My head whips in Thad’s direction, and I instinctively shuffle back. From what I was taught, ogres are supposed to be large creatures with pointy ears and fangs who like to snack on humans. While Thad is on the tall and broad side, I don’t see any fangs, pointy ears, or gleaming hunger in his eyes.
I loosen my grip on the bat. “You don’t look like an ogre.”
“That’s because he’s only half-ogre.” Dash moves up behind me and positions an elbow on my shoulder. “If you look close enough, you can see some of the resemblance. He won’t hurt you, though.”
Thad stares down at his feet with his shoulders hunched.
Feeling bad for the way I first reacted, I step toward him with the bat lowered at my side and extend my hand. “I’m Alana Avery. Sorry for acting all weird. I was just a little surprised. I’ve never met an ogre before.”
“It’s okay.” He takes my hand and gives it a hard shake, nearly jolting me off my feet. “I get that a lot. Most people won’t come within a hundred feet of me.”
“People can be such assholes,” I say as he releases my hand from his death grip.
A tiny drop of a smile touches his lips. “Sorry about your door. Sometimes, I don’t know my own strength.”
“That’s okay.” I flex my fingers, which are cramped from how tightly he gripped my hand. “I’m sure it can be fixed.”
Thad notes the unmade bed. “Will your roommate be mad when she finds out?”
I prop the bat against the metal footboard of my bed. “My roommate doesn’t come into our room that often, so I doubt she’ll find out if I get it fixed quickly enough.”
Thad rakes his fingers through his cropped brown hair, frowning at the broken door knob busted to pieces on the floor. “I’ll fix it first thing tomorrow morning so you won’t get in trouble.”
I smile warmly. “Thanks. That’d be awesome.”
“You should stand in front of the door, at least until Jax gets here, and make sure no one gets in,” Dash tells Thad, removing his elbow from my shoulder.
Nodding, Thad slumps his weight against the door, securing it shut with his body. “No one’ll get through. I promise.”
Dash starts wandering around the limited space of my bedroom, looking at the scuffed floor, the bland walls, and the tile ceiling. When he passes the lamp on my nightstand, he tugs on the cord, and soft light filters through the room.
The first thing I notice is Dash and Thad are both dressed in black jeans and zipped up hoodies. Mud cakes the bottom of their black boots, fingerless leather gloves cover their hands, and Dash has a couple of leaves and twigs stuck in his dark brown hair.
I find their appearance odd. Just where the heck were they before they came here? In the forest? That’s weird since I just saw Vivianne, the Empress, and maybe a werewolf duck into the trees.
Dash stuffs his hands into the pockets of his hood and leans forward to examine a photo of my grandpa and me taped to the wall above the nightstand. “That’s where you get your violet eyes from, huh?”
I nod, stepping up beside him. “My mother’s eyes are the same color, too.”
He glances at me from the corner of his eye. “When I first met you, I thought maybe it was because you were a pixie, but then I realized you were too nice to be a pixie.”
“I’m not that nice,” I argue. “I can be mean when I need to.”
He smirks at me. “It’s cute you think that.”
I glower at him with my hands on my hips, but it’s more of a joking move than anything. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you really knew me. I was mean to your brother when I first met him.”
“Ha, I wish I could’ve seen that.” He grins. “He’s not used to people throwing his own personality in his face. I bet he got so pissed.”
“He was. He even threatened to kill me,” I tell him. “I don’t really think he would’ve, though.”
“I don’t know. It was a full moon that night,” Dash muses, thrumming his finger against his lips. “He can get awful cranky during a full moon.”
Huh? How does Dash know I met Jax on a full moon?
Dash quickly clears his throat, looking away from me. “So, why does my brother think someone might be trying to kill you now?”
“Did he use the word kill?” I watch him roam around the room as I question the abrupt subject change. He’s hiding something from me, something about that night in the club when I met Jax.
“No, but he sounded really uptight. More than he normally does.” Dash opens the top drawer of my dresser where I keep all my underwear and peers inside.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I jump forward and slam the drawer shut. “What’s up with the snooping?”
“Just seeing when you’d stop me.” His smirk makes another grand appearance. “Didn’t peg you for a lace girl.”
I narrow my eyes at him with my arms folded. “No more snooping through my stuff.”
He grins innocently at me as he crosses his arms and leans against the wall. “What? It’s not like I knew they were in there.”
I fight back a smile. He isn’t funny. He isn’t cute. Okay, he kind of is. Whatever.
“Did Jax say when he’d get here?”
“He said a little over an hour,” he replies. “I don’t know where he was when he called. He hardly ever leaves the academy this late unless he’s called on a case. But he said he wasn’t on one.”
I sink down on the bed and tuck my hands under my legs. “I think he might have been at a bar or club or something. When I first called him, there was some loud music playing in the background, and it sounded like a ton of people were around.”
Dash’s brows spring up. “Jax? At a club? Really?”
“That’s what it sounded like.” I tuck a strand of my long, brown hair behind my ear. “A girl said something to him while we were on the phone. I think he might’ve been on a date or something.”
Dash exchanges an amused look with Thad then seals his lips together, repressing a laugh.
I look back and forth between the two of them. “What’s so funny?”
“Jax being on a date,” Dash says. “He’s been on, like, three, and all of them ended in a disaster because he’s socially incompetent, way too uptight, and scares everyone off.”
This bit of information surprises me. Jax did act kind of douchebaggy when I first met him, and he can still get intense, but he has a sweet, kind side—well, on rare occasions.
Dash searches my eyes. For what, I have no idea. All I really know about Dash is that he likes to joke around, smells like cookies, and is bound to Vivianne. I’m not sure how he’s bound to her or why he smells that way. He’s definitely not just a Guardian, though.
I open my mouth, figuring now is as good a time as any to ask, but before I can get the words out, Dash’s gaze zips to the window.
“What on earth?” He tugs on the lamp cord, smothering the room in darkness, then peers out the window.
I slant forward to see what he’s looking at and spot Vivianne and the empress dashing out of the forest. A light mist snakes from the trees and dances around their ankles as they hightail it across the grass and toward the car parked in the driveway. The mist could be as simple as fog, but I have the eeriest feeling it’s linked to something paranormal.
“I saw them pull up to the academy about half an hour ago,” I whisper to Dash. “And then they hurried into the trees. I saw a weird blurry thing go in there too, and then I heard a werewolf howl.”
“Really?” He flicks a side glance at me. “That’s weird.”
“Yeah, I know,” I whisper.
“How did the empress get out of the lake?” Dash whispers, inching closer to me.
I shrug, acting clueless. “I have no idea.”
Dash’s mismatched teal and silver eyes glimmer in the pale moonlight as he lowers his voice. “Do you know what I’m really curious about?”
I tense, fearing he can read through my lie. “What?”
He sneaks a glance from left to
right then leans even closer. “Why are we whispering?”
I roll my eyes but smile. “It was instinctual, okay? Besides, you never know who could be listening.”
His amusement dissolves as he returns his attention to the window. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Silence fills the room, and I reach for my phone to call my dad and tell him I saw the empress. The second I pick up my phone, though, Dash snatches it away from me.
“I’m under strict orders not to let you use your phone.”
“Why not?” I lunge for the phone, but he tucks his arm behind his back. Letting out an exasperated breath, I plop my behind back down onto the bed. “So not cool, dude.”
“Hey, I’m not the one who gave the orders.” He slips my phone into the back pocket of his jeans. “All I was told was to come here and keep an eye on you, to bring Thad, and to keep you from using your phone.”
My brows dip. “Why’d Jax say you need to bring Thad?”
“For extra muscle, I guess.” He shrugs. “Jax can be kind of evasive sometimes.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to notice that.” My mood nosedives straight into the floor as a thought occurs to me. If Jax told Dash to bring extra muscle, then I’m guessing the Electi are strong.
“Just what is she up to?” Dash mutters with his nose pressed against the glass. “Yeah, I can see you, you little wench. I’m going to figure this out and destroy you.”
“You don’t like Vivianne, either?” I ask, leaning forward to get a view out of the window.
“Does anyone like Vivianne?” he mutters with his eyes fixed on the driveway.
I hug my knees to my chest. “I don’t, but I thought maybe it was just me.”
He shakes his head. “It’s definitely not you. A lot of people would love to get her kicked out of the academy.”
Restless, I push to my feet to stand beside him and look out the window. “Maybe we should report her for talking to the empress.”
“Report it to who?” He squints at Vivianne and the empress who hop back into the car. “Vivianne’s the Head of Interrogation; she’s the one we’re supposed to report these kinds of incidents to.”
“I’m not talking about reporting it to the Guardians,” I explain. “I think we should tell the Keepers. They might be able to look into it and find out more about what’s going on.”
Dash places his ear against the glass. “Just give me a second.” He closes his eyes, concentrating.
“What are you do—”
He places a finger to my lip. “Shhh … I’m listening.”
He can hear what they’re saying all the way from here? Holy amazinginess, I’m impressed.
“I know. I’m super impressive.” The corners of his lips pull into a lopsided smile, his eyes remaining shut. “And that’s just one of my many, many talents.” He removes his finger from my lips and presses his palm to the glass. “Wait a minute, I think I hear them … Yep … Oh, my word. I can’t believe this.”
“What is it?” I bite my nails in anticipation.
His eyelids open, and he dips his lips beside my ear. “They’re exchanging cookie recipes.”
I snort a laugh and playfully shove him away. “They are not. You’re such a liar.”
“I know.” He sighs heavily. “I can’t hear a damn word they’re saying.”
I glance from him to the car outside. “They’re too far away?”
“No, it’s not that.” He paces the room. “It’s way too quiet out there. I didn’t even hear a cricket chirping.”
Thad straightens but keeps his fingers enfolded around the doorknob. “You think that’s because of …?”
Dash nods, cupping the back of his neck. “But why would she block me?”
“Maybe she wasn’t trying to block you,” Thad offers. “There’s a lot of people in this school who could easily eavesdrop on conversations.”
“What do you mean by blocked?” I move away from the window as headlights light up the strip of land in front of the school. “Like a witch’s blocking spell? Is Vivianne a witch?”
“No.” Dash stops pacing and looks at me. “But she might’ve gotten a witch to do it for her. Why, though? I mean, I know I don’t like people listening in on my conversations, but I don’t go around getting blocking spells put on me, either.”
“Most people don’t,” I point out. “My aunt’s a witch, and I’ve never had her put one on me. She did put one on my mom and dad for a while, but only when they were working on a secret project.”
Dash taps his bottom lip. “I think I have an idea.” When I open my mouth to ask what the idea is, he places his finger against my lips again. “Nope. Not going to tell you. That way, if I get caught and you get questioned, you can’t be held accountable. The last thing we need is Vivianne having another reason to give you more detention.”
I crinkle my nose. After spending the day locked in Vivianne’s classroom, doing stacks of assignments, and then spending the evening with the janitor scrubbing down toilets, the last thing I want is more detention.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I say. “But you have to promise to tell me what you find out.”
“Sure,” he says, avoiding eye contact.
Yeah, that doesn’t seem too promising. But why doesn’t he want to tell me? And why does it feel like he knows more about this than he’s letting on?
Chapter 3
After Vivianne and the empress drive away, Dash announces we need to do something fun instead of sitting around and worrying. Then he suggests playing spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven. That’s when I take things over and pull out a deck of cards.
“Aren’t you just a party pooper?” Dash teases, sitting down on the floor beside me. He crisscrosses his legs and rests back on his hands. “I liked my suggestions better.”
“You don’t have to play cards if you don’t want to,” I tell him, shuffling the deck. “And you could always play your games with Thad.”
Thad starts to sit down but freezes. “Wait. What?”
“She wants to see us kiss.” Dash puckers his lips. “What do you think? Are you in or out?”
Thad rolls his eyes. “Definitely out.” He sinks down beside me, the floor trembling beneath his weight.
Dash slips off his gloves and rolls up his sleeves. “I’ve never played cards before.”
My eyes enlarge. “What the heck, dude? Seriously?”
He nods. “My mom and dad weren’t really big on letting us play games.”
I tap the side of the deck against the floor, aligning the cards. “Then what did you do for fun?”
He shrugs, unzipping his hoodie. “Train for becoming a Guardian. They were lucky we got marked with the Guardian mark, or all that training would’ve gone to waste.” Sarcasm drips from his tone. “We were so far ahead of our peers when we came here that Jax skipped a lot of the beginner training classes.”
I start dealing the cards. “What about you?”
He rolls up the sleeves of his hoodie. “I took a different route.”
I set the deck down on the floor. “And what route was that?”
“The screw up and disappoint your parents route,” he says casually, as if he is making peace with it. “Every family has to have a screw up, right?”
“I’m the only child, so I wouldn’t know.” I collect my dealt cards from off the floor. “I kind of get where you’re coming from, though. Even though my parents seemed happy I got the Guardian mark, I could tell they were disappointed I wasn’t going to follow in the family’s footsteps and become a Keeper.”
He collects the cards I dealt him. “Is everyone in your family a Keeper?”
“Most of them.” I organize my cards from lowest to highest. “My grandpa was a Foreseer, though. When I was younger, I thought it’d be cool to be able to see the future. But when I got older, I realized what a huge responsibility it is. I mean, you know when everyone’s going to die, when all the bad stuff is going to happen, and you can potentially have the powe
r to alter all of it.”
“Did your grandpa ever feel like that?” Dash frowns at the cards in his hands.
“Sometimes,” I say. “But most of the time, he really loved being a Foreseer.”
His frown deepens. “I wish I could love being a Guardian.”
“You don’t?” For some reason, that surprises me, maybe because Jax loves what he does so much.
He shrugs. “It’s not that I hate it. I just don’t love it. And unlike Jax, I’m not going to pretend to be the perfect son to please our father.”
I set my cards on my lap. “Did you come here when you were fourteen like Jax?”
“Nope. I was sixteen. I got my mark when I was fourteen, but there were circumstances that … kept me at home.” He brings his fist to his mouth and forcefully clears his throat. “So, what exactly am I supposed to be doing with these cards?”
I take the hint that he doesn’t want to talk about this anymore and let the subject drop. “Here. I’ll help you with the first few hands.” I scoot over toward him and examine his cards. “So, you want to—”
The door suddenly jolts open and smacks against Thad’s back. The three of us go rigid and jump to our feet with our hands clenched into fists.
“Let me in,” Jax demands from the other side of the door.
“Oh. Sorry.” Thad scoots out of the way.
The door swings open, and Jax barges into the room with fierce determination burning in his silver eyes. His gaze promptly sweeps the walls, the bed, the window, and then resides on the deck of cards. His brows knit.
“Are you guys playing poker?”
“What else were we supposed to do at two o’clock in the morning?” I ask, pushing to my feet.
“She’s crazy, isn’t she?” Dash says to Jax as he stretches his arms above his head. “I tried to talk her into spin the bottle, but she just wouldn’t listen.”
Jax glares at him. “You did what?”
Dash feigns innocence. “What? It’s just a little kissing, and it’s not like you haven’t thought about doing it with her.”
I shoot Dash a dirty look. “You seriously had to go there?”
Dash overdramatically covers his mouth with his hand. “Whoops. Was I not supposed to?”