Of course.No one wanted an army filled with weaklings.
“Across the world?” someone asked. “Before they had transports to get around so easily?”
Professor Jones nodded. “Oh, yes. It took near another yearbefore students arrived, and then ten more years before the college grew in reputation, and they no longer had to recruit.”
“And so their training began,” Logan drawled. “Until they created their own version of the power and control which had beenstolen from them.”
Professor Jones observed the spellcaster for a beat. “Why, yes. Favoring necromancy, as was to be expected, to contain theabsolute plethora of death that exists below our feet. If a headmaster controlled this school who wasn’t a necromancer, whoknows what might happen.”
That made me think about the monsters I thought I saw last night. “Did you feel the blanket drop around the school last night?”I whispered to Belle.
She lifted her head from where she was taking notes, giving me an assessing look. “No, I didn’t. What time? I can check withDad.”
Yeah, he was about the last person I wanted to discuss any of this with now. “It’s okay, don’t bother your dad about it.”I shot her a reassuring smile. “Totally not important.”
She narrowed her eyes but didn’t argue, finishing her notes as the professor wrapped his story for the day. The bell chimed,so it was time for lunch, and then water class by the lake. I still sat out of this lesson, so I decided to skip and takethe time to research—I needed to find the book Elder Monroe had mentioned.
He’d been trying to make a point, and I wanted to know what it was.
“Ready for lunch?” Belle asked as we exited into the hallway.
“Yep,” I said in a rush, my stomach grumbling. “I just need to visit the library quickly—but I’ll meet you there.”
“Actually, she won’t be meeting you. Hurry along, little water elemental.”
Belle’s mouth fell open at the interruption, and before I could blink there was a warlock on either side of me. Mint and evergreen intermingled with leather and oak as their strong energies collided with mine. Tilting my head back, I wasn’t surprised to see Logan and Noah caging me between them, but just because I wasn’t surprised didn’t mean everyone else wasn’t. The noise and traffic ground to a halt around us, and I ground my teeth in response.
“Excuse me.” I injected every ounce ofgo fuck yourselvesinto those two words. “Are you two in charge of my schedule now?”
“We are,” Logan confirmed cheerfully, “and you’re booked in for extra training.”
My friends stood there, looking between me and the boys, no doubt wondering what I wanted them to do. “How does ‘fuck off’sound? It has a certain ring to it, and I think you might enjoy giving it a sho—”
Logan grasped my right arm, Noah my left, and before I could drop every four-letter word in my vocabulary, they lifted meoff my feet and started marching through the hallway, students parting for them.
“Call if you need some help,” Belle yelled after us, sounding like she was laughing.
Traitor.
“No need,” I snarled. “I’ll murder them on my own.”
And enjoy every second of it.
When we reached Ancot, I cleared my throat. “You can put me down now. I get your point.” They’d expertly demonstrated thatI was a bug compared to their size and strength, and there was no way for me to fight their command. Best to just shut upand fall in line.
To my surprise, they did place me back on my feet, and I rubbed my arms. Not that they’d hurt me, but their energywas strong enough to leave an invisible residue behind. “That was completely unnecessary.” I straightened my uniform. “But you’ve made your point. We’re training. What’s first?”
“First, you’re coming to the gym with us. You can eat after you work out.”
Logan strode off, and I fought down my next argument. I needed this shit over so I could get to the library and find thatbook. Noah lifted an eyebrow, remaining behind me as a living cage, and I wrinkled my nose at him. “Your master left. Hopeyou’re not on a choke chain.”
My aim was to create a little dissonance between them, but Noah just threw his head back and laughed. “Move your ass. Thisdog bites.”
I bet he did.
He trailed me all the way to the gym, and I debated throwing myself into the lake on the way just to get out of this. It wasn’tthat I was an unfit person—I’d been in modern dancing, ice skating, and roller-skating for years—but I hated the gym. Liftingweights looked horrific, and why the Hel would I run unless I was being chased?
Inside, they led me to the female locker room, and apparently I had my own locker, filled with brand-new sweats and a sportsbra. All in my size. Because that wasn’t creepy.
