Year Two: Rebels - Cara Wylde Page 0,53

good part was that what I’d just revealed to them had made them forget about their rivalry for a second. Adrian simply shook his head. He couldn’t believe I’d just said all those things out loud. Headmaster Colin shot a glance at him, and it struck me then that he probably had no idea Adrian had known about Yig all along.

“Oh, Professor Wyvern knows,” I said. I was perfectly aware I was adding fuel to the fire, but I was so incredibly tired of hiding things from everyone, sneaking around and trying to remember who knew what. Cards on the table. And we could start from there. “He also knows the secret to my prolonged life. It’s why he’s here, teaching at the Academy. Because of me.” Adrian pushed his chair away, preparing to stand up and leave. I reached over the table and grabbed his wrist to stop him. “No. You’re not going to run away this time.” I fixed him with an intense gaze, and he sat back down. “It’s time for us to be honest with each other. It’s the only way we’ll win.”

“Win what?” Davien burst out. “Win against whom? I don’t understand anything anymore.”

“The secret to your prolonged life?” Seth said in disbelief.

I released Adrian’s wrist and turned to Seth. “I’m human. You must’ve figured out by now that I’ve been cheating death somehow.”

“I guess I’ve never thought about it.”

“I’ve thought about it,” Davien intervened. “And the only explanation is that you’re not entirely human. You’re a hybrid of some sort.”

“I’m not.”

“Then what’s your secret?” Seth asked.

I grinned. “Alright, I’ll tell you everything.” I looked into the headmaster’s eyes. “But it has to stay here, in this room, at this table. Not even the Supernatural Council knows.” The headmaster nodded. His eyes were bright with curiosity and delight. He must’ve wondered countless times how I did it. “There’s a plant, a flower that grows in the marshes. But not in our universe, and not even in the parallel dimensions connected to our Earth. It grows in the universe of the cosmic monsters. Mila’s mother, Katia, who is probably the best dream jumper alive, got it for me. I call this plant Akkadia Aeterna because I believe Gilgamesh was the first to discover it and use it. It keeps one young, strong, and healthy. It prevents physical and mental decay. I’ve been taking it for years, a little at a time. My batch is running out, though, so I must find a way to get more. My aunt doesn’t want to jump to the cosmic universe anymore, so I must do it, but it’s been… difficult. Challenging. I tried countless times last year, and it didn’t work. I mean… it worked, but every jump I made had consequences. Bad things happened. I almost went insane, almost killed myself. You know the story.”

“Wow! Well, that’s something I would’ve never guessed,” Davien said, whistling lightly.

Headmaster Colin nodded. He seemed lost in deep thought for a moment, then he turned to Adrian. “Is this what you want from Yolanda? The plant that she calls Akkadia Aeterna? Why?”

He sighed. We exchanged a glance, and I knew he was ready to tell his story, finally. Or at least part of it. This was something that he needed to own.

“Yes. It’s why I convinced Mrs. Charon to retire and recommend me for her post. It was the only way I could get into Grim Reaper Academy and close to Yolanda, whom I knew was a talented dream traveler. I mean… everyone knows. I also had a feeling that her long life was somehow connected to dream jumping, but I wasn’t sure how. I didn’t know what her secret was back then, but I was determined to find out, because…” He took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Because I have a daughter. Inna. She is half Unseelie and half human. She ages… unnaturally fast. I needed to find out Yolanda’s secret and convince her to help my daughter.”

I could tell that both Seth and Davien were completely mind blown. Headmaster Colin was calm, and Professor Lovecraft was silent and attentive. Even Corri had stopped eating. From where she was, in the middle of the table, she turned to each of us as we spoke. She was the ultimate observer.

“You also knew about the monster under the Academy,” I said. “Tell them.”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“How?” I realized then that Adrian had never told me how he’d found out about Yig.

He shot me a