“I’m surprised I’m allowed to go to class,” I teased. “I thought for sure Kaiden would tell you to lock me inside until he returned.” But really, it was something he would do.
“Your lack of faith in my ability to keep you safe is insulting,” Ezra sniffed, and I rolled my eyes.
Grabbing my bag from its spot on the floor near the couch, I followed him out to his car. He knew I didn’t doubt him, but Kaiden’s need for control was undeniable. Plus, with the recent attempts on my life… the fact my teachers didn’t have some made-up doctor's note telling them I was contagious for the next week came as a complete shock to me.
“Then what’s the plan?” I asked. I wasn’t even sure how long Kaiden would be gone. It was possible that was why I had to maintain my usual schedule. Too much time missing and someone was bound to notice.
Ezra was more than capable of keeping an eye out for illusions, traps, and other pitfalls out to get me. And personally, I had no plans to go wandering in the trees for a very long time. Something always happened when I stepped off campus, and I only needed to be poisoned and stabbed once to get the message. If I could go a week without another attack, I’d call it successful.
“The plan,” I asked again when I got no answer.
“Class,” Ezra said, pushing his little Miata faster so wewouldn't be late. “Some training. Getting to see that fiery roommate of yours.”
I grinned at the wistful look in his eye. He had it bad. Poor guy. Rani might never give him the time of day, but it sure was entertaining watching the two of them dance around one another. Campus was crawling with students by the time we arrived, later than I was used to, but the Commons was open, and I still managed to get a full meal in.
Breakfast went smoothly, as did my first two lectures and lunch. Ezra escorted me everywhere, even sitting in the back rows of my classes, and each time he appeared beside me, the twitch in Rani’s eye grew. I guess he was taking my advice about playing hard to get seriously because Ezra hadn’t said a word to her, not even his usual flirting.
It still drove her nuts that he was around, though. I had to make up another excuse for his constant presence, one of a hundred I’d had to create recently. I hated lying to Rani, but there was no other option. Gods, if she knew how much I was keeping from her, she’d never want to be my friend. She was safer in the dark, no matter how much it strained our friendship in ways she wasn’t even aware of. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier.
This time, my lie was Kaiden and Ezra had a death in the family, and that was why Kaiden left. I promised to keep an eye on his cousin, which meant allowing his needy ass to follow me everywhere.
“Kai went home for the funeral but not him?” she asked, eyeing Ezra with a new air of disbelief.
“He’s estranged from that side of the family,” I told her. The lies rolling off my tongue easier the more I was forced to spin them. “He wasn’t invited.”
I whispered that last part like I was trying to keep Ezra from hearing, and some pity entered Rani’s eye. She softened towardhim ever so slightly, and I saw it as a win. Sooner or later, these lies were going to catch up with me. I only hoped I had something to tell Rani when that time came, and that I didn’t lose her because of them. But who was I kidding? Secrets were one thing, but lying and the existence of magick? She’d be halfway across the country in an effort to get away from me.
That evening, after finishing my homework, Ezra came sliding through the living room on worn socks and wearing a Cheshire cat grin. He crossed his arms and popped a hip against the kitchen island, content to stare down at me until I gave in to the urge to stab him in the eye.
“What?” I grumbled, forced to break my train of thought surrounding conjugating verbs in a language set on destroying the beliefs of my own mental capabilities.
“It’s time to train,” he said. No fanfare. No jokes. But still that damn smile. I had no idea what he meant by that and wasn’t too sure I wanted to get involved. He seemed far too excited, and my suspicions rose.
“Does your cousin know about your plans for whatever this training entails?”
That grin grew, and it sent off warning alarms in my head. “If it were up to my cousin, you’d be safely locked behind layers of magick and guards forever, where nothing could harm you. You’d live your life at our family’s compound, pop out magical babies, and be at the beck and call of dear old Auntie Mira and her nurturing personality. I’m pretty sure you don’t want that life.”
He was absolutely correct, and he knew it.
“I want to teach you how to be useful. How to properly use those dangerous powers of yours to protect yourself, and most importantly, my cousin.”
“Uh, thanks?” Now I wasn’t too sure if this was about teaching me to be useful and independent, or because he onlytruly cared about Kaiden’s safety. If it was the latter…ouch much?
Overall, it didn’t take long to convince me to go along with his plan—relying on Kaiden and his cousin for the rest of my life wasn’t my goal. Training didn’t require us to leave the safety of the condo in the middle of the night or any kind of chanting and potion-making, so I figured it couldn’t be that dangerous. And on the plus side, maybe I wouldn't be a sitting duck anymore.
“How much do you know about why your kind was hunted to near extinction?” he asked, and the topic turned serious.
I thought back to all that my parents had taught me. We were hunted because we were powerful, they said. The other factions didn’t trust us thanks to the actions of a few bad apples. Swift punishment on the part of the tribunal led to dwindling numbers, a rebellion, and then even more dwindling numbers.
“We can manipulate minds—control them—even supernatural ones trained to keep us out. That terrified the others in power,” I replied, feeling like I was reading a passage from a textbook. That’s how often I’d heard my parents talk about it.
Ezra nodded, solemn. “That’s the gist of it, but there's more to it than that. Nightmares could do more than control minds, they could track them from a distance—could identify them from a mere mental brush.”
I frowned. That was new to me. My parents never taught me anything like that or mentioned that it was something they could do. Thatanyonecould do. How did something like that work?
“You should be able to identify a source of power, like an illusion, and then follow that use of power back to its caster,” he further explained. “One day, you might even be able to control that mind from a distance once you’ve locked on to it. If you’re strong enough.”
The idea was terrifying. With an ability like that, it was no wonder the others were afraid of my kind. It didn’t matter that most of my people probably didn’t have the strength to do something like that. It only took one instance to sow fear, and whoever had done it in the past damned us all. To explain it better, Ezra started by teaching me how to cast a net out with my magick. It was similar to how we sensed other supernaturals nearby, but on a slightly different frequency only I could hear.
