Page 113 of The Cursed Fae

That didn’t quite fit. I’d been using magic my entire life. Then again, my mother had also been erasing the dreams for who the hell knew how long. I couldn't be sure of anything.

I wallowed in self-pity for a little while before video calling Lena so we could be miserable together. She answered on the third ring, only it wasn’t her face on the screen.

“How’s the portal coming along, Nicasia?” Mat sneered. Behind him, I could see Lena’s makeup table. He was inside her bedroom.

“Where is she?” I hissed.

He feigned surprise. “Oh, you suddenly care? You’ve had better things to do all weekend, and now you’re outraged?”

“That’s not fair,” I snapped.

He laughed. “What in any of your lives has made you think anything is fair?”

“Where is she?” I repeated, panic making me sound shrieky.

His fangs extended fully as he held my gaze. “Hey, babe? Winter’s on the phone,” he called.

She hurried in from the bathroom to join him on the bed, snatching the device from his hand. His teeth retracted as he swept her hair back to expose one side of her neck. Lena snickered and rolled her eyes.

“He’s so weird sometimes,” she said, giggling as his lips found her throat. “What are you up to?”

“Studying,” I lied. “I’m pretty behind in my transportation class.”

Mat stopped trying to seduce my best friend and chuckled. Lena laughed too, though she obviously didn’t get the joke.

“Call me later. We’re about to watch a movie.” She waved into the camera before breaking the connection.

I sat with the phone pressed between my hands and stared at the rounded ceiling above, stewing in my anger. Mat had acted like I didn’t care enough for Lena, as if I’d been off partying all weekend instead of practicing portal-making. Archer had stood me up. I couldn’t do it without him.

Why not?

Did he even do much aside from the coaching? The only magic used to open the doorway to Nana’s house both times belonged to me. Did I really need him there to bark orders at me?

After my first few attempts at opening a window into my great-grandmother’s home failed, I doubted my confidence without Archer’s deep voice telling me what to do. It was so much easier with him whispering in my ear about controlling and harnessing the power. I had no trouble summoning magic. The issues started when I tried to make something happen with it.

Aside from putting nicks in the paint on the wall, nothing.

By the time I decided a break might be beneficial, the dorms had become livelier. Everyone was talking about Ewan. Just like Nana, the students were willing to accept accidental depletion for a caster, but not a shifter.

A handful of the girls from my dorm were in my floor lobby. Fern sat in the middle, crying, while Belle and the others comforted her. She caught my eye as I passed and sneered.

“Why doesn’t Essie do something?” Fern’s eyes flashed with genuine anger as a fresh wave of tears started. “He’s my cousin, Winter. What if he dies?”

You didn’t seem all that fond of him to begin with, I thought.

“He is going to be fine,” Belle insisted.

“You don’t know that!” Fern shouted, burying her face in her friend’s shoulder.

I hurried to my room before anyone else could say something to me.

Tina wasn’t there anymore. She’d left a note explaining her mother was taking her away for a few days to clear her head. Later that night, the chancellor cancelled classes for the beginning of the week. Both Nana and Mom called, asking me to come home in the interim. I steadfastly refused. Mom still would’ve put her foot down if not for Nana’s reminder that I was an adult.

Dinner in the cafeteria was a no-go, unless I wanted to risk another encounter with Fern or someone else angry about the attack who blamed it on my great-grandmother. Nana wasn’t the only one taking a beating in the public approval department. The chancellor wasn’t faring well either, which I learned when Laz brought food to my room.

“Some guy threw a drink at me in the dining hall.” He set a bag on my bed and gestured to the soda staining his plaid button down. “He called Dad a murderer.”

Laz ran a hand through his messy hair, gray eyes indignant.

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