“What do you want,best friend?” I managed to find my tongue, faking a bright smile. The air was electric between us. I had no idea what the battle was,or who would draw the first blood, but it was a battle all the same. “We’re just heading for the welcome ceremony.”
He didn’t move closer, but I felt crowded as his gaze narrowed. “I have everything I want, Paisley Hallistar.” His repeated use of my full name was crashing into my system, sendingit fucking haywire. Bastard was aware of it too, if that knowing smirk was any indication. “Don’t you remember our last days?”
Swallowing hard, it was a real effort to keep my voice neutral. “I don’t remember you,” I said flatly. “I was only four whenwe were—”
“Torn apart?” he suggested. I found those words odd, and that heat in my veins surged again; my cheeks had better not lookas flushed as I felt.
His friend placed his giant hand on Logan’s shoulder, and for the mildest of reprieves I wasn’t trapped in that gaze. “It’stime for assembly,” Giant said, words clipped as if he talked only when necessary.
An unspoken message passed between them, and I could feel how tense my siblings were around me, but no one broke the silence,until Logan returned his icy, penetrating stare to me. “See you soon, Precious.”
Precious?Did that fuckwit of a spellcaster just call me—?
“What the fuck?” Trevor growled, swiping a hand through his dark hair until it stood up on end. “We should just kill him nowand get it over with.”
Jenna made a noise that sounded like shock but could have been horror. “Trev! What the Hel is wrong with you. You can’t threatenwarlocks like that, you’ll end up in prison.”
At that point, Trevor didn’t really appear to give a shit, but he also didn’t follow Logan and Giant, who were already halfwaydown the hall, filling the space between the walls with their broad shoulders.
Meanwhile, I was in the midst of a mini panic attack because it was very clear who had drawn the first blood, and he’d doneso with polite conversation.
Jensen looked almost as pissed as Trevor. “That asshole was waiting for us. How did he know we were coming along at that moment?”
“Spellcaster,” I reminded them, my voice hollow. “They’re in touch with earth magic and can read the energy of others. Thefive of us leave a distinct essence behind.”
Alice nodded, looking pale as she swallowed roughly. “She’s right.” Her focus turned to me, blocking out the others. “Areyou okay, sis? That felt a little confrontational.” Her empathy was second to none as she picked through the vibes of themeeting.
Confrontational and deeply unnerving. “It felt like a threat,” I murmured, wondering if I was losing my mind. “Why is he focusedon me? This is a family vendetta, and yet... that felt...”
“Personal,” Trevor snarled, flames dancing in his eyes. “Which is exactly why we should kill him.”
Jenna shot a worried gaze around, but no one paid us any attention. “Hewassolely focused on you,” she said, the blue of her eyes darkening. We all hadHallistar blueeyes, in varying shades. I wondered if mine were as dark as my siblings’ right now.
“Too focused.” Trevor was getting more and more worked up. “Of course the bastard would be six feet five and built like abrick shithouse.”
“With an even bigger friend,” Jensen reminded him.
Trevor breathed deeply through his nose. “I can still take him, don’t fucking worry about it.”
Before I could advise him to absolutely leave that terrifying warlock alone, Jensen slapped him on the shoulder. “You’ve gotme, bro. We’ll deal with him together.”
I was surrounded by idiots.
“No!” Jenna snapped. “Absolutely no one is dealing with him. We will ignore the Kingston in the school. We will not provokea spellcaster. Are you two insane?”
With that, she got us moving again, because we were reallygoing to be late for the assembly. My watch told me it was nearing 5:00 p.m.
“Why did he move back now?” I asked, my brain stuck in a loop of Logan. Now that I had his grown-up face to go with the name,I was finding it harder to block him from my thoughts. “Dad thinks it might be because we’re all in school here. Logan andhis father can deal with us in one place.”
No one had an answer, but their worried expressions remained as we entered the Zoo and joined the fray of students headingto Writworth. We turned left into a hall and took a set of stairs two floors up to classrooms, their doors open to give mea glimpse of desks and paraphernalia for spellwork. The scent of yarrow and thyme hit us as we passed a room with longer desksand candles set up in pentacles. An apothecary classroom.
The assembly hall was at the end of this row, and when we entered the vast room, noise surrounded us. I couldn’t see Loganand his friend anywhere. In fact, there was no one in this room I knew outside of my family. None of my classmates from secondaryhad made it into Weatherstone, either due to a lack of power bloom or because they’d tested into another college. My bestfriends, Trina Creston and Olivia Turn, were going to Wicca State, in California.
We’d promised to keep in touch, but the odds were that after a few months the calls would become fewer and further between.College was where lifelong bonds were created in the magical world, because this was where we found our covens. Most of theWeatherstone students would end up in the top covens as well.
As damn depressing as it was, the hierarchy existed for a reason, and it was all about power. Power and connections.
Jenna led us to the front, scowling at Trevor when the first few rows were already filled. We ended up in the fourth back,and my brothers, still riled up, looked like they’d kill the next witch or warlock to look sideways at us.
