Nathaniel pushed his way past us all and stepped into the solarium. He stood there in the empty space, looking all around, as if he was waiting for his things to magically reappear.
Feeling absolutely sick, I walked in, taking in the barren solarium.
I’d never thought of Nathaniel having that many things, but now that it was all gone, I realized it was more than enough to make it home for him. His bed was gone. His books were nowhere to be seen. The old leather couch had been hauled out as if it weighed nothing.
All that remained was an empty wood floor.
“What the hell?” Mary-Beth breathed out as she looked around. “They took…everything.”
“No,” I said, my blood growing hotter as I looked around. “I…I made Nathaniel invisible to the Society Boys. I made it so they would leave him alone. They…they shouldn’t have even been able to do this.”
“They didn’t do this to Nathaniel,” Borden said. His voice was heavy, his words low. “They did this because of me. Because I’ve been staying here for the last week.”
“James was supposed to stop them, if they were going to try to do anything against you,” I said, searching for any kind of reason, anything to make this all make sense. “He was supposed to interfere.”
“Anything could be the reason why, though,” Mary-Beth said. “He might not have been around for this. They might have tied him up and locked him in a closet. This is David Sinclair we’re talking about. He does what he wants.”
“I don’t even care about all of my stuff,” Nathaniel said as he walked toward the empty brick wall that once held his hand made bookshelf. “But my books…”
My blood ran cold. “Nathaniel, what books did we have here?”
He continued to stare at the wall while he considered what had been in the solarium, what had been in my mother’s office, and what was at mine or Mary-Beth’s place.
“The telekinesis book,” he said confidently. It was like his child, the first book he ever discovered. “The Coin of Compulsion. The healing book, and the weapons one.”
I breathed out a curse. Four books. They’d gotten four of our books, a huge portion considering the small number of them we had.
“We’ll get them all back,” Borden swore. “No matter what it takes. No matter what we have to do, we’ll get everything back, Nathaniel. I promise you.”
Overhead, a few raindrops fell from the sky.
Borden turned to walk out, but my hand whipped out and gripped him around the arm.
Black and red sparks fanned out with my hand, casting around Borden. And the second I touched him, he dropped to the ground.
Instantly, the rain outside stopped.
“Shit, Margot!” Mary-Beth yelled as she crossed the solarium and dropped on the floor next to him. “What the hell did you just do?”
I gaped, looking at my own hand, and the embers that slowly fell to the ground. “I…I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t…”
Nathaniel crossed to Borden as well, crouching to the ground. He pressed two fingers to his neck and was really still for a moment.
“He seems like he’s fine,” Nathaniel said. “Heartbeat is steady. I think he’s just unconscious. Just like before.”
“This has happened before?” Mary-Beth asked in horror.
“Like I said, there are some parts about all of this you’ve missed,” I said, my throat tight. I looked down at Borden, who laid there, his expression slack, laying in a heap.
“We probably shouldn’t stay here,” Nathaniel said as he looped his arms under Borden’s and straightened him out a bit so he wasn’t laying at such a painful angle. “If the Society Boys come back, we’re in no position for a confrontation. Not with you knocking people out, and not if Borden wakes up. We all need to cool down and make a plan.”
“Life was so easy and uncomplicated before you walked into my class,” Mary-Beth said as she looked over at me. “Come on, grab one of his legs.”
I didn’t argue. I stepped forward and grabbed one. Mary-Beth took the other, and Nathaniel hefted his top half.
Borden was heavier than he looked. He was only about an inch or two shorter than Nathaniel, but he probably outweighed Nathaniel by twenty pounds, maybe more. I’d never looked at Borden in anything more than a glance, but he was fit. Strong and lean, he was made of muscle and healthy meals. So, hauling him across campus was no easy feat.
We half dragged him across the grounds, and we were probably grinding off the seat of his pants as we made our way down the sidewalk toward my house. I opened the door to the house, and we dragged him up the stairs and dumped him unceremoniously on the floor.
Dad came clamoring down the stairs at the noise.
“What happened?” he asked, his eyes wide with panic.
“He’s fine, just unconscious,” Nathaniel explained.
“Was he attacked?” Dad asked as he crossed the living room and did exactly what Nathaniel did, putting his fingertips to his neck to feel for a pulse.
“I kind of might have accidentally knocked him out,” I said. “Like what happened on the beach that night. I’m sure he’ll wake up in an hour or two.”
My father looked up at me, his eyes questioning and narrowed. “Well, was he trying to attack you?”
I shook my head. “Like I said, it was an accident.”
“There was an incident,” Nathaniel said. “Borden was getting worked up and we were all a little nervous he might go and do something he would regret. Margot is telling the truth that she accidentally knocked him out. But she did diffuse the possibility of an altercation.”
“An incident?” Dad questioned.
“It looks like the Society Boys came and stole all of Nathaniel’s shit,” Mary-Beth said, never one to have much of a filter, no matter who she was around. “Like, literally everything.”
Dad turned wide, surprised eyes on Nathaniel.
“Is it alright if Borden and I sleep here tonight?” Nathaniel asked. “Borden has been staying with me for the last week.”
“Of course,” Dad replied without hesitation. “You’re always welcome, any night. Is there something I need to talk to Dean Lowell about, though? If the Boys are getting out of hand…”
“Yes,” I cried.
“No,” Nathaniel said calmly at the same time.
I glared at Nathaniel. His non-confrontational ways annoyed me at times.
“If it gets any worse, we will get the Dean involved,” Nathaniel said, still looking at me. “I believe the situation will blow over before long, and things can go back to normal.”
“Normal is them always being assholes and tormenting you, and causing hell for all of us,” I said, my anger flaring hotter. “What is it going to be next? Them, burning all of our books so we’re back at square one? They don’t even know what they’re doing to us, but they’re just making things worse and worse, Nathaniel. What is it going to take?”
He didn’t say anything as he held my gaze, and for once, I just wanted him to yell. To fight. To take this to action.
I knew his history. I knew what he was capable of.