Cold Burn of Magic(17)

There was too much blood on it for that.

So here I was, at school again, wondering which greasy dive I could lurk in this afternoon and checking my phone every five minutes in case Mo texted me. This was the last week of classes, and all that was left were a few lame, end-of-year activities, which I totally could have skipped. But I always came to school every day right up until the bitter end to hit the breakfast and lunch lines, where I swiped extra cookies and apples that I didn’t pay for and stuffed into my backpack to eat later.

The last bell of the day rang, and I was heading out the front door when my phone finally chirped with a message from Mo. I stopped in the hallway and looked at the screen.





Everything’s going to be okay. Don’t start a fight. Please





I sighed. Another cryptic message that told me absolutely nothing. I wondered who he thought I was going to start a fight with. Certainly not the rubes at school. I knew better than that. Oh, I could kick the ass of anyone stupid enough to mess with me. My mom had taught me to take care of myself—and then some. But a fight would mean a talk with my parents, and since I didn’t have any, that would lead to all sorts of awkward questions about why I wasn’t in foster care, where I lived, and other things that were best left to the imagination.

I waited, but Mo didn’t text me again. So I put the phone back into my pocket, pushed through the doors, and stepped outside into the bright sunshine.

I didn’t notice the SUV until I was almost at the sidewalk.

It crouched at the curb like an oversize beetle. Everything about it was black—black paint, black windows, black tires. The sort of car you see in action movies where government spooks use the vehicle to help them disappear people—forever.

But it was much, much worse than the government because a crest blazed on the front passenger door—a hand holding a sword aloft, all of it outlined in white. I might not have anything to do with them, but I still recognized the Sinclair Family crest.

I’d had my suspicions before, but I still bit back a groan. Of course it would be that Family. The only thing worse would have been if the Draconis had come for me.

A guy was leaning against the side of the SUV, his arms crossed over his muscled chest. His hair was a rich, golden blond and slicked back into a cool style, while his tan skin brought out his pale blue eyes. He was easily one of the most gorgeous guys I’d ever seen, and I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed him. All of the girls walking by paused to give him a hungry once-over, especially since he didn’t look all that much older than the students, maybe twenty or so.

Too bad he wasn’t alone.

He was flanked by Felix and an older man with snow-white hair who was wearing a three-piece black tweed suit. Silver cuffs flashed on all their wrists, and golden boy had a sword strapped to his waist. Felix straightened up the second he saw me and nudged golden boy with his elbow. Oh no.

It would look more suspicious if I bolted, so I kept going, falling in behind a group of football players. I reached the sidewalk and turned left, away from the SUV. I ducked my head and started walking in the other direction, not really running, but seriously thinking about it— A pair of boots planted themselves on the sidewalk, and I had to pull up to keep from slamming into the guy in front of me.

“In a hurry?” golden boy asked, smiling and revealing a dimple in his left cheek.

“You might say that.”

I started to step around him, but he blocked my path. I moved the other way, and so did he, cutting me off again. We did our dance a third time before he reached out, as though he were going to grab my arm. Handsome or not, I bared my teeth at him.

“You touch me, and I will knock you into next week.”

His eyebrows shot up, and his gaze flicked past me. Footsteps sounded behind us, and too late, I remembered his friends. I glanced over my shoulder. Sure enough, Felix and the older man had come up behind me. I backed up so that the four of us were standing in a loose circle, even though all of them were on one side with just me on the other.

“Yep, that’s her,” Felix said. “That’s the girl from the pawnshop. The one who saved Devon.”

I opened my mouth to tell him that he was wrong, when my phone buzzed.

“I imagine that’s your friend Mo, asking you to come along quietly,” the older man said, his rich, cultured voice tinged with an English accent. “Why don’t you look and see?”

Even more suspicious now, I backed up another step. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the message. Sure enough, it was from Mo.





Go with Reginald. Will explain more when I see you.





I glanced up at the three guys and texted him back.





You can’t be serious.

Go with Reginald. No fighting. Please





There was that stupid please again. But really, I didn’t have a choice. I could take out Felix, but golden boy and the older man looked like they would present more of a problem. Besides, I was already getting enough strange looks from the kids streaming by on the sidewalk. They might not have noticed me before, but I was very interesting now.

So I sighed and texted Mo back.





Fine. But if they murder me, it’s your fault.

Done!