Dark Summer (Book I, Witchling Series)

Chapter Seven

"I meant to tell you yesterday, thank you for dancing with me," she said. "Even though you don't go to dances and even though you probably have something better to do."

"It's my pleasure, Summer. Really."

"Come back tomorrow morning," Jessie said. "I'll have more music. Decker, Matty wants to see you."

Decker rolled his eyes. Summer smiled, broke contact, and turned away. He watched her leave, agitation filling him. Her touch silenced the noise in his head and soothed him in a way nothing else could.

"Thanks, Jessie," he said and left the studio.

Matilda, the head instructor for the Dark arts, had an office in the small attachment to the garage, opposite Amber's. Decker went to her office and knocked, waiting for her to beckon him to open it before entering. Tall and svelte, Matilda wore her hair short and was almost always in a suit or business clothing. She wore a white blouse and pencil skirt today.

"Have a seat, Decker." Her voice held a slight rasp that took the edge off her severe façade.

He sat in front of her. She pushed her laptop away and leaned back, focusing on him.

"How you holding up?" she asked.

"Good enough."

"Your parents are concerned, and so are your teachers."

"Not sure what they expect. It's not like I'm getting a new job at the mall or something," he snapped.

"I understand that. I think your adjustment period will be brutal. I was here when your mother took her place. It nearly killed her to lose her sister and face the Dark alone. If not for your father, she wouldn't have made it."

"They won't even be here for my birthday, so there's no help for me," he said.

"The kids say you're dating Alexa. Any sort of connection there, like your parents have?"

"It's physical, nothing more."

Matilda shook her head. "Damn teens and hormones. At least you own up to it. Amber doesn't believe me when I tell her half the kids here are sexually active."

"More than half," Decker said, smiling.

"I'm not surprised. But on a serious note, Decker" —Matilda leaned forward— "you're in danger of going over the edge if you've got no one here to support you. Maybe your mother doesn't remember what she went through during the transition. It wasn't pretty."

"I'll be fine."

"I'm telling you, you won't."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Decker ran his fingers through his hair with a frustrated sigh. He suspected as much. Whatever happened to him on his eighteenth birthday, would turn him into a soul-stealing assassin.

"Are you and Beck getting along better?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe that'll do. I'd hoped Alexa was the Michael Turner to your Rania," Matilda said. "Are you sure she's not?"

"Why does it matter?" he demanded.

"There's only been one Master of Fire and Night who didn't have a partner when he assumed his powers. The Deathbringer, Bartholomew the Terrible. I don't know for sure if this is why he went insane, but it's a pattern I won't ignore."

He met her gaze, well aware of the horror stories of the Dark Master who'd not only gone insane, but spent his tenure annihilating Light witchlings, Dark witchlings and humans alike. He'd reigned longest of all the Masters, simply because none of the women he raped survived long enough to bear a child. One finally did and birthed twins who worked together to slay their mad father and reestablish the balance.