Authors: Abigail Boyd
“Why do you keep them in that box?” I scrunch my nose up. He’s so calm and detached about the whole process.
“It’s a lead-lined box. It preserves them well.”
His attention is rooted to the ground as he piles on more layers of dirt, obscuring the creepy feet. He pokes a few holes in the tops of each one, then grabs my hand and places it on top of one mound. Despite the dirt coating his fingers, his warm touch makes me shiver.
“Why did you bury them if you’re going to bring them back?” I ask.
“Because I want you to sense the life in the ground around them, as well as the bird itself. Life isn’t just about moving bodies, it’s the tiny organisms that grow in the soil, and the cycle of the seasons. Shut your eyes.”
“There’s this word, it’s called ‘please’, supposedly it works wonders,” I say with a tight smile.
He smiles at me warmly in return, melting my limbs loose, still holding my hand. “Shut your eyes,
please.
”
I do as he says and focus on what my hand is feeling while I listen to his voice.
“Search underneath the ground with your magic. Find the bird, and picture his dormant heart, and the fragments of life teeming in the earth, the worms and the beetles, the roots. I want you to bring the energy, the life force, of the earth back into the bird. It’s harder than if you have your hands directly on the dead, but after your performance during the test, you can do it.”
At first, I still don’t sense anything other than the pliable dirt. Then I feel the faintest thump from below, so faint it could be my imagination. “I think I feel it. A little.”
“Keep feeling it out. Call on your instincts.”
Something flutters underneath the top soil, and I see the sliding worms and layers of earth broken with stone. There’s a brief moment of resistance, like its pushing back against me, but I maintain control. I can picture the bird in my mind, the wings twitching, feathers moving. I picture the energy from the ground, like tiny green sparkles, entering the bird, penetrating its cold heart, filling it full of life to pulse. The heart in my vision beats once, then twice. Pressure builds up in my hand and I push it down through the dirt.
The bird bursts out of the earth and flies up into the air with a lusty cry. I shrink back into Luke and he chuckles, sliding an arm around me in an impromptu, casual hug. I glance back at him and his expression has grown serious as he moves away.
He puts his hands on the other bank of dirt and the bird erupts through it almost instantly, hopping around for a moment before taking off in flight and circling above us. I stare up at the sky, watching both birds disappear.
“Are dead things the same when they come back? We’re not creating zombies are we?”
“No, they’re not zombies. Not like you think, no hunger for brains or decaying flesh. The resurrected are mostly normal, but they’re always touched by the darkness. There’s always a piece missing that can’t be recovered. You show a very strong affinity for Necromancy for being such a young witch. You might want to get used to its truths.”
He collects his spade and the box and gets to his feet, and I follow him as we walk back out and toward the trees.
“Where are we going?” I ask, my breath swirling in the cold air.
“I wanted to show you something. It’s my favorite spot on the mountain.”
We walk through the trees for a few minutes, our boots crunching through the frozen crust. I admire him as I follow behind him—I don’t think I’ll ever be immune to his gorgeous good looks. He tells me more about his experience with necromancy when he first came to the school, relaying quick tales of about how difficult his first few resurrections on animals were. I listen with rapt attention, surprised he was ever so emotional about it.
The trees part and we steps out onto a cliffside, overlooking the tops of tall pine trees draped with ice, the cloud-tinged sky stretching into the horizon. The February sun breaks through and casts a late-afternoon glow. The view takes my breath away. We’re up so high. Other than the winding road far below, there are no signs of man’s interference.
“I wanted to show you this,” he says, looking out over the view with a small, appreciative smile on his lips. His looks radiant and the pallor that he normally has to his cheeks is gone. “It’s a good spot to clear your head when you get frustrated. You could even come
out here to practice.”
“It’s beautiful,” I murmur. “Thank you.”
The gesture has touched me more than I want to admit.
“It can get lonely being up here,” he admits, sounding contemplative. I see a tense line appear on his forehead. “On our own island, away from humanity. You forget how big the world is.”
“Do you ever think you’ll leave here? Go back to the outside world?”
He gazes thoughtfully up at the drifting clouds. “Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s anything out there for me. At least here I have a place and a purpose.”
“Paige probably wouldn’t ever let you go.” I’m surprised by my own twinge of jealousy.
He seems amused. “The Headmistress is a good friend of mine and has been nothing short of an angel to me. I owe her a great deal.”
I chip at the snow with one of my boots. “I heard it was the other way around.”
He gazes at me, his expression serious and guarded, like he’s trying not to give anything away. “Did you? What did you hear?”
I bite my lower lip, feeling a shot of apprehension because I know something I’m not supposed to. “That you brought her back from the dead.”
“Who told you that?” He’s not denying it.
“Come to think of it, it was Astrid. Was she lying about that, too?”
“No.” He takes a deep breath and I watch his chest rise and fall. “That was a long time ago. She brought me back, in her own way, so I owed it to her.”
“Okay, but how about if I play devil’s advocate and say that I think she has ulterior motives?”
“The devil has enough advocates. Paige is here to help you. All of us.” He breaks off a branch from a nearby tree and wings it out over the cliff side.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Just trust me, okay?” he implores me. He’s never asked me to do that before, and I stare at him as a foreign shiver ripples down my spine. He wants me to trust him?
I nibble at my lower lip and glance at him again. “About your proposition…” I begin, feeling my heart beat start to speed up.
He tilts his head down and straightens his shoulders. “I’ve been thinking about that. I want you to forget I brought it up. Pretend like it never happened.”
I frown in confusion, anxiety spiking my blood. “What are you talking about? Is this because of what I said about Paige? I thought…”
He scrubs his hands through his hair, trying to maintain control, but I can see his conflicting emotions, like he’s fighting with himself. “Iris, I know I’m the one who suggested it in the first place, but it’s not right to take advantage of a student. You’re new and you’re fresh and you’re barely beginning your journey into magic. At first, I could imagine that it was just sex. But I’ve found I’m connecting with you. That can’t happen. I admire you, your tenacity and your spirit, but I’ve told you how I feel about relationships. So it wouldn’t be right to sleep with you.”
I don’t know what to say. This is not what I was expecting at all. “Do you not want me anymore?” I ask finally. He grabs my hands gently, and even though I try weakly to shrug him off, he pulls me close. I gaze up at him as he shuts his eyes, exhaling sharply.
“No, no, Iris, that couldn’t be farther from the reason. It makes me hard just thinking about you. But I’m damaged goods, and I don’t want to damage you.” We stand awkwardly apart, like neither of us knows what to do or what we are to each other.
“You’re still treating me like a student,” I say softly. “I’m capable of making decisions myself. I told you I’m not going to get attached.”
“I know that. I can still help you with your powers and I can still train you. But
I’m
the one who is in danger of getting attached to you.”
I nod slowly, completely in a blur. Not that long ago, I hated the man before me. Now I don’t know how I feel.
“If that’s what you want,” I say numbly.
He gazes at me pensively, his lips settling into a frown. He reaches forward and pulls me close as he presses a chaste kiss on my cheek. “It’s for the best, I promise. It’s not worth hurting you.”
“I can handle myself, okay?” I say, pulling out of his arms. This has all become far too serious and I feel like I’m being rejected, no matter what his words. It opens up my raw wounds from what happened with Braden.
I stumble back even though he reaches out for me again, jogging blindly through the trees, away from him.
CHAPTER 17
Paige throws a modest party in the grand old ballroom the next day, in celebration of our success with our exams. I’ve never been in here before, but the high, sculpted ceiling and mirrored walls make it look like the room goes on forever. Instead of classical music, though, she’s brought in an indie band comprised of male witches. She even provides a table of refreshments, including wine, for the occasion, to the excitement of my younger classmates. I stand at the sidelines as the others dance and mosh around to the whining guitars, and toss back a few cups of lightly spiked punch.
My heart is beating like crazy in my chest. Tonight was supposed to be the night I went to Luke. My plans haven’t changed, but I don’t know how he’ll take me. I chug another cup of liquid courage and leave the others to their partying. Paige is distracted, talking with a group of the Professors.
I hurry up the main stairs before I can change my mind. I’ve already carefully shaved and prepped my body, spending nearly an hour in the shower this morning until my fingers were pruny. I just hope it wasn’t for nothing.
I veer off to the warden’s wing and head to Luke’s room, glancing once over my shoulder to make sure no one curious followed me. I can still faintly hear the band’s music filtering up from downstairs.
I don’t bother to knock on Luke’s door before attempting to push it open. It’s not locked like I expected and it swings in. To think it was an unlocked door that brought me here in the first place, the irony is not lost on me. I take a deep breath and step inside.
Luke is lying on his bed, shirtless, his hard, muscular torso on display. His legs are crossed at the ankles, toned calves flexed. He’s reading a book, and wearing only blue track pants, the soles of his bare feet sticking out. I would have never thought I’d find a man’s feet sexy, but his are just as sculpted and perfect as the rest of him.
He looks up at me and frowns, shifting his eyes back to his book. “What are you doing here?” He turns another page of his book but I know he’s not reading. “I thought you’d be downstairs at the party.” I’ve never seen him out of his uniform, which is laid out neatly on a nearby chair. The sight of his exposed skin firms my resolve as the ache between my legs replaces my nerves. My eyes drink in every chiseled muscle across his stomach and covering his ribs.
“I’m not in the mood for that. What I want is right up here.” I slip out of my shoes one at a time and my bare feet press into the cool floor. My fingers follow the line of buttons on my shirt front and pluck them loose one by one.
He finally glances up again and a look of hesitant surprise crosses his face. His jaw tenses and I can see him struggling to maintain control.
“Iris…” He sits up, shifts his legs over the side of the bed, and starts to stand. “I told you, I can’t handle…”
“I think you can,” I say boldly. “If we take it slowly.”
He drops his book on the bedside table, forgotten.
I finish the final button and strip my shirt off, the air cooling my hot skin. I dangle the shirt by my hand, then drop it to the floor. His eyes scan my bra and bare stomach, down to the pleated skirt I’m still wearing. Goosebumps burst along my arms and torso. I feel utterly vulnerable, giving myself to this man, wondering if he wants me as much as it seems.
“You’ve got my attention now,” he growls as he crosses the room with swift steps. His mouth crashes into mine, and he tugs me close, his hand creeping up to squeeze my breast in the lacy bra. He pulls the cup down and tweaks my nipple in between his finger and thumb then moves his hand to the other side, giving it equal attention. He slides down the straps and kisses my shoulder hungrily, then pops the clasp on the back. I shrug the bra off and onto the floor, then return to kissing him. His hands reach around and undo my skirt, which falls to the floor as I dig my fingers into his hard shoulders. He cups my ass, then lifts me up into the air as I moan from the rush. I circle my legs around his waist. His warm skin against mine is incredible. Our tongues intertwine as he continues kissing me, walking me over to the bed where he sets me down.
He pulls out of the kiss and gazes down at me, catching his breath as he presses my hair back from my forehead. “And if this becomes something more? More than just desire?”
I grin up at him. “Maybe we’re something special after all.”
End of Episode 1
To be continued in Episode 2.
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