A single paw touched the threshold, then, by some miracle, the cat committed to walking through. She shut the door behind him so he couldn’t change his mind.
Felix looked around cautiously, sticking to the wall as they walked beside each other. She had thought all shifters werebrave, or at least they were cocky enough never to be fearful. But it seemed he was cautious. And he should be; he was surrounded by enemies.
The more they walked, the more relaxed he got, except for when he walked past an enforcer, and all the hairs on his body stood up.
Maybe. Somehow. This would work out. Although deep down she knew she was just delaying the inevitable, once she broke the bond—if that was even possible—and put this behind her, she would have nothing. No one. She would be truly ostracized. Loneliness was a feeling she was already used to, even in a family, even with a single friend. She still felt the soul-crushing weight of having no one in her corner but herself.
Her father had been. Until he died. Which Avery thought was quite rude of him, to be honest. Even though it had only been a year, his face slipped from her mind. The wrinkles that crinkled at the edges of his blue eyes disappeared, replaced by her mind’s rendition of what she thought they might look like, like an artist painting from memory. When she looked at the photos, it was almost like looking at a stranger. At least his soul remained, the essence of who he was, which was kind and gentle, always stuck with her.
The walk across campus was torture. Each step brought them closer to the lecture hall, closer to dozens of witches who would sense something was wrong. Who would know? They had to know. Her heart pounded in her chest. Maybe this was a terrible idea. Maybe she should just turn herself in right now. She wondered if they would kill her on the spot or whether they would ship her off to Anoddun, the magical version of Alcatraz. Shivers raced down her spine at the thought.
Rain misted across the quadrangle, turning the fallen leaves into a treacherous carpet of red and gold. First-year students giggled in groups and admired the senior students’ familiars thatsauntered past them: a fox here, a raven there, even a small dragon circling overhead.
Avery hung back until they’d all moved on.
“Your heart is pounding,”Felix observed.“I can hear it from down here.”
“Shut up,” she muttered under her breath, earning a curious glance from a third-year student.
They passed the statue of Cerituen in the courtyard, her stone face eternally judging, and guilt twisted in her stomach. What would the goddess think of what she’d done? Binding a shifter, her mortal enemy, and parading him through her sacred halls when witches had died to get rid of them?
“You look like you’re about to vomit.”
“I might.”
“Please don’t. I’d rather not have to be bathed again.”
Despite everything, a nervous laugh bubbled up in her throat. She quickly stifled it, but not before Felix made a rumbling sound, one that could have been a purr or could have been a laugh. Were they getting along?No, it was far too early for that.
The entrance to the great hall loomed ahead. Towering arches gave way to spires, the intricate patterns blurring together as the cool rain fell against her skin. Enforcers eyed them up and down, one of them readjusting the grip on his rifle, which made Avery’s heart almost explode. But they did nothing, only stood there like ever-present statues.
When she was a child, Avery had once asked her mother why they were always there. She had only replied, “To protect us.”From what Avery had never seen. There hadn’t been a single incident on the island that warranted their intervention…until now, she supposed. Most of the enforcers just waited to be deployed to a post as elite human security, patrolling luxury compounds. Witches had no purpose anymore except to be apawn to the highest bidder. It was quite depressing, really. The culture of witches was beautiful, but Avery thought, we had come so far from how we were meant to live, or what we were truly striving for. Instead of being a coven, we were pitted against one another, shamed for not being the best among our peers. From what she had read, it hadn’t been like that. Something had changed amongst witches for the worse.
The enforcers opened the arched doors for them, Felix’s ears flattening as he went past. She could almost feel the amount of self-control it was taking him not to hiss at the enforcer. Before they entered the grand hall, they took the set of stone stairs to the right, climbing them to the professor’s office.
She knocked on the door three times and stepped back, waiting for it to open.
Eleven
Felix
A dull,shimmering glow webbed the door that the little witch knocked on. It was a protective security ward, this specific one, he presumed, surrounded the campus. There was also analmostimpenetrable one around the island.
Slipping through the wards was second nature to him now. It would be a piece of cake. He assessed the one at the door. Yep. Standard variety witch ward. But before he could react, before he could use his magic to slip through it, she opened the door and shoved him, pushing him through the web of light.
Perhaps because of the bond, perhaps because they’d gotten fuckinglucky,the ward had regarded him as a regular familiar. The fact that even the wards thought he was a familiar vexed him immensely,andnot even a single enforcer had batted an eyelid. Humiliating. He would come back later to destroy this ward on principle.
An older witch beckoned them in. A professor, he guessed, based on his attire. Circular-rimmed glasses fell down his nose, a long salt and pepper mustache, and beard. The man couldn’t be more cliché if he tried.
The professor looked the witch up and down before his eyes landed on Felix. If the professor noticed anything off about Felix, his face gave nothing away, just a stern line drawn into his mouth. Behind him, a phoenix picked at its flaming feathers, and one of them floated down gently before turning into ash before it hit the polished wooden floors.
“Well.” The professor’s voice was gruff, likely from the years of smoking, if the stank of his office was anything to go on. He moved behind his desk, but didn’t sit, only bracing his hands against the table.
“What do we have here, Miss Alarch?” he said, looking down his nose.
“I’ve summoned a familiar,” she said nervously, her hands fiddling with each other behind her back. “Sir,” she tacked on.
Felix watched her, almost palpitating now, his chest tightening along with hers. Perhaps they wouldn’t even last the day before they got caught. But the real question was:Why the fuck did he find her nervousness so cute?Felix physically shook his head to rid himself of the unbidden thought that most definitely wasn’t fucking welcome in his head.
