Page 32 of Fortune Academy: Year Three
Chapter 12
“Olivia?” I shrieked the second I spotted my best friend.
She stiffened and her golden eyes went wide. “Uh, yes, that’s my name.” She pointed at her name tag. “You have good eyesight.”
I shrugged off the thrall that grappled at my arm. “Olivia, what are you—”
“Who have you brought, Melinda?” Olivia interrupted me, pitching her voice over mine as she swept past me and addressed the muse.
My heart twisted to be so swiftly rejected. Perhaps she was pissed off that I’d left her for dead.
But why would she act like she didn’t even know me?
The Dean sat behind her massive desk and frowned at us. I had expected more… yelling, or promises of death and destruction. Instead, Guinevere looked like her normal self; blonde, beautiful, and obnoxiously friendly. “New students? I didn’t have any on the registry from Professor Payne.”
“I’ve been replaced by a dwarf?” Kaito asked as he yanked himself free from the students who’d been holding him down.
The Dean raised an eyebrow. “And you are?”
If the Dean didn’t know who we were, then something had happened that we could use in our favor.
She doesn’t remember the battle, or us going to Hell,I whispered in his head.Play it cool.
Kaito worked his jaw before answering. “I am…was, a counselor here and responsible for new recruits alongside Miss Williams. How could you forget?”
The Dean rubbed her temple. “I’m afraid Calamity has struck the campus with amnesia. Supernaturals had it bad enough losing memories of who and what they were before coming here. The Awakening Arena has already been a strain on Professor Payne, but now it’s a thousand times worse.” She locked her gaze on Kaito, emanating an air of authority. “If you truly are who you say you are, then you will treat Professor Payne with respect for all he’s done for this Academy.” She softened. “As for Miss Williams, I’m afraid she’s among the casualties.”
“Oh,” Kaito said, unclenching his fists. “I’m… sorry to hear that. She was a valuable asset to this school.”
The Dean narrowed her eyes. “Indeed.”
“Excuse me, Miss Gwen?” Melinda asked, raising her hand in an uncharacteristically polite way. “Could I be excused?”
“No,” Olivia answered, to my surprise.
I waited for the Dean to silence her, but when she leaned back and waited for Olivia to continue, I realized that my bestie had somehow turned the tables while we’d been away.
Her golden eyes continued to give off a Heavenly aura and she stood straighter than I remembered. Regaining her soul and being left to her own devices had been good for her. “You and I are going to do some interrogation before we let them go. If they came from Hell, then they might have some insight on what we’re up against.”
“Excellent idea,” the Dean agreed, then pointed her finger at Kaito. “However, this one is far too dangerous.” She narrowed her eyes. “You might have been a counselor, but I know a demon when I see one.” She snapped her fingers and Melinda flinched. “I want him locked up with the other one until we learn more.”
I could use the stone right now,Dante growled in my head.
I glanced at him to see his fist closing around the angelstone. My mother had said that any of my mates could wield its power since they were all connected to me, but now was not the time or the place. Without sealing the mate-circle, I suspected the outcome to be the same as last time—and we couldn’t retreat back to Hell, not with Lucifer just waiting for us on the other side.
No,I ordered back in our minds.We follow Kaito’s plan.
I didn’t mention that I had a sinking suspicion by “who” she meant when she had referred to the other demon.
Cole.
I’ll find him,Kaito promised me as he allowed the students to shackle his wrists with chains.I promise you, Koneko-chan. We’ll unite the mate-circle and fight Calamity, but we have to do this my way.
I gave him a nod of agreement as the students dragged him away. The Dean snapped at one of the Dark Mages. “Go with them and make sure he doesn’t try anything.”
Hendrik stiffened when the mage obeyed the Dean and didn’t glance at him even once.
Hendrik was no longer the leader of the Dark Mages, and that was another issue he’d have to come to terms with. Without his mages on our side, we needed to find Cole now more than ever.
