Chapter 37
Holy hell, can my life get any worse?
I’d spent all of yesterday in Havengard City, following Jordan around designer dress shops like a fucking lap dog. This was not what I needed to be doing at the moment.
My mind flits back to the little dud who dresses like a hobo circus clown; I’d bet she’d have been grateful for the first thing I picked out.
Little Dud. I pick up my phone to order her to my penthouse, but then remember she’s no longer under my control. Godsdamn it. Anyway, if Jordan saw her, it'd be a whole scene. This is ridiculous.
I throw my phone on the counter and feel pissed, through and through. Feniks and the little dud owe me a report. I’d agreed to work together, but in reality, they were working for me. I’m not a team player.
Why the hell did I agree to releasing the little dud from my mark?
Since finding Wes and Donovan is the top priority, I remind myself. The next most important thing is getting out of this fucking ‘relationship’ with Jordan, but that would have to wait. Un-fucking-fortunately.
Gods, I’m so fucking depressed. All the opulence and luxury of this penthouse doesn’t make up one iota for my lack of freedom, nope, not in the slightest. Looking out of the window and over the meticulously manicured grounds, I watch the peacocks peck at some gravel, their vibrant tails not making up for their clipped wings. I know the feeling.
At least my personal space is slightly more tolerable now that Manu has quit school (I didn’t see that coming). And Troy just needed a little physical persuasion to move out. The Farringtons must struggle to hold their heads up in my father’s organization with such an embarrassingly weak son.
But still, this place is a gilded cage.
I let my gaze lift to a series of pinholes, in the shape of a dick, high up on the wall, just below the cornice molding.
The twins had invented a game, shooting puffs of air from their fingers, as sharp and narrow as darts.
I didn’t want my walls looking scarred and messed up, so they chose an unobtrusive spot as their target, thinking I’d never notice.
Idiots. They should have known me better. I’m fucking observant.
They’d driven me crazy with their inanity, but still I’d loved them. Love them.
And they knew when to be serious. They’d been in full earnest when they’d made a pact to help free me from my family. Anger crawls across my skin; they’d broken their word. Left me.
But was that really true?
“She’s a penniless dud. Get your fucking brains out of your dicks and see she’s just like the rest of them. In it for your money and your power.”
Wes had curled his fingers into fists.
“There’s a choice here for you, Cosmo,” Donovan had replied in a cold voice. A tone I’d never heard from him before. “To keep us, you accept Theo. It’s that simple.”
“Oh, there’s a choice, alright. And yes, it’s simple. You choose her, you lose me. So where do your loyalties lie?”
“Brother, don’t do this. Don’t push us away.”
“This isn’t on me,” I’d growled in answer. “It’s all on her. Fucking Theodora Wilson.”
Fucking Theodora Wilson.
Fucking Jordan Singleton-Smith.
Fucking Father.
I hate them all.
“This is ridiculous,” I say to myself, pulling on some loafers.
“Why haven’t Feniks and the dud been in touch?
” Slamming the door behind me, I race down the stairs as the weight of everything pummels my brain.
I hadn’t slept last night, but that wasn’t new.
Add in Jordan as an extra nightmare, and I wanted to beat my brains with a brick.
Since the twins left, I haven’t exactly been making the best choices, but I guess I’m not ready for self-induced physical trauma. Headed full force out of the Electis Tower, it feels like I’ve got a fucking fever.
Is the dud with Feniks right now?
A wave of almost possessive anger consumes me.
I don’t examine it; I just clench my fists and march along the driveway, making the other students scatter.
I’m almost at the remedial dorms when the hair on the back of my neck lifts.
I scan a three-sixty and see the dud. She’s walking between the professor and some other giant dude.
“I can’t believe you guys waited for me.
” Her laugh drifts across the lawn towards me.
Suddenly, the little dud twists her head in my direction, meeting my eyes. I wonder if she can sense me in the same way I’m annoyingly aware of her presence. When she halts, so do her two companions.
Picking up my pace, I march straight over. “Well?” I snarl, not even knowing what I’m asking.
“You’ve got a problem, Drakeward?” the professor snaps back. The giant guy beside him looks slightly familiar. I can scan the uniform. Oh, right, he’s one of the school janitors, that’s why I’ve seen him before.
The overall-wearing Hulk glares, taking a step forward.
I’m never intimidated by lesser people, but for some reason, I flinch internally.
Huh. I cover up the moment with more of my bad temper.
“I don’t like having to chase you all over fucking campus.
Pick up the phone if I call. I want frequent reports. ”
“Tone it down, boy,” Feniks growls.
“Please, Cosmo,” the girl says, placing a hand out, as if to keep me back, as if that were possible. “Not here.”
I notice several groups of students watching our interaction. No doubt, some of them will be reporting back to Jordan any minute. “Fine. Then where?”
Feniks exchanges a long look with Wilson, who shrugs, then nods.
“If you can keep yourself in check, we can go to my office,” Feniks says.
“But I’m tired of this attitude. You want to know anything, you’ll need to figure out a different approach, because I’ll not allow this,” he gestures in my direction, “around Theo.”
The Janitor makes a low growl in his throat, which I take as agreement. Do I know him outside of his caretaker role? Why the fuck does he seem so familiar?
With a fucking testament to my willpower, I rein in the next words on my tongue and instead say, “Fine. Lead the freaking way.”
It pisses me off even more when the little dud looks over her shoulder, silver eyes filled with amusement, and gives a slight tilt of her head, indicating I should follow.
Fuck my life.
Feniks’ office is in just as shitty a state as I’d last seen it.
He closes the door behind us and mutters a silencing spell.
The giant leans against the wall, arms crossed, looking like he’s ready to bounce me out on my ass at the slightest provocation.
“Sit down, Theo,” Feniks murmurs gently, pulling out his desk chair for her.
He’s got fucking hearts in his eyes and has to be fucking her.
So much for the crocodile tears for my brothers. Fucking bitch.
“Why is Andre the Giant here?” I hiss, not taking a seat—I don’t want that goon glaring down at me.
“He’s with us,” the dud declares.
Like, what the fuck does that mean? “You got a three-way going? Didn’t take long for you to shop your cunt out to some new takers.”
Her cheeks turn pink, obviously in guilt, but before I can point that out, the white haired ape has me on the floor in an armlock—a very fucking heavy knee in my spine.
“Put him down, Ludo, he’s not worth it,” the dud sighs, like I’m a pain in her ass, not the other way around. The nerve of her. After a beat, the ape lets me up. I try to gather my dignity, wiping down my clothes and adjusting my hair.
Feniks’ eyes bore into me. “Look, Drakeward,” he begins, “cut your shit out. You wanted to speak to us, not the other way round. We don’t need or want you.”
I know I’m being a dick, but I can’t seem to help myself. Instead of answering, I look at the ceiling and count backwards from ten. It doesn’t help. “I just want to know,” I say through gritted teeth, “if you’ve learned anything new.”
Feniks, the dud, and the janitor exchange more of their speaking glances, making me feel like a fourth wheel.
“We have,” Wilson says calmly after a beat.
“We learned that Wes, Donovan, and Maximus were together on their last day, and Maximus wanted to show them something he’d found beneath the laundromat. ”
Huh. Actual information, that’s unexpected. “Was he talking about strange energy?” I ask in a more moderate tone.
“Not explicitly,” she answers. “But I’m thinking Max was in the tunnels, found the energy, told the twins who went to check it out, and then….”
And then, what? At least it feels like I’m getting a step closer to the truth. “How did you get this information?”
The dud doesn’t reply to me, but instead turns to speak to the janitor.
“We haven’t had a chance to discuss this yet, Lu, but there seem to be patches of strange energy around the campus.
It has an aura, a glow to it. Have you seen anything like that?
” She moves closer to him, turning her back on me. Dismissive little bitch.
He shrugs, then shakes his head.
"Still, if the energy is below the laundromat, and in the dive pool." Feniks’ professor-brain is obviously ticking. "Both are located under Validus Vale. This isn't enough data to definitively establish a systemic pattern, but it suggests a trend."
“Alexis, something just struck me,” Wilson interjects with a screeching yelp. “You know I told you about Claw’s Cradle?”
The professor nods, I have no clue what they’re talking about—again.
“Claw’s Cradle had loads of converging ley-lines.
The high council summoned an earth-whisperer to guide the land into a perfect funnel, directing ancient energy into the academy.
There is already a source of power beneath us, and it has been moved or altered by an earth whisperer.
What if that energy is leaking out? Or trying to draw us in?
Could it have snatched up Wes and Donovan? ”