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Professor Warren looked thoughtful. “You do realize this could be very dangerous.”
“It’s even more dangerous if I ignore what I’m capable of,” I pointed out.
Professor Warren stood from his desk and pulled a book off the shelf. “This book has a section on portal magic. I suggest you use it carefully.”
I reached for it, but he pulled it away at the last second.
“Don’t let anyone find out you have this,” he stated in a grave tone, before placing it into my hands. “This book is dangerous, Lucas. And if people discover you have this kind of power at your disposal… they will kill you for it.”
CHAPTER 8
NADINE
Meeting Lucas’s dad shocked me more than it should have. I’d heard stories. I knew what his dad was like. I should have been prepared. And I still couldn’t believe a parent could talk to their child like that. There may be a demon roaming the coven, but Jay Taylor was the truemonster.
I brought breakfast to Lucas’s room the following morning, because I knew he’d forget to eat otherwise. We sat beside each other on the couch, and he managed to eat a few bites of fruit while he told me what happened yesterday.
“This is unfair!” I cried. “The priestesses can’t take away your healthcare.”
Lucas frowned. “They can, and they did.”
“Then I’ll pay for it,” I decided, like it was already settled.
“Therapy costs over a hundred dollars per session,” he said gently. “Where are you going to get that kind of money?”
“Grammy and I have some.”
“Which needs to go toward your dialysis,” he insisted. “You literally need your healthcare to survive. I don’t.”
It wasn’t necessarily true, but I didn’t say that out loud. Instead, I said, “That doesn’t make your therapy any less important.”
“I’ll take a break from therapy for now.” He wasn’t going to let me pay for his sessions, no matter how much I pressed. “Professor Warren has been helpful before. He can help me again. He gave me a book on portals.”
I could tell he was trying to change the subject. I didn’t want to press and make this harder on him, so I said, “That’s good, because Talia and I didn’t find anything in the library.”
“See? He’s already helping,” he said.
I thought he was only saying that so I’d drop the topic, but over the following week, I noticed huge improvements in his mood. His internship gave him a lot of one-on-one time with Professor Warren, and whatever they talked about really seemed to help Lucas.
“Did you know that Professor Warren used to snowboard?” Lucas asked me as we headed to my dorm after lunch Friday. “He was on a team and everything.”
“No, I had no idea. That sounds fun, though.”
“He says he wants to take me snowboarding sometime.”
“Ooh, a ski resort weekend?” I asked. “Count me in. A weekend with a good mystery novel and hot cocoa in front of a cozy fireplace sounds great.”
“That’s not really what you’re supposed to do at a ski resort,” he teased. “The slopes are there for a reason.”
“Yeah, for you.” I laughed. I knew it wouldn’t happen anytime soon, not with everything going on right now, but it felt good to imagine a future where we could plan a weekend away.
We reached my dorm room, and I stopped in my tracks when I entered. I flung my hand over my eyes. All I saw was a flash of Grant’s skin under the blanket and Talia’s brown hair spilling over the pillow.
I whirled on my heel and accidentally slammed into Lucas. “Sorry! We’ll leave.”
Talia burst into laughter. “Relax. We’re decent.”
Slowly, I turned around. Grant tossed the blanket off of them, and I was relieved to see he was fully dressed from the waist down. Talia wore jeans and a t-shirt, but I’m pretty sure I saw her adjust her bra. They’d definitely been fooling around.
