Page 11 of Forbidden Magic
The trees grow in height and numbers the closer I get to my dorm. Thick barren bushes flank the path until I reach the magical delimitation where the weather warms and the trees still flaunt their leaves. They form a beautiful arch above my head as I reach the Victorian house. I skitter around the corner to check out the backyard.
The garden is splendid. Tall sunflowers stretch their stems to the sunless sky, small herbs grow in planters near the porch. Green and purple vines sag, heavy with fruits over a white gazebo. Big glittering flowers light a neon-bright path toward the very back where tiny phantom bonsais wave their skeletal hands. An array of vegetables wait to be harvested on the south side, and the whole lot is outlined by a thick hedge of electric-blue, fluorescent cedar.
The beauty of it all steals my breath away.
A tall silhouette bursts from the trail leading to the forest behind Summer Hall. The man’s bright yellow eyes gleam in the night, and I take a step back.
Sweat gathers at the nape of my neck as he adjusts his trajectory and beelines directly for me. I spin around to flee, but running away from a predator is probably the surest way to capture their attention. Instead, I dig my feet in the soft earth and hold my arms out in case I need to use my powers.
The boy stops a few feet short of the cedar hedge. He’s got spiky black hair, the shape of a pro football player, and the predatory stare of a wolf. His thick arms are stretching tight the white Academy sport-shirt.
I tap my foot on the grass. “Who are you?”
He swipes his hand across his face, the odd gesture betraying a hint of disappointment and confusion. “Jeremy Byers.”
Jeremy…as in Allie’s ex?
“I’m sorry…the scent. I thought you were…” His flustered face confirms my hunch.
“You thought I was my sister.”
Understanding flashes in his eyes. “Yes.”
I examine him with newfound interest. He checks all of Allie’s boxes and then some. She used to go out with the quarterback of the human team back in high school. “What’s with the yellow eyes?”
He shrugs casually. “It’s the full moon.”
“I heard werewolves—”
He raises a hand in front of him in a halting motion. “That term is awfully offensive.”
My cheeks burn at the blunder. “I’m sorry.”
A cute grin tugs at his mouth, showing a hint of a dimple. “Hey, I’m just messing with you.”
I brace my hands on my hips. “Okay, Mister Smarty-Fur. Are there many…”
“Wolf shifters,” he says.
“—wolf shifters enrolled in school?”
“Some. Most of us go to the Lunar Academy, but I prefer it here.”
“Why?”
The silence stretches and expands, Jeremy’s intense gaze starting to crawl under my skin, and not in a good way. He keeps stealing glances at the house behind me like he’s checking if we’re alone… and I’m almost certain he’s inching forward, the distance between us melting by the second.
“Well… I’ll see you later I guess,” I stutter, gliding backwards.
Jeremy grips my upper arm, suddenly inches away, and I reel at his swiftness.
My heart quickens at the sight of his claws, the long, black nails so pointy that they pierce my skin. The fire I cast away earlier rages to the surface. “Remove your dirty paws, wolf, or you’ll be sorry.” If he thinks he’ll eat a piece of me tonight, he’s gravely mistaken. I hope he likes his meat well-done, because I’m about to throw him a very special kind of barbecue.
A sickening scent of burnt fur pervades the air. Jeremy cringes but holds on. “Allie broke things off mid-October, and at first I was fine with it, but then she changed. Something happened on Halloween. I found her after the party, and she was crying, but she wouldn’t tell me what happened, and she wouldn’t even speak to me after that. You need to get her to talk to me. You need—”
I free my hand with a swift twist of the wrist. “I don’t need to do anything for you,buddy. Stop stalking my sister.”
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