“I should have known this would happen if you stayed,” I muttered. “The only duty I have right now is to get to class.”
“Yer just gonna let this continue? More of yer friends will die.”
I clutched the strap of my bag. “I don’t sense anything abnormal, and I’ve been here for years.”
She snatched my right arm and yanked me forward. Caught off guard, I stumbled, and my bag swung around on my shoulder. Aunt Jo moved her head to the side to avoid getting smacked in the face. She pulled the sleeve of my shirt up to my elbow and twisted my wrist around, exposing a small black tattoo. The inked fox surrounded in fire sat and stared at us with its flaming tail wrapped around its front. My heart pounded in my check. I should have worn the bandage today. Not that it would have made a difference when Aunt Jo was determined to see it.
“It’s completely black,” Joanna sputtered. “What in Tartarus have ya been doing?”
“Nothing,” I said.
She leaned closer to the tattoo, and her fingers squeezed my wrist bone. “Yeah, that’s exactly what ya have been doing.”
“What do you expect me to do? Go out after classes and hunt them down? Take road trips during the weekends?”
“If ya did, ya might have kept yer edge,” she muttered. “Now, ya wouldn’t know one if they slapped ya in the face.”
I glanced down at the fox on my wrist again. Every Pandoran was given a tattoo when we reached puberty. It was how we contained the resonance of the daimones we fought. My mother had helped me choose mine. I swallowed the lump in my throat. My mother had held my hand as I had endured the needle for that. She’d smiled and said that the fox suited me. Not long after …
“What are you talking about?” I said in a hoarse voice.
“Yer blocked, Cassi girl.” She shook her head. “I’ve never seen something like this.”
“Blocked, how?”
She glared at me. “Well, ya keep denyin’ what ya are.”
“I’m not denying it. I’m just taking a break.”
She held my wrist up, twisting it to the point she could snap it with one sharp movement. “This is beyond a little vacation. Ya have squandered everything we taught ya. Yer just like any of these others, a babe ripe for the pickin’.”
“But I have stayed sharpened,” I said. “I’m a teacher’s assistant for my self-defense class.”
“But ya been ignorin’ yer resonance.” She let go of my wrist with a snort of disgust. “We’re gonna have to retrain ya.”
“I’m really busy.” I rubbed my wrist with a sigh. “Are you sure you’re not just making this up because you have nothing to do?”
Her glare bored into me. “Tomorrow you will meet me at my hotel and we’ll restart yer training.”
She wheeled past me in a jerky motion. I stared after her, straightening my backpack. My family never failed to come into my life and cause chaos with the demands they made of me. To them, my fate had been decided at birth. I glanced at the giant clock tower on top of the main hall and groaned. Class would be halfway over by the time I made it.
As a shadow played across the red bricks of Turner Hall, a chill crept up my spine. Someone had listened in on our conversation. I sprinted toward the building and around the corner. Three of the girls from Mercer’s earlier retinue passed me, giggling and chattering. My spy had disappeared. The only place they could have run to was Turner.
The glass door squeaked shut behind me as I entered. The soft yellow lights reflected off the painted white brick walls eerily, and I walked down the hall carefully as not to cause my canvas shoes to squeak on the tile floor. Classes had already started, leaving the hallway empty. My heart pounded in my ears.
How much had they overheard? I could laugh it off as some sort of game or practice for a play. Of course, if it was anyone I knew, that wouldn’t work since I couldn’t act my way out of paper bag. Or, if Aunt Jo was right, a daimones knew about the two of us and my little problem. I stopped and stared at the intersection of the hall coming up. Why the hell was I chasing after them?
Aunt Jo would laugh and tell me to handle it myself. I gritted my teeth. Blocked or not, I could at least get a peek at who it was. I pressed my back to the wall and peeked around the corner on the right and then the left. The hall was empty. I let out a deep breath and headed down the right. Muffled conversation drifted from one of the open classrooms. I tiptoed to the edge and leaned against the wall.
“You’ve only just arrived,” a man’s hoarse voice groused. “I already have claim on this place.”
“Find somewhere else.” Mercer’s voice was smooth compared to the other. “You’re not screwing this up for me.”
The other voice snorted. “And how do you plan to stop me?”
A door slammed down the hall, and I jumped, causing the door handle to rattle. Shit. I spun and quickly walked down the hall. Was that the only empty classroom?
“Cassi?” Mercer called.