Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2) (13 page)

“You must be more careful,” Hunt said.

“Where did you come from? Can all wizards appear and
disappear?” I asked.

“No. Did you find the witness?”

“I did. A fae named Amelia Bell. She was helping
Cooper right before he died and had nothing at all to do with the death. I saw
what happened from her mind.”

He sighed. “What did she see?”

“Something in the shadows got him.”

There was no surprise or confusion in his eyes. “You
need to drop the case. I will handle it from here.”

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. “Where is Vincent?
The council is here to find an amulet they believe you took, and I was under
the impression that Vincent is your good friend. So why isn’t he here keeping
an eye on them?”

“He is working on more important matters; something
far more important than keeping my school open. Now, you both have a class
early in the morning, so I suggest you return to your room and try to get some
sleep.”

Henry looked at me expectantly, waiting to see if I
would argue or leave. I turned to leave.

“Devon…” I glanced back at Hunt. “Do not tell
Professor Langril what happened or who witnessed it.”

“I’m not sure I trust you any more than him.” Henry
and I left and nearly ran right into Kale as he rounded the corner ahead of us.
He looked so relieved to see me that I couldn’t contain my groan. “Seriously? I
have class in five hours.”

“Lucos.” We all turned to see Clara coming down the
hall. “I’ve been looking for you,” she said to Kale, ignoring us. “My father
wants you to talk to him about international covens.” As he sputtered, trying
to argue, she grasped his arm and pulled him back the way she had come.

The day was catching up to me and apparently Henry,
because we both just stood in the hallway for a moment before returning to our
room in silence. Darwin was asleep when we got there and the lights were off. I
didn’t even bother to take off my shoes before crawling into bed. I was asleep
in seconds.

Heather was sitting on the
coffee table in my living room while I sat on the couch. “This is new,” I
remarked.

She smirked. “I thought this was more comfortable.”

“Why do I keep dreaming about you after you died?
These aren’t normal dreams.”

“Well, I have much more to tell you. Fortunately, my
death was a coincidence. John didn’t know who I was or what my father and I
were after. Now it is up to you to find it.”

“Find what?”

“The key. You have to find the fourth key before
Vincent and Logan do. I can help you. I want you to make a blood contract with
me.”

“What is a blood contract? That sounds like something
Clara would want. I’m not giving anyone my blood.”

“It isn’t your blood I need. I can help you if you
let me. Without me, they will eventually get you to help them, and once they
get the key from you, they will kill you.”

“Who are they? Are you talking about Hunt and
Vincent?”

“Devon, you must agree to a blood contract.”

“No.”

Hell, even her father told me not to agree to
anything, and I damn sure wasn’t agreeing to a contract involving blood. There
was also the fact that I was talking to a girl who had been murdered. Then
again, considering her father…

“Are you dead or alive?” I asked.

“Yes.”

*          *          *

I woke to a presence I would know anywhere, but when
I opened my eyes, I was alone with my roommates. Astrid had been in my room.

The knocking came a few minutes later and all three
of us groaned. “I’m skipping,” Darwin said.

I nodded, absentmindedly. “Alpha Flagstone will chew
me out, but I’m not moving.”

Henry slowly got out of his bed. “I cannot miss class
with the council present; I would stand out.”

*          *          *

The second time I woke, it was to Ghost sitting on my
chest. The damn cat weighed twenty pounds, so I was justified when I shoved him
off with a grunt. He yowled as he hit the floor.

I glanced at my watch and saw that I only had an hour
before my afternoon classes began. My stomach growled as I climbed down the
ladder. “Darwin, time to get up,” I said loudly. The man rolled over and put
his pillow over his head. I rolled my eyes and left to take a shower.

Half an hour later, I sat down at my usual place in
the dining room with a plate of food. Henry was already in eating and didn’t
say anything. Despite the fact that he kept secrets from me, I considered him
my friend. My instincts told me I could trust him.

We headed to class about ten minutes later. Right
outside the classroom, one of the C-Five women intercepted us. She ignored me
and shoved a small, blue, glass bottle in Henry’s hand. “Drink this,” she
demanded.

He gave her a bored stare and, without breaking eye
contact or hesitating for a second, he drank it. He handed the empty bottle
back to her as she waited expectantly for the potion to take effect.

When nothing happened, she looked confused. “That was
the most powerful love potion known. How…?”

“The full moon begins on the fourth,” Henry said
simply, unimpressed. Without another word, he walked past her. She looked
embarrassed as she ran off in the opposite direction.

“Why would you drink a potion someone just hands
you?” I asked Henry.

“The women are trying to break me. If they find it
amusing trying to win my affections with potions and tricks, I don’t mind. In
fact, if they could, I would be grateful, as long as they left me alone
afterwards.”

“Maybe Amelia can help you. She was afraid to because
of the shadows, but if we’re there with her, maybe she’ll be willing. We can
ask her in class.” We arrived at the classroom, only to see that Amelia wasn’t
there yet. Erik joined us as soon as we sat down and Darwin rushed in with
seconds to go before Kale started lecturing.

“Where’s Amelia?” Darwin asked.

“I saw Addison taking her somewhere about three hours
ago,” Henry said.

“Where’s Addie?”

“She has Alpha Flagstone’s class right now.”

He stood. “I got to go to the bathroom,” he told
Kale, then turned and walked out before Kale could argue. The wizard shook his
head and continued boring the class to death. A few minutes later, Darwin
returned. “Hunt had told Addie to bring Amelia to see him. That was the last
she saw of Amelia.”

Henry and Darwin both looked at me, waiting for my
response. Erik was staring blankly at Kale, probably asleep with his eyes open.
I leaned towards Henry and Darwin and lowered my voice. “I think we need to be
a little less trusting of the headmaster until Amelia is found.”

“So what do we do now?”

“We need to find Amelia and whoever is using
shadows–”

“You three are obviously not used to vampires,” Erik
interrupted. “Every one of us in here can hear you. We have exceptional
hearing.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Darwin said. He stood. “I
got to go to the bathroom again,” he interrupted Kale, who gave him a startled
look as if Darwin said he was going to beat some puppies.

Henry and I stood. “We’re going, too, in case he gets
lost,” I said.

We headed out into the hall and shut the door behind
us. “Is anyone close enough to hear us?” I asked.

“Yes,” Henry answered.

“Let’s go outside.” We went to the greenhouse, since
it was empty and very unlikely we could be overheard from balconies or windows.
“The first thing we need to do is find Amelia and whoever is using shadows to
kill people. Second, there is the council’s amulet, which we need to find. Now,
I’m pretty sure Hunt doesn’t have it because he seemed really distressed that
it was missing. At this point, I don’t want him or the council to have it.”

“What do we do with it when we find it?” Darwin
asked.

“I’m thinking we bury it or hide it somewhere.”

“I can find it,” Henry said.

“How?” Darwin asked.

“Just like you can find and obtain information, I can
find and obtain objects. However, if the amulet is not here, it will require
that I leave without permission. I need an alibi and a witness, and it would be
better for me to do it before or after the full moon.”

“If someone has an amulet that can render us
powerless, I think we should get it as soon as possible,” Darwin argued.

“You seemed to handle yourself alright under the full
moon,” I said.

“I have a non-violent, physical outlet here. I am
normally kept unconscious during the full moon. Of course, much of that is
because I would likely hunt down and kill my fiancé otherwise.”

“Are your parents like you?”

“No.”

Danger.
I suddenly felt like we were being
watched. More than that, I felt like we were being hunted. “We need to get back
to the castle,” I said. Henry snarled and scanned the room. I didn’t see
anything odd or anyone hiding behind the pots, but I knew
something
was
there. “What do you smell?”

“Nothing,” he growled. “And that infuriates my cat
because we can feel that we’re surrounded.” He gestured that I moved away from
the wall, so I went to stand next to Darwin. Henry paced a slow circle around
us, looking for our enemy. I couldn’t see anyone standing outside through the
clear plastic walls.

“Where is it?”

“Everywhere.”

Darwin screamed and backed up into me, nearly
tripping. I caught him by the back of his hoodie. “Something moved!” he yelled,
pointing to a dark section of the greenhouse.

With moonlight streaming through the roof, that side
of the building shouldn’t have been so dark. “It’s the shadows,” I said. “Stay
away from the shadows.”

“Devon,” Henry said. I followed his gaze to the
doorway, where shadows were spreading across the floor to block our way out.
“We could really use some wizard magic here.”

What defeats a shadow? Not fire, not bullets, and
certainly not water.
I pulled my penlight from my pocket, calmly, as if I
wasn’t aware of the danger we were in, and casually clicked it on. It didn’t
even vaguely penetrate the darkness, but that hadn’t been my intention. I
considered what I had learned about magic.
Focus, imagine, visualize,
project, and will.

I focused on what I needed— more light— and imagined
the light growing brighter. I didn’t panic; I was actually calm. While
visualizing the light spreading further and brighter from the tip of my small
flashlight, I drew from the calmness and pushed away the sense of danger.
I
can do this because I am a wizard, and that’s what wizards do.

It wasn’t heat that formed in me, but a sense of
strength. Sentences I had read in Vincent’s book flashed across my mind. I
couldn’t understand most of what had been in the book, but I could learn it
apparently.

The light on the tip of the penlight began to spread
until it was too bright to look at and flooded the room. I closed my eyes for a
moment until the light faded. The shadows were back to normal and my penlight
was dead.

“Shit,” I said, clicking it off and on. When it
obviously wouldn’t turn back on, I stuck it back in my pocket. “Remind me never
to try to use my phone for magic.”

“Now we have to deal with attacks from shadows? This
is ridiculous!” Darwin exclaimed.

“That was not an attack; that was someone checking us
out,” Henry said.

“I’ll dig around in the council’s records and–”

“Hunt is coming,” Henry interrupted.

I sensed his presence a split second before the
headmaster appeared out of the shadowed corner. “You should not snoop, Mr.
Mason,” Hunt said.

“Snoop? Me? I was talking about the council of the
public pools, and by dig, I meant Google. Can’t be too careful with the pH
balance.”

“Devon, I need you to come with me. You two should
get back to class. Kale can flunk you.”

“He won’t flunk me, mate. I know what he did to
Chamber’s–”

“Mr. Mason, although I have no objection to you
blackmailing your professors, I do not need to hear it.” He turned to address
me. “Stephen has a problem and he has specifically requested to talk to you
about it.”

“Fortunately, I’m not a vampire, so I don’t have to
answer to Stephen.” I didn’t feel very welcoming towards him or any other
vampire knowing that Astrid had been in my room at least once since the start
of the semester.

“Stephen makes a much better ally than enemy.”

“He’s a vampire; he’ll kill people just like Astrid.”

Hunt sighed. “I hoped you overcame your prejudice.”

John had hated vampires even more than me, and I
really didn’t even know why. My hatred of vampires was because of what Astrid
did to my parents, although that didn’t make it any less irrational. “I am
getting over it, but it isn’t a five-minute process.”

“Then at least listen to what Stephen has to say. You
need to see them as people. Yes, they need blood to survive, but there are good
and bad vampires, just as there are wizards, fae, shifters, and humans.”

“We should go with you,” Henry said, watching me
expectantly for my instructions.

“I’ll go. You two get back to class in case you have
to skip later,” I said. Hunt made a sound, which I ignored. “Henry, get ready
for what we talked about.” He nodded and I followed Hunt out. “Do I get to use
my gun again?”

“Only if you brought it.”

Hunt’s SUV was already running in the driveway. “Is
Alpha Flagstone driving, or am I?” I asked.

“Rosin is still the acting vice principal until I can
find someone I trust to take Rebecca’s place.”

“Why isn’t Remy taking the position?”

“She is unwilling.”

“Don’t worry; I’m here,” Clara said through the open
window. Her candy-apple red hair distracted me for a moment from the fact that
she was in the driver’s seat.

“I am not getting in a car that you’re driving. Move
over. Where is Professor Nightshade?”

“Asleep,” Hunt answered as Clara climbed over the
console into the passenger’s seat. He got into the back seat and I got behind
the wheel. “I left the key in my room,” I said, seeing it on the same key ring
with my other keys in the ignition. “You were in my room?”

“Well, Astrid was. I didn’t want to feel left out.”

Hunt sighed. “Clara, you are exacerbating the
situation.”

I pulled out of the driveway and Clara gave me
directions. Once we got onto the main road, Clara moaned and whined about me
driving the speed limit. I ignored her. If we were in a major accident, I could
die, whereas Clara’s reflexes would save her.

*          *          *

Two miserable hours later, we arrived at the vampire
coven. The smartly-dressed Italian vampire from our previous visit was waiting
at the door again and bowed at Clara as we got out of the car.

“Your father is in–”

“I know,” Clara interrupted, walking past him without
looking at him. We followed her through the halls. The house was spacious with
high ceilings, blank white walls, and sophisticated furniture. The blend
between traditional gothic and modern was unique and exactly the kind of place
I would never expect to see Astrid in. Part of me wanted to use my power to try
to detect her. Fortunately, I knew better. 

She led us to the library, which still managed to
impress me with the magnitude of books. Shelves packed with books lined two
walls while a fireplace occupied most of a third. There was a large desk, two
chairs, a couch, and a coffee table.

Unlike last time, Stephen was sitting at his desk.
“Logan, Devon, thank you both for coming,” he said as he stood.

I finally realized why he looked so familiar when I
first met him. Although he had black hair, dark brown eyes, and natural tanned
skin, whereas Clara was fair skinned with burgundy eyes and dyed hair, there
was a noticeable resemblance between them. I had recognized him from seeing
Clara in the hallway.