The Culling Trials 3 (Shadowspell Academy #3)(29)

No way in hell was I getting kicked out. I doubted they’d have me back. And what would happen to Billy in that case? Would he be forced to come with me? The idea of going through the trials, trying to protect Billy at the same time, made my skin crawl and my stomach roll.

The next morning came slowly between fits of pain and nightmares I couldn’t escape no matter how far I ran in my dreams.

Shaky and determined, I boarded the last bus in the row, the one I’d been told my crew would be riding. There in the back, where Ethan normally claimed space for us, sat a hard-faced crew behind a douche who had either lied or kicked me when I was down. Because there was no way in hell he’d beat me fair and square. If he had, I’d never forgive myself.

Smirks and snickers followed me down the aisle, and if not for my headache and Jared’s threat, I would’ve distributed a dozen knuckle sandwiches.

Ethan glanced up as I made my approach, the seat next to him vacant, and a shadow crossed his deep blue eyes. His gaze hit my arm, then my thigh, before he glanced out the window.

“Well. Hello, master-at-arms,” I sat down beside him.

“Wild!” Pete pushed up in the seat behind me, concerned. “Are you okay? What really happened? Because no way could—”

I held up a hand to stop him. “Great question, Pete. Because the last memory I have is jumping to Ethan’s aid.”

It was a small lie, but I was going to roll with it.

Ethan’s face swung around, confusion marring his features.

“Jumping to my aid?” he said. “He wasn’t after me, he—” That shadow passed over his eyes again, something unsettled moving in their depths, before he turned away. “You shouldn’t try to pick fights with your betters, Wild. Now you know why.”

“Them’s fightin’ words,” Wally said in her deep Walter Cronkite voice.

I clenched my fist and leaned into him, so angry I could spit, no matter how disgusting it was. “You just corroborated my story in one sentence, then changed it to a bullcrap story in the next. Which is it?”

Ethan’s jaw clenched and he waved his hand, annoyed and frustrated. That made two of us.

“Just forget anything happened, Wild,” he said softly, for my ears alone. “Forget it, okay? This is bigger than us. Some people you just can’t mess with. I believe that. Just forget it, and we’ll get through the trials. That’s all we need to do right now. Everything else will work itself out.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” The bus shimmied to a start and the chatter around us raised in volume to compete with the motor. Our crew leaned in closer to hear Ethan and me arguing. “Those kids are still missing, and we were—are clearly on the right track. We can free them, I know it. Or at least find out who’s responsible for their disappearance.” Free them? Why had I said that? My head throbbed and I pinched the bridge of my nose, breathing through the pain.

Ethan’s face closed down again. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

I told him slowly, clutching at the foggy memories like a man with arthritis would a small gold coin. When I hit the part where Adam had told me to run, Wally sucked in a breath.

“That’s a threat, right?” she asked. “Is he behind all of this? We got nothing by following Jared, literally not a single clue. He just sat in the cafeteria reading a book.”

Ethan’s lips tightened and he minutely shook his head, looking away again. “Adam had Ethel’s memory ball. That’s it.”

More flutters of memory surfaced, about a conversation I’d had with Ethan. Something about an eyeball to open it… Next of kin…

“What’s the last thing you remember?” I asked him, the black hole in my memory scaring me a little, but more than the fear, it frustrated me to the point of tears. I had the key to unlock all of these mysteries, I could feel it, only it was lost in the swamp of blackness that was a time lapse.

…swamp of blackness crawling up his legs…

Ethan spoke over the flutter of memory, crushing it.

“I remember kicking your ass and stabbing you with Shade knives I could never have acquired on my own,” he murmured, so softly I wondered if I was half making up the words. The bus came to a stop and he shoved me out of the seat, something he could only do because I’d grabbed my head to stop the dull pounding. It didn’t work. “Let it go, Wild. Keep your eyes open and your ass down, or you’ll get everyone killed. That’s a warning from a friend.”

“Oh yeah, a friend?” I jabbed him in the ribs, following close behind him. “Since when are we friends?”

“Since never.” He hopped off the bus and walked toward the fifth and final gate. The House of Wonder. The magical house. Just like the House of Night, this gate clearly belonged to the House of Wonder. The metal was a brilliant silver accented with gold down long curving spindles that resembled a climbing rose that had been set in with cut red glass or rubies. I was suspecting those of his house wouldn’t allow mere glass to be used. But even the beauty and craftsmanship of the gate couldn’t detract from the situation at hand. Namely my memory loss.

“What’s going on with you two?” Orin said as he drifted to my side. “Things aren’t adding up. And Ethan is lying. I can smell it all over him.” Pete nodded and added a me too.