Chapter 2
Everything is different this time. This time, I don’t get to go alone with a driver and a magical car to take me to Bloodstone.
This time, a limo turns up, escorted by five other fancy cars filled with trained witches and their bonded.
I’m not left alone for a second, and I hate every moment of the endless trip.
We don’t stop, not even when night falls and there is the risk of the Mindless finding us.
I would have asked Lock about it, but he slept most of the trip, and his snoring has made me come to dread the upcoming room sharing we have to do.
The bridge didn’t fall when the limo drove over it and parked right outside the gates to Bloodstone Academy.
I stare up at the academy now, and it’s like I never left.
Gothic towers spread high above me, touching the heavy gray clouds that threaten to pour rain down on us.
I cast my eyes across the gloomy forest, the way the trees’ branches crawl over each other and mix with the feel of the castle.
I heard other students call this black and red castle depressing—I call it home.
I don’t think there will be a time I don’t close my eyes and wish to be back here… with my bonded.
Lock and I are greeted by his friends and various people on our way up the academy steps and to a balcony that overlooks the front of the academy and the sea beyond.
I walk to the edge of the balcony and glance up at the highest tower, a memory flashing into my mind.
Vale. He threw me over the edge because he was so mad that I bonded to him.
Is he going to do that this time? Probably.
Am I going to let him? Definitely not. Everything has changed now, and I can’t show a moment of weakness to anyone.
I know they are here; I can feel them, even without a bond.
My nails dig into the balcony bars as I overlook the choppy sea, the gray waves smacking into the red stone base of the island.
I clench the metal railing tighter, relishing the sting in my palms as Lock puts his hand on the middle of my back.
Thankfully, my long cloak is a good barrier, but I do not want him to touch me.
Ever. The desire to rip his hand off me is overwhelming.
I just wait, knowing what is going to happen.
One. Two… Lock grimaces and shuffles away, dropping his hand.
He looks so uncomfortable and pale…and I try to keep my smile away.
“Is everything okay with you?” I ask sweetly, pretending to care. Pretending it’s not my hex that is causing him pain.
“Yeah, just, uh, nothing.” He grunts and looks forward out at the bridge. “It will begin soon. You will want to see this.” No, I won’t. I don’t like death, and I don’t think I ever will. Especially not when these witches are innocent.
I lift my hood and look away, my eyes tracing the giant forest that is spread out for miles.
I didn’t see the truth last time, not right away, but I see it now.
The shifters can’t ever leave, and the witches treat them like slaves, like they are something that can be used and discarded in the war.
The academy binds them here, keeps them, traps them, enforces slavery into the war, and I have to do something about it.
Wait, I am going to do something about it.
Last year, and every year before it, I convinced myself I was working so hard for the witches and to win the war. Now…I am fighting for the shifters’ freedom and for the Umbral Authority to suffer. They are liars, and I will not fight for them.
I lift my chin and focus, feeling eyes watching me. The Umbral Authority must be watching, and thanks to the spell I cast before I came here, I can sense when someone is watching me now.
The wind whips through the trees in the forest, and it howls loudly.
I tilt my head back, hoping to see dragons flying across the sky.
But I don’t. It’s silent, and I miss seeing the flash of their scales, the scent of fire, and just them.
I pretend to be clueless when I spot witches lining up on the distant coastline. “What are they going to do? Swim?”
Lock laughs. “Swimming in these waters is a certain death. There are monsters worse than the Mindless in these depths.” He smiles at me.
“Don’t be scared. I will not let anything happen to my future bride.
You would have had to line up with them, but I’ve pulled some strings.
You can thank me later.” He winks at me.
I hardly doubt I’ll be thanking him for anything.
As I turn and watch, unable to do anything, I spot Winifred at the end of the bridge, her blonde hair glinting in the storm.
The rain begins to pour from the sky, and I send a prayer to the three-faced goddess for my friend.
I don’t know if she’s betrayed me, but she might have, with who her mother and brother are.
I don’t know if she’s in on it, but something tells me she’s not.
I need to find out, and I hope she wants something to do with me this year.
There is a stillness to the air, just before the bridge appears, and I beg her in my mind to run.
She runs. Fast. Her legs chop up the space across the bridge, her hair flowing behind her in the wind as she bounds across the bridge, and it collapses into the ocean behind her and the others.
Lock laughs as several people fall into the sea, and I bite down on my inner cheek.
I pretend to be shocked, like I didn’t know this was going to happen.
Lock sighs at me sympathetically, but my heart is racing as I watch Winifred.
She’s going faster and when she finally gets to the end, right where the border of the forest is, she collapses onto the stone.
My shoulders drop in relief. Lock is watching me too closely.
The rest of the surviving witches get across the bridge just in time, but at least a dozen witches just died.
Just like that. I jump when Lock wipes away a tear from my cheek. “You are so caring. It’s sweet.”
I shrug, and he tears his hand away from me, his face paling slightly.
I turn back to the group, who are adjusting to the academy and the forest. Some are throwing up; others are crying and wailing.
Wini is climbing to her feet, crossing her arms. “I’m glad my little sister made it.
She is the blonde one. You remember me telling you about her.
Winifred Venus.” Lock points at her. “And oh, yeah, look who else survived. I remember that friend of yours. What was his name? Peter?”
“Parker?” I breathe out his name in shock as I follow where Lock is pointing.
Sure enough, Parker is one of the witches throwing up at the edge of the group.
His red hair is hard to miss, all curls and madness, even hidden in his cloak hood from the pouring rain.
Parker has been my best friend since I moved in with Melody, and he kept me sane.
Parker and his sweet mother knew what Melody was doing to me, and they tried to help, tried to invite me over as often as they could.
Parker’s family didn’t have much money, and things were tight, but they always made room for me on the days I needed it.
Parker is the main reason Melody called me a whore because I was always at his house.
The joke’s on her though; he likes men. Why is he here?
Parker never aced the tests, never really cared for Bloodstone Academy, and he never applied.
“Yeah, that’s his name. I’d be jealous, but I remember you telling me about his boyfriend,” Lock carries on. “Isn’t it nice that he is here this year? A good friend for you.”
What game are they playing? Why would they bring him here?
Parker’s the only person I had as a friend as a kid.
The only one that bothered with me. Yes, I did get many beatings for being his friend, but it was always worth it.
I try to smile, try to do anything that’s not a complete grimace.
Parker is going to struggle here. He isn’t built for war, and he often joked that a flying fork could kill him.
His spell work is bad too. “I’m really glad he’s here.
” I am happy to see him, but not like this.
“Yes, it will be nice, as long as he doesn’t interrupt our time together.
” He walks away, and I know that was a threat.
Parker is a tool to keep me in line, just like Lock is to keep me distracted from my bonded.
Every year I was forced to forget, there was a plan from the Umbral Authority.
This year, they are playing dirty, but so am I.
I walk at Lock’s side through the haunted-looking castle, down the winding corridors and steep staircases, where I run my hands against the familiar black stone.
Even when everything is going wrong, even when this world’s a mess, I really do love this place.
The gothic architecture, the haunted look of every corridor and room, the dark walls, the dark green and red fabric rugs and carpets.
The way that every bit of it looks gloomy and uninviting.
It speaks to my soul. It helps that I’ve actually been coming here for three years. In some ways, it’s home to me.
Lock opens the door and I step through into the courtyard, with him following close behind me. A sense burns in my chest, and I know one of my bonded is here. “Let’s join the others.”
“You join the others. I’ll just be over here.” I make my way through the crowds of people, hearing Lock’s protest, but soon the group swallows me up. I need a moment away from him, and I need to see one of my bonded. Just for a second, just one look.