Chapter Eleven
ELEVEN
This is stupid! Stars, this is so incredibly stupid.
‘What am I doing?’ I scold myself beneath my breath as my fingernails wedge between the slit of the double doors to pry them open.
I’ve been here barely a day and already I’m sneaking through the shadows and no doubt risking my ass.
Corvin would be shaking his head at me and calling me a damn idiot right now if he could see me.
But what would a professor want with a student at this hour?
In his office, no less. There was an underlying message hidden within the words he spoke to Sebastian; I could feel it.
Which is why I’m out here trying to get into the Training Centre, while frantically looking over my shoulder at the darkening landscape behind me to ensure no one else is coming.
I’d watched from behind a tree as Sebastian and Professor Nicks went inside, then waited for a handful of minutes before I crept out and followed their path.
My breath hitches in my throat as the door opens slightly, and I pray they’re not right on the other side of it. I press the side of my head to it and listen, just in case.
Silence.
Perfect. I open the door just wide enough to slip in through the gap, using my back foot to stop the door from slamming closed behind me. I slowly ease the door shut. Only a whisper of a click permeates the air.
My breath expels from me in a quiet huff and I wipe at the sweat that’s started to gather on my forehead, then pause to take in the large, empty space.
Fortunately there’s no alarm or person waiting to catch me.
It’s dark, but I can still make out most of the shadows of the equipment.
The room seems bigger now that it’s not filled with a few dozen students grappling with each other on mats, their faces all looking like they want to bury my body out near the cliffs.
Or maybe just throw me right off. Whichever method works.
I stick to the shadows as much as I can as I tentatively pad further into the room.
Where could they have gone?
I squint through the darkness, silently cursing when I almost trip over a lone iron weight that’s been left discarded on the mat, unlike the other weights stacked over to my right on a rack.
I step over it and keep walking until I notice that one of the doors at the far end of the room has soft yellow light spilling from beneath it.
There.
I head toward it, only pausing when I make out two hushed voices coming from within. I recognise Sebastian’s voice immediately, and he sounds outraged.
Rather than standing directly against the door where my shadow might be spotted in the gap beneath it, I position myself just beyond the door’s reach, craning my head to listen.
‘This is bullshit, Nicks!’
My eyes widen.
‘You think I don’t know that? It’s out of my hands.’
The next response is muffled as someone moves about within the room.
‘So, there’s no way to know for sure?’ Sebastian asks.
There’s a pause. My heart is beating so loud I swear it’s on the outside of my chest. I look down just to check. It’s not.
‘No. Not at this stage,’ Nicks replies.
‘And the others? Have we got a list yet?’
Another muffled response.
‘Fucking traitors!’ With a loud curse, something crashes against the door.
I jump back. My hands cover my mouth, but the small yelp has already escaped and there’s nothing I can do to take it back.
Shit.
‘What was that?’ one of them asks.
Double shit.
I don’t freeze this time. I bolt. My heart lodges itself in my throat as I sprint for the exit and yank the door open.
I push my way out of the building and continue sprinting across the manicured lawn, pumping my arms and legs as hard as they can go, but then I hear it. The slam of a door behind me – the pounding of boots against the earth.
Fuck.
The Grand Hall looms in front of me like a gargantuan shadow.
My pace picks up as panic spears through me and I run faster.
I just need to get inside and find someplace I can hide.
Could I be quick enough to get into Malachite?
What will happen if I’m caught? I don’t look over my shoulder to see who it is.
I know it’s him. I can feel it – the weight of his gaze burning between my shoulder blades.
The skin at the back of my neck prickles with awareness.
I reach the Grand Hall, slamming my palms against the doors and pushing my way inside. I can’t help but wonder who Nicks and Sebastian were talking about. Traitors? Were they referring to someone within these walls? Or did it concern what lies beyond them, further north?
Stars, just the mere thought of the north sends a shiver crawling down my spine.
A vivid picture of the creatures my father once described to me plays across my mind.
Shadow walkers. Mindless beings, with twisted limbs and skin that stretches over bone, stained black by the shadows they emerge from.
Clawed hands that can rake through flesh like knives.
No one knows how many there are over there or how they’re made.
Only that every now and then, clusters of them will crawl through onto our side of Valmora and tear through our people.
It’s why our war camps are posted along the entirety of The Veil.
It’s why we’re here in this very academy.
To prepare for when The Veil eventually falls, because one day it will, and then and only then, will we finally know what we’re up against.
I shake the thought of the shadow walkers out of my head as I hear the Grand Hall doors slam, just as I reach the Malachite gate. I fumble for the stone in my pocket, my fingers shaking a little, but I’m too late.
‘Nocthare!’ he shouts.
I whirl around to find Sebastian storming toward me, boots thudding against stone like a war drum. My feet carry me back until I hit stone and can’t retreat any further. Sebastian’s green eyes are full of contempt as his wide frame crowds me against the wall beside the gate.
‘Did you really think you could run from me?’ he growls and it hits low in my stomach.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I lie, lifting my chin. I won’t cower under the weight of his gaze. So he can follow me, but I can’t do the same? Hypocrite.
His nostrils flare. ‘Don’t bullshit me. I saw you. Now what did you hear?’
‘That depends.’ I shrug. ‘How long have you been sneaking around with Professor Nicks? Hm? Does anyone else know about these secret meetings you have after dark?’
I don’t know why I’m riling him up about this. I’d told myself I was going to keep quiet until I knew more … but the look of panic in his eyes is priceless.
‘You have no idea what you’re talking about,’ he seethes, though there’s a spark of uncertainty in his eyes. ‘So keep your mouth shut.’
‘Or what?’ I challenge.
His eyes darken to the point where only a sliver of green on the outer ring of his iris is visible. ‘Or I’ll make your life a living hell.’
I’d laugh if I had the energy for it. ‘Too late for that, Zain. It already is one.’
‘It’s cute that you think this is hell. It proves just how naive you are. Now hurry up,’ he orders, walking past me.
It takes me a second to process what he’s saying, and when I do, the look I give him is one of disbelief.
‘I’m not going in there with you.’ I scoff.
‘I’d rather sleep out here on the floor.
’ Does he not remember the last time he ‘helped’ me through the gate?
Hell, my knees are still aching from the collision.
‘You’ll get inside, acolyte, or I’ll drag you in there myself.’ The deadly calm of his threat makes my legs shake a little.
‘Why do you care where I sleep at night?’
The scoff he lets out is full of contempt.
‘You could sleep on a pile of pig shit for all I care,’ he spits out, taking three long strides to stand right in front of me.
‘Don’t mistake this as me looking out for you.
I simply don’t trust you, and it would take less skin off my back knowing you’re in your room.
Then when someone dies around here, I know where to find you. ’
My teeth grind together so tightly I feel my temples pulse with pressure. ‘You’re an asshole!’
‘And you’re on my last nerve. Let’s go!’ Sebastian lunges, wrapping his arms around my torso, pinning my arms to my sides as he lifts me off the ground. My mouth barely has time to open and protest before he’s pulling us into the archway, a plume of fire lancing around our bodies to gain us entry.
My voice is ripped away from me for several seconds as the now-familiar pulling sensation of the gate slams into me.
But this time, I don’t feel like I’m going to be turned upside down and inside out because there are a pair of firm hands holding me against a hard body.
Keeping me still, keeping me grounded. And I hate it.
The second we’re on the other side of the door I push Sebastian off me, separating my body from the scorching heat of his. Stars, he’s like a furnace. He even smells like one. Smoke and embers.
Before I can think my hand rises and slaps him across the face. Hard. His head snaps to the side as the sound of the slap echoes throughout the room. ‘Don’t fucking touch me again, Zain!’ I curse, seething that he thinks he can just place his hands on me whenever he sees fit.
Sebastian’s laughter starts in his shoulders.
They shake silently until a cold dark chuckle reaches my ears.
His slowly turns his head back to face me and his eyes raise a shiver in me.
They’re molten. Fiery green, like the flames he sent bursting outward during the ceremony.
‘I remember when you used to look at me like all you wanted me to do was touch you.’ His head cocks, tauntingly.