Hidden World Academy, Tome 3 : Magic Gambit

CHAPTER 1

If you’d told me just a few months ago that I would be sitting in a dirty, dusty old secret meeting hall in a club dress after switching back and forth between parallel worlds all night and nearly getting murdered by a man who belonged to an insane magical cult…

I’d have said you were absolutely crazy.

Oh, and if you’d told me that I would also discover in that same night that I have magic of my own? I probably would’ve busted a gut laughing.

But that’s what’s happened.

It’s why I’m here. Still in my club dress. Exhausted, tired, but at least no longer hungry since Cross got us some food.

I can barely think straight. I don’t know how anyone else has the energy to argue with each other. And yet, that’s definitely what’s going on here.

Pressing my fingertips to my temples, I try to sort through the thoughts careening around inside my head as Cross and Bianca gear up for another round. They’ve been arguing pretty much since Cross got back with the food, and neither one of them is showing signs of backing down.

It’s understandable, in a way. Tensions are running high, and we’ve all been through a lot.

Bianca only just found out tonight—or last night, now, since it’s morning and dawn is breaking through the windows—that I’m not really her best friend. That the real Roxie has been on the run for about five months now, and I’ve been pretending to be her for just as long.

I’m shocked Bianca’s not more upset about me lying to her for months, and honestly, I wouldn’t blame her if she were pissed at me. As it is, I think she’s still sort of reeling from the discovery that the guy she was seeing, Gunner, turned out to be a member of the Cult of Singularity and tried to kill us all tonight—until Bianca killed him in self-defense. Between that and the whole “I’m not really Roxie” thing, it’s a miracle the poor girl’s head hasn’t exploded.

Although it looks pretty close to exploding right now. Her face is red, her sleek dark hair in disarray, and her angular features look even sharper than usual as she glares at Cross.

“What are we going to do to help Roxie? She’s obviously in trouble! That cult wants her, and they’ve already found her more than once! We need to protect her!”

“Oh, do we?” Cross barks. “Maybe she’s not the one who needs protecting! She dragged a completely innocent person into this. She didn’t even leave a note for Gabbi warning her or giving her any kind of clues to help her defend herself. What if Gabbi had been arrested? What if she’d been taken by the government? You think they would’ve been all that gentle? You think they would’ve played nice? Hell, no.”

I’ve seen Cross irritated, and I’ve seen him angry, but I’ve never seen him like this. His blue-green eyes flash fire as he puts himself between Bianca and the rest of us as if the posh-looking girl is going to try to kill us or something. And, okay, granted, I did just watch Bianca stab the man she’s been dating with a dagger she had hidden in her shoe, so I guess Cross’s protectiveness isn’t totally out of left field.

But that asshole Gunner betrayed her and all of us for the Cult of Singularity, and he was about to murder me when Bianca killed him, so… Well, right now, I’m sort of okay with her violent tendencies.

“What exactly are you suggesting then, Cross?” Kasian says wearily. He’s trying to be the voice of reason, as always, sitting down across from me and leaning on an elbow as he talks in a lower, soothing tone of voice. “You’re not wrong that Roxie put Gabbi in a bad situation when she initially swapped places with her, but we already know all of this.”