The Claddagh Academy

The Attack in Which Kodiak Proved his Suicidal Tendencies

Blaise

            Surprisingly enough, First year did a good job handling and surviving our first couple of weeks at Claddagh without any further incidents. Mss. Lambert managed to create a test large enough to compress a thousand of questions about the dorm rules book. Not one single girl passed the test, and as a punishment every girl was ordered to clean their own bedroom by the weekend.

Karoo found the experience fascinating, since as a princess she had never made up any bedroom, nor cleaned anything. I assured her that after a couple of times cleaning dust mites from dirt infested cushions, her fascination about cleaning would wear off. Some sort of school routine started to form under my own nose and without my approval. Every morning Karoo and I would eat breakfast with her siblings, who by the way, were a bunch of rascals without any precognition of good manners or self-control and then we would go to our classes. Kodiak and I would fight about everything, during every hour, every single day. We would fight to get the best spot to sleep in class without gaining attention from the professors. We would fight if one of us touched the other’s desk without the other’s permission. We would even fight if we raised our hands at the same time to answer a question. The cycle was infinite.

    By the end of the day the Doomhold bunch and I would go to the library after dinner and study…or at least I tried to, and Kodiak would try to irritate me with his snoring tendencies. The infamous Unseelie King seemed to be always ready to sleep, which infuriated me because every girl in the room would start gallivanting around him to sigh and look at him while he slept. The number of girls started to increase with every passing night, to the point our table was always surrounded by girls of every year, giggling and trying to catch Kodiak’s sleeping eyes. After three weeks of fan-based attention I had enough.

            “You don’t even study! Why do you keep coming to the library every night if you are just going to sleep?” I asked him one night on our way to the dorms. His siblings were a couple of steps ahead of us, laughing and making more noise than human kids in a fieldtrip. Kodiak stretched his arms at my side, attracting every single feminine eye to the piece of skin that his shirt revealed. He had a nice, compact set of abs-an eight pack if memory served me right- and a very nice V line that marked his hips. For some reason this only irritated me more, “It’s impossible to study when you are around!”

            “I beg to differ siren. You don’t know this, but I’m coming to the library for your own good.” He said, putting a hand on top of his chest as if he was being serious. “Imagine how hard it would be for you to focus on your studies if I wasn’t around. You would be anxious and frustrated, thinking where and with whom I could be. I’m being benevolent, and you should be grateful for my kindness.”

            “I would be anxious alright, thinking about all those poor beings that would have to deal with you wherever you go,” I said, rolling my eyes. At that Kodiak smiled, showing me his wicked dimples. A pair of First year girls giggled passing by our side, making me groan in irritation. Why the hell every single girl in Claddagh tended to smile when Kodiak showed his dimples? The whole business made me irrationally mad. “Aren’t you even remotely worried about failing tomorrow’s test?”

            “We have a test tomorrow?” Asked Kodiak, genuinely surprised. I only opened my mouth in silent stupefaction. How could the Unseelie King be so…childish? Karoo appeared by my side then, taking my arm and waving a hand dismissively at her big brother.

            “Just ignore him. Kodiak will do fine. He is one of those irritating geniuses that doesn’t need to study to get a good grade,” she said, shrugging while I frowned, crossing my arms in indignation. There were extremely unfair things in this world. Like the fact it always rained if I wore white pants, or the fact Kodiak didn’t need to study to get good grades. For my part I wasn’t as naturally gifted as him. Our Conjuring test next morning would be my first academic test ever, since Amadeus had taken upon himself the task of teaching me how to read and calculate. So far, the experience of studying for a test proved to be tiering and boring, not to mention infuriating. The more I studied the less I seemed to remember all the concepts professor Delacroix had taught us. I sighed, turning to the set of stairs that guided to the girl’s dorms.

            “Do we really have a test?” Asked Kodiak, somewhere by my back and I only shook my head at him.  I guess it was true what humans said, ignorance was a bliss. Morning arrived after an entire night of studying with Karoo. For the first time I understood what the human expression burning the midnight oil meant. After hours and hours of reading and comparing notes with my best friend I’ve burned all my oil. I honestly couldn’t make my mind about the importance of studying. Human and Fae constantly pushed their young ones to study, regardless of how dangerous the activity really was.  I was a living ghost when I entered our Conjuring class the next morning. Sleep deprivation and one too many cups of coffee were battling inside my head, promising a very nasty headache in the near future. Studying was and will always be overrated. In comparison Kodiak looked exceptionally well rested, while he watched me walk to my seat with a frown.

            “Hey Darkholme! Why do you look like a zombie raccoon?” asked me Totem, by Kodiak’s side. My Tactics of Combat partner have grown on me over the past couple of weeks. He was my second favorite Doomhold family member, right after Karoo and opposite to Kodiak’s last place on the list. Totem was always laughing and minimizing any situation, a good trait in a soldier, since my upbringing as a bounty hunter had taught me to always have a positive attitude, regardless of how shitty the situation I’ve gotten myself into could be. For the life of me, the more I thought about the positive side of having a Conjuring test, the less I understood the objective of studying. This was self-inflicted pain.

            “Leave her alone,” said Karoo, seating by my side and zeroing her bloodshot eyes on Totem and Kodiak. She looked as tired as I did, but when I was too tired to get irritated by her siblings, she seemed ready to give them hell. “We only slept two hours last night to make sure we got a good grade in this test. Midterms are around the corner and everyone knows we need a good grade point average to pass First year. This is our only chance to build a good average before the first round of examinations.”

            “That’s right, midterms are important, but every single test count,” said a timid voice by my right and everyone turned around to look at the shy girl who had spoken. It was the Sanabria girl. Up close I felt bad about comparing her with an actress of the adult film industry. Sanabria had an innocent looking face, with a small nose and thin lips that made her look a couple of years younger. She had styled her hair in the same pig tails hairstyle she always wore. I still had a lot of issues with her hairstyle, but her anxious expression and nervous hands made me feel as if I was in the presence of a kindred spirit.

            “I’m sorry we haven’t been properly introduced. My name is Blaise, and this is Karoo. Ignore the boys, you don’t want to get to know them anyway. Believe me,” I told her, and Totem huffed as if he couldn’t believe I’ve said that of him. For her part Sanabria smiled brightly at us and in her excitement one of the pencils she had been carrying around fell to the floor. Kodiak was the one who picked it up and gave it to her. The girl blushed and squirmed nervously while accepting her pencil.

            “Thank you, your Highness. I’m Minerva Sanabria, but everyone calls me Nerva,” she said that last part to me, before smiling and leaving fast to her seat when professor Delacroix made his entrance. Karoo and I crossed our fingers and interchanged good luck wishes, before the professor gave us our tests and left the room. Our tests were enchanted against any form of cheating, which made professors particularly sly and cocky during testing days. Since nobody could possibly cheat, there was no need for them to be around and they left us to our own devices. It took me two hours to answer every single question and review them. I wasn’t exactly the last student to hand her test, but when I was done and walked out of the classroom I realized that every single Doomhold sibling had finished already and were all waiting for me. All their faces smiled at me when they saw me appear by the door, which only made me blush awkwardly.

            “How you think you did?” Asked me Totem and I shrugged, looking through my peripherals at Kodiak, who was talking with Ulric, one of his younger brothers. I wonder how he did. The moment that thought escaped my mind Kodiak stopped talking and looked straight at me. His mouth curved to a side, in a knowing grin. I cursed and focused on walking downstairs, to the dining hall. I wasn’t worried about him. Not one bit. Of course, everyone followed me the moment I started walking. I wondered if that was because Kodiak was also following or because we have now started to always walk like a military unit. Or it could be because we were all probably starving, and everybody wanted to eat lunch.

            “I have no idea if I’d answered question six correctly, but I think I did good,” I said, and Totem nodded, while Karoo yawned tiredly by my side.

            “I’m sure I messed up my essay about the three laws of Conjuring. Who puts an essay at the end of a test anyway? It’s a torture to think by the time you realize you only have fifteen minutes left to finish your exam,” said Karoo, subtly crossing her arm with mine and resting a bit on me. We both drifted to a side, but Kodiak intervened right in time, walking by my left and somehow guiding us with Totem’s help, who was standing by Karoo’s other side. I didn’t miss the fact they looked like a pair of Shepard dogs guiding a pair of very, very tired, sleep deprived pair of sheep.

            “I saw you finish before the rest of the class. Was that because you were too lazy to actually do the test, or because you are just that smart?” Asked Karoo to Kodiak and I lifted my eyebrows in astonishment. Did Kodiak really finish before everyone? How could he possibly know all those answers without studying? I looked at him then and found Kodiak already staring down at me. His golden eyes studied my tired face carefully, as if he was trying to erase the dark circles under my eyes and my paleness with just one look.

            “Let’s have lunch,” he said then, guiding us inside the dining hall and ignoring his sister’s questions. The more I knew about Kodiak Doomhold the less I believed him. He was just so…perfect. The perfect student, the perfect warrior, the perfect King. Kodiak was always in control, but sometimes I wondered if there wasn’t more about him. More than the perfect image everyone had of him. I decided to let all my suspicions rest for the time being. I’ve just finished a test that probably fried my brain. I was not thinking straight and needed a long night of sleep. Making up my mind about it, I moved to the end of the line with Karoo by my side. She rested her tired head on my shoulder and we both yawned in perfect synchrony.

                                                                      ~~~~~                                                                                                            

Blaise

            “Empty your mind. Remove every single thought from your head and focus on listening. What do you hear?” If I was honest to myself and Karoo, I had to admit I could only hear my own stomach, purring in hunger. It was late at night, but we have stayed awake to start with my reading minds training. So far, I ‘ve only gained a headache and was starting to get hungry. As in cue my stomach grumbled, making me sigh and look up to Karoo. She frowned, staring at my middle as if my stomach was responsible for my lack of concentration. It wasn’t. I haven’t been able to empty my mind. Trying to hear Karoo’s thoughts haven’t worked either. Whenever I focused too much into something my siren’s senses activated, informing me of every possible sound around us, but the one sound I wanted to hear. The echo of the mind. Like Karoo have called the sound of thoughts. I got up from Karoo’s bed and pointed with my thumb to the hall. Mss. Lambert had strict rules about leaving the dorm after curfew, but mercifully the keykeeper kept a pantry in the communal area with cookies and the like. I was dying for some chocolate after so many hours of trying to concentrate and hear the echo of the mind…I couldn’t help but to giggle a bit every time I thought about that phrase. It felt like a Jedi mantra with some sort of Buddhist spiritual mumbo jumbo. What could I say? After living so long with humans I found their references compelling.

            “Do you want anything from the pantry?” I asked Karoo, who only shook her head while she pinched her chin with an expression of pensive taciturnity. I sighed again and palmed her shoulder. Karoo was the kind of person that would only blame herself over other people failures. By then I knew my best friend good enough to understand she probably was making personal the fact I couldn’t learn how to read minds. “Don’t think too much into it. It’s always been this way. Whenever I try on using my Fae powers the siren steps in and blocks it. Amadeus has hypothesized is my siren’s defense against the threat of losing control to my Fae half.”

            “That doesn’t make sense. Either if you are Fae or a siren, every single creature in Faerie is attracted to power. Why would your siren do that? Block you from reaching in for more magical power? It’s just unnatural. If your siren wanted to defend herself, she would just want more power. If it wanted to protect you though, that’s a different story. There are some things that we keep a secret to protect others. It feels as if the siren is protecting you from something by keeping your Fae half dormant,” Karoo crossed her tiny arms, looking up at me with a frown, “What kind of Fae was your father again?”

            “A Blood Fae,” I said shrugging. Karoo pinched her chin again, moving her eyes from one side of the room to the other while deep in thought. My stomach grumbled again and this time I couldn’t ignore it. I was starving. I turned around and waved a hand to Karoo before leaving our room, “See you in a bit Sherlock.”

            “What is that supposed to mean?” Screamed Karoo after me and I smirked, enjoying the fact that sometimes nobody could understand my human references. I walked downstairs and made a beeline to the pantry. The common area was deserted and silent. The fire on the chimney have died a couple of hours ago, judging by the remaining embers that at times sparkled red in the middle of the dark hall. I moved like a mouse in uncertain territory, following my nose and letting my hunger be my compass. For a moment I thought I’ve heard a sound behind me, but it turned to be the hinges of the pantry door that needed to be oiled. Jumping on my feet in excitement I opened the pantry all the way and started scavenging. I found two chocolate muffins that looked promising and marzipan nougat. Jackpot! I was about to turn to the stairs and take my little treasures to my bedroom when I heard a soft moan. It was almost imperceptible, a faint noise that would have passed unnoticed by any other Fae, but after hours of training to listen to the echo of the mind, my siren’s ears were hypersensitive. Slowly, to not make any noise I let my food on top of a chair and turned around to the dark hall that connected the common area with the elevator. I took another step quietly, palming with my right hand the wall at my side where I knew the switch to turn the lamps on had to be. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears, frantic and wild. All my instincts were alerting me there was something in the shadows waiting to attack and my rational mind was pointing all the facts that were against me in this situation. My bounty hunter training was telling me I was alone, without any weapon and no shoes on. If there was more than one attacker I would need all my luck to get out of this situation alive. My index finger sensed a metallic switch on the wall and without stopping to think I turned the lights on. Right away I wished I’ve never seen the faces of my enemies. Yes, enemies. As in plural.

            I’ve heard stories about Nulls, but I’ve never seen one with my own eyes since the creatures have been banned from entering the human realm.  Nulls were Fae who hadn’t pass Transition and turned into the human’s version of zombies, just a lot more greyish and with elongated teeth that secreted poison. Null’s poison could either turn you into a Null or kill you, two options I didn’t want to try anytime soon. I counted six Nulls in the common area, all surrounding me from different points of advantage. Two by my sides, two in front of me and the last two right in front of the elevator, blocking the main exit. They seemed to be…females. Yes, those were definitely boobs in their chests.  I swallowed nervously when I realized I could see the limp body of Ignatia inside the elevator. The poor brownie was hurt and unconscious. She was probably the one who had moaned, alerting me of the attack. I hoped Ignatia was okay, but by the look of it she was probably needing medical help. Or magical help, I couldn’t tell from afar. I had to reach her and take her to the infirmary. The only problem was that I also had to stop the Nulls before they reached the rooms at my back and could hurt-or worse, convert into Nulls- all the girls that were innocently sleeping. I had no weapons, but I sure was fast.

            Jumping into action I squad and hit the closer Null with a lower kick. The Null fall on its back with an animalistic growl that made my skin break in goosebumps. I sprint to action, running away from my next attacker and jumping over a coffee table before turning around and using the aforementioned table to block the blow of a Null that was coming my way. Another Null moved to my back, pulling me by my hair fast and hard. Note to myself: Nulls weren’t slow, neither dumb as the human zombies. Because in Faerie, we did everything better. Even monsters. Ha! That could be Cauldron’s new slogan for all I knew. I screamed, more in irritation than in pain and turned around, punching the Null who was holding me. The Null shook its head, a horrible bald head with an unproportioned jaw that closed in an inverted bite. She was showing me its lower row of fangs. How sweet of her.

            “Oh s**t,” I said holding my breath when I had a whisk of the Null’s stinky breath. Jesus, they stunk.  I pushed my neck the furthest I could from the Null holding me and doing a front kick I hit the Null that was coming my way on its chest. The Null I kicked fell to a side, giving room to another Null that jumped in the air and threw a blow at me. The Null hit me in the head, the force plummeted me against the floor so fast that I couldn’t block it. I fell on my side, feeling pain explode on the shoulder that cushioned my fall. I turned around as fast as I could, ready to fight my way out of the cornered position the Nulls had gotten me into, but the moment I looked up a blow came out of nowhere. The back of my head hit the floor and for a second-or it might have been an hour- my vision turned black and I heard a distant ring in my ears, before losing my consciousness.

                                                                     ~~~~~~

            Kodiak

            “You are seriously telling me that you call yourself a genius? Aramir, you are a crowned prince of the Unseelie Court, you know more than a thousand tongues, including human ones. You know more than anyone in this realm and in any other one about Geography and you still haven’t figured out the damn location of the girls’ dorms?” Asked Totem to one of the twins, making me smirk while I read on top of my bed. I looked down at my siblings while they bickered around my bed. The boys’ dorm was a messy, stinky, loud microworld. First year slept in a communal area with spartan looking bunkbeds and a communal bathroom. Trunks, the keykeeper of the boys’ dorm had offered us a private floor, but neither me nor any of my brothers accepted it. We would have destroyed the entire damn floor if we didn’t have strangers around that reminded us to behave in public. Aramir caught me smirking down at them and narrowed his turquoise eyes at me.

            “What are you smirking about? I’m sure you know where the girls’ dorm is, but you won’t say a thing because you don’t want us around Blaise,” Said Aramir and his twin Oromir nodded, bumping his fist against his identical copy. Fae twins were a rarity, but Aramir and Oromir were even stranger than the typical bunch. Their souls were intertwined with powerful magic that made them feel everything as one. I remember the first time I accidentally hurt Oromir while we were training with daggers. I lost control for a fraction of a second and the beast cut Oromir on his shoulder. A twin slit appeared on Aramir’s shoulder making us all aware of the situation. Intertwined souls usually made Fae stronger. Mates and Casters became stronger by intertwining their souls as well, but in the case of my twin brothers they were identical copies of one entity. Which made them terribly dangerous in a battle, since they acted as one, but were separate beings. At the same time their connection was a liability that had always made me feel more protective of them. I would never lose them. I have done terribly things in the past to protect my siblings and I would never stop at anything to keep it that way. Pushing my book to a side I sat on the bed, letting my legs hang over Totem’s bed. I have no idea how the hell I’d ended sharing a bunkbed with the most annoying sibling in the world. I was inclined to think somebody-probably Totem- made me draw the shortest straw just to annoy me every single morning with his morning smile. The fucker was one of those monsters that liked mornings. I didn’t. I was literally darkness.

            “I should tell you the location of the damn dorm and let Blaise bring me your heads in a silver platter. If Karoo doesn’t beat her to it and kicks your dumb asses before her,” Some of my siblings smirked, others laughed, but Oromir, Aramir and Totem looked between them with a triumphant expression.

            “You heard him, right? Kodiak just admitted he knows where the girls’ dorm is!”  Screamed Totem to Aramir and Oromir, before stopping closer to the upper bed where I was seating and crossing his arms with a knowing smile, “How much gold are we talking about? Do you want a check? A blood contract? We are talking about more than a hundred girls Kodiak. More than a hundred girls…probably dressed in lacy pajamas with those pink ribbons that look cute as f**k. I need you to prove me you love me brah, right now. Where is the girls’ dorm?”

            I was about to tell him he could go and screw himself when my vision darkened, and every sound turned silent. Pain. Bone shaking, soul twisting, supernatural pain hit me in the chest with the force of a thousand planets. I knew it right then. My mate. Blaise was in trouble. All my control escaped through my fingers at the mere thought of losing her. The beast escaped from its cage the moment it felt my lack of control and touched my consciousness with his own.

            “Blaise is in danger,” I said to the beast, feeling it come to power, moving inside of me until it was right below my skin, angry and desperate to get to its mate. To our mate. I heard my siblings far away from me, worlds away. They could wait for now. Blaise was in trouble. Blaise needed her mate. I needed to go to her. The beast roared. I roared and then we were shifting. I didn’t know where the girls’ dorm was, but I could feel my mate and our bond had always pointed she was somewhere in the third floor. Following our bond was like pulling on a cord, tensing a rope that tied us together. It had always been there, but now it was clear, guiding me straight to Blaise. I stopped in front of a grey wall and the beast smashed its fist against it, a loud growl escaped from my chest and descended on the castle, warning every single fucker we were here, and we were very, very angry. I saw then the magic spells containing the glamour of the dorm. There were multiple runes, one to repel men, another one to repel enemies, harm, danger, weapons. There was not one single spell powerful enough to keep me away from my mate. My mate. MY MATE. The beast started howling in my head, worried…no, desperate. The beast had never been worried, neither desperate. The beast was beyond caring for those sensible emotions, but somehow Blaise had made it change. It cared, and it cared deeply.

            “We save her, we need her to live. Now!” The beast roared so loud that every single Fae inside the Unseelie court awakened right then. I could feel everyone’s consciousness, scared and alarmed at my anger. I waved a hand, blowing the spells and the runes that covered the wall that kept me away from Blaise. When the magic was dealt with, I pushed the wall as it were only air. The wall went down in an explosion, slate, rocks and dust flew everywhere when I got inside the hole I’ve made. In the darkness I saw an elevator hanging a couple of meters above my head. I shifted, getting inside the elevator and then shifting again to where I felt my mate. The moment I appeared again I saw Blaise, lying unconscious on the floor. I could only see her legs and her long auburn hair spread over a carpet. She was surrounded by Nulls, drooling at the prospect of eating my mate. Four Nulls surrounded her, pinning her body to the floor while other two Nulls guarded them. I’ve been mad before, but the idea that something as despicable as a Null could even think on putting a finger on Blaise made me lose my mind. A dangerous business to lose my mind and all my control, but in that moment, I simply couldn’t care. All I thought about was exterminating the vermin surrounding Blaise. I extended my wings, reaching with my talons the last corners of the hall and letting the dark void of my powers consume everything on my path. I heard the scream of pain coming from the Nulls. They shrieked and shrieked while the bodies slowly disintegrated piece by piece until all that was left of them was ashes floating in the wind. In the darkness y knelt, taking Blaise in my arms and holding her hard to my chest. To think I could have lost her…My anger ricocheted against the sky, reaching out, spreading in pure darkness and hate. It wasn’t until Blaise moaned in pain that my anger diminished, letting me focus in more important things like taking Blaise to the infirmary.

            “Ignatia…Take care of Ignatia first,” said Blaise in a whisper before losing her consciousness again. Who was this girl I’ve ended bonded with? She cared so deeply for everyone, but tried to act so detached, so uninvolved. I studied her beautiful face, trying to understand who exactly she was trying to convince with her strong front. When I took Blaise in my arms the beast retreated, letting me for once take care of the situation without interfering. I moved to the elevator and looked down at the brownie, it would take a miracle to save her, but Blaise had asked me to help her and I wasn’t one to negate anything to my mate. Taking Blaise and the brownie I shifted. This time a lot more under control. My mate was safe and with me. Nothing else mattered.

                                                                                       ~~~~~~      

    Blaise

            “First a Banshee, now Nulls, what should we expect next? A werewolf invasion? I’m telling you, your Highness, this girl had done nothing else but to cause problems to Claddagh from the moment she stepped in this institution. Blaise Darkholme is nothing but a liability to every single student, professor and staff of this school!” exclaimed Principal Cauldron somewhere by my left. I frowned, pushing my head under the pillow and praying his nagging could magically stop. Or maybe Cauldron could just vanish with all his brownish suits. Faerie would finally be freed from that horrible monochromatic passion of his. I heard a smirk and instantly knew Kodiak was somewhere inside the same room. I felt him, or better yet, I couldn’t ignore him. His presence was this warming reassurance that everything would be fine. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact way I knew he was behind my rescue, but the only person inside Claddagh that could have come to me so fast, pass through magical spells and kill six hungry Nulls was Kodiak. I kept my eyes shut, fighting the headache that was killing my head and mostly ignoring Cauldron’s presence for as long as I could. I was way too tired to deal with him right then.

            “I take you are aware of the situation then,” said Kodiak interrupting Cauldron. The principal huffed, probably trying to disinflate himself after getting ready to keep on with his speech. I smiled, picturing Cauldron’s fat, reddened face getting irritated. Kodiak spoke then, reclaiming my attention, “Two different attacks with different species involved have occurred in Claddagh, and both events have something in common. Blaise had always been in danger. Someone is trying to kill her and by the way these attacks had been carried on I believe there’s an insider.”

            “Your Highness, are you implying…?

            “I’m certain someone inside Claddagh is trying to kill Blaise. I trust that as the principal you will take special care to investigate this matter in depth. Won’t you Cauldron?” I bit my lip and tensed under the covers. I couldn’t see Cauldron but listening to Kodiak was enough to make me feel bad for the principal. Kodiak was putting Cauldron against a rock and a hard place. Even if the principal hated me with a passion, he was still responsible for my wellbeing during the time I was a student in Claddagh. It was his duty to act and start investigating who wanted me dead and why. I hadn’t think about a potential enemy living inside Claddagh with me, but Kodiak was right again. Both attacks had been perpetuated inside Claddagh’s territory, a place that was virtually inexpugnable. Which meant someone inside Claddagh have been responsible for letting Molly get inside the school grounds and guiding the Nulls to the girls’ dormitory. I’d always believed that whoever wanted me dead was someone I’d put behind bars or had an old grudge against me or Amadeus. Now more than ever I had to contact my godfather and ask him to investigate Molly’s last whereabouts, from the moment she escaped the caravan on its way to Siberik, to how she had entered Claddagh. Which reminded, it was magically impossible to break in Claddagh, but it was even harder to get inside the girls’ dorm without setting some alarms on. Mss. Lambert had said something about it during our first day of class… All you need to do to get in, is to knock at the last wall in this set of stairs and Ignatia will let you pass to the elevator. Well, only if you are a girl and a Claddagh student, that’s it.

            I gasped, feeling so stupid for not realizing before. I sat on the bed, shocking the principal and making Kodiak scowl down at me. He mouthed at me to get down, but my news couldn’t wait, and I needed to share my suspicions with Kodiak as soon as I could. Other people could be in danger because of me. Which reminded me…

            “How’s Ignatia?” I asked to no one in specific, fixing the pillow against my back and looking back and forward between Kodiak and Cauldron. It was easy to ignore Kodiak’s irritated frown and focus on the weakest link of the chain. Cauldron opened his mouth and closed it, staring at me as if he couldn’t believe I had the nerve to get well so fast when his precious school was in disarray because of me. The principal finally sighed, fixing imaginary wrinkles from his brown suit.

            “Our staff member is stable and very thankful to our king Kodiak, who saved her. The same should be said about you, Mss. Darkholme since you insist on instigating violence and aggression inside our institution, but have the good luck to have been saved, twice, by King Kodiak. I must write to your godfather immediately and inform him of your behavior,” said Cauldron, his flat face and thin mouth gaining a tomato red tone that matched perfectly his irritating voice.

            “Please write to my godfather. I was thinking on doing it, but since you offered I’m quite happy to leave that task on your shoulders. Also, I’m terribly sorry to have caused you and this institution so much trouble by being saved twice, as you so kindly pointed out. I will make sure to not be saved next time I’m in a life or death situation,” I smiled at the principal just for the kick and Cauldron’s hands started trembling in frustration. He opened his mouth to speak and pointed an index finger at me as if to chastise me, but Kodiak intervened, holding Cauldron by his shoulder. The moment Kodiak’s heavy hand landed on the principal’s shoulder his entire body tensed and Cauldron’s face paled in fear.

“I believe Blaise is tired now, sir. It’s for the best if you let her rest, don’t you think?” said Kodiak, fixing his golden eyes on Cauldron with a severity that alerted the principal it was time to leave us alone. Cauldron left after that, grumbling under his breath and stealing poisonous looks at me from his peripherals. One thing I was sure off, Cauldron wasn’t the person who wanted me dead. He had to be stupid to hate me so publicly and orchestrate my assassination behind my back. I frowned when I realized I hadn’t think too much into Cauldron’s words. The man talked a lot of rubbish, but something about his previous speech have left me thinking. He claimed I’d been saved twice by Kodiak, but that couldn’t be. Kodiak had only appeared on the scene of the first incident after Molly died. He didn’t take an active role on helping by killing Molly, right? Because if he had, then that meant Kodiak had been the one who killed Molly without even touching her. That would have made him not only extremely powerful, but…scary. I looked up at Kodiak, staring into those golden orbs that were currently zeroed on me. I knew he had been hearing to my every thought and could tell I was now uneasy around him.  

            “As you should,” said Kodiak out of the blue, running his fingers through his thick, black hair. Only then I realized he was wearing black cuffed pants and an old Metallica t-shirt. He was dressed on his sleeping clothes and was barefoot. Kodiak had come to my rescue without a moment of doubt. Somehow that thought made me equally thankful and awkward. Yes, awkward. It felt weird to have the King of the Unseelie court coming to my rescue as if I was a stupid princess in distress. I was no princess and I could take care of myself. Kodiak smirked at that last thought of mine and pointed sarcastically at the infirmary room in which we were currently sustaining a semi telepathic conversation, “Obviously you needed my help, or you would have ended being a Null’s appetizer. I heard they don’t get very full out of skinny girls like you.”

            “Charming, aren’t you,” I stated with a fake smile, before crossing my arms and pushing my suspicions about Kodiak all the way down, to that shoe box inside my brain where I put biohazard thoughts that needed to be handled with care. I took a deep breath and looked up, following Kodiak’s movements until he rested his shoulder on a column of the infirmary and crossed his arms. He looked hot like sin. There was something to be said about boys walking without shoes, it made them look wilder somehow, untamed. There was a word to describe Kodiak. Untamed. From his messy black hair that ended in a thin braid, to his tall, lean body. The king of the Unseelie was and will always be untamed. I shook my head and focused on sharing my suspicions with Kodiak, the only other person apart from Amadeus that could help me get to the bottom of who wanted me dead and stop that person before he or she could keep hurting people like Ignatia, “I heard Amadeus said that every court keeps a record of the Fae that can’t pass Transition. He mentioned it was a way to control the Null population inside Faerie, to keep their numbers low before they could become a real problem and threaten their courts and other realms. Is that true?”

            “Mostly,” said Kodiak, shrugging, “I can’t speak for every court, but there’s a code to deal with a Null outbreak and that’s by keeping track of every one of them. Each court should report and deal with their own Nulls.”

            “Kodiak, the Nulls that attacked me tonight… they were girls and I’m a hundred percent sure they were past Claddagh students too,” I said, and Kodiak lifted his eyebrows in surprise. I was making a big statement, but I hadn’t read the dorm book of rules for nothing. I knew what I was saying, “The only way those Nulls could have passed the magic spells protecting the girls’ dorm was if they were girls and Claddagh students. Those are the only two conditions to get inside the girls’ dorms. Which means that whoever sent those Nulls was well versed on Claddagh’s rules. We could investigate the courts report and look for Nulls that were girls and attended Claddagh but didn’t pass their Transition. If six of them are found missing we would know from which Court they are coming. That way we would gain a better idea of which court my attacker belongs to.”

            “That could narrow our search, but I don’t promise it will point us to the master mind behind these attacks. Whoever is trying to kill you is smart. At least smart enough to use others instead of doing the dirty work. Your attacker could have used Nulls of a different court just to throw us in the wrong direction. He or she controlled them as puppets and something tells me he can control whatever a whoever he wants,” Kodiak said, and I nodded, knowing too well that could be another problem.

            “Whoever or whatever is after my head is either an enemy of my past, or someone new. Both hypotheses could be right, and this person could be using an insider at Claddagh. Or it could be that he or she is inside Claddagh,” I said.

“Do you have any idea who could want you dead?” I smiled at that question. The right question was, who didn’t want me dead? The more I thought about who could be behind the attacks the more confused I got. Whoever wanted me dead, have tried to kill me before entering Claddagh, and that could only mean his or her grudge came from way before this past couple of months. All my enemies were either dead or in Siberik, unless I had enemies I’ve never been aware of. I frowned at that thought. How could I have enemies I’ve never known? When I looked up at Kodiak he was still watching me, his golden eyes were now amber discs focused on my face. “I will protect you. No matter who or what is after you, I promise I will keep you out of harm.”

            “I don’t need any help,” I said right away, too fast, too rushed. Kodiak c****d his head to a side, like a cat following an insect with its eyes. His amber eyes brightened, like angry thunders in a stormy night. Every single one of his movements was graceful, animalistic and wild. Sometimes the way he behaved, the things he did or said made me feel as if there was more about Kodiak than what one could perceive. An excess of power, an overabundance of energy under his skin, as if Kodiak was more than what I could see. I sighed, shaking my head at him, “If you want me to trust you and ask you for your help, then explain to me what Cauldron said. How did you save me from Molly when I didn’t even see you until after she was dead? Did you kill her? And if you did, how?”

            “You are asking all the wrong questions,” said Kodiak then, “You should be asking me how I got to you so fast, when not one single alarm went off and nobody else knew you were in danger. You should be asking me why our bodies brightened when we touched the night we buried that Banshee. You should be asking me what happened to us in the forest, that first time we saw each other.”

            In a complete act or revelry and childish pride, I covered my ears with my hands and start singing a song, over and over to stop Kodiak from saying what I was terrified of knowing. Hearing from him that we were soul mates was the last thing I needed right then. Someone wanted me dead, I’ve suffered a violent attack, survived it and then suffered Cauldron’s presence without any food in my stomach. I sure like hell wasn’t ready to have that conversation with Kodiak. Not then and probably not ever. Kodiak smiled saccharinely at me and put his palms up, offering me a temporal truce. I smiled placidly, dropping my hands and watching him walk away. He stopped by the door and looked at me over his shoulder. Kodiak’s smile turned wicked before he opened the door and the entire Doomhold bunch run inside the room, asking too many questions and speaking loudly. Totem demanded an explanation, Karoo screamed at every one of her brothers to shut up and let me rest, Gwilym kept trying to find the reasons behind my attack and the rest of the group only talked and talked until all I wanted was to scream at them to go out and find me some chocolate. I was starving, and Kodiak had just punished me in the worst way imaginable, by letting his siblings inside the room. It would take years to make them all leave and find something to eat. I rolled my eyes at Kodiak, who was enjoying the show by the exit door.

            “You won this round,” I mouthed at him and Kodiak nodded, before smirking at me and leaving the room.