Chapter 42
CHAPTER
“Steeler,” I gasped out loud.
Within two of my crashing heartbeats, the solid wall of his body materialized between Dazmine and me.
“What happened?”
It only took him half a second to absorb all the information swimming behind my eyes. Half a second for him to understand exactly what I’d learned in Quinn’s mind and what I’d just seen in Dazmine’s.
Did Lexington see you? he asked urgently. Did he get into your mind or see that you were in Dazmine’s?
No. I was confident about that. My blockade had been sliced open to listen in on Quinn’s thoughts, but I’d never felt or seen anyone so much as brush up against it.
Steeler’s shoulders relaxed an infinitesimal amount, but he still stood like a statue carved of impenetrable marble. Did he go through Dazmine’s gate?
No. I don’t think so. He stopped right near her consciousness, as if he was just listening to what she was thinking at that exact moment. Which was that she wanted to get someone from the inside of the prison to let the pirates in. Shit, I tacked on as the enormity of that crashed through me.
I had no idea why Lexington had been in Dazmine’s mind, of all people’s, but there was no doubt in mine that even if he wasn’t on campus, he’d be closing in on us soon after hearing all that.
How far out do you think he is? I asked desperately.
Steeler shook his head.
If he was able to get into her head, it means he’s somewhere within Mind Manipulating range. Knowing him and how far he can reach with his power, I’m willing to bet that’s a good five- to ten-mile radius, but…
He didn’t have to finish that thought for me to connect each painstaking dot. Dazmine wasn’t safe here at the Esholian Institute anymore. She probably wasn’t even safe at the lighthouse without Walking powers of her own or an ability to flee if Lexington ever found out about that secret haven.
Steeler’s jaw tightened, confirming my fear without a word.
“If neither of you tell me what’s going on in the next five seconds,” Dazmine started, “I’m going to call all the rats out of the walls and have them nibble your—”
“The Good Council knows you know too much,” I said urgently, hardly able to bear the way her scowl flashed into alarm. “And they’re coming for you now. Steeler is going to have to take you away… maybe for good. I’m sorry, Dazmine. I’m so, so sorry, I—”
I’d been so focused on maintaining my own blockade that I hadn’t even thought about trying to protect Dazmine’s mind. This was exactly what Steeler had tried to prevent from happening to me by keeping sensitive information out of my head until I could learn to defend myself.
“No,” Dazmine interrupted before I could say more.
“What?”
“You don’t need to do any apologizing, Rayna. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“But,” I started, “I knew involving you in… in all of this might put you in danger and—”
“—and I accepted that danger,” Dazmine said, her chin tilted high. “I bullied you, threatened you, and used you just like you used me, so don’t get all self-pitying on me now. Okay?”
I nodded, but it didn’t stop the guilt from digging deeper into my gut. I purposely hadn’t told Emelle or Lander or Rodhi about anything going on in—
I froze, horrified.
Rodhi.
If Dazmine disappeared out of thin air, Lexington was bound to interrogate the shit out of everyone in the house… and Rodhi would be in just as much danger as any of us. Not because of my secrets, but because of his own.
“Rayna, no.”
Steeler’s eyes had widened as he caught on to what I was thinking. Mentally, he snarled my way, even if Lexington didn’t know Dazmine was with you, he’s going to be pissed when he gets here and he can’t find her. Don’t throw yourself into that fray.
I already failed to protect one friend, I said, already backing up. I’m not abandoning another one.
Steeler leaned forward as if poised to snatch me away.
Garvis hasn’t taught you how to protect somebody else’s mind from an actual invasion, Rayna. That’s fifth-year magic…
…so I’ll try my best to protect Rodhi in whatever way I can until you can take Dazmine to the ship and then come back, I snapped.
In theory, that would only take a handful of seconds. Realistically, though, we both knew he couldn’t just Walk Dazmine to a pirate ship and immediately abandon her to come back for Rodhi and me. That would almost be worse than dropping her into the middle of the ocean.
Steeler opened his mouth to argue, his eyes flashing with something carnal and possessive, but I just said, “You told me you were learning to trust me! Show me that you can do that now.”
His pupils widened at that word. Trust.
Had he ever truly trusted me before—that I could handle myself in the face of danger?
Could he? Enough to let go, even for a second?
Not in the way he’d done last year, where he’d left me like a butterfly in a tank for him to protect from the outside, but in a way that would unleash me like the hurricane he’d always said I was?
As if it caused him indescribable pain, Steeler dipped his head. Dazmine glanced at him, then back at me, and nodded, too.
Nodding back, I turned and sprinted downstairs.
I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know he’d done it: Walked away with Dazmine just like I’d asked. The absence of his dark, fathomless presence left an ache against my heart, but the knowledge that both of them were out of the danger zone was a palpably sweet relief on my tongue.
I nearly stumbled over the lower lace of my dress as I barged into the Element Wielder foyer and pushed into the throng, desperate for any signs of a boy with a goofy grin all over his carefree face.
“Rayna! What are you—”
“Have you seen Rodhi?” I panted, fighting my way to Emelle as soon as I heard her voice. She looked beautiful tonight—clad in a silver dress with hooped earrings winking like starlight in her hair—and Lander looked just as handsome in a silver tie beside her.
“Um.” Emelle squinted over my head. “I think he went somewhere over th—”
BOOM.
The entire room shook as the front doors blasted open and a group of Good Council elites stormed inside.
Kitterfol led the front, his cloak flowing behind him in a flash of scarlet that matched the livid blood vessels popping in his eyes.
The conversation in the room crashed into deathly pale silence. The musical instruments overhead stopped playing. Every drunken, confused gaze turned to Lexington and the three other elites behind him.
“Where,” Kitterfol said in a tone that oozed venom in every syllable, “is Ms. Dazmine Temperton?”
By the way his mouth trembled with the urge to scream… oh, he knew. He knew Dazmine was gone, but didn’t know how.
I pushed my pride, my deep appreciation for Steeler’s innate power, back, back, back into the distant horizon of my mind. No way was I letting the Good Council anywhere near my true feelings for him.
Lexington turned to his other elites and gave a significant nod.
They streamed past everyone, rushing deeper into the Element Wielder mansion and up the stairs as if Dazmine might still be hiding somewhere inside. Lexington himself stayed stock-still, breathing heavily as he surveyed the halted party.
“Where is she?” he whispered.
Nobody answered.
“WHERE IS SHE?” he snapped, and lunged for the nearest student.
It was a girl in a neon two-piece. She screamed, but nobody dared step forward to help her as Lexington grabbed her by the arms and shook her back and forth, evaluating her mind and whether she had any relation to Dazmine in one smooth sweep.
The fact that he hadn’t immediately landed his sights on me meant he didn’t know I’d been with her tonight.
If he’d gone past Dazmine’s gate and rifled through her most recent memories back in that hallway, he would have seen our alliance and the lighthouse…
but he must have felt confident he’d be able to pick her brain apart piece by piece in person, so he’d withdrawn with a false sense of victory.
Good.
As Lexington moved to the next person with unnerving swiftness, I used the precious time I had to scour the room for signs of Rodhi—and found him near the drinking fountain on the other end of the room, surrounded by a variety of friends from other sectors.
Lexington was moving closer to his group with a rising frenzy.
This was nothing like the cool, smooth contemplation he had used to investigate Mr. Fenway’s death last year, but something wild bordering on mad.
It reminded me of how I’d felt when I’d first been Branded with Mind Manipulating and heard the outpour of everyone’s thoughts at once.
His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he turned from person to person and found no connection to Dazmine, no connection to Dazmine, no connection to Dazmine.
Because Dazmine had had no friends besides Jenia.
Dazmine had been a loner after Jenia.
Dazmine was just Jenia’s ex-sidekick who’d fallen into everyone’s periphery after her exile.
I pushed all of those thoughts out into the open as hard as I could.
As if he’d heard it, Lexington’s eyes snapped toward me.
Exactly what I’d wanted. Because as much as I’d forced bravado into my voice when I’d told Steeler I could protect Rodhi, he was right. I couldn’t protect him from the most advanced Mind Manipulator on the Good Council. Not mentally.
Lexington changed course, pivoting toward me instead. The crowd parted, cutting him a straight path to where I tried not to tremble.
I didn’t even realize Emelle was clinging to my arm until I felt her nails pierce my skin like little anchors. Anchors I appreciated as Lexington’s snarl sent drops of spit flying into my face.
“What a happy little coincidence! Just the girl I’ve been meaning to have a nice, long chat with, and you’re Ms. Temperton’s roommate.”
He grabbed me by the sleeve and dragged me away from Emelle.
“Rayna!” she cried, reaching after me.