Page 24 of House of Pain
But she had to learn to navigate the cruel world of the witches to survive. Which, she learned recently, sometimes involved doing rather questionable things.
Like breaking into a classroom after hours and stealing from the professor.
Finally, they reached the back of the greenhouse where the path ended, the bushes of black roses spreading around them. Blaze let go of her hand, dipping closer to the greenhouse, his long fingers trailing the edges of the glass panel.
Alecto stood beside him. She doubted anyone would see them, even if they were at the garden at this hour. It was pitch black, and the cloudy sky hid all the stars and the blood moon.
For a moment Alecto wondered whether Blaze pulled off a few spells to make sure that the sky stayed dark and angry tonight.
There was a quiet thud, and Blaze grunted as the glass came off in one piece. He took it off the metal frame, leaning it on the side against the greenhouse.
Then, he straightened, looking back at Alecto.
“Ladies first,” Blaze said, gesturing at the opening in the greenhouse. Alecto couldn’t see his face well, but she was certain there was a smirk at the corner of his lips.
She didn’t allow herself to hesitate, ducking inside the greenhouse.
The glass panel opened a way to a little observatory. Alecto stopped in the middle of the path, large tables lined with different plants, flowers, most of them sleeping in the darkness, perched on both sides of it.
Before Alecto could complain about the lack of light, Blaze shoved something into her palm, his hard chest so close to her back it warmed her even through all the layers of clothing.
Alecto’s muscles tensed, but she refused to step away. Instead, she turned to him, their faces so close they shared a breath.
In her palm rested a long, thin glass stick. Alecto gripped it tight and started shaking it, Blaze doing the same with the stick in his hand.
They were standing in the dark for a moment, both shaking their glass sticks until Alecto’s started warming up in her hand.
Soon, the illuminating glow appeared, softly lighting up enough space for them to find whatever they needed. The humming from the firebirds trapped inside the glass stick wasn’t loud enough to wake the plants or attract other types of attention.
Alecto whirled on her heel, striding down the long path from Blaze towards the main part of the greenhouse, where Professor Gabetown’s classroom was.
“Leave it to you to wear high heels to steal something in secret,” Blaze snorted.
Blaze was right. It was careless of her. In the dead silence of the night, Alecto’s high heels were very much the only thing anyone would hear.
Fucking idiot.
She wasn’t used to sneaking around in the classrooms after hours; how was she supposed to know? And either way, high-heeled boots were the only shoes that went with her flared black jeans. She would have needed to change the whole outfit if she wanted to wear combat boots.
Finally, they reached the double glass door, and Alecto carefully opened them. She took two steps down and turned to Blaze.
“Well?” she asked. “Do you know where the professor keeps the Gorms?”
Blaze strolled past her, his shoulder almost brushing her chest, and Alecto barely stopped herself from taking a step backwards.
“It should be here,” he mused, going over the large glass terrariums lining the only exposed brick wall in the room.
Alecto tugged at her turtleneck. It was stuffy and hot inside the greenhouse, even at this hour. There was probably a spell cast that kept the temperature perfect for the plants even when the nights got colder, especially in the fall.
“Ah,” Blaze’s voice came from the very end of the shelving unit, and he looked around. “I need a container of some sort.”
Of course Blaze came unprepared.
Moron.
Alecto looked around, trying to figure out where Professor Gabetown could possibly keep glass containers he liked to use in the class for experiments.
She went through his desk, searching each drawer, before turning to the console by the other wall. There had to be something in there. She doubted the professor had another place for his storage apart from what was in the room.
