“We’re not leaving Oberi,” Charlie and I both said at the same time.
“And I’m not leaving Rishi,” Marcus said firmly. “Kallie, let’s go. We still have trackers on us. You won’t make it on your own.”
Kallie rolled her eyes and groaned. “Fine. Gods, you people are lame.”
We made our way back to Shade Hills— me, a little depressed. We had some answers, but to me, they were useless if Charlie wasn’t beside me.
Charlie must’ve noticed how sad I felt, because he squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry,” he started. “I just… don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’mgoingto get hurt, Charlie. That’s the promise of being a chosen one,” I told him. “But it won’t be as bad if you’re not fighting me on every single thing.”
“I want to protect you.”
“I don’t need a protector. I need a partner,” I said. “Can’t you do that for me?”
Charlie got quiet. I was ready for this field trip to be over. I just wanted to get back to Oberi, so I could cuddle him and bury my face in his fur. He’d make me feel better right now, because obviously, Charlie didn’t see my side of things.
When we entered the alleyway we’d left the museum from, a guard immediately jumped out at us, raising a noxite gun. The four of us put our hands up, and I scowled. Great. So much for not getting caught.
“Where have you four been?” the guard snarled. “Your trackers went off the moment you left! We’ve been looking for you for over an hour!”
“We just— uh— snuck off to smoke some weed,” Kallie blurted, like it was the first thing that popped into her head.
Marcus facepalmed, and the guard’s face twisted into a snarl. “You’re lucky the Warden’s in an awful mood. I don’t want to be the one to deliver more bad news to him. Get the hell back on the bus, before I change my mind.”
We didn’t argue. The four of us hurried onto the bus that was parked in the street, and took seats near the back. Ez gave me a curious look, asking why I’d wandered off, but I shook my head to tell him to ask me later. Marcus leaned his head in as the bus started down the road.
“He didn’t give us an infraction. That’s crazy!” Marcus hushed under his breath. “Why wouldn’t he report us?”
“I don’t know, but it’s pretty obvious he only let us go because he doesn’t want to face the Warden,” Kallie whispered back.
“Why?” I asked. “Why is the Warden so pissed off? What’s frustrating him?”
“Probably the same thing that’s frustrating us,” Kallie said, with a glance at Charlie. He didn’t say anything, and I felt my chest twist.
Charlie didn’t want to do this with me— didn’t want to help me work out the prophecy. But he was my bonded partner. I couldn’t do it without him.
Yet by the looks of things, it seemed he’d already made up his mind.
Chapter Nineteen
Charlie
Damn those keys. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been holding my breath the whole time, hoping those keys wouldn’t fit that door. But they had, which meant Ava-Marie was right. The door led to Forevermore, and she nearly had half the keys needed to open it.
I’d tried to destroy Ava’s key the night I’d stolen it. It was made of metal, an element of the Earth, which meant I should’ve been able to manipulate it— at least to some degree. But no matter how hard I tried to change the shape of the key, or to disintegrate it into nothing, it didn’t work. I was no match for the magic inside of it. I’d resolved to try other methods later, until Oberi showed up, taken the key out of my dorm, and handed it back to Ava.
Traitor.
Oberi had been avoiding me. He was mad I’d tried to sabotage Ava again.
Whatever. He could be mad. I was pissed he’d given the key back. He knew what fulfilling this prophecy meant. I didn’t get why he didn’t seem to care. Didn’t he want to protect her, too?
The only solace I found was in the fact that Ava hadn’t figured out where the other keys were yet. She didn’t even have a clue, thank the ancestors.
“I bet Ivy’s a demigod, and he has the vampire key,” Ava mused one day when we were hanging out in the Lair. She sat on a rug Kallie had conjured, using sticks to doodle things in the dirt with Marcus. “Out of everyone on campus, ithasto be him.”
“Why do you say that?” Marcus asked. “Is he good? I don’t have any classes with him. I haven’t seen his magic yet.”
