Page 92 of Validus Vale Academy 1
My sweet nymph.
She’s making the ice shell that covers me crack away. I look at my arm where she touched me. It tingles like blood slowly returning to a long-asleep limb. Is she aware of her effect on me?
And does she feel that golden pull between us? The thing ancient times called ‘True Bond’.
Impossible that I would be worthy of that. Unthinkable that I could ever hold this beautiful woman, let alone keep her as mine. Keep her safe down here in the dark—in our basement.
But it’s for the best that I can’t do that. She needs light. I love when her cheeks flush pink from the sunshine. I wonder if she’d taste of sunshine? I’ll never know. The privilege of putting my mouth on her body shall never be granted.
"Ludo? Are you OK?"
For a second, I panic, wondering if I’ve broadcast my desires to my little nymph, but I don’t think so. She doesn’t look at me oddly, just in her usual manner. Those beautiful, trusting, silver eyes.
—Follow me—
Someone I don’t trust is the devil Drakeward. If he does anything to upset her, I’ll tear his arms from their sockets, then use them to club him to death. But she wants him here, and I will always do whatever my nymph asks of me. Always and forever.
So I will takeallof them through the tunnels. Itshouldbe safe down here, in the cool, dark depths of my hidden labyrinth, but lately, I’ve sensed something…off. A low hum, a wrongness, like a page torn out of a book. You wouldn’t know it had happened, unless you were looking.
—Be careful, it’s slippery—
The rough-hewn stone walls are perpetually slick with moisture; it drips down to make the earth floor sticky with mud.The first section is too narrow to allow anything but walking in a single file. Theo is in the middle of our line. The passageway widens as we cross under the main school buildings.
To get beneath the laundry, we have to take a roundabout route; none of these tunnels run in a logical straight line. It’s a maze down here.
—Careful—
Hardened lengths of timber are scattered across the floor, remnants of the tunnels’ construction. We walk onward for what feels like the time it takes to journey beneath the campus, then I pause next to a passage branching off to the right.
—You want to check all the tunnels for energy sources, or go straight to the laundry?—
Theo relays the question to her professor. Hmm, his name, Alexis, comes from a Greek verb which means ‘to defend’. I see him active in protecting Theo.
“The laundromat," Alexis replies, his gaze meeting mine. “But stop as soon as you sense any danger.” His eyes moved to Theo. “This energy has already taken people we care about, and I’m not risking you for anything."
He took the words right out of my mouth—if I could actually speak them.
—Follow me, don’t go ahead—
Theo grabs my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. "I’m safe with you guys," she says. I pray she is correct. I am a soldier for my Nymph, and I will lay down my life in a heartbeat. The professor and I form a small detachment in her army, our eyes constantly moving, scanning for danger.
It is then my eyes land on the devil Drakeward.
Currently, he’s grumbling under his breath, then kicking at a stone and sending it flying into the darkness. “If you’ve quite finished with all the fawning,” he drawls. “I’d like to get moving before I die of old age.”
We take the passage heading east. The air grows noticeably colder as we move away from the buildings and under the earth of the academy grounds. “I’m getting goosebumps," Theo says, shivering and pulling her sweatshirt over her hands. My nymph is cold.
I don’t like that. I want to wrap her in my own body, heat her with my blood and flesh.
No.
Too much.
Wanting is not for me. My path is accepting, without hope for more.
The passageway turns, and a noise becomes apparent. A low thrumming that vibrates in my teeth. Sounds are strange down here; all the chaos and racket of the world is muffled by warm earth.
—Machinery at the site—We are close to there—
