Keeper of the Lost (Resurrecting Magic Book 2) Page 11

  “You know that study grant I applied for five years ago?” he asked. “The one to go to Scotland and study the McGregor land and history?”

  I’d completely forgotten about it. My parents had come and talked to me about it a long time ago, because if they got it, it would mean we would move to Scotland for a few months. “Yes,” I said.

  Dad looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “I got it.”

  “What?” I asked, my pitch rising in excitement.

  “The letter came yesterday,” he answered in jubilation. “I’ve been approved for a three-month study beginning in May when the semester is over. This could be something significant for you and your friends, Margot.”

  “We’re coming with you,” I said. He looked back at me, seeming surprised. “We were actually talking about it over the weekend. If you think about it, each of our lines trace back to the UK. There wouldn’t be much here in America for us to discover, because there wasn’t enough time for them to establish here. We…we were already planning a trip this summer.”

  “That’s very exciting, Margot,” Dad said. “But…I don’t know that I can afford another international flight and board. The grant only covers myself. And they revoked your mother’s place obviously, considering.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t love it obviously, but Mary-Beth has already said she will pay for me and Nathaniel. In fact, she’s already hiring her family’s personal librarian to go investigate where we should start.”

  “But she hasn’t told them why or what you all are, has she?” Dad asked, his brows furrowed in concern.

  I shook my head. “She knows to be discreet.”

  He nodded and returned to his work on dinner.

  “Dad, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about,” I said, feeling my stomach sink a little. I knew we were going to have to have this conversation, and now seemed the time.

  He finished his work at the stove, wiped his hands on the towel hanging there, and came to sit at the table.

  “When is the baby coming?”

  He said it as a joke, but also somewhat seriously, and at this point, it was becoming an ongoing thing, him jumping to the conclusion that he was going to become a grandfather any day.

  I smiled and shook my head, and he smiled. “That’s definitely not it,” I said, even as I blushed a little. Someday I’d stop doing that. “No, I needed to tell you that this is going to be my last semester at Alderidge.”

  He was quiet at that. He just stared at me with slightly widened, slightly surprised eyes.

  “We’re killing ourselves trying to balance everything,” I said. “And even though Nathaniel is hardly sleeping and looks like a zombie most of the time, I know he’s not going to stop school. But I hope you’ll understand. My path is changing. I know I’m not going to be a Latin professor anymore. This…everything we’ve learned in the last six months… it’s where my life is leading me. And I don’t see any use in continuing classes for something I’m not going to need. I need to devote all my time to this. To learning magic and bringing it all back, and someday creating a school where others like us can learn how to be what they are.”

  “A school?” Dad asked. And I was ever grateful that was what he chose to question and focus on.

  A little smile pulled on my face. “Yeah,” I said. “That’s kind of the goal. Learn as much as I can. Make some money. And open our own school so we can teach others.”

  Dad stared at me for a moment, and it was okay that he was silent for a bit as he processed everything I’d just thrown at him. He’d earned that right considering I’d just changed my entire life plan.

  “It’s… it’s a surprise,” he said, reaching for my hands across the table. “That’s for sure. But I can’t say I don’t see the logic. I knew your path had changed from the day you and Nathaniel showed me what you could do. So, even though it’s a little disappointing that the Bell professor legacy won’t become a legacy, I support your decision.”

  A breath of relief expelled from my chest. A smile took over my face, and I walked around the table so I could wrap my arms around my father.

  “Thank you,” I breathed. “Thank you for always being there for me and supporting me no matter what.”

  “You’re all I’ve got,” he said, hugging me tight. “And you’re one of the smartest people I know. I know you’re always going to make the right decision.”

  I’d done it. I’d told my professor father that I was quitting school.

  And here we were, closer than ever.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I stepped out of class on Tuesday, headed to the library to work on homework, when I stopped in my tracks.

  There were pages taped to the walls, splashed all the way down the hall. They were handwritten, and my heart sank as I walked closer.

  I recognized that handwriting.

  I wouldn’t have had to guess either, because just below each torn out, handwritten page, was another piece of paper that read BORDEN STEWART IS A FREAK.

  “No,” I breathed as I crossed to the closest one. My eyes stared in horror.

  This was a page from Borden’s grimoiore. That was his handwriting, documenting his ability to fire start and his theories on what more he could do with it considering his electrical abilities.

  I grabbed the paper from the wall, tearing the corners as I ripped it away.

  Turning, I looked down the hall in horror.

  There were two dozen students in this hall, and every one of them was inspecting the pages that had been hung there.

  My heart hammered in my chest and my mind was racing a million miles an hour trying to decide what to do.

  I could light every one of the pieces of paper on fire instantly, incinerating the words that put us in danger.

  I could try to knock every student in this hall out, like I had done on the beach to the Society Boys.

  But there were so many of them. There were so many witnesses.

  So, I did what any woman could do. I stepped forward and started tearing the pages down, one by one.

  “Hey!” people called out as I tore away the pages they were reading. “What kind of freak show is going on here?” others asked. “Is this what’s been going on in your weird little quad coupling?”

  “You shut your mouth about things you don’t understand,” I snapped at another freshman who said nasty things.

  “You really going to believe everything the Society Boys tell you to?” I glowered at another senior boy.

  I turned down the next hall, and there, I found Mary-Beth doing exactly the same thing. Ripping pages down from the walls.

  “Holy crap,” she breathed as I worked my way down the hall toward her. “Could Borden have taken any more notes? I’ve got like, thirty pages here already.”

  “He can’t help it,” I said, focusing on that, instead of the blinding rage filling me. “It’s in his nature to be detailed oriented.”

  We turned down the next hall and worked our way through that one.

  And then there, at the end, we watched James Richards walk out of a classroom.

  I stalked straight for him. And without hesitating, I got in his face, and pressed my fingertips into his temples.

  I dug. I ground. I clawed my way into his mind with my fingernails, not caring what I shredded along my way.

  I found the memory. I watched it as he and David and Donald slipped into Borden’s dorm. I’d never been there, but I watched it through their familiar eyes. Borden had his own room. They’d gone through all of Borden’s things. They’d trashed his whole room.

  And then they’d found the grimoire in Borden’s desk. They’d read through the first five pages. They’d laughed and scoffed and called Borden a freak. And then they’d taken it.

  During lunch, they went around the entire school, taping up the pages they’d ripped from the book, along with the other pages, BORDEN STEWART IS A FREAK. And they’d laughed their asses off about it all.

  Ta
ke them down, I pushed into James’ mind. Take them all down and bring them to me. And if the Society Boys ever want to bother Borden again, you make them stop, or you come tell me about it.

  I released James, who took a staggering step back from me. He blinked five times and brought the palm of his hand up to his forehead as if he had a headache.

  He blinked at me a few times, confused at why I was there.

  “What are you looking at?” he snapped.

  But he didn’t even give me the chance to respond. He staggered off down the hall, taking the pages down, one by one.

  “That’s absolutely brilliant,” Mary-Beth said as she walked over to my side. “Kind of freaky to watch. He just sort of froze up with this pained expression, and you were eerily still and calm. What did you make him go do?”

  “Take all the pages down and bring them back to me,” I said as I watched him make his way down the hall. He took every single one of the pages down, shoving aside other students who were trying to read them. “And if the Boys ever decide to go after Borden again, he’s to stop it, or come tell me.”

  Mary-Beth shook her head. “Someday I’m going to be able to do something useful, too. Until then, I bow down to your powers, Margot.”

  And she actually did bow down in a dramatic way, bringing a lot of stares.

  “Cut that out,” I said with a laugh, even as I blushed from the attention. “We’re already getting targets on our backs. I can guarantee our names are on those pages.”

  “You need to wipe the memories of everyone in school now?” she asked, and instantly, her tone was serious as she realized just what this all meant.

  I shook my head. “That would be impossible. We just need to lay low for a while. No one is going to take it seriously.”

  Just then, a door to a classroom opened, and Borden stepped out. All the pages had been torn down in this hall, so he started to head down it, completely ignorant that anything was amiss.

  “Ready to go ruin his day?” I asked, looking warily at Mary-Beth.

  She let out a sigh, and together, we set off down the hall to catch up with Borden.

  “Hey, Borden, wait up,” Mary-Beth called out to him. He looked over his shoulder and slowed down.

  “Um, something happened, and you need to know,” I said. “But first, you need to decide that you’re not going to go get in a fight that gets you kicked out of school for behavior, considering I had to brainwash the Dean into letting you back in.”

  “You’re really bad at this,” Borden said, his tone darkening.

  “I know,” I admitted. “I just need you to promise that you’re not going to go kill anyone. I’ve already started taking care of it.”

  His look darkened and he squared off to me.

  Slowly, I raised the torn pages of his grimoire. As his eyes fixed on them, they grew wider and darker and the tension in his jaw grew tighter.

  “They were hung up around school,” Mary-Beth filled in. “They were only up for about an hour, but they were seen.”

  “David and James and Donald broke into your dorm during lunch and took your grimoire,” I explained. “I know because I found James and dug into his mind. I made him go around the school and take them down and then bring them back to me.”

  Borden looked around, and I watched as his nostrils flared as he breathed out hard and quick. His hand curled around the strap of his backpack, his knuckles turning white.

  “I made James stop the Society Boys if they go after you again,” I explained. “Or come tell me if he can’t stop them.”

  “There’s only seven more weeks of school,” Mary-Beth said. “I’m sure we can deflect them for that long. And then it’s over. You’ll never have to see them again.” But even as she said the words, I could tell she didn’t believe any of them.

  “Do you have any more classes today?” I asked. I was getting more and more worried by the second as Borden remained silent but poised to explode.

  “No,” he ground out.

  “Mary-Beth and I are done, too,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. Let’s go back to the solarium and put your book back together. We’ll practice something new. Maybe we can read through Mare’s journal and find something useful.”

  Borden hadn’t looked at either of us since we told him. He still didn’t make eye contact. He was looking around, and as I looked out too, I saw all the glances he was getting. He’d been branded a freak now. His most private and secret journal had been hung around the walls for all to see. And now people were looking at him with evaluation in their eyes.

  Was he a freak?

  What had happened to flip the switch, from being one of the most popular people in school as a Society Boy to someone who talked about magic and hung out with the school outcasts?

  But to his credit, he kept his head held high. He kept his shoulders back, and he didn’t cower.

  “Let’s go,” he ground out.

  His knuckles were absolutely white and every bit of him looked ready to snap. But he calmly took a step forward, walking down the hall.

  Mary-Beth and I looked at each other, having no idea what to expect.

  The looks and stares continued as we made our way down the hall. People stepped out of our way, watching and whispering as we passed. Borden stared ahead, his eyes fixed on the doors at the end of the hall, as if none of them existed.

  Just before we reached the exit escape, James stepped into view. In his hands, he held a stack of ripped and torn pages.

  “This was all that I could find,” he said. His voice was almost robotic, flat and deadpan. His eyes seemed slightly confused, like he couldn’t quite figure out why he was doing this. “I don’t know where else David and Donald hung their pages. But I think this is all of them.”

  Borden had paused at the door. He looked back over his shoulder, and I could see the debate in his eyes. He was considering lighting James on fire, right then and there.

  James similarly looked at Borden, and it was like witnessing a true brain glitch. He looked angry and regretful and hateful and confused. Absentmindedly, he handed the pages back to me, while still staring at Borden.

  I was holding my breath, waiting to see if this was going to end in fists and blood.

  But finally, Borden pushed the door open, and stepped out into the rain outside.

  Mary-Beth and I glanced at each other, and then scrambled after him.

  I tucked the pages into my coat so they wouldn’t get soaked. I hadn’t worn the right shoes for trekking through wet grass, but I didn’t hesitate as I followed behind Borden as he cut straight across the grounds and headed for the gate that led into the abandoned garden and unstable north end of the university.

  I was well and truly soaked when we walked into the solarium. The second we were inside, Borden magically lit a fire in the fireplace and flung his backpack off his shoulder into the stone wall.

  Outside, the rain started falling harder.

  And something that Borden had told me about himself came back to me.

  He thought that maybe he called the rain, and with it, lightning.

  A noise bubbled up from Borden’s throat, something feral, like a growl, like something from a dangerous beast.

  He turned, and his eyes cast around the space like he was looking for something to hit.

  Outside, thunder sounded.

  “They’re just bullies, Borden,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “They’re just stupid boys with nothing better to do with their time. You can’t let them have power over you. You diffuse them by forgetting all about them and ignoring everything they do.”

  “And I’m just supposed to let them get away with this?” Borden asked. He looked over his shoulder back at me, and I froze in shock and fear.

  Borden’s eyes were dancing with crackling white electricity. Where the irises of his eyes were normally brown, they were now shimmering with dangerous, white electricity.

  “You gotta believe in karma
,” Mary-Beth said, trying to keep her voice even and calm, to keep Borden calm. “What goes around will come back around to bite them in the ass. Why get your hands dirty when the universe will take care of it?”

  “Because it would feel damn good to make them pay,” Borden said, his voice low and dangerous. “They deserve it. Every one of them.”

  “Maybe,” I said, cautiously taking a step toward him. “But you going after them doesn’t just jeopardize your degree. It puts all of us at risk for exposure. We’re a family now, Borden. You have to help protect us all.”

  And at that, something in his eyes softened. The cracking of thunder outside grew a little further away.

  His hands relaxed just a little from their tight fists.

  And right then, Nathaniel walked through the door.

  He was soaking wet, the rain dripping from his hair, his shoulders dark from being poured on. His eyes were slightly wild when he walked in, going straight to Borden.

  In his hands, he clutched a small stack of pages.

  “Borden,” he breathed as soon as his eyes landed on Borden, whose eyes were still glowing eerily white.

  Outside, a bolt of lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating the entire solarium. It was immediately followed by the deafening boom of thunder.

  “They mean nothing,” Nathaniel said. He crossed the room, laying the pages of the grimoire on his desk. He crossed to Borden and laid his hands on Borden’s shoulders.

  A zapping sound filled the air, and Nathaniel spasmed. Immediately he withdrew his hands, and nearly fell to the floor.

  A scream erupted from me and I automatically raised my hands to protect my face.

  Borden had just shocked Nathaniel.

  Borden’s eyes widened with fear and he took half a step back from Nathaniel.

  Nathaniel’s hands still shook, but he just blinked, surprised, but undeterred. “I’m fine,” he reassured everyone, holding a hand up to tell me to stay in my place.

  “Borden, I’m really sorry this happened. I’m sorry they’re targeting you. I know how that feels, and it’s an unsettling place to be. But you can’t let them push you into a reaction.”