INTEGRATION (Bonfire Academy Book Two) (Bonfire Chronicles) (27 page)

“I’m sorry, Cordelia,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

Before I could respond, I heard a knock at the door.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

“Your dad, I hope.”

I let in a very stressed-looking King Sebastian. His face relaxed into a smile as soon as he saw his daughter. She buried her face into his chest, holding on to him.

“Do you want me to go? Give you time to catch up?” I asked.

“No. Stay. What happened?”

I told him everything, watching Faustine’s face carefully as I recounted her carnage. He listened in silence, kissing the top of Faustine’s head every so often.

“I’ll take care of that with Frau Schmelder,” he said.

“Dad, can I go back home to Mom? I hate it here.” Her eyes were still wet with tears.

“Honey, you don’t hate it,” he said. “What happened is terrible, but you are here for a reason. You have to learn to control your powers. Surely you can see that after what happened today?”

She looked down at her feet and nodded. “What’s going to happen to me?” Her voice was shaky and laced with fear.

“Nothing is going to happen to you. You’re here at this school to learn, and that’s what you will do. I’ll see to that.”

“But I just killed someone.” Her eyes watered again.

“I know, and that’s…” He shook his head. “You lost control. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Do you know why you lost control?”

“Not really. I was just so angry and so sad. I still am, but it was worse when I was a demon. It was burning me up. Dad, I can’t believe Martha is gone. She didn’t do anything to deserve that. Why did that bird take her? It was a shifter, wasn’t it? That’s why I was—am—so angry with them. How could they do that to Martha?” She started crying again.

King Sebastian drew her close to his chest, rubbing her back. “Honey, yes, it was a shifter. I’m trying to find out what’s going on, and I will get to the bottom of this. What happened to Martha is… I don’t have any words for it. My heart hurts when I think about it, so I understand how you must feel; you both were close. There is nothing I can do to bring her back. It’s very sad.

“What I must do now is to find out and stop whatever is going on. I have a fair idea, but need to follow up some leads. In the meantime, I need you to concentrate on your work here. You must master your powers. I spoke to Frau Schmelder briefly before I came up here. She has placed you on probation. You no longer have the use of your paranormal powers outside your test sessions. You will not be permitted to go near any of the shifters, so any classes you have with them are now closed to you. You’ll have to make them up next term.”

“I have to stay here longer?” she protested.

“I’m afraid so. What you did means that your classes have to be staggered, so it’ll take a bit longer.”

“But what about school at home? I was supposed to go back.”

“It will be fine. You’ll be home in time for high school. Don’t worry about that. Right now, concentrate on your work here. It’s important.”

“What about what I did? Will I be punished?”

“I expect there will be repercussions. You acted in self-defense, remember that. That panther attacked you first. Any demon would have done the same under the circumstances. I know it’s hard for you to accept that, being part human. However, the student council will. They will hear your case and make a decision based on the evidence. Faustine, you are
my
daughter. You will deal with it with dignity. Understood?”

Faustine nodded. “I will, Dad. I promise.”

T
he student council took months to schedule the hearing, but they finally charged Faustine with fatal bodily harm. She was due to appear before them in a matter of hours.

Her father had asked Octavia to represent her, even though Octavia was no longer involved with student matters. She was the best legal mind at the school, so I swallowed my hatred of her and cooperated fully to help Faustine.

“Are you going to come with?” Faustine asked between bites of her breakfast.

“Yes, of course. Octavia wants to see you on your own before the trial, but I’ll be in the gallery, sitting with your dad. He should be arriving any minute.”

“Good. What time is Jagger going to be here? He’s coming as well, right?”

“As far as I know.” I hadn’t seen Jagger since Faustine’s birthday, though we’d kept in touch via text. Shortly after he’d brought Faustine back to the Academy and made sure that she was okay physically, he’d taken off. I had no idea where he’d gone. All he told me was that he’d been called out on an assignment and that he’d be away from the Academy for a few months.

After Quinn’s disappearance—gosh, it seemed like forever since I’d heard from him—Jagger’s absence filled me with a sense of dread, even though he promised to keep in touch. He also warned me that contact would be infrequent and probably only via text. We made up a safe word so we’d know that the texts came from each other. He promised to come back for the Integration dance, but when I told him about the trial, he said that he would try to return in time for that. So, I was hopeful and couldn’t wait to see him. The past few months had been difficult enough, but even more so without him.

I opened the door for King Sebastian even before he knocked. I had become familiar enough with him to sense his presence.

“Good morning, ladies.” He displayed a smile that didn’t quite mask his anxiety.

“Hey, Dad. I’m almost ready. Are you coming in with me to talk to Octavia?”

“Most definitely. Is there anything you need to go over with me before we see her?”

She frowned, tilting her head. “I don’t know, Dad. What do you think will happen?”

“At the trial?”

“Yes, and after. Do you think they’ll expel me?”

“You’ll get asked a lot of questions. Octavia will go through the likely ones with you this morning. I imagine there’ll be some form of repercussion, but I doubt they’ll expel you, under the circumstances.” He rubbed his chin, looking as though he was debating whether to say more.

“King Sebastian?” I prodded. The more information Faustine had the better.

“Hmm. The boy’s parents are going to be present at the hearing. I’m sure Octavia will mention that to you, but I spoke to Frau Schmelder earlier, and she let me know.”

Faustine suddenly turned white and looked ready to hurl.

“It’ll be fine, Faustine.”

“Did Frau Schmelder tell you anything about the boy?” I asked.

“I asked her, but that information is confidential until the trial to protect his family. In fact, Frau Schmelder requested that the council hold a closed trial for security reasons.”

“Dad, this is going to be so awful, having to tell what I did in front of his mom and dad.” Faustine’s lips quivered.

“It’s the circumstances under which you did it that you need to concentrate your thoughts on. It was self—defense, after all. He attacked you first. Just be truthful and don’t hide your emotions. Be yourself. I’ll be with you every step of the way, as will Cordelia.”

“I wish Mom was here. I feel awful about the whole thing. I was disgusting.”

I gaped at her. The incident had been ugly, but that was overstating it. “Faustine, you were far from disgusting! Eating the panther, yuck…but you threw him up.”

“I ate him!”

“I know. Gross.”

“Cordelia, I ate another being…”

“Oh?”

King Sebastian took her hand. “Faustine, I can’t pretend to understand human remorse, but I am guessing that’s what’s bothering you. You ate an animal. An animal you had killed. It is sort of like hunting.”

“No, it wasn’t! Oh, you’ll never understand. I need to talk to Mom.”

“I wish she were here as well, but I’m not allowed to share what happens here with any humans, not even your mother.”

Faustine nodded. “It’s probably for the best. She’d be totally disgusted with me.”

King Sebastian shook his head. “No, she wouldn’t. She’d understand that you did what you had to do when you were attacked.”

Faustine pursed her lips, looking totally unconvinced. “Maybe, but what about the fact that I
ate
him? That would gross her out.”

She had a point. Even I had a hard time getting my head around eating uncooked panther. I just hoped Octavia could get her through the trial and that the administration would allow Faustine to finish her stay at the school. Her behavior since the accident had been exemplary, with Ryker whisking her away at the very first signs of any strife.

King Sebastian obviously had nothing to say that could comfort her. Instead, he stood up, looking at his watch. “We’d better go.”

Once Faustine and her dad left to meet with Octavia, I hurried to put on my pretty yellow dress. I had felt Jagger approaching and knew he’d be at my door any second.

When he swung open the door, I just stood staring at him, not making a move to get closer. I wanted to enjoy the feel of him from afar, as I drank him in, his dangerously enthralling aura drawing me toward him. I had missed him more than I had realized.

He closed the gap between us and enveloped me in his arms, holding me close, breathing me in as I put my ear to his chest and listened to his heart.

“I missed you,” he whispered huskily.

“Me, too. How long can you stay?”

“I’m not sure, until I’m called away again. But I’m hoping that won’t be for a while.”

“Called away?” I pulled away from him. “Are you going to tell me where you went? I want to know.”

He took my hand, and we sat down on my bed. “I had to do
something
to be able to keep you safe.”

“And you did that by leaving me here?” I tried not to sound sarcastic, but couldn’t help it. He had disappeared at a time when things were at their worst.

“Temporarily. But I didn’t just leave you. I had someone watch over you while I was gone.”

“Well, whoever you left in charge never showed.”

“He wasn’t meant to. I left a Wanderer to keep an eye on you while I was away. He’s been working alongside Ryker.”

I narrowed my eyes, confused. “How did you manage to arrange that?”

“Through Spencer Darley.”

“Sure, but why would he spend any of his resources on me? Besides, I thought Wanderers were only assigned to humans, interesting ones at that.”

“That’s right. You were a special case.”

“Why?”

“Cordelia, after what happened with Martha, it hit me how useless I was as your protector. My faery powers are unique and very useful at times, but quite useless when it comes to having to rescue demon princesses who seem to find themselves in trouble constantly.”

I shrugged. “No worries. I should be able to take care of myself. What happened to Martha was terrible; she was taken by surprise. I wished we’d warned her to be on guard. She might have been able to defend herself, then.”

“Would you have been, had it been you instead?” he asked.

My instinct was to lie and reassure him that I would have had no problem dealing with such an attack. But I was no Faustine, and he’d already seen me being swooped off by Mason. “Probably. The incident with Mason has made me extra vigilant.”

“Probably just isn’t good enough.”

“Well, it’s the best I can do, and I’m still here. Anyhow, I don’t think Spencer Darley will assign a Wanderer to permanently babysit me, so I just have myself.”

“And me.”

I nodded.

He smiled. “Cordelia, there’s something I haven’t told you. You need to know that…my mom is a hybrid; she’s part Wanderer.” He waited, giving me time to process the information.

I wasn’t exactly sure what he was trying to tell me. I had already kind of guessed he was a hybrid of some kind. “So,” I said, “your dad is a faery, and your mom is a Wanderer hybrid. What else is she?”

“She is mostly faery. My grandmother is a hybrid Wanderer. My grandfather was a full faery.”

“Well, so you really wouldn’t be considered a hybrid then…right?”

“That’s what I had assumed, especially since my grandmother never opted to live as a Wanderer.”

“Okay. Jagger, that’s nice.” I didn’t know what else to say. It was interesting to find out more about him, but we’d been apart for such a long time, and I wanted to know where he’d been instead of more about his family tree. I rubbed his hand.

“Cordelia, I’ve been getting trained to use my Wanderer powers.”

I gaped at him. “What?”

“I asked Spencer Darley to consider inducting me into the Wanderers. It took some convincing, but Ryker really helped, and so did King Sebastian.”

I let go of him and lay back on the bed. I stared up at the ceiling, trying to get my brain in gear. Jagger was a Wanderer? What the heck did that mean? “No more faery dust?” I asked.

He laughed. “Oh, you are funny!” But his expression then turned serious. “Wanderer powers are different from regular paranormal powers, which are innate. In fact, Wanderer powers have to be switched on, but once they’re on, they’re permanent. So, in all seriousness, yes, I’m still a faery, but now my Wanderer powers will supersede the faery ones.”

“Sheesh, Jagger. I can’t get my head around it. Why did you do this?”

“I did it for us. I had to be able to protect you, and now I can. But it comes with a price.”