Shadowborn Academy_ Year One (Dark Fae Academy #1) - G. Bailey Page 0,63
are trackers, why can’t the professors just, like, track them?”
“It’s not that easy,” Zander explains, steering me away from the depressing wall. “I taught you how to block out the tracker. If they have been captured, their captors could quite easily do the same. Or they could…”
He doesn’t finish, but I wince at the thought of all their heads being chopped off.
“Who would do such a thing…?” I mumble, rubbing my arms even though I’m not cold.
Zander rubs my arm, too, and brings me in close, his peppermint scent wrapping around me. “Don’t worry, my lady. I’ll protect you.”
I snort at that. “I’m not worried about me going missing. I’m worried about my loved ones.” I tilt my head up at him as he steers us back towards the common area. “How is Echo? His nose looked a little swollen when I saw him yesterday.”
“Well, that’s what he gets for flying into my window. And why did you suddenly ask about Echo? Am I not loved?”
I playfully shove him. “You’re an ass, Zander, you know that?”
His hand moves away from my arm and to the small of my back. It feels so good, and I’m relieved Pitch isn’t with me right now. He went into the shadows of the forest to do some digging for my tryouts class tomorrow. I don’t think of it as cheating. More like covering all my bases.
Plus, we’re starting to get desperate now. With autumn descended upon us, I’m worried that the leaves will hide our clue even more, just like the tale about the carpenter and the imp.
We walk through the common area and climb the stairs to the dormitories. At the top of them, Headmaster Greyhorn stands in the doorway, his imposing shadow towering over us. Zander lets me go upon seeing him. I don’t know what’s coming over me but I’ve got to ask.
“Sir, have any of the students been found yet?”
Greyhorn stays perfectly rooted to the spot and looks down his hooked nose at me. “If they had been, Charles, I am certain you would be the first to know.” Turning his attention to Zander, he snarls, “Haven’t you got work to be doing, Sabhain?”
Zander doesn’t so much as move. “It’s my day off, sir.”
“I see.” Greyhorn clicks his tongue and then glides past us, his black cloak billowing around him like the wings of a bat. “Then you won’t mind stopping by my office to help me with something.”
It’s not a question, but an order.
We both move to the side, allowing Greyhorn the full stairway like the god he thinks he is. He casts me a veiled glance as he marches by, his shrewd eyes cold and calculating, and then he climbs down the stairs with long, heavy strides.
“I wish I knew why he hates me so much,” I whisper to Zander, sliding into the common area.
“The headmaster is…a peculiar man.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
Zander’s hand finds purchase on my back again. When I turn to look at him, there’s something different in his expression, something dark.
“Are you okay?”
As soon as I utter those words, his face changes, and he puts on a smile I know he doesn’t feel inside.
“Of course, my lady. Just looks like I’ll be…busy tonight. Aren’t I lucky?”
He sounds anything but pleased about the prospect.
“Maybe afterwards, I can see Echo?” I suggest, leaning against the girl’s dormitory door.
Zander salutes me and then turns around, disappearing down the stairs.
Grinning to myself, I push into the dorms and walk down to my room. Even from several feet away, I can see that the door is slightly ajar, releasing just a tiny sliver of light. I frown and reach for the handle. Okay, weird. It’s been left open and it’s unlocked. Sage never leaves the door open, and she always locks it when she’s inside.
Carefully, I slide open the door open and creep into my room. The clothes I left folded on the foot of my bed are now discarded over the floor. My bedsheets are thrown back, my pillows messed up, the books on my nightstand—the ones I’ve been reading every night, including the Fae book—are all opened.
I hear the shower go on in the bathroom, and I lift my fists, ready to attack.
The door swings open and Sage appears in a bathrobe, her hair wrapped up in a towel. I know instantly this wasn’t Sage. Since we were young, we’ve always respected each other’s privacy, and Sage is more of a clean freak than I am.