Novels2Search

Chapter 12

I'm awoken by a light, almost imperceptible tapping at the bedroom window sometime in the middle of the night. Squinting at Tessa's Hello Kitty alarm clock reveals that it's one in the morning.

What woke me?

For a moment, I lie there staring at the clock, believing that I've probably imagined the tapping until I see a hand lift up through the window and tap its pointer fingernail on the glass.

I sit up quickly and carefully approach the window. I'm almost tempted to wake up Tessa or Astrid, but the fact that the person is quietly tapping on the window alerts me to the fact that whoever is on the other side only wants to wake one person up. Of the three people in the room, I've quickly figured out that I'm the lightest sleeper and the only person who would know that is...

I glance down and sure enough, Indigo is looking up at me from her place on the other side of the window. I don't know how she's able to reach the window, since I'm on the third floor, but the expression on her face tells me that I need to hurry up and get downstairs to meet up with her without question.

I freeze when I hear Tessa groan and roll over in her bunk behind me as I breathe lightly through my mouth. Even Peace shifts on her perch in her cage as the familiar fluffs up her feathers before she nestles her head under her wing.

I step over to my dresser as quietly as I can and shrug on a jacket and tuck my cellphone into my pocket.

On quiet feet, I tiptoe to the door before I pull on a pair of sneakers and slip out of the room into the hall as I shut the door behind me. I pause in the hallway, letting my eyes adjust to the dim lighting before I start down the hall.

I don't take the elevator, opting to instead take the stairs as I descend them in silence before I open the front door of the dormitory and step out into the early morning air.

It's cold and the air is biting as I gasp in a surprised, quiet breath and instantly wish that I had brought a thicker jacket. Frost is glimmering on the grass as I wrap my arms around myself to feebly protect against the chill. The moon is almost full above me, bathing everything in a silvery glow which makes the grass look like it's coated in glitter.

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I jog around the building, sticking to the shadows as I head for the place that Indigo should be. I try to keep my breathing light as my breath clouds the air and my nose begins to burn from the cold that bitterly gnaws at it. I slow down once I'm around the corner, my eyes searching the darkness as I look within the long shadows cast by the coniferous bushes.

"Pssst," a sudden hiss, rises from a cluster of shrubbery that rims the building.

I jolt and glance over at it to see that Indigo is hiding among them and is crouched in the shadows. She smiles from within the depths between two bushes, her teeth white in the darkness as her eyes flash. She stands and steps over to me, emerging from the black like she belongs there.

"I heard that you were inducted into the Coven of Midnight," she says as she smiles at me, "what was your familiar?"

"I...well," I stutter, suddenly nervous to tell her the truth as my tongue manages to tie itself up while I try to find the right words to say.

At last, I look down at the ground, unable to find any words to describe the miracle that has happened to me. I realize then that word hasn't gotten around to her yet since she wasn't at the tournament and couldn't possibly know what happened during my conjuration class.

"Kara, where's the necklace that mom gave you?" Indigo asks as her face suddenly goes pale, the blood quickly draining from her cheekbones as her eyes widen.

"It's right here," I assure her as I motion to the illusioned necklace that is still around my throat, Tessa's illusion holding in place from when she had cast it this morning and I hope then that Indigo still doesn't see past it.

"That isn't the necklace," she retorts as she narrows her eyes and tilts her head, noticing something about it that she hadn't seen this morning.

She reaches forward and grabs the necklace to make a point and the gem quickly flickers out of existence once she touches it. Her green eyes remind me of the flames of a fire as she fixes me with an intense stare that makes my heart pause.

"Kara."

"I'm sorry, it was stolen," I murmur and swallow as I stare down at the grass beneath my shoes.

"Oh this is bad...this is very bad," she whispers as she walks a few paces away from me and grips at her temples.

There is a tension in her shoulders that I haven't seen before and I shrink backwards, afraid for a moment that she might explode.

"Indi, how is it bad?" I begin to say in a timid voice, "I'm an Unfamiliar, they were thought to be legends, how can you be mad?"

She whirls around more quickly than I've ever seen her move before as her eyebrows draw down and her lips press into a thin line.

"Because you weren't supposed to reveal your power!" she snaps at me.