Page 47 of Bonds of Magic
“Nothing,” I said with a sigh. “It’s just…forget I said it.”
“When has that ever happened in the history of the world?” Ash asked. “Never. The answer is never. I can’t just forget stuff like this.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
“Maybe so, but today isn’t it. And if you ever want me to stop insinuating there’s something going on between you and Noah, you might as well tell me the truth.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“Blackmail is technically when you’re threatening to share information about someone,” Felix said. “When you’re trying to get itoutof them, it’s extortion.”
Ash waved a hand. “Semantics. The point is that Cory is being needlessly secretive and if he would simply—”
“I’m not supposed to tell you, okay?” I exploded. A couple of students at a nearby table turned and looked at me. My face flushed, and I dropped my voice. “Look, it’s not my choice, okay?I want to tell you. But I don’t want to make your lives more complicated, and it seems like getting too close to me is—”
“Oh my god, seriously? Don’t start that again,” Ash whisper-shouted across the table. “We’ve been through this. You’re not responsible for Erika’s death. But if you think you are, then don’t you think telling people the truth might be better than hiding things from them?”
The problem was that Ididthink that. Ash was laying out one side of an argument I’d been having in my head for weeks, and he was disturbingly convincing.
“Cory, is everything…okay?” Felix asked. He wasn’t whispering, but his voice was naturally quiet. No one around us seemed to be paying attention anymore anyway. “If you’re in some kind of trouble, we’re here for you. You know that, don’t you?”
“I do.” I sounded whiny even to myself. “And I want to tell you. But I don’t want to drag you guys into my mess.”
“We’re already in your mess,” Felix said with a warm smile. “And we chose to be here.”
I looked between the two of them, feeling my resolve crumble.
“If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone else,” I said. “I meanno one. Not Keelan, not Min, not anybody. The dean specifically told me not to let people know.”
“The dean knows?” Ash said.
Felix nodded. “Yes. I promise. Whatever you say stays between us.”
I looked at Ash for a long moment, and he looked back at me, puzzled. Finally, he laughed and said, “Oh, yeah. Me too. I’lltake it to my grave and all that.” Not the most convincing words I’d ever heard, but then he laughed and said, “Fairies can’t lie, remember? I’m stuck, now that I’ve said that.”
That was a good point. I slid my chair closer to them and dropped my voice again. “Okay, so you know how earlier this year, you said I had to be a witch because you couldn’t sense anything paranormal about me?”
They nodded.
“Well, apparently that’s only half true. My human half is normal, but I’m only half human. The other part of me is, um, an incubus.”
Ash’s eyes went wide. “I’m sorry, a what?”
“An incubus,” I repeated. “A demon who can enter people’s dreams. That’s why the dean wanted me to come to Vesperwood.”
Felix nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”
“It does?” I asked.
“Yeah. It would explain why you feel human to everyone, because youarehuman. Partly. But it also explains why you can’t do magic, because that’s not what incubi do, exactly. Not in the waking world, anyway. But you guys are extremely rare, and there’s some pretty dark history with incubi in the past few decades. No wonder the dean doesn’t want people to know. He’s trying to keep you safe.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “That’s pretty much what he told me.”
“It also explains why you can’t do any magic even with Rekha’s tutoring. You’re not meant to be able to.” He frowned. “I do still wonder about your raven, though.”
“Wait a second,” Ash said. “Let’s back up for a minute. Isn’t an incubus like, asexdemon?”
I made a face. “More or less.”
