magic makes me want to barf. Ironic, I know, given how ready I was to let Aurora take it from me after it first sparked. But things have changed. I’ve changed.
We head over to Wellwood Hall and walk down the corridor that leads toward the tower. Roman grabs my wrist lightly as we walk, tugging it to draw my attention.
“I want you to be careful,” he tells me, his voice low. Not like he doesn’t want Dmitri to hear, but like he thinks someone other than the three of us might be eavesdropping.
At first, I think he’s talking about keeping myself out of danger, and I’m about to tell him where he can stick that idea, but then he adds, “When you first manifest a new power—it can come on suddenly and be hard to control. The results can be… catastrophic.”
Roman’s expression remains impassive, but his face seems to harden and become etched with pain. There’s a timbre to his voice I’ve never heard before, and I’m not sure what it’s about, exactly—just that it sounds like sorrow mixed with anger.
I remember what Tamlin told me about his past. That she doesn’t know everything about it, but that there’s something in his history he still struggles with, something that hurt him. I can’t help but wonder if that’s what he’s thinking of right now, and if so, what happened.
Not that this is the time to get into it. I don’t know if there’s an ideal time for grilling your unofficial boyfriend—one of four—about his past, but when you’re hunting down an unknown threat and possibly about to lose your magic is definitely not it.
At the base of the tower, the door is still ajar from when Asher and I carried Cam out. My shoulders and jaw are tense, and I have to force myself to relax. I’m a badass. I can do this.
But unlike in the Trials, or even with Raul, there’s not an active enemy to fight against here. I don’t know who’s stealing the magic, so I can’t fight back properly. It’s a spell from an unknown source, not a physical opponent I can see. So I feel… defenseless. I can’t protect myself, or see the attack coming, or strike back.
There’s nothing else for it, though. Someone has to do something, and if we wait until after break when we can get a proper team in here, either school admins or Circuit investigators, it could be too late. And the students will all be back on campus by then—more people could be attacked.
We can’t risk that.
I shove the door farther open and step inside, moving up the steps, refusing to let myself pause or hesitate. One step, two steps, three steps, four… I count them in my head as we climb higher and higher, past where I stopped last time, up to where Cam was standing when he got attacked.
My heart thumps painfully in my chest, hard and fast, like a horse trying to break out of a stable. I’m trying not to let my breathing get heavy and panicky. I don’t want Roman or Dmitri to see that I’m nervous—and I especially don’t want any enemy who might be watching to see.
Any second now, my magic could be ripped from me. I’m almost expecting it to happen, bracing for it, my heart climbing into my throat, my ears ringing—
Waiting as I climb up, and up, and up…
And up.
Chapter 24
Despite my entire body bracing for it, nothing happens to me as I climb the twisting, circular tower stairs.
Instead, I get to the top and jimmy open a window. Roman helps me while Dmitri looks around the tower, standing guard, waiting for something to jump out at us from the shadows.
I gotta admit, I sort of expected some monster to leap on me as soon as I reached the top step, as if I were some chick in a horror film who should’ve turned back when she had the chance. But there’s nothing up here—or at least, not so far.
I can’t tell if that makes it all better or worse.
We get the window open, and I climb through onto the roof, gripping Roman’s hand tight for extra balance. He climbs through next, followed by Dmitri.
I’m actually feeling pretty confident up here on the roof. I’ve been practicing my spider climb a lot, I feel like I could control it if I started to fall—and my sonic boom can be used as an odd way to slow my descent to