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“The door to the right,” he says, nodding at my parents. Mama moves instantly while Abel stares Rhys down a beat before reluctantly following the order.
Once the door clicks shut behind them, he steps through the door in front of us, and I gape in horror at the glass cage waiting inside. Movement to my right catches my attention and I spot my parents through a pane of glass, watching.
“What is that?” I ask, but Rhys doesn’t bother to answer as he pulls me toward the cage and opens the door. He spins us slightly with his back to my parents, shielding me from their view.
“What don’t I know here, Raven?” Fuck. I gape at him, my heart stammering in my chest. “Whatever it is, it had your mother reaching out to my wife to make sure I was available to intercept you in some way. What’s that about?” I still don’t have a goddamn answer for him. He swipes a hand down his face, his voice getting more urgent. “Whatever it is, does my son know?” Despite the secret that weighs heavy on my shoulders, I nod. “And your father?”
“No,” I whisper with a slight shake of my head.
“Is that on purpose?” he pushes, stress lines forming on his forehead.
“Yes,” I admit, my words barely audible to my own ears over my pulse ringing like crazy.
“Why?” I gulp. I can’t tell him that. I can’t. My gut tells me I can trust him, but I just can’t. “I’m not asking you to tell me the details, Raven. I’m asking for the way it makes you feel inside.”
I pause at that, swallowing down the lump forming in my throat. I can answer that. As much as it pains me, I can give him that. “Fear. I feel raw fear for the safety of my life.”
TWENTY-THREE
RAVEN
The sense of falling sinks into my gut and I hit a hard surface, my breath lodging in my throat. Gasping in breath after breath, I feel dazed as I blink up at the ceiling. I think I might be sick. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this disoriented in my life. The room is spinning like I’ve enjoyed one-too-many moon rocks. I would prefer that kind of haze instead of this.
“What on Earth? Raven, are you okay?” Following the familiar voice, I tilt my head to find Lyra staring down at me with a confused look on her face. I can’t imagine what I look like, but seeing her can only mean one thing: I’m back at the academy. Relief floods me as I slowly shake my head at her. I'm unsure how to explain what I’m feeling.
“No, I don’t think I am,” I manage, surprised I’m that honest about it. Talking discomforts me further and bile rises up my throat. My hand lifts to my stomach like that will make the nausea pass, but it does nothing at all.
“Let me help you up,” she mutters, offering me her hand, but she wobbles on her heels when I clutch it and I instantly take my hand back. She grimaces, but I don’t mind, opting to push up off the floor instead. What did Creed call me? A lone ranger. Yeah, that’s me. I can get myself up off the floor, thank you very much. Especially since the whirlwind I’ve just been through practically began with me being helped up off a floor.
Once I’m steady on my feet, I plant my hands on my hips and take a deep breath, the nausea slowly ebbing. Lyra seems to take this as a sign that all is good and carries on prodding me for more information.
“How did you fall through the gateway like that?”
Frowning, I look at where she’s pointing just as the last flash of a gateway disappears. It’s not in the same spot as the one I left through, though, and I’m sure it has a more golden hue to it, but it’s no longer there for me to clarify. I’m intrigued to know exactly how I fell through it, but the thought of reliving that sensation again is enough to stop the question on the tip of my tongue.
“I don’t even know, one minute I was…” I press my fingers against my temple, silently pleading for the facts to resurface, when I’m bombarded with them all at once. “Zane’s dad. Rhys. Monarch Denver, whatever the fuck we’re calling him. It had to be him. I admitted my inner fear surrounding my parents, or more specifically, my father, to him, and a breath later, here I am.” I clap a hand over my mouth, desperate to shut the fuck up, but Lyra takes a step closer.
“What did he do?” I glare at her, my lips twisting as I try to bite back the truth, but I can’t seem to stop myself.
“I don’t fucking know, but he saved me from whatever the hell they were going to do to me,” I admit with my hand still over my mouth.
What. The. Fuck, Raven. Shut. Up.
“What are you doing to me?”
“Sorry?”
“Why are you making me tell you things?” I bite, my hand dropping from my face to curl into a fist at my side.
A guilty look widens her eyes and her jaw falls slack as she shakes her hands.
“I’m so sorry. I…” She glances back at her desk, like the answer is there, but I don’t see anything. She turns back to me with an uncertain glimmer in her eyes before she sighs. “Fine, but I’m only explaining myself to a student because I inadvertently made you do that.”
“Do. What?” I grumble, frowning at her.
“I… I’ve been working on my second magic. When I was a student here, I was told to suppress it, hold it in, conceal it, don’t feel, and all that,” she states, like that makes any sense at all.
“Why would you be made to suppress it?”
