Page 15 of Of Bone and Ash

“Serafina Covington!” Teos shouts, his deep voice cutting through the buzz of voices in the courtyard, making me wince. I toss a look over my shoulder, finding Teos shoving through the hordes of students still stuck on the grass. “You stay right there, Bella,” he snarls when he sees me looking at him. His big finger pointed at me, making me shiver at the demand in his voice. I narrow my eyes at him, not liking his tone, before I turn and run through the doors like a damn coward. I don't have the mental fortitude to deal with this part of my past.

It's best if I can avoid him and forget he’s here. The school is large enough. All I need to do is figure out his schedule and ensure our paths never collide. I grimace when I realize the plan will only work if Teos chooses not to hunt me down. And from the way he’s currently chasing after me, I’m going to put my money on having to nut up and talk to him much sooner than I’m comfortable with.

“Jesus. How the hell is this the school he ended up at?” I mutter as I race down the halls of the gray stone building that Adam said houses the dining hall, hoping I’m heading in the right direction. I ignore the stares of the students in the halls and turn to the right, heading deeper into the building. Then I pull up short when I hear a familiar voice and frown.

“That’s not very sanitary,” Adam squeaks out as I walk around another corner, eyes widening at the scene playing out in front of me. There are two enormous guys glaring down at a terrified-looking Adam, who is pressed against the wall by the guy closest to me. Adam's feet are dangling in the air, the big guy's hands fisted in the horrendously ugly maroon and orange V-neck sweater he’s wearing, keeping him firmly pinned to the gray stone wall. “Do you know how many germs are on your hands after you use the bathroom? You could potentially spread hazardous germs to other students!” Adam points out his hands coming up to cover his face when the big guy's best friend raises his arms like he’s about to punch Adam.

“You freak!” the big guy roars at Adam, making my… friend? Shit. He could be considered a friend since he said we would be, right? Ugh. Well, whatever he is, I probably should help him out if I want to know where my classes are located.

Adam winces, attempting to jerk back, whacking his head on the wall behind him.

“Let him down,” I say softly, squaring my shoulders as I stride up to the trio, my heels clicking on the stone under my feet. The big guy startles and looks down at me in confusion as Adam’s eyes widen with fear, making my stomach drop at the first flicker of the emotion coming from him. I knew it was inevitable, but it hurt more than I thought it would.

“Get lost, girl. The freak sprayed my friend in the face with fucking hand sanitizer! He’s got this and more coming to him.” I feel my brows rise as I look from Adam to the big guy's friend, realizing that his eyes are bright red and bloodshot, the skin around his eyes irritated and swollen.

Jesus Christ. Adam sprayed him in the face?

“Uhhh, Serafina. You should probably wait for me in the dining hall,” Adam rasps, his face turning red as he looks at me with pleading eyes before nodding down the hall, and I blink at him in surprise.

This time, I can't stop the slightest smile that takes over my lips as I realize Adam’s fear is not from being scared of me but because he’s scared for me. He doesn't want these guys to hurt me, which is somehow adorable and insulting at the same time.

I eye the tall, skinny boy dangling from the wall and sigh, knowing his silly action of caring for me means I will now protect him from basically everything. Then I look at the two goons who have the fucking audacity to have him pinned to the wall. Hand sanitizer or not, that's not going to fly. My magic slowly inches toward the surface, and I can feel my fingers itch with the need to reach out and take every ounce of life from their overgrown shifter bodies.

Damn, I have issues.

“Adam is sorry, and he won't do that again. Will you?” I prompt my new friend, who frowns and looks at me like I’m crazy.

“He didn't wash his hands and then touched the door handle to the bathroom where anyone else could contract god-knows-what. And then!” Adam stresses, and I glare at him. He’s not going to make this easy, is he? “He touched his face! I was only trying to help,” Adam replies, not sounding in the least bit sorry for his actions. “You could have gotten pink eye,” he scolds, looking at the big guy’s friend, who still has his arm raised like he’s about to punch Adam.

“Let him down,” I repeat, adding a bite of anger to my voice, really hoping these guys will listen without me having to do more. My magic shifts under my skin, and the big guy holding Adam frowns, eyeing me for a second. Shifters are typically the easiest Fae for me to be around. They don't have high magic reserves. Most of them have none except for their ability to shift, so they rarely sense the deadly magic hanging in the air when I’m around. But their shifter sides usually warn them when a bigger predator is in the area, so hopefully these idiots will listen and let Adam go.

I look over my shoulder, frustration coursing through me as I worry about Teos catching up to me. If he happened to take the same turns I did in this building, he’ll be here at any moment.

“Now!” I snap, my magic flaring, making the big guy’s friends’ eyes widen, and his arm drops as he steps back.

“Uh, dude. I think we should go,” he whispers in a heavily accented voice to his friend, who still holds Adam and glares down at me like an ant under his shoe. The big guy glares a little longer, and just to help move this situation along, I release a sliver of magic into the air, causing the temperature around us to drop instantly. Adam shivers, blue eyes so wide they look like they’re about to pop out of his head, just as the guy holding him curses and lets Adam go, letting my friend fall to the ground at his feet.

“Don't touch him again,” I warn, then look at Adam, who slowly pushes himself back to his feet, keeping his back pressed to the wall as he moves closer to me.

“Whatever,” the big guy snarls, glaring at Adam before giving a weird bro nod at his friend. They turn, heading in the opposite direction of the dining hall.

“Come on,” I grumble, gesturing for Adam to lead the way before tossing another concerned look over my shoulder. Teos hasn't found me yet, so I'm guessing I’m in the clear. Odds are he gave up before he even came into the building.

Adam nods, moving forward and grabbing a simple navy blue backpack I hadn’t noticed from the ground and scowls at it, holding it out in front of him like it’s a bomb. “Gross,” he grumbles, reaching into his backpack and producing a small bottle that he yanks a clear cap off of and then sprays the backpack several times.

“Is that the sanitizer you assaulted Dumb and Dumber with?” I ask, nodding at the tiny bottle in amusement.

“I didn’t assault them,” Adam argues, as he looks over his backpack, then nods in approval before reaching inside, grabbing a lint roller, and proceeding to run it over his awful sweater and brown pants. “I was helping,” he supplies, and I roll my eyes.

“We need to work on your people skills. Also, spraying people in the face with sanitizer is not okay. In fact, it might even be illegal,” I point out, making Adam scowl at me.

“That's ridiculous. It should be illegal not to wash your hands after using the bathroom.” He sighs, tossing the lint roller into his backpack before spraying his hands and clothes with the sanitizer spray. “All right. Now that that’s handled. Shall we?” he asks, shouldering his backpack and leading me toward the dining hall. “Are you hungry, or do you want me to show you to your first class?”

“I’m not hungry,” I supply, grimacing at the thought of food. I woke up nauseous, and my body is still sore from whatever happened last night with my dreams. Besides, I try to limit my food intake in the morning. My magic always seems more uncontrollable then, and it worsens if I eat. Keeping my body weak keeps my magic controllable. I watch Adam as he grabs the small tablet he had yesterday and powers it on, then scowls, muttering a few things under his breath.

“I could have sworn your first class was Intro to Magical Theory,” he murmurs to himself as he shakes his head. “Hmm, well, according to this, you have Advanced Studies of Necromancy for your first class, followed by Intro to English Studies after lunch. And then there are Magical Creatures and Spirits and Trigonometry. Oh, thank God! We have the Magic Creatures class together,” he says with a relieved smile before he winces and then shoots me an apologetic look.

“What?” I ask, confused. Is there something wrong with those classes?

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