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I’m not sure how long it takes, or when I black out, but when I come to, it’s with Foster’s hands on my cheeks, his face close to mine. For a moment, all I can do is stare up at him, eyes running over his features. The faint light from the rising moon, now that it’s no longer hidden by the trees, makes his pale skin tone almost glow and his dark eyes glow orange. He looks ethereal. My head flops to the side and I offer him a goofy smile. “Why so worried?” I half ask, half slur, before booping him on the nose. Then something occurs to me. Blinking slowly, I focus on his cheeks. “You know, I’ve always wondered why grandmas squish peoples cheeks.Hmm.” I reach up and do just that, clumsily pressing my hands to Foster’s cheeks and squishing the shit out of them.
He tries to talk, eyebrows lifting to practically touch his hairline, and I laugh at the way his squished lips look as he attempts to speak. The corners of his pretty brown eyes crinkle and he settles his hands over mine, gently pulling them away from his face. “Are you alright, Nessa?”
My head jerks back at the question, but I must put too much energy into the movement because the back of my head bounces off of the ground and I groan. Wait, when did I lay down? I start laughing again and Foster presses a hand to my forehead. Scowling at that, I slap his hands away. “I’m fine. I was just doing… something. Hmm, what was it?” I feel my forehead scrunch up at my slow brain before a glowing butterfly catches my attention.Holy shit, where did that come from?I say as much out loud, pointing at it over Foster’s shoulder.
I shove to my feet, determined to chase the little bugger so I can get a closer look, but I stumble over my own feet and end up crashing down onto my knees in the long grass. My disturbance has dozens more of the beautiful blue glowing butterflies erupting from the grass around us and my eyes widen.Wow. Either I really have lost it, or there are magical butterflies like we saw in the hidden place in the forest, swarming us. I turn around to peer at Foster who is standing behind me and chuckle. He has several perched on him, all up his arms, shoulders, and head. There is even one on his nose. I laugh, and get to my feet, doing a clumsy little twirl while my body buzzes with happy energy. When I come to a stop, my eyes settle on Foster, his awed expression is adorable and it makes me itch to take a picture.
Blinking, I go to step closer to him and Foster links his arm with mine. It has me looking up at him in surprise, but he just chuckles and shakes his head, making his black and blonde hair fall in his eyes. “Can’t have you falling over again, can we?”
I huff at that. “Excuse me, mister, I have perfect balance.”
It’s his turn to snort at me and I pout, turning back to watch the butterflies, but I lean on him slightly, sucking in a lungful of his vanilla scent as I do. The world is a little swirly at the moment. “They look just like the ones in that hidden place in the forest,” he murmurs, putting the connection together like I already had. I’m just not sure what it means that they’re here. When I’m quiet he lets out a breath that tickles the back of my neck. “I’m guessing it has something to do with whatever you did to the barrier.”
I shrug and act nonchalant, the strange high from Aurora’s magic being torn from me, fading. I also notice that the ghost in question is no longer in the field with us. “You could guess that.”
My attention turns to the barrier, which I realise I’m now quite far back from, and I swallow hard. It is vibrating with power and visibly thicker than it was. And that’s with me not close to it, Foster and I are almost at the treeline again. As I watch the barrier I realise that though I’m no longer innately drawn to it, I can still sense a connection to it. Almost like… no it can’t possibly be. I shake the thoughts off and reach for my magic. It jumps at my touch—no sign of Aurora’s magic—and a laugh bursts from me. Her magic really is gone. My magic is definitely stronger though, and when I think of blood, my fangs tingle. I’m going to need to feed soon, though the need isn’t urgent, just a background hum. That’s a problem for future Nessa, though, so I don’t let my mind linger on it.
Letting out a breath, a weird shiver rolls through me and my instincts are suddenly on high alert.Something is wrong.I tense and gently pull away from Foster, eyes turning towards the Academy. The feeling is coming from there. Alert now, I take off at a fast jog, letting my vampire traits wash over me to increase my speed. I keep my footsteps quiet and growl at Foster to do the same when he catches up, keeping pace at my side. “Nessa, what is going on?”
“Something is wrong at the Academy,” I murmur, diving into my magic’s well and drawing it up, ready to use at a moment's notice.
“How do you know?” he asks, confusion heavy in his voice.
“Just a hunch,” I mutter, then push myself to go faster, weaving through the trees. I’m surprised that Foster can keep up honestly, and I track him in my peripheral vision. He’s not even breathing hard. “How the hell are you able to keep up with me? What type of Monster are you?” I complain. Seriously though, I’m starting to pant despite my new vamp powers. “Goddess, I hate fucking running.”
Foster laughs under his breath. “You really should be more careful about asking things like that.” He’s not angry so I roll my eyes.
“I suppose that’s all I’m gonna get for an answer.” He doesn’t get a chance to answer because we burst out of the forest and onto the Academy’s main campus. Supes close to us flinch and scatter away from us, but otherwise it’s quiet. There are still a dozen or so small groups of supernatural’s mingling on the Academy’s campus, but the majority of the population is safe inside.
It doesn’t seem to matter though, because that ominous feeling inside me intensifies and thunder cracks overhead, the clouds forming inside the barrier, visible as they obscure the stars and moon. My eyebrows dip and I grit my jaw.Great, what have I fucked up now.Ignoring Foster as I stop in my tracks, I dig out my phone from my pocket and I call Lexi. She answers on the second ring. “Are you okay?” I bark out.
“I’m fine, at the dorm with Dan and Layla. What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure yet. Are you sure you’re all okay there?” I double check, chewing my cheek.
“Positive, Ness.”
“Okay, call me if anything happens, alright? I’ve got to go.”
“Nessa, wait—” I hang up the call and immediately find Corin in my contacts, calling him next. The clouds thicken, growing inky in colour, blocking out the moon, and stars, plunging the Academy grounds into deeper darkness. The supernatural’s around us have paused, muttering amongst themselves about the odd weather. I start walking towards the Academy as I wait for Corin to pick up. Foster follows me, that vanilla scent of his swirling around me. I cut him a curious look at him including me in his magical barrier, but I’m distracted by Corin’s voice.
“Nessa, are you alright?” he asks, voice low.
“Yes, are you?”
“We’re fine. I’m with Oscar and Dylan. Something is wrong, I know. I can feel it,” he mutters. I hear voices in the background before he shushes them and my eyes flick to Fosters as I stop.
“Where are you?”
“In my dorm, why?”
“Look out your window.” I’m assuming he, like me, has a permanent barrier protecting his dorm room that’s sound proof. He would have missed the thunder and chaos. As if to prove my point a thick spear of lightning jumps out of the clouds above us and strikes the roof of the Academy with an almighty bang. Foster flinches and curses under his breath, thickening his shield around us. I don’t react other than adding my own magic to his barrier. Our magic weaves together easily, the scents of the ocean and candy swirling around the space. My eyes stay fixed on the place where the lightning struck the roof though. There isn’t a scratch and it’s my turn to curse.
Thunder booming around us drowns out Corin’s voice as he obviously gets his first look at the violent weather, and I tip my head back to look at the sky with an irritated sigh. “Motherfucker.”
“What?” both Foster and Corin question at the same time, but I don’t answer, too busy cursing colourfully as more forks of lightning strike the Academy, the grounds and several trees.
People are now letting out screams and ducking for cover in a panic. Which means they’re being stupid and running around like headless chooks. I take off at a run with Foster hot on my heels, aiming for the centre of the field, ignoring the chaos. “I released Aurora’s magic into the Academy wards,” I shout to be heard over the noise, filling them in, though I’m sure Foster has no idea who Aurora is. Suddenly the sky opens up, rain and hail pelting everyone and everything. We’re protected by our barrier, but others aren’t as lucky. Using my magic I hold out my hand and conjure a tall stone platform in the middle of the campus, taking half a second to marvel at how easy it is to use my magic again, after struggling with it for most of the term. I climb onto the stone platform, and use a projection rune on my voice. “Take cover in the Academy!” I shout. It should be the obvious thing to do, but far too many people are taking cover in the trees or under half formed barriers.
