The next day, I tried to ignore Damien and the other Blackwaters. I grabbed my breakfast and ate on my way to class. Vivienne was busy in alchemy and would be the whole day.
Damien cornered me after my healing class. “Are you trying to avoid me?” He looked more amused than angry. “I was only teasing you in class yesterday. I hope you didn’t take all that childish banter seriously.”
I held his gaze. “No.”
I was still irritated with him and wanted him to leave me alone. He was mean and selfish. But I realized that this was a perfect opportunity for me to get close to Damien and find out more about Lucian and Morgana’s plans. If I pretended to be friends with him, I might overhear something of importance that could help my granduncle.
Damien’s voice interrupted my plans. He had been chattering on about something and my mind had wandered off. “So are you coming or not?” he asked abruptly, probably nonplussed that I wasn’t hanging on his every word like half the other girls in the school.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear the question,” I answered sweetly. I was enjoying his confusion. I wanted to upset him, but not too much. I needed to get friendly so I could find out what he knew.
Damien’s eyes narrowed to ice chips. “I asked if you wanted to come with us into town tonight.”
“But isn’t it forbidden to leave the academy grounds after dark?” I immediately felt stupid for saying it. Of course they would be breaking rules. The Blackwaters didn’t think that any rules applied to them.
A cold smile curled his lips. “Yes. But what fun would there be if we were actually permitted to go?”
I thought about it for a moment. I could go. That would show him that I wanted to be friends. But I was apprehensive about breaking school rules. If Professor Dekela found out, I would be thrown out of the academy in my first week. Uncle Gabriel would not be too pleased about that.
Why did the Blackwaters want to leave the academy at night? Where were they going and what were they up to? My curiosity got the better of me, and I had to find out.
“Sure,” I said finally. “I will meet you here after dinner.”
The Lion’s Den
“You can’t leave the academy after dark,” whispered Vivienne, looking at me wide-eyed. “If the night patrol catches you, you will be expelled from school.”
“Don’t worry so much,” I said to Vivienne, who was sitting cross-legged on her bed and had already changed into her nightclothes.
“You can’t trust Damien.”
I pulled on my supple leather boots. “I know. I don’t trust him, but I want to find out what he’s up to.”
“Why do you care what he’s up to?” Vivienne’s eyes narrowed. “Damien’s a troublemaker and can be very dangerous if you get on his bad side. I really think you should be careful.”
I knew Vivienne must be suspicious, and I wanted to tell her the truth, but it was too risky. I didn’t know her well enough and wasn’t quite sure where her family’s allegiance lay.
I hugged Vivienne. “I will. Thank you. It’s so sweet of you to worry about me, but I’ll be fine. Don’t wait up for me. I may be late.” I gathered my cloak and ran downstairs.
Damien was waiting near the entrance of the cafeteria, leaning against an old spruce and wearing a black cloak over a black robe like the professors. I wondered where he had gotten it. Although most girls would find him handsome, I thought Damien appeared more sinister than good-looking in the moonlight. He flashed me a wide grin, showing all his pristine white teeth. I shivered slightly and pulled my brown cloak tightly over my shoulders.
“I thought you were going to back out,” Damien said, a cutting edge to his voice.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I murmured.
Calisto and Zorek stood a little farther away in the shadows.
“Come on,” Calisto urged quietly. “We haven’t got all night.”
She glared at Damien and completely ignored me, as though I didn’t exist. Zorek led the way. We followed him down shadowy paths, past the alchemy building, and around the back, until we came to the far walls of the university. How were we going to get out? There were guards at all the gates.
Zorek moved slowly along the wall toward a shadowy little grove surrounded by apple trees. He went to a particular spot on the wall and moved his hand over it. As if by magic, which was exactly what it was, a little door appeared in the wall.
Calisto pushed past me and walked toward the door.
“But how?”
Damien shushed me. I scowled at him.
“Be quiet,” he murmured under his breath. “We could still get caught.”
Zorek chuckled; he didn’t think much of it and seemed very confident. He was the eldest and had been here at the school for a while, and he had probably used this secret door many times before. Zorek had the door open before I knew it, and we all followed him through, out of the academy and into the city of Neris.
Lanterns lined the still-crowded streets, and busy people were going about their daily business. Some walked down the broad avenues, whereas others hastily hurried home from work or simply strolled on the pavements. Shopkeepers were closing their shops, and street vendors had already packed up their wares and were heading out of the upper town.
I followed Calisto and Zorek through the broad streets, Damien walking behind me. We kept mainly to the shadows, and I noticed that we had turned out of the broad avenues of the upper town into a dark alleyway leading into the poorer sections of the city.
Across the bridge, on the other side of the sprawling city, the houses were massive, whitewashed stone structures of the nobility and merchants. But this side of the river
