51. Chapter 50
“Wow, so much happened in two weeks,” Maeve sighed as she fell back onto the couch.
Ivy and Ezra spent the past hour catching both her and Liam up on what they missed while they were gone.
It took multiple tries to get Maeve to move past how Ivy and Ezra were finally together, but they finally got to the news about the cipher.
“Still doesn’t give us much though. We need to find out who the Illusionists are and who’s leading it. ”
“Don’t suppose there is anything at the library?” Liam asked, pushing himself away from the kitchen counter to step closer into the living room.
Ivy shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”
“Something like that would probably be in the archives. I can try to get in there to see what I can find,” Maeve said.
“The first exam of the semester is in a few weeks.” Ezra tapped his hand against his bouncing knee. “We shouldn’t risk going below again, though. Now that we know you’re their target.”
“We can’t just…sit around.” She scoffed, rising from her spot next to Maeve on the couch.
“I’m not saying that’s what we do either,” he said, reaching his hand out for hers before she could start pacing.
His soft blue eyes bore into hers, as if they were begging her not to do anything reckless.
“We still don’t know how anyone is being taken.
Those disappearing from the exams, we can rule out as getting lost. But what about Callum?
Or the woman you saw on Halloween? There has to be a spell or something causing them to leave the party. ”
“Or be taken so easily,” Maeve said. “I walked past Callum a couple of times during the first week, and he didn’t look the type to go down without a fight. They’ve got be incapacitating them somehow.”
“There was... something in the glass she had,” Ivy said, trying to pull at the memory from that night.
Some parts were still clouded over from whatever Declan had done to her, but she recalled something catching her eye at the bottom of the empty cup.
“I could always poke around the lab the next time Liam and I are there to see if I can find anything.” Ivy pursed her lips as she thought to the inventory, but nothing stood out.
But if the ingredients were brought in from elsewhere, it wouldn’t be counted.
“If it’s a potion, they’re likely using something from there. ”
“Still feels like we’re missing something,” Liam muttered. “We have the pieces, except we’re missing what ties it all together.”
“We still got time,” Maeve said quietly.
“Any idea on how much?” She turned to Maeve, still holding Ezra’s hand.
“No.”
Ivy swallowed roughly as her heart hammered in her chest. She could have the entire semester until the Illusionists struck...or a week. She looked around the room, at her friends, at Ezra, trying to take everything in, not knowing when her last day would be.
“I’m sorry I don’t know more,” Maeve mumbled. “I tried to make myself have visions while I was gone, but there was nothing useful.”
“Don’t be sorry, you’re already doing so much to help,” Ivy said, holding back the tears threatening to surface. “We’ll make use of whatever time we have left.”
On Monday, she wandered to Desmorium Hall in Fates for her first Deadly Flora lecture.
She left too early, remembering what Silas had mentioned back at the Winter Ball about how Professor Walsh’s classes were difficult.
She wanted to be sure to get the first seat, but she arrived at the building almost thirty minutes early.
The limestone was by far the most worn on the outside.
Perhaps it was intentional, given its connection to the mortuary and cemetery.
Its intricate spires stretched into the sky, and stone gargoyles perched on the ledges.
Flying buttresses stretched out on the right side of the building over a courtyard where small groups of students gathered.
She stepped through the large black-stained doors and gaped as she glanced above her.
The ribs of the arched ceiling in the main entry were designed like real human ribs.
A chill settled over her as she ventured farther into the hall.
There were diagrams of various dissected magical creatures behind glass cases on the walls, and as in other school buildings, cabinets filled with student accomplishments, photos, and oddities.
Since she had time to kill, she strolled along them to peer inside.
She brought the picture of Gabriel at Arcania’s gates back with her, hoping she could find traces of him anywhere at the school.
As she rounded the corner, she stopped at one case with several old bones on display, an owl’s skull, and bouquets of withered flowers. There were also framed photographs of student groups. One in the back caught her eye—specifically, the man in the middle of it.
Gabriel.
She stepped closer to the glass. His red hair was slicked back, staring dead ahead, and his lips curled into a sneering smile that sent shivers down her spine. He wore all black. As did every other student in the photo.
“What the hell?” Her mind flashed back to the beginning of the year in Galraine Hall. He was there too. In the photo where the eyes were following her.
She stumbled back from the case, turning sharply on her heel. She needed to see it again. As she moved around the corner, she smacked head-on into something hard.
“Shit,” she muttered. Before she could fall backward, a pair of hands grabbed her waist, holding her tight to their body. Cold emanated from their grasp and pricked against her magic, and she latched onto them to secure herself.
Heat immediately rushed to her when she found it was Silas holding her.
The last time she saw him was when he insinuated to the dean that the three of them had all slept together the night of the party.
Well, technically he was in her dreams, too, where they would’ve slept together if her mind wasn’t an ass.
“Careful,” he said, his voice low and smooth. The words slid down her like melting ice. “I’d hate for you get hurt.”
“Thank you,” she said, finding her own voice. She tore her gaze away from his soft, pale face and to his chest…which she was still clutching onto. She pulled her hands back, and Silas let his drop slowly.
The corners of his lips turned up slightly. “Where are you off to in such a rush?”
She shook her head and shrugged. “I thought I was late for class. Got distracted by looking at this case.”
“We still have fifteen minutes,” he said before his dark eyes glanced over at the cabinet. “Did anything in particular distract you?” He leaned his shoulder back against the wall and stared directly at her. “Or were you lost in a daydream?”
She could see why Ezra liked him. Silas maneuvered around insinuation like a ballroom dancer gliding across the floor, with practiced ease. But something lingered in his darkness she couldn’t quite understand. She could read Ezra easily, but with Silas…it was like he was hiding in plain sight.
“This picture,” she said, pointing at it. He was in his third year at Arcania, so he must know more about the history than she or any of her friends would. “Do you know anything about it?”
He peered into the case for a moment, and he exhaled quietly. “Yes. That is a picture of the last known group of the Illusionists before they were banned in 1973.”
Her chest hollowed. Her brother was part of the Illusionists. Shit. She hadn’t told the others about her finding out she had a long-lost brother because she thought it was unrelated. Maybe he was one of the missing pieces.
“I take it you’ve heard of them,” Silas said.
“Only a little.” She turned her attention to him. “Why were they banned?”
He pushed himself away from the wall, stepping so close to her that the wood smoke and sea salt cologne he wore curled around her like smoke. “Blood magic.”
They need our blood.
She exhaled shakily. “You said the last known, meaning…?”
“That I think they’ve continued meeting?” His pale brows rose before he cocked his head to the side. “There are rumors.”
“Do you know where?” Ivy asked, searching his face as if it would provide the answers she needed. But he kept his face calm. “Can you take me there?”
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t take you to them.” He took a step back and turned down the hall toward the stairs. She rushed to catch up with him and pulled at his elbow to get him to glance back at her.
“Why not?”
“Because of him,” Silas said, his voice soft. “He wouldn’t want me to.”
“He wouldn’t be jealous if you were th—”
“I’m well aware,” he cut in firmly. “But he is protective. And given how much he cares for you, I suspect he’d do anything to keep you safe. Now come, otherwise we will be late for class. And you don't want to be on Walsh’s bad side on the first day.”
She clenched her jaw. Clearly, he knew something. If it was more about the rumor, she needed to know. Something in his voice felt final. Like that would be all he’d speak on the matter.
Instead of arguing, she followed him to the small lecture hall. Similar to the auditorium, there were a few half-circle rows of plush green seats with a small pull-up desk attached. Diagrams of flowers lined the walls, while fragments of bones in glass cases lay along the sides.
She sat close to the front, as usual in all her classes, so she could see everything in detail.
As she wrote out the date, January 7th, 1998, at the top of her paper, a tall, bone-thin man strolled into the classroom, wearing black woolen pants and a white button-down.
A black briefcase was clutched in his hands and, as he passed, Ivy caught the clasps were two silver skulls.
Creepy.