Strange Academy by Teresa Wilde

Author:Teresa Wilde [Wilde, Teresa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance
ISBN: 9780986956836
Published: 2012-05-22T03:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

What had she been thinking? Sadie resisted the urge to slap her forehead with her palm. Sleeping with Gray? Big mistake.

She trudged through the two inches of snow on the path. She couldn’t stay under the same roof as Gray. After he’d run from her bed, she had lain awake, hoping for sleep. Praying to dream of Pippa and needing her wise advice, even if it was only her own imagination. Sleep hadn’t come. Neither had Pippa.

She hugged herself against the chill. Winter in the countryside was so different than winter in Toronto. The sun shone from an ice-blue sky, unobstructed by skyscrapers, warming her skin even as the air cooled it. The buildings hunkered under the snow, Chapter House’s red brick at the head of a U, its clock tower casting a long shadow into the Quad. The Arts Building and the Science Building faced each other like long, squat twins in a permanent standoff.

“Winter kept us warm/covering the earth in protective snow.” She quoted T.S. Eliot to no one as she strolled toward the Victorian gingerbread of Eastwick Hall, the smallest of the residences and home to the thirteen witches of the Senior Coven.

She slipped her sunglasses out of her pocket and onto her face but still found herself squinting at the sun’s light reflected off the brilliant blanket of white powder covering the Strange Academy campus.

A familiar dark figure darted between the buildings, startling her. Sadie headed toward it and heard a young male voice as she rounded the corner.

Sterling played in the shadow of Strange Hall. Under icicles dangling from the roof like crystal daggers. A chill passed over her heart.

“Sterling.” She kept her voice quiet, terrified to disturb the ice. She barely heard herself over the pressure in her ears. “Come away from those icicles. Now.”

Anger flashed across Sterling’s face. Then he walked toward her, out into the sun, pouting.

“I was only—”

Crack! A splintering sound sliced through Sterling’s words. Sadie whirled to see an icicle taller than Sterling stabbed into a snowdrift. In her footprints. She forgot how to breathe.

“Cool!” Sterling shielded his eyes against the winter sun.

A few seconds earlier, it could have killed her, or at least sent her to the hospital, which would have meant crossing the magic circle and losing her memory. But it was just an accident. Like the fire and the potion? Maybe. Maybe Gray had a point and she was seeing conspiracies everywhere now. Gradually, she became aware she was petrified in place and that Sterling stared at her, one eye closed against the sun’s brightness.

“Don’t play near the buildings,” she said, dry-mouthed.

He grinned, but nodded.

“Who were you talking to?”

Sterling’s cheeks turned scarlet. “No one.”

“Hm.” He was a little old, but... “As a kid, I had an invisible friend.”

He eyed her sideways as they walked. “That’s dumb.”

“I was lonely.” She scooped up a handful of snow. “His name was Quin. He had crazy golden eyes. But you’re never lonely. I always see you with your friends.”

He jutted his chin.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.