Chapter Twenty-Six
Bechora
Professor Thrackborne didn’t have any explanation for why I felt a surge of power when our hands touched.
He’d made some comment about needing to look into it and promptly left me to find my way back to my dorm alone.
I hadn’t seen him since. The scowly dragon hadn’t even bothered to show up for our sessions the past few days.
“You’re sure it wasn’t his dragon fire that gave you the boost?” Shadrie asked, for the hundredth time.
“Positive,” I replied.
“Dragon shifters are said to be pure magic; it could be that you needed direct contact with the magic for it to work,” Miles interjected, pushing his glasses up his nose.
The three of us were in the living area of my and Shadrie’s dorm room.
I’d filled Shadrie in on everything as soon as I’d returned from my trip to the woods with Thrackborne, and we’d been trying to figure out what happened since.
Miles had a stack of books from the library in front of him on the coffee table and was flipping through one while Shadrie paced and asked the same question a dozen different ways.
What I hadn’t shared yet was that the boost seemed to have dissipated, and in its place was a strange, growing draw to five males on campus.
I found my eyes searching for Zypher, Gabriel, Dante, Vallynn, and even the crabby Professor any time I left the dorm.
Zypher made sense. The growing attraction to him could be the mate bond he claimed existed between us.
Especially if what Thrackborne had said was true about the lack of magic in the human realm interfering with the ability to sense bonds.
The draw to the others left me feeling somewhat guilty, as if I were betraying Zypher with the unwanted attraction.
“B… You still with us?” Shadrie asked, snapping her fingers in front of my face. “Where did you go? You zoned out on us, and Miles was talking.”
“Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?”
“I was saying I remembered a wolf shifter who came to my coven for help. She’d been in our realm for a decade, but for whatever reason, she hadn’t been able to stay near a coven to keep her magic stores up.
Her well was so empty that our coven had to physically touch her while casting to help replenish her well. It’s rare, but it happens.”
“What about the pendant?” I asked, my hand moving on instinct to grab it where it was hidden beneath my shirt. “I’ve been able to summon fire since I put it on.”
“Easy,” Miles shrugged. “It’s obviously enchanted, and it is touching you. Same principle, though it has to be a decently strong enchantment if it’s still replenishing your well.”
“This would be so much simpler if Thrackborne hadn’t vanished, so I could demand some answers.” I groaned.
“Answers or…” Shadrie laughed, waggling her brows suggestively.
Miles shut the book he was skimming with a decisive snap.
“I think that’s my queue to leave. Why don’t we table this for the night and pick back up in the library tomorrow?
There’s a few more books I’d like to check out that could tell us something useful.
It might be helpful to narrow things down if you make a list of anything strange you’ve experienced since arriving here. ”
“You mean like being snatched through a portal, having strange dust blown in my face, and told I’m a fire mage?” I asked, raising a brow.
“Well, no,” Miles frowned.
“She’s being sarcastic,” Shadrie interjected. “You know he means after that, you know, like icing your bedroom, trapping yourself in there with a shield, that sort of stuff.”
Shadrie gave me a pointed look as Miles nodded.
“Fine. I’ll make a list,” I groaned.
“Perfect. Meet in the Library, let’s say, after lunch?” Miles asked as he gathered his books and moved toward the door.
“Sure, I’ll make sure B has your list at breakfast,” Shadrie smiled, seeing him out.
Once the door shut behind him, she turned to face me.
“I know you’re being bitchy because we don’t have answers, but you really gotta give Miles a break.
Your seer friend said you have to figure out what you are, right?
Well, Miles is the biggest bookworm I’ve ever seen.
If anyone can help us figure it out, it’s him. ”
I let out a heavy sigh. “I know, you’re right. I’ll apologize to him in the morning. He’s been nothing but kind since I got here, and I was being a grade-A bitch just now. He didn’t deserve that.”
“Good.” Shadrie grinned. “Now that we’ve settled that, I’ve got a hot date tonight, and you need to get some rest. Those dark circles under your eyes are so not in style.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped her off. Shadrie laughed as she strolled into her bedroom. It wasn’t my fault that my sleep was being disturbed nightly by dreams about Gabriel. Still, she was right about me needing rest, a fact I decided to act on as I made my way to my own bedroom for the night.
Gabriel prowled toward where I was sprawled out on a bed of black satin. My eyes raked over him, drinking in the lean muscle of his naked chest. Clapping broke through the otherwise quiet space, and I frowned.
“Wow, I knew he was a looker, but damned, B,” Geordie’s voice called out from somewhere to my right.
The scene before me slipped away like smoke, and I found myself sitting at the counter in the apartment I shared with Geordie. He stood on the other side of the counter, a grin splitting his face as he slid a cup of coffee toward me.
“Wha–”
“I don’t have a lot of time,” Geordie interrupted. “It took a lot of doing to find someone trustworthy to get me into your dream, but I can’t risk being here for very long. I have to keep moving so I’m not found. This realm isn’t safe for me.”
“What’s going on, Geordie? Why did you lie to me about… well, everything?” I demanded.
“I promise, I will eventually give you those answers, but for now, I need you to focus, Bechora. I can’t tell you certain things or else the future will change.
You need to discover what you are and how to use your magic.
Things are progressing faster than I originally foresaw.
All I can tell you without risking making it worse is to hurry.
Your friends can help, give them the list, and for the love of Selir, accept your bonds.
You’re going to need them.” Geordie’s words came out in a rush, and he started to flicker out of existence near the end.
“I’m out of time. Do what I said, B. I’ll come to you again when I can. ”
Before I could say a word, he was gone. Our apartment flickered, and a loud crash sounded from behind me.
I jolted upright, my eyes flying open as my hands flew to my pounding heart.
My entire body was soaked with sweat. I was in my bedroom at the academy, early morning light streaming in through the lone window.
Geordie’s words echoed in my mind as I forced myself from the bed just as my alarm went off.
I gathered my uniform and shower caddy and made my way to the showers while I mulled over what he’d said.
Part of me was angry at him, but another part recognized the underlying fear that had laced his words.
I tried to figure out what could have him so scared, as I washed the sweat from my body and hair, but still hadn’t managed to come up with an answer by the time I finished.
I reached out of the shower stall to grab my towel from the hook and came up empty. “What the fuck?” I hissed, poking my head out of the stall.
My towel was gone, along with my uniform. I hadn’t heard anyone else in the shower, and yet my things were missing, even the pajamas I’d worn. Sticking my head out farther, I looked around and didn’t see anyone.
“Shit,” I huffed. “Guess someone decided to fuck with me today.”
Taking a deep breath, I steeled my spine and stepped out of the shower stall. My head was on a swivel as I looked for the culprit with each step. It wasn’t until I made it out of the showers that I found them.
“Someone must be desperate for cash,” Daena sneered. “Although I thought strippers were paid to take their clothes off, not start in the nude.”
Her posse of mean girls snickered, one of them holding up a cell phone aimed in my direction.
“I thought you might want to see what a tight body looks like,” I shot back, refusing to let her get to me. It was obvious the bitch was behind my missing towel and clothes. “It’s not my fault your man can’t keep his eyes off me.”
“You stupid slut,” she screeched.
I forced myself to laugh, turning on my heel and striding toward my dorm with a little extra sway to my hips.
Daena called out insults, but I ignored them, keeping my head held high.
There was no way the photos or video, whichever her lackey had taken, weren’t going to be all over campus before the day was out, but I refused to let them shame me with their idiotic mean girl prank.
“Where are your clothes, and why are you dripping water everywhere?” Shadrie asked as soon as I slipped inside our dorm and shut the door.
“Apparently, Daena and her crew decided they needed my towel and clothes more than I did,” I shrugged, heading to my bedroom so I could dry off and get dressed.
“So, you just walked back like that?” Shadrie chuckled.
“Yup.”
“Oh, Selir, I would have paid out the nose to see her face when you just strutted back like it was nothing.”
“If you hurry, you probably still can,” I called over my shoulder as I stepped into my bedroom. Shadrie cackled and shook her head, causing me to smile. “By the way, how do people have cell phones here?”
“We copied human tech for some stuff, like computers and phones,” she called back from my bedroom door as I disappeared into my closet to dry and dress.
Shadrie was leaning on my door frame, dressed for the day, when I finally reemerged. “I’d ask how, but I’m not sure I’d understand it, so I’m going to ask where to get a phone instead.”
“I’ll contact my parents and see if they can send one. There’s not anywhere on campus to get one,” she replied. “I’m surprised you didn’t realize we had them before now.”
“It’s not like the human realm where everyone is always on them,” I shrugged. “I didn’t even know you had one.”
“Magic tends to come more naturally to us,” Shadrie shrugged. “Anyway, we need to get moving if we want breakfast before class. Grab your list for Miles!”
Shaking my head, I snagged the list I’d made the night before and followed Shadrie from our dorm.