Chapter Twenty
Sage
“Very well done Sage.” Theo comments as soon as we are free and I frown.
I really don’t know what to make of him.
“Get to your lesson, you should be just in time. I’ll make sure to spread around that you passed the lie test. That should help stop the animosity you are all receiving and I’ll try to get some news on Nicole for you.” He continues.
“Thank you.” I say, I may feel dodgy about whether he’s got good intentions or not but I can still be polite.
He smiles with understanding and then rushes off in the opposite direction.
“What do we think of him?” Erin asks.
“I honestly have no idea. I can’t pick anything up off of him.” I say frowning as we start to make our way to the stables, honestly all I want to do is relax but I know this is important. “What about you guys?”
“His scent didn’t waver or anything like that but he’s an expert in lying.
I wouldn’t put it past him to have worked out ways around it.
Sort of like you did, that was fucking impressive!
” Hunter says grinning at me and dipping to kiss the top of my head, making butterflies take flight in my stomach.
“Why thank you!” I grin, “You can smell that sort of thing?” I ask.
“Yep,” he replies reverting to being a man of few words.
“That is so cool dude!” Dash booms.
“Hey kids. I’ve heard you’ve had a bit of an afternoon.” Rupert says as soon as we enter the stables.
“You could say that.” Levi gripes, kissing my cheek on the past to his horses stall.
“Well let’s put that out of your minds for now and focus on the horses, you’re going to be here later tonight.
There’s a lot of things we need to get through and we’re running out of time.
The experienced riders I want you practicing using weapons whilst on horseback.
There’s a small armoury beside the tack room, choose your weapon and get going.
The rest of you I’m going to get you cantering, galloping and get you jumping too.
Then towards the end of the lesson I want you all to be practicing with weapons as well.
I wanted to take things slower but we just can’t afford to.
I know I’m asking a lot but I promise it’s for a good reason.
” He looks at us sombrely and although I’m overwhelmed by how much he wants us to do he was right before, we do have a steep learning curve as supernaturals and if it really is as important as he’s making it out to be then I’m just going to have to suck it up.
We all nod that we understand.
“Good, tack up your horses and let’s get going, we have a lot to get through.”
I walk over to the tack room getting everything I need for Dave and also grabbing him a carrot from the store too. I found them yesterday after our lesson and Dave is going to be working just as hard as I am for the next few hours, if not harder since he has to work with a novice like me.
He deserves a treat.
After I’ve grabbed everything I need I walk over to his stall and smile, the big quarter horse snorts happily when he sees me and gently nudges my chest with his head. I slip him the carrot and he munches loudly as I start to tack him up.
I was slightly worried that I would have forgotten how to do it since we were only told once but Rupert comes over to check everything before I get on and assures me that it’s all as it should be.
It fills me with confidence, enough that I start to think that we may succeed in getting everything done in this lesson that Rupert wants us to.
Rupert works us and the horses hard over the next few hours and by the time we’re finally done we can do everything that he wanted us to be able to do.
I chose to learn how to use a bow whilst on horseback which meant that I also had to learn how to stay on Dave whilst he’s galloping without holding on since I need both hands to use a bow.
Although nerve wracking at first I quickly found it incredibly enjoyable. It’s shocking to me that we’re only on the second day of lessons yet we have managed to achieve so much. If I were still human it would take months if not years of hard work to get us to this point.
I know that I’ve got my Nyx swords and I could’ve saved myself a bit of time and effort if I learnt to wield one of them but I still haven’t worked out how to get them to appear and if we’re ever in a situation where I need to use a weapon I need something that I can rely on.
It’s getting dark when I meet everyone outside the stables and we start the walk back to our dorm room.
“I’m not as achy as I was yesterday after our lesson.” Dash says as we enter the castle.
“Neither am I and I wasn’t stiff or in pain this morning either.” Damon adds.
“I am so glad we’re supernaturals because that long in the saddle if we were humans would’ve had us sore as fuck. Especially since we’re not used to it.” Levi chuckles.
“I think I might try to call my parents quickly I still haven’t heard anything back from them.” I frown.
“Do you have your cell?” Erin smirks.
“Yes, I found it last night.” I smirk and they laugh.
Kai threads his fingers through mine as I dial. It rings and rings going through to voicemail. I try my other dads and my mom but none of them pick up.
“Seriously?” I ask, why aren’t they answering.
“No answer still?” Nate asks with sympathy and I shake my head sighing heavily.
“Hey, has anyone heard from Cole?” I ask suddenly, anything to stop myself from thinking about why my parents refuse to answer the phone.
My mind goes to dark place, wondering if I was a disappointment to them.
Too damaged for them to love. I shake myself free of my thoughts, focusing back on the question I had asked.
Cole was going to see if he could find anything out about what was going on with the Director.
I have no idea how he planned to do that and it’s only occurring to me now that we probably shouldn’t have let him go off by himself.
I have no doubt that he can take care of himself he’s massive and just gives off that vibe but if the Director is somehow involved with all of this shit then she is a very dangerous woman and has things at her disposal that would render a supernatural useless.
“No but then I haven’t got his number or anything like that.” Levi says as we all gather in our room.
“I’m worried. What if he got caught asking the wrong questions or something?” Erin says, worriedly.
“I’m sure he’s fine. We all know that he’s not an average Centre and has tricks up his sleeves.” Kai says, although worry is starting to cloud his expression.
“But so do whoever took Rebecca and her Bonded and she bragged that she had two gifts in our first Centre class so they weren’t exactly weak.” I frown.
“Ok, that’s a good point.” Nate says.
“Why don’t we go and see if we can find him?” Kyle suggests.
I’m about to answer when a void split opens up beside Jax and out steps Cole.
“Dude where the fuck have you been?” Levi says.
“We were just about to come looking for you.” Damon adds.
“There’s no time to explain. The Director’s up to something. She’s just taken the passages through the walls out to the back courtyard. She’s heading towards the woods. I think this is our best chance to finally get some answers about what’s going on.” He says urgently.
“Let’s go.” Levi replies with no hesitation at all.
“Follow me, it’ll be quicker to go out the same way she did. There’s a tunnel just before you get to the instructors side of the building that leads out by the woods, if we hurry we should be able to catch up. She slowed down as soon as she reached them.” He says.
We’re all still armed and quickly follow him out of our room and down to the instructor corridor, thankfully not running into anyone that we would have to give excuses to.
Before we turn the corner where the giant serpent was, Cole turns to a blank expanse of rough rock wall in between two large portraits and then presses a random rock that opens up a small split in the wall.
“It’s like Scooby Doo!” Kai exclaims making us laugh despite the seriousness of the situation.
“Probably complete with ghosts and everything.” Erin chuckles as Kai’s eyes go wide with excitement. “It’s going to be a tight fit for you guys.” She adds frowning at the small space.
“I got through fine and it’s only a few metres long until we hit the outside, I promise.” Cole reassures us stepping straight in without hesitation.
We all share a look and follow him through. The guys grunting as they try to squeeze through the small gap. Fortunately the tunnel really isn’t that long.
“Thank fuck for that.” I grimace as we exit the tunnel.
“Come on this way.” Cole says and we silently follow him further into the woods.
I start to think that we’re not going to catch up to her and that we’ve missed our opportunity to finally get answers until I spot a figure in a hooded cloak push through some trees ahead of us and not being quiet or careful about it in any way.
“Guys.” I say quietly and nod in the direction of the figure.
We all slow down making sure to keep our footsteps light as we spread out slightly so we’re not all caught if she spots us.
We get to the place where the figure pushed through and I barely stop myself from stumbling into the small clearing beyond.
I crouch down and watch as the figure removes their hood and reveals the Director.
There wasn’t really much doubt to who it was, let’s face it.
She sets a black candle at four points in the circle lighting each one as she mutters something I can’t quite hear and from what I can just about make out is in Latin anyway so I wouldn’t be able to understand it even if I could.