Page 58 of Faerie Gift

So my plan had worked.In part. I’d take any small victory where I could.

Now I had to find where they were keeping the Imperium. Because I had a gut feeling it was somewhere nearby if I could search hard enough. And if no one else got in my way.

Prowling the empty corridors, I kept my eyes open for any kind of hint as to where the Canadians may be keeping a powerful magical artifact. It didn’t take long for me to find a locked room at the end of the long hallway. Not just locked, but protected by a strong network of spells. Foreign magic burned my nostrils and had my own powers curling my toes in response. Good or bad, I didn’t know, but there was something inside there calling to me.

This was it. I knew it.

I reached out for the handle, closing my eyes, drawing in a breath.

“What the hell are you doing? How did you get in here?”

The voice snapped me out of my head, and when I glanced behind, the bright light of a flashlight beam blinded me.

Caught.

19

Afist clamped around my heart and squeezed until pain radiated. Dread choked me and I couldn’t draw enough air into my body.

Why wasn’t she stillasleep?

My eyes adjusted and I stared at the damn chaperone who’d brought me inside as a pen. I’d listened to her snoring, hadn’t I? What was she doing awake? And how had she heard me?

I should have kept a better watch on my surroundings.

I tried to take the ball of fear and panic and guilt and stuff it into a far distant corner of my mind. Getting out of this would take every remaining brain cell in my head. All the emotions? I’d have to deal with them later. Once I bullshitted my way out of this newest snafu.

Right now I had to concentrate on an excuse andthink.

OhGod,Tavi,think think think.

“Hands where I can see them, kid,” she snapped. “And don’t try any kind of spellwork on me. Don’t try anything to make this worse than it is.”

I wasn’t surehowthe woman had detected me, but I was in serious trouble.

A shiver frosted my insides as I stared down at my shoes. Slowly, I raised my hands in front of me to show her I wasn’t attempting any magic, slumping in a wholly undignified way. My heart beat a mile a minute, emotions racing along with my pulse.

How did I get out of this one? Even the best plans could fail, and this was nowhere close to a good plan, so no wonder I’d failed.

The woman stalked toward me. Her eyes glittered, her upper lip lifted in a half snarl. “Come with me.”

There was her hand gripping my arm, tugging me away from the door as the woman marched me back down the hallway. I knew where we were headed. There were no dorms in this part of the castle, and only a few classrooms. A tingle ran up and down my skin as I thought about facing Headmaster Leaves.

“Where are we going?” I asked anyway.

“You know exactly where. We are going to see the only person who can deal with you.”

She was taking me straight to the headmaster’s office.

Bile stung my throat.Real, not a dream. After everything I’d done to get to the academy…

I stared up at the chaperone, her nose wrinkled and her upper lip still drawn back in a snarl when she looked at me. This was it, I thought with a sinking feeling. I was getting kicked out of the school. I’d messed up big time.

My mind went along for the ride on a tide of depressing thoughts. Kendrick was going to find me for sure. I’d end up enslaved to him and living some kind of awful half-life, doing his bidding. He’d keep me in chains to make sure I never escaped him again. Force me to do what he wanted, when he wanted. Force me to kill, to love—

Love.

I’d never see Mike or Melia again.

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