The Academy [BOOK ONE COMPLETE]

All the group project workshops were on the second level. There were seven in total, so I would check in on each, just in case.

Damn it! This was exactly, exactly why I avoided people. My legs kept running toward the stairs. Why was any of this my responsibility?

“Lina!” Frederik shouted.

He could keep up, if he could keep up. It was a school project. As an elf she didn’t need to sleep that much, so that shouldn’t have been a problem either. I didn’t really have a reason to be worried.

My senses told me otherwise. I would check, rather than be sorry later. I didn’t even know what I was afraid of, but it didn’t matter.

Frederik was winded when we reached the workshop doors. “What are you planning? You can’t just barge in there!”

“Watch me. The Chancellor barges everywhere all the time.”

“But he’s the—”

He cut himself off as I wrenched open the door. It wasn’t locked.

A guy in a black robe gasped. A pair of bony legs stood in the middle of the room and a spine jutted up from the pelvis on top of them. Two other students were lowering a ribcage on the spine. One of them had his tongue sticking out from the corner of his mouth. The ribcage rattled and wobbled.

“Steady!” the first student shouted. “The gust almost—”

I slammed the door shut. A scream and faint clattering came from the other side of it.

Frederik grabbed my shoulder. “Listen to me! People are going to be really annoyed.”

I turned to look at him. He flinched away, letting go of my shoulder. Good to know I could still pull off the glare. Worked wonders on the streets, would probably work even better here, with everyone being a velvet-slipper-wearing wimp. I held off pushing him away. “I’m just making sure.”

“Yeah, but…” he trailed off as I marched to the second door.

“I’ll be more careful,” I growled. I turned the handle and peeked in.

The room was empty save for a lone skeleton standing in the middle of the floor, looking lost. It was just bones, no Null on them yet.

I growled again and closed the door. “You can tag along, if you keep out of my way.”

“I have a feeling I’m going to have to handle this now or later,” Frederik said. “Probably both, if I’m honest. So I’d rather see see it for myself.”

It didn’t help my mood that he assumed there would be things to handle if and when I found her. What was he suspecting? Should I force it out of him? I glanced back at him, and he grimaced, stepping back with his open hands before him.

I’d deal with him later. The next workshop was empty as well. The skeleton in this one was only a pile of bones, with the skull on top, staring at me.

“Huh? Who are you?” Fahn asked when I opened the fourth door.

“Minnelil!” I shouted.

She stood with her hands outstretched, blue light flowing from them to the small bony bits holding up the skeleton’s skull. “Lina?” she said, frowning.

“Piss off, we’re working here,” Fahn said. He turned back to watch Minnelil, eyes sliding up and down her. He pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow. I had seen him with Frederik back when they came to fetch me for the stupid ceremony to dig out the student badge. Another rich kid.

Lorn sat in the corner, reading a book. He gasped as he looked up and saw me.

“Keep working, then. I’ll talk to her for a moment,” I said.

“You can talk to her when she’s finished,” Fahn said.

I took a step toward him, but Frederik put a hand on my shoulder. “She must be almost ready? It’s missing just the hands. We can wait outside.”

“The hands are the worst bit, and the skeleton has to be ready before lunch. I want that extra credit,” Fahn said.

“It’s lunch time now,” I said, shaking Frederik’s hand off my shoulder.

Minnelil started to say something, but Fahn talked over her. “Stop distracting her then! It still counts if it’s done before lunch is over.”

“Lina, it’s fine,” she said. Her voice sounded tired. She had dark bags under her eyes that I’d never seen before.

I moved to poke my finger at Fahn’s chest, but Frederik grabbed hold of my arm again and I let him pull me back. “You can do it yourself, if you care about it so much,” I snarled.

Lorn rose, placing the book in the corner. He was biting his lower lip as he circled closer to us. “Fahn, I could take over for a while?”

“You? No, she’s better at it. Look at those elven fingers. After she’s done handling those bones, maybe she can wrap them—”

“Fahn, I really think this might not be a good time to—“

“Don’t interrupt me, you spineless gimp! Everyone knows… why is it getting cold?”

Frederik yelped and let go of my arm, eyes wide and palm covered in frost.

Ice crinkled as I took a step forward, frost spreading from where my foot landed. The skeleton started to rattle, shaking like it was trying to move.

“Lina!” Minnelil shouted.

“You are nothing,” I hissed at Fahn and my voice cut him. He was worse than Lombarte. His eyes were similar to Jordan’s, leering, sliding over Minnelil and me. The Null sat in my veins, making me cold and heavy and indifferent. The thought of putting my fist through his face didn’t bother me. Perhaps it would later, but what would one more thing to regret matter?

“Wh-what the hell?” Fahn stuttered, stumbling back. Lorn skittered away from him, heading back into the corner. Rat leaving the sinking ship.

Minnelil let go of the skeleton and its skull fell off, cracking on the floor. “Lina, stop! It’s not worth it!”

“What do you mean, what is she doing?” Fahn shouted, voice cracking.

I grinned and coughed. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and it came away slick with black ichor. Nice. That probably looked scary to them.

Fahn’s back thumped against the wall.

I heard the whistling and felt the tingling at the same time. I frowned at the touch of magic. “Relax,” Minnelil said. “Relax, now.”

Fahn’s eyes were blown wide, but now they closed halfway and his mouth slackened. My fists unclenched.

She was doing it again! Something magical, poking my mind. I spun around, teeth bared.

Minnelil backed away, one hand reached out before her, like she was trying to hold me back. She kept talking, mouth moving as she muttered something.

I tuned her out, the Null isolating me from whatever she was doing. Icicles pricked me, keeping me sharp against the call to relax. I took a step toward her and her mouth widened into a grimace, her sparkling green eyes flickering around. What… what was I doing?

“For what it’s worth, I’m pretty relaxed,” Frederik said, breath steaming. He had ice on his eyebrows. “It got a bit tense earlier, but I’m sure we can talk it out.”

He really was a lapdog. The thought cut through the cold. What an amazing idiot. I stared at Minnelil’s face, lips white, the wide mouth with its corners turning down.

I was making her look like that.

I let the Null drain away, the tingling pushing in instead of it. My whole body felt like a limb after it goes numb and the blood starts circulating again. I shuddered and groaned as my legs wobbled.

“Anybody mind if I take a nap?” Fahn asked, sitting down on the ground and leaning his back against the wall.

“I’ll join you,” Frederik said.

Lorn made a small noise and twitched in his sleep.

“I might have overdone it,” Minnelil said.

I kept hugging myself. My skin felt raw and my stomach like I had eaten a fist-sized stone.

“Lina…” she said.

Facing her gaze took a lot, but I lifted my chin and did it. “I didn’t like his face.”

“That was dangerous! For all of us!” She grabbed my wrist.

I let her, but turned my gaze away. “They were using you. That guy is an entitled asshole.”

“Yes, perhaps, but I had told them I’d help. This is going to come back to haunt all of us.”

“There are worse things that could haunt you,” I muttered. “Besides, it didn’t look much like you were helping them. You were doing it for them. How long had you been doing this?”

She frowned and let go of my wrist, turning around. She pushed both hands into her hair. “Lina, it’s more complicated than that! You can’t just barge in—”

I tried to tell her I’d barge anywhere for her, but my throat clamped up and I coughed. My stomach spasmed and I hacked, pressing my hands on my knees as I splattered black goo on the floor.

“Is… that blood?” Minnelil asked.

It was cold as ice, whatever it was. I scraped my tongue against my sleeve to get the feeling out of my mouth. Maybe the black cloth would hide the stain. “It’s fine. Let’s go eat.”

“No! It’s not!” Minnelil shrieked. “Nothing about this is fine.” She walked to the edge of the platform and sat down slowly, letting her legs hang down. “This is a goddamn mess.”

I touched the black goo with my boot, but it had frozen. Some skeleton would slip on it and break a hip. Or maybe Fahn would. The spot was right outside the door. I chuckled grimly.

“Lina, we really need to talk,” Minnelil said.