Chapter 6
Chapter Six
~ Shade ~
That’s it. C’mon. Please, I plead internally as power moves through my body. My eyes are shut, but I feel icy shadow magic sliding against my tingling skin.
“Okay, tell me. Am I invisible?” I ask Elgen and Tarlaz via our mental link, not willing to open my eyes just yet.
“Oh yes, child,” Elgen’s voice rasps in my mind. “It’s truly impressive.”
“Really?” I perk up, excitedly snapping my eyes open.
My gaze drops to my body, but my enthusiasm quickly fades when I realize only my left arm is gone from view, but the rest of me is still very much visible.
Damn. I huff in disappointment, and Elgen cackles wickedly in my head like she’s pleased with herself.
“Ignore her,” Tarlaz tells me. “You’re making progress, and that’s what matters.”
“Well, thank you, Tarlaz,” I praise him, appreciative that he’s trying to make me feel better. “And for that,” I say, “what did you want to know about? Lemon Meringue Pie? I promise I’ll conjure a piece with my lunch and tell you all about it.”
Elgen makes a spluttering noise in my head. “But that’s not fair, girl. You said you’d tell me what Apple Pie tastes like first.”
I hold up a finger. “True, but Tarlaz is actually being nice to me.”
She grumbles something back, but I’m distracted as I peer around the auditorium. Shadow Basics class started not too long ago, and students wink in and out of visibility as they test their powers. Even Kenzie completely disappears, vanishing from where she’s standing not far from me.
After the incident the day before on the obstacle course, I’d been reluctant to use my magic today, but so far, nothing weird has happened. Or you know, nothing weirder than usual.
“That’s a good start,” Professor Lankin says to me as she walks by, her hands clasped behind her back as she inspects my invisible arm.
“For a beginner. But you’re going to have to work harder than that if you expect to survive the graduation games, let alone a battlefield.
Being able to use the power of cloaking is one of our biggest weapons against the Xalgrith.
Their soldiers can still sense us, but if we move fast enough, sometimes we can act before they detect us.
” She gestures to my arm. “Begin again.”
“No problems. Thanks for the encouragement,” I say internally to myself.
“Yes, sound advice,” Elgen responds seriously, and I realize I’d broadcasted my thoughts to the shadows.
“I was being sarcastic,” I reply with a laugh of disbelief.
“And yet, the professor is right,” Elgen says.
Rolling my eyes, I watch where Professor Lankin is halfway across the room. She stops, and Satine, Izzy, and Paiton materialize a few steps away from her.
“Excellent work!” Professor Lankin praises, obviously impressed.
Satine beams back at her. “Thank you, professor,” she replies in a sickly-sweet voice as she flicks her braid over her shoulder. She then steals a glance at me, her expression unreadable. Beside her, Paiton snickers when she sees me watching and notices my invisible arm.
I just grin and give them silent applause, because hey, I can’t argue with the fact that they managed to do the thing. Of course, this only makes Paiton sneer at me more.
“Hmmm, one has to wonder if they realize how lucky they are to be alive,” Galen’s smooth voice whispers into my ears, seconds before he comes into view not far from Satine.
His sensual lips are curved into a smile, but there’s a dark glint in his eyes as he stares at her.
Going by the way Satine doesn’t look at him, and neither does anyone else in the room, including Professor Lankin, I’m guessing Satine can’t see him, but her body tightens like she can sense a threat is near.
Her eyes scan the room, but when she doesn’t spot my mate, she gives Professor Lankin a tight smile.
“All it will take is one more slip up, and we’ll be happy to end their miserable lives,” Galen continues.
“I’m not sure if the one called, Satine, would have made it out of the cells if it weren’t for you.
” A shadow blade appears in his hand, and he steps closer to Satine, slowly moving the blade in the air near her neck like he’s imagining plunging the dagger into her flesh.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer it if I finished the job? ”
I try not to think about how Satine and her friends had found me in the communal washroom and tried to end my life.
I should be terrified of them, but then I remember how scared and broken Satine had looked when I’d found her in that cell in the dungeon.
I still don’t know exactly what Knox and the others did to her, but whatever happened, the memory of it still clings to her.
I see the darkness touch Satine’s eyes every so often when she thinks no one is watching. And if anything, I feel bad for her.
“There’s been enough death,” I whisper to Galen, relying on his magic to hide my voice from the other students.
“Yes well, if she so much as touches another hair on your pretty little head, death will be the least of her worries.” He says it casually, but going by his unhinged smile, I’m guessing he’s dead serious.
“Got it,” I murmur. “Don’t let anyone touch my hair.”
He smirks wickedly. One moment he’s standing near Satine, and the next he’s in front of me, dipping his head to breathe me in like he’s been starved of me. His hand grips my hip possessively, and my breath hitches.
“What are you doing?” I hiss. “I have class.”
“You know, little shadow, if it wasn’t for your racing heartbeat, I’d think you weren’t happy to see me,” he drawls.
I bite my lip, careful not to stare at Galen directly so I don’t draw any attention. “I just mean, you don’t need to babysit me. I’m doing fine.”
He arches a brow, his gaze fixating on my invisible arm. “Are you?”
“Yes, I’m making progress,” I defend. “You know, you could just say that you missed me,” I tease.
I expect him to grin at that, but his grip tightens on my hip, and he moves in closer. “Being away from you certainly is a test of patience,” he murmurs, leaning down to brush his lips against mine.
I have to resist the urge to kiss him, especially when Professor Lankin turns her attention my way and peers at me shrewdly. I still haven’t followed her instructions, and I give her a sheepish look as she stares at me with disapproval.
Galen chuckles devilishly, enjoying making me squirm.
“We’re burning candlelight,” Professor Lankin reprimands. “As you can see, Shade, most of your classmates are able to fully cloak themselves. I trust you understand the importance of keeping up.”
“Yep, sure do,” I respond quickly, even as Galen teases me, his icy shadows sliding against my skin as if they are his fingertips. They brush against the side of my neck, trailing lower and making my pulse quicken.
Thankfully, Professor Lankin only looks at me for a moment longer before turning her attention elsewhere.
“You’re distracting me,” I hiss at him. “If you’re going to be here, the least you could do is be useful.”
Trying to ignore he’s there, I close my eyes, but it’s hard to focus on the task at hand when all I can do is think about my shadow daddy mate.
After a moment when nothing happens with my magic, Galen moves his hands, lifting them to cup my face.
“Focus on me, treasure,” he drawls, and his silky voice makes my stomach tighten. “Open your eyes.”
“If I open my eyes, then I definitely won’t be able to focus,” I counter, but I obey, opening my eyes to stare up at his ridiculously perfect face.
His lips quirk up at the sides, but his expression remains serious.
“Think of it this way. Cloaking is like adding layers of shadow to disguise yourself. The more layers you add, the different levels of power you’ll be invisible to.
For example, your friend there,” he indicates with his head to where I assume Kenzie must be.
“She’s mastered the most basic level of cloaking.
She is invisible to those such as yourself, but to anyone with more power, like me or Professor Lankin, she’s still visible. ”
I frown. “Huh. Is that why Professor Lankin can’t see you? But I thought all the professors at this academy are originals? Wouldn’t you all have the same level of power?”
“We are all originals,” he confirms. “But our power is not the same.” He says that last part cryptically and doesn’t elaborate any further.
“Okay then,” I say, making a mental note to get that information out of him another time.
For the next while, I follow Galen’s instructions, working on cloaking my body. I manage to get my different limbs cloaked at different times, but I can’t seem to cloak my entire form in the one go. As the lesson draws to a close, I let out a noise of frustration.
“Great, even with my own private tutor I still suck at this,” I mumble, feeling defeated. At some point, even Tarlaz and Elgen grew tired of watching me fail, the shadows moving on to elsewhere in the academy.
Galen is lounging in the chair at my side now, and he smiles as he watches me.
“I swear, my magic is broken. I guess it’s lucky I have three shadow daddies on my side.” I wink at him, even though we both know they can’t help me during the games.
“Hmmm,” Galen muses, stroking his chin. “If you can create a shadow pathway, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to do this.”
“Wait, you know about the pathway?” My cheeks heat as I think about how I’d accidentally created a pathway to Thane’s room days ago.
Galen smirks, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Indeed. And if you can do that, then this shouldn’t be such a struggle.” His expression grows thoughtful for a moment before he says, “I have an idea.” Before I can respond, he disappears from view.
“Galen?” I hiss.
“Yes, treasure?” he purrs a moment later, popping back into view on the chair.