I resisted the urge to burn Victor to a crisp then and there, knowing I would lose control if I even let myself entertain that thought for more than a second.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to pay. I squeezed his fist in my hand and then shoved, sending him backward. Away from me. Away from Claire.
“Let’s go, dragon boy,” Victor hissed, his own magic coming alive in his eyes. “It’s time someone showed you that you aren’t as great as you think you are.”
Everyone’s eyes were on us as they pressed against the tables, wanting to give us room, yet still eager to watch us fight. One thing shifter kids and human kids always had in common—we loved egging on someone else to fight.
I kept my attention locked on Victor, feeling Claire and Lacy move behind me. I would wait until I was sure they were safe, then all bets were off.
The side door of the mess hall flung open, and a giant of a man filled the open space.
“What be the meanin’ o’ all this then?” he demanded, his voice rumbling as he stalked forward, the students backing away in a hurry. Hamish McTavish’s accent always became thicker when he was irritated, and no one in Imperium ever wanted to hear that, much less get in his way. The Scotsman was an imposing figure at six and a half feet tall, and though he didn’t have a single hair on the top of his head, he more than made up for it on his face. “No one fights with magic in this house, aye? So why is it I be findin’ the air thick wi’ it in here?”
Normally, the pack master stayed along the borders of the school’s forests to keep them secure. His arrival was unnaturally good timing. I spotted movement beyond the tartan draped over his shoulder and saw Hamish’s son Ian at the door, still in his wolf form, panting heavily. No doubt he’d rushed to report what was about to happen.
“So would either of ye mind tellin’ me what is going on, or shall I be gettin’ the headmistress to coax it out o’ ye?”
“He started it,” Victor mumbled. His eyes had returned to their normal shape, the urge to fight apparently having left him. But not the urge to lie. No, that was still intact.
“Started what, exactly?” Professor McTavish crossed his arms and lifted a furry red eyebrow in question. “From what I heard, ye were the one to throw the first punch. I dinna fancy being lied to, Victor DeVenoss.”
When Victor didn’t answer, McTavish continued, “I will be lookin’ over this happening, just this one time. But take this warning—ye best be careful I ne’er catch ye again. Now off with ye.”
Without a word, Victor left, slamming the door to the mess hall on his way out. McTavish turned to me. “And ye best be careful too, lad. I canna say I wouldn’t have done the same, but ye are on thin ice wi’ Headmistress Magda as it is, and yon ruffian,” he nodded to the door Victor had disappeared through, “is no’ the type to let things go. Ye best lay low and let it all blow o’er.”
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
The pack master spun on his heel and stalked out. The room came alive with chatter. A few students came over and hesitantly patted my back, no doubt having been the recipients of Victor’s fury in the past. Even though there hadn’t been a fight, I was being treated as the winner.
Claire and Lacy had scooted around the table and were sitting with their backs against the wall. Claire was finishing off her pizza, looking none the worse for the last few minutes’ happenings, while Lacy sat with her pizza still on the plate, her eyes holding a faraway, sad look.
“Thanks for stepping in,” Claire said. “I’m sorry I got you in trouble.”
“You didn’t. I’m not in trouble. If anyone is, it will be Victor.”
Claire got up. “I think I’m ready to go back to the dorm. How about you, Lacy?”
Lacy nodded, wordless.
“I’ll walk you,” I offered, not fully trusting Victor or his bully friend not to be waiting for them outside somewhere.
After they tossed their plates in the trash, we walked out and across the courtyard toward Earth house.
“You didn’t have to walk us back. I don’t think they’ll try anything, unless it’s tonight,” Claire said. “Victor was really wanting us to go to the lake for some reason.”
“The reason is because he’s a creep,” Lacy informed her, rubbing her arms again.
Both of them were right. Victor was definitely a creep—and it would be like him to try to do something at night. Granted, the student rooms were secure, but snakes always managed to get into spots that most would think were safe.
Their best bet was to be where Victor wasn’t. “Would you two like to come up to the overlook tonight?” Honestly, I had fully been planning to stay in my own room, but the idea popped into my head. The spot beneath the Mill Mountain Star would be the perfect spot to hide.
Lacy gave me a funny look, no doubt wondering what I was up to.
I shrugged. “Claire hasn’t seen the school and the city from up there. It’s nice.”
“But we’ll get in trouble,” Lacy objected. “You know the headmistress doesn’t like anyone up there at night.”
Which makes it the perfect place to be. Victor won’t think to look there, plus it’s a safe distance from the lake.
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” I told her.
“I’d like to go,” Claire said, turning to Lacy, “Come on and go with us. It will be fun!”
“The lights are really pretty at night,” Lacy admitted. “All right. What time do you want us to meet you?”
“I’ll wait for you at the foot of the mountain at eight.” With luck, no one would see us climb the path that led to the star, and I wouldn’t have to worry about Claire tonight.
Claire pressed her token into the door, and it swung open. Just before she went inside, she turned around and gave me a smile. “See you at eight.”
There was something about her that made me feel—that made me care enough to worry about her.
No, I’m just protecting her because it’s the right thing to do. I brought her here, so I’m feeling responsible, that’s all. But even as I headed back to the mess hall to grab cold pizza for a late lunch, my thoughts kept going back to her.
“I still don’t think this is the best idea in the world,” Lacy told me as we started up the mountain. “What if we get caught?”
“Then I’ll take all the blame for it,” I replied. The headmistress had yet to give me any punishment for staying out and disobeying her. Might as well make it worth her while.
It was getting dark, but the dirt path was still lit well enough that we made it up to the overlook without problems. Coming down might be an issue, but I’d deal with it when the time came. This spot had become a favorite of mine. My dragon had perched on the railing and surveyed the city more times than I could count. Something was calming about staring down at the lights that twinkled like a million tiny stars.
It was a dragon thing, I decided, looking at the stars below while those in the sky stood above us. Claire gasped as she leaned her elbows on the rail. “It’s beautiful.”
Maybe star-gazing was not as much of a strict dragon thing as I’d thought it was. The wonder in her voice showed her appreciation. Lacy wasn’t nearly as impressed.
“We can’t stay up here for too long,” she warned. “Even if you’re planning to take the blame, Logan, we’ll still get in trouble if we get caught.”
“Everything will be fine,” I said, hoping to reassure her. The chances of anyone coming up here were slim since the giant Mill Mountain Star sat directly behind us. None of the students wanted to chance an encounter with the headmistress should she choose to fly up and turn on the star.
But the headmistress won’t light it tonight since we’re all on the grounds…at least, I don’t think she will.
“Imperium looks so peaceful from up here,” Claire said quietly. “You’d never guess it was filled with so many shapeshifters.”
“Yeah, appearances aren’t everything,” Lacy said with a dry laugh. “You haven’t started classes yet. Wait until tomorrow. Your perception of everything being peaceful might change.”
As if on cue, I spotted a dark form heading toward Earth House, only barely visible from the lights in the courtyard. Victor. I grinned, but didn’t say anything. You won’t be finding them there tonight. Tough luck for you, you jerk. I stared at the shadows where he’d disappeared. When I scanned the courtyard, I spotted two more dark forms sprinting across the lawn, both heading toward Earth House.
Who else had Victor managed to recruit? They disappeared into the same darkened spot on the far side of the house where the first had vanished.
“There’s someone lurking around the main house,” Lacy said, pointing to yet another form I hadn’t spotted in a completely different place. “What’s going on?”
A shriek rang through the air, piercing the silence as students began pouring out of the houses, some of them shifting to their animal forms in hopes of defending themselves as the dark figures came at them. Screams filled the air.
It was then I understood what was happening. The shields had been breached. The illusion of Imperium being peaceful was shattered. Only one group would do that, and they made Victor pale in comparison
“It’s the Dark Watch.” The instant the words left my lips, Lacy’s breath caught. “The shields are down. We’re under attack.”
There was no safer place than where we were. Part of me wanted to shift and swoop down to help the others—to take back the safety of our school—but the other part of me argued that I couldn’t just leave the girls unprotected. While it was unlikely that anyone would come up here, it was a chance I wasn’t willing to take.
A griffin screeched an instant before the headmistress’ shifted form appeared in the sky over the battle. It only took her talons ripping into them for the intruders to start retreating. With her helping them, I could keep Claire safe. Claire and Lacy—
“I don’t understand,” Claire said, bringing my attention to her. “What is the Dark Watch and why would they want to hurt us? What did we do to them?”
“The Dark Watch is a group of anti-shifter fanatics. They believe anyone who isn’t human is an abomination,” I explained, watching her eyes go round with shock. “And for the record, I don’t believe we’ve ever done anything to them. They just like being the bad guys.”
“Humanity has always had a knack for destroying what it doesn’t understand,” Lacy added glumly, echoing one of the headmistress’s favorite quotes. “Nothing ever changes on that front. You can go back through history and see it always repeats itself, over and over.”
I nodded, grim. “This is the first time the Watch has managed to come through the shields. The coven always spells the stones to protect us against any who wish Imperium harm.”
“I hope no one got hurt,” Claire murmured, staring at the lights in the courtyard.
Every figure I saw was moving, though some seemed to be slower than usual. “I hope not, too, but I think it might be safe for us to go down now and see if we can help.”
Coming down the mountain took much longer than it had going up. More than once I contemplated shifting into my dragon and just flying the girls down. Claire had been easy enough to fly with before, and I thought I would be all right with Lacy on my back, too, but the memory of Claire’s frightened face at the end of our last flight stopped me. To make it easier for them to see, I broke off a branch from a nearby tree and blew softly against the frayed ends of the wood, creating a torch to light our way. Once we made it to the bottom, I snuffed it out and took note of the chaos around us.
Most of the students were huddled in a tight group against the wall of the main house. A few were headed across the yard toward them, back in their human form.
The wolves. The pack took their job securing the border seriously. Professor McTavish was in the midst of them, arm thrown around the middle of a boy with a huge gash in his leg to offer support as the student hobbled.
Other than that one injury, everyone seemed to be shaken, but unscathed for the most part.
The headmistress spotted me and walked over. It was obvious from the stiff way she held herself that I was in for more trouble. “You are walking a fine line with me, Logan Fairmont,” she began, then stopped, her lips pursing into a tight line as if she hadn’t decided what to say to me next.
“I’m sorry, Headmistress. I only wanted to show Claire the stars at the overlook…”
“The houses are clear, Headmistress.” Professor Mulford, a tiny man with an impossibly small set of spectacles perched on the end of his nose, came into view when she turned.
“Thank you, Patrick. We’d best get the students back to their dorms,” the headmistress said with a gesture that sent the professor scurrying over to the main house. She turned to me before following him. “As you seem to have so much extra time on your hands to find trouble, you will be part of the group who watches the perimeter at night. Report to Professor McTavish after class tomorrow. For now, you will see Claire and Lacy back to their rooms. Let this be your final warning, Logan. My patience grows thin.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
When she was halfway across the yard, I started leading the girls back to Earth House. I was right in thinking the girls’ side had been targeted. The door stood ajar, barely on its hinges. I couldn’t help but think that even though it had been the Dark Watch who had invaded Imperium, I was still willing to place a bet on Victor as being the one responsible for what had happened here.
Claire and Lacy were silent as we walked up the stairs to their dorm. Luckily, the damage to the house was limited to the door, and everything else seemed to be all right.
“I’ll stay here until I hear you lock it,” I told Claire as they went inside.
“Okay,” Claire answered, but then she turned back and gave me a small smile that made the blue in her eyes come to life. “I had a good time before it all happened. Thank you for taking us to the overlook.”
“You’re welcome.” I answered her smile with one of my own, then she closed the door. When I heard it click, I whispered, “You’ll always be welcome.”