The Phoenix Rider (Academy In Flames Book 2) by Scarlett Reid

Author:Scarlett Reid [Reid, Scarlett]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2021-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

As it turned out, Ana and Fyrenza made it back to Galfour’s Point just a bit before dinner. Fyrenza notified Pepin of their arrival, and he was on the front lawn when Ana walked up. He wasn’t alone, though. Ginger was with him.

“Thank goodness!” He ran up to her. “Did you find them?”

She cast a wary look at the castle. It suddenly felt as if the place were made of ears.

“Yes,” she said slowly.

Ginger joined them, her face pinched. “So you went to Earndale?”

Ana nodded, feeling slightly guilty that she hadn’t asked Ginger to join her. If Ginger was hurt, though, she didn’t show it.

“Pepin filled me in.” The concern on her face grew. “What did you find out?”

“Uh…” There were a few other students on the front lawn, none of them within hearing distance, but Ana still felt uneasy talking there.

She jerked her head at the woods. “Let’s go over there.”

Several trails wound through the woods next to the castle. They had probably once been deer trails before students took them over and widened them with constant walks.

Ana liked to wander down them sometimes in the afternoons, though she hadn’t followed the trail that led to the top of the mountain, the one that led to where Fyrenza’s nest had been. There seemed little reason to go there again.

She’d asked Fyrenza about her mother before, and Fyrenza had been extremely nonchalant. Apparently phoenixes didn’t particularly care if they ever saw their parents again. They automatically inherited knowledge from their mothers, but that didn’t mean they longed for a personal relationship.

The impression Fyrenza gave off was that if she saw her mother again, that would be nice, but not necessary. Ana didn’t get it; there was very little she wouldn’t do in order to see her own mother, who’d died when she was an infant.

They meandered down a trail, Ana filling Pepin and Ginger in on everything she had learned. Fyrenza flew back and forth above them, and Ana could tell she was antsy.

“I suspected as much,” Pepin whispered. “I only hoped it wouldn’t be true.”

Ana crossed her arms, her fingernails digging into her skin even through her light jacket.

“And she didn’t mention Ivy’s friends?” Ginger asked.

“No.” It occurred to Ana that she should have asked to see the old letters-- assuming Mrs. Kline still had them.

“But she mentioned Professor Ionadi,” Pepin pointed out.

“Yes.” Ana didn’t get why this information was so important.

The intense look on Pepin’s face filled in the blanks.

“No.” Ana dropped her arms, her hands balling into fists. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“I didn’t say she did.” He gave her a look that, even if it wasn’t meant to be, came across as patronizing.

“The Knowing is behind this,” she said. “Or someone is working on their own, but it’s not her. I’d pin this on Headmaster Whitlock before anyone else.”

“You’re being biased.”

She snorted. “He doesn’t like me, and it’s for no reason.”

“He could be one of those grumpy old people who doesn’t like change.”

“Really, Pepin?” Ana’s voice rose.

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