He was right; now was definitely not the time, but if I could have shoved him out the door, I think I would have. Instead, I opened it and steered him toward the steps. “Go to your car. I’ll meet you there in a minute.”
David ran a hand over his sandy blond hair, ruffling it. “You’re going back in there?” he asked, and I nodded.
“I knocked Headmaster Dunn unconscious, so I should probably deal with that.”
His eyebrows lifted up into his hairline, but he didn’t say anything else, jogging down the steps toward the group of students milling around on the grass.
I darted back inside, running back for the gym, trying to tell myself that it wasn’t that big of a deal that David hadn’t come to the assembly. I was probably just mad because it had put him in danger.
But then, as I rounded the corner back toward the gymnasium, I realized: If this was one of the trials, why on earth would the Ephors put David in danger? They said they wanted him.
Unless this was all a trick, and I was right about Alexander being evil.
Man, I really hoped I was right.
When I got back to the gym, I was surprised to see Ryan there, kneeling next to Headmaster Dunn, who was trying to stand.
“You okay, Headmaster?” Ryan asked, easing a hand under the man’s elbow. “You seriously whacked your head on that podium.”
Ryan could annoy the ever-living heck out of me, but right now, I was so grateful, I could have cried. Somehow, he must’ve known I’d need him, and I smiled at him as I came to help him get Headmaster Dunn to his feet.
“It’s these gym floors,” I said. “Super slippy.”
But then Headmaster Dunn looked at me, his expression dark, his face nearly purple. “Gym floors?” he repeated. “You hit me, Miss Price.”
Panicked, I looked at Ryan, who was staring back at me, confused. He gave a tiny shake of his head, and I could smell the rose balm in the air. He’d used the mind-wipe stuff, so why wasn’t it working?
“Young lady, you are coming to my office right now,” he continued, shaking his head as though he couldn’t believe he was saying those words. I couldn’t believe he was saying those words.
I’d already told David to meet me at his car so we could get to Alexander’s and find out what the heck had happened. If I went with Headmaster Dunn now, I had a feeling I’d be in his office for a while. They’d have to call my parents. Oh God, or the police. Or my parents and the police. Honestly, what was the point of having someone who could do mind-wiping magic if the freaking mind-wiping magic didn’t work?
Two choices stared me right in the face. Either I stayed here and I dealt with this, or I took off for my car and got to David and Alexander. If I did that, maybe I could get some answers about why one of the trials involved nearly killing David, and why Ryan’s magic wasn’t working.
I took a deep breath and blurted out, “Headmaster, I’m sorry about all of this, and I promise there’s an explanation.” Behind him, Ryan was already shaking his head and mouthing my name. “But I . . . I have to go.”
And with that, I took off running.
Chapter 16
WE TOOK David’s car out to Alexander’s and spent most of the drive in silence. I wondered if I should text my parents, but I figured the school had already called them. Later, I thought, turning my phone off. Whatever was happening, we’d get to the bottom of it, and soon this whole unpleasant morning would be wiped away, either by Ryan’s magic or by whatever Alexander could do.
“If this is a trial,” David said, lifting one hand so he could push his glasses up his nose, “why put me in danger? That seems counterproductive.”
“Who knows?” I replied. “In case you forgot, they’re insane killer people who sent crazy witches to murder you last year, so we shouldn’t be that surprised when they do, you know, crazy murderous things.”
My heart was still pounding, an intense mix of irritation and fear shooting through me, and I focused on the green fields flying past, trying to calm my temper.
My school. The place I worked so hard to make nice and safe, and they’d used it as one of their . . . their testing grounds. They’d damaged it, set it on fire, could’ve freaking destroyed it for good.
That was so seriously not okay.
Next to me, David drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “I read Alexander’s mind, Harper. He didn’t want to hurt me, I could feel it.”
“Maybe you were wrong,” I answered, but he shook his head as he turned the car onto the dirt road leading to the house.
“I’m just saying, hear the guy out before you go in there guns blazing.”
Twisting in my seat, I faced David. “Hear him out? Even if he set the Grove on fire?”
David didn’t answer, but kept watching the road, and I flopped back into my seat with a huff.
“Well, if they did set it, they must have kept an eye on you and known you weren’t where you were supposed to be.”
I didn’t exactly hear David sigh. It was more like I felt it, a shiver of irritation that ran through him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t at the assembly,” he said in the most even tone known to man. “But I had something I needed to do, and I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Something you wanted to do,” I countered, and I got the sense he was counting to ten in his head.
“Let’s focus on the task at hand, okay?”
“Fine by me.”
When we pulled up to Alexander’s, the late morning sun was playing on the windows, making them sparkle, and I was struck again by what a pretty place this was. Had this been what the original house looked like, or had Alexander—or a Mage, I was guessing—made it to suit himself? In any case, I liked it.
Too bad the person inside was a total jerk.
The car was barely in park before I was out of it, heading up the front steps with David close behind.
“Should we knock?” David asked, and I glared at the big wooden door in front of us.
“Oh, I’m going to knock,” I told him, and gave the door a vicious kick. Even if the magic on this place kept me from being able to break in, kicking it was still pretty satisfying.
But the door flew open with a splintering crack when the flat of my foot hit it. David stepped back with a muttered “Whoa,” but I was already moving into the house.
“Alexander!” I called. “Hey! Anybody home?”
“There’s no need for screaming, Miss Price,” Alexander said, appearing on the landing. He was wearing another suit, this one black, and smiling pleasantly at me like I hadn’t just kicked in his front door.
“I disagree,” I told him. “I usually feel pretty screamy when someone attacks my school.”
His brows drew together as he made an exaggeratedly puzzled expression. “Did I not tell you that the trials would be coming up very soon? Or are you confused as to what the trials entail?”
“Actually, yes, I am confused,” I said, my heart still pounding. Even though David was safe now, I could still feel a sort of residual ache in my chest. “Because I expected someone to come after me. I didn’t think you’d put my entire school in danger.”
Alexander gave one of those little smiles I hated so much. “Well, if we let you face the expected, that would hardly serve the point of going through trials, now would it?”
“You could have hurt innocent people,” I told him, my face hot. “You could’ve killed them. You could have made our school a smoldering pile of ash, and all for what? For some test?”
The smile vanished from Alexander’s face. “Not some test, Miss Price, I assure you,” he said, coming down a few steps, his shoulders rigid. “The most vital test a Paladin can face. And, in case this has not been made perfectly clear, I do not give a tinker’s damn about your school or the people in it. The main purpose of this exercise is to test whether or not you are an adequate Paladin for the Oracle. You passed that test today—quite well, I should add.”
“Are you going to give me a gold star?” I asked, and from behind me, I hea
rd David’s warning: “Harper.”
“No,” I said, turning to face him. “You should be angry, too. What is the point of putting your Oracle in danger to prove that your Paladin knows her stuff?”
At that, Alexander sighed, straightening one of his cuffs. “Mr. Stark was never in danger,” he told me. “The situation was closely monitored, I assure you. Had you failed in your task, the Oracle would not have come to harm.”
I didn’t even know where to start with that, so I latched on to something else he had said. “Monitored by whom? And I smelled gasoline, so what’s up with that? Can’t you just, like, magic up some fire?”
Alexander flicked a strand of hair from his forehead, and I got the feeling he was rolling his eyes at me, like, in his soul. “The details of how we conduct these tests is not your concern.”
I moved closer, my shoes tapping on the hardwood. “You keep saying ‘we,’ but I gotta be honest, I’m only seeing you. If you’re going to do stuff like set a building full of kids on fire, I’d kind of like to talk to your supervisor.”
“Harper,” David said again, but Alexander held my gaze.
“As far as you are concerned, I am the alpha and omega of the Ephors, Miss Price. You do not dictate the boundaries of our tests, and there is no one you can talk to above me, I assure you.”
I shook my head and said, “School should be off-limits. Period.”
“Hmm,” Alexander said, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head. “I see. So when you protect the Oracle from people who may want to hurt him, there will be places in this world that are off-limits? When some despotic ruler learns there’s an Oracle in the world, ripe for the taking, if he approaches you at, say, your family’s home, you’ll simply inform him that this is not one of the agreed locations where an Oracle may be in danger?”
Faltering, I shook my head. “No, it’s . . . it’s not like that, but if it’s only for a test—”
“The tests are meant to assess your readiness for real-world situations, Miss Price,” he said sharply, all trace of that lazy elegance gone from his voice. “If you cannot be ready, then you cannot be a Paladin. This is not a hobby or an extracurricular activity.”
I wanted to argue that, but nothing I could think of seemed to work. He was right, and, ugh, I hated that so much. Still, I could at least try to get him to fix some of this mess.
“Fine,” I said. “You’ve made your point. Now if you could please”—I waved in his direction—“rustle up some magic or whatever so that my principal forgets that I hit him and my parents don’t freak out, I’d appreciate that. Ryan’s Mage skills are apparently on the fritz.”
But Alexander gave a tiny, elegant shrug. “They’re not ‘on the fritz.’ They’re gone for the time being.”
“What?” David asked, coming up to stand beside me, his sneakers squeaking on the hardwood.
“Gone,” Alexander repeated. “A simple ward I myself was able to create to keep Mr. Bradshaw from using his magic to assist you. It isn’t as though that particular use of magic benefited the Oracle.”
I swore I could feel my heart skip a few beats. Next to me, David scoffed, throwing up one hand.
“It benefits me plenty. Him helping Harper would help me. So let him do his mind-wipe thing, and let’s—”
“No,” Alexander said, his voice icy. He began to walk down the stairs, footsteps silent on the thick carpet. “Miss Price needs to learn that you cannot magic your way out of every obstacle. You hit your principal to save the Oracle. That’s what you should have done, but now there must be consequences. Being a Paladin means accepting the consequences that come as a result of doing your duty.”
Seriously afraid I was going to throw up, I clenched my hands. “So you chose to set one of the trials at my school, and now I’m probably going to be expelled, and there’s nothing I can do about it?”
Alexander sniffed, coming to the bottom of the stairs. “You’re a clever girl, Miss Price. I’m sure you’ll think of something. The Mage’s powers do not exist in order to make things more convenient for you.”
Please, I thought, but wouldn’t let myself say. Please don’t tell him.
Alexander’s eyes remained on mine, and while I didn’t think he could read my mind, I had a pretty good idea that he knew what I was thinking.
But that didn’t stop him from saying, “We removed his powers because he was using them to stifle the Oracle’s visions. An instruction you gave him, I believe.”
The hall was so quiet I could hear my own heart racing, could hear David suck in a surprised gasp. “You were doing what?” he asked quietly, and I turned to face him.
My clothes still smelled like smoke, which was probably why my eyes were stinging as I said, “We were trying to help you.”
But David was shaking his head, backing away from me. “You used Ryan to keep me from having visions?”
“No,” I said, walking toward him. The sun coming in the big front windows had turned his hair lighter, lining him in gold. “No, you still had visions, but not ones that were big enough to hurt you.”
I could see David’s throat working, and I hated the way he was looking at me.
From behind me, Alexander gave a sigh. “Well,” he said, “it would appear you two have some things to discuss.”
I looked back, and he was already heading up the stairs again. “And, Miss Price,” he added before turning back to flash a wolfish smile, “congratulations. You’re one step closer to being a true Paladin.”
Chapter 17
WE LEFT Alexander’s house in silence, me trailing behind David. He jangled his keys in his hand, his jaw set, shoulders forward. I knew that look. That was David’s thinking look, and I had no doubt exactly what he was thinking about now.
Guilt is such a weird feeling, a combination of sad and sick that I was getting too used to feeling. I’d had Ryan set up the wards to block David’s visions because I’d thought it was the best thing for him—I still thought that, if I was being honest—but I knew I should have talked to David, should have tried to make him see that it was only because I wanted to keep him safe.
I slid into the passenger seat without a word, still lost in my thoughts, and David started the car, heading back out toward town.
David’s fingers were curled tight around the steering wheel, so tight that his knuckles were turning pale.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, rubbing my eyes. “I . . . I should have told you what Ryan and I were doing. And I wanted to. I was going to, I promise.”
“When?” he asked, a muscle working in his jaw.
I didn’t have an answer for that, not really, and I didn’t think “eventually” was going to cut it.
And then, David suddenly jerked the wheel, pulling the car off the road, gravel and dust flying up in a cloud behind us as he came to a stop right past the “Welcome to Pine Grove!” sign.
Throwing the car in park, David opened his door and got out, walking a little ways away.
I watched him pace for a few seconds before getting out of the car, too.
“I don’t know what else you want me to say,” I told him, leaning one elbow on the open door. “I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you, David, I genuinely am, but part of my job is to protect you, and that’s what I was doing, okay?”
David had his back to me, and didn’t turn around as he tipped his head to look at the sky.
“All that time, I thought I was a crappy Oracle. But it was you. You keeping me from being what I’m supposed to be. And the fact is, if you’d left me alone, I might have been able to help you before this whole thing even started.” He shook his head, a quick, angry series of jerks.
It was weird, how quickly guilt gave way to anger. “Did you hear the part about how I was doing it to keep you from going insane? Did you look at any of those Oracle pictures back at Alexander’s?” I flung my hand back in the direction of the house. “Not sure if you noticed, but none of them exactly looked like people anymore, David. They were . . .
things.”
David glanced over his shoulder at me, hands low on his hips, elbows jutted out to the side. “But I am one of those ‘things,’ Harper. And you made a decision for me that you had no right to make. And by making a decision like that without talking to me, you pretty much treated me like a thing, didn’t you?”
It had been a very long day, and my head was still spinning with everything that had happened, so it took me a sec to say, “No, right? This is part of what being a Paladin means. Keeping you safe, making hard decisions—”
The lines around his mouth looked deeper than normal and he waved a hand between us. “Hard decisions you didn’t bother letting me in on. Because why would you? This is what you do, Harper, you . . . freaking steamroll everybody. You decide it’s the best thing to do because it’s what you want to do.”
Slamming the car door, I walked over to David, the tall grass brushing my ankles. “That’s unfair, and you know it.”
David watched me warily. “Is it? What about all the stuff you had me do for your friends? Saving Abi from meeting that guy—”
I blinked, feeling his words like a punch to the gut. “That will make her life better,” I snapped, but David threw his hands up, looking at the sky again.
“Will it? You don’t know. You don’t ask people what they want.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he held up a hand. “Don’t start on the Paladin duty thing again, please. If you want to argue that you were doing what was best for me as an Oracle, fine, whatever. But that’s not all I am to you, and you didn’t take that into consideration at all.” He shook his head. “Pres, you have to admit, us being an us has made things more complicated.”
I wasn’t sure how my heart could be fluttering and sinking all at once, but that seemed to be what was happening, and I wrapped my arms tight around me.
“It’s made things better, though,” I said. “Or has being my boyfriend only been a chore for you?”
David rolled his eyes, looking back up at the sky again. “No, of course not. I’m just saying that maybe . . . maybe we should rethink some stuff.”