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My throat goes tight at the offer, and my brain starts firing off words. “You three have shown me more kindness than my family ever did. I don’t truly understand why that is, why you’ve collected me into your group, but I am grateful.” I stand, picking up my bag. “Thank you,” I mouth as I leave the bubble.
Axe grabs my arm and hauls me around. The other demons encircle me, and we walk, Axe walking backward so he can face me. “What were you thinking, ignoring me like that?” The hushed question chills me to my very core. He’s absolutely seething.
I’ve never seen such simmering, quiet anger before.
Malachi doesn’t simmer. He boils and yells and rages.
This…
This is more intimidating, and I move that much closer to Enzo on my left.
“I dunno. I guess I was thinking that I wasn’t done talking to my friends. Is that alright with you, Mr. Control Freak?”
“Don’t disrespect me in public like that again, Dove. You’ve made it a habit, and it’s not to your benefit.”
I stop short, darting out of the circle.
Axe spins to catch me, and I dart out of the way, staring up at him.
It’s times like this when I really do wish I’d gotten the taller genes my father always wanted me to have. Staring down a six-foot-something demon doesn’t have nearly the same effect when I have to dislocate my neck to do it.
“And yanking me away from my friends? Would you call that respectful? Or locking me in your awful…” Someone slides a soundproof bubble around us, so I take that to mean I should say exactly what’s on my mind. “Locking me up in your awful hovel of a lair, off-plane, with nothing to do besides study shit I already know with a creep who watches me get myself off? All under the guise of protection, but don’t you think the more respectful thing to do is handling Vlad and not sequestering me?”
Axe’s eyes widen. His face goes stark white as he stands before me, silent. “You don’t know what you’re asking, Dove,” he says and storms off.
I turn to Enzo, who shakes his head and leads us out of the dining hall. He takes my hand and blinks us to the mound of dirt on the other side of the Twisted Forest. Demonology class.
The day keeps getting better.
“So, there’s something we haven’t told you.”
Yeah? Same.
“There’s a reason you couldn’t get through the forest without help,” Enzo says.
“Sure. It’s in desperate need of a machete and a green witch. Or at the least a paid gardener.”
Enzo shakes his head, a small smile lifting his mouth. “Not quite.”
Bastian takes it from there. “The forest marks the edge of the campus, and that happens to also be the border of Blackwood proper.”
“The city, you mean? That’s the border of the cloak that keeps the city hidden?”
He nods. “One of them, yes. You were never going to get through it without help or blinking yourself out. Karloff knows that, which is why it’s a requirement for all Demonology students to get here on their own before they’re allowed in the lair.”
“So,” Enzo picks up. “We’ve been telling Karloff you were still recovering from the drain Vlad inflicted. But he’s getting impatient. And judging from what Vlad says about the encounter, you can’t blink, can you?” There’s no judgement in his tone. None hiding in his eyes, either.
I nod, gaze darting to Dashel. He’s the only one who hasn’t said a word on the matter and didn’t bother to look embarrassed when I snitched on him to Axe. “And what’s your opinion of the situation?” I ask.
He opens his mouth, shuts it, then opens it again. “You know, there isn’t much I can’t stand more than a demon who can’t holdtheir own.” He turns to Enzo and Bastian. “Maybe weshouldleave her behind, since she can’t manage even a simple blink. Maybe she doesn’t even belong here.”
I laugh, and the rest comes out so quickly I can’t stop it. “Aw, sad boy, you don’t know how right you are. But honestly? Not super opposed to the idea of staying behind. Karloff seems to get off on making me uncomfortable. I’ll happily stay out of another one of his classes.”
They glance at each other, having a conversation with just their eyes.
“We can’t make that work. He already knows you were in the dining hall today.”
I sigh. “Fine, then. Lead on to Karloff, the Destroyer of Egos. Just tell him I blinked us in.”
