Page 86 of Demon of Dreams

“What are you doing?” I asked sharply as I moved onto the next pair.

Cal Tyrell was practicing against Indira Gupta, broadsword against saber, and his stance left his right side wide open. He should have known better than that by now. Hedidknow better than that. Cal flicked a glance at me.

“Are you trying to lose a kidney?” I said. “Guard your right.”

Cal shifted, which then left him exposed on the left. “Stop,” I growled.

The duo froze immediately, and I stepped forward, taking Indira’s saber from her. Not my favorite weapon. It would get the job done, but it was better for the heat of battle than a duel, and the single-edged blade could reinforce bad habits if the wielder wasn’t careful, which Indira hadn’t been.

I moved into her place, waited for Cal to nod his readiness, and then attacked. It took three passes before Cal shifted, exposing his left side again. In seconds, I’d cut forward and brought the blade of the saber within millimeters of his side. He froze, and I waited until I saw recognition of his mistake in his eyes before I lowered the blade.

Junior year, everyone used wooden weapons to spar. Senior year, I trusted the Hunters enough not to draw blood if they used steel. Not to draw much, anyway.

I turned back to Indira. “Just because your blade has one edge doesn’t mean you can only attack him on one side.” I touched the tip of her blade, where the back edge has been sharpened. “And don’t forget that you can thrust as well as cut. Hell, even the broadside of your blade can be useful in the right hands.” I looked between the two of them. “Your blade is only an extension of you.Youare the real weapon. Don’t become so reliant on metal that you forget to use your brain.”

“Yes, Professor Braverman,” they said in unison.

I returned Indira’s sword and stepped back to watch them spar again. Their form improved…for a minute, before Cal was back to exposing his flank and Indira neglected her forehand entirely. I rubbed a hand over my face. This day could not end soon enough.

But before it could, I had to get through Fourth Hour, with the group of freshmen that contained Cory. I kept my face impassive as they streamed in, half of them hunching their shoulders and shuffling their feet, the other half brash and desperate to prove how much they didn’t know.

I saw Cory’s hair first, a shaggy brown that wasn’t all that different from half the class’s heads, but stood out like a beacon nonetheless. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as the head moved closer to me.

The awkward, unruly clumps of students formed into a vague impression of a line across the center of the gym, and I schooled my face to stillness. I’d had practice at this by now—no surprise on my features anymore. I was calm. Stoic. A boulder in a thunderstorm, unmoved and unmoving.

Cory stepped into the line, and every defense I’d drawn around myself was assailed. Those gorgeous gray eyes, those full pink lips. He was gnawing on the bottom one, and when his eyes met mine, his posture collapsed, and he shrank in on himself.

Was he afraid of me? Of this class? I supposed I should be happy. That was my goal, wasn’t it?

It doesn’t matter, I reminded myself sternly.I don’t care what he does. I might be stuck with him, but that doesn’t mean I have to get to know him. I can just ignore him.

If only it were that easy. Ignoring Cory was like ignoring a flashlight shining in your face. Something deep inside me twisted, like tangled bedsheets. It took every bit of strength I had not to move forward, not to bring myself closer to this boy who was everything I no longer was.

Everything I could never be again.

I wanted to be next to him. To touch him. To merge myself with him so he could take me back to the world I’d been locked out of.

I wanted to howl.

I’d lost my connection to the dream world, to my power, but part of me would always be an incubus. I’d always be able to sense what I could no longer touch, like a cup of water in the desert, held just out of reach.

It baffled me that no one else in the room could feel it, though rationally, I knew they couldn’t. Enough of Cory was human that even Hunters couldn’t sense him, and the other witches wouldn’t discover his true nature unless they cast a specific spell. To them, Cory was no more than a regular eighteen-year-old, bumbling and insecure and trying so hard to hide it.

I wrenched my gaze away from his face and looked up and down the line of students.

“We’re continuing with evasive maneuvers today. Remember, the point is not to permanently incapacitate your opponent, nor even to fight them. It is simply to free yourself of the hold they have on you, and to buy yourself enough time to get away.”

I glared at all of them, Sean Donohue and Timothy Kim in particular. Those two would be the death of me, from sheer frustration if nothing else. Sean opened his mouth, no doubt to make some comment on the cowardice inherent in running away. I was not in the mood.

Sean had never been in a life-or-death situation. He’d never fought someone more powerful than he was. I wasn’t sure he’d ever fought anyone, period. Tim, from the looks of him, had been in more than a few brawls. Kids weren’t born with broken noses and split lips. But because he was bigger than everyone else, he’d never learned what it was like to be weaker than his opponent.

He would. I knew too much about the world to doubt that. The world that awaited these kids outside Vesperwood’s walls was a hungry one. My only hope was to equip them with enough skill that they wouldn’t get themselves killed the moment they left campus.

I raised an eyebrow at Sean. He closed his mouth and swallowed. Then he shrugged, like he wasn’t going to say anything in the first place. He was probably worried I’d assign him to clean the gym again. For a guy who was so eager to show off his skills, he had a real distaste for manual labor. Evidently, he’d decided his smart-ass comment wasn’t worth it.

Good.

“Erika, Keelan, come up here,” I called.

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