Supernatural Academy: Year One (Supernatural Academy #1)(42)

His dimples appeared, and my heart started to pound hard enough that I could hear it in my ears. “Maddison James, you’ve got a lot to learn.”

What the fuck did that mean?

He waved his hand and cleared the doorway.

“How do you do that?” I demanded.

His dimples disappeared along with his smile, but the twinkle remained in his eyes. “When we’re friends, I’ll tell you.”

A laugh escaped me, and with it came the knowledge that my anger toward him was more about my frustration with my own limitations, and only a little bit because of this insane attraction I felt toward him.

“When we become friends? What? We’re not friends yet?” I slammed my hand dramatically against my chest. “You’ve wounded me. I drew our initials in my friendship tree. I’m going to have to cut that entire branch down now.”

I strode past him, entering the doorway without an issue. Stupid Asher and his stupid magic abilities. He caught up, and I was thankful he didn’t mention my “friendship tree.” Some days I needed to just keep my mouth shut.

When we stepped onto the beach, sunlight streaming across my skin, warming me, I kicked off my flip-flops and ran toward the water. Everything about this place felt so real. From the whooshing crash of waves, to the seagulls in the distance, and the scent of briny water…

“For someone raised as a human,” Asher said, when we were both facing the water, “you’ve adapted remarkably well to the supernatural world.”

I shrugged, and a chuckle escaped. “I keep waiting to freak out, like all the weird here will eventually overwhelm me and I’ll wonder if I’ve lost my mind. But it never comes. I just get up and go out into this new crazy world and love every second of it. Is there something wrong with me? Should I be reacting in a different way?”

Asher stared out across the water. “Maybe you’ve just finally found a place to belong.”

My throat got tight, because he’d nailed it. Growing up with my fucked-up life, I’d always counted my blessings: I managed to avoid rape, choosing who I gave my body to; I managed to avoid selling myself, choosing to wait tables for stupid hours while living in crappy shoebox apartments; I managed to avoid gangs and violence, having no interest in saving the bad boy. I’d had more than a few friends over the years who’d tried to save the bad boy. All of them got dead, because some people are beyond saving.

So, all in all, I considered my upbringing a sad but not totally horrific set of circumstances. My scars were so much lighter than most people in the same life as me. But, having experienced this new world for less than a week, I felt the absolute depth of everything I’d been missing out on. It gave me a new determination; I was going to fight for this new life. Fight and win.

“Want to try the water thing again?” Asher asked, startling me from the darkness creeping through my head.

Swallowing roughly, I nodded. “Yes, let’s do it. My power was supposed to have been unlocked this morning, but Louis was delayed, so we’re still working with … one arm tied behind my back.”

“That’s okay. It didn’t seem to matter on Wednesday.”

Asher took a step forward, and as visible energy rose around him, a chill ran down my arms. When his bare feet hit the water, that chill increased, spreading across my torso and down my legs. “I’m going to try and use my energy to release some of yours,” Asher said slowly, his voice deeper, a stronger accent creeping in. “Water magic is in my blood. I can control this element in almost all ways, including but not limited to drowning someone with the very water in their bodies.”

That should have scared the shit out of me, because I knew next to nothing about this scary, enigmatic supernatural. I didn’t know if he was a good guy or one of those bad boys in need of saving. But … I wasn’t scared. I was enthralled and thrilled and trying my best not to step forward and drag my fingertips across his skin.

The draw … it had to be his magic. That was the only thing that made sense.

Asher lifted his arms and water rose with him, streaming around in whirls and arcs, following his command. Holymotherfuckingshit. Like … if I’d ever seen something sexier than that, I couldn’t recall it.

Asher started to talk, and it wasn’t in English.

“What—what does that mean?” I choked out as I stumbled closer, the water kissing the edge of my toes.

Asher grinned, those perfect white teeth almost predatory. “It means, get your ass in the water.”

A cool sensation licked across my feet and I almost sighed. The contrast from the heat of the sun to the icy water was delicious. The tingles were there again, but less forceful this time. Like they knew me now, and this was just a greeting. To get to Asher, I had to push through the whirls of water around him.

Now I understood why we needed a swimsuit. Stepping back to the sand, I shrugged out of the tights and shirt, checked my boobs were still behaving themselves in the top, and then strode forward. The bikini was not a skimpy one, no ass cheeks in sight, but still … I was quite exposed. This didn’t freak me out, but I was slightly uncomfortable.

Asher’s eyes locked on mine, and it might have been an illusion of the sun and water, but I thought the silver had almost completely melted through the green now. I was thankful that he didn’t rake his gaze across me, while also immediately wondering if maybe he thought my body wasn’t worth noticing. Yeah, I was a complicated mess.