Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Sorry for the long delays in updating, but I hope I can be consistent as the year comes to an end and I have more time. Thanks for being so patient with me. Hopefully there are some people still reading this...
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Sneaking back into the Academy was easy with Lainey.
My cell phone signal was bad here because the Academy was literally in the middle of nowhere. For a single moment, I thought about what would happen if something went wrong. Nothing could go wrong, I reminded myself, stealing a glance at Callum through my sunglasses.
Disguising ourselves to make sure no one recognized me, in particular, was hard. It meant I had to ditch my heels, wear some comfortable sneakers, sweatpants and a sweatshirt. All gray and boring - a color I would never wear otherwise. I tied my hair up, and wore a beanie that had a little poof ball on top, and had on large sunglasses. Callum just had an all black outfit, wearing his hoodie over him so he wouldn't be looked at if someone did notice him.
Callum's been quiet - more quiet than he usually is. But his presence is a reassurance for me.
Something in the back of my mind always bugged me about him being here, though. I tugged on his hand that we were holding together.
Holding hands wasn't supposed to be such a big deal, but I decided I wanted to experience it at least once. Seeing my parents do it all the team, always so natural, they were always touching each other. Nerves made me rethink it and back out of it, but as soon as I brushed our hands together, Callum enclosed his big hand on mine, intertwining our fingers.
He glanced down at me in questioning, to see if I was okay. "Don't you have to go back to your pack? There's a lot of things that you have to deal with...without my own problems."
"Freya, all of your problems are mine." Callum blinked at me as if it was the most obvious thing. "We're doing this together, and afterwards, I will go back. I trust Julian to take care of it. The Barrier..." Callum used his other hand to touch his heart for a second, and I was frozen.
"Are you okay?" I asked, looking over at him. He nodded, trying to smile to lighten the mood, but I was worried again. He hadn't had one of his fainting spells...that I know of. I would have to be extra watchful over him because Callum always overexerted himself. "Promise me that if you're feeling anything or have to go back-"
Callum brought our hands together, placing it on his heart. The heat in his amber eyes made my toes curl and warmth spread all around my body. "My place is always with you."
"Stop trying to distract me," I said. Callum let out a small chuckle, kissing my knuckles. "I'm trying to scold you here..."
"Guys!" Lainey whispered, looking at the both of us with a bemused expression on her face. She was headed to the bottom floor of the dormitory that I was in. "Stay outside of here until the coast is clear, okay?"
We both stayed put as Lainey was speaking to the receptionist - that was another student at the academy doing homework. Lainey was trying to get them to walk away for a moment, so we could sneak in my old dorm room.
As soon as the student left, Callum and I went ahead inside the building, and up the fourth floor to where my room was. Lainey stayed put on the ground floor, to be on the lookout.
Climbing up the first floor was the only time we had to pass by anyone. Two girls, chatting together as they held books, didn't even bother looking at out direction. Probably to go to the library to study. A sense of nostalgia washed over me as I remembered the easy days where studying and passing a test was my main concern. So much has changed.
Lost in my own thoughts, it was Callum who guided me out of the door of the fourth floor, and asked me what my room number was.
"413," I said, following the known path. Lainey told me that nothing has been done with my room even though I got kicked out. Yet.
Walking closer to my door, I immediately knew something was wrong. The doorknob was frozen. I looked up at Callum, who looked puzzled as I did.
The door creaked open for us since the lock was simply frozen.
A chill ran over my - literally. My mouth opened wide in complete shock as I stepped inside. Ice covered the entire dorm room. It was like someone decided to make it their own personal ice skating rink.
"This is crazy," I gasped, shivering as the ice got to me. I looked around, and my head whipped back as I met eyes with someone that was outside the window. "Hey!"
The person disappeared, and I ran to the window, opening it while regretting it. Ice also covered the window. This mysterious person fell down four floors to the back courtyard, and started to run.
"Whoever that is, we need to catch them," Callum said, as he was prepared to jump out the window too. He gave me a daring look, patting his back. "Want a ride?"
"I'm scared of heights," I whined, but climbed on his back. Knowing we had no time to waste before this person ran away for good.
"Hold on for a second," Callum said to me, as he jumped out the window full of grace, landing perfectly on his legs. He didn't even look like it bothered him. "You go follow her straight, I think I know where she might be wanting to go."
I didn't like splitting up, but it was our only option. "Okay, but come back to me as soon as you can."
Callum gave me a heart stopping smile before he ran into the other side.
The hooded figure was about to be completely out of sight in the courtyard. I knew there was a fence we had to climb to get out of the dormitory area, so that was where they would slow down.
"Wait up! I just want to talk!" I yelled, running across the lawn to get to the intruder. The person was funning even faster, if that was possible. At this rate, I was never going to catch up. All I wanted was a civilized conversation.
I thought that I was gaining on the person, and it looked like they would be ahead of me, until the person slumped onto the ground. Callum stepped from the opposite side, and I could see the tendrils of smoke around him. His powerful magic was gripping them into a hold. Forming a binding magical sort of prison.
I caught up, panting and huffing. Reggie was so going to kill me because I was so out of shape.
"Way to go," I said to Callum, as he reached over for the person, taking off their hood. Surprising us both as it was a girl around my age - with white blonde hair nd deep lapiz lazuli blue eyes. Momentarily blinding me with how beautiful she was.
She was struggling against the magic binds, but nothing would budge. It was too powerful.
"We're not here to hurt you. If we do release you, you have to give us some answers. Please." The girl stopped struggling. Encouraged, I continued, "I just need to know why you were in my dorm room."
"That's my room too." She finally spoke. It was harsh, bitter and clipped.
I remembered something. My roommate. The one who was never there - the Ice Queen. This was her, in the flesh. "You're my roommate. I don't think we ever seen each other."
"Yeah, that completely on purpose," she said. "Now, please, if you would release me with...whatever dark magic you have going on here I would appreciate it."
"If you promise you won't run away."
"Running away is all I do," she gave me a wry smile, "so I'm told by everyone. But, I promise."
Callum released her binds, and she looked down, and I could tell. Her mind was made up about us. She wouldn't trust us - no matter what.
Lainey said something earlier about why I got shackled. Why it was me they wanted my magic to be gone. It clicked into place for me like a puzzle. They thought I was the runaway. She mentioned how she always ran away.
"You," I gasped. "Headmaster Clara locked me up because she thought I was you."
She narrowed her eyes for a second, but looked away from me. Seriously, I've never seen such a color or blue eyes like that. It was as though she came straight from an ancient book.
She shrugged, not looking the least bit sorry about what she put me through. "Whoops."
"Why did they want you?" I asked.
She sighed, standing up which made Callum tense, but as if knowing she said, "I'm not going to run away. Tell your guy to stop. Really, all I wanted was to get away from this wretched place, and all you guys are doing is wasting my precious time that I don't ha-"
The alarms went off.