Speaking of Nic, it was his first day back at school after spending the last few weeks locked in a magical slumber. I worried he might be rushing things, but he insisted he just wanted to get back to normal.
“You okay?” I asked him as we walked through the corridor.
Nic nodded and drew in a breath. “I’m fine. It’s just weird being back. I feel like I’ve been in a coma.”
“Well, you kind of have been,” I said as we rounded a corner and bumped into Ren. His dark hair was slicked back today, his eyeliner drawn in short vertical lines under each eye like Alice Cooper. I remembered what he’d said to me the night of the storm about his grandmother’s prediction. Would he one day save my life? Would I be the ruler it was foretold I would become? I decided not to spend too much time pondering it. For now, I was just happy to enjoy the present.
“So, you’re the one everyone’s been talking about,” Ren said, sizing Nic up.
“And you are?” Nic asked.
“Ren Tanaka, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He gave a little curtsy, and Nic smiled in mild amusement.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”
Ren glanced at me. “So, they finally caught Mr Williams’ murderer and Angela’s attacker. I bet you’re relieved.”
“I’m definitely sleeping better,” I said, and Ren nodded, his lips forming a grin as he brought his attention to Nic.
“Do you know that your friend here had the gall to suspect me at one point?”
Nic glanced at me, eyebrows raised. I shook my head, chuckling, “I’d be silly not to suspect the new student.”
Ren folded his arms, his tone teasing, “I’ll be expecting a box of chocolates and a dozen roses as an apology any day now.”
I chuckled some more. “Right.”
I left Nic with Ren as I continued to my locker, my heart skipping a beat when I spotted the back of Peter’s head. He stood talking to Sophia and didn’t notice me approach until I slid my arms around his waist and gazed up at him. “Hey.”
His mouth curled into a soft smile. “Hi.”
“Oh! I’m so happy this is finally happening,” Sophia exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
I grinned, and Peter looked a smidge self-conscious at his best friend’s enthusiasm. Nevertheless, I stretched up and pressed a kiss to his cheek, enjoying the way his gaze heated at the contact. “Want to go out somewhere tonight?” I asked him quietly.
“Sure, I’m not working,” he replied, caressing my cheek.
“We could go to a movie,” I suggested, and Peter nodded, pressing his mouth to mine. I was ridiculously excited about the prospect of going on a very normal date with him.
“So, what’s going to happen to Vasilios?” Sophia asked, breaking through my Peter haze. I turned to face her. My arms were still around his waist, and I felt him stiffen at the question. We hadn’t spoken about it since, but Peter certainly wasn’t pleased about why Vasilios had gone out of his way to get close to me. I didn’t blame him. If the roles were reversed, I would be jealous as hell. Not that Peter had anything to be jealous about. I’d rather pull my fangs out with a pair of plyers than ever lay eyes on the demon warlock again.
“He’s been charged with ordering Mr Williams’ murder, and his friend Sven has been charged with doing the actual killing, plus the attack on Angela. They also killed several vampires who they’d been influencing with their demon powers. My father said the Hawthorn Council had a vote last night. It’s been decided that they’ll each spend thirty years in the Prison of Thorns. When their time is up, they’ll be sent back to Oreylia and forbidden from ever travelling to this dimension again.”
“Thirty years,” Sophia said. “It almost doesn’t feel like enough for taking so many lives.”
“I’m just glad they’re out of our lives,” I said, tightening my arms around Peter.
“Yeah, me, too,” Sophia agreed. “I can’t believe I played chess with a killer.”
“You can tick that one off your bucket list,” Peter said with a hint of humour.
“Right, because that was a big ambition of mine,” Sophia chuckled.
Later on, Peter and I were walking hand in hand to Mrs Tanaka’s Clairvoyance class when we heard a commotion coming from the direction of Rebecca’s classroom. We shared a look and hurried to see what all the noise was about. The classroom door was slightly ajar, allowing us a glimpse inside. Rebecca stood by her desk, and Grace sat in the front row, a big shit-eating grin on her face.
“What did you just say to me?” Rebecca demanded.
“I said you’re a stuck-up bitch,” Grace shot back, and I frowned. Something about the interaction felt off, and then it hit me. This was their big ruse finally being played out. Grace was pretending to speak out of turn so that Rebecca could punish her, thus making it known that she wasn’t a teacher to be messed with.