Nightworld Academy: Term One(Nightworld Academy #1)(63)

As Ash turns his head to watch someone pass by, his rough cheek brushes mine and a sudden heat runs through my blood.

He relaxes and steps back, eyes fixed on the man walking along the hallway, away from the school hall. I draw in a breath as the invisible grip on me releases.

"Find Tessa and then we can all leave." He rubs his lips. "We need to get back to the academy. There could be others around."

"Then we stay in the school building." He frowns down at me. "Ash, they wouldn't kill someone in the middle of a high school."

"You don't know these people. If this guy is looking for me, there’s a reason. Find Tessa and the others." His eyes are dark as he looks after the man, not paying attention to me.

"Will you wait here?" I ask. "I think he’ll be back because there’s nowhere for him to go along there, apart from the toilets."

Ash gives a curt nod. "I’ll stop him if he tries to go into the hall."

"Even though he knows what you are?"

Ash tips his chin. "Especially because he knows what I am."

But as I walk away, Ash’s eyes are fixed on the guy’s retreating figure. Something tells me Ash may not be here when I return.





Chapter Thirty-Five





MAEVE



I straighten my wig before heading back into the dance hall. Amelia, Tessa and friends maintain their spot in the floor's centre. Amelia dances wildly and I touch her on the shoulder.

"The guy's here," I say when she turns.

Amelia nods and I turn to Tessa. "I need to leave soon. We have a long drive back to school. Ash says he can drive you home."

"It's okay," she calls back. "Bradley can."

Crap, we need to accompany her. "I could say hello to your parents while I’m in town."

She gawps at me. "My parents? Why?"

"Uh. I don't know. Tessa, please. Will you come home?"

She blows hair from her face. "Another half an hour? Come and dance."

Amelia's face glows with perspiration and the green make up slides down her cheeks.

The introduction to an older track we love, and always danced to in the past, plays and Tessa bounces up and down in excitement. Her request is a demand as she catches my fingers and drags me into the group. I'm not a great dancer, or in the mood, but I'm with Tessa and nobody nearby is a threat. One song won’t hurt.

Pulled into the moment, we move to the music, singing along to the lyrics. I'm filled with a happiness missing in my life recently, where the world is reduced to silly songs and good friends. A simple night that would end with ordering a pizza and heading home to sit up chatting and laughing.

No vampires, no hunters, and no blood.

I blink as stupid tears build behind my eyes and look upwards at the spotlight strobing in the mist. My vision blurs and I wipe at my eyes, but this isn't tears.

The ice-pick headache comes swiftly and the images as sudden.

I'm watching the scene with Jamie again, but this time he's somewhere different. Bodies jostle into me and I'm dragged from the sights and sounds around. He's unharmed, but I sense the danger around. There's no fog or blood, only Jamie standing outdoors somewhere.

I hold my fingers to my temples, forcing the vision to stay. Amelia touches my shoulder, but I focus on shutting her out, on giving myself wholly to the future. I follow Sophia's instructions and pull the vision around me like a blanket, willing this to be more than snapshots.

Instead of looking at Jamie, I focus on where he is. Lawn. Pathways. Bricks. He’s walking alongside a building. I attempt to place myself in the scene and glance from side to side, but the stupid images won’t expand outside of Jamie. Something's familiar, but I can't place my finger on what.

Jamie walks forward and people talk around him, but my vision refuses to show me who. He walks past a notice, pinned on a board that flutters in the breeze. A poster advertising a Halloween dance. I suck in a breath tasting the sweetness from the dry ice and focus harder on the surroundings I’m envisioning.

This is my old school.

This school.

Jamie steps into the dark and close by someone shouts out. A noise like thunder rips through the air.

"Maeve!" A voice yells in my ear and reality twangs back to me like an elastic band hitting me across the face.

I was closer to seeing what happened and almost had the answer. I almost shout at the person who disturbed me and Amelia protests at how hard I grab her, but when she meets my eyes her expression changes from annoyance to shock. I shake my head and pull her harder across the dance floor.

Tessa still in view, I stammer out what I saw.

"Jamie's here?" she gasps. "He can't be. Maybe what you’re seeing isn’t tonight."

"When else would it be? This all fits."

She blinks at me. "How? He wasn’t in the vision you had about tonight."

I rub my forehead and the realisation sinks into my stomach. What if this is all the same vision, and I’m not here because of Tessa. Is this where I see Jamie die? What if he followed us?

Amelia doesn't reply, merely looks at me in disbelief.

"We need to take Tessa to Ash then find Jamie."

"If he’s here, Amelia." She wipes perspiration from her brow. "Where's Andrei?"