Page 20 of Alchemy of Souls

I flick my hand to craft a wind spell for speed. When I move forward, crossing the distance in a mere second, Eloise’s eyes widen and she stops short, her gaze caught on my bare stomach.

“My eyes are up here,” I say, pointing to my face, which only makes her angrier. I can scent the emotion rolling off her like hot sauna steam, a little smoky and earthy. Although I wasn’t lying when I said she broadcasts every thought on her face. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what she’s thinking.

“Put a damn shirt on,” she says, completely flustered, her cheeks once again pink.

“See, I would have,” I say. “If you hadn’t run out of our room without saying anything.”

Another smoky cloud of anger. “You’re joking.”

“If only.”

Her eyes narrow. “I don’t have to tell you if I’m leaving.”

I raise an eyebrow. “What part of ‘inseparable for these next two weeks’ didn’t you understand?”

Double smoke blast. “I didnotagree to clearing my every decision with you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s definitely not my first choice, either. But here we are.”

Her jaw sets. “You’ll have to sleep at some point.”

I almost laugh. Her stubborn streak is clearly thriving. And while I respect it, there is no room for flexibility here. “You underestimate me,” I reply with a light tone, slipping my shirt over my head.

Which is when a door opens down the hall and Ivy pops out.She gets one look at me, squeals, and practically skips down the hall with her blond curls bouncing around her face. “Grayson! My god, we were all soworried. Naomi especially. She’s showering or she’d be out here screaming like I am. Come hang out. Bas is around here somewhere and—” She stops short, as if just realizing Eloise was standing with us. “Can youmove?”

I wince. Not because Ivy’s being a dick. She and Naomi make a sport of it. And in comparison to my family, they’re like a warm bath. But Eloise doesn’t seem insulted. She’s smiling like Ivy couldn’t have appeared at a better moment.

“You’re right, Ivy,” Eloise says in a sugary tone. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Ivy links her arm through mine as though everything is in order, and Eloise flashes me a victorious smirk before walking away full speed.

Damn it all to hell.

I pull my arm from Ivy’s.

Ivy frowns. “Um, you’re not actually chasing after Labor girl, are you?” There’s a warning in her voice.

“Tell Naomi and Bas I’ll hang later,” I say.

Unlike most civilized people, she doesn’t accept my answer. She reaches out and grabs my wrist. And even though she’s five foot nothing, she’s got one hell of a hold. “Uh, no. Are you feverish? Hallucinating? That”—she says, pointing as Eloise heads into an asymmetrical stairwell—“is a walking disaster. Not to mention everyone knows she sabotaged your exam. Stay. Chill on our couchand tell us everything. Have a celebratory drink for god’s sake.”

I remove Ivy’s hand from my wrist. “I gotta run, but I’ll make it up to you guys later.” Maybe.

Ivy’s eyes widen. “Naomi is literally going to hunt you for a walltrophy!” she yells after me. “And you know what, Grayson Stone? I’m not going to stop her!”

If she keeps yelling, I don’t hear it because I use another speed-inducing wind spell to catch up to Eloise. Her long hair flutters in the breeze created by my sudden stop and she immediately frowns. She’s not happy to see me. Imagine that.

“Stop doing that,” she says as I keep pace with her.

“I absolutely would, if you’d stop making me chase after you.”

Eloise follows the campus navigation spell, a blue orb that zips down the hall in front of her like a 3D version of the pulsing dot on cell phone maps.

She turns down a wide corridor. “Go back to Ivy and Naomi.”

I smirk. “No can do. You dine. I dine. You work out in the training room. I’ll be there, too. Your classes are my classes.”

She visibly stiffens, and I can tell by the way her large golden-brown eyes turn murky that she’s plotting my demise. But she doesn’t voice her fury. She just walks faster, stopping only once she reaches the library doors, which are so heavy she has to use her weight to open them. Of course, when I help her, she graces me with the stink eye.