Crest (Book #2,Swift Series) (11 page)

“Here we are, sweetheart,” Collin said, opening up his arms to showcase the place.

First it was love and now it was sweetheart? These endearing terms were getting old, fast.

I took in a deep breath and followed him towards the building, the entire time, glancing around to make sure no one saw us entering.

“Is it safe to practice here? I mean, besides the fact that it looks like it could collapse at any second, we’re still kinda out in public, don’t you think?”

He waved off my worries. “No one comes close to these buildings anymore. I think the city will end up tearing them down soon. Besides, this is where I always have my students meet me and we’ve yet to get caught.”

Yet to get caught? Yeah, that was comforting. Who did this guy think he was? Abby would have a meltdown if she knew my new—correction, temporary—teacher was so uncaring.

With much hesitation, I followed him inside. We entered a large empty room. Since most of the windows were either missing or had been broken, there was a lot of natural light spilling through. I guess I could see the appeal in practicing the craft here. The place was large and open, allowing lots of space to work with, even if that space felt like it might not be the safest spot in the world.

“Okay, let’s see what you’ve got, love,” Collin said, stopping abruptly and turning to face me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I glared at him, wondering if he would get the hint. Collin reminded me of the guys I’d gone to school with back in Marblehead. Well, with the exception of Roger. Most of the guys at our high school were overly confident, almost to the point of cocky and were too thick-headed to see it. It was hard to pinpoint what bothered me most about the guy standing beside me. The fact that he was calling me all of those stupid pet names, or that I felt like he wasn’t taking his teacher role seriously.

“Where’s the lesson plan?” I asked, looking around the empty room.

He laughed at my question, making the irritated mood I had been trying so hard to bury, come right back.

“Lesson plan? Not sure what you’re talking about, love.”

I wanted to rip that smirky smile right off of his face. This guy was insufferable! “Never mind. Let’s just get started. What spell should we start with?” I asked, still trying to remain calm.

He chuckled like he was having fun with this. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you? That’s so cute.”

Serious about this? Cute? Was he kidding? Of course, I was serious! Why was he laughing? Did he think me being miserable and irritated was funny? Well, if he was having so much fun, then I wanted to have a little fun, too.

“Come on, my eager little warrior, let’s start over here.” Still laughing, Collin turned his back to me and began to walk across the room. Perfect victim. I focused my eyes on him and envisioned him floating up towards the rafters above us. A few seconds later, Collin’s feet were off the ground and he was quickly floating up towards the ceiling. His legs were dangling and he was making groaning and grunting noises. It took him just a second to put it together and he turned his head towards me.

“You better put me down. I may not play as nicely.” A wicked grin stretched across his face.

“Oh, really? What are you going to do to me way up there?” I questioned, trying to suppress my smile.

“You don’t think I can break through this little levitation spell you put on me? Phuleez, sweetheart. You’re no match for me.”

 That was it, I couldn’t hide my smile any longer, he just looked so silly floating in the air. “Really, Mr. Macho, why don’t you show me what you’re made of then?” Abby told me that she had never seen someone with my type of power when it came to controlling objects or people. It was the same spell that I had used at the church to save the Harpers, and now that I’d had time to perfect it, there was no holding me back. Or, at least, I hoped there wasn’t.

He closed his eyes for a moment as if he was trying really hard to concentrate on something. When his eyes opened it was funny to see the panic spread across his face. “What kind of spell do you have me under?!” he shouted.

By this time, I was hunched over, laughing in hysterics. I tried to stop. I knew it was rude—but it was so worth it! He had brought this on himself. If he hadn’t acted like such a jackass—calling me those stupid names and insulting Abby just for being a female— maybe he wouldn’t be in this situation.

 Apparently I had gotten good enough at controlling this spell that I didn’t even have to concentrate very hard. After taking a few deep breathes, I was able to pull myself together and glance up at Collin again.

“This is so not funny. You better put me down right this instant or—”

“Or what?” I interrupted him. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t keep it contained. I found myself busting out in laughter again. Tears were running down my face and my stomach began to cramp, but I had to admit, it felt so nice to laugh.

My cheeks hurt and my stomach was killing me, yet every time I looked up at Collin and saw the scowl he was wearing, I would start my laughing fit all over again. Once I was able to compose myself, I decided to give Collin some choices. “I have a few rules that I would like you to agree to before I let you down.” I cleared my throat and tried to maintain a straight face. “Rule number one, no more sweetheart, sunshine, love, or any other stupid names you have in your vocabulary.”

“Oh, come on, princess, I’m just having some fun.” He smirked.

I gave him a pointed look, letting him know I was serious.

“Ok, no more names, but you’re taking all the fun out of our little arrangement.”

“Which brings me to rule number two, our arrangement is teacher/student. Jackie was nice enough to recommend you and I feel very grateful that you are willing to train me temporarily. However, I would appreciate it if you would act like a professional. My previous teacher took her role very seriously and I would like for you to do the same. In return, I will promise to be a diligent student.”

He scoffed, but nodded in agreement.

“Okay, and for rule number three; under no circumstances, is there to be any more criticizing my previous teacher. Her name is Abby and I hold her very dear to my heart. Please, this rule is the most important to me.”

I stood there waiting for his response.

“Man, you really know how to spoil the fun, lov—” He stopped short, remembering rule number one. “Fine. I will agree to your stupid rules if you let me down from here.”

“Deal.” I allowed my mind to lower Collin, fast at first, then slower as he reached the concrete below him.

“Hey, easy now,” he growled at me as his feet touched the ground.

“See, we can still have fun with each other.” I smiled.

Collin and I spent the rest of the afternoon, going over a few spells; nothing major, mostly some basics. I think he wanted to see what I was capable of, even though I thought I’d done a pretty good job of showing him that earlier. He remarked how impressed he was with my skills, especially without much training. I thanked him, but didn’t say much more, hoping he wouldn’t become intrigued and ask me more questions.

When we got back to Jackie’s that evening, she was waiting for us and quizzed us on our day. She was interested in how I did and if I felt like Collin had done a good job. He seemed offended by that question, but I thought it was funny.

“Well, you two must be starving. Take a seat in the dining room and I’ll bring you some soup,” she said, heading towards the kitchen.

“Here, love, let me get that for you,” Collin said as he began to pull the chair out for me.

I stopped and stared at him, giving him a
you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look
. Had he forgotten the rules already?

He looked over to me, giving me a questioning expression. “What? I thought pulling the chair out for a lady was a nice thing?”

Then it must have hit him.

“Oh. Oops, sorry. What can I say? Old habits die hard.” He shrugged innocently, but I was not in the forgiving mood.

 I shook my head, walked around to the other side of the table and jerked out my own chair.

After stuffing his face with three bowls of soup, Collin left, but not before telling me that he would be back bright and early in the morning and that I should be prepared for an intense day of training. With all that had happened today, I wanted to give him an eye roll and finish it up with a
yeah-right, I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it
look, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he would change his tune and start taking his role more seriously. We had made a deal, after all.

That night, Jackie and I stayed up talking until I could barely keep my eyes open. She spoke about her difficulties when she started learning the craft, and I had to admit, it was nice to hear about someone else’s problems. She admitted that a large issue between her and my mother was jealousy. Jackie was envious at how easy the craft came to my mother. She felt like she had to practice twice as hard, and yet, never seemed to come anywhere near my mother’s power. It was strange, but in this situation, I felt like I could relate to what Jackie was saying. There were times when I felt like I was the worst witch on the planet. Abby and Blake always made everything look and sound so easy. Even though Jackie and I had only known each other for a couple days, it was beginning to feel like I had known her for a lot longer, and I couldn’t help feeling relieved that we were getting along.

After telling Jackie goodnight, I headed to bed and let my thoughts drift to the person I wished was there with me right now. I hoped that one day I would see him again, be able to touch his face and kiss his lips. It had only been a few days since I had seen Blake, but it already felt like so much longer.

The next day began a little more promising. Collin showed up at ten a.m. It wasn’t the bright and early, crack of dawn I was expecting or used to with Abby, but it was still an improvement for him. He also hadn’t called me any stupid names or criticized Abby, so as far as I was concerned, today was starting off better than the day before.

“So, you don’t fly, do you?” Collin asked me out of the blue on our way to the warehouse.

I swallowed hard. “Yes, I fly... just not very well.”

“Huh, and why is that?”

“Well, Abby wanted me to learn how to defend myself against dark magic, instead of running away from it.” I tried to sound confident, but it came off sounding like I was more on the defensive.
He had better not start bashing Abby, or he is heading straight up towards the clouds
, I thought to myself.

Nothing negative came out of his mouth. Instead, he nodded his head in agreement. “I can see that, but it’s still an important skill you need to perfect. There are times when flying comes in handy. Like right now, we could’ve been at the warehouse a half hour ago.”

“Would that be for my benefit or are you just particularly lazy this morning?” I asked, jokingly.

He narrowed his eyes upon me. “No, I actually prefer to walk, but after yesterday, I agree with you and I think I should start taking this teacher role more seriously. I think our first step should be maximizing our time together.”

It wasn’t clear to me if he was joking or not. This is what I wanted and what he had agreed to yesterday, it just didn’t seem possible that he could change his tune so quickly.

“So, we’ll start flying lessons today.” He looked over at me with a large grin. “Flying lessons are my favorite thing to teach.”

“Great,” I mumbled, feeling the anxiety build in my stomach.

“So, tell me a little more about Abby,” Collin insisted, totally changing the subject.

I had been so vague with my answers the other day and I wondered if I continued, would he start to get suspicious?

“She was assigned to me by the council, and then, after a few weeks, some things came up and she couldn’t train me anymore.” There it was, short and sweet.

“Interesting,” Collin said, intrigued. “You know that’s rare. Being assigned personally by the council doesn’t happen very often. You have to be something pre-tty special for them to show an interest in you.”

Great, my plan had totally backfired. I bit my lip, wondering if there was a way to get out of this without piquing his interest even more. “Really? I didn’t know that was so rare. I thought that the council always assigned the teachers, protectors, and guardians?”

Collin laughed. “Well, back in the olden days, that’s how it worked, but now, the magical community just works together in assigning everyone a duty. We have meetings once a month to discuss the new roles and we divvy them up as we see fit. Plus, the council can’t keep up with the magical community anymore anyway. It’s gotten to be so large that they’re always overlooking things. I wish they would just get over themselves and see that
their
ways need to be changed. If they would just take a step back and look at the current state of the magical community, they would see that it needs a major remodel. In my opinion, they need to divide up the duties a little more, create new sectors in order to regulate magic and keep it in order. Ugh, I’ve got to stop complaining, I could just go and on.” He finished his tirade and looked over to me as if he wanted to dig around my past a little more. Luckily, he refrained.