Chapter Twenty-Two - Deimos
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Deimos
THE COLD AND dreary day brightened up after class on Friday, when we headed to Deimos Bay for shopping and dinner.
Blythe pulled me into the lingerie boutique, insisting we earned a day to treat ourselves. Ares-Valentine provided these things, but it was all rather boring after seeing the same outfits every day. It was such a cute little shop that I couldn’t help but share her excitement.
Levi wasn’t as excited. He browsed the bracelets, occasionally looking at his phone while he followed us.
The rows and colors in the store were slightly overwhelming. The fashion was a bit different than I was used to with softer fabrics. Blythe dragged me from one section to the other, asking my opinion before tossing items into her basket. She picked out nearly every different pattern available.
I stopped on a lacy matching set of panties and a push-up bra. The dark green color nearly matched the color of those heated eyes that drank me in while I sat on the edge of the professor’s desk. My face flushed but I turned to keep looking, quickly adding the set to my basket.
Blythe held up a bra with blue leaves that cascaded over light orange fabric. She was so happy about it, already searching for matching panties. It was so far from anything I would have picked, I didn’t know what to say. They definitely matched her personality and style, though.
“I’m starving. The bar next to the hotel actually has really good food—I can’t wait any longer,” Blythe groaned, after filling two baskets and adding a couple of warm knit scarves.
Levi looked at her. “I stayed with you while underwear shopping, and you’re going to leave me when I need to do my shopping?”
“I missed breakfast,” she said. The person at the counter told her the total.
“Slept through breakfast,” Levi corrected.
I used my phone to pay the credits for my basket. “I’ll stay with you,” I told him.
“Knew you’d understand.” She touched our arms, running off to the bar with her bags in hand.
Levi sighed. “I want a new sweater to wear on weekends, maybe a raincoat. It’s just down the opposite way of the bar, but not far.”
“Okay, let’s go. ”
We made our way to another little shop. I browsed through the racks while Levi held up sweaters to himself in the mirrors. I found a navy sweater, not in the school colors, along with dark leggings and a new raincoat. I didn’t have anything here in the Realm other than what my uncle had packed away and the academy clothes, so I started adding a few more things to my basket, channeling my inner Blythe and having fun with it.
“I like that one,” I said to Levi.
“You think?” He held it up to himself. The argyle pattern looked good on him, but also fit in with some of the outfits I saw the students wear on weekends.
I nodded.
“What do you have? Oh wow.” He laughed, looking at my pile. He waved at the shop staff, saying to them, “We’ll try these on and wear them out.”
After a minute of putting on our new outfits in the changing rooms, the staff took our credits for payment.
I stopped before heading out the door. The dark clouds should have warned me by now that it always meant it would rain. “Did you know it started storming this hard?”
“Yeah, good thing you bought an extra coat, too.” He pulled up the dark hood over my hair, messing my hair up in the process, before pulling up his own hood in a matching black jacket.
We set off toward the bar, but the wind pressed the rain into us, drenching my new leggings and soaking both bags in my hand. The paper bags started to soak through .
“Let me try something, hold on.” Levi waved his hand, casting an air shield like I had seen some students on the campus do, though most first and second years just tried staying under the trees during the bad storms. The shield blocked some of the heavy rain from completely drenching us, not perfectly, but good enough.
“Can you show me how to do that?” I asked.
“It’s pretty advanced, I had someone teach me.” He blushed, staring down. “I mean, I guess we could try. Use your magic, a very tight burst of air magic, and keep it stable.” His face lit up with a ridiculous smile, like he knew this wouldn’t go well.
Still, I wanted to try because I had no idea I could form ice until last Tuesday’s tutoring class—even if it wasn’t the most solid and mostly resembled water.
“Try a small shield at first,” he said.
I started with just air magic in front of me, trying to form it and tighten it. It expanded under my grip, overflowing all around me. The loss of control created another burst from fear, a tunnel was forming. I struggled to keep it contained, but panic bubbled up within me. The urge to check if anyone was watching tugged at me, but I was sure that if I let go, it would have been a disaster.
Levi joined me, trying to stop the magic, but it only kept expanding, hitting the ground and flying up. Mud blasted up onto the sidewalk all over the place, getting splattered even further by the heavy rain. Levi focused, getting it to be a more contained tunnel of wind and mud.
“It’ll calm down in a minute—let’s get out of here.” He took my hand and we ran .
Laughter erupted from me so hard I could barely keep up. He didn’t stop. While I laughed, I only wondered what was going through his mind in the academy when I caught him running around the campus. It made me think he might have also been leaving behind a magical disaster, which only made me laugh harder.
“Come on, before we get caught and kicked out of Deimos, and Blythe is left alone,” he said.
Levi caught me, pulling me with him as we ducked into an alcove. He laughed up at the sky. My back hit the stone wall tucked between buildings. I placed my hand on his arm and peeked around the corner to see if anyone was looking this way. Pressed a hand to my stomach, I tried to stop laughing. Me being a part of his sporadic running was too much. The sound of confused commotion of people in the town gathering around it grew louder.
From the corner of my eye, figures moved beyond the glass doors to the side of us. I peered up to see where we stopped. “Ares Signature Suites” was on the sign above. We were right between the hotel and the bar.
Someone walked closer, and something in me told me to turn my head. There he was. Mr. Ares, or Nick, as I changed his contact from “Professor Ares” in my phone. Nick looked at me the same moment I turned to him as he exited the glass doors of the hotel. He was wearing a black wool sweater, his hair combed back, slightly falling forward. Everything about him looked like he was in a rush.
His eyes darted from me to Levi, tucked in the corner of the buildings, falling to where I held Levi’s arm. Then his gaze dropped to the bag in my hand, to the obvious lingerie bag. His eyebrows rose, and his steps faltered.
He blinked a couple of times, his face looking so vulnerable. I didn’t think I’d ever see him like that, and I realized what it might have looked like with us so hidden away.
His face changed, returning back to his serious self, like someone remembering the trouble of the day. He nodded a slight greeting in my direction before turning away, checking his phone and rushing off.
As he walked, he carried a black duffel bag, tucking it close to himself. The way he held his shoulders, it was such a small difference, but I knew in my gut, like other times, that he was up to something. Just like when he was spying on Caleb. He was walking so fast it was nearly a run.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Instinct told me whatever he was doing at the academy, he was going to do more of. I wondered if it involved Caleb like last time.
“Did you see his face?” said Levi. “I’m glad I don’t have him this year. I think he only teaches first and third years. Blythe’s in here.” Levi looked up to the sign that read “Bayside Tavern.”
The bar was cute, rustic, and oddly comfortable. It made me wonder if maybe I had been here as a child, but too young to remember. It was decorated with tons of pictures, paintings, and ocean-themed decor on the walls. With the cozy vibe and all the detail in the medium-sized bar, I definitely wanted to visit here again .
In the dim lighting, Blythe’s bright pink hair stood out instantly from her seat in a booth. A burger, which I knew by now was a veggie burger, and fries sat half eaten on a plate in front of her.
“That looks good,” said Levi.
She nodded, taking another bite of her burger.
Levi sat in the booth, but something pressed at the back of my mind. It felt urgent. “I think I’m going to head back early for the night,” I said.
“Awe, want a bite to go?” Blythe held out her burger to me.
I laughed, taking a steak fry. “Oh, you weren’t kidding, this is good. I’ll see you guys later.”
Blythe set her food down and called to me on my way out, “Don’t forget, tomorrow evening we’re taking a portal to my house—and plan to sleep over.”
“Of course, I could never forget,” I called back.
By the time I made it back to the campus, it was just in time to see Nick walking into the staff housing. I decided to pull out my phone and wait in the courtyard. The rain poured heavily, the thick canopy of trees blocked most of it.
I still couldn’t figure out why he was watching Caleb so closely. Caleb said he was in his room earlier, so I’d see Nick if he walked this way into the dorms. Maybe I was paranoid, it definitely felt like it. Except that my suspicions proved right when he disappeared under the stairs after one of the aura classes, waiting there until the meeting with Caleb and Trevor was over .
Professor Douglas strode past me. “Enjoying your weekend?” he asked, staring at his watch. He stopped and peered up as if something dawned on him, looking at my bags on the table, then to my phone. “Night in?”
I nodded with a forced smile.
He stared up at the sky. “With this weather, that’s probably a good idea. Well, have a good night,” he said, zipping up his jacket and pulling up the hood.