Wicked Omen (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 1), page 9
Hey Til, don’t stress out. I forgot my phone on Dad’s jet. What the hell was I saying? Just got a new one. Made a quick jump to go shopping with Lucy. You know he wants us to bond.
I hit send and instantly regretted it. Three little dots showed up. You’re not telling me something and I’m gonna find out what it is. You don’t just disappear for hours with no contact.
Dude, nothing is going on. I hit send.
I wanted to write “I’m a warlock and I’ve been shipped off to some crazy school that you can’t come to. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again.”
Liar.
“Ugh, she always knows.” Everything is cool, promise. Just running out now. Phone’s about to die G2G.
I hated lying to her, I hated it all. I threw my phone on my bed as it continued to vibrate over and over again with her messages. But I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t talk to her without lying to her, and I couldn’t tell her the truth. What choice did I have but to not answer? I had to keep this secret to keep her safe. Just as I was about to crawl back onto my bed, a pebble smacked into my widow.
I walked over to find Leo standing next to a girl who was not even close to being as tall as Ophelia, which was saying a lot because Ophelia was barely five feet tall. He waved for me to come out. I grabbed the window and hauled it up. “You guys ready?” I whispered down to him.
“I don’t know how you plan on getting down here.” He looked up and down the path for other students. “But you better hurry up before he catches you.”
“I’ll shimmy down the drain pipe if I have to.” I swung my leg out of the window, then ducked my head. For some reason I was feeling confident about crawling out of a second story window or maybe just defiant. I was halfway out when my foot slipped on the siding of the house and I nearly plummeted. My leg was the only thing hooked onto my windowsill. It pinched the skin on the back of my leg. I leaned forward and grabbed back onto the sill and held myself up.
“If you fall out of a window and die, Beckett is gonna kill you,” Leo called up to me.
“Just come over here and catch me.” My fingers were turning red and started to tingle.
“Catch you? What you think this is, a cheerleading pyramid?”
“Leo, come on. I’m gonna break my neck.” I was barely hanging on as it was.
He moved to stand beneath me. “So instead of just you breaking your neck we both will.”
I placed my other foot back against the siding to relieve some of the pressure from my fingers. All at once my fingers slipped and my leg unhooked from ledge, my arms pinwheels and I fell backward. My stomach rose up into my throat as I dropped. Smoke billowed from my hands and I fell onto a net. No, not a net, a leaf. A huge leaf the size of a hammock. I looked up into a huge tree branch that dipped below the oversized leaf. It was the shape of ivy, with a waxy sheen that held the reflection of the moon.
I sat up and looked over the edge of the leaf down at Leo. “Is this normal?”
He gaped at me with his mouth hanging wide-open. “Not without a spell. Shit just doesn’t appear out of nowhere.”
I was still at least ten feet off the ground. “Any suggestions on how to get down?”
“I would say I’d catch you, but we see how well that worked out.”
I scooted myself toward the point of the leaf and let my legs hang over. The leaf dipped lower until my feet touched the ground. When I stood up straight, it rose back into place ten feet off the ground. It swayed and moved like it was a living thing. I dusted my hands off and ran them down the outside of my jacket. I looked down at my palms. “Huge leaf, sure you work now. Where were you when I need to get rid of rainbow rat?”
Leo walked over to me all the while chuckling. “Don’t worry about it, sweet pea. When we all first get our magic, it comes out when our emotions run high or if we’re terrified.”
I sucked in a deep breath, trying not to be embarrassed. Leo threw his arm over my shoulder and hugged me close to his side. “Come on, let’s get to the portal. The party is going to start soon.”
The smaller girl he’d brought along strolled up to my side. “Hi, I’m Cassidy.”
“Hey. I’m Astrid.” I gave her a tentative wave.
She was even smaller when we stood face-to-face. Actually, she barely came up to my shoulder. Her hair was pin straight and fell to just below her chin. She had a wide, round face and an inviting smile. “Leo said you pushed him to come out tonight.”
“Well, truthfully I’m not really a party girl, but tell me I can’t do something and I’m definitely going to do it.”
“I knew I was going to like you.” She stepped in front of Leo and me, and my eye locked on the back of her jacket. In the center of a circle was a three-headed hydra. Each of the heads were snarling with razor-sharp teeth.
“You’re in Malback House?” I didn’t want to sound so surprised, but I honestly was. I guess I always pictured warriors as bigger.
“Yep, that’s home.” She spun around, walking backward to face me. “I know you can’t believe it because I’m so short.”
And tiny. But I didn’t say that out loud. “Yeah, I though the warrior cast would be all huge people with muscles for days. No offense.”
“None taken. But don’t be fooled. I’m from the Philippines. My grandma would cut a bitch for insulting her food. She was in Malback House too and believe it or not she’s shorter than me and one of the best war strategists around.”
“That is so awesome.” I didn’t know anything about my grandmother or my heritage. I mean, I didn’t even know I had warlock blood until last night. A high-pitched cawing came from within the haunted woods and I hesitated on the path. The wind kicked up, making the eerie rustling of leaves and sticks join in with the wild animal sounds. I pulled my jacket in tighter around me. When I gazed into the woods, red eyes looked back at me.
“I heard you met Cross Malback. Is he as badass in person as the stories about him are?”
Her words drew my attention from the woods back to Cassidy. I thought back to Cross and how he looked like he owned everything around him. I always got the feeling he could kill someone in a second. I mean, he challenged Ophelia any chance he could and that girl was a straight up killer in a cute package. “Yeah, he really is. So is he related to the guy who founded Malback House?”
They both stopped mid-step.
I spun around to face them. “What? What’d I say?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you?” Leo tightened his arm around me. When I gave him a blank look, he signed. “He’s the Malback heir. That house you’re living in is full of the house heirs. It’s freaking scandalous.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the first time in centuries that the entire council has been together and rumor has it the new generation wants to go in a direction the ancestors would’ve killed them all for.” Cassidy pointed to a dirt path that led into the woods. “This way.”
“Don’t any of them have parents? I mean, they all can’t be orphans.” I followed Cassidy down the dirt path, knowing Beckett said never to go in there alone, no matter what. In my head the fact I wasn’t a lone justified me being here.
Leo scoffed. “Please, if those dudes aren’t on the run then they’re dead. Which means everything and I mean everything reverts back to the heirs. Can you say loaded?”
I knew what it was like to have plenty of money, so that didn’t interest me as much as the rest of it did. “Why are they running?”
Cassidy spun in a circle and did a dramatic bow. “Queen Zinnia, may she always reign, has scared those old bags shitless. She’s the most powerful witch to walk the earth in centuries. So powerful that she killed her father and took his crown for herself. Which makes her my personal hero.”
I’d only heard bits and pieces about Zinnia and her father. I thought witches were the good guys with their white magic and all that. But good guys didn’t go around killing their parents. “She sounds scary to me.”
Leo reached past my face and pulled a branch up out of my way. “Well, your boy Beckett backs her up one hundred percent.”
“He’s not my boy. The guy can barely stand me.” I ducked under the branch and entered into a small clearing. At the center of it stood a shimmering doorway. When I looked through it, there was a perfect view of the beach and a huge bonfire.
“Yeah, okay.” Leo walked past me toward portal. He paused just before he went through. “Are you sure about this?”
“I mean I hate portaling, but yeah, I’m sure.” I waved for him to go first.
He shrugged and stepped through. I hesitated.
Cassidy waited behind me. “Something wrong?”
“Last time I portaled I puked on my shoes.” I wrinkled my nose at the thought.
“All portals are different, so this one might be smooth as silk.” Cassidy gave me a little push forward. “Better than hanging out in the haunted forest.”
She had a point. Even now I felt eyes watching me. I stepped through and my body jerked away from the school. Take that, Beckett bossy pants.
Chapter 11
Astrid
Walking through this portal was like wading through a warm bath. There was nothing turbulent about it. I wasn’t pulled apart and put back together like I was with Beckett’s portal. My boots sank into the sand as I moved to stand next to Leo. A cool breeze whipped off the ocean and blew my hair back from my face. On either side of us were steep cliff faces that encased us in a U-shape up against the ocean. Large boulders extended out into the ocean. The water was dark and rough. Each time it crashed over the beach it sent up a fine spray that drifted on the wind and caught in my hair.
At the center of it all was a towering bonfire. The flames reached toward the sky, flicking against the bright half-moon. The sky was so dark and clear I could see every star. Back home in New York I never saw the stars. Wispy clouds drifted past, giving me peeks of the bright moon. Loud music blared and students from Warwick danced around the fire. They were all laughing and smiling like normal teenagers. And then it happened. Magic like I’d never seen before rose around the crowd like someone had flipped a smoke machine on. The people who were dancing hovered above the ground, dancing on a cloud. A boy and girl stood side by side, each of them rocking their bomber jackets with a picture of the Griffin on the back of it. That fierce hawk-like creature represented the movers and boy were they moving people.
As the beat of the music increased, they raised and lowered their hands and the students around the bonfire looked like they were bouncing on trampolines. Across the way, a line of students stood waiting with their hands behind their backs. Their army stance and serious demeanor told me they were from Malback House. Cassidy strolled up beside me. “Gimme a sec.”
She marched across the gathering of people dancing around the fire and through the groups of girls laughing and whispering to each other. Passed a group of boys drinking different potions that made one blow fire from his mouth and another shoot bubbles from his nose. Red plastic cups floated through the air to waiting hands. Another girl sailed a fallen tree to right next to the fire. Cassidy ducked under it a moment before the girl dropped it into place and people rushed to sit on it. She approached the waiting troops and though I couldn’t hear what she said, she paced back and forth in front of them like a general. They all listened to her every word and then when she waved her hand they scattered in all different directions, following her orders.
She is tiny, but she is mighty!
“Kind of great, isn’t it?” Leo smiled down at me.
It was better than great. We were under the stars on a beautiful beach hanging out. Not in some overcrowded club. A chill ran over my skin and I huddled into my jacket. “Are we even still in the country? I’ve never seen cliffs like this in the States.”
Leo wrapped his hand around mine. “Who cares, let’s go dance by the fire. You’ll warm up.”
I wasn’t much for dancing, but tonight under the blue light of the moon I wanted to dance. I wanted to let my hair down and spin in circles around the flames. Something inside of me rose to the occasion. I couldn’t tell if it was my magic or the ancestors in my blood. All through history I’d seen pictures of witches dancing in the woods, at night around a fire. Now I understood why. This was beyond where I needed to be. I tightened my grip around Leo’s hand and let him pull me out toward the fire.
Kitty stepped into my path. “I’m pretty sure I said just you.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t care what you said.” I shoved past her until I was so close to the fire the heat seeped into my skin and suddenly on a cold November night, I was too warm for even my jacket. I spun around to face Leo. He swayed to the music and I instantly joined him. Tilly would’ve loved this. A bunch of crazy teenagers going nuts playing with their magic on a deserted beach. Nothing could ruin my first night at my new school where I just might actually belong. No, absolutely nothing could ruin this and then it happened. There was a flash of bright blue light and out walked Beckett along with Cross, Logan, and Maze.
Everyone at the party sucked in a collective breath and I swear groups of girls started to fan themselves over these guys. The crowd parted and when his turbulent ocean eyes locked onto mine, I felt myself being drawn to him. Whispers of the council, the heirs, the big five surrounded me. Everyone was in awe of them. Everyone but me.
“Girl, you’re in trouble.” Leo stopped dancing even though the music was still blaring.
“You know what the best part about this is?”
He shook his head. “What?”
“He’s not in charge of me.” I grabbed Leo’s hand and pulled him to the other side of the fire.
He allowed me to drag him along. “If I had a guy that fine following me around, shit. I’d let him be in charge of whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. I mean, he is hot, with his toned muscles and tan skin and blond hair and full li—”
“Yeah, and that’s exactly the problem. He’s fine and he knows it. He just expects everyone to listen to him with no questions asked.” I forced myself to move to the music and ignore him, no matter how freaking delicious he looked. Nope I was not going to look at him, not once, not even if I could feel his heated gaze on me . . . right . . . this . . . second.
Chapter 12
Beckett
I told her to stay, and she went. I bet if I had told her to go, she would’ve locked herself in her room for the rest of the night. Infuriating female! Everything about Astrid frustrated the hell out of me. I wanted her to be the fifth guy for our bloodlines and she was a girl. A stubborn, tempting, beautiful, brilliant girl who threw me for a loop at every turn.
Maze’s low chuckle rumbled in my ear. “I haven’t been to one of these in years.”
“We’re not staying.” I took a step toward Astrid when Logan blocked my path.
“Just hear me out on this, dude. What harm could it do to let her stay for a little longer? The four of us are here. Half the school is here and from what you told me, her powers aren’t that far off from being great. If she’s decided to stay, then maybe she should get a taste of how good it can be.”
Logan and I had been friends since childhood. If anyone understood what it was like to grow up on the school grounds, it was him. His father had been a faithful friend to my father, best friends in fact. Even on the night that’d forced my father to flee and never be heard of again Logan’s father defended him to the bitter end. It was a night I hated my father for and had caused some distance between Logan and me. I sucked in a deep breath. After dealing with the queens for so long I thought I’d be prepared for this . . . I thought wrong. “Fine, we stay for ten minutes. No more than that.”
A smile spread across his face. “Excellent.” He held his hand out and a red plastic cup flew into it. A moment later three girls walked up to him and ducked under his arms. “In that case, I think I’ll enjoy myself for the ten minutes I have.”
I took a step in Astrid’s direction and paused to spin back around toward Logan. “Did you just charm me?”
He shrugged and walked away with his little entourage. Cross strolled to my side while shaking his head. “Some things never change.”
“I don’t remember him having a big man on campus routine.” Even though now he stood in the middle of a group of students and was eating up being the center of attention.
“That’s because you had other shit on your plate.” Cross nodded toward where Astrid danced with Leo Ravenwood. “What do you make of our fifth? Do you really think she’s the lost Lockwood?”
Maze leaned in. “My visions don’t lie.” He didn’t stay to talk with us. Instead, he marched past everyone out into the darkness. I swear he spent more time in his head than with anyone else.
“I think she’s the one. I mean, you saw her power at the club. It was impressive to say the least. And we’ve seen some shit over the past few months.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
Cross nodded. “We really have seen a lot being with the witch court. But do you honestly think we can pull off what they need us to?”
I wanted to give him a definite yes, but we were up against some steep odds. Odds I wasn’t sure of. If Astrid kept fighting me at every turn, I wasn’t sure we’d even get close to what we needed to happen. She was new to this world and absolute power was absolutely seductive. Our success rested on the five of us coming together. It was impossible to know when one of us was such a wild card.
Just then Kitty sauntered by me and waved. Though it was November and freezing, she wore a micro miniskirt that was even too short for my taste. “Hi, Beckett.”
I nodded in her direction then turned back to Cross. “Why can’t Astrid be more pliable, like that?”
Cross clapped me on the shoulder. “Because you wouldn’t like her if she was.”
I didn’t want to admit it, but he had a point. All my life girls at Warwick went after me because I was the “heir.” Astrid did not look at me like that. She barely looked at me period. It was better this way. Definitely better. We should be as professional as we could. She didn’t know it yet, but we needed her. Professional distance was a must, but if that was the case, why were my feet carrying me toward her?
