Fortune Academy: Year Three - J.R. Thorn Page 0,59

were to be believed.

I jerked my head up when a crash sounded from one of the other rooms, indicating something, or someone, had triggered one of the traps.

I ran out into the hall and listened. A sputter sounded just before the ground shook and made me stumble into the wall. I regained my footing and listened with a stupid grin plastered on my face. Was the vampire going to play hide-and-seek with me? Or maybe he’d run and we could play cat-and-mouse. I did love a good game of chase.

A feminine voice filtered through the wall, making me jerk upright. “Marcus!” she cried. “Are you okay?”

I ran toward the source, avoiding the over excessive traps I’d set all over the place. While hilarious, trapping myself would be quite counterproductive.

I jerked a door open only to see the vampire in the center of one of the rune nets while a female gawked at the room as if she’d never seen one before. “Is this a… classroom?” she asked.

Shit. Olivia’s mind-altering magic was having some serious side-effects. I’d have to chat about that with her later.

“Who the fuck let you out?” I snapped at the vampire. His escape did not work in with my plan to use him to find Cole. It’s not like I was going to hurt him. Saving the world was in everyone’s best interests, even monsters.

To my surprise, the female shoved the vampire she’d called Marcus behind her and glared at me.

Did she… know him?

“Who let who out?” she asked innocently.

Gods. Olivia had really done a number on her.

“Our vampire-warlock!” I said, pointing at him. “He’s one of a kind, you know? The Dean will have your head if she finds out that you’ve broken him out of prison for a…” I grinned when I saw how her fingers ran over his and noted how she stood a bit too close to him.

Ah, I get it now.

“Private lesson,” I said, finishing the thought.

I couldn’t get too mad at the girl, regardless if Olivia had screwed up her memories. If I didn’t have Virtues of my own, I’d want to take a bite out of the vampire myself.

I flipped a stray blonde curl over my shoulder. “I’m not going to judge, sweetcheeks. Can’t say I haven’t thought about freeing one of the research projects here and there.” Namely, Cole. Thinking of how this particular monster played into my master plan, I gave the vampire a wink. “Especially the hot ones.”

The vampire shoved around the female, nearly toppling her over as he snarled, showing off sharp teeth. “You bitch!”

Well, that was uncalled for, but I guessed from his end of things I just looked like a crazy person keeping him prisoner.

The girl surprised me by softly gripping his arm. “Hey, she’s just a girl.”

The vampire whirled on her. “No, Evelyn. This is a fucking monster—”

The rest of his conversation dropped out into a buzzing that sounded in my ears as my adrenaline spiked.

Did he just call her… Evelyn?

I took another long look at the girl and chewed my lip when I noticed she wasn’t actually wearing a uniform.

This was it. This was Olivia’s vision.

She seemed too young to be the founder of Fortune Academy, but then my eyes blew open wide when I realized why that was.

Time… warlock.

Duh.

“Holy shit,” I muttered.

The pair turned on me, the vampire with murder in his eyes and the girl with concern written over her features. I knew not to underestimate her now, not when this was the Queen of the Royal Covens in the making.

I had to get them both back where they belonged or Fortune Academy wouldn’t exist at all. As much as it sucked being the Champion of the Third Echo of Calamity, Olivia had seen a future where we all made it out of this alive. That future included me facing off the Dean, and if there was no Dean, then there was no future.

Right, Lils. You’ve got to play your part.

The shock seemed to offset the spell Olivia had put on me and the responsibility of my role settled its familiar weight on my shoulders, but I’d had my fun and now it was time to follow the vision Olivia had seen for me. This was what I’d waited for during these six long months. Now that I had a path to follow, I was ready to take that first step.

I cleared my throat and pretended to be indignant. “I’m not a girl, and I’m not a fucking monster.” It