A Curse of Flames (Fae Academy Book 2) Read online

  But I do my best to follow his directions.

  He runs his hand through the area I’m willing the flame, but nothing happens. He shakes his head.

  “Are you doing what I said?” he asks, nearly growling.

  “Yes,” I say. “I’m projecting my flame.”

  “No, you’re not,” he says. “You’re doubting what I say. That’s completely different from doing what I say.”

  I shrug. “Okay, maybe I am. But—”

  “Come at me,” he says.

  “I’m not going to attack you,” I say. “You’ll knock me on my ass.”

  “That’s rather the point, isn’t it?” He walks over to one side of the room and grabs a racket of some sort. He comes back and hands it to me. “Attack me with this. You need to see what I’m talking about. You need to believe.”

  I sigh and take the racket. He stands opposite me and beckons for me to attack. I take a step forward and swing.

  In the same moment, he puts his hands in the triangle position, moves his hands apart, and steps back. I don’t see anything, but when my racket hits the empty space where his hands were, the racket bounces off an invisible force field, causing sparks to fly. I gasp in surprise as the racket flies out of my hand.

  “Whoa,” I cry out. “That was amazing.”

  “Now do you believe me?” he asks.

  I grin. “Sure do. Come at me, bro.”

  The next day, I feel confident enough to go back to Coach Volcanis’ class.

  “Ah, Miss Flareburn,” he says. “Nice of you to finally return.”

  “I’m here to learn, Coach,” I say, bouncing from one foot to another.

  He smirks. “Hopefully you will be able to catch up.”

  He divides us into pairs again, once again teaming me with Lucas.

  “Hey, Coach,” Dannika calls out to him. “I’ve paired up with Finch before. Why don’t I pair with Imogen?”

  “Imogen needs someone who won’t go easy on her,” Coach Volcanis says.

  Dannika opens her mouth, but he holds up his hand. “Your partner is waiting, Miss Darkfire.”

  Dannika gives me a sorry-I-tried shrug and trots off to join Finch. But I don’t mind. I’m ready.

  I take my place with Lucas.

  “I owe you for last time,” he says. “I’m not going to take it easy on you today.”

  “I don’t expect you to,” I say.

  He stands in an offensive position, like a tiger on the prowl, but I stand neutral. I don’t want him to know if I’m going to attack or defend. Even better if he thinks I just don’t know what I’m doing at all.

  Straight, short flames appear out of his hands like daggers, and he bares his teeth. I can’t help but smirk. My defense will work even better in close-up contact than if he used a distance attack like with whips.

  He lunges, swiping at me with his daggers, and I make the triangle motion with my hands and step back. When his daggers hit my force field, sparks fly. Lucas staggers backward. While he’s still wide open, I shoot a small fireball to his chest, and he falls on his ass.

  “What the hell was that?” he asks, eye wide.

  “Just me defending myself.” I offer him my hand. “Want to go again?”

  He slaps it away and wildly glances around. A few people are watching us, surprised I already defeated him on the first go.

  “Look out, bitch,” he says, trying to entangle me in ropes of flame.

  I use my force field around me, so when he tries to tighten the ropes, there’s still plenty of room for me to wiggle free. Once I’m loose, I use a whip of my own to knock his feet from under him.

  This time, claps and cheers erupt from several people. Dannika and Finch have given up sparing and are just watching the show. Caleb and his partner also have eyes on me. My boyfriend’s prideful smile should be all the reassurance I need, but I find myself looking around for something more…

  For someone else.

  Oh. With a sinking feeling, I realize I’m searching for Erick, hoping he will see how far I’ve been able to come without his help. He’s on the far side of the field, showing Ferria something. They are totally ignoring me.

  Like I care.

  As the cheering and attention continues, Lucas turns his gaze to Coach Volcanis. The coach doesn’t respond, though. He doesn’t tell us to stop, but he doesn’t encourage us either. It seems as if he wants to see what will happen.

  Lucas takes the coach’s inaction as approval.

  “You’re going down,” he says, pouncing at me with his bare hands.

  I thought this was elemental training, not hand-to-hand combat, so I’m taken aback as his grip closes around my throat before I can react. He knocks me to the ground and tightens his grasp, his fingers digging into my neck.

  Dannika and Finch yell as they run over, but I try to drown them out, because something else is shouting louder. Something inside of me—my fire wanting to escape, to protect me. I could blow him off me.

  I could kill him.

  I tamp down that urge, horrified at the thought. This is training, not war. My friends are coming. They will help me in my moment of need.

  I will my fire to calm as he continues to choke the life out of me. Somehow, I feel strangely serene. My vision gets hazy, and the sounds around me dull. But then, I see a burst of fire hit Lucas’ side, and he flies off me, letting me go. Dannika appears over the top of me.

  “Imogen!” Her yells pierce my daze as she shakes me.

  I cough and roll to my side, and then take in a deep breath. Slowly raising my eyes, I see Erick lowering his arms, his flames still burning.

  He got Lucas off me? I thought he hadn’t been paying attention.

  I’m not sure whether to be thankful or upset he managed to ignore all my good moments and only noticed me when I appeared to need his rescue. He must think I’m so lame.

  Not that I care.

  Dannika pulls me to my feet. She brushes me off and helps me to the locker room. I don’t care what happens to Lucas or what Coach Volcanis does or doesn’t do about it. They don’t matter.

  “That was amazing,” Dannika says. She’s attentively making sure I’m steady enough to clean up on my own.

  “Which part?” I ask hoarsely. I rub my throat. It’s a little sore.

  Dannika places her hand on my throat, and I feel a warming throb. She is using her healing powers on me.

  “The shield you called up,” she said. “I’ve never seen that before. Fire projection is something only really old and powerful fire Fae can do.”

  Nodding, I clear my throat. It feels much better now. “I was able to get a little help. Since Erick isn’t tutoring me, I finally asked for tutoring me from a certain mentor.”

  “From Mr. Clawfire?” Dannika asks. “I thought he was useless for you last year?”

  “He was,” I say. I pull on a fresh shirt. “I think Headmistress Shadowburn said something to him.”

  “Wow,” Dannika says. “Look at you, getting friends in high places.”

  “I don’t know about that,” I say. I finish dressing and close my locker. “But thanks for helping me out today. I owe everyone a drink after that.”

  “You could have stopped him yourself,” she says, raising an eyebrow.

  “I know.” We step into the hall, heading back toward our room. “But I didn’t have to. And that’s its own kind of strength, isn’t it? Knowing who I can count on is a gift I never had before, other than my mom. I need to rely on it more.”

  “Well, you can always count on me,” she says, hooking her arm through mine.

  As we approach our room, I notice a note taped to the door, flapping gently in the breeze of the hallway. Dannika reaches up and takes it down.

  “What is it?” I ask, opening the door and stepping inside. “Another menu change in the cafeteria?”

  When she doesn’t respond, I turn around to find her face drawn, her hand holding the paper out to me. The smile falls from my face.

  �
��I think it’s for you,” she says.

  My stomach tightens. Quickly, I take it from her and scan the words.

  Stay away or end up worse than the Fae in the Fray.

  “What the hell?” I ask, holding it up. “What does that mean? The Fae in the Fray?”

  “I think it means…end up worse than Myra,” Dannika says.

  Last year, during a game of Faèdahunt, Myra was the last person standing, aka “the Fae in the Fray.” She ended up dead by the end of the year. But there’s no way someone would tape such a blatant threat to our door.

  Is there?

  Dannika rubs her arms. Does she feel the dark cold that seems to have settled over the room?

  “Someone must know you are still investigating the murder and Myra’s death,” she says.

  I crumple the letter in my hand, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.

  Someone wants me dead.

  Chapter 9

  Just when I start feeling hopeful, and a little bit normal, the world beneath my feet shakes. Someone wants me dead. While I suspected this before—I never did find out who sent the lionwasps after me in the trial—I can’t believe someone would leave me an ominous note of warning on my door.

  And yet, I’m not so much scared as I am amused. I mean, who passes notes? Are we in third grade? And we’re Fae! Surely there are more magical ways to threaten to kill someone. If it was me threatening someone, I’d be real dramatic about it. Like make the message appear in blood on the bathroom mirror. I can’t help but feel like someone missed a real opportunity to scare me shitless, but instead, I’m overtaken by a giggling fit.

  “What are you laughing about?” Dannika asks, her face serious as she snatches the note back.

  “It’s just…just so absurd!” It’s hard to talk through the laughter shaking me.

  Dannika just stands there, mouth hanging open. She takes me by my shoulders and sits me on my bed. “I think you’re losing it, Imogen.”

  I force myself to stop. “I’m fine,” I say, gulping down a few breaths. “Who leaves a note? I mean, really?”

  Dannika reads it again. “I don’t know,” she says, dropping her hand—and the note—to her side. “But since someone killed Professor Crowsfly, we should probably take every threat seriously.”

  I’m perfectly somber now. “I agree,” I say, wiping the tears of mirth from my eyes. “Someone doesn’t like that we are looking into this. In fact, how do we know the note wasn’t meant for you? You’re part of our little band of investigators, too.”

  If anything was going to worry me, it’d be that.

  “Maybe,” she says. “But I haven’t really done anything. You found Myra. You sent Caleb to learn more about Professor Crowsfly. I’m certain this was meant for you.”

  That makes me feel a little better. Dannika already had an attempt on her life last year during the poisonings. And at least I have the upper hand since I’ve been having the visions. I can watch my own back, if that’s what it comes down to. My friends could, too, if they didn’t end up in the crosshairs.

  Dannika stares at the note, and I watch her, my heart sinking when I realize what she’s feeling is the same thing I have been. Fear of losing someone she loves. She cares about me. I basically just laughed at her friend’s life being threatened. She’s right—I need to take this seriously.

  My life has been one disaster after another since I turned eighteen and the Fae came for me. While I’m glad I know the truth about what I am, and to be here in Fae among my own kind, sometimes I think it would be nice to go back to pretending I was just a boring old teenager again.

  This morning, I’d thought I had a chance of that. A chance to spend some time focusing on my classes, my boyfriend, and my future.

  But I was wrong.

  Even if there wasn’t much I could do in this investigation right now, the fact it was even on my radar meant my life right now was nothing more than a game of survival.

  The next night, I’m waiting in the cafeteria for Caleb while having a snack and reading my Alchemy book.

  “Hey,” someone says from behind me.

  At first, my mind processes the male voice to be Caleb’s, but it’s not quite right. I turn to find Erick.

  “Um…hey,” I say. We haven’t talked in weeks, not even since he saved me from Lucas in my Elemental Application class. “Want to sit down?”

  “Sure.” He takes the seat across from me.

  “I never thanked you for blowing Lucas off me the other day,” I say. “Thanks.”

  “It was nothing,” he says. “That guy had it coming. But I was surprised you didn’t blow him up yourself. You could have, you know.”

  I do know, but I’m happier realizing Erick knows that.

  “Yeah,” I say. “But I didn’t need to. My friends were there. And so were you. I didn’t need to make a statement by turning him into a crispy critter. I already made my point by knocking him down, twice.”

  Erick frowns, something almost like hurt briefly flashing across his face before it disappears. “You don’t consider me a friend?”

  “Why would you say that?” I ask.

  “You said your friends were there and I was there,” he says. “I’m not counted among your friends?”

  He’s staring at me steadily, but it’s obvious he wants to know. But what does he expect with how he treats me?

  “Sometimes I wonder,” I say truthfully.

  “Wonder what?” he asks.

  I shake my head. “You’re a confusing guy. That’s all.”

  He shrugs. “Anyway,” he says. “What’s the real reason you didn’t defend yourself against Lucas? Is it because you were afraid of losing control?”

  I pick at my book. How did he know? “Maybe,” I say quietly. “I meant it when I said I was counting on my friends helping me. But it might also be true I was glad I had them to rely on because I couldn’t trust myself to not…not take it too far.”

  He nods. “That fire-shield trick,” he says. “That was something special. Powerful. But you need more than a strong defense. You still need to learn to control your powers. You need to be able to rely on yourself more than others. Other people won’t always be there to keep you from setting the world on fire.”

  The night of the Faèdahunt crosses my mind. The night I learned my father gave my mother a fake last name. That “Flareburn” is just a name given to fire Fae who don’t know who their parents are. I was so hurt and angry I just blew up and caught a tree on fire. I would have burned the whole forest down if I could. Erick was there; he absorbed the flames and put the fire out. Then he put his hand on me and absorbed my anger, my flame.

  Damn, he was there for me that night, too. I didn’t even realize it, but Erick has been helping me even when I didn’t know I needed help.

  And here I am, trying to figure out if he’s a murderer.

  “So…” Feeling myself getting choked up, I clear my throat. “What’s your suggestion?”

  “I wanted to ask if you need me to tutor you,” he says. “And…”

  “And?”

  “Hey, there you are!” Caleb’s voice precedes him a moment before he places his hand on my shoulder. He nudges me over, sitting so close his thigh presses firmly to mine. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” I say. “Erick was just offering to be my tutor again for Elemental Application.”

  “What?” Caleb asks with a laugh. “Are you kidding? Erick, did you see the way she handled Lucas in class. She was like, ‘Magic shield!’ Boom! ‘Fire whip!’ Bam! If anything, Imogen should be teaching that class. She’s a fire goddess.”

  My face beams as he talks about me. He’s so supportive and encouraging. My heart races when he puts his arm around me.

  “But she’s still untrained,” Erick says. “She’s wild, uncontrollable.”

  “That’s my little wild filly,” Caleb says, winking.

  “First of all, she’s not ‘your’ anything. She’s her own person.” Erick’s
face is turning red. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry before. “Second of all, she’s dangerous. Fire isn’t supposed to hurt us, but I could see it in her eyes when Lucas had her pinned. She could have killed him.”

  I’m a bit torn between what the guys are saying. What Caleb says sounds nice—so supportive. But as much as I hate to admit it, what Erick’s saying is…well…true.

  My heart heats up with fear. Erick’s right. He knows. He could see it on my face when no one else could.

  “Geeze, calm down, man,” Caleb says. “She’s not gonna kill anyone. That’s crazy. It’s not even possible.”

  “Isn’t it?” Erick asks, raising his eyebrow. “I think we’re learning this year that just because things don’t happen often, doesn’t mean they never happen.”

  Caleb juts out his chin. His gaze is on Erick, but he directs his next question to me. “What do you think, Imogen?”

  I’m frozen. I mean, I’m glad to be invited back into the conversation they were having about me, but now I feel like I’m being used to determine the winner of their debate or something, and I don’t like that.

  “I…I don’t know,” I say. “I think part of what Erick is saying is true. My powers are still…unpredictable. I went to Damon…Mr. Clawfire…for help because I know I needed it. He taught me the fire shield. I don’t want to fight. I just want to defend myself.”

  “You can’t have one without the other,” Erick says. “You need proper offensive training.”

  “I hear you, and I get it. I’ll talk to Mr. Clawfire,” I say. “Get more training from him.”

  Erick knows me. Too well. We need a little distance between us, for my peace of mind.

  “Fine,” he says as he gets up to leave.

  “Wait,” I say. “And what else?”

  “And what?” he asks.

  “Earlier, you said you wanted to ask about being my tutor and you wanted to ask something else.”

  “Oh,” he says, glancing at Caleb and then back to me. “It was nothing. You both have a nice night.”