Page 44 of Overwhelmed By Magic

“It’s fine. He does this. We don’t really do arguments. He just disappears and I wait for him to come back.”

The mage kisses the top of my head and begins leading me through the hallway after I grab the notebook, a tight grip on my free hand. “That’s a shitty way to live but who am I to judge whatever the fuck you two do as long as it works. What did Tamara say?”

“Nothing I didn’t already suspect. Although, they know about the book and the library.”

He hums in response, not speaking again until we reach Stellan’s room. “Many of the students will be outside, crawling the grounds. The veterans stay to themselves and in their rooms for the most part. Stay here while I grab some real food. I’m sure Stellan could use a little relief or Jade for that matter. Maybe try kissing Rumi to wipe that scowl off his face.” Ambrose opens a door that was very obviously locked, revealing the three in question currently scarfing down eggs and bacon.

My face heats as I slink inside. “It isn’t like that,” I mumble. Do I even want to kiss Rumi? Who the fuck knows anymore. I settle beside Stellan who happily reaches for my hand. When Ambrose leaves, Rumi asks where Harlow ran off to. “He got mad because he can’t protect me so he dipped for a little bit.”

The problem is that he truly can’t. None of these men can.

Mother Nature stole me away in a fucking dream and the demons crowding the thoughts in my head might not be demons after all but someone from beyond the grave trying to pass on a message.

How does anyone protect me from that?

28

AMBROSE

This is the best Saturday I’ve had in centuries. There’s smiles and laughter, hell, even Rumi cracked one before he turned it into a scowl this morning. It’s been interesting learning more about these five over the past week and realizing that we’re much more alike than we’ve been taught. I also find it odd that we’ve all somehow claimed Skye. It shouldn’t be possible and definitely not with a mark like that. We’re now all linked in a way that will have us naturally protective over him.

I don’t mind but I could see that Rumi was unsettled by it. He doesn’t give his heart out willingly but I think it’s only a matter of time before something happens between that angel and my little human.

Right now, I’m focused on food and Harlow. He feels inadequate and I remember that feeling. It’s a terrible one but one I’ve learned to deal with. With the five of us, Skye is safe. I won’t let him be anything else. Harlow just has to learn how to lean and quickly.

The food I’m currently searching to bring back to the room could have very been ‘magicked’ over there but without seeing what was in each basin, my luck would have me grabbing the infamous pea soup and unripe melon. I run my eyes through the line, settling on the usual—eggs, bacon, sausage, and the little pancakes that taste way better than they look.

By the time I’ve loaded a second plate, a few of the Magila from the other wing start to trickle in. Other than the night before graduation, we rarely hang together. Those of us who have been here for longer than five years have taken over the North wing, content to waste away in silence. The rest of the students are eager and hopeful they might leave.

No one has ever successfully left so I’m not holding my breath.

“Hey, I didn’t take you to be hanging around Harlow and his human boyfriend.”

The voice is familiar and I turn to see Liz standing there, twirling her fingers in her hair as she stares up at me. She’s checking me out but she’s not my type. I also don’t swing that way. “I didn’t take you for a nosy bitch but I guess everyone is a little different.”

Her face scrunches up but I know she’s not truly offended. She has, however, been stuffed in the other wing with Magila who’ve only been here a few years and still harbor hope that they might leave. I haven’t really seen her since she arrived except in passing but she’s always watching. It would be more unnerving if I thought she was a threat.

“You keep that human pretty locked up. It’s kind of stupid when he’s one of the counselors and you are his students. I even heard that the counseling session was a disaster and-”

My gaze narrows as I try to figure out why the fuck she’s talking to me. “Why the fuck are you talking to me? We’ve never so much as held a conversation before. As for Skye, he’s perfectly fine where he is.” I tilt my head to the side, wondering if there was a time that Liz lunged toward Skye. She never has.

It’s odd.

Liz giggles but it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. “Skye isn’t one of the staff, is he? He must be something other than a human. Not Magila either, obviously.” She tilts her head to the side before her gaze roams down my body and then falls to my arm. “He claimed you? With pink essence? That’s not possible.”

Maybe I should have hidden that but I’m too damn proud to be Skye’s that it didn’t even cross my mind. “Do you have a point or can I disappear to eat my breakfast in peace?”

She shuffles closer, folding her arms across her chest. “I made it a full week here with the other Magila and you know what I figured out? We’re not as on point as the ones that graduated from Astral but there’s nothing wrong with us. I don’t know why we failed. I’m a vampire. I suck blood. I might have been in remedial classes but the tests they gave us? They weren’t like anything I could fucking imagine. The box they kept trying to fit me into was the wrong one, saying that I wasn’t a vampire and testing me for other elements before failing me for all of them. Including the original one I had been assigned.”

She’s spouting bullshit but that’s not uncommon for newer students who think they’ve been misplaced. “Then how would you explain Stellan and Harlow? They are very obviously not a spirit and a fire elemental. What makes you think you were mistakenly put here?”

She snorts. “That’s not what I said. I said I didn’t know why we failed but there’s definitely a reason we’re here. I just haven’t found it yet. There are absolutely a few Magila that failed but you’re like birds of a flock, all gathering in the same fucking hall. You didn’t fit the mold. You definitely belong here. For the rest of us… we’re someone’s agenda. I just want to know why.”

Her red aura bleats around her, thickening the same way Dmitri’s does before he says something rude or does something equally off-putting. I take a step back from her, trying to understand her game. Giving me this information does nothing for her and she doesn’t seem like a woman who gives easily.

“And maybe I want a little chaos.”

Liz blows me a kiss before grabbing the plates I prepared and sauntering down the hall to the lounge many of the newer Magila share. I stare after her, confused and a little weirded out when my essence bursts forth, wrapping around me so tightly that I can hardly breathe. When I’m in control, my essence is beautiful and mesmerizing. When I’m not? It has a singular focus—following whatever thought is forefront in my mind.

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