Saving Year Three (Grim Reaper Academy 3)

I chuckled. “What a good kitty you are.”

She flared up. “I’m no kitty! I’m a pixie!”

I stood up, stretched, then grabbed my leaf from my underwear drawer. It was the only place I could be sure no one would be looking.

“I need to find a way to meet my friends.” We’d found the perfect secret spot in the cave under the Academy last semester, but with Morningstar being such a smart asshole, we’d only managed to hold a secret meeting once, and then it got too dangerous. And nearly impossible. Nearly. “Corri, I think I figured something out. I’m getting close to the truth.”

“Huh?”

“Valentine’s dreams, my dreams… We can see the past and the future. What he wrote in the journal is true. Corri… I think that’s how prophecies are born. Dreams. But since very few people in the supernatural world can dream, – only hybrids and humans who accidentally stumble upon it, – prophecies are uncertain and fickle. No one writes them down because they think they’re just meaningless dreams, but these dreams, as crazy as they sound, have such a huge impact on them that they end up telling them to others.”

“Oh my God, Mistress! You’re right! That’s how prophecies are born.”

My hands were trembling as I started writing a message on the leaf. It might have been from the adrenaline caused by my discovery, or it might have been from sheer, simple hunger.

“Yes. Young Valentine didn’t write it in this journal, or maybe he didn’t write it in any journal. But he saw the future, and he saw that I am the one who is going to retire him. His own daughter. That’s why he tried to kill me when I was only two years old. That’s why he’s trying to find a way to kill me now.”

“He can’t. His scythe breaks when it touches you.”

“I don’t know why, but I’ll find out. Maybe… maybe I can see it in a dream.” My eyes sparked with determination. “Corri, I need to dream more. I need to see the past and the future. The answer is somewhere out there, in one of these times.”

I went back to my message: “I need you to talk to Lorna and convince her to teleport to my room. ASAP I need her help. We all do.” At the end of it, I wrote Sariel’s name. Then a second message: “Find Lorna and give her a leaf.” That one was for Klaus.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I didn’t know how they did it, and I didn’t have to. All that mattered was that Sariel and Klaus had convinced Lorna to see me, and she was now standing in the middle of my room, arms crossed over her chest, hip popped out in a power pose.

“I’m glad you found my dorm-room…”

“Don’t be stupid, I’ve been here before.”

Mages and Grim Reapers could only teleport to places they’d been to before, or places they could see from where they were standing. That was why the field trips to Heave, Hell, and all the pocket universes were so important. And Headmaster fucking Morningstar had canceled all the trips we should’ve had this semester. Professor Maat wasn’t happy about it.

“Right. Of course you have.” Why, when, or how really wasn’t important. She was Lorna Chiaramonte. It was safe to say she’d snuck in everywhere at some point in her life. Everywhere, except…

“What do you want?”

“We need your help.”

“Who’s we? You and Klaus? You and Sariel?”

I rolled my eyes. “Come on, you know we’re an entire group.” I counted on my fingers. “Me, GC, Paz, Francis, Patricia, Joel, Corri,

and yes, Klaus and Sariel. We have a place we can meet, but since Morningstar tracks the teleportation pins, and confiscates them anyway when we’re not out practicing, we can’t bloody meet.”

“I don’t get it. Why do you need to meet?”

“Lorna, the Academy has turned into a fucking prison. My father is the jailor. We have to find a way out. For all of us. For the Academy and the supernatural world. I have to find a way to retire Morningstar, but I can’t do it alone. I tried. For the past few weeks, I looked for clues, tried to find answers… I think I’ve had a breakthrough, but I need to bounce my ideas off minds that are more brilliant than mine.”

She smiled. “So you agree you’re not the smartest bitch at the Academy?”

“I never said I was.”

“Whatever. Your group’s not that bad. You chose well. I might be interested in helping you. What’s in it for me, though?”

I straightened my back and scratched my neck nervously. I threw Corri a quick glance, and she shrugged.

“You get to be a part of it? You’ll free the Academy and rid the world of Morningstar with us.” My offer was feeble, to say the least. No wonder she pursed her lips and took her time to think about it. “We’ll let you in on all our secrets.”