Cruel Magic (Royals of Villain Academy #1)(5)

I couldn’t wrap my head around most of that. Dad had brought Squeak home from one of his stints at the hospital, saying she’d belonged to a kid there he’d failed to save whose parents hadn’t known what to do with the pet. He’d asked if I’d mind looking after her for a bit while he found a permanent home, and I’d ended up enjoying the little animal’s company so much I’d told him I’d keep her.

“My parents knew?” I said quietly.

The deal was that I’d watch out for you and signal them if you needed help.

“You called yourself a ‘joymancer.’” I hadn’t heard that term before.

That’s what we all call ourselves—the mages who take our magic from joy. I take it your parents never told you about the other kind. The ones that grabbed you are fearmancers. The same way we draw on happiness to power our spells, they draw on terror. As you’ve already seen, that leaves them with a pretty warped sense of morality.

Fearmancers. A cold shiver ran down my back. Mom and Dad had never said anything about other kinds of mages. I’d never even met any of their colleagues under the Conclave.

I forced myself to keep my voice low. “Why would these fearmancer people want me?”

I’m not sure, Squeak/Deborah said. But I do know where they’re taking you. They were talking about it while you were out on the plane. You’ve been down for the count for hours. They brought us on a private jet to an airfield in what I’ve gathered is northern New York. This is just the last step of the journey.

“A journey to where?”

The fearmancers have a school where they teach all their awful practices. The Conclave has known about it for a long time, but they keep it well-hidden enough that we’ve never been able to shut it down. They’ve got some fancy name for the place, but most of the time we just call it Villain Academy. A lot more accurate, in my humble opinion.

Villain Academy. Another chill trickled through me. “I still don’t get it. Why are they bringing me anywhere at all? I’m not even a mage. I’m just a Nary.”

Deborah made a sound like a sigh. Oh, Lorelei. Your parents really should have told you that part. The thing is—

The limo jerked to a stop. Deborah froze and then scurried down under the collar of my T-shirt to hide beneath the fabric on my back.

My pulse raced as my captors stepped out of the vehicle. Someone opened the door by my head with a rush of cool damp air. No, this definitely wasn’t a California April anymore.

I narrowed my eyes to slits. A shadow fell over me. “We can’t bring her in like this. Ashgrave, wake her up.”

There was a pause, and then a low measured voice I recognized said, “She’s already awake.” Feet shifted against the ground outside as the familiar speaker crouched next to my seat.

“Hey,” he said in the same gentle tone he’d used in my parents’ kitchen. “I know you’re probably really confused, but we’re here. You just need to come inside, and we’ll get everything sorted out.”

Sorted out? Were they going to sort out the way they’d murdered my parents? The fact that they’d kidnapped me and dragged me from one end of the country to the other?

But the young guy with the gentle voice and the striking face hadn’t carried out the killings. He’d sounded like he wanted to help me. Maybe not everyone here was a total villain.

And in any case, he could clearly tell I was faking.

I eased myself upright as if I’d only just woken up. The guy’s black hair was a little rumpled from the trip, but his face was still as stunning and his eyes as brightly alert as before. He offered me a little smile with perfect cupid’s bow lips. “Let’s go. The headmistress is waiting for you—she’ll explain everything.”

I wouldn’t mind a few explanations, but I wasn’t in any hurry to go anywhere with a bunch of villainous mages. I didn’t feel all that safe in the limo, though.

The guy backed up as I scooted forward. I stepped out onto the smooth asphalt of a parking lot. Immediately, the cool air raised goosebumps on my bare arms. I wasn’t dressed for northern weather, especially now that the sun was sinking low.

A couple spots away from the limo, a posh gunmetal gray sedan was parked. The other figures around me must have arrived in that. All six of the creeps—the fearmancers—who’d stormed in on my parents stood around me, watching.

Directly beyond the sedan lay a field framed by a dense forest that wrapped around to my left. The road my captors must have driven up veered away between the trees there. That was my chance at escaping.

To my right, a massive stone building loomed, looking like the illegitimate offspring of a medieval castle and a Victorian manor house. Turrets jutted here and there, their windows shuttered. A gargoyle hunched over the arched front doorway. Um, yeah, I’d rather not set foot in there, if I had a choice in the matter.

The trouble was, I didn’t think I had any choice at all.

“Why am I here?” I said. “What do you want with me?”

The fearmancer who’d killed my parents stirred impatiently on his feet. “As he said, Ms. Grimsworth will do the explaining. That’s how she wanted it.”

I guessed what I wanted didn’t figure into his plans. I glanced toward the road again, and his underlings tensed around him.

I’d be kidding myself if I tried to pretend I wasn’t generating plenty of fear to fuel their magic with every thud of my heart. I’d seen how easily the one man had slaughtered Mom and Dad. If I made a run for it, what were the chances I’d even make it across the parking lot before they caught me?