Chapter 66

Because Melanie is studying to be a necromancer, she shares evening and night classes with vamps and other nocturnal students. Something I didn't think I could ever do. I used to believe vampires were the worst supernatural beings and I blamed them for so much. Now I am missing one and two ghosts.

It feels like something is locked in my chest that will only release when I see them. When I can hug them and assure myself that they are all right.

Jezza and I weave through the halls to Melanie's dorm room.

I knock on Melanie's door and it swings open. My friend stands there with her hair looking a mess. The blue streaks are tangled, and one side hair is matted to her head. Her eyes are rimmed red and bloodshot.

"Oh my God, what happened?" Jezza asks.

Melanie steps aside and waves us into her room and then closes the door behind us.

"I failed. Can you believe that?"

“Oh, Melanie, I’m so sorry.” I hug her and Jezza does the same. We stand there holding onto Melanie until she pulls away and sniffles.

She flops onto the bed in a heap and Jezza and I sit on the side, facing her.

"How do you know so fast?" I ask. Sure, in the human world we have testing over computers and seconds for grading, but here at Hollowheaven Academy, the only computers are what students bring on their own and a few in the library.

Melanie throws an arm over her eyes. “The stone turned green and no one else even got a worse color. Can you believe that? Not even Bryce or Sophia and they never study. I’m an utter failure.”

“No, you’re not.” Jezza pats her calf. “You’re just tired from all the excitement about the wraith and everything.”

Guilt curls in my gut. If not for me and my troubles tracking down Gwen to get the prism back, Melanie would have had more time to focus on her schoolwork.

“Can you have a retest?” I ask, picking at a loose thread on her blue and black bedspread.

“Yeah, but it’s with Mrs. Maize and she’s always so snooty.” Melanie clicks her tongue ring against her teeth. “But necromancy is hard. It’ll be a ding on my record and even if I score a perfect one hundred, it won’t raise my grade past seventy.”

“That sucks. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to y—”

“Brene punched Gwen,” Jezza says in a conspiratorial tone.

“What?” Melanie yanks her arm off her face and sits up. “You have to tell me everything.”

I look over at Jezza who nods approvingly. Normally I don’t like violence, but Gwen has a way of bringing it out in me. I relay to Melanie about punching my nemesis in the nose.

“I wish I would’ve been there to see that. I bet she freaked out.”

“She recovered quickly.” I shrug, remembering how Lance my ex-human boyfriend had defended her and acted like I was the bully. Then how Gwen offered me an olive branch by telling me the prism was lost in the leylines.

“You found them?” Melanie squeals.

“Yeah.” I slide the amethyst prism between us. “Any idea how to get them out?”

She picks it up and stares at it, turning it this way and that. “Have you tried any spells?”

I shake my head, practically holding my breath as she squints at the prism.

“What about your wand?” Jezza turns to me. “A homemade one will heighten any spell.”

I pat my back pocket but feel nothing. “Oh no, I lost it.” I frown, trying to recall when I had it last. “I took it into the leyline with me to fight the wraith, but it didn’t work against him. I had it with Jacques later—”

“Who is that?” Melanie asks.

“Her vampire ghost lover,” Jezza coos.

I don’t even try to deny it because if shouting that I want Jacques and the others back would make my wish would come true, then hand me a megaphone.

“Really?” Melanie’s teal eyes widen, and she runs a hand through her tangled, blue-streaked hair.

“That’s not important.” My blush heats my whole face. “We need to get them out of there and I think Ben can help me bring Jacques out of the collapsed leyline too.” If it isn’t too late. I squeeze my eyes shut briefly, pushing aside the ache that burns a hole in my gut. I can’t think like that or I’ll fall apart.

Somehow… someway… all of this has to work out. Tragedy has dogged me nearly all of my life. It’s time for a little happiness, damn it. I wipe away my tears and open my eyes. Both Jezza and Melanie look away quickly.

“Hey, it’s late.” Melanie offers after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. “How about we go to sleep and then tomorrow hunt for your wand and a way to get your ghosts out?”

I nod, woodenly, but feel empty inside. How am I supposed to sleep without knowing Ben, Kiarr, and Jacques are safe? I take the prism back and after saying goodnight to both Jezza and Melanie, I head to my room.

No way am I leaving the prism alone. In my room, I empty my backpack, then wrap the prism in a sweater and stuff it inside. I grab a flashlight and leave my dorm.

Around the corner, Headmaster Walsh is speaking in hushed tones to Headmistress Decan and my pulse races. If they spot me then they’ll make me go back to my room. No one except vamps and weres are allowed outside after dark.

I shuffle backward and lean against the wall, hoping they don’t notice me. After a few seconds and no one marching this way or saying my name, I peek around the corner again, but they are still there.

Time for Plan B. I tiptoe down the hallway, cursing my squeaky tennis shoes. My heart is beating so loud I think it’s going to break out of my ribcage. My ears strain for every sound and it’s not until I push outside that my shoulders relax.

I flip on the flashlight and walk down to the cemetery. When I was with Jacques in the leyline, I had my wand in my pocket. It must have fallen out when I landed on this side of the leyline. At least that is my hope.

The flashlight barely lights a circle in front of me as I cross the stone walkway leading down to the angel statue. A crescent moon hangs overhead and the scent of grass, granite, and something else I can’t place tickles my nose. The wing that broke off when the leyline crashed is still laying on the ground. I sweep the flashlight’s beam back and forth across the grass.

Please let it be here. It felt like it took me forever to make the wand the first time. My heart presses into the back of my throat because I remembered Ben and Kiarr being with me when I picked the yew branch for my wand.

Where is it, where is it? I search all around the statue, including around the grave I had landed on when Jacques threw me out of the leyline.

“Lookie what we found here, Sullivan.” Mercier stalks out from behind a huge oak tree. “A frightened little rabbit.”

The other werewolf walks beside his friend, both of them leering at me daring me to run.

And my heart sprints in my chest.