He sighed and then stopped, turning to face me in the darkened stairwell. “Thanks for coming, I’m happy to see you,” he amended.
That was better.
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and held Sera before me, ready to blind whoever it was, but when Noah’s head peeked over the railing, I relaxed.
“Upstairs.” I pointed to where Michael was.
Noah took the stairs two at a time, only stopping to pat his best friend’s shoulder for a moment. When we finally made it outside and were walking to a worried-looking Shea, who was keeping the car warm, I asked Lincoln what was on my mind.
“What did Tainted Academy want?”
Lincoln growled. “Maybe just a personal vendetta for coming on campus that day, but the guy knew everything about me, so I think it goes deeper.”
Bastards.
From now on, I was keeping an eye on Lincoln, just as he did for me. It looked like I wasn’t the only one in danger.
Chapter Fifteen
Two weeks after Lincoln’s kidnapping, he had fully healed and was barking orders as usual.
“The big fight is next weekend!” Lincoln told Shea and me at our weekly training. “So I want to change it up a bit. Do something more realistic,” he declared.
I raised one eyebrow at Shea. We’d been training like machines every spare chance we had; I wasn’t sure ‘changing it up’ would teach us anything new.
Just then, the double doors opened, Tiffany and one of her sheep walked in—Tiffany #2.
“You’re early. I haven’t told them yet,” Lincoln groaned to the blonde Light Mage.
“Um, what?” I pinned my boyfriend with a death glare. If he thought I was fighting Tiffany, he was so sorely mistaken. I would kill her and then go to jail, and it would be bad.
“No, no.” Shea raised her hands. “Bad idea. We’ll all kill each other.”
Lincoln motioned for the Tiffanys to come closer. “I know an active feud exists between you guys, so it’s the best way to test your fighting ability. The hits will be real. You’ll have a week to heal before the real fight, and Mr. Claymore has made a spelled drink that will keep you from doing any serious damage—no severed limbs or deaths. I tried it out myself last night on Noah.”
Noah waved from the back of the room, and when Shea looked at him, he winked.
“And why would I help Archie train for her little death match?” Tiffany droned, crossing her arms.
Lincoln grinned like he had an animal caught in a trap. “Because you’ve dreamed about punching her in the face since the day she got here. Now’s your only chance.”
She smirked. “True. All right, I’m in.”
I raised my hand and Lincoln called on me.
“Just one question. Will Mr. Claymore’s spell keep me from ripping out her hair?” I pulled Sera and dropped into my fighting stance.
Shea snorted, trying to conceal a laugh, but Tiffany squared off with me, fire gleaming in her eyes.
Oh yeah. I’d dreamed of this day for almost two years now. Shit was going to go down.
“Whoa, whoa. Let’s talk rules,” Lincoln pleaded.
“Screw the rules. Give us the drink,” Tiffany spat.
Lincoln looked to me and I nodded. I was going to chug that drink and then try to rip off her head.
“Damn, I’m totally videotaping this,” Noah chuckled from the corner of the training room.
I pointed Sera at him and she shot a small pulse of light out, making him shriek and drop his phone.
“No way,” I roared.
He groaned and threw his hands up. “Okay, okay.”
Lincoln handed me a shot glass brimming with a deep purple fluid. Without a word, I tipped it back and chugged.
Oh good Lord, that was nasty. Like black licorice and gritty sand.
Tiffany did the same, then Shea and Tiffany #2.
“All right, in the—”
I cut Lincoln off with a battle cry.
Bitch was going down.
I slashed my dagger out wildly, catching Tiffany’s arm and drawing blood.
“That was for Luke,” I told her.
She looked down at her bleeding arm in shock, but I wasted no time attacking again. This was going to be epic.
My leg came up and I socked her in the chest with my boot, knocking her backward. Her blonde ponytail dramatically bobbed as she went down. “That was for calling me Archie!” I exclaimed.
Shea was already in her own fight with Tiffany’s clone, so I kept my focus solely on the queen bitch herself.
She was two seconds from getting her hair ripped out. As I dropped to my knees to straddle the evil Light Mage, her hands came up and a purple ball of fire slammed into my chest, hurling me into the air and then dropping me. I came down hard, jamming my right ankle and flopping ungracefully to my side.