we get along so well.
We’re both stubborn as hell.
If our positions were reversed, I didn’t think I would go to the infirmary either. There was too much at stake for her if she was found to be an unfit guardian. Where would her brothers even go? Maybe it was just some magical glitch. Elias said they happened a lot more frequently these days. That was it. Just a stress-induced magical blackout. Totally made sense, right?
“Okay,” I said after a minute. “We’ll figure it out, then. Just the three of us.”
Add it to the million other things I had to figure out. But this was for Bianca, so it rose to somewhere near the top of my list of mysteries to solve.
“I can’t find anything about it,” she grumbled. “Trust me, I’ve looked.”
And I thought she’d been studying in the library. Turned out she hadn’t been honest with me about that, either. But I couldn’t be mad now.
I bit the inside of my cheek hard, trying to come up with something else to try when I realized there were probably tens of thousands of books in that library. There had to be something on what was happening to her in there, she just didn’t know where to look. And by her unwillingness to tell even me what was going on, I’d stake money that she never asked the ancient librarian, who knew at the drop of a hat where to find anything in the old stacks.
There was definitely something there, and if I was the one asking the librarian for the books then she would only think it was me who might be experiencing the symptoms, not Bianca. And everyone already thought I had a screw or two loose, why not a few more? “I’ll ask whatsherface in the library. She might know. And I can ask Granger, too.”
She opened her mouth to protest.
“If they ask why I’m looking into it, I’ll tell them it’s me. That I’m the one who’s losing time, not you. Okay?”
She cocked her head at me. “You would do that?”
I shrugged. “Why not? I’ve got a legacy of crazy to uphold,” I added with a wink. “No sweat.”
Marcus seemed confused at my statement, but Bianca gave a small laugh and it was enough to ease some of the tension out of his broad shoulders. I’d almost forgotten that no one, save for a small handful of people, knew about my true heritage. I’d need to be more careful so I didn’t end up being the one to spill my own beans.
I wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.
“Everyone gather ‘round!” An authoritative female voice called from the front of the room, and our three heads turned at once to the command.
Into the room strolled a woman. It took a moment for me to draw the connection that she was the Magical Defense instructor. Granger was still the only female faculty member at the academy, and I didn’t think the council would be allowing another female on board any time soon.
I supposed I was wrong. And glad to be.
She was maybe a few inches shorter than me, but what she lacked in height, she made up for in muscle. Dressed in a black combat outfit made of thick-looking material and heavy-soled black lace-up boots, she looked like she was ready to crush someone’s skull with her bare hands—not teach a bunch of seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds how to not be helpless little butterflies.
She was younger than I thought an instructor ought to be and had short silvery hair that glimmered with hues of purple and blue in the light and a no-nonsense expression that made the three of us stand at attention, rushing to take our places with the others forming an audience around her.
Whoever she was, this lady wasn’t messing around.
And I liked her already.
“Pay attention,” she hollered, her haughty stare resting on the fist-bumping douche I’d learned was called Chad. Shut him up right quick.
“You sure you’re okay to handle this right now?” I whispered to Bianca, careful to make sure I the new instructor didn’t see or hear so I didn’t earn myself a steaming pile of her scorn, too.
Bianca shook her head, blushing. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “Just because I’ve developed early onset Alzheimer’s doesn’t mean I’m made of porcelain, too.”
I didn’t laugh at her attempt to make a joke out of it. Lara’s mother had something like that—I’d never gotten a chance to meet the woman, but I knew the disease was no laughing