Entangled (Guardian Academy Book 2) (3 page)

I roll my eyes but smile. “It was instinctual, okay? Besides, you never know who could be listening.”

His amusement dissolves as he returns his attention to the window. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Silence fills the room, and I reach for my phone to call my dad and tell him I saw the empress. The second I pick up my phone, though, Dash snatches it away from me.

“I’m under strict orders not to let you use your phone.”

“Why not?” I lunge for the phone, but he tucks his arm behind his back. Letting out an exasperated breath, I plop my behind back down onto the bed. “So not cool, dude.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who gave the orders.” He slips my phone into the back pocket of his jeans. “All I was told was to come here and keep an eye on you, to bring Thad, and to keep you from using your phone.”

My brows dip. “Why’d Jax say you need to bring Thad?”

“For extra muscle, I guess.” He shrugs. “Jax can be kind of evasive sometimes.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to notice that.” My mood nosedives straight into the floor as a thought occurs to me. If Jax told Dash to bring extra muscle, then I’m guessing the Electi are strong.

“Just what is she up to?” Dash mutters with his nose pressed against the glass. “Yeah, I can see you, you little wench. I’m going to figure this out and destroy you.”

“You don’t like Vivianne, either?” I ask, leaning forward to get a view out of the window.

“Does anyone like Vivianne?” he mutters with his eyes fixed on the driveway.

I hug my knees to my chest. “I don’t, but I thought maybe it was just me.”

He shakes his head. “It’s definitely not you. A lot of people would love to get her kicked out of the academy.”

Restless, I push to my feet to stand beside him and look out the window. “Maybe we should report her for talking to the empress.”

“Report it to who?” He squints at Vivianne and the empress who hop back into the car. “Vivianne’s the Head of Interrogation; she’s the one we’re supposed to report these kinds of incidents to.”

“I’m not talking about reporting it to the Guardians,” I explain. “I think we should tell the Keepers. They might be able to look into it and find out more about what’s going on.”

Dash places his ear against the glass. “Just give me a second.” He closes his eyes, concentrating.

“What are you do—”

He places a finger to my lip. “Shhh … I’m listening.”

He can hear what they’re saying all the way from here? Holy amazinginess, I’m impressed.

“I know. I’m super impressive.” The corners of his lips pull into a lopsided smile, his eyes remaining shut. “And that’s just one of my many, many talents.” He removes his finger from my lips and presses his palm to the glass. “Wait a minute, I think I hear them … Yep … Oh, my word. I can’t believe this.”

“What is it?” I bite my nails in anticipation.

His eyelids open, and he dips his lips beside my ear. “They’re exchanging cookie recipes.”

I snort a laugh and playfully shove him away. “They are not. You’re such a liar.”

“I know.” He sighs heavily. “I can’t hear a damn word they’re saying.”

I glance from him to the car outside. “They’re too far away?”

“No, it’s not that.” He paces the room. “It’s way too quiet out there. I didn’t even hear a cricket chirping.”

Thad straightens but keeps his fingers enfolded around the doorknob. “You think that’s because of …?”

Dash nods, cupping the back of his neck. “But why would she block me?”

“Maybe she wasn’t trying to block you,” Thad offers. “There’s a lot of people in this school who could easily eavesdrop on conversations.”

“What do you mean by
blocked
?” I move away from the window as headlights light up the strip of land in front of the school. “Like a witch’s blocking spell? Is Vivianne a witch?”

“No.” Dash stops pacing and looks at me. “But she might’ve gotten a witch to do it for her. Why, though? I mean, I know I don’t like people listening in on my conversations, but I don’t go around getting blocking spells put on me, either.”

“Most people don’t,” I point out. “My aunt’s a witch, and I’ve never had her put one on me. She did put one on my mom and dad for a while, but only when they were working on a secret project.”

Dash taps his bottom lip. “I think I have an idea.” When I open my mouth to ask what the idea is, he places his finger against my lips again. “Nope. Not going to tell you. That way, if I get caught and you get questioned, you can’t be held accountable. The last thing we need is Vivianne having another reason to give you more detention.”

I crinkle my nose. After spending the day locked in Vivianne’s classroom, doing stacks of assignments, and then spending the evening with the janitor scrubbing down toilets, the last thing I want is more detention.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I say. “But you have to promise to tell me what you find out.”

“Sure,” he says, avoiding eye contact.

Yeah, that doesn’t seem too promising. But why doesn’t he want to tell me? And why does it feel like he knows more about this than he’s letting on?

Chapter 3

After Vivianne and the empress drive away, Dash announces we need to do something fun instead of sitting around and worrying. Then he suggests playing spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven. That’s when I take things over and pull out a deck of cards.

“Aren’t you just a party pooper?” Dash teases, sitting down on the floor beside me. He crisscrosses his legs and rests back on his hands. “I liked my suggestions better.”

“You don’t have to play cards if you don’t want to,” I tell him, shuffling the deck. “And you could always play your games with Thad.”

Thad starts to sit down but freezes. “Wait. What?”

“She wants to see us kiss.” Dash puckers his lips. “What do you think? Are you in or out?”

Thad rolls his eyes. “Definitely out.” He sinks down beside me, the floor trembling beneath his weight.

Dash slips off his gloves and rolls up his sleeves. “I’ve never played cards before.”

My eyes enlarge. “What the heck, dude?
Seriously
?”

He nods. “My mom and dad weren’t really big on letting us play games.”

I tap the side of the deck against the floor, aligning the cards. “Then what did you do for fun?”

He shrugs, unzipping his hoodie. “Train for becoming a Guardian. They were lucky we got marked with the Guardian mark, or all that training would’ve gone to waste.” Sarcasm drips from his tone. “We were so far ahead of our peers when we came here that Jax skipped a lot of the beginner training classes.”

I start dealing the cards. “What about you?”

He rolls up the sleeves of his hoodie. “I took a different route.”

I set the deck down on the floor. “And what route was that?”

“The screw up and disappoint your parents route,” he says casually, as if he is making peace with it. “Every family has to have a screw up, right?”

“I’m the only child, so I wouldn’t know.” I collect my dealt cards from off the floor. “I kind of get where you’re coming from, though. Even though my parents seemed happy I got the Guardian mark, I could tell they were disappointed I wasn’t going to follow in the family’s footsteps and become a Keeper.”

He collects the cards I dealt him. “Is everyone in your family a Keeper?”

“Most of them.” I organize my cards from lowest to highest. “My grandpa was a Foreseer, though. When I was younger, I thought it’d be cool to be able to see the future. But when I got older, I realized what a huge responsibility it is. I mean, you know when everyone’s going to die, when all the bad stuff is going to happen, and you can potentially have the power to alter all of it.”

“Did your grandpa ever feel like that?” Dash frowns at the cards in his hands.

“Sometimes,” I say. “But most of the time, he really loved being a Foreseer.”

His frown deepens. “I wish I could love being a Guardian.”

“You don’t?” For some reason, that surprises me, maybe because Jax loves what he does so much.

He shrugs. “It’s not that I hate it. I just don’t love it. And unlike Jax, I’m not going to pretend to be the perfect son to please our father.”

I set my cards on my lap. “Did you come here when you were fourteen like Jax?”

“Nope. I was sixteen. I got my mark when I was fourteen, but there were circumstances that … kept me at home.” He brings his fist to his mouth and forcefully clears his throat. “So, what exactly am I supposed to be doing with these cards?”

I take the hint that he doesn’t want to talk about this anymore and let the subject drop. “Here. I’ll help you with the first few hands.” I scoot over toward him and examine his cards. “So, you want to—”

The door suddenly jolts open and smacks against Thad’s back. The three of us go rigid and jump to our feet with our hands clenched into fists.

“Let me in,” Jax demands from the other side of the door.

“Oh. Sorry.” Thad scoots out of the way.

The door swings open, and Jax barges into the room with fierce determination burning in his silver eyes. His gaze promptly sweeps the walls, the bed, the window, and then resides on the deck of cards. His brows knit.

“Are you guys playing poker?”

“What else were we supposed to do at two o’clock in the morning?” I ask, pushing to my feet.

“She’s crazy, isn’t she?” Dash says to Jax as he stretches his arms above his head. “I tried to talk her into spin the bottle, but she just wouldn’t listen.”

Jax glares at him. “You did
what
?”

Dash feigns innocence. “What? It’s just a little kissing, and it’s not like you haven’t thought about doing it with her.”

I shoot Dash a dirty look. “You seriously had to go there
?
”

Dash overdramatically covers his mouth with his hand. “Whoops. Was I not supposed to?”

Jax shakes his head at Dash. “Why is everything a joke to you?”

Dash shrugs. “I thought I was doing you two a favor. You know, clearing the tension in the air or whatever.”

The two of them stare each other down. Their demeanor couldn’t be more night and day: Jax intense and brooding and Dash … Well, honestly, he looks kind of bored.

Their personalities aren’t the only things that are different. Even though they’re twins and have similar facial features, they’re fairly easy to tell apart. Jax’s hair is light brown and styled in a fauxhawk, while Dash’s is much darker and cut shorter. And, unlike Jax’s silver eyes, only one of Dash’s is silver, the other a vibrant shade of teal.

Dash finally raises his hands and steps back. “All right, you win this one.”

Jax won’t look me in the eye as he steps back and points at the door. “Thanks. You can go now.”

He rolls his eyes then turns to me. “Have fun with Mr. Moody.” He winks then heads for the doorway, stuffing his hand into his pocket, the same pocket he shoved my phone into earlier.

“Wait a second.” I skitter in front of him and stick out my hand. “My phone, please.”

“Phone?” His face contorts with confusion, but his eyes glitter with hilarity. “I don’t remember this so-called phone. Are you sure you had one?”

“Dash, knock it off and give her the phone back,” Jax warns. “Now.”

“Relax. I’m just messing with her.” He retrieves my phone from his pocket. “You need to chill out.”

“You’re chill enough for the both of us,” Jax tells him with his arms crossed. “Now hand over the phone.”

Dash glowers at Jax, but the look hastily fades as he moves to hand me my phone. But Jax snatches the phone from him before I can get to it.

“Hey,” I protest, lunging for my phone, but he easily dodges out of the way. Frowning, I fold my arms and scowl at him. “What’s up with all the phone stealing?”

Ignoring me, Jax shoves my phone into the back pocket of his jeans. “Thanks for keeping an eye on her,” he tells Dash with a drop of sincerity.

“It’s not like it was that big of a deal.” He throws me another wink. “I mean, I did get to spend the night with a pretty girl.”

I make a gagging face. “So cheesy.”

He grins back before strolling out of the room with a swagger. Thad gives me a small, unsure wave before hurrying after him.

Once they’re gone, Jax releases a stressed breath and pushes the door shut. “Goddammit, he can be such a pain in the ass.”

I tug on the hem of my plaid shorts, feeling way under dressed in my pajamas compared to his black button-down shirt and dark denim jeans.

“He’s not that bad. And it was nice of him to come keep an eye on me.”

He cocks a brow at me. “Not that bad? Really? Did you hear anything he said?”

“What? He didn’t do anything wrong. He was just joking around with the whole spin the bottle thing and the remark about the kissing … But yeah, anyway, I think it was pretty cool that he stopped whatever he was doing and came here to keep an eye on me.”

“But the question is, what was he doing before he came here?” He rubs his jawline, staring out the window. “Did you notice the mud on his boots?”

“I did.” I track his gaze to the forest. “Maybe he was doing something out there.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Jax mutters, worry creasing his brows.

“Why?” I ask. “Is there something weird in that forest?”

He nods. “As of yesterday, there is.”

“What happened yesterday?”

“The morgue got moved to somewhere out there.”

“Into the
forest
?”

“Yeah. It’s not that strange. We move the location all the time.” He looks away from the window, focusing on me. “Look, I know Dash is the fun, funny one, but he also does a lot of questionable stuff. You need to be careful what you do and say around him. I’m hoping you didn’t tell him too much already, like about what was really going on tonight.”

“I didn’t. But I thought he already knew about the Electi? He was in the room when I …” I stop myself. Now is probably not the greatest time to bring that up.

He looks me dead in the eye. “When you stabbed me in the back and used truth serum on me.”

Okay, so we’re doing this now.

“I’m really sorry,” I say. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“You didn’t mean to use the truth serum on me?” he asks, doubtful. “How is that even possible?”