Chapter 8
T he gang were in the kitchen making food when I got back. Touron fried steaks while Palia pulled baked potatoes out of the oven and Shar tossed a salad. Ginia was busy setting the table.
A cadet popped his head in the door, took one look at the scene, and backed out again.
Shar chuckled. “It looks like we’ve claimed the kitchen for the evening.”
“Oh no.” Palia looked up guiltily from the potatoes. “There’s plenty for everyone.”
She hurried to the door and almost walked right into Curi.
His blue hair was damp and tucked behind his ears, and his cheeks were slightly flushed. His dark eyes brightened for a moment at the sight of us all, then a shutter came down, dimming that light.
He snorted and turned away.
“Hey.” I leaned back on my seat. “Where do you think you’re going, lover ?”
Shar choked on a carrot stick, and Ginia snickered.
Curi stilled.
I pulled out the chair beside me. “If we’re going to play a couple, we should learn to share meals. You know, be seen together.”
Curi turned to face us, his expression tight. “I said I’d help you. You don’t have to bribe me with food.”
“This isn’t bribery, Mason, it’s an invitation to hang out.”
Silence filled the room, pregnant with expectation.
If someone had said to me a week ago that I’d be asking Curi Mason to hang out with me, I’d have laughed in their face, but the goyle had proven not to be a total dick.
He’d saved my ass on more than one occasion, and I’d seen a reflection of my own loneliness in his eyes.
I knew what it was like to be an outsider, and for all his bluster and aggression, Curi was just a male who wanted to belong.
Maybe he could belong with us. Maybe I was overthinking, but fuck it. This felt right.
Touron broke the silence by slapping a steak on a plate and holding it out to Curi. “Hope you like it medium rare.”
Curi’s shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, I do.”
He took the seat beside me, and Palia slid a couple of jacket potatoes onto his plate.
“You can help yourself to salad,” Shar said. “I don’t serve.”
We dug into our food, and for a little while, the only sound in the room was the scrape of forks and knives on plates.
“What did you season this with?” Curi asked after polishing off his steak.
Touron tapped the side of his nose. “Secret recipe.”
“Well, I’ll have to figure it out myself, then.” He took another steak off the skillet and rejoined us.
“You won’t be able to,” Touron challenged, looking smug.
Curi ate slowly this time, savoring each bite, and Touron watched him, the smug smile still in place.
“Salt, pepper, garlic,” Curi said.
“Of course,” Touron said. “Standard practice.”
“A hint of lemongrass.”
Touron’s smile dropped slightly. “Right…”
“And…” Curi chewed slowly, then swallowed. “Ginger and…a hint of chilli.”
“Fuck! How did you guess?” Touron shook his head. “Impressive.”
“My mother always said I had a clever palate. We used to cook together before…” He popped another bite of steak into his mouth, the sentence unfinished.
“What do we have here?” Dayn entered the kitchen, trailed by Bax and Saffe.
“You slumming it with the losers now, Mason?” He smirked.
“You think having a Basque in your bed makes you better than us, makes this group of losers suddenly worth something?” He sneered at me.
“I heard about you taking the elite trial. You’ll be dead before then.
You might be a Basque, but you’re still a halfblood.
And you…” Dayn turned his sneer onto Curi.
“I paid my mother a visit. It’s been a while since she’s seen me, so she was more than willing to tell me exactly what happened between you and Selas. ”
Curi went as still as stone beside me.
Dayn smirked. “You’re nothing, Mason. Not anymore.” He spun on his heel, but his exit was ruined when he bumped into Bax, who then knocked into Saffe.
“Fucking out of the way!” He shoved past them both, and they followed him out of the room.
“What was he talking about?” Sharniza asked Curi. “What happened between you and Selas?”
Curi shoved his chair back and left.
Touron shrugged, mumbling something incoherent around a mouthful of food.
“I sense a backstory here,” Ginia said.
Palia just stared at the doorway in concern. “He’s hurting.” She looked over at me. “Maybe you should—”
I was already on my feet. “Keep my plate hot for me, would you?”
* * *
I caught up to Curi just outside his room.
“Go away, Basque,” he drawled. “I don’t need to share my feelings.” He stepped into his room and made to close the door, but I slipped inside on impulse, regretting it as soon as I caught the flash of anger on his face. “You have serious boundary issues, you know that?”
I crossed my arms. “Maybe. But sometimes you need to cross boundaries to reach someone.”
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t need your sympathy or an ear, or a shoulder, but if you want to offer me your cunt for the night, I’ll take it. I could do with a little stress relief.”
My cheeks flushed, but I held his gaze. He was trying to push me away with his crude talk, but I was beginning to understand him. This was his defense mechanism. His shield.
“Is that what you really want, Curi?” I took a step closer, and lo and behold, he took one back.
“Dammit, woman.”
“Look, you don’t have to tell me what happened between you and Selas. It’s none of my business, but don’t hide from us. Dayn and his cronies are assholes, but we’re not. I think…I think you might like being friends with us.” I shrugged. “I think you belong with us.” Fuck, had I said that out loud?
He ducked his head and snorted. “You’re a pest, you know that?”
“I’ve been called worse.”
He nodded. “Fine. Tell me the real reason you want to keep Levi Halle at arm’s length, and I’ll tell you about Selas.”
Damn, he was more perceptive than I’d given him credit for. “I told you. He won’t take no for an answer, obviously, because he’s here.”
Curi gave me a closed-lip smile, then grabbed his gym bag. “I’ll speak to you later, Basque.”
“Wait, you said you’d tell me about Selas.”
“I did. But only when you tell me the truth about Levi.” He held open the door for me, watching me with dark, knowing eyes.
There was no way I was going to spill the beans about Serath to him. Curi might have an invite to the friend group, but he didn’t have one to the circle of trust.
Not yet.
I shrugged and strolled past him.
“Whatever. Knowing Dayn, he’ll blab about it eventually.”
“Yeah? And if you want to believe the bullshit that’ll come out of his mouth, then be my guest.”
He stepped out after me, slammed the door, and stormed off.
I’d pulled him close only to shove him away.
Urgh. I needed to learn to keep my mouth shut.
* * *
The steak didn’t taste as nice after my chat with Curi. I’d messed up, and it bothered me. I’d had no right to push him into revealing information that was obviously painful for him, but my knee-jerk reaction to his probing about Levi had been defensive.
Back in my room, I kicked off my shoes and carefully cracked open the wardrobe, searching the shadows for the mournful eyes that always made me feel better.
Derek emerged, blinking up at me as if waking from a sleep.
“Hey, buddy, how you doing?”
“Unngg arga.”
“Really? I didn’t know that you slept.”
“Ummm jagad.”
Yep, he didn’t usually, so this was strange. “Maybe it’s this place. There are strong wards here, and we’re in some kind of hidden part of the rim.” I pulled the door wider. “You want to come and hang out for a while?”
“Mmmm gah.”
I stepped back, and he spilled out of the wardrobe, tall and wide, and what the actual fuck? When had he gotten so big?
He looked down at himself, shadow hands patting his shadow chest. “Huh?”
It would have been comical if not for the fact that it was downright abnormal. “You’ve grown.”
“Hung ha grag.”
“We’ll have to figure out how.” But who to talk to?
Derek was a tulpa. My tulpa. But there was obviously more to him than simply being a boogeyman.
He’d protected me when Ignus, the new breed of graynite, had attacked me.
Derek was special, and I couldn’t risk him being taken away by the instructors here.
Gargoyles extinguished tulpas, so I needed to be careful who I trusted with this… this development.
Willowman might be a good choice. He worked directly with the elite, and I’d be on that team soon…
Made sense to speak to him about this.
“Wait a second, Derek.” I pulled my timetable out of my pack and studied it. Herbology was on there, second period after Arcana on Friday. Two days away. I’d ask him then. “I’m going to figure out what’s happening to you, buddy. Don’t worry.”
Derek groaned and sat on the edge of my bed, head bowed, staring at his large hands. “Karik agoo.”
“You’re not a monster.” I sat beside him and put my arm around him. It was weird how he could be shadow but also have physical form. “You’re my buddy, and I love you no matter how big or small you are, okay?”
He looked at me with eyes that gleamed with gratitude and smiled with his razor teeth. “Huugg uuu ooo.” He yawned, and his eyelids drooped. “Gubba sleep.”
“Yeah, get some more rest.”
I tucked him back into the closet and closed the door, then jumped at the sight of Melanie by the window. “Shit! You scared me.”
Melanie stared blankly at me, her mouth moving without sound.
“Melanie?” I took a step toward her, and she vanished.
This was my fault. I’d roped her into helping me find out what happened to Romi, and she’d broken into the filing room where all the classified information was kept to get to his file. She hadn’t been the same since. And the information she’d come back with…
Wait a minute…She’d told us that Romi had died in a cave-in after going against orders, but that was a lie.
Would the gargoyles have planted false information in a classified file?
Would Lionel have ensured that? Or did she find out the truth that day and get caught?
Oh…wait…Flora had been found unconscious close to the office.
Could it all be related?
I’d speak to the others about my thoughts tomorrow, but right now, I needed a shower and bed.
* * *
I woke to whispering and the gray light of dawn. Melanie stood by the window again, but this time she was holding out her arms as if waiting to be given something.
“Please. Let me. Please let me hold…I won’t…You can’t do that…I…Please…She’s mine.”
“Melanie?” I sat up, and she turned her head to look right at me. Her eyes went wide with recognition, then she vanished.
I slumped back onto my pillow. Yep, I was definitely going to have to fix my ghostly roommate.