Page 82 of Demon Found

“You’re going to get expelled, hobo. I’ll get you thrown straight into a lab like the ones Daddy runs. I hope they experiment on you like a damn rat! Farrell doesn’t need a little slut like you in his allegiance. Maybe it was you that killed that student with youraether.”

She lets the last word float in the air, making damn sure it’s obvious she knows my secret. My thoughts stall. She’s confirmed my worst fears. People are going to want to study me, to find out how I tick. They’re going to want to pick my abilities apart, pickmeapart. No one’s seen an aether in two generations. No one knows why they died out, but everyone still wants to know how they used their powers, their coercion. Especially powerful, political everyones. If studying me will give them the answer, a way to replicate the complete coercion true aethers had, then they won’t care if I survive it.

The panic that washes over me is unbearable. I can’t breathe. My skin flames and my chest compresses. I’m going to explode. She can’t do this. I have to stay here. I have to graduate, to ascend.

I won’t be studied like a damn animal.

“Lorelei, No!”

Too late, Farrell sprints toward me. But I’ve already reached out, a ball of glowing light combining with a whirlpool of dark black water, flying straight at Camille. It picks her up in its vortex, spinning her toward the ceiling. She lets out a strangled scream, quickly silenced by bubbling liquid cascading into her mouth. She clutches her throat, chest heaving, trying to catch her breath.

Shit.

The entire whirlpool tumbles in on itself, crashing down on Camille’s body. She slams into the floor before being propelled upward again by a watery geyser and smashing into the ceiling. Professor Max hefts his burly frame into the air, grabbing at Camille’s foot. He dangles for a few seconds before the swirling water loosens his grip and he falls to the floor, cursing.

Farrell reaches me in a few quick strides. His long arms wrap around my body, and he pushes his power into me.

“You need to stop, Lori. You need to control this.”

Piggybacking onto his energy I fight my magic. Thank fuck he trusts me. I barely have the strength to wrangle my aether, even with his help. Gradually the whirlpool slows, and Camille lowers toward the floor. She drops the last few feet with a wet thud.

Farrell untangles himself from me and rushes to her side. The sudden wrench of his power leaving me tears at my chest. He hunches over Camille’s prone body, hands moving quickly up and down, searching out any injuries his magic can heal. She doesn’t move, and with an anguished groan he bends, pressing his mouth to hers, forcing air into her lungs. Professor Max rubs his hands vigorously before kneeling over Camille, an eerie yellow glow emitting from his fingertips.

What the hell have I done? I needed her to stop, to shut up, to give me time to think. But . . . not like this. My eyes lose focus and I flop into a chair.

***

Everything happened so quickly, my head’s spinning. Camille was rushed to the medical center, and somehow I’m here in the dean’s office, with everyone shouting around me and no freaking idea of what’s going on.

Naeve is in the dean’s face, in the most un-Naeve show of aggression I’ve seen. “You can’t expel her! People have done far worse and graduated. Some even came back asdean.”

“She attacked a student, but more importantly she has been hiding her elemental ability. If we don’t know about it, we can’t test it. I will not tolerate cheats at Fates Academy. Only those worthy may ascend.” The dean storms behind his desk, glowering at Naeve. “Miss Fumus’s father is a patron to this academy. I highly doubt he’ll be inclined to tolerate this behavior.”

And there it is. Money. It comes down to who pays his bills. He doesn’t really care I nearly killed a student.

The dean’s door swings open without so much as a tap, and Farrell barges in. His face is smeared in blood, and his normally pristine shirt is crumpled.

He fixes the dean with a steely gaze. “Camille will live. She won’t press charges.”

“Still—” The dean sniffs. “How long has Miss Smith been hiding this? She could have murdered Linx. No. I will inform the authorities.”

“You will do no such thing,” Farrell’s voice booms across the room. “Do not be so foolish as to ignore my direct instruction. Put down that phone this instant.”

The dean’s hand quivers slightly as he sets the phone on the desk.

“You have no authority here, Mr. Cuelebre.”

“I have authority everywhere. Or I will soon.” Farrell’s eyes flash. “My father is her sponsor. He knew what she was from the start. Why do you think he wanted her here despite her late admission?”

The dean’s gaze flicks back and forward between us, and he licks his lips.

“He trusted in you. Believed that even if you found out you would consider the political consequences. By all means, if you want to call someone, call him. Here”—Farrell tosses his pad onto the desk—“call with this. He’ll take my call.”

Great. The man with an as yet unknown sinister plan for me is the only one who can get me out of this mess? Seriously?No other way?

Maybe I don’t deserve to get out of it. I hurt Camille so freaking badly. I hate her, she’s beautiful on the outside and ugly as sin on the inside, but I didn’t mean to drown her. My aether was so wildly out of control, and I can’t begin to grasp why. What if it happens again?

A voice I don’t recognize carries across the room. Naeve squeezes my arm and nods to Farrell’s pad on the desk.

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