Magic and Misconduct: Sleep Hollow Academy - Book 1 Page 7

  “That’s really cool.” It wasn’t a theory I’d ever really heard about, but I could see how it made sense as a theory. Like Adam and Eve being the source of all humans, some supernatural being might be the source of all supernaturals. It was an attractive thought. “Hearing what goes into it makes it even better.”

  “I like the theory. I don’t see why it couldn’t be true, even if I can’t prove that it is, but it inspires a lot of art and gives it a purpose beyond looking pretty.” He sipped on his tea, and I remembered for the first time that mine was there.

  “This has probably gone cold,” I said with a laugh.

  It was still warm though, and tasted as good as it smelled. “We are definitely making this a regular occurrence,” I said, hoping it wasn’t too eager. But I’d had a good time today, and I got on well with Colin. Even though I’d feared the worst after the party and his confrontation with Daniel, today had been totally relaxed. He hadn’t pushed me, he hadn’t made things too serious. We’d just chatted.

  And it had been fun.

  He gave me a smile that could have been shy. “I’d like that.”

  We chatted for nearly an hour longer, and I found out more about his life. He’d been abandoned as a baby and grown up in foster homes. He was here at Sleepy Hollow on a full-ride scholarship, which was another reason that he took his studies so consistently seriously. If he slipped up then he would be gone for good.

  In turn, I told him about my own life, and how I’d been so desperate to leave Fort Ann.

  His theory about all supernaturals coming from a common ancestor appealed to both of us for the same reasons. It meant that he had a connection to other supernaturals beyond the familial ones we were lacking.

  When we’d finished our drinks we stood up and started heading back to campus. Somewhere on the way there, his long, graceful fingers found mine and laced together. I smiled without looking at him, skin tingling where he touched me.

  I wondered where else on me that he could make me grow warm like that, with just a butterfly touch of his fingers.

  Outside the entrance to my dorm building, we paused. “Thanks for walking me back,” I said, smiling up at him. I’d only just realized, when we stood this close together, that he was quite a bit taller than me.

  “If it means I get to spend that little bit longer with you, then of course. And… I heard about what happened with Carlotta. I wouldn’t have wanted to leave you alone to walk back to campus. Are you okay, after all that?”

  I squeezed his hand, which was still wrapped around his. “Yeah. I’m fine. Honestly, I’ve barely thought about it. It was just strange.”

  “Good.”

  We lapsed into a slightly awkward silence, and then moved together. I stood on my tiptoes to press my lips to his, and he wrapped his free hand around my waist.

  I could barely believe I’d had the nerve to do it when it was my first kiss, but since the moment Colin had reached for my hand, I knew that I wanted to kiss him.

  And it was just as good as I’d imagined. My whole body felt on fire as his lips pressed against mine, gentle at first and then moving faster and opening my mouth, testing my tongue against his. Heat raged in my stomach, and lower. I pulled my hand from his so I could wrap it around his neck, his long red hair tickling the back of my fingers.

  I almost let myself moan, a small dangerous sound that threatened to slip between my lips as he ran his tongue against my upper lip.

  He pulled back a little, breaking the kiss and resting his forehead against mine. “And I knew I needed to do that before I said goodbye to you.”

  I couldn’t stop the grin on my face. “If I only get to kiss you when I say goodbye then I guess we should make plans to see each other again very soon.”

  The butterflies in my stomach persisted, and a small parted of me wanted to tell him that this didn’t have to be goodbye for the night. He could come up with me to my room and we could spend the entire night together in my bed, and he could make everywhere else on my body tingle like my lips were right now.

  But this was my first date ever, my first kiss ever. As turned on as he’d already made me, I wasn’t ready to jump straight into bed with someone. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to keep it casual if I did that. I wasn’t sure if I’d already crossed the boundary a little too much.

  Colin gave me another peck on the lips, and then stiffened a little in my arms. I was about to ask him what was wrong when I heard the door to the dorms shut behind me. When I turned, I saw Nala’s silver hair and beautiful face. She smiled at us.

  I let my arms drop and smiled back. “Hey, Nala,” I said, well aware that there was a past between her and Colin that I still didn’t have the full details off.

  “Hey you guys,” Nala replied, looking completely at ease. Whatever had happened, it was very obvious that Nala had been the one to make it stop. “Just heading out to the library. I’ve already fallen behind on my reading.” She rolled her eyes. “I never learn. Well, literally in this case. It might be a late one, so I hope I’m not too loud with my door or anything when I come in. Good to see you, Colin.”

  “Right.” Colin’s voice was wooden. “You too, Nala.”

  Nala gave them a wave before wandering off, bouncing on her heels as if she was skipping.

  I glanced back to Colin, chewing in the inside of my cheek and wondering if it was a good idea to even broach the subject. “You okay?” I asked.

  He shook his head, as if physically shaking himself out of the mindset he’d just fallen into. “Yeah. Yeah, fine. Just… Ah, nothing.” He wrapped his arms around my waist again. “Just devastated at being so rudely interrupted like that.”

  The spell was broken though, and so I kissed him for just another couple of moments before we broke apart. “I suppose I should let you go and catch up on your reading and your sleep,” he said.

  I did a semi-faked yawn. “Yeah. I’m trying my best to keep a regular sleeping schedule. I’ve been bad with it in the past.”

  “But I’ll see you again soon?”

  “I hope so.”

  We kissed a final time before I disappeared back into the dorm building. Whatever had happened between Colin and Nala, he didn’t seem over it. Maybe that was best if this was just a casual thing. He wasn’t like to get invested in me if he was invested in Nala.

  But the twist in my gut when he’d been so effected by her nagged me for the rest of the evening.

  I didn’t like it.

  I was more than ready to collapse into my bed and try not to think too hard about what Colin was really feeling, but the moment I opened the door to my room, I spotted Laurie and Brian on her bed, aggressively making out.

  They didn’t even hear me opening the door.

  Rolling my eyes but grinning, I eased the door shut again. I supposed I could find something to do with myself and let them have the fun I’d been very tempted to invite Colin up to have with me.

  10

  Vlad

  I was reading textbooks in the light of the sun today. It was bright but cold, but my dragon shifter body kept me insulated from the lack of heat, and so I could sit in a tight shirt beneath the blue sky and enjoy the light on my skin. Days spent underground in dark classrooms always got to me, and I escaped to the sunlight skies of the campus, or the nearby park like I was now, whenever I could to work.

  And when it was chilly, it normally meant it was quieter out here.

  Today, though, people were still just about grinning and bearing the chilly day to make the most of one of the good days of the early fall. Students were gathered on a picnic blanket, wrapped in coats and scarves, and reading textbooks. Some people from the town were out walking their dogs.

  I liked the public park, it had lakes and ducks and was generally pretty quiet because of the lack of students. Today was no different.

  I scanned the words on the book, hoping that my brain was subconsciously paying attention to the words I was reading because my brain definitely wasn�
��t.

  It was distracted, by Marina. It wasn’t irregular for me to get a fixation like this, especially because I hadn’t seen her in over a week now. It was typical, I knew, but absence really did make the heart grow fonder.

  I could just pull out my phone and text her. I’d scrounged her number off Daniel. But Daniel had gotten her number because he’d liked her even more than I had. I should let him have this one.

  Two people walking a small, squat but muscled dog passed nearby and didn’t give me a second glance. But when they walked past the students on the picnic blankets with their books out, it all happened in a flash. One minute they were just minding their own business, and the next they were unleashing a torrent of verbal abuse on the first years.

  “Disgusting scum, get the fuck out of our town.”

  “You should all be put in camps.”

  “Freaks.”

  I stood up at the same time as the college students did, clenching my fists just as hard. They fired some insults back, but thankfully there was no physical move to use any abilities or attacks on them. I’d started toward the group, but they’d backed off as quickly as they’d come, slinging insults over their shoulders as they went.

  Uneasiness settled over me. I didn’t recognize the group. They might not have even been from Sleepy Hollow.

  “You guys okay?” I asked. They were first years, I was sure of it.

  A Fae woman lifted a shoulder. “Fine. It’s not something I haven’t dealt with before. There are always humans who will tell you things like that.”

  “There shouldn’t be.”

  She lifted a shoulder again. “It’s just the way it is. Thanks for coming over though.” I didn’t miss the slightly appreciative glance she gave me. “Not cold?”

  “Dragon shifter. All the fire inside me keeps me warm.”

  “What a gift,” she replied, wrapping herself tighter in her coat. “Well, thanks again. I guess we’ll maybe see you on campus some time.”

  She turned back to the other two, who were talking to each other, and Vlad left them to it.

  But the whole thing had thrown me off. Things seemed like they were ramping up. It had been a long time since the last proper war between humans and supernaturals, and I didn’t want to ever see that kind of unrest in my life time.

  I should spent more time in the town, make sure that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Give myself some peace of mind about how militant humans were getting again. It was probably a couple of rogue protesters that had come to Sleepy Hollow thinking they’d be able to shout at some students and feel better about themselves, feel like they’d done something.

  I was getting ahead of myself.

  Ability to concentrate on reading vanished, I packed up my things and started heading back to campus. I could have gone straight home, but I wanted to grab some things from the cafeteria. My fridge was pretty sparse after spending so much time on campus for the first week of classes, and I wasn’t feeling much like cooking anyway.

  The temptation in these moments was always to transform into my dragon form. A black beast the size of a car, I could travel a lot quicker in that form than as a human. But shifting for no reason wasn’t generally a good idea. It tired me out, it would ruin my clothes, and it would scare people.

  I trudged back to campus with the weight of the verbal assault I’d just witnessed on my shoulders.

  When I was almost at the cafeteria, I was accosted by Sergeant Waxton and Professor Crane.

  I didn’t bother hiding my scowl. “I said no,” I snapped, attempting to move past them, but not stupid enough to actually shove a teacher out of the way.

  “Now, now,” Professor Crane said, his weasly voice grating at my ears. “We just want to have a conversation.”

  “I’m not interested in your rhetoric.” I substituted rhetoric for bullshit in my mind, but also just about avoided swearing at a teacher too.

  “Not rhetoric,” Waxton said. His voice always sounded like he was barking instructions at new recruits that he despised. I had no idea how he thought he was going to convince anyone like that. “Facts. It’s not rhetoric that the army offers an exceptionally good salary with benefits, and has a clear line of career progression that you’d start experiencing within two years of joining the force.”

  “Right. Because I’m sure I’d make it to two years alive.” I shook my head and once again made an attempt to move past them and get into the building. I just wanted some food and then to go home.

  “Mortality rates in the armed forces are at the lowest they’ve been for years,” Waxton said, folding his arms. “I understand your skepticism, but if you’d let me give you the facts—”

  “Mortality rates in the entire army might be down, but I’ve got no doubt that your supernaturals divisions don’t represent the entire army.” I shook my head again and clenched my fists for a second. I knew what their game was. Recruiting paranormals so that we could be thrown onto any frontline they could find. We’d be cannon fodder. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to let myself be taken in by them.

  My anger was going to bubble over if I stayed and talked to them much longer. I’d had friends in their final year who had been convinced by this bastard, and at least one of them was dead already.

  I turned on my heel and strode away. There would be something to eat in the house. It would have to do. I wouldn’t be at the college much longer if I punched the smug assholes in the face, or shifted into a dragon and melted their faces off.

  I slammed the front door behind me when I got home, and scowled as I walked toward the kitchen, now ravenously hungry. Daniel, who sometimes stayed over in the basement, was lounging on a couch with all the curtains drawn. The sun had nearly disappeared, but even that much amount of light would have been uncomfortable for him.

  “Hey, man,” Daniel said, poking his head up over the back of the couch. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “Humans.”

  “You’ve turned to cannibalism?”

  “I was in town today and some humans assaulted a group of students.”

  Daniel’s teasing smile faded. “Oh.”

  “Yeah.”

  He stood up in one fluid movement. He managed to be graceful despite being over six foot and ridiculously muscled. “I just don’t understand why it always has to be an issue. We don’t abuse our powers, they don’t abuse their numbers. We’re living in harmony.”

  “There are always going to be people who can’t accept that someone is different. I should know, I’ve been called a Gypsy more than once since being in the US.” I could speak English as well as everyone, but the accent sometimes made me a target. It wasn’t something I cared about. There was never going to be a US-Romanian conflict based on a few bad stereotypes.

  Humans and paranormals though… that was different. That was a conflict that was always on the edge of people’s thoughts. Always a real possibility.

  “But it would be so catastrophic,” Daniel said. “I mean, why do we need to be so hostile. What does that get anyone?”

  “It doesn’t get anyone anything, except to make xenophobic assholes feel better about themselves. Waxton and Crane cornered me and tried to get me to join up to the cannon fodder program again today as well.” I opened the fridge and was pleasantly surprised to see it stocked with some basics. “Did you go shopping?”

  “I mean, I didn’t go shopping during the day, but I asked some friends if they could drop some stuff off. They were passing.”

  “Friends?”

  Daniel grinned. “Not Marina, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “But was she the first person you asked?”

  “I’d like a better excuse to see her than, can you drop off my weak sunlight sensitive body some food please?”

  “What are you waiting for then? Find a better excuse. I’m sure you have plenty.”

  He shifted his weight. “I don’t know. Something about it feels different this time.”

  �
�So she’s gorgeous and she didn’t take any convincing to believe that you weren’t a threat. It’s a good thing. Not something to be nervous about. I’m telling you man, you need to snap her up before someone else does. She’s going to get all the attention. And she has that cute, naive air about her. You just want to wrap your arms around her and make sure she never has to see anything bad in the world.”

  Daniel raised a brow. “I didn’t realize you’d gotten it hard for her, too.”

  I waved him off. He’d seen her first, had the special interest, I wasn’t going to make a move.

  “No, seriously man.” Daniel pushed, coming to stand in the kitchen as I grabbed ham, egg and cheese from the fridge so I could make an omelet. “You’re really into her?”

  “I mean, she’s hot, okay? I wouldn’t say no. But you saw her first. I’m not going to step on your toes. Would you like any food?”

  “I’m good. I’m also, er, not sure she’d mind you stepping on my toes.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well when Colin and I were winding each other up, she said that there was enough of her to go around. Not sure how serious she was about that of course, but definitely worth considering.” He grinned, showing his fangs.

  “You’d really be okay with sharing her?”

  “It’s not like we haven’t done it before.”

  Well that was true. Last year there had been a couple of times that we saw the same girl at the same time. As long as she was up for it, then why not? And between Daniel and me there would never be any secrets. If one of us stopped being okay with it, we’d say so.

  And Marina was someone I hadn’t been able to keep off my mind.

  “Okay,” I said. “So text her. Let’s go on a date.”

  11

  Marina

  The next weeks passed in a blur.

  A very enjoyable blur.

  Classes only got better. We were getting into the real meat of the subjects now, and I’d managed to put Professor Crane’s doubts out of my mind after my meeting with Professor Macon the next day. Macon had assured me that Crane probably didn’t dislike me personally, he was like that with everyone. He made it very clear he didn’t like Crane, even if he refused to say it outright.