Descendants Academy: Young Adult Urban Fantasy, Belle Malory [motivational novels for students .txt] 📗

This should be fun.

My small hiccups at this school had just turned into atomic bombs.

20

The office was small, full of unpacked boxes, and smelled of fresh paint. I sat in the cushioned chair behind the desk, images of that awful creature still replaying in my mind. I couldn’t believe it. An actual flesh and blood monster chased after me. This was enough to give me nightmares for weeks.

“Where did the chimera come from?” Grandpa said, sounding more panicked than he let on before.

“No idea.” I turned over an empty picture frame, working to steady my trembling hands. I was still in shock, but I tried to hide it. If I were alone, I would have locked myself inside a closet, curled up into a ball, and cried for hours. But Grandpa knew I was already having a hard time in this new life. It was better that he saw me maintain my composure, and that he believed I could handle the worst possible scenarios.

Xander walked inside, shutting the door behind him. “It was there to kill Sheridan,” he said, sounding pretty shaken himself. “Every time I got in its path, or tried to block it, the chimera kept going after her.”

A shiver ran down my spine. Someone must’ve spelled it to come after me. Ione and I were on good terms now, but even if we weren’t, I doubted she would try to kill me. She proved she didn’t have it in her when she held that knife to my throat.

“I thought I told you to stay away from this one,” Grandpa said, nodding toward Xander.

“You did, but the guy keeps showing up when I’m in a tight spot, so it’s kind of nice having him around.”

Grandpa crossed his arms over his chest, mustache twitching. “Excuse me?”

“Apparently, we’re secret allies or whatever.” I rotated the metal globe on Grandpa’s desk. “I’m sure your military background can appreciate that.”

Xander shook his head. “Now you’re okay with keeping our friendship under wraps?”

“I said allies, not friends.” That was an important distinction, as far as I was concerned. “You saved my ass twice now, so I guess I’m kind of in your debt.” Then to Grandpa, I explained, “He was the one who freed me from the net.”

“I see.” His face grew redder by the second. “I forbid any kind of relationship. Friendship, alliance—doesn’t matter. This boy was the bane of my career at MEM. He’s untrustworthy, he’s a liar—”

“I am many things, sir, but a liar is not one of them.” Xander stood straighter, his face full of hard lines. “And just because I couldn’t give you what you wanted doesn’t make me untrustworthy.”

Grandpa pointed his finger at him. “Three years,” he growled. “I spent three goddamn years searching for you, tirelessly. Your mother came to see me every week, her eyes bloodshot and circled, because she couldn’t sleep. Then you suddenly appear, alive and well, but you refuse to speak—”

“Stop this,” Xander said, turning away.

“You refuse to say where you were or who you were with. No answers, no explanations, ever.”

“You’re one to talk, Grandpa,” I said, snorting. “You and Dad didn’t explain anything about our own family history before dumping me in this school. A little hypocritical, wouldn’t you say?”

“Sheridan, stay out of this,” he snapped, before continuing to attack Xander. “The next thing I know, you’ve transferred to House Ares, pretending everything is just peachy. And your poor mother is in so much shock she ends up in that institution—”

“I said stop!” The rage in Xander’s voice rivaled that of any true Ares descendant. He glared at my grandfather, eyes glassy, his hands curled into fists at his sides. For a second, I thought it might come to blows, but then Xander surprised us both. “Let’s settle this, once and for all. Give me an ollodipher, and you’ll finally have your precious answers.”

I wasn’t sure what an ollodipher was, but it must’ve been important, because my grandfather’s expression turned from anger to astonishment. “You’re serious?”

Xander nodded. He went to the chair on the other side of Grandpa’s desk and sat, turning over his arm. “To be clear, I’m doing this for her.” His gaze settled on me. “She has questions, and she needs to believe I’m telling her the truth.”

“What does this have to do with Sheridan?”

“Everything,” Xander breathed out. “Now give me the damned ollodipher before I change my mind.”

Grandpa nodded, then rushed around the room, searching through tins and cans until he found the right one. “Aha, here it is.” He pulled out a single green leaf.

Huh. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but based on Grandpa’s reaction, it certainly wasn’t a harmless looking plant.

He set the leaf on the inside of Xander’s wrist. It expanded and grew, its vines wrapping around Xander’s arm in a crisscross motion, around his elbow, his biceps, and then circling once around his neck before stopping.

“Anyone want to fill me in?” I said, looking between the two of them.

“It keeps me from lying or trying to escape during interrogation,” Xander said, stretching his neck uncomfortably. “It tightens when you lie or move, cutting off your blood supply. I’d lose the arm.”

I crinkled my nose. “Sounds fun. We should all wear them.”

Apparently getting this close to death ramped up my sarcasm, which was wasted since no one appreciated it at the moment.

Grandpa added, “Its poison also loosens the wearer’s tongue, kind of like an enchanted truth serum. They were outlawed after World War 2. Some nonsense about their methods being too extreme, but the school allows me to keep one for academic purposes.”

“This isn’t an academic purpose, Grandpa.”

He ignored that, of course.

“Don’t expect me to answer questions I don’t want to, Professor Thorne,” Xander warned, his back ramrod straight against the chair. “I’ll answer the ones you and Sheridan need to know, and that’s all.”

Grandpa’s lips thinned, but he didn’t argue. “Let’s see what you have to say then. Where were you those three years you went missing?”

Damn.