Secret Magic, page 6
part #1 of Nobledark Academy Series
What was happening to me?
His fingers curled against my jaw, stroking my face. His head came closer as I let my head fall back to look up at him.
Then his lips were on mine.
I closed my eyes and fell. Everything—my worry, my fear, my anger—it all disappeared as Silas’ lips moved across mine, hesitantly, questioning.
When I opened my lips, his became more demanding. My insides jangled with excitement. I wanted to get closer to him. The touch of his tongue tracing my lips sent shivers of desire racing through me. He was magnetic, and I couldn’t turn away from him anymore than I could stop myself from breathing.
His other hand went into my hair, his fingers curling against the base of my skull, bringing me into the cradle of his arms. My body pressed into his, feeling his hard, corded muscles under my hand, which had crept to his chest.
Reality ran into me like a brick wall. I couldn’t be doing this. I wasn’t just a witch, a water elemental. I was a siren, and part demon. I pushed myself away from him even as my body cried out in protest.
What if he could smell brimstone on me? My hand went to my mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Silas asked, his voice low and husky.
The timber of his voice sent shivers through me, and I ached to step back into his embrace. “I… I have to go,” I said. “I shouldn’t be out here,” I looked around as I backed up, and then I turned and ran down the long corridor.
“Wait!” I heard Silas call out behind me.
I didn’t stop, didn’t turn around, and didn’t slow down until I was back in my own room. It was all I could do not to slam the door shut. I leaned against the door, sliding down onto the floor.
What the hell was I thinking? If anything, I needed to stay away from anything demon related, and I sure didn’t need to be dragging someone as nice as Silas into my life.
While I knew that my parents and my friends were right—I was a witch, no matter what else I was—I was also a siren, and a demon. I’d been lucky that my parents were one hundred percent on board with whom I was, and that my friends hadn’t dropped me.
But I couldn’t drag anyone else into this.
I knew this, knew it for a fact.
Knowing the facts didn’t make the vision of Silas disappear once I crawled back into bed, however. I wanted to be with him, feel his hands and his mouth on me.
I pulled the pillow over my head, hoping to block out the images blooming to life in my treacherous mind.
The sunlight streaming in through my window made me turn toward the wall with a groan. I didn’t know how long I’d slept, but it hadn’t been well, given that my dreams were full of Silas Tomberle and huge flames of fire that flared up every time I got close to him. There had also been a booming voice in the background that reminded me of Marbys.
Talk about dreams sending a warning.
I sat up, rubbing at my face. A glance at the clock showed me that it was early, and I dragged myself to the bathroom. Maybe a long, hot shower would make this better. Thirty minutes later, I went back to my room, my skin pink. My eyes ached, and my head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. The shower could only help so much.
It took forever to get ready, and when I walked out, Jade and Thalia were waiting.
“Holy shit,” Jade said, looking me over. “What happened to you?”
“I didn’t sleep well,” I mumbled.
“You look it,” Thalia said.
“Thanks,” I rolled my eyes. “Can we go to breakfast? I might actually need coffee this morning.”
“Oh, you are bad,” Jade said.
Conversation went to the fire last night, and for a moment, I let myself tune out. I was thinking about coffee when I bumped into Thalia.
“Hey,” I said. Then I looked around.
We were standing in front of one of the windows looking out into the courtyard that had been on fire. How had we made it down here so quickly? I needed to get with it this morning.
“What did this?” Jade asked.
“Something that was really pissed off,” Thalia replied, shaking her head.
In the daylight, it looked even worse than it had last night. I smelled the acrid tang of brimstone, and my face went hot at the thought of Silas.
Focus. I couldn’t let that happen again, no matter how wonderful it had been.
“Demons,” I said, and could have cut my tongue out.
They both looked at me, their mouths falling open.
“You can tell?” Jade whispered.
“It’s the smell of brimstone,” I whispered back, feeing exposed and self-conscious.
“How do you—oh,” Thalia said, catching herself. “Well, that makes sense. But why?”
A nudge from Jade stopped her.
“Let’s go get you your coffee,” Jade said. Tucking her arm through mine, she towed me along, past the wreckage of the burned courtyard, and into the dining hall.
The level of noise seemed higher than normal. When we reached the place where we normally sat, I collapsed onto the bench. There were already cups and a carafe of coffee on the table, and I busied myself with making a cup. Normally, tea was my go to in the morning, but today, only coffee sounded good.
“So,” Thalia said. “What’s going on?”
I looked up to find her gazing steadily at me. Just as I was about to speak, a large form sat down next to me.
“Hey,” Silas said. “Mystery girl.” He smiled.
His eyes were even more green and striking than they’d been last night. His smile showed white, even teeth, and everything about him was absolutely… delicious. I felt the pull of him.
Goddess, he was going to be hard to resist.
“So you going to tell me your name? You’re safe,” Silas said, nodding at Thalia and Jade. “They both look like they could kick my ass, if you couldn’t bear to do the job yourself.” His grin widened.
“Why would I want to do that?” I asked, finding my voice.
“My point exactly. You wouldn’t. So we’re all good.” He nodded again as though some point were settled.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.
“We’re talking about you telling me who you are,” Silas said. “Don’t keep me in suspense. I’m dying over here.”
“You look it,” Jade said dryly.
“You might not be able to tell, but I’m withering by the minute,” Silas leaned in close to me.
I sighed. “Olivia Washington.”
“Olivia,” Silas said, leaning back against the table and sighing. “The name of my mystery goddess.” His hand came to his heart as his eyes met mine.
My face went warm again at the memory of his lips on mine and his body next to me.
Then Silas reached out and took my hand in his. He brought it to his lips and kissed it, his breath warm and enticing across my skin.
A shudder of desire raced through me.
“I’ll see you soon, Olivia Washington,” he said, his lips still moving against my hand.
As quickly as he’d sat down, he was gone, loping away in a manner that made me think of a lion, or a tiger. Some sort of wild creature. He was beautiful.
“Where did you ever meet Silas Tomberle?” Thalia asked.
“Oh, uh… I met him recently,” I said.
“And you didn’t tell him your name?” Jade asked, her eyebrow raised.
I shook my head, taking a sip of coffee. “No. I can’t get involved with anyone,” I leaned forward, whispering.
“Why not?” Jade asked.
“Are you kidding me?” I replied. “No one is going to want to deal with all my… stuff.”
“You don’t know that,” Thalia said.
“Besides, you don’t have to go blurting all your dirty laundry to everyone you want to kiss,” Jade said practically. “All I’m saying is don’t turn him down before he even asks.”
I glared at her and went back to my coffee. It wasn’t just the feelings that Silas stirred up in me. When he kissed me last night, in his arms was the only place I wanted to be. Once I got back to my room, I not only couldn’t stop thinking about him, but about Matty Pearce, and Caspian Silverwood.
My hormones and imagination were not helping in this situation at all. Not one little bit.
Two more cups of coffee, and I was ready to face the day, sort of. My Spells assignment was solid.
I’d been thinking about what Jade said, that I needed to be myself, and not worry about what I knew, because no one else knew.
The problem was that what I knew made me question who I was. That realization hit me like a bomb going off. Jade was right that no one else knew, but since I knew—it messed me all up.
“Don’t say no to something out of habit,” Jade said as we were all getting up.
“Yes, Mom,” I rolled my eyes at her.
“She’s right. You know that,” Thalia said.
“Don’t encourage her,” I said, and for the first time in ages, I laughed. “She’s going to be insufferable.”
“People only say that because I’m usually right.” Jade shrugged while a smile played around the corners of her lips. “It just takes people time to realize it. Until then, they call me things like ‘insufferable.’”
All of us laughed then, and I went to class feeling better than I had in a while. Which was good.
“Good morning,” Professor Talbot strode in, his robes flowing. The instructors here were a mix in how they dressed. Some wore clothes that wouldn’t make them stand out in the human world, and some looked like they’d stepped out of the pages of a novel. Professor Talbot liked to wear a mix of both, and today, he had a long robe over dress pants. “You’ve had nearly a week to prepare your defenses. So we will get right to it. Volunteers?”
My hand went up. Before I’d learned about my lineage, I was always ready to volunteer. I wanted to find the person I was before—because I was still that person, I hoped.
“Miss Washington,” Professor Talbot smiled. “Thank you for getting us started. I need another volunteer.” He looked around the classroom.
Matty Pearce’s hand shot up.
Chapter Nine
I blinked. Matty grinned at me from across the room.
“Excellent,” Professor Talbot said. “Stand, both of you.”
I got up. The students around me cleared out, moving toward the walls of the front and back of the room, leaving the middle of the classroom space for Matty and me. Professor Talbot didn’t have a separate practice area. He believed that conflict happened where it was most inconvenient, so he left the classroom and students to fend for themselves, although he always put things back together at the end of class. ‘Real world,’ he called it.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Professor Talbot said from off in one corner. He crossed his hands in front of himself and waited.
I studied Matty. Why did it have to be him? I didn’t want to — A bolt of dark blue shot across the room at me. I ducked as I sent a stunning spell toward where I’d see him. The bolt hit the wall behind me with a boom, sending a shower of plaster down around where it hit.
I peered between the legs of the desks, looking for where Matty stood. I could see his legs and it didn’t look like he was crouched down. A smile moved across my face. Good. He was overly confident. I liked that about him, but I’d make it work against him now.
Crawling on my hands and knees, I moved toward the back of the classroom, watching Matty’s legs. He was still standing. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to fall into the dreamscape. I looked at Matty’s thoughts. He was planning to hit me with a stunner, and then a second one, slightly different but still a stunner, once I stood up. He thought he’d hit me when I’d dropped down.
A smile crossed my face. I opened my eyes—his legs were still there, although they were moving back and forth a little like he was looking to see where I’d gone. Taking a breath, I thought about the spells I wanted to use. Then I leaped up, hands out.
Hot water poured from out of nowhere onto Matty’s head. He yelled something I couldn’t understand, his hands going to his face.
I shot another spell at him to confuse him.
His hands went out from his body. I halted the hot water spell—modified from a spell I’d found for creating a hot shower when you didn’t have access to one—and sent a blinding spell. When his hands went to his eyes once more, I used the last spell I’d planned. Invisible ropes went around his hands and feet, and Matty pitched forward, falling in-between the desks with a thud.
The classroom was silent. I hoped that I hadn’t gone too far.
Then Professor Talbot began to clap. “Well done, Miss Washington. Well done, indeed.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Will you please share with the class what spells you used, in the order you used them?” A muffled sound on the floor caused the professor to look down. “Oh, will you also please free Mr. Pearce?”
A quiet thread of laughter spread from the students who were along the wall.
I sent a release spell toward Matty, and after a moment, he got up.
“Nice,” Matty said, giving me a look full of appreciation.
My face flamed. That wasn’t what I expected.
“All right, Miss Washington. What did you do? And please, will you expand a bit on why you chose this set of spells? Everyone else, you might want to take notes,” he added.
There was a shuffle as the rest of the students returned to their seats.
I cleared my throat. “Well, I took the time to look into his mind through the dreamscape—”
“Why?” Professor Talbot interrupted.
“My assessment of Matty is that he’s a strong mage, and I know he’s better at his elemental magic than I am, since I only recently discovered my affinity for water,” I shrugged. “I decided to operate as though I was the mage at a disadvantage.” Not a stretch, these days. I could barely get out of my own way.
Professor Talbot nodded. “That was appropriate. The dreamscape is a tool that shouldn’t be ignored, if you are comfortable with it.”
“How did you conjure the hot water spell?” Matty asked.
“It’s a hot shower spell,” I said, my face heating once more as his interested gaze bore into me.
Matty burst out laughing.
“Did you modify it?”
I nodded. “Only a little.” Step by step, I outlined my process of planning. When I was done, Professor Talbot smiled. “This was an excellent example of using the skills you have, and by that, I mean the things you know you are good at. Miss Washington is comfortable with the dreamscape, and she crafted her plan of attack with that in mind, as well as with her lack of comfort with her elemental skills. This requires you to be honest about yourself and your skills. To do otherwise might get you or others killed. Well done, Miss Washington. Full marks.” And he turned toward the board at the front of the room.
Looking around, I could see other students smiling at me, but the one I honed in on was Matty. His grin was full, his wide lips curving. Goddess, those lips were a lethal weapon.
“Kick ass,” he mouthed at me. He held my gaze for a moment longer and then looked forward.
I stared down at my desk, not seeing my notes at all. Not only was Matty Pearce extremely attractive, and seemingly attracted to me, he didn’t mind that I’d bested him in front of the entire class.
That was as sexy as his smile.
As I pulled myself together, both from the turmoil that damn smile wrought on me, I also realized that something Jade had told me was right. When I was myself, and quit worrying about my big secret, I did fine. Better than fine, I thought, a smile creeping across my face. I’d kicked ass.
The smile stayed on my face all through class. When I gathered up my notebook, I felt someone come and stand next to me.
Matty.
“That was amazing,” he said.
For some reason, his words annoyed me. “Why?” I asked.
“Because no one takes this seriously. At least not in first year. You did. Made it look easy, too,” he said.
My annoyance eased. “Oh. Well, thank you.”
“What’s your next class?” he asked.
“Intention,” I said.
“I’ll walk with you, if you don’t mind?”
The heat was back. My whole body felt on fire standing this close to him. Goddess, he smelled good, too. “I don’t mind,” I said.
We talked about Spells, and Intention until I was nearly to my classroom.
“Can I see you over the weekend?” Matty asked, his face hopeful.
“I’d like that,” I said, feeling shy.
“Great. I’ll find you after breakfast on Saturday?”
“Okay. What are we going to do?”
“Surprise,” he said with that wide grin that made my toes tingle. “Later, Olivia!” With a last grin, he disappeared into the crowd of the students moving down the corridor.
I stood there so long watching him that several other students bumped into me, and I started. I made it into Intention just as the bell rang.
I had a date with Matty Pearce.
I couldn’t wait.
“You what?” Thalia whisper shouted at dinner.
I nodded. “He asked me out.”
“First Silas Tomberle comes looking for you, and then Matty Pearce asks you out,” Jade said. “If we weren’t friends, I’d be so jealous.”
“Who do you like better?” Thalia asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “That’s the problem.”
“It’s not a problem at all,” Jade said. “You’re not married. This isn’t the dark ages. You can go out with whoever you want.”
“Girl power,” Thalia added, grinning at Jade.
I laughed at both of them. It was a delicious thought. “Well, I have to figure out what to wear. He said it was a surprise.”
“You can look hot casual,” Jade said firmly. “We’ll help you.”
“That’s what we’re doing Friday night, then. Movies, junk food, and the perfect outfit,” Thalia said.
It sounded fantastic. My nerves settled a little. My friends wouldn’t let me go out looking bad.
