Chapter 46

Professor Alvez smiles like a cat who has just caught a canary. “Oh, excellent, Cadet Davis. Please, do share.”

The dark haired boy sighs again, crossing his arms over his chest as he looks around at us, clearly uncomfortable. “Are we sworn to secrecy in here?” he asks, anxious. “I’m not eager to share if this secret I’ve been keeping for twenty–two years is suddenly going to be public knowledge.”

“We are bound by our own rules in this classroom,” Alvez says, looking around at all of us. “If the six of us decide to swear each other to secrecy, then we will be. Thoughts?”

“I think that’s fair,” Rafe says, nodding solidly. “What happens between the six of us should be held in strict confidence.”

“And consequences?” Jackson asks, turning to look at Rafe. “If someone breaks the secrecy?”

We all turn, a little instinctually, to the professor. “Well,” Alvez says, his voice quiet, a little smile playing on his lips. “I am forbidden to offer corporeal punishment…” he murmurs.

I go still, staring him, and Rafe at my side does the same.

“A…little joke,” he says, laughing with a shrug. I relax a little, but I scowl. This professor – he’s almost too casual with his “little jokes.” He could have some sympathy for the fact that we’re all being asked to share our deepest secrets on the first day of school.

“But,” the professor continues, “what has worked in years past has been a jury by peer system. If someone violates the trust of the cohort, a complaint can be raised and we can decide together what punishment is fair. For the worst cases, expulsion could be on the table. Thoughts?”

I look between Rafe and Jesse, who both look at me. Together, we nod. “That works for us,” Rafe says, speaking for our little group.

“Convenient,” the dark–haired boy says, staring over at the three of us. “Considering your little cadre of three has the majority in any voting situation.”

Rafe just shrugs, holding his gaze, clearly telling him to deal with it.

Jackson, to my surprise, looks over at me. I meet his eyes evenly and nod once, no expression on my face as I ask him, without words, to trust us. He studies me for at long moment with those grey–blue eyes and then turns back to the professor. “I’ll agree to it,” he says.

Rafe turns to look at me, his face stony, because he’s very aware that Jackson – whether he knows it or not is turning towards me and seeking my opinion because he’s my mate. He exhales sharply through his nose, turning to the dark- haired boy across the room, and raises an eyebrow.

“Fine,” Davis says, hanging his head back on his neck as if exhausted. Then he, too, exhales a deep breath and speaks as he raises his head. “I can breathe underwater.”

Alvez’s face bursts into a grin as I gasp, leaning forward eagerly, because that is perhaps the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.

Jesse is just as excited as I am. “Really?” he says, grinning at Davis. “How the hell did you figure that out? Is there a time limit on it, or could you do it forever? Do your fingers still get all pruney if you stay under too long? How does –”

“Sinclair,” the Professor says, his voice tired, and Jesse laughs a little before snapping his mouth shut and leaning back in his chair with an apologetic shrug. He’s just excited, is all. “That’s incredible,

Davis,” the Professor says, smiling at him. “And likely to be useful in a variety of situations. Would you be willing to demonstrate at the next meeting, if I can arrange it?”

Davis sighs again but then nods sharply before turning to glare at all of us.

“Thanks for telling us, man,” Jesse says, giving Davis a warm smile. “You can trust us, though,” he says, gesturing to me and Rafe as well. “We’re not going to tell anyone.”

For the first time, a little smile comes to the other cadet’s face. “You can call me Tony,” he says quietly. And Jesse nods, his grin deepening, and I’m grateful again for my charming, friendly, thoughtful cousin who always knows how to make everyone feel comfortable. Warmth runs through me, and I’m reminded again how grateful I am to have him in my

life.

“Anyone else?” Alvez says, looking eagerly around at us.

The other four are silent before Rafe looses a tense breath. “We’re not holding anything back,” he says, his voice solid. “We just…don’t know. Our mothers have magic and they told us that we will have magic some day,” he says, gesturing towards himself and Jesse, “but it hasn’t manifested yet.”

“Not uncommon,” Alvez says, his voice encouraging. “And, the cousin?” he says, turning to me.

I blink a little, because of course my story is the same as theirs. But I’m not supposed to have a magic mother, am I? I say the first thing that comes to mind, hoping it’s plausible. “This is all a surprise to me,” I say with a shrug. “I mean, I knew they had pending magic, but I had no idea I did too. Pretty cool, I guess, that I get to be part of the club.”

Rafe smiles at me, nodding, letting me know I’ve done well. I smile back.

“My situation is the same,” Jackson chimes in, tense. “Surprised to be here. No magical family line to speak of. Are you sure I’m in the right place?”

“Oh, I’m sure, McClintock,” Alvez says, leaning forward to smile at him. And, is it just me? Or does that smile look almost…greedy? “Your reading was particularly vivid.”

Jackson scowls, looking at the floor.

“So, what do we do?” Tony says, his arms still crossed as he slumps in his chair. “Like what is this class about? I already know how to use my magic – what am I supposed to learn? Are there like, textbooks…”

“No texts,” Alvez quips, stretching his arms over his head. “Instead, we will spend our time nurturing each of your gifts where they are. For those whose magics have yet to manifest, we’ll spend some time attempting to coax them forward. For you, Davis, we’ll work to push your gift to explore its extremes, see if any other details reveal themselves. Then, in future months or years – assuming that you pass the Examination –” he pauses a moment, looking significantly around at all of us, “we will begin to consider how to use your magic on a battlefield or in other ways to aid the nation.”

I take a moment to smack Rafe on the arm, mouthing “Examination!?” to him and knitting my brows to show my displeasure that he didn’t tell me about this. Rafe just flaps a hand at me, dismissing my concern for now.

“All right!” Alvez says, clapping his hands together and hopping down from the desk. “Step one for this program is getting your magics to manifest themselves, and in my previous experience directing this program I have found that magic. does indeed call to magic. As such, we will now pair off in a trust exercise to see if anything…stirs. As you three,” he says, turning to us, “have been around each other for years with no results, let’s try engagement with someone new.”

Rafe sends an anxious glance my way but I just roll my eyes at him, willing him to stop hovering over me like a mother hen. As he turns away, though, I realize that his anxiety is not misplaced – because Jackson and I, we have been having physical reactions to each other that I now consider might be a result of our both having magic.

That pulse that moves through the air whenever I touch him with my hands? Is that….something?

“Let’s have Rafe with Tony, please?” Alvez says, interrupting my train of thought and gesturing for Rafe to cross the room to stand with Tony, who rises from his chair.

“And Jackson with Jesse?” Alvez says next. My heart sinks a little because I’m alone

the odd “man” out. Do I not get to experiment today?

“I’ll pair with you, Clark,” Alvez says as he takes three marbles out of his pocket and places one on a desk in front of Rafe and Tony and then another before Jesse and. Jackson. Anxiety twists in my stomach as Alvez slowly approaches me, because… something in the way that he walks, he smiles at me.

I’m again reminded of a cat, and not the sweet kittenish type.

No, an eager, hungry cat who has just found a mouse he wants to play with. noveldrama

—

Alvez stops in front of me, placing a marble against our desk in front of us. “You should each find a form of physical contact you feel comfortable with skin to skin is best. And then, together, you should attempt to access your magics, using it together to attempt to move the marble – either floating it in the air, pushing it from the desk or…I don’t know. Exploding it. Whatever feels natural.”

“This isn’t going to work for me,” Tony says immediately, glaring a little. “I can’t take the marble under water and breathe it in.

“Humor me, Davis,” Alvez says, stepping close to my side. “Your goal today is to

help Rafe Sinclair discover his magics. Be a pal. You’re a team, after all.”

The four others in the room hesitate for a moment, but then turn to each other, beginning to discuss – I guess what it is they want to do.

“Hand to hand?” Alvez says, turning to me and speaking softly, almost intimately in my ear.

“Um, sure?” I say, anxiety racing through me as he raises his hand.

My wolf shifts from paw to paw, wary, as I raise my own hand and press the back of it to the back of the professor’s hand. I don’t trust him, she murmurs to me,

anxious.

Me neither. I murmur back.

But there’s no time to think on it now.

“Oh, come on,” Alvez says, smiling wickedly at me and turning his hand to grasp mine, interlacing our fingers. “After all, it’s not every day a man gets a chance to take the hand of a princess, is it?‘

Every drop of blood drains from my face.