Strange Academy (Hot Paranormal Romance) (14 page)

Red blossomed at the heart of the vial. He wanted to punch his fist in the air. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Sadie stopped breathing. No. No. No.

“Sadie Strange, don’t die just to annoy me.” He tipped the vial gently between pink lips turning blue.

The effect was instant. She arched her back, gulping air into her lungs. His own breath whooshed out in relief.

The silence burst into claps and hooting, but it wasn’t the students’ applause making him feel ten feet tall. It was the look in Sadie’s eyes.
Hero worship
, Parker Klark had said.

“You should learn to twitch S.O.S. with that eye of yours,” he told her, while she was too weak to smack him.

When he looked up from Sadie’s rhythmic breathing, he caught a glimpse of Sterling fighting his way through the crowd to escape. Dammit. Everyone had seen him freeze. He felt his nephew’s humiliation. There would be hell to pay.

“Who gave her this?” He grabbed the apple from the floor. Henry, from Sterling’s class, pointed at the child kneeling next to Gray. The one who’d gone for the potion instead of Sterling.

Carmina held Sadie’s hand and wiped away a tear with the other. She didn’t even notice Henry pointing at her.

Hell to pay, Gray thought.

*

***

******

****

*

The big jerk had a heart of gold. Sadie felt the chilly air on her face as she walked back to Strange Hall with the school nurse, who had insisted on escorting her from the San, the infirmary where she had spent the last few hours.

In her mind, she planned her apology. We started on the wrong foot, but it was a misunderstanding. I was wrong about Pippa’s death. You were right. It was an accident.

Maybe he had a right to be upset with her from the beginning. She didn’t really belong here and he was only trying to protect the kids. Just like he’d protected her. Whatever problems they had, when it came down to it, he had saved her life.

“...to Sadie. Come in Sadie. Houston, we have a problem.”

Sadie blinked at Danial, the school nurse.

“Blink those baby browns again.” Danial smiled a broad, flirtatious grin at her. “You’re killing me here, Sadie.”

“Danial,” she said, “you’re a very nice man, but—”

“Time for a checkup.” Danial stopped in front of her on the path and put his finger to his lips. “Shhhh.” It was her turn for eye rolling. All afternoon, he had flirted outrageously with her, and every time she’d opened her mouth to shut him down, he’d announced it was time for a checkup and shushed her.

Danial’s checkups consisted mostly of him hovering his hands above various body parts and getting a faraway look in his brown eyes. This made her feel stupid, until she realized flesh warmed under the shadow of his hands. Then she just obeyed and used the time to plan how she intended to thank Gray.

She had it all worked out. Her thigh-length black trench coat and nothing else. A midnight knock on his door. He’d get the picture. Then they could work a few things out. She definitely intended to listen to his advice more. After all, he
was
the expert here. He could tell her how to handle the kids.

A hand was on her face, lifting the lid from her eyeball. “I’m really worried about these blanked-out episodes of yours. Do you have a headache?”

“No,” Sadie said. “Thinking about something else. You’re really sweet to worry.” But he was no Gray.

“I’d offer a penny for your thoughts.” Danial raised a brown eyebrow. “But from the look on your face, you’d have to ask if I was over eighteen first. I’m over eighteen, you know.”

“I need a nap.”
I have a big night ahead
, she thought gleefully. “Just take me home.”

When Sadie and Danial entered the Strange Hall foyer, Jewel Jones, white hair flying, ran down the curved staircase to meet them. “Thank the Earth Mother you’re all right.”

Sadie, filled with affection, smiled at her fellow teacher. “
Earth Mother
. Sometimes you talk just like my aunt.”

Jewel took Sadie’s hands. “My real name is Julie, but when I met her, Pippa said, ‘No, you’re the Earth Mother’s jewel.’”

“I’ll never understand the impact she had on people’s lives.” Sadie sighed. “I’m fine. Guess kids like their pranks.”

“Pranks?” Danial’s forehead furrowed. “You almost died.”

“A prank that went wrong, then.” And Gray had saved her. She checked that her feet still touched the ground.

“Carmina will be suitably punished,” Jewel said.

Sadie froze. “Carmina?”

“Yes, she’s the one responsible,” Jewel confirmed.

Did Metas blame everything on the nearest Non? “Says who?”

“Lorde Gray,” she said.

She gave herself over to white-hot anger.
Gray
.

*

***

******

****

*

I shouldn’t be doing this, Sadie thought.

Midnight. Way past curfew. Dressed in dark clothing, she felt like a ghost haunting the Strange Hall corridor. The atmosphere was supremely haunt-worthy with its close quarters, dark wallpaper, and mahogany everywhere, as if mahogany equaled status and prestige. The ankle-level night lighting illuminated her feet but left the rest of the hall in darkness.

Following the low glow, she came to a door different from the other doors in the silent hallway. It didn’t have the name of a student taped to it.

She gave two quick raps, bruising her knuckles against the damned mahogany, and twisted the handle. As she’d hoped, it was unlocked. She slipped inside.

Her heart stopped. Carmina wasn’t alone. The last person she’d expected to see sat on the empty spare bed across from Carmina, who hugged her knees to her chest inside her white nightgown.

“What the he—” She bit off her question. “Sterling, what are you doing here?”

He leapt to his feet, his fists clenched against the thighs of his jeans. “Carmina didn’t do it.”

He had slammed Carmina in the classroom this afternoon with his comment about her father not really being her father. Now he was defending her?

“I know,” she told him.

He seemed to search her eyes for signs of deception. Eventually, his fists relaxed.

Seeing Carmina’s room nearly broke Sadie’s heart. Other students put their personal stamp on their dorm room. They put up curtains. They created wacky arrangements with the two single beds and two desks. They papered the walls with posters of the latest American Idol.

Carmina hadn’t. She had empty walls and a default furniture arrangement and no roommate. Her only personal touch was a bedspread so black it seemed to suck light out of the room.

Then again, Sadie hadn’t touched a thing in Pippa’s apartment. It’s different for me, she told herself. And she was leaving, just as soon as she figured out why the hell Pippa had wanted her here.

She shoved the thought away and concentrated on the problem at hand.

Carmina’s face was a mask of misery. Her pale complexion was broken by bright pink circles on her cheeks. A crumpled Kit Kat bar wrapper was empty at her side.

Carmina’s black gaze was glued to Sterling in admiration. Three hours ago, Sadie had felt the same about another Gray male. Now, the thought made her cringe.

She sat down on the edge of Carmina’s bed and folded her robe over her knees. Sterling pulled out the desk chair but kept his gray eyes on Sadie, watching for false moves.

“I did not do this thing they say I did.” Carmina’s pleading eyes filled with tears.

“I know it. You’re my friend.” She looked at Sterling. “How do
you
know it?”

“I saw her put the apple on your desk. It didn’t have any black spot then,” he said. “It’s not fair, what they’re doing.”

What your uncle is doing, she wanted to say. But it wasn’t Sterling’s fault he was related to a big alumnus. And there was something poetic about Sterling and Carmina being friends. Like Romeo and Juliet in plaid school uniforms.

“Do you hate Nons, as your uncle does?” Carmina’s voice broke. Sadie’s heart almost did, too.

Sterling looked away. “I only know you and Miss Strange. When I grow up, I’m going to have to look after a lot of them.”

“What do you mean?” Sadie asked.

“I’ll get a city to take care of, like my dad. I’ll have to fight all the demons and stuff in it.”

“Like vampires?” Resentment twitched in Carmina’s voice.

“Uncle Gray says all vampires are bad, even if they pretend to be good. And he’s always right.” Sterling sounded as if he was trying to convince himself.

“He’s not right about me.” Carmina lifted her chin in defiance. “And he’s not right about my father.”

Sterling chewed his lip, looking like he wasn’t ready to face the fact Uncle Gray could, after all, make mistakes.

“It won’t be so hard,” he said after a while. “Defending a city, I mean. Kaida will help. She’s my fiancée.”

“Fiancée?” Sadie’s mouth went dry. “You’re ten years old.”

“Yeah, but she comes from a good house, and she’s real magical. She can predict the future,” Sterling said. “We e-mail each other sometimes.”

“You’re ten years old.” A thought zipped through her brain. “Did your uncle get engaged when he was ten?”

“No, I think he was five.”

Holy crap, was this the Middle Ages or something? But it explained a few things. Gray’s unlikely combo of perma-tanned skin, Roman nose, and gray eyes. He was mixed race because the Gray House was breeding mages. Their marriages weren't for love, but to produce more powerful offspring.

She hugged her robe around herself against a sudden chill and tried to shrug off the thought. It didn’t matter. She’d be leaving Strange Academy soon.

“Sterling, get to your own room and don’t break curfew again.” She stood and smoothed the black kimono over her thighs. “Carmina, I’ll talk to the principal tomorrow.”

*

***

******

****

*

“Carmina didn’t do it, Christian.” Sadie slammed her hand down on the silver-veined marble top of the principal’s desk. She’d stormed past the portrait of the school’s founder in Christian’s office—why had those eyes struck her as familiar?—ready for the fight of her life. She’d show these Metas, dammit, even if sticking up for Carmina meant not fitting in.

At the thought, she felt her eye give a single twitch.

Christian showed no emotion at all, and hadn’t since she’d shoved her way in. “I know.”

“Well.” Not exactly the reaction she expected. “Good.”

Christian pointed at the seat across from him. The red leather wingback chair threatened to swallow her when she sat. With her anger fading, she noticed the leather-bound books lining the walls. There had to be some first editions. And those framed scrolls covered with esoteric symbols looked ancient.

Just then, something moved in the terrarium on Christian’s desk. The fine hairs at the base of her spine stuck straight out. “Why the hell do you have a spider on your desk?”

“Saphyra’s a black widow. I keep her around to remind me of something that happened a long time ago.” Christian ran a finger along the glass. “I’m suspending Carmina anyway.”

Her jaw dropped. “Why?”

“Someone tried to hurt you and we can’t find them.”

She gripped the chair arms. “I don’t understand.”

“Think about it.” Christian’s tone was reasonable. “If we punish Carmina, the guilty party thinks he’s safe. If we punish no one, then everyone thinks someone got away with it. We have to suspend someone until we find out who really did it.”

She practically snarled. “It’s not fair to Carmina.”

“I’ve explained it to her father. He’s looking forward to her extended Christmas break.” Christian picked up a sheaf of papers on his desk and started to look through them.

Her jaw clenched. She was being dismissed. In every way. She stood and turned to go.

“Don’t worry, Sadie.” When Christian spoke again, she didn’t look back. “I’ll be watching you very closely.”

*

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******

****

*

Gray sat in Cross’s waiting room and tried not to whistle to the tempo of the secretary’s typing. In three months, he’d forgotten how good it felt to do his real work. From the first demon he’d reduced to ashes, he always got a rush from a job well done. It was particularly sweet to save Sadie Strange’s ass.

He stretched his legs and leaned back. These chairs were definitely made for kids. The background sound of typing stopped dead. He looked up to see Cross’s secretary looking at him. Her glasses glared blue from her computer screen. He sat up straighter, like a good boy. The typing resumed.

Maybe seeing him in action would make Sadie wake up to reality—she didn’t belong here. And there was the additional benefit of her being grateful. The Nons he saved were always grateful.

Maybe he’d even let her do a little hero worshipping, if he could find some way of ensuring no one would ever find out. Nah. Too risky. He shouldn’t even be talking to her. It set a bad example for Sterling.

She was Pippa’s niece, though. Didn’t that count for something? Thinking of Pippa sent guilt flooding through him, though at least he’d done something good for Sadie. Even if he had failed her aunt in every way. He ground his complaining stress knot into the back of the chair.

Sadie came out of Cross’s office, her forehead furrowed. Repressed Librarian had returned. Her blue suit was a little baggy on top, but stretched tight across her sweetheart ass.

Sweetheart ass? He really needed to get laid.

When she looked up at him, he smiled. She didn’t smile back. In fact, she charged up to him, fists clenched for battle.

“This is your fault.” She jabbed a sharp fingernail into his chest. “Hurt me, if you want, not an innocent little girl.”

What the hell? So much for grateful. “I don’t think you should say ‘innocent’ and ‘Carmina’ in the same breath.”

“I didn’t, ass—” Sadie bit off the insult and glanced toward the glaring secretary, who had stopped typing. Sadie blushed a little and continued. “
Alumnus
.”

The typing resumed.

“Carmina almost killed you,” he pointed out.

Sadie’s dark eyes flashed a warning. “Leave Carmina alone.”