Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I keep running until I make it to a copse of trees and then collapse on my knees, burying my face in my hands. I expect to cry, or at least be out of breath, but my asthma hasn’t acted up at all since I’ve been here. I take a deep breath and prepare for a sob, except now that I’m here, nothing comes out.

Maybe I’m emotionally constipated too. A shaky laugh comes out of me at this thought.

“That’s the right attitude,” Val says. Even without seeing him, I already know his voice too well.

Also, no one else sneaks with quite his level of finesse.

“Can I just have thirty seconds of privacy?” I ask, not bothering to lift my face from my hands.

“I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean for our conversation to go that way.”

“You mean Kratos didn’t put you up to it?” I imitate his voice, “Val, give the new girl a talking to.”

Val laughs. “You really think Kratos would instruct me to have a heart to heart with you?”

Finally, I turn around and look at him. “Heart to heart? Is that what it was?”

Val looks away first. He tilts his head back to study the branches overhead. “It’s not any of my business, but you’re obviously struggling with the whole shifter thing and it doesn’t seem like anyone’s really helping you figure it out.”

“But I thought shifting is just something you’re supposed to know how to do. Like breathing.”

Val shakes his head. “That’s not what Derrick said. He was surprised we didn’t have meditation classes here. His whole family made it part of their daily routine. A way to stay in touch with their inner beast.”

For half a second I imagine myself attempting to sit in lotus position and “ohm” my way to some sort of relationship with the glowing-eyed monster inside me. Then I imagine Tina walking in and laughing her a*s off, maybe leaving me in a meditative state long enough to let Vee bite off one of my ears.

So yeah, that’s not gonna happen.

I decide to focus on the roommate part of Val’s story instead.

I hesitate, not sure if I should ask, but unable to resist. “Derrick…wasn’t he your old roommate? The traitor who ran away?”

Val’s face goes dark and his eyes get fiery in a way that makes me realize anew how dangerous he is. “Everyone has secrets, Edie. This is about yours. The ones you’re keeping from yourself. Doesn’t it seem like the school almost prefers that you don’t figure it out? Like it’s easier for everyone if what you are stays inside?”

This gets my attention. “They who?”

“The administration, the gods. You know how it is around here.”

“Actually, I don’t.” I stand, much less gracefully than Val. “I’ve been here two months and every day I learn something new that supposedly is common knowledge. I had to get a book of Greek mythology from the library to learn about our teachers. And I still haven’t met Mr. Zee who’s supposedly in charge of this whole place.”

Val frowns. “Really? Zee didn’t make a point of greeting you on your first day? Shaking your hand and all that?”

“No.”

“Well, maybe he just does that for the vampires. It’s kind of a big deal that we’re here.”

“It is?” I throw my hands up. “See? I don’t know anything.”

Val smiles. “That’s actually not well known. I think they’ve tried to keep it under wraps. It’s all tied up in vampire clan politics, which everyone finds boring.”

I shake my head, wondering if I’ll ever get used to living in a world where vampire politics are referred to as ‘boring.’

“That sounds interesting to me,” I say.

“It’s not. The clan I’m part of made a deal with the gods to send their young to the Academy, in return for various favors and protections.”

“So you didn’t have a choice?”

He shoves his hands in his pockets as his face goes dark, like he’s mentally shutting himself off. “There are always choices,” he says at last. “Just not always good ones.”

“Yeah, I get that. But what about living with your choices? Hermes gave me all of two seconds to decide if I wanted to come here and then I was just thrown in. Most of the time I’m working so hard not to get left behind I don’t think about it, but sometimes, when I pause for a minute, it’s just like, ‘what am I even doing here?’ And I remember home and I just…miss things, you know?”

I’m sniffing now, holding back a good cry. Where the hell is this coming from? I haven’t even said these things to Cassie.

“Like what?” Val asks. “What do you miss?”

“Okay, so,” I look up at the sky. “We’re still in Florida, right? But it never rains here. I actually liked that. I liked the rain. I…I miss it.”

I wipe a tear away, but wait…it’s not a tear. It’s cold, and… I lick it off my finger. Not salty. “Wait,” I look up, and there is the smallest dark raincloud right above my head, cool drops falling around me in a circle.

I look at Val, who is watching the cloud with a soft smile. He does not look at all mystified by this unexplainable weather phenomenon. The moment he notices me watching him, Val closes up again, the softness melting away—along with the cloud over my head. I look up and there’s no trace of it. If I wasn’t soaking wet, I would’ve thought it was my imagination.

“What was that?” I ask.

Val shrugs. “You must have some sort of wish-granting abilities. You asked for rain, and you got it.”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t do that,” I say, watching him closely as I pull my wet hair up into a ponytail.

“Let me help,” Val says. His hands brush my neck, and I jump away, both loving and hating the shiver that passes through me at his touch.

“I better get back to class. Cassie will be looking for me.”

“Right.” He nods, once again looking smug and above it all. It’s hard to tell if this is a mask or the real Val.

As I push through the trees and make my way back towards the training rooms, Val falls into step beside me.

“I heard you’re going with Greg to the Spring Fling.”

I miss a step and Val grabs my elbow to keep me from falling on my face. “Where did you hear that?”

“Greg is telling anyone who will listen.”

I groan.

“I hear it’s a double date too.” Val laughs and it is not at all like the nice laugh he uses when I say something funny. This is a mean one that reminds me of his sister.

I throw my shoulders back and stick my nose in the air. “For your information, Greg is a lovely boy and a delightful…bat. It’s very possible I might be a bat too and so it seems natural for the two of us—”

“You’re not a bat.” Val cuts me off. He says this like it’s an irrefutable fact.

“Okay, fine. I’m going with Greg regardless. And Cassie and Darcy too. We’re going to have a wonderful double date time.” I do not believe this in the slightest, but there’s no way I’m admitting it to Val.

“Okay,” he says mildly. “I’m sure you will.”

This response is aggravating for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. Simmering, I ask, “And what about you?”

“No double dates for me. Vampires don’t double date.”

“Don’t or won’t?” It’s almost impossible to keep track of all the various traditions and superstitions surrounding the various creatures here.

“Don’t,” Val repeats, turning to me with a slight smile warming his eyes. “Double dates are a lot like holy water. They won’t kill us, but can still cause a lot of pain.”

I laugh then, unable to resist. And Val joins in.

It’s a nice, non-tense moment that’s interrupted by a terrible screeching noise.

“That’s the alarm,” Val yells over the horrible sound. “Something is wrong.”

We hurry over to where the rest of our class is pouring out of the practice rooms.

“Everyone, calmly make your way outside,” Kratos calls out. The vamps don’t seem very concerned. That is until we make it to the quad and notice the crowd surrounding a pile of ash.

Tina pushes through everyone and actually begins to sob.

“What is happening?” I ask no one.

Tina pulls a metal object from the ash. “This is Jenn’s nose-ring. She never takes it off!” She screams. “This is Jenn!”

Oh s**t. One of Tina’s crew forgot her sunscreen? Seems unlikely. She turns to me. “This is your fault, you b***h!”

Wait. What? I look behind me. There’s a mousy cat-shifter who has only ever managed to look like an alley cat with mange, and I’m pretty sure she’s not a b***h. Great. Tina’s definitely talking to me.

Themis comes running over the grass, skirt stretching against her quads, high heels held in one hand. Val is at Tina’s side, pulling her away. I wait for him to tell everyone I was with him the whole time, but he doesn’t say a word.

“I didn’t…” I don’t understand.

“Don’t deny it,” Tina shouts. “Who else is going around setting people on fire?”

“Everyone needs to return to their dorms at once,” Themis declares in a voice as loud as a bullhorn, not out of breath even after her run.

People begin to turn away, some giving me looks, but I’m rooted in place. That pile of ash is a murdered person and…and I’m suspect number one?

Themis turns to me. “Ms. Evans, please come to my office at once.”

“I didn’t do this,” I tell her, desperately. “I wouldn’t.”

“We can discuss that in my office.”

Val continues leading Tina away but she’s still shouting, “You’ll get what you deserve, you dirty shifter.”

Cassie appears at my side. “Hey…what did I miss?”