Bael stumbled and turned back to look at his friend. “The fuckers who took your brother are out there, probably plotting to grab someone from the dance tonight. We could catch the bastardstonight,” Bael reminded him. “She will be safe with Pers and Thierry.”
Ryker clicked his jaw, and Nix watched as the hesitation faded from his face.No. Reminded of his brother, Ryker nodded and followed after Bael.
“No,” she whined and grabbed the bars again, trying to shake them, but the burning sensation was too much. She let them go and called out, “Do not leave me like this. I won’t forget this!”
“Will you stay with her while I retrieve Bowen?” Thierry asked Persius.
“Of course. She’ll be safe with me.”
No.Wrong. Persius had been caged right alongside her in their futures.
“Wrong.” Nix fell to her knees and rubbed at her temples. “Wrong. Wrong.”
“We’ll get you back to normal soon,” Thierry promised her.
Thierry rushed from the underground, abandoned basement of an old building on campus. Bael, Persius, and Ryker’s knowledge of hidden spots at the academy, learned from their mission to find the missing students over the last few years, came in handy with where to keep Nix until the enchantment was broken.
Bespelling a creature as powerful as a Phoenix was as impressive as it was dangerous. Thierry had been surprised to hear that Nix only burnedhalfthe dorm building after Bael sent the man, whom she had been bespelled to love, to Hell.
“Bowen,” Thierry shouted outside of the professor’s bedchambers in the faculty building. He knocked and swept a hand over his suit jacket as he waited.
Once Nix was cured, she would not hate them for keeping her in a cage. She would realize they were right and just trying to protect her. All would be fine.
“Bowen?”Knock, knock, knock. “I know it’s late, but—”
The door swung open to revealnotBowen.
Thierry frowned and double-checked the room number. “I, uh, am looking for—”
The older man grinned and nodded. “Actually, Professor Bowen moved on to a different job this morning. The dean flew me in as his replacement.”
“Bowen is…gone?” Thierry thought back to the session with the dean. Nix had mentioned what a great professor Bowen was. Would the dean have really…
“I’m still unpacking, but would love to have you over for some tea, maybe? Being a new professor, it is always difficult to make friends.”
“I need…” Thierry shook his overthinking brain, remembering why he was there. “I need a reversal potion, Professor…”
“Lemmuns,” Professor Lemmuns replied. “Reversal potion?”
“There is an enchanted student who needs it.”
The new potion professor’s eyebrows lifted. “A student has been bespelled?” Lemmuns asked, incredulous.
“Do you have any of the potion on you? Or the ingredients you need? It’s urgent.”
“I could…whip something up. But I would need to see the student. Ensure I am not handing off a potion to someone who is not truly under an enchantment.”
Thierry’s nose scrunched in annoyance. “Do you think I am lying?”
“No, no,” Professor Lemmuns said. “But a student could be lying to you about being bespelled. A reversal potion is only a few common ingredients away from an elixir that creates an addictive high.”
“She is not adruggie.” Thierry breathed through his nose, trying to keep his tone as cordial and not enraged as possible. “Can you come now? It is urgent that the enchantment is reversed.”
“Isn’t there a dance going on?”
“Yes, but she is…being kept safe in a basement near the edge of campus.”
“A basement?” Professor Lemmuns chuckled unevenly. “And you are sure she is not a druggie?”
