Page 64 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
“It was a dick tick.” I sat down on a bench and watched one of the stone lions patrolling in the distance.
After a minute, Potts joined me. “Explain.”
By the time I’d gotten to the dick tick, tears of laughter were running down her face. “Oh, man. That’s brilliant. I’ll trade you. You wanted that lost eye spell? I’ll give you that for the dick tick.” She chuckled and dabbed her eyes with her tissue.
I shook my head and licked my lips. I glanced around, making sure that everyone else was enjoying their free Sunday afternoon out of earshot. “I actually wanted to ask you for something else.”
I gave her the rundown on the missing vampires and my fears for Matthew.
Her face ran the gamut from shocked to angry to contemplative. “I can’t pull him out and keep him anywhere, if that’s what you’re wanting,” she said. “I don’t have anywhere secure or safe enough to keep him. But … if you trust me … I can pull of some pretty great spell combinations so that they think he’s missing—”
“I can hack the system to say he’s been transferred,” I offered.
Potts put a hand over her heart. “First off, don’t ever tellanyonethat again. You’re lucky I’m bound by doctor-patient confidentiality.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please, you probably tell your cats all my secrets.”
“Shnookums likes to know about my day.”
“Ever thought Shnookums might be a Pinnacle spy in disguise?”
She wagged a finger at me. “I’m not worth spying on, kid. I’ve got about thirty bucks left at the end of each month and no real agenda. This place, though, is a different story. The Pinnacle probably has eyes in here,” she raised an eyebrow and jerked her head in what she thought was a subtle manner toward the navy-shirted Zoo members. They lazed on a blanket on the grass. One of them was creating fireballs that floated just above his hand. Another ate a sandwich. Without their navy shirts, I would have thought they were just a random collection of students.
I glanced at Potts, wondering how she could tell, but she held a finger to her lips and shook her head. I wondered if it was a doctor patient confidentiality thing. The curious part of me wanted to hack her files. But I had more important stuff to do. I changed the subject and asked, “Why do you think vamps are disappearing?”
Potts spit her gum into her tissue and then gave a raspy laugh. “What’s the one thing vamps have that magicals don’t?”
I stared into her mismatched eyes as I answered. “Immortality.”
She gave me a tongue click and a finger gun. But there was no humor in her voice as she said, “Bingo.”
“But … Alchemiken’s a joke. There’s no such thing as the magical transference of genetics.”
“Yet.” She crossed her legs and stared across the courtyard. “What do you want to bet that some rich fuck is trying anyway?”
My very soul burned with anger. She was right. I just knew she was right.
Chapter 26
I hadto cut short my meeting with Potts in order to go to detention. She didn’t seem to mind, because she had some historical tour lined up for her ‘free vacation weekend.’
The tour sounded like torture, but it was probably still better than my detention, which was a miserable affair. Our entire class had to take turns digging holes far away from campus, and shoveling giant, rock-sized stone lion poop into said holes. Since stone lions pooped rocks, I first argued that this was a useless waste of time. Once I smelt the stone piles, however, I was really glad that none of them existed near the girls’ dorms.
A couple of people puked, but nobody got to quit. Not until it was time for us to clean up and go watch another amazing showdown at the weekly tournament. I stumbled out of the girls’ locker room, my hair still damp because I was too lazy to dry it all the way. I was determined to find Evan and tell him about my conversation with Potts.
It was strange, but comforting, to have him as an ally. To not be completely alone in this quest anymore. And even though I hadn’t gotten the answers that I’d wanted when my dad had appeared, my gut told me to trust Evan. It told me he was in this, one hundred percent. My chest warmed, thinking that. I gave a little half smile.
Malcolm walked up to me just then. Even though he was freshly showered too, and I could smell the herbal scent of his shampoo, he’d done his hair completely. And he wore a dark, fitted black shirt with his jeans, the kind of shirt that made me think of fifties gangsters and pecs. His pecs looked amazing in that shirt. “Thinking about me?” he gave a wink that was breathtaking, even in the dull grey light of dusk.
“I am now,” I told him, widening my smile. My heart picked up a little. It was the first time I’d seen him since the kiss and my fingers hummed with electric energy. I didn’t know exactly what to do with my hands. I grabbed onto my backpack straps and tried to pull on my cool girl persona, but Malcolm wouldn’t have any of that.
He leaned forward and brushed a strand of wet hair off my cheek. “No faking it. It’s okay to be nervous.” I laughed shallowly, until he leaned in and his lips grazed my ear. He whispered, “I am.”
Holy shit.
His eyes were intense as he pulled back. He reached out and grabbed one of my hands from my backpack. He wove our fingers together and said, “I didn’t really get to talk to you during detention.”
Ho had split us into groups, making sure that neither Malcolm nor Laura was with me. “Probably a good thing. I only dry-heaved, but still not something I think you need to witness.”
