The prospect of actually making a friend seemed far greater than any questions about magic and runes and what that weird spark was...
“I’ll catch up with you at our appointment, Miss McCreanor,” he said, almost as if he could read my mind, or perhaps my troubled expression.
Norman’s free tentacle slid around my waist, pulling me forward until I was walking, his suckers traversing up and down my back along my uniform fabric. The sensation was strangely soothing.
“I mean, don’t feel bad for the guy and his horrid manners,” Norman said as Wanda chipped in, “Bane Locke is a dick to everyone. It’s kind of his thing.”
“Oh,” was all I could manage to squeeze out. Sure our first meeting had been a rude, brush off, but until Norman had started talking to me, until Professor O’Connor started speculating over the runes, he’d actually seemed kind of... nice. To me, anyway.
But perhaps I was mistaken. Clearly Wanda, Norman, and even Delaney knew the man better than I did.
“I mean, if we want to get technical,allincubi are certifiable dicks,” Norman said with a chuckle. “Comes with the territory, I guess.”
I froze in his grasp as I turned to face him.
Incubi?
“Bane is agancanagh?” I asked curiously.
“I don’t know about a goon-ca-nah, but yea, he’s a incubus. All dick, no substance, ain’t that right, Wanda?” Norman said with a dark chuckle.
Wanda’s impenetrable gaze did not falter. “I’m just lucky to have made it out of Bane’s clutches, alive,” she said coldly.
Something about her words angered me, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Where are we going?” I asked, suddenly realizing I was being led down a dark corridor that was rather isolated.
Why hadn’t I paid attention to where we were going...
Or worse, what sort of plans did these two really have for me?
I hoped this wasn’t one of those situations like in the movies where I ended up with pig’s blood dumped on me or something.
“Why, what good friends would we be if we didn’t show you the real Blackthorn Academy?” Norman said with a snicker, his green eyes practically glowing in the dark.
“Classes are over, I really should be getting back and getting a start on my homework,” I said, as a fresh wave of sweat fell over my temple.
Norman’s suckers hooked underneath the edge of my uniform jacket, the back of his tentacles grazing against my skin.
“Come on, Violet, where’s your sense of adventure?” Norman said as another tentacle wrapped itself around my waist. His hold on me was slick, and tight as he pulled me close, his human hands in his blazer pockets.
Wanda let out a tisk, and suddenly my temperature started to rise, the heat returning.
But this heat wasn’t like before, when I was around Bane.
This was the heat of panic, of anxiety.
Because I knew all at once, I was in the presence of a monster, and I wasprey.
How could I have been so stupid?
“I don’t really have a sense of adventure, Norman,” I said as I wiggled in his grasp. “I don’t... I don’t normally do this sort of thing,” I said, trying to move.
Norman’s glowing green eyes trailed over me hungrily.
“I promise I’ll have you home by curfew,” he said with a light chuckle.
A part of me wanted to retaliate, to push back and run away, because the way Norman was looking at me made me feel more than objectified.
