“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mara,” she grumbled. “I’m going to get so confused later when I have to do this stupid homework. Besides, I thought this was botany, not art class.” Her sketchbook slammed down on the table with a thwack.
I rolled my eyes. “How are you supposed to recognize them if you don’t have an example to look at?”
“A textbook,” she replied. “Textbooks usually have pictures.”
“But you only look at the pictures. If you actually have to draw, then you’re engaging with the plant.”
“You’re starting to sound like Jessamine,” she snapped at me before breaking her pencil in half.
“Delusional?”
“Exactly.” She cracked a smile, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
I rolled my eyes yet again. “How about we work on the homework together?”
She instantly brightened. “My room?”
“Sure. Doesn’t matter to me.”
Adelaide grabbed another pencil and furiously erased her drawing. “Why do we even need to know this?” she grumbled. “I don’t think a plant is going to help me defeat an Iniquitous if I cross paths with one.”
Diana glared at Adelaide. “Plants can be very helpful. The Iniquitous like to toy with their victims. They’d love to leave you an inch from death in an open field and watch you struggle. These plants might help heal you one day. You never know.”
“But healing takes time and The Iniquitous aren’t going to give you time to survive,” Adelaide argued defiantly.
“There are spells you can perform on plants that would speed up the healing process but that’s a lesson for another day,” Diana barked haughtily, walking away with a huff.
“I think you made her mad.” I giggled.
Adelaide laughed too. “I just wondered. I mean—” she pointed to the sprigs of lavender “—that isn’t going to help me kill one.”
“Are we going to be killing any, though? It’s like they’re preparing us for some big battle, like we’re going to be sent to war.”
Adelaide tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “The Iniquitous can sense us, hunt us out, it’s safer for us out in the real world if we know how to protect ourselves. That’s all.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. “The Iniquitous take pleasure in the hunt. And I don’t think they’d ever start a war and enchanters wouldn’t want to take the risk. There aren’t many of us left. A war would mean even fewer of us.”
“It shouldn’t be that way. We should fight,” I argued.
The idea of always having the threat of them hanging over your head didn’t appeal to me at all. If they were dead—gone—there would be no worry. Wouldn’t that be a fight worth taking?
Adelaide snorted. “You sound like Theodore.” She glanced at him, standing sullenly in the corner of the room. “You two are so much alike.”
“We are nothing alike,” I snapped.
Adelaide turned wide eyes to me. “Whoa, a bit touchy when it comes to my brother, are we?”
“No … not at all.” My cheeks burned and I refused to look in his direction or even at hers.
She looked back and forth between the two of us. “I wish you guys would just do it already. Release this sexual tension I’ve been around for months. It’s making me sick.”
“There is no sexual tension between us. None.”
“And who are you trying to convince? Me or you?” she argued with a defiant smile.
She knew we could pretend all we wanted there was nothing between us—but that didn’t make it any less real.
“Just draw your plants, Adelaide.”
She smirked. “You know I’m right.”
I narrowed my eyes and shaded a leaf, smudging the charcoal color with my thumb. I was the picture of ease. I would not let her words bother me. And yet, my eyes drifted up to meet gray ones. My throat thickened, and my mouth dried up. My heart was a thudding drum in my chest.
Theo, regardless of what had been said, still affected me. It was sad but true.
Despite his words, ‘…the kiss… Mara, I’m sorry but… it doesn’t change anything…’, I couldn’t help the way I felt. Feelings aren’t something you can turn on and off. You have them and they are what they are. My feelings for Theo would always be more than what they should be. Even though half the time I hated him, I still trusted him, I knew he’d never let any harm come to me, and I couldn’t help but love him a little bit for that.
Mara, you know you love him more than a little bit, you love him a lot. More than you should. Even though he’s pushed you away, you want nothing more than to be with him.
I looked away from his stormy gaze and fixed my eyes on the Aloe Vera.
I would not let Theodore Meyers affect me.
We sat on the mats in Beauregard’s training room. Theo sat beside me, picking a hole in the mat. This class was always awkward since I had Theo as my partner. It was just about the only time he touched or even talked to me. And I usually walked away with bruises and a perpetual scowl on my face.
“You know what to do.” Beauregard snapped his fingers, his signal to get to it.
As a group, we all hopped up and found our partners
“Ready to feel me up, doll face?” He smirked cockily at me, like I was so lucky to have the opportunity to touch him.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Theodore,” I sneered, glaring at him.
“Oh, I’m Theodore now?” he quirked a brow, the picture of ease. He always was when we had to spar, which irritated me to no end.
“Theo,” I amended with a glower.
He only smiled.
“That’s better, doll face.” He bounced on the toes of his feet.
I clenched my fists. He was getting under my skin. That was the point of this exercise, to provoke, but I knew Theo enjoyed irritating me. I think it made it easier for him to ignore the feelings between us. At least I was allowed to annoy him too. It made the whole thing so much more tolerable.
I flexed my fingers and took a deep breath. I would not explode today.
Would. Not. Explode.
“How’re things with Churchill? Huh? You two seem more like friends than lovers.” He circled me. His breath stirred my hair. I clenched my jaw. I had to keep it together. “There’s no passion between you … no sparks.” He held out his hand and vibrant orange and red sparks jumped up and around his hand for emphasis. “Are you okay with that? It seems to me like you’re the type to want more than easy or normal.”
I swallowed. I could feel the power surging from my middle. In a matter of seconds, it would burst through.
“Answer me.”
I exploded.
The surge of power coursed from my body and knocked down Owen, Kasey, and a guy named Peter who stood around us, blew out the lights, and toppled Beauregard out of his chair.
“Ah, doll face, we can’t have that.” Theo smirked but there was something else in his eyes—approval or appreciation, I couldn’t tell.
But anger eclipsed my common sense and I held my hands out. A large gust of air filled the room before heading straight toward Theo. It hit him right in the chest. He went flying across the room, hit the back wall, and fell to the floor.
He looked up at me, a stunned expression on his face. He reached around to feel the back of his head. His fingers came away bright red.