4 Waxing & Waning (15 page)

God, he really had turned into a sap.

“Who wants to go on an adventure?”

Kelsey and Paris glanced up from their places on the couch, both of them clearly suspicious of my newfound bravado.

“An adventure?” Kelsey asked. “Not like at the sorority house.”

“Probably not.”

“Ugh,” she said. “You have a bad idea. I know you do.”

“You’re definitely more chipper,” Paris said. “What happened?”

I told them the truth about Caitlyn’s identity. I’d sat on the information for a week, mulling it, and now I was ready for action.

“Huh,” Kelsey said. “Well, that explains a whole heck of a lot.”

“I know, right?”

Paris smirked. “So, Aric is only sleeping with her to get information. I knew he couldn’t really like her.”

“He’s not a whore,” I scoffed. “He’s not sleeping with her.”

“Ah, that’s why you’re in such a good mood all of a sudden,” Kelsey said. “Aric is back on the menu, and you’re hungry again.”

“That is a horrible thing to say.”

“Am I wrong?”

“That’s neither here nor there,” I said. “That’s not the point of tonight.”

“And what are we doing tonight?” Paris asked.

“We’re going to break into the Academy so I can steal some files,” I said.

Paris and Kelsey exchanged nonplussed looks. “How are we going to break in?”

“I have a security pass,” I said.

“Then it’s not really breaking in,” Paris said.

“No,” I agreed. “But I do happen to know that they’re running two different ops tonight. That means the place should be empty.”

“How did you get out of the ops?” Paris asked.

“I told Blake I had cramps,” I said. “He didn’t want to hear another word once I mentioned my terrible bloating and heavy flow.”

Kelsey snickered. “Men are so easy.”

“What kind of files are you going to look for?” Paris asked.

“If Blake isn’t going to tell me what he’s up to, then I’m going to find out on my own,” I said. “I’m done with them. I don’t want to go there anymore. I’m hoping this will be the last time I have to enter that building.”

“Does this mean you’re going to be fun again?” Kelsey asked.

“Yes.”

“Good,” she said, getting to her feet. “I’ve missed this Zoe.”

“Me, too,” Paris said. “Let’s go. It will be just like old times.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I was ready to stop wallowing. Tonight, I was taking the fight – or at least the theft – to the Academy. I just hoped it would be worth it in the end.

“WAIT.
What do you want me to do?”

We were standing at the top of the stairwell that led down to the Academy, and Kelsey wasn’t thrilled with the task I’d given her.

“I just need you to stand up here and text if anyone comes through the door,” I said.

“Why can’t Paris stay up here with me?”

“Because, depending on how many files we find, I might need help carrying them,” I said.

“Didn’t you bring bags?”

“Yes.”

“Just shove them in the bags,” Kelsey said. “I don’t want to stay up here alone.”

“You have to,” I said. “The more time we stand up here arguing, the longer this is going to take.”

“Fine,” Kelsey said. “What do I do if someone asks me what I’m doing?”

“This is a public hallway,” I said. “Pretend you’re talking on your phone. If they ask you what you’re doing, tell them to go screw themselves and mind their own business.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Kelsey said. “You’re good at this.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “I’ll have my phone on vibrate,” I said. “I’ll be watching. We’ll be as quick as we can.”

“Okay. Good luck.”

I swiped my security pass in the door and ushered Paris in ahead of me. We started down the stairs in silence. When we got to the bottom floor, Paris couldn’t hide her surprise – or rampant curiosity.

“This isn’t what I was expecting.”

“I know,” I said. “I was so disappointed when I found out it was nothing like Hogwarts.”

Paris giggled. “How did you know that was what I was thinking?”

“Because that’s exactly what I was thinking,” I said, shuffling down the hallway.

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“I know that Blake has an office down here,” I said. “I figured that was the best place to start.”

We purposely kept our voices low and tried to walk as quietly as possible. I led Paris to the far end of the hallway and then crouched in front of the last door on the left.

“Is this it?”

“Yeah.”

“How are you going to get in there?”

“I’m going to pick the lock.”

“How do you know how to do that?”

“Will’s brother was a notorious delinquent,” I said. “He used to break into his mom’s liquor cabinet every chance he got. The woman loved her Jack Daniels. He taught me how to pick a lock.”

It took me longer than I would have liked but, finally, I heard the lock tumble. I pushed the door open and led Paris inside, closing the door behind us. The office was dark, so I flicked the switch on Blake’s desk lamp. It didn’t give us a lot of light to work with, but it was better than alerting someone walking down the hallway that we were inside.

“What should we take?” Paris asked, eyeing the books on the shelves.

I moved over to the filing cabinet against the far wall. “I don’t think we need the books. Go through his desk. Anything that looks remotely interesting: Take it.”

“Got it.”

We worked in silence. I rifled through the files, ignoring the ones dealing with the cadets, and focusing on anything else. By the time I was done, I’d practically emptied it.

Paris raised her eyebrows. “He’s going to notice that.”

“I don’t care.”

“Really?”

“I told you, I’m not coming back.”

“Okay,” Paris said, unplugging Blake’s laptop from the desk and shoving it in her bag. “What? If we’re going to steal, we might as well go big.”

My smile was wide and genuine. “Do we know any computer hackers?”

“One,” Paris said.

“Who?”

“Scott.”

Huh. I’d never asked him what he was studying. I’d been flattered by his flirting – and awed by his euchre prowess – but that’s where my interest ended. “I didn’t know that.”

“He likes you,” Paris said. “I told him he doesn’t have a shot.”

“You did?”

“He thinks it’s because of Rafael,” Paris said.

“Maybe it is.”

Paris barked out a harsh laugh. “You like Rafael,” she said. “You’re never going to be head-over-heels for him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do,” Paris said, glancing around the office one more time. “You’re already claimed by the wolf.”

“That makes me sound like one of those cheap romance heroines,” I said. “I am so much better than that.”

“Maybe,” Paris said. “It’s the truth, though. Why else do you think it took finding out what Aric was really up to for you to get the spring in your step back? I think we have everything here. We should go.”

I nodded, flicking off the desk lamp. I paused before opening the door. “I still don’t think I can trust him.”

“That’s not true,” Paris said. “You’re worried you can’t trust him. Everyone in a relationship has that worry. You believe you can, though, and that’s what scares you the most. If he’s telling the truth, and all this works out, then maybe all the moping you did this year was for nothing. That’s what you’re really angry about.”

“It is not.”

“It is so.”

I scowled, holding a finger to my lips to quiet Paris. I opened the door, looking both ways down the hallway before exiting Blake’s office. For a second, I considered writing a nasty message with lipstick on the glass window as a final insult. It seemed a little too juvenile – but just barely.

By the time we got back to the main floor, I was exhilarated. There’s something about screwing “the man” that just fills me with joy. The fact that the man, in this case at least, was Sam Blake, well, that was just icing on top of the cake. Chocolate icing – with sprinkles.

“Where’s Kelsey?”

Crap. I looked around the foyer nervously. “Do you think she left?”

“She wouldn’t just leave,” Paris said. “I don’t care how freaked she was.”

“Then where did she go?”

“Did you hear that?”

I listened, my ears picking up the distinct sound of smacking around the corner. I followed Paris, peering into the adjacent hallway, my mouth dropping open as the scene in front of me finally registered. “Are you kidding me?”

Kelsey jumped, pulling away from the guy she’d been kissing in the hidden corner. “Oh, hey, I was just about to text you.”

“That’s not what it looks like to me,” Paris said.

“Do you even know him?”

“Oh, yeah, this is Kevin,” Kelsey said. “We have a business class together.”

“How … what … why … how … ?”

“We were just talking,” Kelsey said. “We have an assignment due later this week. Then, somehow, we were kissing.”

“And groping,” Paris supplied, causing Kelsey to blush.

“What if someone came down?”

“They didn’t,” Kelsey said. “I was watching.”

“Oh, yeah, you were watching really hard.” I exchanged a look with Paris. “Do you believe this?”

She shrugged. “He’s cute.”

Kevin seemed disappointed by our sudden appearance. “Um, now that everyone’s caught up, can we go back to what we were doing?”

“No,” I said. “We have to leave. Right now.”

Kelsey sighed, but she reluctantly let me tug her away from Kevin. “Call me.”

“I don’t have your number.”

Kelsey reached over and grabbed his hand, pulling an ink pen out of her pocket and writing across the bridge of his knuckles. When she was done, Kevin’s face was bright and happy. “I’ll call you.”

“You better.”

Once we’d managed to drag her away, I was trying to maintain my angry façade. It wasn’t working. “I’ve never even seen you show any interest in a guy and now, all of a sudden, you’re making out with a guy you barely know in the hallway of the athletics building?”

Kelsey shrugged. “I figured if you could move on from your stuff then I could move on, too.”

“I haven’t moved on.”

“You’ve moved on,” Kelsey said. “He’s cute, right?”

“He’s definitely cute,” Paris said.

Kelsey turned to me expectantly. “He’s cute,” I conceded. “He seems to have come out of left field, but he’s cute.”

“I know, right?”

I guess everyone had decided to get their groove back.

When Scott arrived at the house, he was understandably confused. Paris, Kelsey, and I were sitting in the middle of the living room – papers spread out in every direction – and we were all chatting excitedly.

Paris took it upon herself to explain everything to Scott. Well, within reason. He couldn’t handle everything – and we didn’t have the time to go into that much detail. When she was done, we all watched him expectantly.

“Huh.”

“That’s all you have to say?” I asked.

“I don’t know what else to say,” he said. “Although, it does explain a lot.”

“It does?”

“I knew there was something weird about this place,” he said, sitting down on the floor next to the coffee table and booting the laptop up. “I didn’t think it was this weird, but at least I know now.”

“You don’t have to do this,” I offered. “You can still leave. No hard feelings.”

“Well, I can’t turn away now,” he said. “I’m just as curious about what’s on this thing as you are.”

“Are you sure?”

“Let’s get to it.”

I watched Scott curiously. His fingers were deft as they moved across the keyboard, his face pinched and focused.

“It needs a password,” I said. “I have no idea what it would be.”

“So, you’re saying it’s probably not your name,” Scott teased.

“If my name is in it, it’s probably followed by the phrase ‘is a bitch.’”

Scott laughed. “I can’t figure out how they’ve managed to hide this,” he said, plugging a jump drive into one of the laptop’s ports. “You would think people would talk.”

“Who would believe them?” Kelsey asked, scanning a document and then setting it off to the side. “People would just think they’re crazy.”

“I didn’t think you were crazy,” Scott pointed out.

“Oh, come on,” Paris scoffed. “You think we’re a little crazy.”

“I think you’re a little crazy for taking this on yourselves,” Scott said. “Not for what you told me.”

Whatever the jump drive did, Scott seemed satisfied as numbers and letters started scrolling across the screen at a furious pace.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a program I wrote,” he said. “It should unlock the password.”

“How long will it take?”

Scott shrugged. “Not too long.”

“I think I found something,” Kelsey said, tapping the sheet of paper in her hand to garner my attention.

“What is it?”

She handed it over. I read it once – and then again – and then a third time. “Holy crap.”

“What does it say?” Paris asked.

“It’s a letter from Will.”

The room went silent.

“Who’s Will?” Scott asked.

“He’s Zoe’s ex-boyfriend,” Paris said.

“How many ex-boyfriends do you have?”

“Too many.”

“Are you going to tell me what it says?” Paris asked.

“It’s an offer for an exchange,” I said. “He wants Blake to wipe out the wolf hierarchy at Alpha Chi. He’s willing to provide times and dates so Blake can get easy access.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No. It’s dated from November.”

“What’s he offering in return?” Paris asked.

“It doesn’t say,” I said. “I’m guessing we already know, though.”

Paris’ eyes widened. “The stone.”

“The stone,” I agreed.

“What stone?” Scott was watching us with a mixture of fascination and worry.

“That’s a longer story than we can get into right now,” I said. I told myself I was keeping that little tidbit to myself to protect him but, the truth was, I wasn’t sure how much trust to extend in his direction just yet.

“I’m in,” he said.

I turned away from the sheet of paper in my hand and looked over to the computer screen.

“What do you want me to look for?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “Just start looking. If anything seems interesting, tell me.”

“You got it.”

“Why do you think Will is willing to sacrifice the whole pack?” Kelsey asked. “He’s always seemed like such a limp dick. That’s a huge power play.”

“It’s because he’s a limp dick,” I said. “He became a wolf because he thought it would make him powerful. He was just a drone, though. Turning didn’t live up to his expectations.”

“He’s trying to forge a new destiny where he has the power,” Kelsey said.

“I guess.”

“How do you play into this?”

“What?”

“He’s still got a weird interest in you,” Kelsey said. “That’s why he’s with Brittany, even though you guys don’t spend any time together. She’s his only tie to you.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I honestly don’t know.”

We all lost ourselves in contemplation for the next few minutes, everyone trying to figure out what Will’s ultimate angle would be. We were so caught up in our own thoughts, we didn’t hear the back door of the house open.

“What the hell is all this?”

Rafael was standing in the archway between the living room and kitchen, hands on hips.

“Oh, hey,” I said. “We broke into the Academy and stole all their files.”

Rafael’s body was visibly shaking. “I’m sorry, will you repeat that? I think I’m having an aneurism.”

“You can’t have an aneurism,” Kelsey said. “Wait. Can you?”

Rafael ignored her. “Why did you do this?”

“I don’t want to play their game anymore,” I said. “I just wanted out.”

“And you didn’t think about talking to me about this first?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you would’ve told me no.”

“And that didn’t, not even for a second, give you pause?”

“Nope.”

“You are the single most frustrating person I’ve ever met,” he bellowed. “There are times I just want to … .” He mimed ripping my head off of my shoulders.

“Well, you can do that later,” I said. “We’ve already found some stuff.”

Curiosity got the better of him. “What?”

I handed the document Kelsey found over to him. “Check that out.”

Rafael read it, a petulant pout on his lips the entire time. When he was done, he glanced up. “Well, this explains a few things.”

“You think?”

Rafael glanced over at Paris. “Can you do wards?”

Paris seemed surprised by the question. “What kind of wards?”

“What’s a ward?” Scott asked, still navigating around Blake’s computer and reading files.

“Why is he here?” Rafael asked.

“We needed someone who could hack Blake’s computer,” I said.

Rafael’s eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead. “You stole Blake’s computer?”

“We figured if we were going to do it, we were going to go big.”

“There are no words to describe how much I want to hurt you right now,” Rafael grumbled.

“What kind of wards do you want?” Paris repeated.

“Protection wards,” he said. “You need to cast a net over this house.”

“What kind of net?”

“Only people who are invited can enter,” he said.

“That’s not going to be much protection,” I said. “Tally and Kristy invite people in all the time.”

Rafael frowned. “Only people invited by the three of you can enter.”

“Don’t you think they’ll get suspicious of that?”

“They’re not bright,” Rafael said. “And I don’t really care how suspicious they get.”

Paris nodded, getting to her feet. I jerked when I felt a hair being yanked out of my head, and Kelsey yelped when Paris did the same to her.

“Hey!”

“It has to be a strong spell,” Paris said, tugging a strand of hair out of her own head. “We need it so it can’t be broken.”

“And you need hair for that?” I asked.

“Yup.”

“That’s just weird,” Kelsey said, rubbing her head ruefully.

“So, you’re a witch?” Scott asked.

“I am,” Paris hedged.

“That’s cool,” he said. “I’m learning so much tonight.”

Rafael looked like he wanted to throttle him. “No one gets invited into this house,” he said. “This one can be the exception, since you’ve already let him in on the big secret.”

“Thanks for your permission,” I said, scowling.

“I wouldn’t push me,” Rafael said. “I’m barely hanging on here.”

“What about Seth?” Paris asked.

“And Kevin?” Kelsey added. “I might want Kevin to come around.”

“Who is Kevin?”

“Kelsey’s new make-out buddy,” I said. “At the rate they’re moving, they’re going to be fornicating in hours.”

“Then go to his place,” Rafael said. “I’m not joking. This place is closed off to visitors.”

“I don’t think that’s really your decision,” I said, knowing my words were akin to poking a rabid bear with a stick.

“Are you trying to piss me off?”

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging. “Is it working?”

“What happened to you today? You were the morose wonder when I saw you the other day. Now you’re all … like you used to be.”

“How did I used to be?”

“Obnoxious.”

“You silver-tongued devil,” I teased. “You do know to make a girl swoon.”

“What happened?”

I ignored the question, and the knowing look Kelsey and Paris shared while Rafael was focused on me. “I happen to like being me.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t be you,” Rafael argued. “I just think that a little thought could go into your actions. You were growing – maturing – until today. So, what happened?”

“I decided to reclaim my life,” I said. “I don’t want to be the Zoe who listens to orders and does what’s expected of her. That’s not who I am.”

“No one is asking you to do that.”

“That’s exactly what you’ve been asking me to do,” I said. “I know you don’t mean it. You can’t help it. You look at us and see immaturity. I get it. Immaturity is what’s gotten me this far. I need to embrace the real me if I’m going to win.”

“And who is the real you?”

“That aggravating and annoying person you met on a balcony two and a half years ago,” I said. “She’s back.”

“I never said you were annoying.”

“You didn’t say it, no,” I said. “You’ve thought it plenty of times. Be honest.”

Rafael fought to collect himself. “Zoe, you’re baiting me. I know it, and you know it. What I don’t understand is why.”

“Because I feel like fighting,” I replied, going for honesty. “I need to fight.”

Rafael sighed, running a hand through his long hair. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Me, too.”

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s dig through all of this crap. Paris, you need to get on that spell.”

“You’re not going to argue with me?” That didn’t sound like any fun at all.

“Would it do any good?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not going to argue with you.”

He sat down on the floor next to me and collected a pile of files. I could feel his eyes washing over me from time to time, but he remained silent.

“I like it better when you yell at me,” I admitted.

“Give it time,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll feel like yelling again in a few hours.”

Well, that was something to look forward to.