Page 39 of Monster Girl Awakened

Kristen pushes to her feet and I straighten, body tensing. She strides past the waitress without sparing a glance at anyone and by the looks of it, doesn’t leave a tip.Asshole. I wait for Nessa to follow, but she doesn’t. She’s smart. Doesn’t even glance up from her book for more than a cursory look at Kristen as the woman gets up from her chair, before returning to her reading.

Kristen pauses under a tree, in the shadows to survey the cafe, double checking that none of the patrons were watching her. After five minutes, Kristen straightens, brushes off her shirt and ducks into an alley.

It doesn’t matter that Nessa handled it so well, it still has me sweating and my gut roiling. And I can’t give away the fact that I’m perfectly aware of what she’s doing. I growl, my frustration flaring. I force my fists to unclench and run them through my hair, taking slow, deep breaths until I’m centred again.

It seems I’m going to have to watch her more often. She’s basically just handed me a free fucking pass, but I can’t say that I’m too upset about that part.

After another ten minutes she gets to her feet, tucking her book in her pocket and stretching. Her golden eyes glint, reflecting the soft cafe’s lights like a cat’s would, as she scans the area. Then she digs around in her purse and slips a hundred dollars worth in Fae coins under the edge of her coffee mug. She waves the waitress over and thanks her before walking from the establishment at a brisk pace. So when the waitress checks the table and finds the money, she misses the way the woman clutches it to her chest, relief stark on her expression. Being a supernatural can be hard sometimes, it doesn’t have the same support systems as that of the earth realm either. It is more like every supe for themselves unless you are a pureblood and have extraordinary powers.

With the Drákon group running rampant at the moment though, it’s not safe to be powerful either. I shake my head then take off down the street, following Nessa. I wonder where she’s taking me next.

Chapter Nineteen

Nessa

Isnort,droppingmyface into my palm. “I can’t believe you waited twenty-four hours to call me and tell me you’re okay,” Lexi says. Her tone is playful, but I want to make sure she’s truly not pissed at me.

“I know, I’m an asshole.” I groan, rubbing at my face. I’d meant to call her before I left to spy on the local Drákon leader—AKA Kristen as I finally learned tonight. For some reason I haven’t been able to get her name. It was irritating me, so at least I can put a label on her now. After what was supposed to be a short nap, it was late so I didn’t want to panic her by calling in the middle of the night. I don’t bother making excuses. There are none. “I’m sorry, I’ll try harder.”

She lets out a low laugh. “Nessa, we both know how you’re wired. When you are focused on something like you are, the Drákon group and finding… Ethan, you struggle to remember or think about anything else.”

I grimace, even though it’s true. “I’m still sorry,” I say firmly.

“I accept your apology. I’m glad you’re doing alright. How are you feeling today? I’m assuming you still went out last night, otherwise you would have called me.”

She’s not stupid. If I didn’t call then she knows I was doing reconnaissance or something risky like that. I sigh and scrub a hand over my face. “Yeah, I did. Other than a name, I didn’t really learn anything new though. They were discussing the kidnappings, but we already know about that.” I sit down on the end of my bed gingerly. “I’m alright—feel kind of like I fell off a three story building, but I’m alive.”

She snorts. “Are you going to take the day off?”

My shoulders droop and Unicorn lands beside me, before climbing into my lap. “Yeah, I think I will. I need to recuperate all I can before my assignment with Corin.” It’s in three days time, which isn’t long.

The hum of someone else speaking comes from Lexi’s end and she mumbles something back. “Sorry, I’ve got to go. But seriously, call me next time. Oh, and good luck with your assignment,” Lex says, then hangs up. It draws a chuckle from me, glad she seems to be feeling better.

I’m both extremely anxious about it and a little excited. The new boost to my magic is the primary reason for my anxiety, and a lot of frustration. I don’t have very much time to get a handle on it before the assignment either. My eyebrows draw down then I reach for my phone again. Maybe, I should give Corin a call, he might be able to help give me some pointers on controlling my magic. As I scroll through my contacts to find his number, a smile touches my lips. I am a little excited too because of how much we’ve prepared for it. The rune circle is definitely solid—provided all our calculations are correct, if I can get my magic to cooperate, it should go swimmingly. Fingers crossed Corin can help, and maybe I’ll enlist Dylan too, he was my tutor last term after all.I wonder if he’s supposed to be offering that role for me this term or not?

I shake my head.Come back to that later, Nessa.Now is not the time.I hit dial and cross my toes as well. Here is to hoping I don’t blow anyone or anything up.

Smiling to myself, I climb out my dorm window, book in hand, and settle on the thick tree branch. I lie back, eyes darting between the stars for a moment before I grab my book and start reading, flashlight rune aimed at the pages. The night is serene and quiet for a whole earth shattering ten minutes before a familiar pale figure appears in my peripheral vision. I flop back with a groan, my focus on the fantasy world full of Omegas, and hot Alphas and Betas, broken.

“Dammit, what now?” I ask, peering up at Aurora through the darkness, deactivating my flashlight rune as I do so my eyes can adjust.

She blinks at me, blank expression not faltering, and I can’t help but laugh. It’s mostly out of exasperation, but it has some of the tension in my shoulders easing anyway. Taking a few deep breaths, I roll my shoulders and get my head in the game. “Alright, show me.”

Though her expression barely flickers, Aurora floats away. I bite the inside of my cheek unsure how to feel about the zombie-like characteristics that she has recently adopted. It’s definitely odd. Though she only appeared a few times last term, she acted like any other supernatural personality and mannerism wise, other than the flickering and fading out. Now though, it’s like her brain is there but she can’t change or control her body.

Shaking my head, I put my book on the inside ledge of my dorm before climbing down the tree to follow Ghost Girl who is almost at the edge of the forest. It’s quiet, as the sun went down not long ago and students avoid the forest at night. Well other students avoid it at night, not me though. Even though it’s quiet and seemingly empty, I carefully use my magic to check the area for people and come up empty. I also make sure the barrier covering me is at full strength.

“So where are we headed?” I ask even though I’m aware that she probably won’t answer.

She turns to blink at me again before moving into the trees. She doesn’t take the main path that is kept specifically for students, no, she takes the one that I use. It has a sinking feeling hitting me in the gut. I was hoping she was going to show me something else, not lead me to anotherpresentfrom Ethan. I shake my head and force myself to maintain my cheery disposition. Lets just call it a coping mechanism, but the constant stress is draining me, so if I have to pretend to be happy to deal with everything, then you bet I’m going to be. I don’t let my smile drop even as the aura of Ethan’s magic hits me. It’s just the residue of his magical signature but it confirms my thoughts.

“So is it fun being a ghost?” I ask casually, making her ghostly form pause for a moment before she continues on. I make a humming noise in the back of my throat, undeterred by her lack of a response. “Do you miss things? Food, books, music, a pet? Oooh, do you miss jokes? I’m sure all those other ghosts you hang out with are terribly dull. Or you could say, terribly boo-ring.” I grin, even as my proximity to Ethan’s present sets off the spell he has there. This time I’m going to focus on that more than the present itself. It will make my senses more fine tuned to the presents in the future.

This one is in plain sight and doesn’t seem to have a trap attached to it. No hellfire thankfully. It’s a pair of hands, severed at the wrist. Aurora shifts to hover beside the present, gazing down at it. I bite my cheek, eyes on the hands. “How does a ghost buy their food?” I pause, and Aurora turns to me, head cocked slightly. “At the ghost-ery store.” I stare at her, grinning and swear that she’s internally rolling her eyes at my horrible joke. Snorting, I tug on a pair of gloves. I’ve taken to keeping a pack of them in my magical pant pockets in case I come across any more of Ethan’s presents.

A quick prodding of my magic reveals that these hands have the same stasis spell on them, but they appear to have been… frozen? My eyebrows draw down at the paler colour and the drops of still frozen blood at the wounds where they were hacked off. I grit my jaw. The hands are also visually different from the leg I found. The skin is more tan, the fingers long and dainty, but the hand itself isn’t all that big. The nails are painted black this time, and silver dress jewellery rings adorn them. I blink repeatedly, as I stare. There is something so familiar about the whole thing. I just can’t put my finger on it.

Shifting my focus back to the spell I tug at the threads of it and it reveals that the caster has woven my magic into it as a trigger. It makes a lot more sense now that no one else found it. I let out a breath, eyebrows drawing down. From what I can tell it seems like there is a clause written into it that makes it only activate if it’s only my magical signature it senses and no one else. That’s all I’m able to get from the spell so I pull back a little and let my mind swirl around all the new details.

---