Page 8 of Gift from the Stone

“Little warrior…” Tillman’s deep, sultry voice holds a hint of warning.

Whipping my flustered face to him, I narrow my eyes. “Are you spying on my thoughts or am I just thinking too loud?”

“Both.”

“Stop calling me out on my private thoughts,” I warn him.

“Stop thinking things like that at the breakfast table, or the food won’t be what we eat this morning.”

I detect the barely restrained lust simmering just beneath his surface. He’ll follow through on that promise if I keep this line of thought going and I’m tempted to push him just to see. I’ll lose nothing out of it.

“Maybe we should focus on the plans for the day right now, kids.” Gaster’s voice breaks through the thickening sexual tension in the room. A bucket of ice-cold mortification is poured over my head as all thoughts of being spread out across this table flee from my mind.

“Yep, absolutely,” I rush out, not daring to look up at Gaster.

Corentin adjusts in his seat and takes a long sip of coffee before addressing us. “Jamie and Nikoli were able to identify that the gem Jarod crushed was an Emittium gem. So he’s signaled someone for something. Now the question is, did he alert someone to the academy’s whereabouts or Willow’s whereabouts, or both.”

“How does an Emittium gem signal someone?” I ask.

“Emittium gems come in pairs. One sends, one receives. When the sender is activated, the other will emit a pulse. Its vibration grows stronger and stronger until it reaches the area the signal was sent from. It’s difficult to get your hands on a pair,” Caspian answers, not looking up from his book.

“Off the main topic I know, but how did Nikoli help with that?” I know Jamie’s a scientist, so his involvement is self-explanatory, but all I really know about Nikoli is that he’s an E.F. member, and according to Oakly, the jokester of the bunch. It’s why he and Draken get along so well.

“Nikoli’s a Detector. He can detect any material, substance, ingredient, you name it. Well, hence the name, he can detect it,” Draken explains.

“Damn, that’s pretty cool. And San?” I should probably ask Oakly these questions, but why wait if the guys are open to sharing.

“An Absorber. Anything he reads or learns, he obtains forever. He’s a walking library.”

I detect a hint of jealousy in Caspian’s tone, and I can’t help but smirk. That would drive him nuts that he can’t do that.

Shit, go, best friend. You and your powerful group of men.

“So what does them identifying the Emittium gem have to do with changing the plans for the day?”

“I’ve canceled all classes today. Due to yesterday’s incident, the wards need to be strengthened and the students need to stay in and be accounted for while that’s going on. This gives us the opportunity to interrogate the captives from the last mission and Jarod ourselves so we can figure out what we can from him. The E.F. investigators are getting nowhere. He doesn’t even acknowledge them,” Corentin says. I don’t mind not having classes, but I’m not looking forward to going to the holding cells with them or seeing Jarod again.

“Willow, I was hoping you’d like to stay back with me. I could use some extra eyes and there’s a spell I’d like to teach you.” Damn, I don’t know if Gaster pulled that excuse out of his hat based on my aura or if he really had this planned.

“Honestly, I’d prefer that. If you all are okay with me staying behind, that is.” Collectively, they release sighs of relief. “Why didn’t you just say you didn’t want me to go?” I ask, rolling my eyes.

“It’s not that we don’t want you to go with us, little wanderer, but we don’t want you around that fucking wolf or the holding cells. We were giving you the chance to decide for yourself.” Draken squeezes my hand reassuringly.

“Thank you.” I squeeze his in return then throw Gaster a mischievous smile.

“Looks like it’s you and me.”

Two

Willow

Nothing.

Gaster and I rummage through his personal archives for any mention of the Mastery for hours. There isn’t a single mention in thousands of years of text and all the searching spells come up short. A few instances stand out to me, but none mention the level of destruction the Mastery has caused.

“Do people practice blood magic or anything similar here, Gaster?” I ask.

I can’t get the gem that was attached to the dagger my father used out of my head. At the time, I chalked it up to the lighting, but now I’ve seen some shit and know better than to believe things like that are impossible.

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