Everyone in the room nodded, and relief that I was not the only one questioning Professor Artibus’ teachings flooded me.
“The answer is simple.” Professor Artibus pointed to the whiteboard again. “While Nightblood might have been behind all of these attacks, recently—as of December, in fact—they have been in talks with the United States government. Last week, the U.S. government took them off the paranormal terrorist watch list. You, my students, are witnessing history in the making.”
Professor Artibus continued to drone on, and while just moments ago, I’d found the lecture riveting, I lost interest. I often preferred learning about our enemies rather than our allies. In this class, Artibus focused a lot on allies.
I thought that was a mistake.
Four attacks on my classmates meant we should focus on our enemies at all times. One might think me a little paranoid, and they would be right.
Since Alex had discovered the illuminated illustration of M&M, I’d been on edge. Whenever we had free time, Alex and I were in the library, reading everything we could find about the famed Arthurian wizard, trying to learn how we fit into the events unfolding around us. Unfortunately there wasn’t much, and there was even less about Morgan Le Fay.
Alex believed this was because Spellcasters kept much of the material regarding Merlin in the Rare Book Room, where only Crucible year students and professors could venture. I’d asked the head librarian once for access. I even pulled the “my parents are donors” card; a privilege I’d never used before, but in this instance, it felt warranted.
She’d flat out denied me.
“Miss Dane.” Professor Artibus stopped before my desk, ripping me from my musings.
I blinked. “Yes?” My spine straightened, and while my classmates stared, I did my best to look as if I had been listening the entire time.
“I understand that your workload has been getting to you. It’s often that way among first years as Beltane draws near. But please refrain from exhibiting your inattention so bluntly.”
I tilted my head, not understanding, and the professor gestured to my desk.
I glanced down, and my cheeks warmed. Apparently, I’d been doodling while my thoughts wandered. A depiction of Alex and me showed on the page, almost lifelike. We were locked in an embrace beneath a crescent moon in the middle of the forest. And even more embarrassingly, we were kissing.
While it was no secret that we were together, I didn’t think everyone wanted to blatantly view the details of my private relationship, andIdefinitely didn’t want them to know.
I set a book over the sheet. “I’m sorry, Professor Artibus. It won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t,” he said, and resumed lecturing.
Everyone else turned around, their attention back on the professor. Everyone, that is, except for Diana, who was scowling at the paper.
A knock sounded on my door, and I released a frustrated sigh. “Come in!”
The door opened with a whine, and Alex shuffled in. “Hey, sweets. I just wanted to come see you before bed.”
Though annoyance had filled me only a moment before, all my frustrations vanished. How could I be mad at the guy who was working as hard as I was to figure out the connection between our totems, the prophecy, and M&M?
“You could never bug me,” I said, pushing my chair back.
Alex arched an eyebrow, and a chunk of black hair fell over the rim of his glasses. “Even if I wore plaid with stripes?”
I winced. “Okay, there’s absolutely no reason to test me on that.”
He chuckled and sat down on the bed. “So, I spent the last two hours in the library, looking up Merlin and Morgan again.”
“And . . .?”
“Still nothing.” Alex threw up his arms, and I noticed the glint of his totem on his finger.
That was odd. Like me, he never wore his totem, or carried it around. Since we didn’t want to answer questions about how they interacted, we opted to leave them in our rooms.
“You’re wearing your ring,” I said and pulled my chain out from under my shirt. “That’s kinda weird, that we chose to do it on the same day.”
“I needed inspiration.”
I nodded, knowing what he meant, because I too had put the necklace on for inspiration. For two people who wereverydifferent, sometimes we thought so alike that it was scary.
