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Nessa
AsIcometo,the first thing I register is that I’m surrounded by familiar scents, and when I force one of my gritty eyes open, my view confirms that I am in fact in my room.How the heck did I get here?
“I really need to stop passing out. It’s getting seriously annoying waking up in random places,” I mutter under my breath.
A low chuckle comes from my left and I jump, head whipping around to find the source of the sound. My nose wrinkles when the movement draws my attention to my aching body. Goddess, it feels like I’ve been trampled by a herd of horses. Dylan watches me from a seat beside my bed, blue eyes sparkling as he grins at me. I let out a huff. “What are you doing here?”
“Och, what a nice way to treat your guard. One that volunteered by the way.” His tone is playful, but his cheeks flush.
Unicorn chirps, alerting me to her presence by my side as well, and I try to sit up only to pause when the room spins. “Woah.” Grimacing, I brace my hands behind me on the mattress and breathe through the feeling. Once I’ve got my spinning headmostlyunder control I focus on Dylan. “My apologies, good sir. I am forever grateful for your presence.” I do a fake bow and everything, forgetting my dizziness then freeze with a groan when the room blurs. Ugh, being dizzy sucks. Unicorn whines and noses my side, peering up at me inquiringly.
I set a hand on her head. “I’m alright, just dizzy,” I reassure her.
Dylan shakes his head, a tiny smile playing on his lips before reaching behind me to rearrange the several pillows scattered around me until I can settle back into them comfortably. I do just that and let out another little groan, though this one is because I’m content. After smoothing out the blanket on my lap, I clear my throat, ready to pepper the man across from me with questions.
“First off, why are you guarding me? Second, what the hell happened? I remember fragments, but not enough to piece it together. How did I get into these pyjamas? Whose balls do I need to remove?” As I speak my words increase in speed until they’re almost running together.
The man blinks at me once I’ve finished speaking and I thread my fingers together on my lap.Seems I have rendered him mute, for the moment.He snaps out of it after about thirty seconds, blue eyes bright as he sucks in a deep breath and answers each one of my questions in turn. “Because the healing sleep you were in made you extremely vulnerable. Your magic went a little crazy in your earth magic class—”
“A little? You grew a twenty-five foot high tree in under thirty seconds—if what Corin informed us is accurate. Destroyed not just your classroom but the ones above and below it as well, before your magic nearly imploded. Oh, and you somehow pushed that atomic-bomb-level magic into the Academy’s wards and survived it? I thinkA little crazyis underselling it just a tad, Dylan,” Oscar butts in from the doorway, a lazy grin on his face to soften the blow of his words.
The memories slam into me, and I blink rapidly as they sink in, trying not to let myself get overwhelmed. To distract me or because he wants to, Dylan continues, “Lexi changed you, so I hope that saves our family jewels. She also asked for you to call her once you’re up to it, so she knows you’re okay. And I’m—well we’re— guarding you because using so much magic in one go left you vulnerable and we wanted to make sure you were safe.”
At the end of his little rant Dylan nods his head decisively and a godawful giggle snort falls from my lips. Dylan’s expression is absolutely adorable. Like he’s, concerned, befuddled and reluctantly amused all at once as he lists everything out for me. I slap a hand over my mouth, eyes widening in horror at the sound that just left my mouth, but I end up grinning behind it in response to the guy's reactions to my horror at giggling. Oscar falls back against the wall, laughing, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. Dylan quirks his eyebrow at me playfully, eyes intense, and I can’t help but feel like if I weren’t bedridden, Dylan and I would be having a replay of our little chasing game.
My tongue darts out to wet my bottom lip as I drop my hand from where it’s still hiding my grin, and Dylan’s eyes fall to my mouth. My grin widens and I straighten tentatively. The pinch that runs down my spine has my expression faltering for a moment before I force it to steady. With a few deep breaths, I shuffle to the edge of the bed and swing my legs around until they’re touching the floor then pause, ignoring the guys’ protests. Unicorn moves with me, offering her support. It takes a moment, but the spinning stops and I look between the guys with a smile until something occurs to me. “Wait, how did you guys know what happened?”
“We were both in the class down the hall and heard the commotion, so we ventured to your classroom to see what happened and if anyone needed help. We ran into you and Corin as he came out of the classroom,” Oscar says, still eyeing me with concern as I go to get up.
Unicorn lets out a huff and he grins at her. “Alright, once Unicorn and Corin got you back here safely,” Oscar amends and Unicorn chuffs before taking off from the bed and hovering over Dylan’s shoulder.
I nod, smiling at Unicorn’s sass, then push myself up from the bed, stumbling the moment I’m on two feet. I almost go down, but both Oscar and Dylan were clearly ready for it to happen and they each grab one of my arms, holding me steady as I wait for the room to stop spinning.
When it does, I give them a grin, looking between them. “So what’s the plan for dinner?”
“Corin is my new favourite, I’m just going to come out and say it,” I say, groaning around a mouthful of the best burger I’ve ever eaten—well other than the ones that Morrigan makes, but he’s the king of anything food related so there’s really no comparison. When I stumbled out of my room—not my finest moment, I’ll admit—to find Corin lingering in the kitchen with no food to be seen, I may have been just a tad grumpy. Okay maybe I was pouting, just a smidge.
The bastard had just grinned at me. At least he ignored that I stumbled. Then he managed to absolutely flip my feelings on him with just three words. “I ordered takeout.”
The corner of my lip kicks up at the memory. Oscar nudges my shoulder playfully, and I scowl at him. Brat almost made me drop a fry.
“How are you feeling?” Corin asks, his voice breaking through the comfortable sounds of cutlery scraping plates echoing through the lounge room. They’ve been avoiding that question since I came out of my room, but I suppose their patience has ended.
His question reminds me of my bruised body, but I don’t let it show that I’m in pain. Instead I smile wide, flashing my teeth—silently praying that I don’t have anything stuck in them—before answering him. “Fantastic. How about you guys?”
Oscar snorts, while Dylan cocks his head at me as though I’m a puzzle he’s trying to work out. I’m finding he does that a lot around me. Corin’s eyes narrow at my words, his head dipping forwards slightly so his hair partially obscures his face.
Although I am avoiding how much pain I’m in, I steeple my fingers together and look between them. “I am wondering if you guys have any thoughts as to what caused that to happen though. I’ve never had my magic go crazy like that…” I trail off silently adding in,never except with potions class earlier today.
Dylan’s eyebrows practically touch his hairline. “So what happened in potions this morning is a normal occurrence?”
My cheeks flush and I send him a dirty look. “Yeah, everytime I go near a cauldron I blow up a classroom,” I say sarcastically, and in true Dylan fashion his eyes flare, one eyebrow quirking in challenge. I sigh. “Fine, I suppose I did imply that.” Groaning, I rub a hand over my face, not missing the way Corin and Oscar’s eyes are darting between the two of us. “I’ve always struggled with potion work, even before today’s weird boost with my magic. Though it’s not usually an explosion, more like I just ruin the potion and possibly set it on fire or a tiny boom, not like a bomb has gone off. That’s why I had the barrier around me. I knew something would go wrong,” I explain.
Corin nods slowly, eyes fixed on my face. “I think it’s because you touched Aurora’s casket. When that spell activated it could have unlocked a new magic in you…” he trails off seeing Oscar and Dylan’s confusion. Yeah I haven’t filled them in on it yet and by the looks of it neither has Corin. I launch into a quick rundown of what happened at the hidden magical tree in the forest, which leaves them staring at us in shock. Yeah, it’s probably the last thing they expected to hear today.
After they process, Oscar meets Dylan’s eyes. “I’d say that seems like the most plausible reason for your magic going so crazy,” he says slowly, and Dylan dips his head in agreement.
I bite my cheek. “Now I’ve just got to figure out how to control it,” I mutter to myself, brows furrowed.
