Enzo looked past me to where Bane was still stood in the middle of the kitchen and raised a brow before moving aside. “Might I ask the purpose of this hobbling?”

  “To get away from me,” Bane muttered. “As you damned well suspected, Assassin.”

  Enzo’s eyes were impassive as he stared between us. “Then maybe you should save her the trouble and leave first, Wraith.”

  I frowned. “No. I need to do this. I have to go back to school in two days.”

  “Then bind them to your back,” Enzo said, pulling me closer into him to keep me steadier.

  “Excuse you?” I looked at Enzo like he’d grown a second head.

  “The problem with your balance is that they’re flapping everywhere, it’s also what will get them noticed at Vice. If you bind them to your back, you can hide them under a shirt, and it should just feel like wearing a rucksack.”

  I wanted to smack myself in the head for being so dumb.

  “Of course, that will just hobble you the next time the Strange God decides to make them grow as a sign of his approval,” Enzo continued blithely, pulling a teacup out of thin air as he stared off into space. “I mean, assuming he doesn’t make your horns any bigger… But if we’re doing the smart thing and comparing your horns and wings to the proportions seen on imps, I’d say your horns are about the same size…”

  I could see what he meant, Onyx and Ivory were dwarfed by their wings when they extended them, in comparison mine looked almost like part of a cutesy child’s Halloween costume.

  “If the horns get any bigger I won’t be able to move my head,” I grumbled. I was getting accustomed to their weight far quicker than I was to the wings on my back, but I definitely didn’t want them to grow any more. “But I’ll practise with the wings till I get to Vice. I would rather have them under control before I get back…”

  Chapter 30

  Of course, they weren’t under control by the time Monday morning rolled around. Although I could walk with them normally after two days of practice, my wings still fluttered and flicked around like crazy things when they weren’t hanging from my back, limp with exhaustion.

  “Even if I bind them, everyone will notice come combat class tomorrow,” I moaned as Nelly sat behind me on the bed, examining the membranes with curiosity.

  “They will,” she confirmed. “Perhaps it would be better to get it all over with at once, the stares from the extra pair of horns and the wings?”

  “But what do I do about the uniform?” I raked my eyes over the blazer on the hanger in my wardrobe. “I’ve been wearing racerback tanks since I got them but, obviously, that won’t work.”

  “I can fix that.” As usual, Rina didn’t even bother knocking before she strolled into my room, but she did pause seeing my wings out and rustling. “Eek, did they have to look like bat wings? Bird wings would have been way prettier. Bats are just creepy.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, because the problem here is not that I have wings, but rather that they’re not the prettiest kind.”

  “I like them better,” Nelly argued, distractedly. “Humans gave bird wings to prissy do-gooder angels in their mythology. Bat wings are more bad-ass.”

  But Rina ignored her in favour of striding up to my uniform, withdrawing a pair of scissors as she went.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded in horror as she cut a huge vertical line up one side of the back, then repeated the process on the other side.

  “Creating slots for your wings,” she explained, dropping the scissors, pulling off her ever-present gloves, and plucking a needle from her bag. “I’ll stick buttons on your shirts, so they can fasten around them, but the blazer can just stay open at the bottom.” The rate at which she was stitching was a little intimidating, but I let her get on with it.

  “I guess that means I’m showing them off,” I muttered, trying to draw both wings in. “I wish they’d just stay still!”

  “They’re probably responding to your movements.” Nelly tracked each flutter with her gaze. “You’ve not stopped fidgeting since you got back. I’ll bet your wings are just adjusting like they would if you were moving. If you learned to use them properly they’d probably help you move faster.”

  I hadn’t noticed the fidgeting, but the moment Nelly pointed it out I froze, and my wings miraculously followed suit. Whilst I was in the Paris apartment with my mates I’d worked on keeping the wings in place rather than letting them droop toward the ground, but this was the first time that they actually stayed still.

  “You’re a genius,” I said, looking over my shoulder at the talons.

  “I know I am.” Rina grinned, holding up my shirt. “Now put this on so I know where to put the buttons.”

  I rolled my eyes and snatched the shirt from her. “I’m just thankful my bras still fit around them,” I muttered, quickly sliding into the shirt and turning so Rina could get behind me and do whatever she needed to do. “Ouch!” I flinched away at a sudden pain in my back.

  “Don’t be a baby, it was just a pin,” Rina scoffed.

  I rolled my eyes… “Thanks for this,” I reluctantly admitted. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  “Wandered into the main hall wearing just a bra,” Rina snorted. “That would have made breakfast more entertaining.”

  “Breakfast will be entertaining enough as it is… But I can’t hide from it, I learned that when I first got my horns, the only way to survive is to act like none of it bothers me.”

  Nelly nodded. “At least you’ve had practice.”

  Inwardly, I somewhat agreed with her. Having tiny horns was certainly going to feel like a practice run in comparison to walking into the hall with wings and four horns. But I somehow doubted that any kind of practice would make this morning any easier.

  “Done,” Rina announced, handing me my blazer. “Let’s get this freakshow rolling.”

  Nelly smacked her upside the head. “Don’t listen to her, Lilith.”

  Aeron strode through my door, and I began to wonder if anyone ever bothered knocking anymore.

  “Ready, Baby Girl?” he asked, yellow eyes sparkling in the light from the window.

  I nodded, trying to act more confident than I felt as I grabbed my bag and strode towards him, greeting him with a gentle kiss.

  “You look gorgeous.” He smiled against my lips, sweeping me out of my room and into the corridor.

  “She looks late,” Rina corrected, pulling her gloves back on as she and Nelly followed us out of the room.

  “Late is fashionable.” Lulu seemed to appear out of thin air. “Sorry, Lilith, I got caught up…”

  “How are Hadrian and Dorian?” I smirked, before my eyes zoomed in on a little mark on her neck. “Is that a hickey?”

  “I don’t want to know!” Aeron rolled his eyes and steered me down the stairs.

  “Maybe I do! Maybe I want a hickey too!” I laughed at his discomfort.

  “Well I’m not asking Professor McKinnax for tips!” Aeron grumbled.

  “You really should.” Lulu sighed dreamily, staring off into space.

  Rina made gagging noises behind us and I smiled at the normality of it all. Her presence triggered my memory of Fintan asking about a red-haired Tester and I glanced speculatively at her.

  “Rina, do you know a man named Fintan?” I asked.

  “Not this again,” Aeron grumbled. “No one else even knows who he is, Lilith. Are you sure you didn’t just imagine him?”

  “How did I get the key to my cuffs if I imagined him?” I protested, clinging to the one thing that proved I wasn’t making things up.

  He shrugged. “You have a point there,” he admitted. “But according to you he spoke with both you and Bane, yet my brother remembers nothing…” At my angry look he raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not calling you a liar, I’m just saying it’s strange.”

  “Who is this guy you’re talking about?” Rina demanded. “And why would I know him?”

  “He’s an Incubus and a Tester, asked if I knew another Tester with red hair before he gave me the key to my handcuffs.”

  Rina paled. “Another Tester who works for the Syndicate?”

  “Yeah, he had a kind of Nordic accent and really pale hair. He didn’t seem like he was there willingly.”

  Rina shook her head slowly, but she still looked like she’d seen a ghost. “No, I don’t know anyone like that.”

  I sensed that wasn’t all of it, but I let the subject drop, mostly because we were approaching the castle, and although we were late we weren’t the only ones, and the stares were starting already. Hoping for an air of confidence, I put a little sway into my step to try and allay the rigid apprehension that was crawling down my spine. The moment I stepped through the door I could feel my brows drawing together in worry, and every second was a constant battle to keep myself from fleeing back the way I’d come.

  Aeron could feel what I was feeling, and his hand slipped into mine before I could act on my fear. The warmth of him against my clammy hands was enough to snap me out of my daze and get myself into the hall.

  The silence spread like a slow wave, but I pretended I couldn’t hear it as I looked defiantly over the crowd.

  A girl screamed, the sound chilling my spine.

  My eyes locked on to the source of the noise, the table of first years still in their awaiting at the other end of the hall. I recognised the screamer vaguely as one of the unlucky few who hadn’t yet gone through their showing and I began to relax as I realised that was what was happening. Just another showing, an everyday thing at Vice for all that it was painful for the one involved.

  Then the first year next to her cried out, clutching his hand.

  A third yell sounded, then a fourth, all of them clutching different body parts.

  “How many first years are still in their awaiting?” I asked Nelly under my breath.

  “There were six… I think.”

  The last two at the table were staring at their four friends in awe, and a stone settled in my stomach as they also began to twitch, then cry out.

  Then, when they were all silently staring at their newly formed crystals in awe, the whispers began.

  “All six in one go?”

  “… a year without anyone being unshown?”

  “… the instant Lilith walked into the hall? It can’t be a coincidence...”

  “… it’s not possible.”

  The eyes of everyone in the room didn’t seem to be able to decide if they wanted to settle on me or the first-years. But once the newly shown got over themselves and started staring straight at me, all the eyes in the room were fixed on where I stood in the doorway, my new wings fidgeting on my back for all of them to see.

  “Good morning, Sunshine!” The silence was shattered as Kain jogged into the room, completely oblivious and wearing his full Vice rugby kit. He beamed as he saw me and swooped me up into his arms, spinning me till I was too dizzy to remember anyone else existed before planting the world’s sloppiest kiss on my lips.

  “Eew,” I complained, giggling despite myself. “Put me down.”

  “No can do.” He gave me a knowing grin, “I missed you too much.”

  He may have been over the top but, in that moment, I’d never been more grateful for it as the rest of the school quickly looked away from the public display of affection.

  “Thank you,” I whispered down our bond, kissing his jaw lightly as he carried me over to our table and sat down with me.

  “Anytime, Sunshine.” He grinned down at me. “Jin got your breakfast already. How come you’re so late?”

  “My fault.” Rina rolled her eyes. “I was going to turn up earlier to fix her clothes, but my alarm didn’t go off.”

  My table acted as we always had and it didn’t take long before everyone else in the hall resumed their conversations. Peoples’ flat out staring turned to more tactful glances over their shoulders and my awareness of them all dimmed. Feeling emboldened, I chanced a glance up at the teachers’ table, only to look straight back at my food when I realised Professor Saxon was staring straight at me.

  “How long has your mother been staring at me?” I asked Aeron, knowing he would have noticed something like that.

  “From the moment we stepped through the doors,” he admitted.

  Even though my empathy rarely helped me get a read on Professor Saxon, I let it extend across the room toward her. “She feels… curious, but not angry. Surely she must know I killed Fraxis and Lucinda?”

  Aeron just shrugged. “I don’t pretend to know what my mother thinks, she rarely sees fit to share it with me.”

  I’m distracted by the noise of benches scraping against the stone floor. “Damnit, I haven’t even finished,” I muttered, trying to scarf down as much cereal as possible whilst grabbing my bag.

  “Don’t rush,” Daron advised, “Rina, Bane and I will wait for you, and Maddox is hardly going to tell you off.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Just because that’s true doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad.” Maddox was one of my favourite professors at Vice and being late to his lesson was rude no matter who I was.

  “I never said I’d wait for her,” Rina objected, but everyone ignored her.

  Even though I was one of the last to leave the hall, there was one more surprise when I got to the entrance hall. All six first-years, some of them still with blood dripping from around their crystals, were waiting for me.

  “Are you Lilith?” One of them, a black-haired girl who was the smallest of all of them, asked as soon as I left the great hall.

  She wasn’t threatening at all, but I felt Daron, Bane and Rina move closer to me in caution.

  I nodded, and she grinned. “Thank you. I thought for sure it had been long enough that I’d be declared unshown. I have no idea how you did it but thank you.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” I protested.

  One of the boys towards the back raised an eyebrow. “If that’s how you want to play it, fine. But we’re grateful anyway.” He turned and strode off, the Sloth crystal on the back of his neck glinting as he walked.

  “Thanks.”

  “Bless you.”

  “Thanks.”

  Each one of them was grinning as they thanked me one by one, running off before I could protest my innocence.

  “I didn’t do anything,” I whispered.

  “That you know of,” Daron countered. “Being around adult demons is supposed to increase the tendency of first years to go through their showings, that’s why we’re all made to attend the colleges in the first place. You’re now an adult demon, and from what happened in the great hall, I’d guess that whatever they have that increases the chances of the showing happening, you have a bit extra.”

  “An interesting theory, Mr Abraxon.” Saxon’s cool voice washed over us all and we turned to see her standing in the doorway. The light behind her gave her an angelic, innocent look that just wasn’t fair when I was trying so hard to remind myself that she was the bad guy. “Lilith, why wasn’t I informed of whatever change you’ve been through? Did it have something to do with your absence on Friday?”

  I shrugged, mind racing as I tried to answer her. “You could say that, Headmistress. I felt terrible on Friday.” That part wasn’t a lie, I had been drugged, beaten and had my horns cut off on that day. “Then I woke up like this on Saturday morning.” That was also not a lie. “I didn’t know if you’d be interested, after all, you said there was nothing that could be done when I first got my horns.”

  Professor Saxon moved closer. “May I?” she asked, reaching for my wings.

  I felt Bane and Daron both tense beside me, but I forced an easy-going smile on my face. “Of course, but they don’t really want to stay still.”

  “Lilith, this is not a good idea,” Daron cautioned down our bond.

  “Do I have a choice?” I retorted. “She’s the headmistress, if I make a scene it won’t go down well.”

  The Headmistress walked around to my back and gently pulled out my right wing. “They don’t appear big enough for actual flight.”

  “I wasn’t planning to test it, Professor,” I muttered.

  “Absolutely fascinating.”

  “Professor, I’m sorry to interrupt but we’re already late for Professor Maddox’s class,” Bane commented, the picture of apologetic sincerity.

  My wing was released, and the headmistress clicked her tongue. “I shouldn’t keep you waiting. But, Lilith, you and I shall have to talk about these new… developments soon.”