Braxton snorted, finally pulling his gaze from his mate. “Word of warning, friend or not, don’t ever touch her cake.”
Jessa glared at him but didn’t argue. “We’ll be in touch about the private lessons. It was really nice to meet you, Maddi.”
My smile was genuine. “You too. Thanks for kicking all of their asses today. You’re pretty amazing, and I’d be honored to learn to fight from you.”
Jessa waved me off, but she looked pleased. I turned and grabbed my bag, heading out of the now empty room.
11
After class, I sent out a quick text to my friends to let them know I was heading for the library first and then the weight room. Their responses were as expected, and they made me smile at the familiarity. I loved my family.
Calen: The Academy has a library? Fuck.
Axl: I’ll be at the library researching thermodynamics.
Jesse: See you in the weight room, sweetheart. I’ll be your spot.
Rone: Okay.
Asher: Swim after?
Larissa: Girl, I’m exhausted. Where do you get your energy? I’ll see you at dinner.
With a laugh and groan, I replied to the ones who required a reply and hurried off to find the library. Just because I hadn’t been inside before didn’t mean I hadn’t walked past the building a ton of times. It was situated between the classrooms and practical magic building—connected to both but somehow still standing on its own. The outside was brick with ivy—the Academy trademark—with six steps leading up to the front entrance and two wide, red doors with brass handles. There was no clear indication it was open, so I just pushed down the lever and waited to see if it was unlocked.
The door swung open silently and I stepped inside, half expecting it to be dark and tomb-like. When bright sunlight greeted me, followed by the musty scent of old books, I let out a little happy sigh. Of every place I’d been to in the Academy, this one was the first to have an immediate presence. I couldfeelthe energy and knowledge of everything here.
I liked it.
Just inside the entrance was a desk with a blond-haired, fine-boned fey behind it. She was writing in a ledger; I assumed this was how they kept track of books borrowed. There would be some sort of magic involved as well. There always was.
She greeted me with a smile, which I returned before I ventured further into the huge room. It was legit massive, with shelves spanning all the walls and running in a mass of dark timber dividers throughout the area. Nothing here was orderly; it was almost like controlled chaos, and I found myself pushing closer so I could see more. Strolling along the shelves, I noted the genre and category labels—everything looked alphabetical inside their categories.
I ran my fingertips across a row of books, marveling at the thick leather spines in this section. These books felt …old.And powerful, maybe. I might have just been high from the awesome book smell, but I could have sworn I felt power coming from certain books.
“You can just ask for the book you want as well,” a low voice said from beside me, and I spun to smile at Axl.
“What do you mean?”
He inclined his head, and I followed him through the rows of shelves until we came to a small area with half a dozen tables. Axl clearly already had a table staked out with a heap of books piled on it. He pointed toward the school crest carved in the center of his table. “Just like with food, you can request a specific text if you know what you need. Just be careful if you’re going too general, because you might end up with a hundred books in front of you.”
I chuckled, working to keep my voice low. “Like if I asked for books on shifters or something?”
He nodded, a broad smile on his face—the library was Axl’s happy place. “Exactly.” He took a seat on the opposite side to me and reached for the book that he’d left open. “Have fun,” he said before he got right back to work.
This was definitely Axl’s idea of a fun time. I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to get into this building. I’d just been so overwhelmed last year, I couldn’t imagine trying to take in any more information than I absolutely had to. However, now I needed to know more.
Placing my hand on the crest, I whispered, “Omlong.”
I wasn’t sure if that was too general or not, so I waited with high anticipation for how many books might fly my way.
Six.
Six books landed in front of me, and I eagerly opened the first so I could view this kraken creature.
Twenty minutes later, when I’d learned all I could about the somewhat mythical, extremely powerful, scary as hell beast of the waters, I smiled. “The fact that Asher has a friend that is this insanely scary and powerful should worry me, but I find it kind of … reassuring.”
Asher was powerful in his own right. He had something extra in his blood, just like I did, but somehow the Alex thing cemented it even further for me.
