27. Stella
27
Stella
Clay sits in the forest clearing with his legs sprawled out, shoving his sandwich in his mouth in a way that borders on aggressive. It contrasts sharply with how Ryan delicately chews on a wrap.
“This is weird, right?” I say, breaking the tension.
“Yeah, it is,” Clay says, taking a break from inhaling his food. “You’ve been avoiding us.”
“It’s not that I’ve been avoiding you. I’ve been swamped.” The half-truth trips my tongue up a little, but I push through. “I’ve had a lot going on.”
“The book?” Ryan asks curiously. “It’s got to be exhausting.”
The book—the lie I’ve told them repeatedly as I sneak away to do research. I want to tell them the truth.
Can I trust them with my heart if I won’t trust them with this? Because that’s what I’ve been considering, isn’t it? All my thoughts of asking them if they’d share me would be pointless if I’m unwilling to trust them with my heart.
I feel so overwhelmed. Like I’m being drawn and quartered.
Clay and Ryan and the kisses we shared.
How the Academy is creating simplynaturals.
What is going on with the prison.
Stealing Michael’s ledger.
My confusing feelings for Michael and Blue.
Yuri.
Yuri’s blackmail.
It’s all too much. It’s too much for me to handle on my own. I’m fucking exhausted simply from existing now.
“It’s not a book,” I say quietly, pulling my laptop out of my bag. I navigate to the document where I’ve been keeping the bullet points of what I’ve discovered and turn the computer around to face them.
“It’s not a book.”
A small part of me in the back of my mind tells me that I am making a mistake, but I think that part is a rude bitch, so I’m going to ignore it. Because these males would not betray me.
I can feel it down to my bones that they will be by my side as long as I want them to be.
Trust is always tricky to give, isn’t it? There is never a situation where, with no context, you can trust implicitly. No, there is always that niggling feeling in the back of your mind that whispers cruel what-ifs as you try your best to put faith in another.
My mouth feels like it’s full of cotton. I gaze at the males huddled around the computer screen and give myself one moment to indulge in them, knowing that when my lie is exposed, they may not want to be around me anymore.
Ryan is wearing chino shorts and a pale pink polo shirt. This may be the first time I’ve seen his shins, and I’m not mad about it. He is easily one of the most attractive males I’ve ever seen, with his sharp jaw and that gorgeous eye. My Reaper is in athletic clothes as usual, and his slim figure is nearly dwarfed by the Cyclops beside him. His shaggy blonde hair falls into his eyes and he repeatedly blows it out of his sight while he reads.
Somehow, despite the differences in their figures, clothes, and personalities, the two males fit together so well. They complement each other in such a way that it’s not hard to see why they’ve become friends.
“Is all of this true?” Ryan glances over his shoulder at me, staring into my eyes.
“And what even is it?” Clay mutters, shaking his head. “How did you end up here?”
I take a deep breath, feeling the woven strands that tether me to Clay and me and the electric chain that connects me to Ryan, pulling tight in apprehension. “I’ve been lying to you both.”
Ryan gently sets my computer down, and the two move to sit on either side of me. Their handsome features are twisted in confusion. Ryan, with his deep olive skin and perpetually stern expression, is in sharp contrast to Clay’s light peach skin and rounded face, which is always stretched into a wide smile. Both stare at me expectantly.
And so I lay myself out in front of them. I explain about my job, my scholarship application, my plan to come here, the strange things I’ve noticed, and even the story of my vampire friend. I mention that I think Professor Jessup is up to something and that I need his ledger with the spirit-specific rules, and then I tell them about the website.
“I can’t remember if it was Rolf or Edgar who said it, but one of them mentioned they didn’t know anyone who ever got out of prison, so the choice of prison or the Academy wasn’t much of one. It’s been a piece of my research that I thought would dovetail more into my story on the Academy. But I didn’t know it would be this bad.” Fresh tears run down my face, and I furiously wipe them away. “Not a single story of a supernatural leaving prison once locked up.”
“Which means when a supernatural is given the option of prison or the Academy, it’s death or the Academy,” Clay whispers, rubbing the back of his neck.“Well, that’s starting to make a lot of sense.”
“What is?” Ryan asks his friend.
“I reaped a soul at the prison the other day. The body was hooked up to a lot of electrodes, and when the body died, there was a Keres there confirming that I had already gotten to the soul. They didn’t seem too happy about it.”
My heart thuds loudly in my chest. “Do you think they wanted the soul themself?”
“I don’t know.” Clay drags his hands down his face slowly. “I have never seen another Reaper at the prison, and I don’t get called there often. You’d think if all these people are dying there, I’d get a ton of calls. But I don’t.”
Ryan rests an elbow on his knee. “Could they be dying without you getting the call?”
“Sure, if their souls are getting reaped before their time.”
My stomach bottoms out. “Can that happen?”
“It’s difficult and unlikely because no one would lie there and let it happen. But yeah, it’s possible.”
We sit in silence for a moment as my stomach still churns with nerves. I left a very crucial part out of my story.
Yuri.
A four letter word if I ever heard one.
“There is one more thing,” I say softly. “My ex, Yuri, is an Authentic. His sister is the Deputy Headmaster. He has threatened to report me for lying about my spirit status to coerce him into sex if I don’t continue sleeping with him.”
Ryan is on his feet faster than I can blink, an otherworldly roar ripping out of his throat.
It’s the first time I’ve seen the violence of the Cyclops spirit in my gentle friend.
I jump to my feet and grab Ryan’s forearm, pulling him close to me and wrapping my hands around his waist to calm him down. As much as I appreciate how outraged he is for me, the last thing I need is to draw attention to my little haven in the woods.
“It’s okay, big guy,” I say with a watery smile. “I’ll figure it out, okay?”
“I have an idea,” Clay pipes up, jumping to his feet. “Let’s find out if I can reap a soul from a living body!”
I fight back a chuckle as I turn to my Reaper. “Clay, that’s murder.”
“Everyone already thinks I’m a monster, Stella. What’s the harm in becoming one if it helps someone I care about?”
My chest warms, and I grab him by the back of his arm, pulling him into a group hug. “I am going to figure this out. I’m not going anywhere, guys.” I relax into their warmth and feel the tension lift from my body. “It’s all a messed up maze, but it feels like the Academy is in the middle of it, and I am determined to see this through.” I scrub my hands on my face, sighing slightly at how good the pressure feels on my swollen eyes. “I’m so sorry I lied to you two.”
“You don’t need to feel bad about lying to us, Stella. You didn’t know us. You didn’t know if you could trust us.” Ryan squeezes me a little tighter against him. “I hope you know that your trust is not misplaced. We’re on your side. Anything we can do to help, we will.”
I crane my neck to stare into my Cyclops’ beautiful green and gold eye, knowing that I look like a mess of nerves and fear. Yet, somehow, he looks at me as if I am a Goddess reborn. Ryan bends down and captures my mouth with his, and my spine locks up.
Clay is wrapped in our arms.
I kissed Clay, and now Clay is watching Ryan kiss me.
Ryan pulls away and drops to the forest floor, pulling Clay and me down with him. We all rest our backs against a large tree. Clay grabs my legs and pulls them over his lap, and Ryan keeps my hand clasped tightly in his.
No one is going to mention that kiss?
Clay isn’t going to ask what that was about?
I look between the two of them, eyes wide, unsure how to bring up what just happened. I open and close my mouth several times, words dying in the back of my throat every time.
“Quit overthinking, Stella,” Clay says quietly. “Go with the flow, yeah? If the big guy can, you can, too.”
Ryan shrugs with a half smile and my heart stutters. Did they discuss this? Do they know that I care for them both? That I kissed them both?
They must.
As if to answer my question, Clay leans down and captures my lips with his. It’s a short, gentle kiss, but it’s enough to get the message across.
They’re both aware and okay with something happening.
I rub the back of my heated neck. “So, what about that Assembly?” I ask awkwardly.
“It was real weird,” Clay agrees. “I can’t believe they’ll let them hang out and follow students around.”
“Me neither,” Ryan admits, leaning back against the tree. “They are being given too much access to students, and it appears it will be entirely unchecked. Why is that necessary for setting up their own Academies?”
“It’s not. It’s like we’re in a zoo or a science experiment.”
“Come, see all the supernaturals in their unnatural habitat,” Clay says in a light, accented voice. “There you see a wild Valkyrie. Now, these are very rare specimens, and we are quite lucky to have captured this one. See the way she moves her wings?” He points at my wings, stretching out in the sun, happy to be freed from the confines of my back. “That is what we call the ‘warrior mating dance,’ and it only appears with the Valkyrie is espec-”
Ryan slaps his hand over Clay’s mouth, cutting him off before he can finish what I am sure was going to be a raunchy statement. But Clay’s little skit had the intended effect, and all of us are giggling, the tension of the day broken by my sweet Reaper.
“I wonder how they’ll choose the escorts.” I relax a little into Ryan’s side. “Grades? Or maybe the faculty escort chooses?”
“However they do it, “ Clay says as he leans back on his hands. “I don’t want to be anywhere near this.”
Being an escort could get me good information for my article, but is it worth the risk and exposure to the dignitaries, who will no doubt be dangerous to my kind if they want to bring this Academy to their countries?
No, I don’t want this either. I’ll get my information another way. Being exposed like that is too risky for my ultimate goal.
My mind keeps going back to the why of this all. Why are they bothering to come? Why do they need so much access?
I am so wrapped up in thoughts and questions that I do not notice that Ryan and I have already walked back to our suite. “Stella,” he says, putting his large hand on my lower back. “Let’s check our mail slots and get this over with, yeah?”
After a few cleansing breaths, I reach into my slot, and my fingers brush across a soft piece of stationery. My heart sinks as I pull it out and turn to Ryan, holding it up.
He’s holding one, too.
Both of us stare, wondering what the odds of this are, but we say nothing and open them slowly. “Does yours say who your faculty is?” Ryan asks, his nose scrunching. “Mine only gives me a room number and a time.”
I open my letter and skim through it, but my faculty member is not mentioned either. But I recognize the room number.