Spearwood Academy Volume Two (The Spearwood Academy Book 2) (3 page)

“They’re
scarier than
inferi
.” I turn and look at Enid, she
looks back with a soft smile. “Thank you, Enid. You just saved our butts.”

“I’m
glad to be of service. Is there anything else you need help with at this
moment?”

“We
need you to patch a video call through to Dr. Quinn, it’s an urgent matter,”
says Amr.

Enid
looks at me. “Would you like me to do that, Avalon?”

I nod.
“Yes.”

“Very
well.” She walks over to one of the larger white walls and places her hand
against it. “Calling Dr. Quinn now.” A holographic screen appears on the wall.

“Who’s
paging me this early in the morning?” asks Dr. Quinn, as he comes into focus,
with his hair tussled a morning beard around his jaw and mouth.

His
eyes widen when he sees me. “Miss Clementine, Mr. Radcliff, why are you two
paging me? Why aren’t you at breakfast yet, or at the very least standing in my
infirmary?”

“I
have a problem doctor, I can’t leave my room. The boys, except for Amr, are
acting strange.”

“Strange
how?” he frowns.

“They
keep trying to touch me and they all say I smell good to them, but all of them
describe it as something different.”

“Oh
dear. I was afraid of this, but I wasn’t sure if it was true or not.” He puts
his hand to his mouth, I can see the worry in his eyes.

“What
is it? What’s wrong with me?”

He
glances at Amr, before looking back at me. “I must ask you a personal question
first, Miss Clementine, to make sure it’s what I think it is.”

I
motion for him to get on with it, I don’t have time to shoo Amr away. I cross
my arms over my chest. “What?”

“When
was your last menstrual cycle?”

Earth,
open up and swallow me now. I wasn’t expecting that. Amr looks anywhere but the
wall or me. “Um, a little less than two weeks ago.”

He
closes his eyes and sighs. “It is what I think. You’re in heat.”

A
laugh bursts forth from me. “Excuse me?”

“You’re
ovulating. Which means you make a good mate right now. The boys here are
picking up on that and, well, you’ve seen the evidence of what happens.”

“You’re
serious? I’m not a cat.”

“No
one knew if this would actually happen or not, but we prepared for it anyway.
There’s a spray you can use that masks your pheromones, it will have you back
to normal in no time. I just need to find it. I’ll let Perlow know you two
won’t be able to attend classes. I doubt many will be attending today, until we
get this problem fixed.”

“Wait!”
I say, stopping him from ending the call. He stays on the line.

“If
I really am in heat. Why isn’t he affected?” I point to Amr.

“Those
who are closely related to you, within your immediate family, shouldn’t be
affected by your pheromones. Call it a built in fail safe for the families.
Inbreeding is frowned upon. Ancient magic is probably stopping him from giving
into any primal urges. I must go now, I’ll be in touch.” The screen disappears.

Amr
and I look at each other, as his words sink in. Immediate family, which leaves
only one option, we’re siblings.

He
stumbles over to the couch. “You know what that means, right?” he asks.

I
nod. “Yeah.”

“My
parents always told me I was an only child.”

I
swallow hard. His parents are my biological parents. The thought doesn’t make
sense. How can that be? They were supposed to be dead, or horrible people who
didn’t deserve me. Maybe they are.

It’s
nearly ten at night in Bellingham and Edgar will be crawling into bed soon.
“Enid, call Edgar.”

The
dial tone rings throughout the room.

“Who
the hell is
callin
mi house so late?” he answers.

I
smile. I missed his voice, I haven’t talked to him in days. “Hey, Ed.” I keep
the quivering out of my voice, hopefully he can’t hear the tears rolling down
my cheeks.

“Avvi!
I was about ta call the school. I haven’t talked ta
ya
in days!”

“Yeah.
I’m sorry. They sprung a surprise hiking trip on us and I wasn’t allowed to
bring my phone.”

He
starts to cough. He’s holding the phone away from him, but I can still hear it.
“Ed, you okay?”

More
coughing. “Sorry, yeah. I got ti flu. Bin
goin
around. I’ll be fine in a few days. The hands did most my work today. I’m glad
they’re around.”

“I
can come home, you—”

“Don’t
be stupid, Avvi! Unless
ya
want ta come home, you
ain’t
goin
ta do it because I got
one little harmless bug.”

“You’re
okay otherwise? You’re eating well?”

“I
was a bachelor before I found
ya
, I can take care of
mi self just fine without all
yar
worryin
.”

“I
love you, Ed.”

“I
love
ya
taa
. What about
yar
self? Are
ya
okay?”

If
only he knew the truth. “Yeah, Ed, of course. Learning tons.”

He
coughs again away from the phone. “That’s great, Avvi. I’m proud of
ya
,”

“I’ll
let you go, so you can go get some rest. I’ll call you again soon.”

“Okay.
I love
ya
.”

“I
love you too, bye.”

“Bye.”

The
line goes dead and I swallow hard. He didn’t sound good, flu or not.

“Was
that your father?” asks Amr.

I
almost forgot he was in the room. I walk over to the white loveseat across from
him and lie down. “Yeah. I had to hear his voice. It’s late over there for
him.”

“Avvi,
we’re siblings. Most likely twins. How old are you?”

“I
just turned fifteen before coming here. I don’t know my exact birthday.”

“Mine’s
October 13
^th
,” he says.

“Ed
found me on October 15
^th
.” I look at him. We share a look. The look
given when one of the puzzle pieces fit. It’s strange. I don’t know how to
feel. I’m numb. I’m not happy, or sad to find out he’s my twin. I should be one
of those things, right? His eyes tell me he’s feeling the same thing.

“Let’s
not tell the others about this yet, even after they aren’t all crazy for you.”

I
sit up. “Why?”

He
shakes his head. I just have a feeling we should wait.”

“All
right,” I don’t know why he wants to keep it from the others, but I’ll wait.

There’s
a knock at the door. We look at each other. Enid goes to the door and puts her
hand to it. “It’s one of the school servants, he has something for you,
Avalon.”

I stand
and try to smooth down my hair. I doubt it’s doing much good. A part of me
hopes its Kearn. I wish I wasn’t in oversized sleepers. “Let him in, but no one
else.”

Enid
nods. The sound of people talking in the hall fill the room, I never realized
how soundproof the door is. “Avalon!” I hear several people shout. It sounds
like the guys, but there’s no way I’m allowing them in here before I’ve used
that spray stuff.

Happiness
fills me when I see him, Kearn. He steps into the room with grace, a tray in his
hands. Enid pushes the door closed behind him, almost crushing a few fingers in
the process. Luckily, they let go in time.

“Dr.
Quinn asked me to deliver this to you Miss.”

I
wish he could say my name, but Amr still sits on the couch.  I smile and
push my hair behind my ear. On the tray stands a small, silver spray canister.
I take it.

He
smiles at me. “Dr. Quinn asked me to stay behind and make sure it works as it
should.”

I
bite my lip. He gets to stick around for a few more minutes. I take the cap off
and aim the nozzle toward me. A fine mist covers me from head to toe.

My
knees buckle. I fall to the floor and my vision goes black, what’s happening? I
don’t think this was supposed to happen.

“Don’t
even think about it, Mr. Radcliff. This has been ordered by the Royals. It will
be your head if you intervene,” I hear Kearn say, before my entire world goes
silent.

W
ho put an anvil on my head? The sweet scent of
sandalwood and lilacs fill my nose and my eyes flutter open. My head pounds,
like Maryanne and the group are stampeding around in it for fun. My reflection
stares back at me. I’m sitting in a chair, with a high gold frame back and
crushed blue velvet padding.

I
touch my face, light makeup has been put on me. A light pink gloss and a
shimmering gold eye shadow. Somehow my normal wild curls have been tamed
straight. I’m wearing a dark blue pencil dress, with puff shoulder sleeves. The
fabric, softer than anything I have ever felt. The crystal I received the other
night is hidden under the dress. A large five pointed diamond necklace lays on
top. On my left ring finger is a white gold serpent, holding a large scarlet
ruby. There’s something oddly familiar about all of this. The wheels in my head
go into over drive, trying to figure out what it is.

“Do
you like it? I know you have a love for Korean dramas.”

My
head spins.  I look to the left side of the room. The Royal Paden lounges
on a long, stiff couch. It belongs in a castle. He’s wearing a light blue, silk
button down and black slacks. The forest green uniform nowhere in sight. . My
mouth drops open as it all clicks into place. This seems familiar because I’ve
seen it in a
KDrama
before,
Boys
Over
Flowers
. There’s a scene where the rich boy kidnaps
the poor girl and gives her a rich makeover.

My
eyes narrow. “How do you know I like
KDramas
?”

He
smiles and stands. He comes over to me and circles the chair. “When it comes to
you, my love, I have taken my time to learn everything about you.” He stops in
front of me, puts his hands on the arms of the chair and leans over me, his
face mere inches from mine.

“That’s
just creepy, not sweet.” I lean back into the chair, my eyes dart to the side.
Is there an escape route?

“I
want you to love me. Does this not make you happy?”

I
slip my feet out of the heels someone put on me. I will break my neck if I try
to walk in them now. Sliding down in the chair, I lift my legs and hit him
directly in the gut with my feet. He doesn’t gasp, but he does stumble back far
enough to allow me to get up and move away from the chair. I rip off the
diamond necklace and throw it on the ground. “You claim to know me, but if you
truly knew me at all, you’d know I wouldn’t want any of this. I liked that
show, but I didn’t want it to happen to me.”

He
brushes a blond strand of hair out of his face. “That’s not what your
fanfictions
say.”

My
mind goes blank. He knows about my
fanfiction
? Not
even Edgar knows that I write it. “Stalking me much?”

“You
pair Hermione Granger with a bunch of different people, but your favorite seems
to be putting her with Draco Malfoy, who ends up giving her makeover with his
money.” The heat of a blush warms my cheeks. “I only did that in two of them.”
I won’t admit that while I was writing the makeover scenes, I was imagining myself
in the place of Hermione. I shake my head. No, that doesn’t mean I wanted it to
happen in real life, especially with someone like him.

 His
smile never wavers. He takes several steps toward me. “But you liked it. I know
you did.”

I
swallow hard. My head moves from side to side. “Not enough to want it.”

His
head cocks to the left. The blue—that reminds me of the kind found in the flame
of a fire—gleams with that damn disturbing happiness. “Do you like the
engagement ring?”

I look
down at the snake and ruby ring. It’s pretty, but I’m not going to marry him.
“No.” I try to take it off, but it doesn’t budge. It’s not just stuck, its
literally not moving. “Why won’t it come off?”

“Magic.
I put a spell on it. It won’t come off until you either hate me, or one of us
is no longer around.”

“Then
it should be coming off!” I snap, as I try harder to get the ring off. “This is
not okay. I never agreed to marry you.”

He
moves a piece of hair off my forehead and his finger trails down the side of my
face. A tingle of electricity moves through me, I move away from him, leaning
into the sofa. “You don’t truly hate me, that’s a good thing.”

He
moves in closer, kissing distance. There’s no way for me to get out of this
one. I’m cornered. His eyes close and he moves his head to the side. My eyes go
wide. I don’t want to kiss him.

“Paden,
the lunch is ready.”

Both
of us turn to look at the door; Maverick Hansen, of all people, stands there. I
don’t think I have ever been happier to see him.

Paden
hangs his head with a sigh. “Your timing is impeccable,
Maverick
,
really.”

Maverick
holds up his hands. “Sorry, I’ll go.”

“Thank—”

“No!
Stay. Don’t move.” I manage to scoot past Paden and get myself free.
I breathe a sigh of relief and walk over to Maverick. “Take me back to my
room.” I don’t like the idea of depending on Maverick, but I have no idea where
I am. He’s the only one I know, at least a little bit.

“No,
stay, and have lunch with me and my friends in our own private rose garden,”
says Paden. He comes to stand with us.

“Why
aren’t you two acting all crazy?” I ask. “I mean, more than usual.”

“I
would like to say that your pheromones do not affect us, but then I would be
lying.” Paden snaps his fingers and Maverick reaches into the inner pocket, of
his forest green blazer, and pulls out a small silver canister.

“That
is the correct spray that you need. Doctor Quinn said spray it in your mouth
once a day. About a week after you have your—”

I
hold up my hand. I really don’t want to hear him talk about my period. I’m not
necessarily shy about the subject, but I don’t want to hear,
him,
talk
about it. “I get where you are going, no need to utter anymore. I take the
canister from Maverick, our fingers brush and a hot electricity goes through me
at the touch. I try to ignore it, but I glance at his face, he looks back at
me. A frown etches his face.  I pull the canister closer and he looks away
from me.

“So
will you have lunch with my friends and I?” asks Paden.

“Do
I actually have the choice in the matter?” I have no idea where I am.  I
don’t think I would be able to find my way back to my room and the boys on my
own. Who knows what kind of traps could be lurking around, survival of the
fittest and all that.

“Not
really,” says Maverick.

Most
choices here aren’t actually for me to make. Somehow, that’s going to change
soon, I don’t like people making my choices for me.

“All
right, lead the way then.” Perhaps I can get some info out of these guys while
I’m here. Who knows what type of knowledge they have.