Page 70 of Baneful Magick

“I need to see what time it is and get my stuff,” I said, keeping my voice even as I opened the door, refusing to look back. “You have a point. I’ve already missed a week of lessons, and I don’t want to miss any more. I’ll see you at the dorm.”

Running was a very nice way to describe what I did. I rushed from the greenhouse, not giving a shit about the people who turned to stare as I hurried across the quad to get to my dorm.

Thankfully, Aizel and Zhara weren’t there when I arrived. A quick shower was mandatory after a week-long sex session, then I grabbed everything for the classes I had today and shoved them into a bag. Just as I was about to leave, a magickal hum filled the air, so I snagged the note from Demir and shoved it in my pocket before leaving.

Echo wasn’t there. He didn’t run after me. Disappointment settled in my stomach, but I refused to waste tears on him. Anger flowed over me, blocking out the lingering pain. I hoped no one pissed me off today because I could tell I only needed one small thing to make me snap.

First things first,I went to the dining hall. I hadn’t eaten in days, and I could feel it.

Everyone was oddly silent, but I was too focused on my own shit to wonder why. Buying a burrito and iced tea, I glanced around to check the time and sighed when I realized I had missed Herbology. Guess my first class was going to be Forbidden Magick.

I slipped outside and sat down under a tree, practically inhaling my food in just a few minutes. No one approached me, and I counted myself lucky because there wasn’t one part of me that wanted to talk about what had happened.

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the tree, wishing I had been able to charge my phone before leaving my room.

“Isla?!”

My eyes snapped open. Bricriu was standing just a few feet from me. His lips were parted in shock, and he took one step towards me, then another.

“Isla?” he repeated himself. “Your face… Are you okay?”

I swallowed hard, reaching up to run my fingers over the scrapes and bruises I had purposefully avoided looking at thus far. His worry grew when he came closer. He was in his human form, wearing those stupid yet awesome steampunk-looking glasses. Tears stung my eyes, and I hated every moment my chest got tighter.

There was no way I was having a breakdown right now, not with Bones, but everything about the past week was starting to hit me. I couldn’t have stopped the sob from escaping if I had wanted to.

Instantly, Bones was there, but when he reached for me, I slammed back into the tree, groaning when pain radiated down my back.

“Shit,” he hissed. He reached out, gently picking me up and pulling me away from the tree.

My breathing sped up as tears slipped down my cheeks. The world was getting fuzzy around the edges, my panic making it impossible to talk.

“Isla, you need to calm down and slow your breathing. You’re going to pass out,” Bones ordered, shaking me the slightest bit.

“You’re not– You lookwrong. Let me go!” I gasped out, trying to remember how to breathe. My mind was racing, trying to blend together the two versions of Bones that I knew. For some reason, this mask, the illusion magick he used, was making my skin crawl.

Eyes wide, I focused on him, hoping he might understand my spiraling thoughts. Whatever he saw there made him start to curse again. He bitched about the tree and picked up my bag before walking out to the open.

Coolness surrounded me. Magick brushed up against me, distracting me from my burgeoning panic attack. It felt like a cool mist, delicate and chilly, and it covered my entire body before it disappeared. The arms around me shifted, the skin there becoming more translucent and fainter, followed by the hollow clanking sound of bone against bone.

When I chanced to look at Bones again, he was in full fae form. Pale violet eyes searched my face as he cradled me to his chest. Whispers broke out around us, but I didn’t care about anyone else right now. I hiccuped, desperately trying to stop crying, but it was no use. Throwing my arms around his neck, I tucked my face between a skull and his neck.

“Please get me out of here.”

Without words, he stole me away from the quad full of onlookers.

I didn’t bother to ask where he was taking me. I didn’t give a shit as long as it was away. Part of me understood why Echo wasn’t ready to talk about us after the rut, but I thought I was fucking entitled to some kind of talk after a week of my body being at his disposal.

“Here,” Bones murmured. “Can I put you down?”

Shifting away from him, I took a look at our surroundings. We were outside an old stone building, much like the rest of the campus, but this one was crumbling. It reminded me of the old European castle ruins I’d seen pictures of online. Plants grew in the crevices between the stones that remained standing.

“Okay,” I rasped, my voice scratchy from crying.

He slowly put me down on my feet and held onto me until he was sure I wouldn’t fall over. Without another word, he took my hand, looking at my face to make sure it was okay, before leading me into the building.

Ducking through an especially short doorway, my jaw dropped. The inside looked like one of those old humanchapels with stained windows, but these depicted different supernaturals. The windows were so dirty that I couldn’t make out exactly what they were trying to show.

“What is this place?” I asked, carefully stepping over rubble.

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