Page 70 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

I chuckled at the comment, and we rose to our feet. When I passed Chadwick, I gave him a thankful nod, and he mirrored it. “I hopefully won’t see you again before our session on Friday,” he teased.

I gave him a look over my shoulder and shook my head with a small smile. “Of course not, Sir.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

ARCHER

“Calm down,Nate, they’ll be fine,” Jesse patted our brother’s shoulder as we sat at our table in the dining hall.

Getting kicked out of bed by a furious Nathaniel wasn’t something I wished upon anyone.

Maisie had given him a quick call with the message that they had decided to go on a suicide mission alone into the woods and that Gwyn had knocked Doe out. At least, those were the words my friend had told me. I’m sure she’d told him more and worded it differently, but he wasn’t in a good mood to speak to anyone in long sentences right now.

When he had mentioned Doe, there was this weird feeling building up inside my chest. It made me want to vomit and break something all in a single breath. Some would consider this feeling concern, but I doubt that I felt such emotion towards a girl I barely knew. It was just the promise I stuck to. I promised her she wouldn’t die, and I'm not someone to break their promise.

“Don’t touch me, Jesse, and don’t call me Nate,” he hissed, shrugging his hand off.

When we were leaving the building, Professor Kane saw us and informed us that the dining hall was down the corridor. It was too risky to leave since he had already seen us. Because if we went missing, the focus would also fall on the three other girls not appearing for breakfast.

They were stupid. Fucking stupid to sneak out to the chapel in the early hours completely alone.

“I’m just saying, you know they can take care of themselves,” Jesse continued, clearly not aware that he should just shut up instead of continuing to poke the bear.

Nathaniel had barely thrown on his clothes, and his knee was bouncing up and down beneath the table, driving me insane. His eyes hadn’t left the entrance door once since we sat down.

“I’m well aware that they can take care of themselves. What I’m worried about is that my girl is the only one not able to see if anything or anyone is coming for her.”

“Aren’t you two, like, untouchable for spirits?”

“In theory. Fuck knows if that’s the truth. We’re still connected to the spiritual world, even if we’re different from you.”

He was right. We knew more about how much power spirits had over us than Mai and him. For a long time, I assumed they just simply weren’t like us, and truthfully, I didn’t believe either of them when they told me about their abilities.

Mai first told me when we were eleven and warned me not to get on my bike one afternoon in summer because it would end in a trip to urgent care. She’d said that she hadseenit. As much as I adored her, I laughed in her face and mocked her like the little shit I was.

The day indeed ended for me with a sprained ankle and a scraped chin.

“Nathaniel’s right. We know shit about anything,” I muttered into my hands, rubbing them roughly over my face in an attemptto wake myself somewhat up. I was damn tired, and I didn’t even remember the last time I had a really restful sleep.

“Has Mai said anything other than the few words you hit me with when you woke me?” I asked my friend, but he didn’t respond. “Nathaniel, stop being so ill-tempered and just tell–” I shut up when I saw his eyes shifting wildly from side to side and his hands tightened around the edge of the table.

“All good, mate, I’ve got you.” Jesse, who sat next to him, lay his arm around his shoulders and held him upright in case he lost control over his body as the vision took hold of him.

It had happened before, and he’d landed face first in his oatmeal. Not the most pleasant thing at seven in the morning. At least he got the day off because Miss Kendrick thought the poor bastard desperately needed some sleep.

I nudged his knee with mine under the table. Just because we had difficulties at the moment didn’t mean I didn’t care for the guy who I respected like a brother. “You’re fine, Nathaniel,” I mumbled quietly for no one other than us to hear.

None of us knew how these visions felt to them, but both always looked like they were in some kind of pain when the sight took hold of their minds.

Nathaniel blinked slowly as he snapped out of it and rubbed his hands, which had now let go of the table, over his tired eyes. “Let go of me, both of you,” was the first thing he said when he regained control over his body.

A smile tugged on the corners of my lips—good old Nathaniel.

“What did you see?” Jesse asked, keeping his hands to himself for now.

Nathaniel looked towards the door where Mai, Naomi and Dorothee walked through.

“They solved the first riddle.”

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