Page 48 of Phoenix Fall

But she only smiled, and said, “Sometimes people do odd things when they are trying to impress someone.”

Matt was trying to impress me? As I contemplated that, she took us in the opposite direction of his retreating form. To the elevators, as it appeared.

Cara punched the button and turned to me. “Watch your back with Darius. If I’d known about his application, I would have pushed for a rejection.”

“He is team captain,” Mari heaved. “We have to do what he says.”

“Him being captain does not mean you do whatever he wants,” Cara corrected. “You are part of a team, not a dictatorship.”

The doors opened, and we squeezed in. Mari had to bend over to fit. Trix crammed in behind my legs.

Cara continued. “I have done a bit of digging. Darius is, apparently, a member of an influential pack based out of Alaska. A ridiculous, last-minute donation was made to the academy in exchange for his participation in this program.”

I glanced at her. “The headmaster didn’t seem happy about it.”

Cara shook her head. “There have been a lot of difficulties getting this school off the ground. Amadeus reports directly to the council. I don’t think he was given much choice in this decision.” Her mouth pressed into a grimace. “So if Darius steps too far out of line, let me know. I am not without influence.”

Wowsers. Okay. I just hoped that “stepping too far out of line” wasn’t another way of saying “eating someone.” Werewolves weren’t likely to go in for swirlies, after all.

The door opened, and Cara took us not toward the front entrance, but rather in the opposite direction—down a long hall to another set of doors out the back of the building. They opened to a large field enclosed in an eight-foot-tall stacked stone fence that looked pretty serious, with razor wire coiled along the top. But the Watcher took us to a wrought-iron gate in the fence line. It was a substantial barrier, but only secured with a chain and lock.

She frowned as she told me the combination. “It’s not very secure, but the mechanism we ordered for this gate is not coming until next week. The current setup is mostly to delay anyone possibly coming through the gate from getting into the compound before we can get to them.”

Cara gestured to a wide path cut through the trees. “This leads to the forest beyond, and to the realm gateway you’ll use for training.”

Everything looked very new. The gate itself, when we reached it, was a graceful arched structure created from a combination of stone and curved tree trunks grafted together. A matching stone building stood to one side of it.

“This forest is quite wild,” our guide stated. “I thought we would do a little test of Anna’s talent out here.”

I raised a brow at her. “A test?”

Cara led us away from the gate down a narrower path. “Just a simple assessment, so we know where to start with you. I think part of your talent rests with telekinesis, and I will be setting you up with someone who has experience with that. But you also mentioned attracting animals, and I want to see that in action.”

I remembered the class schedule and how the first morning session was to train us in our abilities. “So you think I used telekinesis to kill that guy?”

Cara glanced at me. “That is my working theory, yes.”

“You don’t know for sure?”

She slowed to walk beside me. “Not for sure, no.”

“Have you never seen this ability before?”

The Watcher pushed her braids back off her shoulders. “I wouldn’t say that. That particular ability is familiar to me, but most who have it tap into life energy. Not many can do that, and those that perfected it—at least, doing damage with it—haven’t left their home realm for over a thousand years. So there isn’t any way you could have inherited it from them.”

I stared at her. “Who are ‘them’?”

But she merely offered an enigmatic smile. “I’m sticking with my theory.”

I frowned. “Does that explain the animal thing, too?”

“No,” Cara said. “I need to see this in action, which is why we are here. It isn’t common for more than one talent to manifest, but also not unheard of, either. Cryptid-human hybrids are presenting us with all kinds of challenges.”

“I am not a hybrid,” Mari rumbled.

“No, you are not,” Cara affirmed. “Sometimes these things just pop up. But your family line has always had this ability.”

Mari grunted, her brows lifting in surprise. “Are you sure?”

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