Page 64 of Faerie Gift

“Don’t worry about me,” I tried to say. “I’ve been tossed around like this before.”

I saw Mike opening his mouth to comment, wondering what I meant, before understanding dawned. His mouth thinned and the hand stroking my hair stilled. “Well, you should still have your injuries checked. You have cuts and bruises everywhere.”

“The boy did try to kill me. He tried his hardest, anyway.” I took a breath. “I managed to fight him off. Until you got here. My knight in shining armor.”

Mike sighed. “Speaking of—”

“Yes, speaking of, whatisthe thing you used to get him off of me?” I turned the talk around and returned the focus to him and his power source. “Don’t think you can get me off the scent.”

His gaze cast away from me peevishly. “It’s nothing, Tavi. Drop it. Let’s focus on getting you through the next hour. Okay?”

“It’snotnothing.”

Fussy man. But talking to him provided the distraction I needed to keep awake. I struggled with my emotions, not wanting him to see. To see my guilt at having him here, the relief and the happiness and the lies I struggled to cover.

There was truly no hope for me.

“Why don’t you want to talk to me about the globe, Mike?” He turned away further, and it finally clicked. “Oh. You’re not supposed to have it, are you?”

“Okay, no, I’m not,” Mike hissed under his breath. His hand fell on the lump in his pocket. “It’s an artifact to amplify the magic of the user. TheAugundae Totalis. I smuggled it in with me from Faerie.”

Ah, I’d finally managed to wring the truth out of him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said. I felt you fighting with your power all the way across the school because of it. This thing can pick up on magic, and anyone who holds it can amplify their own powers.” His eyes darkened as they flickered between me and Officer Allen. “Take whatever small amount they do have and turn it into a tidal wave.”

I looked at him. Took in the sour grimace wrinkling his brow. “Oh my God. Mike, this is…” This was the reason why he’d been excelling at his classes lately. Not from our study sessions. “You’ve beencheating.”

Finally, his eyes met mine as he gave a weird little nod. A silent admission and also a plea not to tell anyone what I knew.

“I don’t understand,” I said on a rush. “You’re full-blooded fae. You’re the crown prince. Why are you using an artifact to bolster your magic? Why are you fighting so hard to stayhere?”

“It’s not that simple, Tavi—”

“You’re lying to me.”

He huffed. “You want to talk about lying? You still won’t tell me anything about your past, or about why you have no family.” His eyes went dark.

“Because I can’t!” I exclaimed.

“You think it’s any different for me? As far as you need to know, I’m here at the academy to help get a better understanding of halflings. Period.”

“But you didn’t need to—”

This time it was his turn to interrupt. “Yes, okay, I shouldn’t have the Totalis. I have been cheating. Butit saved yourlife.”

21

My stomach burned and my throat hurt. I didn’t have any broken bones, but that hardly mattered. It still took me a long time to heal my wounds, my body feeling like I’d been pushed first through a wringer washer and then through a meat grinder. I’d been slammed, thrown, choked, bitten, clawed, and sliced. No wonder I ached everywhere. At least nothing had put me permanently out of commission.

Officer Allen escorted me to Nurse Julie’s office and I winced, trying to adjust to the harshness of her overhead lights. He looked at me with a solemn expression, vowing totake care of this. At least, that’s what I thought he meant. I couldn’t quite process reality.

Then he and his police friends carted the shifter boy off to jail to be booked and potentially tried for the recent academy murders.

No less than the kid deserved, but I wondered what had happened to him in his life to push him to the point of murder. Why would he want the Augundae Imperium so badly, and what was he planning to do with it? Was he capable of using it himself? Or had someone put him up to it? Someone like Barbara, maybe? Did he owe a similar “unnamed favor” to someone he dared not cross?

These questions played inside my head on repeat and I had no clear answer to any of them.

And that’s what bothered me, I decided. Not having the answers. Not understanding the boy’s motivation. He clearly thought I possessed it and he clearly was willing to kill me for it. I gnawed at these questions until exhaustion carried me into the blissful oblivion of sleep.

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