Chapter 1: Cassandra

The summer went better than expected. Edius didn't bother showing up on campus, and neither did any of his minions. Unfortunately, we still had not been given permission to pursue Edius or those who followed him. Despite our best efforts, neither Aurelius nor the often-absent headmaster agreed we should be the aggressor. I didn't agree and was having a hard time following orders.

Aurelius did tell us the time would come to find Edius, and when that happened we needed to be more than ready for the fight of our lives. He also opened up a bit more about Edius. They'd known each other for years, and Aurelius had nothing but bad things to say about the man. Whereas Aurelius studied the light, Edius turned to the darker side of magic. I would use whichever helped end Edius' reign of terror.

"Light will always defeat darkness," Aurelius had told me when I asked about using either or.

"Then why don't we go on the offensive?" I asked.

His reply had been chilling. "Because when the forces of good and evil battle, good will win but also suffer more loss of life. Evil accepts the loss of life because that is evil's intent - the destruction of life. Goodness seeks to preserve life, not destroy it."

I walked away from the conversation understanding why the academy was so dead set against us going rogue. We would go in with magic blazing and suffer losses we didn't want or couldn't stomach. Having said that, we were all on edge and wanted to put the man six-feet under.

Dash did try to sneak out late one evening under the cover of a severe thunderstorm, but he found himself stuck when the area outside the academy became flooded. Add in an extraordinary lightning storm, and there was nothing he could do. Using magic and casting spells during a lightning storm was a deadly combination for witch or warlock. A seasoned wizard or mage could harness such power, but our skills were not at that level just yet. We eventually found Dash at the academy gates yelling into the dark and stormy night at Edius.

None of the guys trusted the headmaster and, honestly, neither did I. Bottom line - we were responsible for his brother's death. The whole blood is thicker than water cliché was playing out regardless of how many people were harmed. None of us saw the headmaster over the summer, and I suspected we would never see him again. Part of me even thought he might team up with Edius to get revenge for his brother's death. It would be a mistake on his part.

There was an intriguing dynamic happening between the guys. Oliver began teaching the others how to use a computer and how to hack the underground Internet. Dash finally called Oliver cool. Kyler never talked about Sonny again and didn't wander off into the forest as much as he had the first two years I'd known him. He had also accepted, without question, the witch doctor abilities given to him by his mother; though, I thought maybe he still held a grudge against her for turning away from him. I couldn't imagine the feeling of a parent denying their love for me. I hoped someday he and his mother could reconcile because when a loved one was gone, so was the chance to give forgiveness.

Braeden still seemed to have something on his mind, things he didn't share very often. We talked a few times about Ren and him turning his back on us, but we left it at that. Ren had changed for the worse, and therefore we had to take him down. Braeden also began binge watching old TV shows from the 1990s. He religiously watched a show called Friends. He said the shows helped him think. It got so bad that he walked around quoting lines like, "How you doin'?" I thought it was to keep his mind off whatever was bothering him.

Dash continued with his macho exterior, but he never failed to let me see his soft interior when we were alone or in bed. He still asked if he were the best of the four, and I still told him they were all unique in their own way. He took that as yeah, he was the best.

The sex, love making, fucking or whatever you wanted to call it continued. The guys treated me with love even though sometimes things got kinky, rough, and downright dirty. The downright dirty times were always the best. It seemed the older we got, the better the sex got.

"Hey, Cassandra," Georgie Martin said as he approached. He had stayed over the summer as well, catching up on his defensive training. He'd been one of the students who fell sick from the poisoning and hadn't recovered by the end of last semester, so he spent the summer finishing up what he'd missed. I worked with him a bit, and it seemed to help both of us. I needed to take more of a leadership role, and working with him was a means to that end. I learned the necessity of being friends with as many students as possible.

"You heading to the auditorium?" I was heading in the same direction once the guys arrived, but they were fashionably late, as usual.

Georgie nodded. "I wanna get a good seat. I hear there's some big news being announced."

"I heard the same." I shielded my eyes from the sun. "Still remember your training?"

Georgie laughed. "You knocked me on my ass enough times to make me never forget. The extra training helped me a lot, Cass. You know I appreciate it."

"Hey, anytime. We're all in this together and need to support each other. Never be afraid to ask me or the others for help."

He raised an eyebrow, and I suddenly dreaded what I thought he might ask. And then he did ask.

"Ever thought about a fifth guy?"

"I can barely handle what I have." Seeing his disappointment, I changed the subject. "Hey, how's your dad doing?" He didn't talk much about his personal life, but I could sense his stress while we trained. That was when he told me his dad had suffered a heart attack.

"Mom says he's doing much better. He's laying off the booze and cigarettes, though, Mom says he still loves fried food." Georgie shrugged. "Guess that's why I'm a vegan."

"Good to hear, Georgie. Hopefully you'll have some free time to get back home for a visit. Have the new students arrived yet?"

He glanced at his watch. "Should be anytime. I'm headed to admin now to help herd people to where they're supposed to be." He looked at his watch again. "And of course, I'm late."

"See ya at the auditorium," I said, and Georgie continued on his way, his lanky body almost blowing away in the warm August wind. Five guys? No way. Four seemed to be the perfect number.

I'd heard the same thing about some big announcement. But I was really just anxious to get started on the final two years at the academy and then be gone. The guys swore they would go with me wherever I wanted to go. We talked about Europe and the far east. We even agreed hiking up Machu Picchu would be fun. I said if we did the hike, we did it without using any magic. Dash didn't seem so excited about the trip after that.

"You guarding the courtyard?" Nicolette asked as she and Ruby walked toward me. I let a huge smile cross my face. As great as the guys were, I missed having girlfriends around all the time.

"Somebody's gotta watch the children while the daycare is closed." I stood, and we shared a group hug, girlie giggling included. "How was your summer, Ruby?"

Nicolette remained on campus all summer. The two of us shared some training time with Aurelius. He made us go toe-to-toe several times. Every time we battled to a draw. Nicolette swore up and down she was holding back, but I didn't think so. My skills with both my elements and spells had vastly improved. Yeah, I still managed to lose control every now and again, but Nicolette was never one to let someone else win or battle her to a draw. Her pride would not allow it. She was also increasingly difficult to read, or know if she were on our side.

Ruby shrugged. "It was okay. I didn't do much." She looked away as if she had done much but didn't want to share. The vibe from her was not something I'd ever experienced before. We were close enough for me to have the feeling something was wrong.

I glanced at Nicolette who looked away. Ruby picked at her fingernails. Something was off. Right before the academy closed for the summer, Ruby began acting kinda weird, even evasive. I thought maybe because she had dumped her boyfriend. She didn't like that he was transferring to another academy, making it another long-distance relationship. And while she packed for the summer, she denied my offers to help her pack or even carry her stuff to the train. I let it go because I didn't want to make things worse.

"I guess you stayed here and trained?" Ruby adjusted her backpack on her shoulders and chewed her bottom lip. She looked across the courtyard, obviously not interested in my answer. Nicolette noticed and smiled. Yeah, Nicolette was definitely marching to the beat of her own drums.

"I did, but I'd much rather have gotten the hell off the academy grounds and had some fun like you did. Get any traveling in?"

"Not really," Ruby said. "Just kinda hung out and did my own thing."

"That's cool. Nothing wrong with that." I glanced toward the dorms and then at my watch. The guys were running behind. It never ceased to amaze me how four guys could all be late at the same time on so many different occasions. "Learn any new spells or hexes?" It was painful to force the conversation, but I didn't want to ask what was wrong in front of Nicolette.

Ruby shook her head, and though our eyes met for only a second, I could tell she was lying. She started to say something else but stopped. She glared at Nicolette and then sighed. "So, how are the guys?"

"Late," I said, and laughed. She didn't. "They're doing fine."

Because I could tell something was wrong, I didn't bother telling her I'd moved into a dorm suite with all four guys.