Page 56 of Validus Vale Academy 1
No air, can’t breathe.
Primal panic takes over. I desperately try to stop my descent, but it’s as if an invisible hand is pulling me deeper, twisting me around and down. Through the blurry gloom, strange strands of silver light begin to glow, like twisted, ethereal fingers beckoning me further into the darkness.
I sink, every muscle in my body unresponsive. As a final bubble of air leaves my lungs, a voice resonates inside my head.
—Come, Theodora—
And then… I don’t know anything more.
24
Iwatch the little dud make her way to the dive pool.
That ridiculously oversized swimsuit she’s wearing is letting her little ass cheek pop out with every hip sway. She should look absurd, but I’m not going to lie, there’s something undeniably fucking hot about it.
What? I can despise someone with every fiber of my being and still acknowledge a cute ass.
“Drakeward!”
Feniks is glaring at me. I guess I missed what he was saying. “Are you in this class or not?” he growls. When I glance over to the Ordinarii girls giggling and waving me over, I decide—not. I pull off the swim cap and start vigorously towel-drying my hair.
Feniks must give up on me, because I hear him start barking orders at the other students again. Though my plan is to head straight back to the locker room, the image of Wilson flashes through my mind again. Maybe it’ll be entertaining to watch her flounder around in the water some more.
I’m almost at the edge of the dive pool when a body rockets down from the highest board, hitting the water with the force and speed of an express train. In the moment water explodes outwards around the diving figure, I catch a fleeting glimpse ofsomething else beneath the surface – long, dark hair, tangled like seaweed around a pale figure. The next second, she’s gone, dragged down by the idiot who hit her.
Without a second thought, I’m diving into the water, shooting beneath the surface, and going deep. I fire up some magic to propel me faster, and desperation pounds through my veins. The water gets colder as I get lower, my natural buoyancy trying to pull me to the surface, but another shot of magic forces me further towards the pool floor. Through the gloom of the deep water, I see Wilson; she’s unmoving and curled in a ball. Fuck. My lungs begin to complain about the lack of oxygen, but I ignore them and summon one more extreme burst to reach the girl. The force of my power slams me down onto the tiled floor, and I hook my arms around her tiny body, then kick off.
As we begin to ascend, for a moment, I think I hear a voice crying out her name. Fucking lack of air is making me crazy.
Breaching the surface, I drag in a lungful, as the dud is snatched from my grasp by Feniks. I tread water, allowing my breathing to settle, then pull myself out of the pool. The professor is leaning over the dud, lowering his mouth to hers. A vein pulses in my temple. “Not like that,” I yell, trying to shove him aside. How the fuck can a swim instructor not know proper CPR? His body is like iron and hardly shifts at my push. He should be doing chest compressions, but even as I think that, the little dud stirs, coughs, and then gasps.
Fuck fine. I clench my jaw, standing over her and Feniks. I should be happy she nearly drowned. Why am I so bothered?
Gods, I need to pull my fucking self together. Picking up a discarded towel, I dry down my body while other students gather around, wanting to see the drama. That sandy-haired girl, Wilson’s friend, is crying—for fucks sake.
Time to split. The dud is out of the water; whatever happens next is not my problem.
“Bro! You totally Baywatched the dud!” Troy laughs as he comes out of a shower stall. “Fuck me, I nearly shat myself when I landed on her, talk about a bullseye.” He’s laughing like drowning a girl less than half his size is the most hilarious thing that’s ever happened.
I’ve put up with this douche for far too long. With Manu packed up and gone, the idea of being holed up in the penthouse with Troy is intolerable.
“Did ya give her the kiss of life too?” he grins, clamping a hand on my shoulder.
I reach up, yank two of his fingers, and casually snap them both.
“What the fuck, man?” he screams, pulling the hand to his chest and cradling it.
Some people would say I've gone too far. They’d be wrong. “You’re moving out of the penthouse today,” I tell him calmly. “You have until nine to get your shit out, or it’ll be disposed of.”
“You can’t fucking do that,” he growls, but without any heat. He knows when he’s beaten.
“Try and stop me,” I say in return. “Please, go ahead and try.” There is movement in the corner, and my eyes fix on the freshman Elite, de Vaux. He gives me a nod, as though in approval. I turn my back. I have no need of the benediction of children.
Ten minutes later, Feniks grabs me as I’m on the way out of the locker room. “I have an incident report to write,” he grunts. “My office at noon.”
We glare at each other. “Gods,” I mutter. “Do one good turn and it turns into a whole fucking thing.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he sneers, “will this be interfering with your social calendar? Tough shit. Noon, don’t be late.”
