Saving Year Three (Grim Reaper Academy 3)

“So, if I send these pictures to everyone, you’re fine with it? If they see you tied up and gagged, you’re still Lorna the Invincible?”

She was silent for a minute. Just when I thought she’d crack, she pulled a one-eighty on me and smiled a bright, pleasant smile. It lit up her whole face, making her blue eyes gleam cutely.

“You’re doing well, Mila Lazarov-turned-Morningstar. Living up to your new name and status. You’re being mean, and petty, and entitled.”

Blood rose to my head. Okay, fine, I could understand mean and petty. I was being a bitch right now, but didn’t she deserve it? After everything she’d done to me, didn’t she deserve to be punished?

“Entitled?”

“Yes. Entitled to know my feelings. Entitled to answers when you ask questions. Do you know what the difference between us is? I am who I am, and I own it. You’re just pretending to be this mean-ass bitch, and once the tables turn again, you’ll go back to being the old you. Because you’re playing a part right now.”

I rolled my eyes. “And how did you come to this eloquent conclusion?”

Her smile turned into a grin. “Because when I torture someone, I don’t care about how they feel. I know how they feel. I don’t need a bloody confession. You do.”

I bit my lower lip, then stopped when I realized the stupid gesture was just giving me away. Giving away how insecure and out of place I felt. What if she’s right, and this isn’t me? I’m acting like the bad guy. I’m not bad, I’m good. But a good person would never do this, not even to an enemy. Good, bad… I’m in between. White, black… I’m gray.

“I want you to help me throw a party for Mabon,” I skipped to the point when I realized she was making us go in circles, hoping she’d trap me emotionally. “The other girls are in, the guys are, too. We need a mage to do a cloaking spell and hide the whole party from the guards.”

She fake-yawned. Once she heard my request, she relaxed in her restraints.

“Why not ask Klaus or Caspian? Or that other guy… what’s his name? The one who loves kissing the Headmaster’s ass.”

“You know why.”

She huffed. “Because they can’t pull off such a complicated spell.”

“For once, use your powers for good?”

“How is breaking the rules using my powers for good?”

“You hate the Headmaster just as much as I do.”

She scrunched up her nose. “Not as much as you, I wouldn’t say. After all, I’m not the daughter he abandoned.”

“Ugh!” I wasn’t getting anywhere with her. I turned on my heels, getting ready to tell Corri to break her bonds. We were wasting our time.

“Okay, I’ll do it. Not for you, though, for my friends. I know everyone’s looking forward to Mabon. They can’t stop talking about it. Which you should tell them to fucking do, otherwise Headmaster Morningstar will eventually hear from someone and shut the whole thing down. Who do you think will lose all her worth points?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“You think people will finally like you if you go minus one hundred for a party?”

“I don’t need anyone to like me. Lorna, I’m not sure you’ve noticed, but I’m the only girl here who’s got two hot-as-sin, completely loyal boyfriends. And I have friends, by the way. Friends who like me and don’t care about my name.”

“A gay mage who can’t do medium spells, and a hybrid who works in the kitchen? Fine friends, indeed.”

“Shut up. So, you’ll do it.”

“Yes, I’ll do it.”

I nodded at Corri to release her. As the ropes around Lorna vanished, my shoulders tensed. She could easily attack me now. Sure, the pixie would never let anything bad happen, but that was something my brain understood, and my body refused to comprehend. I was alone with Lorna, in some RDC student’s dorm-room, and my body was in fight-or-flight mode. This girl had given me PTSD. Lovely!

“Relax,” she came up to me. Her wicked smile told me she could sense my anxiety. She held her hand out. “How about we make peace for a while? Given the circumstances, working together instead of against each other will benefit everyone.”

I gazed at her hand. I was supposed to shake it, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“For a while. That’s vague.”