Page 49 of The Evernight Court

What the hell is the Great White?!

“Fall.”

Quinn’s voice drew my focus to her face once more, and her hands were on my shoulders. “What’s the matter with you? Are you sick or something? What’s wrong?!”

No, I wasn’t sick at all. “I’m fine,” I muttered. “Let’s just get to training.”

Pushing her hands off me, I went back through the trees, not bothering to look at the lake again—why would I when they were gone? I wasn’t going to find that person there, whoever he was, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to go into the water to find Sedelis.

But her words, her voice, the feel of her out here in the air—of magic so raw and powerful—had my gut twisting and turning every few minutes. A bad feeling made my entire body heavy, and even though I had no clue what the hell was going on, my instincts said that it was big. My instincts said that it was really, reallybad.

“Why were you out by the lake, anyway? That’s pretty far from our training spot,” said Quinn while we walked back.

“I thought you were here, testing me to see if I sensed you,” I said absentmindedly.

“Iwashere,” said Quinn, giving me a pointed look. “And I didn’t feel or hear you at all.”

The way she said it…

I arched my brow. “Is that an accusation?”

But Quinn shook her head. “Nope. Just strange, that’s all. I didn’t feel a single thing.”

Meanwhile I’d felt the magic of the siren all the way from the lake.

Fuck.

Was it the magic in the Woods or the magicin me—or maybe Quinn was lying through her teeth? Maybe she wasn’t half as good at detecting people as she claimed?

Possibilities—too many of them.

By the time we made it to our training spot, a headache had developed behind my eyes and I barely held my head up.

“Here. I got you this,” said Quinn before we started moving, and she pulled something from the black hooded sweatshirt she had on most nights. It was a book with a soft-looking leather cover and a silver lock on the side.

“What is it?” I asked but reached for the book anyway, too curious for my own good.

“I paid a good coin for this, so you better make good use of it, Fall,” she said. “Open it. It isn’t locked.”

So, I opened the cover.

Four words were written in black ink on the first page:The Basics of Magic.

“You’re joking.” I turned the pages, just a few of them, and they were full of that same handwriting, the notebook filled over halfway.

“Nope. It’s directions on how to learn magic—in plainEnglish. The best I could find. We don’t have anything official as far as I could tell, but I did find this handwritten guide. It should serve to get you started, at least.”

I closed the book and looked at her. “Why?” Why would she go to all that trouble to get me this?

Quinn shrugged. “You look so damn scared all the time. If you learn how to use your magic, I’m sure you’ll be more…relaxed.”

I flinched before I could control it. “I’m not scared all the time,” I mumbled, but I was. And I thought I’d hidden it so well, but apparently, I hadn’t. Apparently, Quinn had seen right through me.

That’s why she rolled her eyes. “Just make good use of it, won’t you? You’ve got the whole day. Unless you’re engaging in…extraactivities.” And she wiggled her brows.

“What do you mean, extra activities?” I was genuinely confused for a moment, when…

“The brothers. The Evernights. Extra activitieswith them!” Quinn burst out laughing.

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