Cursed Hearts (A Crossroads Novel) (41 page)

“Too
easy?” Christian breathed. “Are you kidding me? Too easy is exactly what we
need right now. We’ve got an unknown amount of time until our own personal little
poltergeist starts breathing down our necks again. And he’s after you right
now, not me. We don’t have time for a challenge.”

“Is
that concern?” Rome asked.

Christian
bit at the inside of his cheek.

“Too
easy would be a trap. What we need is a breakthrough.”

“What we need is a miracle,” Christian sighed. “Personally
I think the
three of
us should blink to a tropical island and sip
piña
coladas in the sun until a tidal wave swallows us
whole. If none of our family members ever figured this shit out, then we’ve got
a snowball’s chance in hell of actually seeing this thing through.”

Rome
frowned, mulling over something he wasn’t sure he wanted to consider. “Do you
think—does your father have any siblings?” he asked.

Ariahna
shook her head. “You don’t think my father was in love with your mother…?” she
said, her voice betraying her disbelief.

“Oh
no, hell no,” Christian proclaimed, pacing back and forth and shaking his head.
“There’s no way. There is no way I slept with my sister. No, no. That—just, no.”

Rome
growled softly. Christian was jumping to conclusions in huge leaps and bounds.
“No. It can’t work like that… right?”

“There’s
one way to find out,” he said, stopping in his tracks. “Come on.” Christian
snatched Ariahna’s hands and pulled her to her feet, nearly dragging her
through the grass. “Congratulations, today you’re getting bitten by a vampire.”

“What?”
Aria breathed, turning scared eyes to Rome.

“I
hate to say it, but…”

Aria sighed, letting them drag her all the way back to the
building and up to the third floor. She protested the entire way. And before
she knew it, they were staring at Kaleb’s door. “This is a horrible idea,” she
murmured. Christian knocked before she could utter another word, frantically
explaining to Kaleb what they needed him to do as soon as he opened the door.
He looked stunned.

“…You
want me to what?” Kaleb sighed, flicking his annoyed glare over to Ariahna.
“I’m not biting her. And if you keep coming to me for things like this, I’m
going to start charging.”

“Why
the hell not?” Christian demanded.

“I
admit, I’m a little curious myself,” Rome said. “Are you seriously turning down
a chance at a free meal?”

“See?
He won’t do it,” Aria said in a shaking voice. “There’s no way that we’re
actually siblings, anyways.”

“She’s
right about that,” Kaleb muttered. “I don’t need to bite her to tell you she’s
not a werewolf. Problem solved. Go away.”

The
door was swinging swiftly towards them when Rome caught it with his palm,
shoving it open again. “My mother was the werewolf.
Our
mother,” he corrected,
shooting a guilty look Christian’s way. “We think… that maybe she was with
Aria’s father at some point. It would make
sense.
We don’t have any clue who our dad is, and if they were together…”

“Wait,”
Christian said, squinting at Kaleb. “What do you mean she isn’t a werewolf?” He
turned that same confused, curious gaze to her and she glanced quickly away.
“Rome, I thought…”

Rome
sighed. “Don’t worry about that right now.”

Ariahna
backed slowly away from the door, backpedalling down the hall. She didn’t want
Kaleb to bite her, for more than one reason. If he could tell relation just by
blood, if he could classify a werewolf by it, what else could he tell? Would he
be able to identify her for what she was? And what would he do about it? What
would Rome and Christian do about it?

It
wasn’t just herself she’d be putting at risk if they found out. Her father had
a secret of his own. One he wasn’t aware she’d inherited. If they were found
out, he’d lose his job. He could go to jail. And that was the minimum penalty
they could expect to face. They might be killed, or exiled to Lumara. Her hands
shook as the possibilities swirled through her mind.

“Aria,”
Rome said, reaching out to stop her. “Are you okay?”

“We
can find out another way,” she replied. “Records.”

“Aren’t
things like that kind of hard to get?” he asked.

“The
Dean keeps extensive files on all of the gifted students,” she explained. “The
Collective forwards everything from transcripts to medical records to detailed
histories. I’m almost certain a copy of your birth certificates would be in
there too.”

“Well
mine’s going to be false. It says that Henry’s my birth father, and now I know
that isn’t true.”

“I
don’t want to see mine,” Christian added. “I don’t care who the guy was that
made me, as long as he’s not
your
scary ass father.”

“Okay,”
she sighed. “I’ll only get yours then, and I won’t show it to you. We’ll just
confirm it doesn’t say Richard VayRenn.”

“And
how do you plan to get it?” Christian said. “Are you just going to walk up to
the Dean and ask to look at some confidential student files? Because somehow I
doubt that’s going to go over very well. I haven’t even been allowed to see my
own birth certificate.”

“…Let
me worry about that,” she said, smiling weakly.

“Great.
Now that that’s all settled you three can mosey away from my door and leave me
alone,” Kaleb said. “Have fun with your family drama.”

Rome
was about to say something when Kaleb slammed the door in his face, not giving
him the chance. “Okay… I’ll talk to you later,” he frowned. He was becoming a
bit worried about him.

“
For now, we should all get to class,” Ariahna
said. They parted
ways and she spent the rest of the morning pondering
over just how she was going to get her hands on that file. She seriously
doubted her father’s name was on that document, but it was important that they
find out either way. Some part of her wanted to tell Christian whose name
was
on it, even though he’d said he didn’t want to know.

The
first few classes of the day went by without incident. Transmutation was her
last core class, and then she got to head on to her
electives, which started today. She only had to wait through fourth
period
, and then lunch, and she’d be on her way out to the greenhouses.
The thought had her smiling as she took a seat near the front of the class. Transmutation
was one of her favorite courses, second only to Alchemy. She was taking a few
advanced courses this year, Alchemy and Elements included, but was fortunate enough
to have been placed with the seniors for Transmutation. It was one of the
highest level courses on the subject the school offered, and unlike last year,
it was actually proving to be a challenge for her. Shawn sat down beside her as
the teacher began writing the day’s assignment on the board; and as she turned
to look at him, it was like a light bulb had been flipped on in her brain.

“Shawn,”
she said with a smile. “You’re an RA.”

“…Yes”
he said guardedly.

“Doesn’t
that give you access to most of the school?”

Shawn
could already sense where this was going.

“I
was just curious,” she said quickly. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about
for a while, applying as an RA. Maybe I could shadow you for a bit and get an
idea of the responsibilities involved?”

“Um,”
Shawn stammered. “Yeah, sure… that would be—”

“Great!”
Ariahna beamed. “I’ll meet you at lunch.”

“…We
have lunch right after class,” Shawn said. “Do you have to do something first,
or…? We could just go from here?”

“Right,”
she said, laughing nervously under her breath. “I just meant… I have to put my
books in my locker first. You can follow me?”

“I
could carry them for you?” he smiled.

The
teacher quieted them and class continued as normal. Today they were turning
each other into chairs. Shawn volunteered to be her partner for the assignment,
and she turned him into a cushy leather wing-back, complete with intricate
mahogany legs. The teacher was thoroughly impressed as most students were
producing rocking chairs and what passed more for simple stools. The bell rang
and the teacher made sure that everyone was on two legs instead of four before
dismissing them. Shawn swooped up her books so fast all she could do was smile,
and they stepped out into the hall together.

Quiet
whispers followed at their backs.

“…You
don’t have to carry those for me,” she said.

“It’s
no big deal,” Shawn replied, completely oblivious to the looks people were
shooting the two of them. They stopped at her locker briefly so that she could
store her books before continuing on their way.

Shawn
guided her around the grounds and through the different sections of the school,
explaining the duties the Dean asked all RA’s to complete. Ariahna seemed somewhat
distracted the entire time. But she was a strategic conversationalist and kept
him guessing with enough questions and comments to see them all the way to the
fourth floor. Shawn hadn’t had this much fun in a long time, and they were just
walking around, talking aimlessly. He stopped near the small stairwell leading
to the roof, turning to smile back at her.

“There’s
no need for you to take me up there,” she said. “I think I understand by now that
no one’s supposed to be on the roof.”

“I
knew you were a quick study,” he smirked. “Okay, well then I think that’s about
it. The tour, so to speak, is over. Other than that, you mostly know what my
job is. I have to handle issues in the dorms, student disputes, and in general deal
with people who dislike me. Sounds like fun, right?”

She
smiled, staring out across the teacher’s lounge. “Not everyone dislikes you.
And things would be pretty awful if you weren’t here to do what you do. If our
peers can’t understand that, then they’re just shortsighted. They wouldn’t
appreciate what you do for us until no one was there to do it anymore. You’re
there for people when they really need you. That’s an incredible thing.”

“Alright,
what are you trying to butter me up for?” he asked. “I’m not dense. People
attempt to bribe me all the time. Though usually, they bring money instead of
trying to earn my trust.”

Aria
looked back at him worriedly, but Shawn was smiling.

“I
really am interested in becoming an RA,” she said.

“You’re
being cagey.”

“It’s
just… you have keys to everywhere in the school, right? Even—even the Dean’s
office?”

“I
do, but only in case of emergencies. Why?”

Ariahna
didn’t feel like she could tell him. What if he said no? What if he went and
told the Dean? She scrambled to come up with an excuse, something he might believe.
“I just want to see the inside of his office. I think it would be exciting. Wouldn’t
it be fun to slip in while he was gone?” she
whispered,
smiling up at him mischievously. “Haven’t you ever just
wanted to do
something dangerous?”

Shawn
tried to keep his features neutral as his eyes darted around the nearly empty
room. “I can’t believe I’m considering this,” he breathed. What she was saying
sounded more than a little suggestive.
I just won’t let it go too far
,
he thought. Getting caught having sex on the Dean’s desk wasn’t exactly
something he wanted to add to his résumé.

He
fished out his keys and hurried them into the room, saying the
incantation to deactivate the magical alarm the
Dean had put in place.
Ariahna was walking to the far side of the
office, and he followed quickly after her. “We have a little while,” he said.
“The Dean takes lunch in his apartment.”

“Good,”
she replied, approaching several large filing cabinets crammed together in the
corner. She twisted two fingers in front of the small lock on one of the
drawers, opening it gently.

“What
are you doing?”

“Something
dangerous,” she answered.

Shawn
was quickly starting to realize she had no intention of making out with him. “You
didn’t say you wanted to go through confidential school files. That was kind of
an important fact for you to leave out,” he whispered
. She didn’t answer him as she skimmed through the
names,
apparently looking for something specific. He grabbed her gently, pulling her
away from the cabinets. “What are you really after?”

“The truth,” she said evasively. “Look, I just want to
confirm something. I
’m not going to alter the files in any way – no
one’s going
to get hurt. I’m just asking you to trust that what I’m doing, I’m doing for a
good reason.”

“Trust
is something you earn. We barely know each other, and in the short time that we
have, you’ve tried to deceive me.”

“I—I’m
sorry.”

“Tell
me what you’re doing,” he demanded.

“I
don’t have time right now. But I promise to tell you later. Please, Shawn,” she
begged.