“And then, there’s his lot,” Alec ended, gesturing at Tristan.
Tristen gave a soft bow. “Necromancers.”
“Necromancers,” I repeated the word. “You can… raise the dead?” Somehow, this sounded even more terrifying than all the other things they had told me today. And to think this Tristan guy looked like the least harmful of them all.
A blush crept on Tristan’s cheeks. “Well…” He scratched the back of his head, almost looking apologetic. “Yes.”
“He’s a bit shy.” Christian sat up straighter as he spoke. “Tristan can’t just raise the dead like in Night of the Living Dead or something. He can make them into puppets that do his every bidding.”
“Come on, we shouldn’t talk about that,” Tristan said to him, looking more and more self-conscious. “It’s already more than enough for Devina to take in anyway, on her first day.”
I actually liked the way he said my name. So respectful, as if he was addressing a goddess, not just regular old me.
“You see, what’s going to happen next,” Alec said, ignoring Christian and Tristan, “is that Tristan will raise old Alfred over here. It will be like nothing happened; except that Alfred will no longer be that bad-mouthing, do-nothing, lazy, alcoholic bum. He’ll be a puppet on a string.”
“Not for very long,” Tristan interrupted. “Just enough time for Alec to unfreeze everyone, us to get out of here unnoticed, and then puppet-Alfred will drop dead from a supposed heart attack.”
“You act like you’ve done this before.” I stared at all of them, unable to understand how they could be so casual about this.
“Not per sé like this, but it isn’t our first rodeo, love,” Christian admitted. The others looked unmoved about it; the only one with the decency to look slightly embarrassed was Tristan.
“But before we do that, we need to tell you about what will happen next.” Alec focused on me, those green emerald eyes boring into mine. “You’re one of us, Devina. There’s no escaping your destiny.”
Destiny. Like the queen of maggots from my nightmare had said. I was far from ready to face a destiny as something wicked. I wasn’t ready at all.
“Most people know since they’re children that they’re different. Some of us are born directly into hell, like Christian, or are born into ancient families of vampires, sirens, werewolves, you name it.”
Alec now gestured at Cassie, who seemed inclined to crawl under the table and disappear. She could probably sense how angry I was at her, but right now, with a bunch of supernaturals telling me I wasn’t normal and a dead Alfred waiting to be resurrected, my anger at my best friend was the least of my worries.
“Now, some people don’t know at all, and you fall under that category. You could, technically, be anything. Do you have any idea of what you could be?” Alec asked. “Any magical mishaps happen while growing up? Objects disappearing or moving around on their own?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Ever closed a deal with the devil?” Christian asked, crossing his arms on the table. “That could put you in line for being part of demonkind, and could be the reason why you’re invited to the Academy.”
“No, not at all.”
“Ever had any affinity for raising the dead?” That question came from Tristan. “A dead pet you somehow brought back to life, maybe?”
“No…”
Damian moved closer to me, sniffing the air around me. I froze in my spot, standing completely still, too afraid to breathe.
Was he going to hurt me? If I didn’t belong in any of their groups, would they kill me?
And would Cassie just sit there and let it happen?
Damian grabbed a strand of my hair, smelled it, and then moved away from me.
My heart skipped a few beats, and I felt a panic attack coming up. “What the hell?” I asked, my voice barely more than squeak.
“I’m just trying to figure out what you are.” Damian shrugged. “But you don’t smell like a vampire, a shifter, or any creature that comes to mind.”
“So, I’m not one of you?” The thought filled me with equal amounts of dread and hope. I didn’t want to be one of them; they were terrifying. But if I wasn’t, did that mean they would kill me?
I couldn’t outrun all of them, and I certainly couldn’t fight them off.
“No,” Alec said. “And if you’re not one of us, that probably means…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but let it linger in the air, while the expression in his eyes was reflected in the others’ expressions.
Cassie looked up for the first time in minutes, staring right at me. “It means you’re one of his.”
Chapter Five
“We should get going,” Christian said, without bothering to elaborate on Cassie’s last sentence. “It’s almost four o’clock, and you know the Testing House waits for no one.”
“You can’t take her there without knowing for sure what she is,” Cassie protested. “How else are you going to figure out what she has to face inside the Testing House?”
They seemed to be talking utter gibberish. “What is the Testing House?”
Alec got up from his seat and walked toward me, putting an arm over my shoulders. I was as uncomfortable as a fish on land, but I was too scared to shrug him off. And of all of them, Alec at least seemed the least scary one. “You don’t just get to enter the Academy without having to complete a test first. Once you’ve joined the Academy, you’ll realize life there is nothing but tests, trust me. You thought high school was hard? It’s about to get a lot worse.”
Cassie and Christian also got up from the booth. Even if Cassie had hidden a whole part of herself from me, she wouldn’t let me get
