Caddie's POV:
I stared into a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes. They said eyes were the windows to the soul; if that was true his soul must have been spectacular. I knew the eyes belonged to a man because of the masculine voice that struggled to speak through the dark.
"Help me..."
"Caddie please..."
My mind was swimming in a lustful haze. I could hardly process his pleas. The pull was undeniable. I couldn't see him, but I knew he was gorgeous. My heart was pumping and my palms were sweating.
"Caddie..." he chanted. "Caddie. Caddie!"
* * *
I awoke with a start. Alix stood at the foot of my bed, glaring at me.
"I've been calling your name for 10 minutes. No dream boy is worth wasting my time over!" She barked.
I rubbed my gritty eyes. Light was already streaming through the window, and Alix was in her uniform. I knew I must have slept in terribly late if Alix was awake and ready.
"What dream boy?" I asked groggily, pulling myself out of bed.
Alix's eyes bugged out of her head. "What boy? How about the one you were moaning about all night!"
My muscles whined in protest as I pulled myself out of bed. I purposely ignored my outraged friend and grabbed my uniform from our small wooden dresser. The hardwood floor felt freezing under my bare feet, it felt unpleasant but it had effectively jolted me out of my sleepy state of mind. To escape the the frigid floor I made a mad dash to the bathroom.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I told her honestly as I rested my feet on the plush bath mat.
I couldn't remember anything from last night. The only thing that lingered from the night before was the pulling sensation. The same pulling sensation that was driving me to find answers. If I had any luck I'd be able to sneak into the Magicry without any followers. One of those books must know who Dmitri is.
"I think that dark one did more damage to your pretty little head than you'd like to believe," Alix muttered.
I could sense that the negative emotions had yet to trickle out of her system. I wanted to ask what was wrong, but I knew Alix wouldn't tell me the truth. I let the petty comment go and got ready quickly. If I didn't show up to breakfast on time, Aleksander would get suspicious.
Stepping into the warm shower, I let the hot water rush over my body. It was amazing how in a school filled with magical perks the shower was still the most marvelous place of all.
Letting go of my worries and fears, I relaxed. The calm feeling only lasted for a minute though, Alix was good at keeping me on my toes. She continued to yell and bang on the door until I was done.
Walking out of the bathroom, I narrowed my eyes and said, "You're a cruel person."
"Now you know how I feel," she snapped and pushed me out of the room.
Alix:
I pulled Caddie through the halls. She insisted on taking her sweet ol' time just to piss me off. It worked, but two could play that game.
"Elevar," I hissed. And Caddie levitated off the ground.
"What the hell?" She screeched, flailing her arms and legs around. "ALIX SLADE! PUT ME DOWN!"
I ran down the hall, Caddie flying in the air beside me. All the bystanders laughed hysterically, which only made Caddie angrier. I suppose I should have felt bad, but I didn'tâit was payback in a way.
Not for keeping me up at night, but for something else that I had banished
from my mind. Things like that were not to be thought of.
Before we got to the dining room, I put her down. She was kind enough to flip me the bird and march off to her table, with whatever dignity she had left.
As I saw her hurry away from me, I started to regret my decision. There was no reason to get revenge on Caddieâshe didn't even know what she had done.
I walked over to Jacxon's table. I was pleasantly greeted by a fuming Jaxon.
He yanked my arm and pulled me to the side, "Are you trying to get killed?"
"No," I said slowly, trying to find an excuse. It was pointless, though, as the second Caddie stormed into the dining room he had already read every thought that'd gone through my mind.
"You have a death wish if you don't end this little crush of yours. Your job is to protect her, not to dream about getting into her panties!" He whispered vehemently.
My face drained of all color, and I felt my hands tremble. I smacked him right across the face.
If people hadn't been paying attention before, they sure as hell were now. We stared at each other with betrayed expressions marred onto our faces. My brother's friends stared at us with open mouths.
I turned away and briskly walked out of the dining room. My brother was my angel. The one person in my family that I didn't want to see at the bottom of the ocean.
Now, I've put between us a wall of humiliation. My mother would be so proud. Family is nothing but a cover for her, and having an actual relationship was unheard of, apparently. I loved how Jaxon and I proved her wrong over the years. I chanced a look back and, to my pleasure, I saw my brother giving me the same puppy dog eyes.
"It's okay Alix, I forgive you..." his voice whispered in my mind.
The corner of my mouth twitched upwards. Most of the time his power was a burden on me, but times like this it really helped. He knew I was too stubborn to apologize, but I didn't have to say anything out loud.
"You do have loud thoughts," he joked inside my head. I shook my head.
"Get out," I grumbled. I could no longer feel his presence by my thoughts but I knew he was always there, keeping an eye on me.
Caddie:
Yes, I was angry. However, the anger I felt slowly dissipate when I saw my best friend slap her brother in front of the whole student body. I stood up as Alix marched out of the room. The conversations at the table broke off. None of them had even noticed what was going on below the platform.
"Are you all right, Cads?" Kimone asked me with concern shining in her eyes.
I looked down at her briefly before walking to the edge of the platform. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said suddenly and walked back to my seat, giving everyone an apologetic smile.
Aleksander kept a suspicious stare trained on me. No matter how badly I wanted to go comfort Alix, I couldn't. Not with him calculating my every move.
"Yeah, Caddie, is everything all right?" he asked, leaning towards me.
To everyone else he just seemed concerned for my wellbeing, but I could read between the lines.
"I'm fine. I just need some fresh air. Care to join me?" I asked, and smiled at his dumbfounded expression.
He expected me to run away from him, and sneak around. He didn't expect me to be so open, but little did he know that this was all a part of my plan. I had plenty of time to think about my plans, while everyone else was talking about the Elemental games.
Plan A:
Step 1: Get Aleksander alone
Step 2: Kill him
Somehow, I didn't think that would go as smoothly as I planned in my head, so I came up with a plan B. All I had to do was mislead him. Keep him off of the right track. The only problem was that I had no idea how to do that. Nancy Drew never taught me how to flirt with a suspect. After an awkward drawn out moment, Aleksander stood up and regained his cool composure.
"Sure," he said with an easy smile. "I'd love to go with you before class."
He slid his arm around my waist, keeping me pressed against his hip. He was a fool, if he thought I was going to do something so soon.
We walked out together into the gardens, so close that our bodies were touching. Other couples were already out there, making cute faces and feeding each other. They didn't think anything of it when Aleksander and I slipped by them. This was the perfect place to begin Plan B.
Luckily, today I was only wearing a button down white shirt. Without drawing attention to myself, I slyly undid the first few buttons, leaving a glimpse of my cleavage out. When we were far enough from the other couples, I lay my head on his shoulder, and pressed my chest against his arm. I had witnessed Mira do this countless amount of times. He tensed up.
"Caddie, what are you doing? No one can see us, so you can quit the act," He asked nervously. I didn't realize that the Prince of Seduction was so easily derailed.
I pretended to pout, "I'm not acting Aleksander. I wanted to apologize."
His guard went up, he gave me a doubtful look and pushed me away.
"You don't want to apologize, you want answers."
Maybe he wasn't as dumb as I believed.
"Whatever secret you're hiding must be dangerous if you're going through all of this trouble to keep it a secret," I explained. "There's no need for me to get wrapped up in this, especially since you're doing it to protect me."
I tried to look innocent as his suspicious gaze inspected me. He made up his mind and looked away disdainfully.
"You're only saying this so you can be with your wolf," He sneered.
To be honest I hadn't even thought about Cam. Somehow I knew this was no longer about him.
"Who? Cameron?" I asked trying to sound sincere. "We're just friends Aleksander, he's not the one of been thinking about," I said remembering my early lustful thoughts about him.
I had forgotten that Aleksander was the master manipulator of emotions. He could probably decipher my emotions, just like I could feel his. He was tormented between wanting and knowing. He knew this was a trap but wished it wasn't.
"You once looked at me like I was most attractive thing you've ever seen. How have I gone from beauty to the beast?" He asked with a pleading stare, and my heart almost broke.
I knew what I had to do, and it wasn't saving a broken heart. He almost looked like the boy I had crushed on. But now I didn't know what to make of him, and until I knew what happened to Dmitri I wouldn't be able to look at him the same.
I grabbed his hand and gave him a sad smile before short-circuiting his mind. I didn't have a lot of time to work with, and I quickly looked around for any witnesses. The coast was clear so I ran back to the school.
Aleksander would awake into less than an hour, with no memory of the conversation we had. I slunk past the other students that were rushing to class, and slipped into the Magicry.
My eyes glossed over at the sight of the beautiful library, it was marvelous. But I had no time to geek out, and hastily scrambled to the books. I scanned through the books looking for something to stand out, but there were thousands of books. I didn't think that the book would be named: Dmitri Missing Person. But it would have been easier.
"Aha," I whispered as my as landed upon last year's yearbook. I flipped through the pages, looking for a name that stood out. I didn't have to look far as the name Dmitri popped up everywhere. The face and the name attached to it, however, made my heart jump around.
How could this be? Why was it kept a secret? I stared down at the smiling picture of Aleksander, except the name attached to the picture was Dmitri Volkov. The book singed my hand, and I dropped it with a yelp.
"Why aren't you in Class?" Heidi asked, walking into the Magicry.
I looked like a kid with their hand caught in a cookie jar.
"I was looking at the yearbooks." That was partially true.
Heidi quickly walked up the stares to the level I was standing on. She grabbed the book from me, her eyes narrowed at the page the book was left opened on. She shut the book and put it away, pulling me off of the bookcase.
"Ow ow ow," I cried as her nails dug into my skin. "Please stop," I begged.
She threw my arm down and glared at me.
"I should be asking you the same thing. You should have no knowledge of that boys name."
"Why? He's Aleksander's brother, the dark ones took him. Why are people trying to act like this didn't happen?" I asked with growing aggravation.
Heidi was torn, she held her head as if I was giving her a headache. The feeling was neutral.
"Listen to me," she pleaded, "There are people here who have worked very hard on making that name disappear. I don't agree with it, but they will do everything in their power to make him disappear."
"Why?" I asked, "What did he do?"
Heidi shook her head. "Nothing, the boy did nothing. But he's gone now and they refuse to dwell on his case."
This angered me; he was helpless. Waiting for saviors that weren't going to save him.
"Well, we can't do nothing! The dark ones are ruthless!"
Heidi gave me a weird look, she almost seemed afraid. "That is true," she agreed, "And that's why you need to forget about this. People don't go looking for Dark ones they'll come for you. If no one is there to help you, then you will be stuck with Dmitri."
I hadn't seen the full extent of the Dark ones powers. But I also hadn't seen the full extent of my powers either. With a little help I didn't see getting Dmitri back, as a problem.
"Someone is suffering because you all are cowards," I gritted out, "you said if I went alone, I wouldn't return. But if I had a team, the odds would be evened, wouldn't they?"
Heidi was slowly processing what I was saying.
"It depends who's on your team," she allowed. "Not that it matters as you're not going."
She tugged me to the door. I dug my heels into the ground, forcing her to stop.
"Please, Heidi. Who knows how badly this boy is suffering? We're supposed to be the good guys, the ones that can help."
Heidi winced at that. This was the most emotions I've seen her portray at once.
"If we do this, you have to follow three conditions," she said slowly, thinking over her plan.
"What is it?" I asked eagerly.
"You can't draw any attention to yourself and do everything that is asked of you. Step into your role of an heir. And most importantly, cut off ties with any suspicious characters."
I knew what she meant by that. I could feel tears sting in the back of my eyes. If I wanted to save Dmitri, I would have to stop talking to Cam. I painfully nodded. That hurt the most, but I had no choice. It would be selfish to choose a silly romance over a life.