Page 53 of Poison

My aunt sits there with her face on her that resembles her eating lemons. She doesn’t do anything else other than stare at the three of us as we stop in the centre of the room. It’s Mr Lightfoot that stands up and clears his throat.

“After much deliberation we have decided,” he says with a dramatic pause. My heart is hammering in my chest, my palms are slick as I wait for their decision.

“You, Miss Draken, are to return to Morgansyth Academy under close watch of Mr Skullmyer and Ajax.”

I blow out a harsh breath as relief floods me, I know they can help me get whatever power it is I have under control.

“Thank you,” I say with a smile, I’m surprised when he returns one of his own.

“Don’t get me wrong there will be an investigation as to why the memory wipe didn’t work, but I have a feeling the reasons will come to light soon enough.: He says, my mouth practically hangs open on the floor as I stare at him dumfounded.

“Your friend is going with you,” he says with a wink. “I know he is your guardian as you say but he seems to be more of a familiar to you and I think you’re going to need every bit of help you can get.”

I burst out laugh as Kevin does a weird happy dance at the side of me, but he always has to take it too far. He sticks his tongue out at my aunt and gets a growl in return, I do notice however some of the council members have to cover their mouths to hold back laughter.

“I need you to work hard and I will be keeping a very close eye on you.”

CHAPTERNINETEEN

The doors leading to the outside world are closed before me and I’m full of nerves as I wait for them to open. I don’t know why I’ve been cleared of all charges, but I am able to go back to the Academy… which is what I truly wanted so I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

“I do,”Kevin says in my head even though he’s on my left. He prefers to talk to me through the mind link rather than letting Ajax in on our conversation. “You’re waiting for something to go wrong or for them to change your mind.”

I shrug because I know he’s right, but what do you say when someone hits the nail on the head like that? Ajax is on my other side, his eyes on the guard who is messing around near the door. I don’t know what he’s doing but it seems like he’s trying to hold off on letting us out of this place. The oak doors swing towards us with a groan, and we have to step back to avoid being hit by them. Daylight streams through the door, blinding me. I have to cover my eyes from the sunshine and wait for them to adjust from the dark of this building to the outside world.

My jaw drops as I see the hustle and bustle of the street from the outside world. Ajax is the first to step out and I follow. What the heck? I recognise this street from one I ran down, away from the people trying to catch me. Ravenshard spreads out before us and I look at Kevin with a raised brow. He shakes his head at me like he hasn’t got a clue either, I turn my attention to Ajax.

“Did you know the council building was in the human world my aunt sent me to?” I ask him.

He looks at me, then turns his attention to anything else but me as I stop on the steps of the building. I fold my arms across my chest, waiting with a frown.

“I knew they were around here somewhere but this is the first time I’ve ever been to the council building,” he says sheepishly.

“How is that possible?” I ask, and he shrugs at me. “But you’re the leader of The Vasi, surely you’ve been to the council building?”

“Nope, all our meetings are held off site so we can keep identities of the warriors on a need-to-know basis,” he says flippantly.

I stomp down the stairs, knowing I’m not going to get anything more out of him than that. Plus, I really want to get away from the council building because for some reason I can feel eyes on the back of my head. My boots clop against the old English stone flags beneath my feet, and I keep moving until I feel myself starting to relax a little.

“How are we getting back to the Academy?” I ask.

Ajax steps in front of me, nodding his head to the right, and I notice the huge building at the end of the street that looks like it has a dome sitting on top of it. I look at Kevin and he smirks, following behind Ajax as he takes off in that direction. Breaking out into a jog so I can catch up to them, I try to catch up with Ajax as he lengthens his stride, eating up the ground quicker than he should for someone walking.

“What is it?” I pant as we stop outside another set of wooden doors.

A huge symbol of all the different supernaturals is raised above the door, guards lining either side of it and turning humans away as they get closer, trying to see what’s inside.

“This is the portal centre,” a guard says to me, and the look on his face is annoying.

Yeah, because I really know what that is all about? I have never had to come to somewhere like this since my aunt always had Tanika portal us somewhere; she’s too good to be portaled with the riff raff. One of the guards comes and says something to Ajax before the doors open and we’re ushered in.

The room before us has me frozen in awe, there are coloured panes of glass everywhere. I’m mesmerised by it the light streaming in through the windows hitting the coloured panes. It causes a kaleidoscope of colours on the floor and walls; I’ve never seen something so pretty.

“Earth to Pop,” Kevin says through the mind link.

“Huh?” I reply.

“Wow, everything is really messing with you. Are you okay?” he asks, his tone thick with concern.

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