Ex Nihilo Academy (14 page)

I’ve been waiting a long time to meet someone like you
Lily and I’m not about to let you get away. You are young and naive you haven’t seen the things that I have seen. You think the best of people and you don’t see what their intentions truly are. There are so many out there who would take
advantage of you - of your beauty and your innocence - and I will do whatever I have to do to ensure that never happens. I refuse to apologize for how strongly I feel about you.

I can’t help but smile at his words. He swears that he can’t
read my mind but I think I’m going to have to brush up on my vampire knowledge just to be sure.

Later that week I’m sitting cross-legged on my bed reading a
thick binder of information on the ‘Council of Five’ that Professor Winters gave me. It is pitch black out and the cold air is blowing in from the open window but Luca is lying on his side curled around me and keeping me warm.

“So the five leaders are?”

“The troll leader who keeps his identity a secret, Mohan, Zander, Alan and right now Kennedy’s dad Rossum is filling in for me.” At my request Luca is quizzing me because I know my trip to London to meet the Council is rapidly approaching and I want to be ready.

“Tell me about the vampire leader.” He prompts.

“The vampire leader, Alan Martinez, is new to the chair. He’s only been at the throne for about ten years which is like barely a year in
human time and he’s the one stoking the fire for this so-called revolution. I’ll know him when I see him because… he’s known for what again?” Luca reaches over and closes the binder, running a finger along my arm in the process. My
whole body shudders in response.

“He’s known for being deceptive, opportunistic and incredibly smart. The werewolf leader is Mohan, the witch leader is Zander, and no one knows about the troll leader. Now can we finish with this please?” He
sighs, exasperated.

“I have to memorize it all so I’ll be prepared for when I finally meet them.”

“Maybe there is a way you don’t have to.” He says hopefully and I groan.

“We’ve been over this and you know I have to if not for the
supernatural community then to honor my parent’s memory. I don’t want to fight about it anymore.”

“Then let’s not.” He sits up and suddenly he’s kissing me, one hand cradling the back of my head, the other holding my chin in place. He
releases my head and runs his fingers through my hair and down my spine.

“You are so beautiful. I love your eyes. They are like the Adriatic and they remind me of home. Te sei occhi sono come il mare. Ho potuto
nuotare in loro per sempre
.
” The Italian rolls of his tongue like music and makes me shiver all over.

“What does it mean?”

“Your eyes are like the sea. I could swim in them forever.”
He answers and loops an arm around my neck, pulling me toward him. But before he can kiss me again we are interrupted by a loud knock on the door. I try and get off the bed but he holds me in place.

“Don’t answer it.” He flutters kisses across my mouth but
the knocking only gets louder. I shove him playfully and hop off the bed before he can protest. I open the door and find Rowan standing in the hall. He looks sheepish, until he sees Luca lounging on the bed behind me and his expression
shifts to anger. Crap. I wish I’d told Luca to sit at the desk. This is just weird.

“Does Niall know that you are up here with a boy?” Rowan leans into the door frame and I notice that his voice is laced with sarcasm
when he says the word ‘boy’.

“I wasn’t aware that I needed to tell him. He didn’t give me any rules.” I don’t back down.

“You’re sixteen. Someone needs to look out for you.” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, then thrusts something into my hands.

“Here, I downloaded you some music. I used a CD because I know you don’t have your computer yet and there’s a player in here.” I turn the disc over in my hands.

“Very cool. Electric Six?” I read off track one.

“You’ll love them.”

Thank you.” I say, genuinely touched by the peace offering. Luca clears his through a little too obviously.

“Look, we should talk about the other day.” Rowan adds.

“We should.” I nod in agreement. “But not right now.”

He shoots a pointed look at Luca. “Okay.” I start closing the door in the hopes that he will get the message. “Keep the door open.” He
says firmly, pushing it wide with his palm while casting a murderous look at Luca.

“Fine.” I shake my head in disbelief as he stalks off down the hall, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. When he rounds the corner I
shut the door almost all of the way, leaving it open just a crack in case he tells Niall, then I rejoin Luca on the bed. I sit beside him, holding the CD from Rowan in my hands.

“Present?” He asks and I pass it to him. “A CD? And I
thought I was old. What does he need to talk to you about?” Luca eyes me carefully.

“I don’t know. We had a fight.” I shrug.

“About me?” Luca presses.

“Yes, among other things.”

“Well now you can tell him that I’m your boyfriend and to mind his own business.” He says, an edge to his voice. “He seemed surprised to see me here. You didn’t tell him we were dating?”

“I haven’t had time! Like I said the last time I saw him we
fought and I wouldn’t say that we’ve been ‘dating’, Luca. We haven’t even been on a date yet.”

“Well then I will have to fix that.” Luca says, giving me a devilish smile. “You’re not nervous about telling him are you?”

“Of course not! If he doesn’t like it then too bad. It’s not like he can spank me or anything.”

“He better not.” Luca’s eyes flare possessively and he pulls
me on top of him, flopping back on to the pillow.

“I don’t understand why you two hate each other some much. Why can’t you just be friends?”

“We will never be friends, Lily.” He says seriously.

“Why not?” I know that I’m whining but I can’t help it.

“He hurt someone I loved.”

“A girl?” I ask even though I’m not sure I want to know the answer.

“Yes. but not in the way you are thinking. It had to do with
my sister.”

“You have a sister?” I say surprised and he shakes his head sadly.

“I had a sister.” I can see the pain reflected in his eyes. “I’ll tell you about her sometime.” I want him to tell me more but he turns
away and I can read between the lines - sometime but not now. He’s still so closed off to me and I wish there was some way I could reach him. It’s not like I don’t understand pain. I look over at the photo of my parents propped up on
the nightstand and my eyes instantly fill. “Why don’t you tell me about them?” Luca follows my gaze.

“I thought you said you knew them.” I sniff, holding back the onslaught of tears.

“A little.” He concedes. “But I don’t know what they were
like with you.”

I bite my lip and play with the corner of the blanket. “It sounds cheesy but they were everything to me. My friends would constantly complain about their parents but that just wasn’t my experience. My dad and I
always talked books - he loved the classics like Chaucer and Dickens and my mom gave me my appreciation for music. We had music Mondays at our house. Every Monday we’d pick a genre, like jazz or 80’s or world music and listen to songs
while we made dinner. I miss them so much. It was important to me never to disappoint them.” I can feel my face crumple.

“Knowing what I knew of them I’m certain they would have been very proud to have a daughter like you.” He runs his thumb back and forth
across my lips.

“Luca? Why were you so rude to me at the dance?”

“I’m sorry for that, but you intrigued me from the very beginning. I knew I was going to look out for you because of who your parents
were and what they stood for but even more than that I felt this compelling need to. You have a strange affect on me.” He searches my face.

“I know the feeling.” I say, a smile playing on my lips.

“It was only a matter of time. I couldn’t hold out for long. You seem to have that impact on the opposite sex.” He adds dryly.

“Well, I’m lucky you decided not to fight the feeling.”

“As am I, Lily.” He murmurs softly, closing the space
between us with a kiss.

It is a gray November morning and the loch is eerily calm as the black speed boat glides into the dock. The boatman helps me on board,
extending a glove-sheathed hand as he does every morning, but says nothing. I give him a lopsided smile and wonder if he knows how uncomfortable he makes me feel. Luca assures me that he’s not a supernatural; though I don’t think I’ll ever get used to his colorless eyes and powder pale skin. My mind wanders back
to last night; Luca lying in my bed and caressing my hair until I fell asleep. When I woke this morning he was gone and in his place was a freshly cut pale pink rose. I always thought that roses were cheesy and cliché when girls
wielded them like prizes but being on the receiving end of such a romantic gesture has definitely changed my mind. The boat skims across the water and its usual clip and I make my way to the front to watch. The Irish weather usually
forces me into the cabin below but today I feel the draw of the fresh air. I’m sitting at the bow when I notice a cluster of black clouds looming ahead which I find strange since the rest of the sky is clear. I glance back at the boatman
who is sitting at his perch above deck and he is looking up at the sky also. The boat shudders to a dead stop and I lurch forward, my chest slamming into the leather bench and knocking the air out of my lungs. Then the screeching begins and it’s like the dream with my parents all over. It’s the crunch of metal
tearing apart as the boat starts to split in half. Water pools at my feet at a rapid pace and I can hear the boatman yelling my name but the gap between the bow and the stern is too great for him to jump. “Hold on!” He screams, palming
a life jacket as he plunges into the icy water to swim to me. The black clouds are getting lower and lower and I see it before the boatman does - a huge, oily, slug-like creature rising out of the water. It is gigantic and has
iridescent blue-black tentacles that taper off into sharp-looking claws.

“No!” I scream as the creature bears down on the boatman and pushes him under water. His head disappears then resurfaces seconds later.

“Go, Lily! Swim! You can make it!” The boatman yells before
releasing an awful, blood-curdling scream. The creature pushes him under again and this time he doesn’t resurface. The front half of the boat that I am sitting in is slowly sinking and the water pools around my ankles. Before I
lose my nerve I scramble over the edge and plunge into the water. The shock of the cold seizes my muscles momentarily but I know I have to staring paddling. I’ve only swam a few feet when I feel the weight of something sharp wrap around
my ankles and pull me down. Another slimy black claw cuts into my skin as it wraps around my shoulders pulling me backwards. My lungs burn as my mouth fills with freezing water. I struggle against the tentacles that continue to wrap around me but it’s useless. It feels like there are dozens of them now pinning me in place. I force the cold water out of my mouth and try to think back to my powers training. Fire won’t work underwater, water won’t work on a creature of the sea and earth is more than a little out of reach. Air. My only option is
air and I have to do something with it quickly.

“Aerius, Aerius, Aerius.” I chant in my head over and over as I envision the black clouds above stirring and the calm waters picking up
with the wind. It’s ironic that I need waves when they were almost the end of me last time, but I am filled with relief when I hear the sound of rushing water above my head. It’s working and now I just need to get closer to the surface so I can breathe. Then an idea hits me. I crane my neck forward and
bite the tentacle that is cinched around my upper body. The taste that fills my mouth is bitter and greasy but the creature releases me enough so that I can kick my way to the top. I surface, sputtering for breath, and see that the wind
storm raging in the sky is making the waves roll in. The tentacles still have my ankles and they are inching me down but their strength seems to be ebbing with the force of the surface waves that crash into us. A big one comes that
has to be at least fifty feet. It’s a height that I definitely don’t have the skill to ride as a surfer but I pull myself above the water long enough for the crest to crash over me and it sends me spinning forward, tearing me from the creatures’ grasp. For a moment I consider that this might not have been the
best plan but within seconds the wave spits me out and I’m treading water again. I look back and the torn in half boat is nowhere to be seen. I catch my breath and take a moment to get my bearings. I can see a land mass a few
football field lengths away. I can make out the silhouette of the castle through the fog and in that moment I silently thank God that it’s only shrouded for humans. It is then that it finally dawns on me that I’m not one of them.
Not human. No human could’ve done what I just did and for the first time I’m truly grateful for my otherness. I swim forward, adopting the breast stroke and breathing through my teeth. My arms burn and I don’t know how much longer I can last but I push through, knowing that the years of surfing and swimming out of
waves have served me well today. After what feels like an eternity my feet touch the bottom and I’m standing at the base of the rocks just south of the dock. I scale the jagged, moss-covered rocks on shaky hands, slipping as I go and
cutting my knees. When I get to the top I see students milling about on their way to class. I am drenched and chilled to the bone and my teeth won’t stop chattering. I see Nissa, who is sitting on the lawn reading, before she sees
me. She raises her hand to wave but it stops midair and I can see the surprise etched on her face. It’s the last thing I see before I fall forward on to the grass and plunge into darkness.

* *

My eyes flutter open and I wake to Luca’s face. His eyes are
wide with concern and some other unnamed emotion. I think it might be fear. He is clutching my hand so hard it hurts but I’m too tired to say anything.

“She’s awake.” He whispers and steps back keeping his grip
on my hand. I look around the small room at the pale green walls and austere metal furniture. I’m lying on a cot swaddled in thick woolen blankets that scrape at my skin and I realize that I must be in my underwear. I flush with
embarrassment as a semi-circle of faces now hover over me. “How are you feeling?” The school nurse asks at the same time Professor Winters barks at me. “What happened?”

“The boat.” I croak, my voice hoarse. “The boatman. I didn’t
even know his name.” I squeeze my eyes shut and a shudder ripples through me. I give them the best condensed version of events that I can manage as I struggle to sit up.

“Take your time, dear. You were almost hypothermic.” The
nurse’s wide gray eyes regard me sympathetically. Nissa and Cai are also there and Nissa takes the seat beside me while Cai stands behind her. Luca presses his lips together so hard that the skin around them turns white.

“This is all the Council’s fault.”

“Luca! Be mindful of whom you are speaking of.” Professor Winters scolds him and he snorts. “Bureaucrats don’t scare me. It isn’t her battle to fight. It never was and at this rate it’s going to cost her life.” He
paces the room like a caged animal while the Professor looks deep in thought.

“It’s escalating.”

“No shit.” Luca spits and my mouth drops open. He always speaks so finely and I’ve never heard him swear before.

“Luca Morello.” There is a warning in her voice.

“Who could be doing this?” Nissa wonders out loud.

“The speaker at the dance had to be a witch with telekinesis.” I say. “The car could’ve been a vampire or a werewolf or anyone
for that matter but the surfing incident must have been a powerful fairy.”

“Wait, what surfing incident?” Nissa says crossly and Luca spins around with a surprised look on his face.

“Whoops, I guess I forgot to mention that one. It was like someone manipulated the waves to hold me under. And there was someone strange on the beach when we got there. I knew something wasn’t right about it at the time but I wasn’t sure what. Now seeing that creature I’m sure that both
incidents were supernatural.” Professor Winters nods.

“A fairy could’ve executed the weather act but dark magic would be required to summon an actual being. I suspect the sea monster was a
result of demon power.”

“Whoa! Summoning demon power? Does someone want to fill me in on how that works?” I throw my hands up and Professor Winters purses her lips.

“We don’t encourage dark magic and we certainly don’t teach
it. In Demonology class we give you the information we feel that you need to know and nothing more.”

“What I don’t get is if someone wants to kills me then why not get it over with already? Shoot me in the head with a gun or snuff me out
with a pillow in my sleep.” I say hoarsely and Luca fixes me with a glare, his mouth set in a grim line.

“I suspect they want to make it look like as much of an accident as possible. Killing a Council member or a descendant is punishable by
death and with the Council’s combined supernatural abilities finding the murder would be much easier than you would think. Whoever it is hides behind these acts to shield their involvement.” Professor Winters says.

“Whoever is behind this is getting bolder.” Nissa adds.

“Yes, they are.” The Professor looks at me blandly. “I suspect it is just a matter of time before they resort to baser methods to get the job done. Miss Hughes, your time has run out. We need to get you to London
immediately.”

“Her time has run out?” Luca shouts, the anger rolling off him in waves. “How does Lily know it’s not one of you? I see a vampire in front of me who is pulling all the strings like a puppeteer and a powerful witch
sitting in the corner.” I can’t believe he’s actually accusing the headmaster of being involved, nor do I like the suspicious look he’s giving Nissa.

“You bastard! I have been by Lily’s side from the start
which is more than I can say for you!” Nissa jumps to her feet and Cai places a hand protectively on her shoulder. “Exactly. What about you, Luca? Isn’t it interesting that you are always there when Lily is ‘almost’ killed? It seems a
little too convenient for my liking.” Cai adds.

“You are going to wish you never said that flea bag.”

“Stop it all of you!” I shout, my voice breaking. “No one in this room is trying to kill me. It’s some fundamentalist psycho who wants me
out of the way so he can rule over humans. There’s no point in throwing insults at each other. You are my friends and teachers and I need your support now more than ever. So get over yourselves!” I try and look as assertive as a person can
when burritoed in a blanket and lying half-naked in a cot and everyone stares back at me in surprise. “You are all going to shut up and leave the room. Then I’m going to get up, get dressed and go home to pack my bag.”

“What are you saying, Lily? Nissa asks, confused.

“I’m saying that it is time for me to go to London to meet this Council face to face. Now will someone please hand me my damn pants.”