Saving Year Three (Grim Reaper Academy 3)

“Hey! Are you okay?” GC took my hand and squeezed it lightly.

“What? Yes.”

“You spaced out for a minute there…”

“Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind.” Yeah. A lot. My phone vibrated. Sariel replied to my last message, briefly and boredly, as usual. Sariel. Last year, had he really been interested in me, or had all his awkward flirting been because of his mother, who wanted to see us together? So much had changed. He had changed. I didn’t know what to think of him anymore, but as the days passed, I was starting to realize that I kind of missed him. “We should get the others here.”

Just as I said that, Patty and Joel sneaked in. My heart jumped in my chest, my hand going to my ribcage. I pulled at my shirt and smoothed down my skirt. My uniform blazer was lying in a corner. I went to get it. That was close. I fantasized about being watched by Francis, and maybe Sariel, why not? But not Patty and Joel.

“All right, give me some space,” Pazuzu demanded. He sat on the bed, cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused. He had to find the Unseelie guards on Klaus’s corridor in the MDC tower, and then on Francis’s corridor, here. Once he had them, all he needed to do was to plant thoughts in their minds. They would interpret them as gut instincts, and they’d follow them without question. They were harmless, too. Like… the thought that they’d heard something down the hall, which directed them that way and gave Klaus the minute he needed to sneak out of the room and go down the stairs. Once he was out of the tower, it was up to him to hide in dark corners and behind curtains, sneak around the rest of the Unseelie guards, and make his way to us.

I tapped my foot impatiently. They should have all used the teleportation devices to get to the meeting point. They all knew where my room was, and except for Francis, they’d all been in here, too. But Paz had wanted to try his mind at telepathy and see if he could do it. He was either trying to impress me, or he was right, and it was a good idea to check if we could sneak around like this, without teleporting from one place to another. There were just a couple of steps from here to the other room, and once we were down the secret staircase, the Unseelie had no chance of finding us.

It was taking too long. “Screw this. They should have teleported.”

“Shh,” Paz admonished me.

Patty leaned in to whisper in my ear. “It’s good for him to practice his telepathic skills. Just in case.”

“In case of what? Teleportation is the safest way,”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I have a feeling.”

Patty and her feelings… You’re just scared. Not that I wasn’t. When Klaus finally entered the room, I let out a heavy breath of relief. Joel jumped into his arms. The merman was significantly taller than Klaus, slender and graceful. He had dark blond hair and beautiful azure eyes, like the ocean in the depths of which he was born. When he walked, it was as if he danced. It was clear he would’ve been more comfortable had he afforded to wear his fish tail all the time. When he was on land, his long, dark blue tail turned into two elegant legs. So elegant, that I was almost envious. As a guy, he was more graceful than I was.

Francis knocked on the door a minute later.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, just get in,” I cursed under my breath as a pulled the door open. “What’s wrong with you knocking like that? Do you want to alert the guards?”

His cheeks were flushed. “This was exhilarating. Let’s not do it again.”

“Thank you!” I threw my hands in the air, looking at Paz. “Next time, everyone who can teleport with or without a device, shall do so. And Patty and Joel can do whatever the fuck they want because the Unseelie don’t care about them.”

Paz narrowed his eyes at me. “I did well. You could at least admit it.”

“You did well,” I complied. “Also, you almost gave me two heart attacks.” One for Klaus and one for Francis.

“Okay, let’s go,” said Joel. “Where’s this secret tunnel?” He was the only one who seemed genuinely excited. When I told them all about Francis’s idea and about how there were secret passageways and caves under the Academy, Klaus had been suspicious, and Patty had made her reluctance known loud and clear. She’d always been superstitious, and secret doors and such were on her list of no-nos. I guessed Joel was used to them, since the bottom of the ocean was filled with sunken ships and junk.

“This way,” Francis went to the door, ready to open it. I ran after him and grabbed him by the wrist. He looked at me with wide eyes.

“You need to tell them first,” I breathed. I suddenly felt cold all over. I hadn’t had time to wipe myself well after I’d had sex with GC and Paz, and even the gooey liquid that had pooled in my panties was ice cold now. “They have a right to know what they’re getting themselves into.”

Francis shook his head. “Mila…” He looked at my hand wrapped around his wrist. He didn’t pull away, though. It was as if he didn’t have the strength. That was when I realized the hand that was touching him was the only part of my body that was still warm. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Yes, you can. You told me, and you told Sariel. They have to know. If you don’t tell them, then I’m pulling the plug on this. We’ll keep chatting online and come up with a plan that way.”

He shook his head again, but I could see it in his eyes that his resolve was disintegrating, like threads in an old fabric that had been worn for too long. The secret he kept for his family and his ancestors was his greatest burden.

“Tell us what?” Paz stepped forward. He looked at me, confused. “You two have secrets?”

I sighed. Of course my boyfriends would feel offended that I hadn’t told them the second I’d found out.

“No. It’s his secret, I stumbled into it, so I kept it. It’s not mine to tell.”

“Mila, what’s this about?” GC took my other hand and pulled me toward him. I let go of Francis’s wrist.

“Oh, I knew it! I knew it!” Patty started pacing the floor frantically, running her hands through her long, rich chestnut hair. “Secret tunnels and caves come with… even darker secrets. Always. What it is, Mila? Francis? Did someone die down there? Is it a cemetery? I hate cemeteries.”