“It’s all messed up.” I pursed my lips to keep from laughing, but Eva glued her eyes to the floor and didn’t notice.
“Must’ve gotten all windswept when I ran here.” She began patting her hair down self-consciously.
Hunter, on the other side of her, chuckled.
Alex snorted again and, unable to help myself this time, I glared at him. Why did he always do that? If he didn’t like me, or what I had to say, he didn’t have to listen to my conversation. I opened my mouth to tell him that, just as the professor spoke.
“Good afternoon, class. Today we will be doing something rather unusual.” Ms. Seeley, a unique witch with piercing purple eyes and long, blonde hair that broadcasted her mixed fae and witch heritage, stood at the front of the class. She was the only mixed magical on staff, and one of my favorite instructors.
“Does anyone remember the species of fae we discussed last time? The one that creates rings to make their way in and out of our realm to Faerie?” the professor asked.
A few hands shot up, and Ms. Seeley scanned the class. “Yes, Amethyst?”
“Faerie rings are traditionally made by the Pixie Court. But sometimes other courts use them too.”
Ms. Seeley’s violet eyes sparkled. “Very good, Amethyst. Now, does anyone remember how I described these rings? Specifically, how they would look should one have been closed by magic?”
This time, no hands shot up. I wracked my brain but came up empty on the specifics of what faerie rings looked like.
Amethyst raised her hand again.
“Amethyst?”
“Didn’t you say they would look a bit like small crop circles, with the innermost circle being in the shape of an oval and then expanding from there?”
Ms. Seeley clapped her hands, and I couldn’t help it, I released a frustrated sigh.
Alex whipped around and glared. The motion startled me, but I met his gaze, still miffed about his earlier exasperation. Then hedaredto roll his eyes.
What the hell!
“I hope everyone heard what Amethyst said, because today we are going into the forest and looking for dormant faerie circles.” Ms. Seeley began doing a headcount. When she finished, she smiled. “Wonderful. Our numbers are even. Everyone pair up with the person to their left, and we’ll get a move on.”
My stomach dropped, and I turned my head to the left to find Alex Wardwell’s jaw clenched tightly.
“I’m sure we can find other partners,” I snapped, unable to keep tension out of my tone.
“I was about to suggest the same.” Diana appeared out of nowhere and sidled up next to Alex, batting her eyelashes. “I’ll be your partner, Alex. We should probably work with people atourskill level, anyway. Efraim doesn’t mind working with the Legacy.” She gestured to the front of the room, where Efraim, a short and impressionable guy, stood waiting.
My lips parted at Diana’s insult, and anger began bubbling inside me. But contrary to my instincts, I kept quiet. I’djustsaid we could switch partners, and here Diana was, offering a solution to what was sure to be an uncomfortable class, albeit condescendingly.
To my great surprise, however, Alex shook his head. “No. There’s no need to make a fuss. We need to learn to work with those we don’t see eye-to-eye with.” He bolted out of the room.
Don’t see eye-to-eye with?My eyebrows arched. We hadn’t spoken to each other since the day he’d healed me after my fight with Tabitha, and only a handful of times before that. How would he know what we did or didn’t agree on?
“Hey. You should partner with Hunter. I’ll convince Alex to work with me,” Eva offered.
“And let jerkface know he affected me? Oh hell no,” I said, and followed my partner. Perhaps if we worked together, I’d finally get some damn answers.
Ms. Seeley led us out toward the lake and stopped close to the spot where I’d heard Tabitha screams. I joined the rest of the class, keeping a good distance between Alex and me, and scanned the grass and trees with unease.
“Flashbacks making you nervous, Legacy?” Alex whispered.
“Excuse me? What’s that supposed to—”
“As you all know, Spellcasters has been on these grounds for less than a century. Before that, it was a school for troubled human teenagers. During that time, these woods used to be rife with fae. Since Spellcasters hired me, I’ve deactivated a dozen rings. Your assignment today is to locate one of those rings.”
“But what if we come across an active one? How do you tell the difference?” Mina asked.
