I smiled up at Lorna. “Oh my God, you did it! It worked!”
“Of course I did it.” She cocked an eyebrow. “My spells never fail.” She turned to Mila. “It was a good thing you called me, and not Hamelin. He would’ve fucked this one up for sure.”
Mila laughed. “Klaus is a great mage. He’s just lazy.”
“Wait, did you say Hamelin?” I stood up, my hand already reaching into the pocket of my uniform blazer. I found Corri’s bell, and under it, the piece of paper Lucien had given me. “Of course! How can I be so stupid? Klaus Hamelin is your friend!”
Lorna scrunched up her nose. “Well, he’s more of an acquaintance to me.”
I pulled the paper out and unfolded it. “The angel who found me and patched me up in Heaven gave me this list of names. Maybe you can look over it, Lorna. These are the mages who performed the ritual that opened portals all over the world and let the cosmic spawns in.”
“Oh.” She took the paper and read the names. “Yep. I know all of them. But these guys… are dead.”
“Yes, I know. I have to find their descendants.”
“Huh. My name’s not here.” I couldn’t tell whether she was disappointed or relieved. “I would’ve thought the Chiaramontes were involved.”
Mila stepped closer to look at the list over her shoulder. “Maybe they were smart and knew that going against God’s word and helping the angels wouldn’t end well. I think you should be proud of your ancestors. They weren’t all as hot-headed as you are. Oh, look! Castegny is on the list.”
“Castegny?” I asked, confused.
“You don’t remember Merrit Castegny?” Mila laughed. “He fought with us in the Great Hall of Life and Death. He’s a Violent Reaper. Still a bit of a jerk.”
“So, you guys are friends with two of the descendants? Wow. This is great. This is going better than I thought.”
“I know all of them,” Lorna said. “My family has connections.” She folded the paper and gave it back to me. “Do you want me to talk to them?”
“Yes, please.”
“What do you want me to tell them?”
I thought for a second. What did I want her to tell them? Yes, the stars would be aligned right in approximately thirteen months, but I still felt like we were running out of time. It didn’t make sense to beat around the bush.
“The truth. Tell them the truth.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It was taking Lorna some time to get in touch with all the descendants of the original mages. It was the night of the Yule Ball, and I still hadn’t heard from her. I hadn’t been in the mood to go shopping for a dress, so I let Corri choose one and bring it to me. That was how I ended up dressed in a beautiful blue and silver gown, with matching high heels and long, white silver gloves. The cast had come off a week before, and my arm was perfectly healed, albeit a tad tender. It was a good thing I could maneuver my scythe with my left hand as well. Having my right arm broken had been a blessing in disguise. I had the perfect excuse to not take notes in class, which meant that for the rest of the first semester, I’d been pretty absent. Physically absent at the beginning, and mentally absent at the end. My grades were better, since I was a natural, apparently. But my worth score was still kind of in the gutter. That was mostly because the professors didn’t like that I could skip almost an entire semester and still catch up with their other students. They took revenge on me whenever they felt like it. I didn’t care. As long as Headmaster Colin kept me around, I was fine. I wasn’t sure why he did it because he could’ve suspended me countless times, but he wanted me at the Academy, and he was really stubborn about it, too.
As usual, the dining hall had been turned into a ball room. Just like last year, I was put at the table with Hayley, Silene, and their parents. Corri was as excited as ever, taking small bites from everything – fruits, cakes, cookies. Since the staff didn’t have plates and cutlery for her size, she materialized them out of nowhere and proceeded to help herself. Honestly, I was here for the same thing – the food, the music, and some company. The four cabals had prepared a demonstration with scythes and teleportation, but I wasn’t going to participate this time. I got out of it by telling Silene my arm didn’t feel great. She understood. The truth was that I was done with all of it. I was done with the classes, the tests, the parties and balls. I was here because Yig was here, and because the Academy seemed to be the place where I could fulfill my destiny. It was one piece of the puzzle, and I intended to use it without allowing it to use me.
“I can’t believe you came to the ball alone,” Hayley teased.
“What do you mean?”
She motioned at one of the VDC tables. I stole a quick glance and saw Davien drinking me in. I smiled.
“Oh. We’re not a thing.”
“Really? After what you said to Domina? I don’t believe you.”
I shrugged. “So, we hang out sometimes, but that doesn’t mean we’re together.”
“Come on.” She pouted. She turned and motioned at another VDC table. “What about Seth? Even Professor Maat knows there’s something between you, and since she basically lost you in Heaven, she accepted it.”
“Yeah, she’s not giving me a hard time anymore. But she’s wrong. Seth and I aren’t a thing either.”
She rolled her eyes. “Domina and Professor Maat are both out of the way. Seth is free of Cleo, no one is bothering you anymore, so what gives?”
“I’m just not in the right headspace for relationships right now. Can’t a girl have fun without having so many expectations thrown at her?”
Hayley looked at me for a long minute, trying to decide how she felt about that.
“You know what? You’re right. Yes.” She leaned in to whisper in my ear. “You don’t have to date them if fucking them is enough.”
“Hayley!”
Her parents hadn’t heard a thing. They were human, so they didn’t have an acute hearing like most supernaturals. But I had the impression that Silene’s parents had heard Hayley and were pretending they hadn’t. Silene shot me an annoyed glance and shook her head at me. I smiled apologetically. The demonstrations began, and the Violent Death Cabal was first, as usual. I asked Corri to give me another piece of chocolate cake, since she could do it without using a knife, and watched Davien and Seth perform beautifully while eating my chocolate slice one spoonful at a time. The choreography was interesting. The boys danced a bit, swung their scythes, pretended to battle, then they started teleporting in various places in the room, and back on stage again. All the cabals had probably come up with something similar. I soon got bored and only focused on my guys.
They were both dressed in expensive tuxedos. Seth was slightly taller than Davien, as sphinxes usually were compared to pretty much any other supernatural. While Seth had combed his hair back, Davien hadn’t done much to tame his red locks. I had a feeling he hated hair products because his hair was always so sexily disheveled.