Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Izzy
Although we all go through a few more days of classes, I can’t stop thinking about the portrait. Or about sleeping with Reid. Or about my kiss with Wilder. Hell, I’ve been going a little nuts with all the loose ends in my life.
But since I can’t figure out a solution to the changes in my relationships with the guys, I focus on the painting. Even though I’d be lying if I pretended heated thoughts weren’t filling my mind nearly every waking minute of the day and night.
On Friday night, the quietest night in the library on any campus--even one for sociopathic supernatural students--the five of us hide in the library. We crouch together behind shelves in the unused Lit section; the students here aren’t really reading a lot of Dickens and Austen.
It’s weird to be back here in a library at midnight again, hiding again, but now I don’t feel scared...well, except for the fear of getting caught.
With the guys around me, I feel safe.
I don’t think that it’s because we’re gods now. I think I feel this way because the five of us have always belonged together. That has to be the reason we all became gods that night. It’s the only possibility that makes sense.
We wait until the library doors close for the night at midnight and all the lights but the emergency lights go off. Then we wait a little longer, tracking the movements of a lone guard as he moves through the library.
I’m surprised when I feel a hand rest softly on my thigh in the dark. Without looking, I know it’s Reid. His touch is strong, possessive, and he inches that hand of his slowly higher and higher up my inner thigh.
My heart races. Desire uncurls inside of me.
If we were alone right now, I have no doubt I’d be in his lap, exploring a new position with him. Seeing if our second time would be as good as the first time. But then, I’ve been going crazy since that day. Trying to hide the sexual tension that raged between us, so the others wouldn’t know.
But then, to my shock, I feel another hand on my other thigh. This time the touch is more hesitant, as if waiting to see how I’ll react.
I turn a little, and I catch the glint of Wilder’s eyes in the dark, staring at me. What does he want me to do right now? Or to say? We’re surrounded by the others.
Still, I feel like he’s waiting for something.
“I’ve always thought the library was boring,” Aiden whispers from across from me. “But this is a new low.”
Van chuckles softly. “You’d be surprised how much fun you can have in the dark.”
“Not with four guys and one woman,” Aiden mutters.
“Says who?” Van asks, and the question makes every muscle in my body tighten.
To my shock, Reid’s hand travels a little higher, leaving me panting. “Not funny,” I say, my words coming out breathless.
“I don’t think he was joking,” Reid says, a sexy note to his voice.
Everyone is quiet for a minute before Van speaks. “Have any of you guys been with more than one person at a time?”
Silence.
Van laughs softly. “I guess that’s a no.”
My cheeks feel hot. “Are we really talking about this right now?”
“Well,” Van draws out the word. “I guess I’m just wondering if it’s off the table.”
I swear I feel every head turn in my direction.
“I--I don’t know,” I find myself stuttering.
“That’s not a no,” Van says, his voice smug.
“How about we stop talking about this?” Reid doesn’t sound happy.
“Says the guy who clearly did something with Izzy.”
I stiffen, and the air seems to go out of the room.
Wilder’s hand leaves my thigh. “Something happened between you two?”
I can’t form the words.
“This isn’t the time to talk about this,” Reid answers for me.
“Well, I think--” Wilder begins.
Aiden cuts him off. “At least it wasn’t the fucking vampire.”
After a second, I see Van’s head shake from side to side. “As long as the rest of us still have a chance, I guess we don’t need to know everything.” He pauses. “Do we still have a chance, Izzy?”
“Of course!” I say, the words falling easily from my lips.
A minute later, Wilder’s hand returns to my thigh. “I guess that’s enough…for now.”
When the guard exits the library and begins to circle outside, Van’s voice changes. “I think it’s now or never.”
We rise and head to the door that Mr. Time had passed through.
I’m trying like hell to not think about the embarrassing conversation that took place, but it shadows me with every step I take.
All the guys basically just admitted to having an interest in me.
It was strangely a relief to know my feelings weren’t one-sided.
But also, some of the guilt I’d been feeling over the last few days fades too.
The guys know about me and Reid, and apparently, they don’t mind.
So, take deep breaths, think about it later, and focus on the painting and knowing the truth about your mom and sister, for now.
Briefly, I think about the microfilm I still had hidden in the strange book in my room.
I hadn’t had time to look at it since that night so long ago, but I vowed that I would as soon as I had a chance.
Wilder flips open the notebook where he’d dashed down the spell, then reads the words out loud.
His voice sounds soft and smooth and filled with power, as if he’s done magic spells every day of his life.
The words ring out, mystical and ominous in the dark library, and a shiver runs down my spine.
I almost expect to hear hoof beats again.
But nothing happens.
Van snorts. “Maybe you’re the wrong person to read anything about a pure heart.”
“You try then,” Wilder holds the notebook out to him.
“Oh please. I’m worse than you. We all know it.” Van jerked his chin toward me. “Izzy.”
If they knew what I thought about all of them, they wouldn’t think I was so pure-hearted.
“Maybe we wrote the words down wrong,” I say. But I try anyway.
The door materializes in front of us.
“Cheese and crackers,” Reid says, his voice shocked.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Aiden groans. “You’re a god now. You can’t be such a hopeless geek.”
Reid shoots Aiden a look. “Whatever. Mom hates it when we swear.”
“And I hate it when you act like your five. Just fucking swear,” Aiden shoots back.
Reid ignores him, but his jaw is tight now. “I just didn’t believe that it was real until seeing it…. Wow. Magic takes some getting used to.”
“You thought we were making it up? Thanks for the faith.” Wilder smacks his shoulder as he passes by, but he smiles, not looking particularly abashed. Wilder’s got that jock grin, all easy confidence. “Jeez. You’d think you’d believe Izzy, at least.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Reid looks frustrated. I know he doesn’t mean anything and the guys’ teasing gets to him sometimes--it always has--so I grab his hand and squeeze it. He smiles down at me.
Of course Wilder would be the first to go in.
The five of us walk into an enormous warehouse space. I blink, turning back to the door. This space didn’t make any sense. We’d be able to see the walls extending from outside the library.
“Magic,” Van says, rubbing his hand over his face. “I hope I’ll get used to that one day. Hopefully. If we live that long.”
“You’re always such an optimist,” Wilder says.
“Optimism is for people who are the star player on a team as bad as ours was,” Van mutters.
It has the feel of an old, familiar argument. I’d missed a lot, but the two of them seemed as close as ever—in their own twisted way.
“Hello?” Reid calls. His voice seemed to echo in the vast space.
Aiden slugs him in the arm. “What are you doing?”
“Better to find out if we’re alone or have company now,” Reid says pointedly. “We can still talk our way out now. It’ll be harder if we’re walking out with a painting.”
“You’ve got a point,” Wilder admits.
Reid slugs Aiden in the arm. Aiden purses his lips in a half-smile, pretending that it didn’t hurt, and then when Reid turns his back, he rubs his shoulder.
It’s such a familiar scene that it pings my nostalgia, and I run my hand up Aiden’s arm.
His muscles are hard and toned under my fingertips, and his breath hitches in his chest--is that from me?
He catches my hand in his, just for a second, and his half-smile flickers into something real.
Then his smile--and the touch--are gone in an instant.
“Come on, children,” Van says, sweeping forward. “We seem to be alone. At least, no one has come to intercept us.”
“Spread out and search. Let’s find that portrait and get out of here,” Wilder orders.
“If it’s even real,” Van says.
“You think the academy’s teaching us about stuff that isn’t even true?” Wilder asks skeptically.
“These lovely people mess with our heads? Impossible,” Van returns, each word laced with sarcasm.
I walk down rows of carefully packaged relics and objects I’d never seen before. There are elaborate pixie houses with little towers no bigger than a Pringles can and enormous weapons that no man could ever wield. Ice giant weapons, apparently. I’ve heard a lot about them lately.
“Hey, guys,” Reid calls.
The four of us rush to his side. He points down a hallway. The metal plate tacked to one side says Art/History.
“Helpful,” Reid mutters.
Down the hallway, past the statues that line the hall, I can catch glimpses of pictures hanging on the walls.
“Shit, it’s like an art gallery,” Wilder says.
We’d been hoping the portrait would be wrapped in bubble wrap and stored like so many of the relics. Maybe it is. But suddenly, I don’t think it’s likely.
“Someone’s going to notice the portrait is missing.” Van runs his hand over his hair. “Maybe we just use the portrait and leave it here?”
“Good idea,” I say. “We probably shouldn’t steal from our reform school. I don’t think there’s anywhere else to go.”
It’s a joke, but once I’ve said the words, they sit uneasily. There is nowhere else to go.
I’ve been so desperate to find out the truth about my mother and my sister that I’ve put all these guys in danger. Regret and guilt hit me. I’ve been so selfish.