INTEGRATION (Bonfire Academy Book Two) (Bonfire Chronicles) (14 page)

I giggled when I remembered all the pranks we’d pulled and never gotten caught, mostly because we always had each other’s backs. We forged a deep, loyal friendship that had been impossible for anyone to break.

As we got older, the transition from friends to lovers had been seamless, with none of those awkward moments the human teens seemed to experience. We had no spates of angst or drama. Our union felt comfortable and familiar, almost predetermined. And we didn’t even need to formally tell our parents; they had just seemed to know and accept us as a couple. A couple, now broken.

I shook myself out of my reverie. I had to find him. Picking up a hanger from the container on the floor, I hung up his shirt and then looked through his drawers, not sure what I was looking for, just any clue as to where he might have gone. Coming up empty, I walked over to his desk and did the same.

I gave up after half an hour of rummaging. I sat down on his bed, defeated. Where else could I look for him? Jagger had already checked all the obvious places, including the new skydiving complex where Quinn had an office. Plus Quinn had taken his suitcase, so it was pretty obvious he’d gone off campus. The most likely reason he’d have left campus was to see his family. Maybe something had happened to them. Still, why wasn’t he picking up his phone? I considered calling his mother, but I shelved the idea right away. I didn’t want to worry them unnecessarily, especially if he’d taken off for an assignment of some sort. If he’d indeed gone off campus, he would have asked The Smelt’s permission. She’d know. I got up and headed over to her office.

I didn’t feel any more relaxed walking into The Smelt’s office as a member of her staff than I had as a student. One look from The Smelt still left me feeling small and insignificant. I was slightly taken aback. I’d given her no cause for the hostile glare she was throwing my way.

“What is it, Cordelia?” she asked sharply, peering over her computer.

“I can’t find Quinn.” I stayed in the doorway.

She remained silent, her face a blank mask.

“Do you know where he is?” I asked.

“Who?”

“Quinn.” What the hell was she on?

She pressed down on the intercom button. “I am sending Cordelia out to you.”

Her secretary coughed into the mic. “Okay?”

The Smelt pursed her lips. “I’m busy. Deal with her.”

“Sure, but—”

“I’ll send her through.” She turned off the intercom and looked back up at me. “You’re dismissed.”

Her stern look left me with no other choice but to turn around and leave her office. I felt a shiver run down my spine. As I walked out, something wafted up my nose, just a whiff, but a familiar one. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The aroma triggered alarm bells in my mind. But why? I couldn’t think where I had come across the scent before; it was so subtle, I could have been imagining it. I cast a glance back at her. The Smelt had immersed herself in some paperwork, her eyes not burning a hole through me anymore, but she still managed to raise the hairs on my arms.

“Hey, Cordelia.” The friendly voice of The Smelt’s assistant was a nice change. “How are you settling in? Enjoying being part of the staff?”

“Yes, loving it, though I haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet, obviously.”

“No? Anything I can help you with?”

“I don’t know. Did I do something wrong there? Frau Schmelder told me that I could come talk to her anytime, that I didn’t need an appointment or anything, but…” I shrugged.

Mrs. Stone nodded. “You didn’t do anything wrong. She’s been a bit…off today. I don’t know what’s up with her at all. Anyhow, can I help?”

“I’m looking for Quinn. Have you seen him?”

“Yes, he was here earlier.”

“Oh. Did he say where he was going?”

“Not exactly, I wasn’t privy to the conversation Quinn had with Frau Schmelder, other than being asked to get the school helicopter ready for him.”

“The helicopter? Why?”

“I have no idea. You’ll have to ask Frau Schmelder that, but I suggest you wait until later. She seems to be in a strange mood at the moment, very unlike herself.”

“No kidding! Well, is there any way to find out where the helicopter took Quinn?”

She looked uncertain, but nodded. “I shouldn’t really, but I suppose that’ll be okay. You are his girlfriend after all.”

“That’s right.”

“Okay. Hang on.” She picked up the phone and walked out into the corridor with it.

I waited as patiently as I could, wondering why on earth Quinn hadn’t told me he was going on a trip, in a helicopter! The school wouldn’t have arranged to transport him in one of those if it wasn’t important. Had he been sent to pick up an important dignitary? Now that I knew he hadn’t been abducted by aliens or pesky birds, I was furious. He’d better have one heck of an excuse.

“New York,” Mrs. Stone said as she came back into the office.

“New York?” As far as I knew, Quinn didn’t know anyone in New York.

“That’s what the heli pilot said, though he just dropped him off at Zurich airport. So I guess he doesn’t know for sure, just what Quinn told him.”

“And he said he was going to New York? Is he on an assignment for the Academy or a personal one?”

“I really don’t know.”

“Did he share anything else at all with the pilot? Like when he was coming back? Where in New York he was going?”

“Cordelia, not that I know. You know the school rules; I’m not allowed to pry any more than you are. The main thing is that he’s fine, and that was your worry, right? You’ll have to ask him for the details when he returns.”

“And when is that?”

“I have no idea. You’ll have to ask Frau Schmelder.”

“But not now?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it. I can call you when she seems in a more receptive frame of mind. Would you like me to do that?”

“Please.”

I left the office, feeling unsatisfied and really angry with Quinn. By the time I got back to my room, only Jagger was there. Both Faustine and Ryker were gone.

“What happened?” Jagger asked, his eyes clouded with concern. “You look…lost.”

“I guess that’s right; that’s how I feel. Lost.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “How’s Faustine?”

“She woke half an hour or so ago, fully recovered.”

“Really? Wow, that was fast. Did you get her to transform back to her human form so you could check out her hand?”

“Yes, not even a scratch or any evidence whatsoever that anything ever happened to it.”

“Great, I’m relieved to hear that she heals like a demon. So, where is she now?”

“Martha stopped by to see if she wanted to go down to dinner with her and Chun. I didn’t see any reason not to let her go. I assume Ryker followed her. Now tell me what’s up with you. I assume you didn’t find Quinn?”

I kept standing where I was and updated him, telling him everything, not leaving out even the smallest detail. I needed to get it all out, and as I did, I felt myself relax. I let out a deep breath, blowing my anger out, then walked over and buried my face in his neck. He held me, letting me gather my emotions and helping me regulate my heartbeat.

Once I got hold of myself, I was overcome with hunger. I hadn’t eaten for ages and wondered if Faustine had left any of the steak.

“I need to eat,” I whispered.

He laughed. “You demons. Sit. I’ll get you something.” I lay down on my bed while he went into the kitchen and busied himself. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t need any frills and that even raw meat would do, so I waited patiently, drooling at the aromas emanating from the kitchenette. After what seemed like hours—but must have just been minutes—he came back out with a sizzling rack of lamb.

I moved over to the table, and he bowed and placed the plate in front of me. “There you go, Princess, lamb with mushrooms in a red wine sauce.”

“Oh, that smells divine. Thank you.”

“Eat. I’m going to go and clean up. I’m assuming you don’t want any polite dinner conversation?”

I scrunched up my nose.

“Right.”

Once he disappeared back into the kitchen, I carefully scraped the mushrooms off the meat and dove in. When I finished eating, I leaned back in my chair and yawned. I was worn out despite the meal I’d just devoured. I needed to give it a bit of time to seep into my system. In the meantime, I was happy just sitting.

Jagger walked back into the room. “What’s bothering you most? The fact that Quinn didn’t tell you where he was going or that you can’t find a way of contacting him?”

“To be honest, at the moment, I’m mostly weirded out by The Smelt.”

“The Smelt? Why?”

“Like I told you, I can’t place that scent I picked up in her office. It was so faint. Plus, she acted all weird. I can’t put my finger on it, but it was all just too strange. I’ve never seen her like that before. I mean, although I’ve seen her stern and brusque, she’s never distant. That’s what she was—
distant
. Have you ever known her to be like that?”

“No, can’t say I have. Could you have caught her at an awkward moment?”

“I don’t think so. She was just looking through a pile of paper on her desk when I got there. She seemed to blank when I mentioned Quinn. There was like no recognition of the name, like she didn’t know him at all.” I shook my head, then had a thought. “It was like she was…possessed.”

M
rs. Stone called me three days later. “Cordelia, did you still want that chat with Frau Schmelder?”

“Yes, I’ve been waiting for you to call,” I said a bit snippily. “Why the long wait? Have you heard from Quinn, yet?”

“Ah, my apologies, I should have called you before. She got called away and just got back this morning. And no, I haven’t had any news from Quinn. I assume you haven’t either?”

“No. What’s Frau Schmelder’s mood like?” I asked, the memory of her death glares causing my skin to break out in goose bumps.

“Back to normal. I have no idea what that was all about. The few days away got her back to her normal self, thank goodness. Anyhow, I mentioned that you needed to talk to her, and she said to come along whenever. She has some catch-up work to do, so she’ll be in her office all day.”

“Great, I’ll come by later. I have to take Faustine to an Integration class first.” I immediately decided to ask Faustine to come with me to The Smelt’s office. She had the olfactory ability of a bloodhound and would be able to detect that scent if it was still there.

“All right. See you later.”

I put my phone into my pocket and made my way to Professor Kunz’s lecture hall. Professor Kunz was the Chair of the Integration program, and the demon-shifter Integration class was the only class he personally supervised. He’d asked some of the auxiliary staff to help out with this year’s intake. I didn’t blame him. Since Quinn wasn’t around to accompany Faustine, I had been asked to go with her. The whole school was on edge, waiting to see how Faustine and Mason would behave together in an interactive classroom situation. Very few graduated from the demon-shifter Integration class. Most just aimed to endure it.

I stopped and picked up Faustine from the dining hall where she was busy chatting with Martha and the vamp twins.

“I’ll walk over with you guys,” Martha said. “Do you know if Ryker is coming?”

I shrugged, but knew that he wouldn’t let Faustine face the class on her own, even if she did seem totally unfazed at the prospect of sitting in on the same class with Mason.

“Why do we need to go to this class?” Faustine asked. “It’s not like we’re ever going to get along with those shifter types.”

“My point exactly!” Martha drawled.

“Maybe not. We don’t need to get along with them, but it’s handy to be able to tolerate them,” I said, not even believing my own words.

“Pfffft! I really don’t see the point,” Faustine repeated.

“To be honest, neither do I, except if one of you has to deal with them on a political level at some point. Remember that each city council has at least one shifter rep.”

“Yeah, well, I won’t.” Faustine flicked her hair.

Martha puffed out her chest. “I guess I might.”

Faustine laughed and punched Martha’s shoulder. “Keep your tiara on. On your head, not your boobs. Deflate. You look like Dolly Parton.”

“Dolly who?” Martha asked.

“Oh, never mind.” Faustine sighed. “What makes you think you’ll be taking over as the demon sovereign of Dallas, anyway?”

“Why not? I’m the brightest of my parents’ offspring. Seems obvious.”

“Are you the oldest?” I asked.

“Well, no.”

“Then you might have quite a fight on your hands. Why would you want to anyway? Seems like a lot of aggro for very little return.”

“I want the power,” Martha said sounding very matter-of-fact.

“I guess you better pay attention to this class, then. My dad says that dealing with the shifter reps is extremely tricky.” I increased my pace; we were running a bit late.

“I guess I can spend my time snoozing through this unit, then.” Faustine chuckled. “No shifters in my future!”

She was so wrong. She didn’t know it yet, but she was her father’s heir. As her father was the demon king of London, she would one day sit on the London council, in charge of all the London demons, and have to deal with the two shifter representatives. So it was important for her, probably more than anyone else in the class, to learn how to tolerate and even get along with the foul beasts.