The Puppet Master: The Paranormal University Files: Skylar, Year 4 Read online

  “Um…did we miss something?” Anji asked.

  “I’m not entirely sure myself.”

  “Victor’s got it rough,” Ben said in a low voice.

  “You wanna go talk to him?” I asked. “Or should I?”

  Ben shook his head. “Give him some space. The guy went from being able to walk in the sunlight to being trapped indoors indefinitely.”

  Of all the sacrifices made to save Sebastian’s life, Victor’s was arguably the most profound. Sure, Simon had given up years—centuries—to live a mortal lifespan alongside Sebastian, but something told me our wizard mentor was the only one who wasn’t tortured by his choice. His sacrifice had been a gift.

  On the other hand, I had not used my wings in the mortal realm since surrendering my light.

  I couldn’t bear to look at them.

  “Dinner smells good,” Anji murmured. “We passed Liadan on our way, but she got mobbed by a gang of freshies all wanting to chat with the queen.”

  “I should probably go rescue her, right? I mean, she shouldn’t have to be swarmed alone.”

  “She’s a big girl,” Anji reminded me. “Besides, Pilar is beating you to it. I came across her and gave her a heads-up.”

  “Oh, well then, I guess I should open the second bottle and get pouring. You think Holly will come out again?”

  “Once Lia gets here, maybe. Give her some time to get herself together. She’s been feeling a little useless, I think.”

  By the time Pilar and Liadan shambled inside from their respectively busy days, I’d pulled the lasagna pan from the oven and Anji had poured glasses for everyone.

  Victor didn’t return, and Holly barely touched her plate. All in all, it was the most depressing group dinner we’d had in the history of our friendship.

  “Hansford called me today,” Lia said once we’d moved to the couch and turned on a movie.

  “Ugh, what did she want?” I had no love for Ms. Hansford. She’d been my counselor both my freshman and sophomore year, and she’d had it in for me since day one. As if it were my fault her favorite student had been a selfish bitch who got herself Bound then became a darkling.

  “She wants to discuss my class schedule.”

  “Whatever for? You have a great schedule,” Pilar protested.

  Lia shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll find out Monday morning.”

  “I’ll catch you guys later,” Holly said, vanishing her plate and untouched glass with an arcane gesture of her fingertips.

  We watched her go, our expressions a mix of helplessness and pity, because as much as we wanted to help her and Victor, none of us could give him back the sun.

  “At least they’re together again,” Ben muttered under his breath. He’d just returned with his second helping. He must have needed it to keep those huge muscles fueled.

  Pilar refilled our wine glasses. “But miserable. His depression will drag Holly down with him.”

  “Is there anything we can do for them?”

  “Give them our support,” Lia said in a soft voice. “Holly loves Victor and seeing him so miserable is hard on her.”

  “I didn’t realize it would be so hard on him. We never would have asked him to give it up.”

  “He did so willingly because he wanted to save Sebastian, as much as any of us.” Lia reached over and took my hand. “I think Holly worries he resents her.”

  “Because she cast the spell?” Anji asked.

  “Yes,” Lia said. “And sometimes I wonder if she blames herself for allowing him to make the sacrifice in her stead.”

  * * *

  When Monday swung around, none of my friends were in higher spirits. We blamed it on a number of things—the loss of summer warmth, diminishing daylight hours, and the fact that we’d spent almost every moment of the weekend writing assignments to accommodate our increased workloads.

  Even Ben, who loved studying, and now had a constant gaggle of girls following him around thanks to his transition from geek to wizard sex symbol, appeared in dismal spirits.

  This was not how I wanted my senior year to be.

  The worst part about it was that we were only in the second week of September and had a long way to go before winter break. Finals couldn’t come soon enough.

  Anji caught up to me after our stunt driving course, sliding into a seat across from me in the cafeteria. Her boyfriend Cole took the empty seat beside her.

  “We need a fun day,” Anji announced.

  “Of course we do, but how and when? Everyone’s so busy now.” My poor fries became victim of my mood, stabbed into ketchup with enough force to fling a glob of the stuff on to my waiting cheesecake. Ew.

  “Holly is planning an off-campus trip, hopefully for this upcoming weekend, and I think we really need it. Lia especially.”

  “What?” That snagged my attention. “Why? What’s wrong with Lia?”

  “Hansford pulled her out of all her current classes and reassigned her,” Anji replied.

  “And some of my classmates overheard her talking about arranging private tutoring,” Cole added.

  I blinked at the raven and processed the information. Ravens were notorious for gathering campus secrets to trade for favors or prestige. “Are you fucking with me?”

  “Nah, you know I wouldn’t do that,” he said.

  “But why would they—? Lia could have stayed in Tir na Nog if she’d wanted private tutors. That isn’t why she came back.”

  “Right?” Anji shrugged. “That’s mage logic for you. I told Lia to put in a request to see the provost right away since she didn’t come here for preferential treatment.”

  “Good advice.”

  So far, our final year was well on its way to being the shittiest, despite the reduction in danger, lack of vampires attempting to suck us dry, and overall sense of safety that came with an increase of SBA activity in the area. I figured the latter had to be on account of Queen Titania’s return and whatever deal Oberon had struck with them all to guarantee her safety.

  “—probably murdered a few people last year,” I picked out of a crowd of passing vampires traveling to the adjacent table.

  Unable to help myself, I stole a glance at them and listened. Cole’s attention lifted from his tray and followed the group to their seats. His dark brows raised.

  “Wouldn’t he be bald if he murdered enough people to become a nosferatu?” asked another vamp.

  “That’s what they want you to believe. You gotta kill a few folk before that shit even shows up. Becoming a darkling isn’t an on/off switch you can turn in one act. It’s like a spectrum unless you’re a bird going valravn. Weren’t you listening in class?”

  “He shouldn’t be allowed here,” another whispered.

  It clicked in my mind just who they were talking about and my anger flared hot and fast. Before I even realized what I was doing, and before my friends had the chance to stop me, I was on my feet.

  “How dare you spew such hateful, hurtful lies,” I snapped at the group. They all looked over at me, some blinking in confusion while two frowned.

  “Mind your own business.”

  “You’re talking about my friend and a fellow sentinel. You made it my business.”

  “He’s not a sentinel,” one of them said snidely. “I mean, not really anymore. He got fired from the Cook County office. My sister said she watched him clear out his desk one night and never return.”

  “He is a sentinel. He works here—”

  One of the girls snorted out loud, laughing at me with malice in her eyes. “You sure are chummy with a suspected nosferatu. Working here as a flashlight cop doesn’t mean anything. Only that they’re watching him and making him earn his keep.”

  “You’re a bunch of stupid freshmen with no idea about anything.”

  “Yeah,” Anji spoke up behind me. “Sentinels here on campus are the same as everywhere else. They deserve the same respect.”

  We had the full attention of the entire cafeteria on us. The roo
m had gone weirdly silent, every face turned toward us.

  “Isn’t campus sentinel work what everyone does when they can’t cut it anywhere else?” asked the initial gossipmonger, a wide grin spreading across his face. “It’s literally no better than being the mall security sentinel watching vids for paranormal thieves.”

  His group guffawed. A werewolf with them high-fived him.

  “Bruh, don’t even bother with Know-it-All Corazzi over there. She killed a couple darklings and thinks she’s queen of the campus.”

  “All that preferential treatment went right to her head,” said the vampire girl.

  “She’s just salty her man couldn’t get a real job out there.”

  “Would you like to tell my men that their positions are worthless?” Simon’s deep voice rumbled from the doors to the left.

  “Shit,” one of the vampires muttered.

  I couldn’t even feel smug about Simon’s fortuitous arrival, too consumed by the rage ignited by my fellow students for being so mean. For slighting so many people—including my mate.

  “Sentinels go where they are assigned,” Simon continued as he crossed the room at a leisurely pace, every eye on him. “Sometimes those assignments are…glamorous, if that’s what you want to call them. Sometimes they’re dull desk jobs. And sometimes, they are to protect our most precious resource, our children, here, at school.”

  “Uh.” The original gossiper had nothing nasty or snide to say now. All the blood left his face, turning him paler than the cafeteria’s laminate tabletops.

  Cole casually set his phone down and returned to his lunch.

  Had he texted Simon?

  Simon looked from face to face at the table of gossipers, likely committing them to memory. Then he left, and no one spoke a word until the doors closed behind him. The vamps shot me a final, scathing glance, but they said nothing else as they returned to their meals. Eventually the low hum of talk filled the room again, and somehow, I was back in my seat.

  “What a bunch of asses,” I muttered.

  Anji snorted and leaned against her boyfriend. “They’ll keep their mouths shut now.”

  I hoped so, but I had a bad feeling about it all. Nosferatu rumors were damning, and they’d started somewhere. Something told me the sophomores hadn’t come up with it on their own.

  * * *

  The incident in the cafeteria stayed on my mind all morning. I didn’t care if idiots disparaged me, but the rumor about Victor sounded like the kind of insidious gossip that had been building for a while, beginning in their vampiric circles.

  As if Holly and Victor needed more strain in the relationship they’d finally gotten on track again.

  I sent her a text message asking if she had time to talk while a sentinel wizard droned on about providing support magic to our “muscle” during physical confrontation, letting the werewolf or vampire do all the work.

  Gross. Gabriel was more than a buff wall for me to hide behind.

  Finally, class let out an hour later, but I still didn’t have a response from Holly. Lacking any common courses with her this year, since all of hers were specialized battlemage classes save for a couple sentinel core classes, I had to resort to heading to the townhouse.

  Using the key they’d all insisted I keep, I let myself inside quietly, expecting Pilar and Lia would still be asleep at such an early hour. Yet somehow, I wasn’t entirely surprised to find Lia awake and in the kitchen.

  “Whatcha making for breakfast?”

  “Sausage and French toast casserole.”

  “Well, direct me. I will help.”

  It was comfortable and familiar, working quietly with Lia in the kitchen to prepare food. I missed mornings like this.

  “Holly should be in soon,” Lia said, as though reading my mind.

  “How much did Anji tell you?”

  “The whole thing sounded like it was horrible,” Lia admitted. “I’m not sure I would have kept my composure the way you did.”

  “Oh, believe me, if Simon hadn’t shown up, I might have lost it. I had the overwhelming desire to fling the whole table of them across the room.”

  Lia smiled faintly and poured freshly brewed tea for the both of us. “Do you think the rumors will be quashed?”

  “I don’t know. That’s what I want to talk to Holly about. But while we wait… How are you?”

  Liadan’s smile faltered. “I’m…well.”

  I read between the lines; she was unhappy and nothing about the final year at PNRU was living up to the expectations in her mind. “I’m sorry.”

  “It isn’t your fault.” She sighed, raising her teacup for a sip before she said anything more. “Perhaps Mrs. Hansford is right and it was a mistake for me to return to campus. Because of me, no one can concentrate in any of the classes I attend. They’re far too busy waiting for me to answer the professor’s questions to offer any input of their own.”

  “That’s not your fault. That’s their issue, and they should get over themselves and let you have a life.”

  “I have a life, Sky. It’s in Avalon Palace. It will always be there.”

  “Pilar said your classes were fine and it isn’t nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. And most people haven’t been swarming you except for that first week.”

  She sighed. “I know. I know, and I told Hansford as much, but she…”

  “She said otherwise and is trying to convince you of the same.” I moved in and hugged her. “You should go to Riordan. There’s no way she’d approve of this.”

  “I already scheduled an appointment to meet with her and plead my case. If I wanted private tutors, I would be in the palace. My husband is my private tutor.”

  An involuntary chortle escaped me. I managed to choke down the rest of my amusement as Liadan’s smile returned.

  “It’s okay. I laughed too initially. He is my tutor, though, isn’t he? All I can’t yet remember, he’s so helpful and pleased to teach me. If it isn’t him, it’s Eldan or Dain. I learned so much over the summer, and…and I miss him. I can’t wait to return, but…”

  “But you don’t want to be banished to Tir na Nog,” I suggested.

  “That. Yes.”

  “Something smells good,” Holly announced as she came through the front door. She appeared from around the corner and startled when she spotted me. “Oh, hey, Sky.”

  “Surprise!”

  She slung her backpack down and eased onto one of the barstools at the counter. Lia poured tea and pushed the cup over to her. “Figured you’d be snuggled up to Gabe by now.”

  “I will be soon, but I wanted to come talk to you first.”

  “About Victor?”

  Lia and I exchanged glances. “You heard?”

  “Yeah. They’re just stupid rumors.”

  “I mean, we know that. I just wish there wasn’t a need for everything to be so hush-hush and kept in secret.”

  Holly’s shoulders tensed. “What do you mean?”

  “Everyone should know about Victor’s sacrifice and what he did. He’s a hero. He saved Sebastian’s life, and it sucks that no one will find out what Victor did for him.”

  Her red-glossed lips pursed together, eyes little more than glowing slits of blue. “Don’t you mean what you did?”

  “What? No!”

  Holly may as well have grown a second head, the way Lia and I both stared at her.

  “Holly, it has nothing to do with me. We all gave up something to save Sebastian’s life. Victor shouldn’t be persecuted.”

  “Doesn’t it though, Sky? Everything is always about you and your hero complex.”

  Lia’s eyes went large and owlish. “Holly—” she started, only for Holly to cut her off with a sharp hand gesture.

  “Don’t start. If I want to be lectured by a mom, I’ll go home to mine.”

  “What the hell, Holly?” I didn’t care so much that she was being a bitch toward me, but I drew the line at her telling off Lia. Not because she was my queen, but because s
he was my friend, and a kind, gentle soul who didn’t deserve that sort of treatment.

  “You know what, forget breakfast. I’m going to bed.”

  “The hell you are. What’s gotten into you? I came here to talk to you because I’m pissed off on Victor’s behalf and wanted to know how I could help.”

  “Right. As I said, hero complex.”

  “I only wanted—”

  “You always want something. Everything isn’t about you, Sky.”

  Before I could utter a word in my defense, Holly was gone from the spot, faster than my eyes could track beyond the blue blur of her dress.

  “She’s stressed,” came Lia’s gentle voice, followed by one of her hands on my shoulder. “She didn’t mean it, and later, she’ll regret that she said it.”

  “I dunno, Lia, that sounded…that sounded really bad and really genuine.”

  Holly had never acted like this. Ever.

  “I know it doesn’t excuse her, but give her time. I hadn’t realized myself how hard things would be for Victor after what he gave up. Or you.”

  “I’m fine,” I muttered.

  The fleeting skepticism in her expression told me I hadn’t convinced her any more than she had convinced me of her own emotional well-being. But I was fine. Technically. I’d come out of the situation alive with my mate and all of my friends. At least, I thought I had. After hearing Holly, I worried maybe that wasn’t the case.

  I’d survive without my light, no matter how much I missed the warmth against my skin or the glow from behind my shoulders. Her hand lowered from my shoulder. “When you’re ready to talk—if you’re ready—I’ll always be here.”

  We made breakfast together and didn’t bring up Holly again.

  4

  Building a Sexy Cupcake

  Nothing had changed between Holly and me by the time the weekend rolled around for our planned outing. I almost skipped, except this was more for Lia than anyone.

  And I really wanted a new Halloween costume. Sure, I could glamour whatever I wanted, but it wasn’t the same and wasted dust when a purchase or a couple hours of sewing would suffice. I’d come to view the stores within my Dreambox as dust I’d need as a sentinel next year.