Chapter 15 #2
“You’ve been through worse,” Liam said. “We’ll figure out a way to deal with this, I promise.”
“If you say so,” Marina said, but she sounded far from convinced.
Liam flicked a glance at each of us in turn.
“Look, all of you. Things are different here than at Neverthorn, but we’ve got to make sure we keep our guard up – even when you think you can let it down.
Between Mallachtan, the Runecoats, and now Typhon .
. .” Liam grimaced. “Let’s just say it would behoove you all to treat this like the minefield it is. ”
Each of the others nodded. I just sighed. “I’ll try.”
Liam smiled and gave me a wink. “One good piece of news; I’ve been doing some research on the kraken coin, and I might have a lead.”
“It’s in Heathermoor. It’s actually somewhere in the main castle,” I said.
He startled. “Are you sure? I thought it was near Heathermoor, not inside the school itself.”
My pocket jiggled as if Calypso was trying to leap out. “Of course we’re sure, you incompetent boob! I told you all it was here; it’s not my fault you assumed otherwise. Typical male!”
I clapped my hand over my pocket, muffling a stream of verbal diarrhea from the siren. “I used my ‘finders keepers’ rune. It took me to a blank wall at a dead end but then fizzled away. I just gotta figure out how to get through.”
Liam tipped his head back. “Okay, okay. But a friend of mine put me onto a lead, a fellow by the name of Bellamy – Bell. He’s a collector of sorts, and a quirky, suspicious fella, but apparently, he’s the most knowledgeable guy around when it comes to coins and such.”
“What about us?” Marina asked. “If you two are working on the kraken coin –”
“Use this opportunity. Take it all in,” Liam said, his brown eyes snapping with fire.
“Learn as much as you can. Half of you will be working on one timetable, the other half, the opposite. I have a class on Quirks that you will all cycle through; it’s the only class that goes year-round.
Hopefully, now that we’re away from Neverthorn, you will all be able to access your full potential and we’ll be able to jar some of those remaining Quirks loose. ”
Who was left? Fable. Ross. Caterina. Only three left who hadn’t yet found their special ability. The sooner we dove into the curriculum here and got to work, the faster they’d come to find their Quirks . . . hopefully.
We needed every single advantage we could get if we had any hope of besting Nocta. Of finally stopping him.
The thought of his name made me remember the journal that was still burning a hole through my satchel. There could be clues in there that could help us stop him.
Fuck it. I’d tried every rune in the book. Maybe when I got back to my cabin, I’d try brute force. Worst case, it didn’t work, and I got to release some fear, confusion, and fury on the book.
Plan made, I smiled at my crew. “I don’t want to break up the band, but we should get back before we’re missed,” I said. “I’ll use the stones if we need a meet-up, or to pass messages between the group,” I said, as I returned their stones to my pouch.
One by one my friends slipped away, a hug, a smile, and then they were all gone.
And it was just me and Liam left.
The tension rose, no doubt both of us thinking about the kiss just a few hours earlier. I cleared my throat.
“I got caught in the hall alone with Mallachtan tonight,” I said. “He’s a real peach, that one.”
Liam’s concern was immediate, his hand going to my elbow. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. But he wanted to.”
His face darkened and he let out a low curse. “I’d love to rip his arms off and beat him to death with them, but I’m sure Thalienne has a plan to deal with him.”
We were walking toward my cabin, hugging the wall the same as Gary and I had done. “Thalienne seems to have a lot of plans. What do you think she and Bryony were talking about?”
His steps were light, his hand gentle as he guided me at the small of my back, around one of the real prickle bushes.
“I’ve been wondering that myself. If I were to guess, they probably are using some sort of magic that the Senate objects to.
The Fae are secretive, and for good reason.
They’ve sent people in to clip her wings before, and it didn’t work. ”
“Wait, she has wings?”
“Figure of speech. I don’t think we should concern ourselves with that too much because we won’t be here long enough to worry about it.
We need to stay focused on you all learning as much as you can, getting stronger.
Finding the kraken gold and seeing if we can find anything on the Grym Dunaras.
We have more than enough to keep us busy without worrying about Thalienne, Mallachtan, . . . or Typhon, for that matter.”
We walked in silence and I tried not to think about how in any other time or place it would feel a bit like a date. Walking in the moonlight, brushing a hand against his here and there. We stopped when we were close to the main gate, the halfway point to my own cabin.
“Is my ward still holding up? No more pain?”
I took stock of my body and then nodded, “I feel great. Thanks, Liam.”
“Good. I’d walk you home but . . .” His fingers found mine, tangled with them as he rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand.
“Not a good idea.” I smiled and squeezed his fingers back, the need to lean into him one more time pushing me to do something stupid. I stepped into him, and his lips found mine, a kiss, sweet, gentle. This was a reminder for me.
Liam was a good guy.
I needed a good guy. One I could depend on, now more than ever. One that didn’t lie. One that didn’t feel . . . inevitable, a pull I couldn’t fight.
One I chose.
By the time I stepped back into my cabin, I was trembling with exhaustion.
It had been a hell of a day – and only one class.
I should have been happy to have my own space to nestle into and decompress.
No noise to bother me . . . no idle teasing between Gary and Ross, no secret giggles between Ellie and Cat, no Fable, curled up next to me for a bedtime chat, no Marina rolling her eyes at the boys.
And all I could think about was how much it sucked.
How much I wished that they were all here. We were stronger together; we all knew that much. We’d come to Heathermoor specifically so we could stay that way.
But now that we were here, I felt more alone than I’d felt since before Neverthorn.