Supernatural Academy: Year One (Supernatural Academy #1)(69)

Rone shifted forward in his chair. “I escaped.” His voice could have frozen the pool it was that cold. “I was six years old, and I survived until the guys found me two years later. They were camping near Russia, in this huge forest, and they stumbled on my cave. My Atlantean blood called to them, and they came to find me.”

I could only imagine the things he had to do to survive at such a young age.

“They saved me,” he finished gruffly. “And I’m loyal to them, and only them.”

“I get that,” I told him, not even caring if he bit my head off for it. “My mother was an ice addict. She sold herself to the highest bidder just to get her next hit. She tried to sell me as well, but I was able to escape each time. Pretty sure it was my supe side influencing the human men. That was the only thing that saved me. She died when I was seventeen, and I’ve been on my own since then. Working dead-end jobs, because they don’t ask questions. Ilia finding me changed my life in ways I can’t even express.”

The air was heavy, charged with strong emotions, and I hated the mix of sympathy and anger across the faces around me. “How about that swim?” I said, changing the conversation. “I’ve reached my emotional limit.”

“Thank fuck.” Rone jumped to his feet. He moved so fast, diving into the water before I could blink.

Pushing my chair back, I ditched my sundress and was heading toward the pool when Calen sprinted around the table and yanked me up into his arms. “Put me down,” I shouted, smacking his shoulder.

He just grinned. “Gladly.”

He threw me so far into the pool that I almost landed in the middle. As the water closed around me, I opened my eyes and let my sight adjust. I hadn’t done that yesterday with Asher because it was dark and I was somewhat drunk. But today, today I was back to my normal self, and I wanted to really feel the water.

Not only was it crystal clear under here, but I could sense various elements of the water itself. Like, it was salty, and not in the normal way of chlorine salt, but something that was much closer to the ocean. It was the cleanest pool I’d ever been in, with almost no chemical residue.

It felt like silk on my skin. How could I not have noticed this last night?

Asher, Jesse, and Axl appeared in the water around me. All of them circling closer. They were probably wondering what I was doing under here, just floating in the middle of the pool like a weirdo. But … then again, maybe they understood. If I was Atlantean, then these five were literally the only supes in this school who would understand.

Kicking gently, it took me a second to reach the surface and pop my head out. I wasn’t short of breath as I treaded water. “You have to be Atlantean,” Axl said the moment his head popped up next to me; his hair looked darker as it slicked back off his face. “I’ve never seen anyone just hover in the water like that except those descended from our people.”

“What line are you from?” I asked him.

“Jervania,” he said without hesitation. “Most of us are Jervania, except Jesse and Asher who are Corpinicus. You’re the only one we’ve ever met who might be Sonaris.”

“Yeah, most of Sonaris went down with the ship,” Jesse added, swimming closer. “They tried to save the land but perished before they could.”

I pressed my lips tightly together, working through my emotions. “I might not be Atlantean. I mean, my blood is saying no, so the magic user and fey thing … maybe it means something else. I mean, the magic fey mix that the Atlanteans were, that had to have died out many centuries ago. So how? I’m twenty-two. I’m definitely not from original Atlantis.”

The Atlanteans that existed now were diluted bloodlines, with different races mixed in. Only Asher showed signs of magic user and fey skills, and still not like what they’d seen in me.

Asher’s expression was closed off. “We can’t discount anything yet. You have the same affinity for water that we do. An affinity that drew the five of us together and has drawn me to you as well. We’ll figure it out, Maddi. There’s an answer close by, I can feel it.”

Part of me hoped he was right, because I was big enough to admit it…

I wanted to be Atlantean.





The more time I spent immersed in this world, the faster time passed. After my weekend hanging with the guys, I was a regular visitor to their house, and it was starting to feel like a second home to me. Nothing sexual happened between Asher and me again, with alone time rare, and somehow we fell into a friendship that was both fraught with sexual tension and teetering on the edge of inappropriate.

It was driving me crazy, but I hardly had any time to think about it.

There was always something happening in this school.

March 3, we had the vampire holiday, Fang Day. They hunted in the forests around the school, and I was warned not to leave the main part of the Academy in case one of them mistook me for food. Larissa was so excited that I almost wished I could go with her.

“You hate to hunt though,” I said when she expressed her glee. “You barely drink blood from a glass.”

She laughed. “Oh, I don’t hunt, but it’s just nice to have a day with my dad where he’s not working. Running this school is like three full-time jobs, and I love that he does it so well, but Fang Day is our daddy-daughter date.”

I sighed. “That’s maybe the cutest, creepiest thing I’ve ever heard.”