Page 49 of Creatures of Chaos

I grab Becks’ bicep and try to tug him away from Talon, but Becks is a brick wall and doesn’t budge.

“Becks, it’s fine,” I say, still tugging on his arm.

His head snaps in my direction. “The hell it is.”

His slitted pupils are back, and I have a bad feeling that if I don’t deescalate the situation soon, a fight is going to break out. And there have already been too many of those for one night.

I sigh, weariness seeping into my bones. “I’m leaving.”

Turning, I walk in the other direction, hoping Becks will follow. My body is tense until I hear the slap of Becks’ shoes against the concrete floor a few seconds later as he jogs to catch up with me. Without a word he drops an arm over my shoulder, something he does on occasion, and it always makes butterflies flap in my stomach when he does. But tonight I don’t fool myself into thinking it’s anything more than what it is: a message to Talon to stay away from me.

The next morningmy chin is a lovely shade of green and a purple smudge is starting to grow high on my cheek.Interestingly, I don’t have any bruising on my temple where Talon knocked me out. It’s surprisingly easy to explain away my injuries the next day to my parents. Their eyes bulge when they see me, but I tell them I sparred at the gym, they nod, and that’s the end of it.

Part of me hates how easy it’s been to lie to them over Chaos and the trials, but another part of me is glad about it. I mollify myself by remembering that even if I want to tell the truth, I can’t. The magical gag from the first night is still in place. I know because I tested it out a time or two and the moment I start to say anything about Chaos, my throat freezes and the words won’t come.

It’s not until I get to school the next day that I realize the world has flipped upside-down. I don’t even make it to the main entrance before classmates start to swarm me.

“Hey, Locklyn, great show last night.”

“Locklyn, where did you learn to fight like that?”

“Do you think maybe sometime you can show me that two-punch move you used to put Jules down?”

My eyes bug out as students I didn’t even think knew I existed come up to me, calling my name and acting like we’re old friends. It’s weird.

After giving my Peet’s Gym information to a lower classman who said she wants to start learning some self-defense, I look up and catch Talon staring at me from the parking lot in front of the main academy building. Wearing faded jeans and a dark tee, he stands with his arms crossed over his chest as he leans up against a black sports car. He’s wearing a knit cap like the first time I saw him, and strands of his dark hair curl around the front edge. The hem of his t-shirt has ridden up, exposing a sliver of skin that only gives a peek at what I now know is a washboard stomach.

I won’t lie and say he doesn’t look good. I try not to think too much of the way my stomach dips when our eyes connect. Even though he was the ultimate winner on yesterday, he surprisingly doesn’t have a swarm of well-wishers mobbing him like I do.

He nods once, and then waves me over. My feet are moving before I realize I’ve made the decision to go to him. I only get a half dozen steps before I’m tackled by a blur of blonde and pink streaked hair.

“I can’t believe I wasn’t there last night,” Ensley says, looping her arm in mine and dragging me away from Talon and back toward school.

Ensley called me late last night and wouldn’t let me go to bed until I’d given her a detailed blow-by-blow of the trial. She was super disappointed to miss it and made me recount my match with Jules twice.

“It’s all anyone can talk about,” Ensley goes on, oblivious to how she blocked me from going to Talon, but that’s just as well. “Well, it’s all that the kids thatcantalk about it are doing at least. Since the gag magic prevents so many of us from openly talking about Chaos at home, I think everyone is extra excited to spill at school. But seriously, you’re like, semi-famous now. How does it feel?” she asks with a grin after someone high fives me the moment we step into the building.

“Umm, weird,” I answer honestly, then look up to see Becks cutting his way through the throng of students toward us. My heart skips a beat at the intensity of his gaze.

Ensley is still chatting away next to me, but I’m not listening. The world has fallen away and my focus narrows in on Becks as he nears.

When he’s finally standing in front of me, I’m a little breathless. His gaze dances over my face, checking every inch of it. I did my best to cover my bruises, but from the frown on Becks’ face it’s clear the makeup isn’t doing its job. I should haveasked Ensley to glamour them away until they have a chance to fade.

“How are you doing?” he asks, his voice a little huskier than usual.

“I’m fine,” I answer truthfully. A couple of bruises are nothing to worry about, nor are they new for me.

Lifting a hand, Becks runs a thumb over the discoloration on my cheekbone. His touch is gentle, reverent, and I have a sudden urge to close my eyes and lean into his palm. My lids lazily drop to half-mast as something flares in the depths of Becks’ eyes.

I hold my breath, here in the middle of the academy halls with classmates passing and watching, but not caring if we have an audience or not because this moment between the two of us is too potent, too heady, too strong to be bothered by something so insignificant.

“Freckles,” Talon says quietly in greeting as he walks by me, and the spell is broken.

Becks’ gaze instantly shifts to Talon and darkens, his whole face souring. When Talon passes, Becks twists to glare at his retreating form the whole way down the hall until he turns the corner and disappears from view.

“I don’t like that guy,” Becks says unnecessarily. He was pretty clear about his dislike for Talon the night before, and even if he hadn’t been, it’s written so plainly on his face that I’d have to be blind not to see it.

I frown when Becks’ gaze swings back to me, still darkened from thoughts of Talon. Becks never took to Talon when he started classes at Nightlark Academy a couple weeks ago, but the slight annoyance he had for him seemed to have twisted into a deep-seated hate overnight. It’s clear what happened in the fighting cages tipped the scales, but unlike Becks I still don’t blame Talon for what he had to do. At least not in the same way Becks does. Sure, I was annoyed he didn’t just finish out thematch in a draw so we’d both be ineligible for the advantage, but for whatever reason he really wants Shadow Striker and probably felt he needed the leg up on the next trial. I’m the one who really needed the advantage, but if anything I’m annoyed at myself for not giving my match with Talon my all. And that’s not his fault. It’s mine.

---