to keep an eye on the teachers and how close they're watching you, see if anything stands out as particularly odd."

"Or even if they have something on them that is the same, like a pendant or something, that could be helping to keep them under control," Dash suggests.

Maverick nods, "That's a good idea; otherwise, the object would have to be really powerful, which wouldn't be unheard of since presumably it's powered by Kronos, who is a God, but I don't think that is the case here if it were a single object controlling them then that would mean it would have to have serious range, because the teachers aren't bound to stay here at the academy they can come and go as they please, like Cain. So, it would make more sense if there was maybe an initial single object to control them and then once they were under that control, they each had something given to them that they had to keep on them at all times, and that helped to keep that control over them," Maverick replies.

"Well, that is definitely something that we need to keep an eye out for tomorrow," Jax agrees. He glances at his watch, "Which isn't as far away as I would've liked it to be."

"Jax is right. We all know what we're doing, but for now, we need to try and get as much sleep as we can; I have a feeling we're going to need it," Levi adds.

While we've been talking, several people have started yawning and I've gradually been leaning heavier on Hunter, whose arm is wrapped tightly around me and who might really be the only thing holding me up. I'm exhausted. Everyone says a vague goodbye and heads to their rooms. I have to admit that by the time I get into bed, snuggled between Hunter and Maverick, I have no idea how I got there, and I'm too tired to try to figure it out; I just let my eyes close and fall into a deep sleep.

∞∞∞

Morning and the guy's alarms come far too quickly, and I could swear that we've only been asleep for ten minutes. I groan, and Maverick and Hunter each give me a sleepy kiss before they both get up and start grumbling.

"I'm going to start the coffee for everyone," Maverick states, his voice gruff with sleep and sounding super fucking sexy.

Once the door closes behind them and the room falls quiet again, I become so tempted to fall back to sleep, but I know that I can't; we've got to go through Asher's books today to try and find something to keep the teachers safe if they're ordered to attack or take us.

I curse the fact that I'm being sensible for once and get up. I deliberately chose clothes that are comfortable and easy to move in, knowing that Cole and Erin will be doing the same. As I step into the main part of our dorm room, a massive yawn overtakes my features, and Kai thrusts a coffee cup into my hands, looking just as exhausted as I do.

"We woke up late, so we're heading out. We're going to walk you to Cole's room though," Levi tells me as he kisses me quickly, which prompts everyone else to kiss me quickly as well before we head out of the door and down the hall a little bit until we get to Cole's room.

Much like the other night, the door opens as we get to it, and out come a tired looking Kysen, Asher, and Ty.

"Hey guys," Kysen greets with a yawn and then adds, "Harry has gone ahead to speak to some of the people that he's known here for a while. They're actually some of the only ones that aren't treating him or any of us any differently. He's going to get them to keep an eye on the teachers as well since they've noticed they're acting weird anyway. They're also going to see what the other students are saying since they're talking more freely around them than they are us. I think he's missing hanging out with them. It's been a while."

"We'll have to do something with them at the weekend," Levi suggests.

We've only really met them once and very briefly; thanks to the increasing problems with the teachers, we haven't gotten to know them as well as we would've liked, and as far as I know, Erin and Cole were incredibly close with Harry and his friends, so I'm sure that they're all missing hanging out with each other.

"I'd like that," Erin pipes up as she approaches from a short way down the hall, "we'll have to meet up with them anyway to get the information off them."

"Oh, that's a good point," Jax replies, "I want to check out some of the grounds around the school anyway."

"There's not really much out there," Hunter replies to Jax, "I've run a fair amount as my wolf."

"Still, it would be something to do," I shrug. "Something that's not staying in our rooms and avoiding people, which is what we have been doing since the teachers turned on us, and the students started to get confused."

"That's a fair point," Erin agrees.

"Alright, we're going to be late now. We'll find Harry and get him to let the others know that if they want to, we can meet, and they can fill us in, and then we can hang out for a bit," Levi says, "but for now, we really need to get going."

"Don't forget the rules!" Kai says, and then scrunches his nose, "I don't like saying rules that seems weird, but you know what I mean!"

I chuckle and reach over to him, patting him on his chest, "Don't worry, Kai, I know what you mean, and we know the agreement. We keep the Bond Lines open, and if we think anything is hinky, then we tell you immediately and don't wait for shit to hit the fan."

"Yep, that pretty much covers it. I prefer the use of agreement too, but it still sounds a bit odd," Kai replies, frowning still, and I go up on my tiptoes to kiss him, effectively distracting him.

"Alright, come on, you can find a new word while we're in lessons. We've got morning training to get to," Jax replies, making the others groan.

"I wonder if Cain is going to be taking over our morning training?"

"It would make sense if he did. He's supposed to be the best," Ty replies.

"Well, there's only one way to find out; let's get going," Mav replies.

"We definitely don't want to be late. Cain is known for his harsh punishments if anyone doesn't show up on time or take his class seriously," Jett points out.

"Well, shit, bye, guys," Kai says, striding down the hallway and making me smile.

Everyone says goodbye, and we watch them walk down the hallway and out of sight, each of us with a large mug of coffee in our hands.