Wicked Omen (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 1), page 6
They all looked at Beckett and Maze. Beckett sighed. “Because you can manifest things with your mind like nothing else I’ve ever seen. Being a creator is a rare and dangerous power and you’re doing it without even trying. Right now, your magic has a bit of a Band-Aid on it. When that gets ripped off, you’re going to be just as powerful as the rest of us sitting here, in some cases more so. We brought you here to learn how to use your powers.”
Maze grabbed a bagel and ripped it in half. “And to join us, of course.” He shoved a big chunk in his mouth.
Cross reached behind him and smacked Maze across the back of the head. A piece of his bagel flew out of his mouth and landed on the plate in front of him.
He rubbed at the back of his head. “What?”
“Look, you have a choice whether to join us or not. Either way you need to learn your powers. So will you stay?” Beckett met my eye as he waited for my answer. Was he holding his breath?
This was a lot to take in and not to mention to learn. Was I going to join them in their fight against whatever they were worried about? I didn’t know. But I had to learn my powers before I hurt someone, someone like Tilly. I leaned away from the table and looked at all of them. I wanted to know these people and what they were about. There was only one way to get this accomplished. “Okay, so who’s giving me a tour?”
Ophelia sat up straight and opened her mouth, yet Beckett cut her off before she could speak. “I will.”
Chapter 7
Astrid
A blaring phone rang in Beckett’s pocket. He quickly pulled it out and raised his eyebrows at it. He slid his finger to the side and held the phone to his ear. “Tuck? Everything all right?”
He glanced around at the queens sitting at the table with him. “Oh yeah, they’re all here. I’ve got them.”
He pressed his hand over the phone so this Tuck, whoever he was, couldn’t hear him. “They need you back. Something about finding a den of warlocks to hunt down.”
I raised my eyebrows at that. If I was a warlock, did that mean they’d hunt me down too someday? The queens rose to their feet, including Ophelia.
Serrina looked her up and down. “I thought you hated looking like Wednesday Addams.”
She shrugged. “What can I say, it breeds fear.”
Serrina threw her mane of hair over her shoulder and laughed. “Then we’ll be sure to send you in first.”
Cross curled his hand into a fist and pressed his lips into a hard line. “Any news on my father?”
Beckett relayed the question to Tuck on the other end of the phone. Beckett shook his head and gave Cross a dark look. “Dario continues to elude them. He’s leading the resistance and has a loyal set of followers.”
Beckett threw an orb on the other side of the room that expanded into a portal. He turned back to the phone. “They’re on their way.”
I rose to my feet with the rest of them. I didn’t know why I felt the need to stand, but I did. Serrina blew kisses to Logan and Maze. That red magic swirled around them and smacked them in the face. They both looked after her with longing as she walked through the portal. I couldn’t say any guy looked at me like that, not ever.
Tabi was next. She gave me a bright sunny smile and waved. “It was really nice to meet you. We’ll see you again soon, I hope.”
“Um, yeah. Absolutely.” Was that a lie? I didn’t know. This whole world was so new to me and I had no idea what I was doing in it, yet here I was making friends?
Ophelia sauntered past Cross and I swear the way he looked at her was like a starving man looking at the most delicious piece of cake. “Happy hunting.”
“I’m always happy when I’m hunting.” She winked at him over her shoulder.
“That’s my girl,” he teased.
She didn’t turn around. Instead, she shook her head. “Not your girl.” She disappeared into the portal.
“God, she gets under my skin.” He said it like it was a good thing.
Beckett hit the end button on his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. When Nova approached him, he smiled down at her. It was warm and easy between them. She reached out and placed her hand in the center of his chest. She was beautiful in a dark gothic way that boys would be drawn to and I bet she never threw up on her shoes in front of him. She went up on her toes and whispered something in his ear that made him chuckle. She leaned back only enough to look him in the eye.
“Next time I want a tour of the school too. I’ve always wondered what Warwick was like.”
He nodded down at her. “First chance we get I’ll give you a personal tour.”
Apparently, he was giving out personal tours left and right and I wasn’t jealous, not one little bit. He was an overbearing ass, who seemed to be nice to everyone else around him but me. She dropped her arm and walked into the portal, leaving me alone with the others. I turned on my heels. “Let’s get this party started.”
I stomped out to where the double doors were and waited for Beckett to catch up. When he came out behind me, he rubbed his hands together. “So eager to start your new life.”
I rolled my eyes. “More like eager to get this part over with.”
He reached for the handle and pulled the door open for me. “Welcome to Warwick.”
The sun beamed down on a thick forest that stretched as far as the eye could see . . . and nothing else. I stepped onto the front porch and sucked in a deep breath. The crisp air filled my lungs and I relished the feel of it. It was so different than the air in New York that was tinged with the smell of garbage, urine, and car exhaust. Fall leaves littered the porch and stairs. I wrapped my arms round myself as goose bumps broke out over my skin. I spun back around and collided with Beckett’s chest. I stepped to one side and he followed. I stepped the other way and we bumped into each other once again. “Are we dancing now?”
The muscle in his jaw ticked as he looked down at me. “Where are you going?”
“Oh, I need my scarf.” Before I could go back into the house to get it, it dropped onto my head. Fantastic, effing awesome. I was just sitting at a table full of girls who had total control of their powers while I was covering my head with my thick black scarf. I pulled it off and wound it around my neck.
“Better?”
No. “Yep, I’m ready.”
“This way.” He pointed to a gray brick paver path. “Anytime you venture out into the school grounds stay on this path or as close to it as possible.”
I looked into the forest. Deep within shadows moved and when I listened closely, I thought I heard growling and the snapping of branches. An oversized crow creature flew out from the treetops. Its wing span was at least seven feet and its body was pitch-black, not the oily black like the wings of Aidenuli, the angel I met last night. No, this creature looked like its wings were burnt in some places and completely dim in others. Within its razor-sharp teeth, it held a dead rat. Drops of blood dripped from its mouth. It tilted its head back and swallowed the rat whole the way a snake would. It turned its head to the side and looked down at me with one beady red eye. It let out an earth-shattering caw and I hesitated.
“What’s up with the forest?”
Beckett didn’t even look up at the bird. He just kept on walking. “Depends on who you ask. Some say it’s haunted. Others say night creatures live there. Either way, do not go in there alone.”
I felt like I was sitting in the great hall being told I would face most certain death if I strayed from the path. “Right, okay, got it, follow the yellow brick road.”
His lips twitched like he was fighting a smile. He turned away from me and started down the path to my right. Guess that means I’m following. I jogged up beside him and fell into step. We walked in tension filled silence. Electricity pulsed between us and I couldn’t put my finger on why. He was all smiles with the queens, yet when he looked at me . . . nothing.
“The students at the school are broken up into five different houses.” The walkway curved to the left around the forest. Benches lined it. Anyone who sat there had balls of steal because there was no way I was sitting next to that forest knowing anything could swoop out of nowhere and drop a dead animal on my head.
“Houses?”
“Each student goes through the sorting ceremony at the beginning of the summer before school starts. That way they have two months to recover. The ceremony determines what house they’ll be in for the duration of their education.” He motioned to two girls sitting on a bench. One held her hands out with her palms up while the other held her hands palms down over her friend’s. Though their skin wasn’t touching, greenish white smoke drifted between their hands and their eyes were a vacant milky white the way I’d seen Maze’s turn. Both of their heads were shaved, and they wore bomber jackets with a Pegasus drawn with thick black lines.
“They’re part of our psychic cast.”
“Did you just say two months to recover from a sorting ceremony?” It didn’t sound at all what I would picture one to be. But then again my idea of a cool sorting ceremony involved one with a talking hat.
Before he could answer me, the girls abruptly dropped their hands and faced us. Their skin was a sickly pale and their eyes were red-rimmed. In unison they smiled at Beckett. The girl on the right elbowed the girl on the left. “See, I told you the king would return.”
King? What the heck?
The girl on the left raised her chin to Beckett. “Indeed, he has.” She tilted her head at me. “But with another queen at his side? Or perhaps not.”
Queen? Me? Not in a thousand years.
He narrowed his eye at them. “I’m no king and she’s definitely not a queen.”
Ouch.
In unison they both cackled. “Blood doesn’t lie.”
“Ignore them.” He curled his hands into fists at his sides.
“What are they talking about? Are you a king?” If there were queens in the world of Evermore, then it stood to reason that there would be kings as well. I mean, I didn’t picture a king as a seventeen-year-old guy who lived in his old family home with a bunch of roommates, but to each their own.
“Don’t listen to them. Their visions cloud their reality.” He waved a dismissive hand. “Moving on.”
In the pit of my stomach I got the feeling he was hiding things from me. We’d only just met, yet I felt it deep down Beckett was not what he appeared to be. “But really, though, about the sorting ceremony . . .”
He shrugged it off. Each time I spoke he didn’t even look at me. Just kept his head up and walked at a clipped pace. “I’m going to try and get you out of it. Trust me, you’ll want me to.”
If I was supposed to be a part of Warwick and learn my warlock powers, then the sorting ceremony would be part of that. It was all or nothing. “Don’t you think if I’m going to be a part of this world then the sorting is something I should do?”
With an annoyed huff he stopped and faced me. “Is this a thing with you?”
“What?”
“You don’t seem to believe a word I say, yet I was born into this world and you only got here last night.” He put his hands on his hips.
“I didn’t mean to—”
There was a small burst of flame right next to him and a paper appeared within the flames. Once they went out, Beckett grabbed the paper, opened it up, and read it. He pressed his lips into a thin line then crumpled it into a ball and shoved it into his pocket. He moved beside me and put his hand to the small of my back. Heat bloomed in my stomach and traveled outward, spreading through my body. His clean fresh scent surrounded me and I felt myself taking a small step closer to him. What was I doing? This guy had been nothing but bossy and domineering to me, yet here I was sidling up to him. He was too hot, too tempting for my own good. I shook myself and stepped away. His hand dropped from me and I instantly regretted not staying there. “What was that?”
“Warlock version of a text message.” He motioned to the path and we continued. “Like I was saying, there are five casts. Each one has a separate house on campus. The warriors like Cross, the psychics like Maze, the movers like myself, the charmers like Logan, and of course the creators, which is you. You’re extremely rare, you know?”
“I still don’t get how I am like this.” I bit my bottom lip. “It must be from my biological mom.”
“Do you remember seeing her do anything weird or magical?” His face softened around his eyes and he didn’t look annoyed at me for once.
I shook my head. “She left when I was a baby and I haven’t seen her since.”
Sometimes even though I didn’t know her, I still got mad at her for leaving me. For the life of me I couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t like she knew me. But to be abandoned by her when I was a baby, maybe she knew I’d be like this? Maybe she didn’t want me because of this? I bit my bottom lip and looked away from him. I didn’t need him seeing how this affected me.
Beckett cleared his throat. “Sometimes when warlocks don’t learn their powers, it can drive them to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Especially the creators cast. Could you imagine just wanting something and it appearing out of nowhere if you didn’t know or understand what was happening to you?”
“You have a point.” I wasn’t ready to let go of that hurt just yet, but he did make me feel slightly better.
For the first time we moved in comfortable silence and for the first time since we met I wasn’t completely hating the situation he’d put me in. He waved his arm toward a building that sat on the side of the path to my left. It was a red brick building with golden trim and matching shutters. The widows gleamed and though it was getting close to winter, black dahlia flowers bloomed in all the garden beds. There was a circular emblem above the door made of dark metal. At the center of the circle was the head of the medusa complete with winding snakes. Her eyes were black, and her mouth hung open in a soundless scream. I’d never seen the Medusa depicted with fangs, but in this art she was. It was beautiful and eerie all at the same time.
The weirdest part about the house was it appeared to be completely empty. The windows were dark, and it was so pristine there was no way anyone lived there. It was creepy as hell, a perfectly kept house in the middle of haunted woods. The forest encroached on all sides of it. Those bare branches reached out like seeking hands toward the exterior but never touched it. The walls shimmered and changed from a bright red to black then yellow. I glanced around, trying to find anyone close enough to use magic to change the color of the house, but there was no one. Not a single student.
“That’s Lockwood House where the creators live. There’s only two of them, so the place is pretty much theirs. Plus, all the other warlocks prefer to steer clear of that house.”
“I can see why, but who’s changing the color of the house? Are they changing it from the inside?” I glanced around the side, hoping to see someone hiding in the woods. But there was no one, only darkness.
“The house decides. It’s very temperamental.”
My eyes widened and I glanced back over my shoulder. The house shifted and groaned like it was sucking in a deep breath and letting it out. Holy crap. I quickened my steps to catch up to him. “Wait, why are there only two of them?”
If I was part of the creator cast, then I had to know why there were so few. Did it have something to do with me and this magical bloodline I was supposedly from?
“Centuries ago an evil warlock by the name of Alataris destroyed them all.” He didn’t stop walking or even pause for a second.
He was so much taller than me I had to quicken my pace to keep up. “But why?”
Did his breath just hitch? Was he not looking me in the eye on purpose? He shrugged. “Who knows what mad men think.”
Was he lying or telling me the truth? He saved my friends, saved Tilly last night at the club. But I knew him for less than twenty-four hours. How could I trust exactly what he said when I didn’t even know him? More than half the time he acted like I was a pain in the ass, a responsibility he didn’t want to be loaded down with. In the back of my mind I wondered why he took me on this tour at all and not one of the others.
“Beckett, can I ask you an honest question and will you give me an honest answer?” We stopped in the middle of the sidewalk again. This time it seemed classes were letting out and more students flooded the walkways. Each one wore a bomber jacket of some sort. Some were blue, others were black, hunter green, and burnt orange. All of them had pictures of some kind of a creature on the back. Most of the students stared as they passed the two of us. Some even stopped and pointed at Beckett. They walked around him like he was untouchable.
He pretended not to notice, but I could tell by the stiff set of his shoulders he was uncomfortable with all the attention. “Sure.”
Another flaming message appeared next to his head. He grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket then waited for me to ask. I sucked in a breath. “Are warlocks evil?”
“Warlocks tend to deal with black magic.” It wasn’t a straight yes or no answer. So did that mean I was evil or not? He was so not being helpful at all.
I didn’t feel evil. I didn’t want to be evil. But if there was one thing I knew for sure, every villain was the hero of their own story. We started moving again and he pointed to another building that was a perfect cube with no widows. The panels were a sterile white that gleamed in the morning sun. The Pegasus emblem sat above the front door at the center of the building.
“That’s Castalia House or the psych ward, where all the psychic warlocks live. Let’s just say there’s a good reason why they don’t have windows. Don’t go in there unless I’m with you. Okay?”
“Um, yeah, okay.” As we walked farther around the bend, the school came into view as well as three more houses. Last night I’d seen the school from the front and today I got to see the back entrance. It wasn’t a large school, but it was beautiful. A set of ornate double doors sat at the center of it. Dark gray brick lined the H-shape.
Beckett pointed to his right. “That’s the west wing, and to the other side is the east wing. It’s not as big or as expansive as Evermore Academy, but it’s beautiful and you’ll learn a lot here.”
