Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Selene
Winter break officially started four days ago, which kicked off the academy’s semester break. The majority of the students had already left after their exams and some had yet to leave. Students were either picked up by family or transported by guards to the closest city as a meeting point.
Guards and few professors remained on campus, including Mr. Hastings.
April said they held Christmas in the library and had few events throughout break for the students who didn’t—or couldn’t—go home.
A bit of sorrow balled in my throat, and I swallowed it down.
It wouldn’t be our traditional small holiday, playing cards and eating a mix of chestnuts and walnuts, but Viv and I would still spend it together.
“Any news from your friend yet?” I asked Sydney as she met me in the courtyard before lunch. Her parents hadn’t invited her home for the holiday. She wanted them to reach out to her first, and when they didn’t, she opted to stay.
“Nothing.” Sydney shoved her phone in her pocket.
Since the reception was awful and spotty, she had to go to the front lobby of the academy to check for a response.
She had gotten a message out to an old friend a week and a half ago after we snuck into John’s office.
He was going to look into both names, Bernila Galang and Eleanor Lee.
He had found information on Miss Lee. She was an earth mage who had moved from the Philippines.
There had been no red flags found. “He couldn’t find anything on a Bernila Galang. ”
“I’ll just have to ask her myself.” The groundskeeper was hiding something if the headmaster was looking into her, and I didn’t have any more time to wait for someone to choke me with plants in my sleep. Her earthy scent was weak, unless she was masking it, which made her my only lead.
“That’s a bad idea.” Sydney tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “What if her name is hidden to protect herself from someone? If there had been anything, my friend would have found it that day I asked him to look into her.”
“But then why was her picture in Ender’s file?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged and opened the cafeteria door. “Maybe because they seem close? You did say she brought him a cupcake when no one knew it was his birthday—not even his so-called friends.”
“They have similar features.”
“And?” she asked.
“And …” It didn’t mean they were related. I was grasping at straws. This conversation would be a different story if I told her someone was trying to kill me.
“Either way, the file is suspicious,” I said quietly as we entered. No offense to Syd, but I didn’t know her friend and couldn’t trust that there had been nothing on the head groundskeeper.
Ender stood when his gaze found me. He was sitting with Viv, April, and David, but the intensity he watched me with told me he’d been waiting for me to arrive.
He wore black jeans and a black T-shirt.
Typical, bland attire, but he wore it great.
His dark brown eyes held my gaze as he strode toward Sydney and me, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
I probably had some smug remark coming my way.
And my stomach jumped with excitement at the thought.
I looked away from him and at the student in front of us, who surveyed their lunch options.
Ender came up behind me, stopping so his lips were an inch from my ear, and I froze.
“About time. I’m here for your company,” he whispered, his breath hot against my skin. His cedar and bergamot scent were starting to smell like home. “Not to hear about how makeup can be made from dirt.”
Something inside me set off, my magic danced along my nerves, and I was stupidly immobilized with no response, even after Ender had straightened, no longer at my ear.
We hadn’t kissed since the Winter Ball a week and a half ago, and part of me urged to feel his lips on mine again, but I needed to focus on keeping Viv safe and searching for any clues about Mom’s killer and my assailant, so I had avoided him when possible.
Classes and studying had been my main excuse, but he’d been sitting at our table, and he’d joined me on my runs since finding out about my attacks—the only reason Viv said she let me still run. That, and she hated running.
I told myself it was fine to have a friend besides Vivian … and maybe Sydney.
The word friend felt weird. Ender and I hadn’t established what we were, though attending the Winter Ball together had sealed most of the other students’ assumptions of us being an item or whatever.
“Did you hear me?” Sydney waved a hand in front of my face.
“What?” I swatted her hand away.
“I said … your stomach’s not going to feed itself. They finally made a decision. We’re up.” Her gaze flitted to Ender over my shoulder, then back to me. She smirked before going up to the counter.
“Didn’t mean to fluster you with my presence.” Ender moved so the back of my shoulder brushed against his chest.
“You didn’t.” I stepped forward. “Your breath stinks. It’s disorientating.”
“Sure.” He chuckled, a low, deep sound that had my feelings betraying my last remark.
Sydney and I grabbed our food. There were only a few students besides our table, and there was a lot less background noise.
It was more peaceful. We headed to the table with Ender behind me like a tall, muscled shadow.
He sat down next to me, leaning back and resting his closest arm on the table and draping the other over the empty chair on his other side, something he did daily at lunch.
“Ender.” David wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Are you heading home?”
“No. I won’t be.” The hitch in Ender’s breath was barely noticeable. I had a sense it was because of his parents, and his guardian must’ve not been available. My chair began to subtly shake and I glanced over at Ender. He was bouncing his knee.
“Sounds like there’ll be plenty of us here over break. We won’t get bored,” I added, placing my hand on Ender’s leg under the table. His gaze immediately flicked to me.
“I’ll be helping with prep around the academy, but I’ll have plenty of time to still party.” April shoulder-nudged Viv next to her, smirking. They hadn’t declared themselves a couple or committed to acting as one, but I imagined they didn’t want to get in trouble, considering they were roommates.
“The guards will need something to keep them on their toes while everyone’s gone.” Viv laughed.
Ender brought his arm underneath the table and linked his fingers with mine, his leg no longer moving. A light squeeze told me he was thanking me.
“I heard that a majority of them leave to complete academy tasks or something?” David asked.
“I’ve seen them coming and going a lot this year already.” Sydney shoved a spoonful of peas in her mouth.
The conversation continued, but something dark crept along my spine, spanning across my skin.
I pulled my hand from Ender’s and brought it to my throbbing stomach, which threatened to upchuck my partially eaten lunch.
Ender tensed next to me, and I was hit with a foul stench of rotting flesh that had been buried in soil for a long time.
No. The academy was supposed to be safe.
I stood, pushing my chair back and turning toward the entrance, Ender moving simultaneously with me.
All chatter ceased as everyone finally felt the dark magic and realized there was a figure standing in the doorway, wearing a cloak that was a deep shade of hunter green.
The hood was pushed back just enough for us to see the ghastly features of a woman, grey strands of hair trailing over the collar of her cloak. Her dark eyes were fixated on me.
Yellow lights near each doorway began flashing and an alarm sounded—the alert for all students to shelter in place.
“Sal?” Viv asked, so many questions in one mention of my name.
I glanced across the table at her, our gazes meeting, and shook my head.
This mage wasn’t one of the three dark mages who had attacked us and killed Mom.
Her robe and stature were different, and judging by her scent, she no doubt had been an earth mage.
“You need to run,” I said to her.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Of course she wouldn’t listen.
“What’s going on?” April asked, but I didn’t look away from the dark mage to see my friends. Friends. Dang it. I had grown attachments whether I had wanted to or not. And now, that put them—and everyone at Fives Academy—in danger.
The dark mage took a step and Ender moved in front of me.
“Ender. Don’t.” I stepped out from his shadow.
“I was never one to listen to orders.” His voice was playful, but his gaze never left the threat.
The side door to the outside opened and Miss Lee strode through, her gaze landing on Ender. A student nearby escaped through the door behind her as if they had just realized their legs could move.
Before I could make anything of her presence, static filled the air and a sharp gust of wind came soaring toward us.
Ender threw his hands upward and turned around, holding up a wind shield of his own.
He strained against the pressure but sent the gust upward and over us, only letting a waft filter through.
Miss Lee held out her hands, chanting something under her breath.
The wind stopped as vines wrapped around the dark mage—some from a plant nearby, others that Miss Lee created.
A four. She’d clearly been hiding something or had been deceiving everyone—which was the same thing.
The dark mage wrapped long, bony fingers around one of the vines.
Black ooze seeped from her pale hand, the ooze trailing down the vine and disintegrating it.
The dark mage chanted something and sent a rush of wind toward Miss Lee before my brain could compute what was happening. Miss Lee was lifted off her feet and sent crashing through the door, its glass shattering. Ender took a step toward her and the broken door but didn’t move any farther.
“She’s here for me.” I rolled my neck and shook out my shoulders. “Everyone needs to go. Now!”
Before it’s too late.
But no one moved.
“Yeah. I don’t think so.” Sydney raised a defiant brow.
April stood tall next to Viv, and I glanced at David, but he only shook his head. No one was going to leave.
The dark mage bared her yellow teeth, revealing black gaps in her grin. I took a step forward, ready to battle with my friends at my back.