Page 22 of Gift from the Nexus

Okay, little warrior, let’s see if my gift has strengthened with our bond.

With Willow as my sole motivation and determination, I push my gift a little harder, commanding the remains of the tonic to clear and for the fragments of the memory to piece itself back together.

Like watching the morning fog fade from the forest trees, the distortion clears and the memory surfaces.

A knock at the door sounds, and Mr. Blythe’s head pops up from his work, a warm smile adorning his face at the sign of company.

“Ah, Miss Everglow, good morning. What can I do for you?”

“Good morning, Mr. Blythe.” Gima’s fake, high-pitched voice sounds, and painted-on smile fills the doorway as she lets herself in and plops down in the chair across from him. “I wanted to drop by and see if there was still a spot open on yourward rotation. I really could use some work on my casting and figured what better place to look for help than from the best in the academy.”

He beams at her obvious attempt at flattering and excitedly stands from his chair, moving over to a stack of papers on one of his shelves.

“Oh, how wonderful. Yes, yes, of course there’s room. I’d never turn away an eager student ready to learn. I just need you to fill out this intake form. You can do it right now and we can go ahead and see where a rotation best fits your schedule,” he says, his hand outstretched for her to take the piece of paper.

Instead of the paper, Gima latches on to his hand, her eyes flaring to life in concentration, the telltale sign she’s using her gift.

“You should finish your morning drink before it gets cold, Mr. Blythe,” Gima suggests, not even attempting to hide the fact she’s pouring a vial right into his mug. He watches her every move, but still, he reaches out and chugs the contents down.

“Good, I’m sure it tasted amazing. Now, you should lower the wards for me. Just the ones on the east side by the training fields. It’ll give me better practice getting them back up.” Her voice comes out in a low pitch, smooth like butter.

“Yes, it’ll be great practice.” His voice slowly agrees, nodding with a dazed and confused look in his eye.

She stands from her seat, gliding her fingers upward toward his shoulders, so his hands are free to unknowingly sign the spell and speak the incantation to bring the wards down. Not a minute later, the alarm blares and Mr. Blythe startles, his eyes gaining clarity for a split second before Gima cups both of his cheeks.

“You’ve worked so hard this morning, Mr. Blythe. You should take a nap and get some rest,” Gima whispers softly, guiding him down into his office chair.

“Yes, a nap sounds—” He’s out cold faster than he could finish his sentence.

Coming out of the memory, my chest heaves as I struggle to regulate my breathing and stay calm. I remove my hand from Mr. Blythe’s head and take a step back, clenching my jaw tightly.

“Oh my. Leader Tillman, Headmaster Vito, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” He apologizes, mortification and regret reflecting in his eyes.

“What do you—”

“It’s not your fault, Mr. Blythe. You never would’ve suspected her to use her gift on you in such a way. Excuse us, we have a lot of work to do,” I grit out, turning from him and Dr. Evie and making my way to the gym.

“Gaster, finish the head count, please,” Corentin orders as he makes his way to my side, Caspian, Draken, and Uncle Dyce following right along with me.

“Gima used her gift to make Mr. Blythe drink the memory tonic, then persuaded him to lower the wards by the training grounds. There’s no doubt her family is one of the two,” I announce as soon as we step into the command room with Ry and his Nexus. Quickly, I fill everyone in on what I just learned, then turn my attention to the files on the four locations spread across the table.

“I’m going to snap that bitch’s neck.” Oakly sneers.

“Get in line,Perfecta Anima,” Caspian says coldly but gently for his standards.

“Ry, report,” I order.

“There’s one hotspot in each territory. We have their coordinates. The sizing, based on the descriptions pulled together from the interrogations, implies they’re all similar inbuild to the prison you were held in. No information on possible guards, wards, or if they’re still active, but it’s a good assumption that they are.”

“This will take far too long to hit individually, and we need the element of surprise on our side, so they don’t move her. Uncle Dyce, go gather all the E.F. members who are healed and ready to go. Bring them into the gym. Corentin, get Lucas here,” I order as I pull my communicator out of my pocket.

“Tillman. I wasn’t—”

“Lyker, the academy’s been attacked, and Willow’s been taken. There’s a hot spot location in Terian. Send Rhett’s team here to the academy so I can put him in charge of that location. We’re pulling out as soon as possible,” I inform him briefly.

I end the call as the silence on the other end stretches longer than I have patience for. He’ll send him like I asked, but I don’t have time to talk him through his surprise or shock, or whatever the fuck it was keeping him from responding.

Running the numbers back from the mission Corentin organized, he assembled six teams of eight to accompany them when they rescued me and Caspian. No one was injured badly or killed, so with the eight E.F. teams we have at the academy right now, Rhett’s, Ry’s, my Nexus, and my uncle, we’ll have to make do with that.

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