Initiation (18 page)

I carefully put the card back and moved on to the drawers. Andrew Bell was a neat freak. His socks were color-coded and his underpants neatly folded. While I was rummaging through the desk, Melissa opened the door.

“Anything?” she asked.

“Nope.” Jagger shut the closet door. “What about you? Are the boys downstairs?”

“No. None of them knew who they were. I checked my list. It seems Tad O’Neill is their group leader. His room is three doors up. I knocked on it, just in case they were in there, but there wasn’t any answer. I guess they’re out on some group activity.”

“Who else is in the group?” I asked, hoping she’d let something slip.

“Taylor, you must get a grip on the rules. I can’t tell you that.”

“Sorry. I will, but just out of curiosity, can anyone tell me? Who else would have that list you keep checking on your iPad?”

“Oh, all staff members probably have it, but I don’t know for sure. I don’t know that anyone can tell you… maybe The Smelt.” She shrugged.

I figured that the eagle must be on the second floor if she was part of Tad’s group. Why was her scent so indiscernible? It should be stronger if she lived on that floor. Was she hiding out somewhere else?

“Melissa, it’s almost dinner time. How many more floors do you have?”

“There are another eight here, and then there’s another wing in the other building. I’m just in charge of these, though.”

“Okay, let’s do one more room. Taylor, you pick a floor and a room.” Jagger nodded at me.

As we climbed the stairs, I concentrated on the eagle’s scent. The scent became less potent the further up we got, and by the time we reached the sixth floor, it was gone completely. At a loss, I pointed out a random room on the sixth floor. We did an inspection just to keep Melissa in the dark.

I needed to sniff my way through the second floor again. That was where the smell had been the strongest, albeit not that compelling. Scrambling through my pockets, I pretended to search them. “Melissa, I think I left my pen in the room on the second floor. It’s kind of important because my mom gave it to me. Can we go back and get it?”

“Yes, no problem. Was it in Andrew and Hank’s room? They may even be back by now.”

As soon as we were on the second floor, I closed my eyes, concentrating on tracking that scent. It was faint, but I homed in on it and trailed it to the door where it was strongest. I stopped and listened for sounds coming from the room.

Melissa glanced over her shoulder. “Taylor? Whatcha doing? That’s the wrong door. It’s up here.”

“Oh, right.” I joined them in the other room, where I grabbed a random pen and pretended it was the one I’d lost.

“Thanks for your time, Melissa. I really appreciate it.” Jagger’s voice oozed with charm. He looked at his phone again. “Hmm.”

“Jagger?” Melissa inquired.

“Ah, it seems I need another room to meet my quota. Do you mind?”

“No, of course not. Which one?”

“Well, I’m in a rush, so another from this floor. Taylor, you choose.”

Trying not to beam, I pointed to the door where the scent led.

“Isn’t that the one you were at before?” Melissa asked.

I laughed. “Yes! For whatever reason, it’s calling my name.”

It was an untidy room, stuff everywhere. What kind of girls lived in such a mess? And there was a whole lot of boy stuff scattered around, including some very dirty underpants. Gross. Looking around, I became pretty sure that it was a boy’s room. I looked over at Jagger, disappointment no doubt written all over my face.

“Oh, my!” Melissa gasped. “This is totally out of order. My apologies. Let me see who the culprits are. My money is on a couple of Initiates.” She checked her iPad. “Jeremy Pickard and Mason Darley. Yep, Initiates. Hmm. Tad’s their group leader. I’ll have to have a word with him about this.”

“Melissa, thanks. We should be going now.” Jagger gave her his
look
.

I could see Melissa eating it all up, giving in to his thick, sexy aura. I was overcome with jealousy. “Anytime, Jagger. You’re always welcome. Will you be at Frau Schmelder’s dinner tonight?” she purred.

Ugh.

“Actually, I will. I’ll see you there. Bye for now.”

“Toodle loo!” She waved, as I tried not to gag.

“
Anytime, Jagger
…” I imitated her pathetic flirting once she was out of sight.

Jagger doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down his face. Then, he tousled my hair. “Jealous?”

“It’s not funny! And I’m
not
jealous. It’s just that she was so pathetic. It’s sad.”

Jagger stopped, pulled me back, and turned me to face him. “Really?”

I looked into his eyes, feeling overwhelmed by my own irrational emotions. Was I really jealous? I looked down again, hoping he hadn’t noticed my eyes getting all watery.

He grabbed my hand and tugged me into a quiet corner by the library. We sat down on a wooden bench. “Cordelia, what’s going on? Why are you crying? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a demon cry before.”

“I’m not crying! Demons don’t cry! I don’t know what it is. I probably just need to feed. It’s dinnertime. Let’s go over to the mentors’ lounge. I bet you’re hungry as well.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm?”

“What was that reaction, Cordelia?”

“I’m not exactly sure.”

“I’m pretty certain it was jealousy.”

I couldn’t bear to admit it. Jealous? I was jealous of a shifter girl flirting with him? Of him flirting with a shifter girl? Ridiculous.

Jagger squeezed my hand. “You’re jealous that I flirted with Melissa, even though you know it didn’t mean a thing. I was just trying to get her to do what we needed; that’s all. You have no reason to be jealous. No reason to be jealous of Melissa, in any case.”

He paused, taking a deep breath. “You do know that I have a girlfriend, right?”

F
austine seemed strangely calm as we sat outside Professor Bern’s office, waiting to be called for the first test. Of course, she had no idea what to expect, but the word
test
usually made me a little anxious. I guessed Faustine had always been good at her tests at home. Well, I felt anxious enough for both of us.

Jagger’s words replayed at the back of my mind for the zillionth time. It had been silly of me to assume that he was a free agent. I should have known that he’d have a girlfriend. Actually, it would have probably been safe to assume that he had more than one, that he was a player. Why wouldn’t he be? He was a walking cliché of one. Subconsciously, I must have assumed just that–that he was a player, but not emotionally attached to any girl in particular. So, when he’d said the word
girlfriend
, I puked.

Yep, the memory from the day before was as clear as if it had happened five minutes ago. I had been so overcome that I had gagged and thrown up in his lap. Many, many years from now, I would probably see the funny side, but all I could see at the moment was Jagger’s expression of utter shock and horror as he’d stared at the contents of my tummy soaking into his pants. I then did what anyone else in my position would do–I fled. Of course. Ugh.

Professor Bern’s door opened, forcing me back to the present, and then it closed, with no sign of her.

“Come along, children. We’re going to go up to the test labs. Just follow me.”

Faustine giggled. “Professor Bern, you’re invisible again.”

The professor laughed as she made herself visible. She was dressed very professorially, wearing a white laboratory coat over a charcoal-gray skirt suit. We followed her to the elevator, where she pushed the button for the fifth floor. The elevator opened onto a busy hallway with professors in white coats accompanying various students. We entered Room 508. In the middle of the room was a floor-to-ceiling, glass-walled chamber, about ten feet square. A leather armchair sat in the middle of it. Benches covered with recording devices, computers, and other equipment surrounded the cubicle.

I could feel Faustine tense as she checked out the room.

“So, I’m guessing it’s not a written test?” she whispered.

“I’m not sure. All these tests are individually tailored to the Initiate. I’m thinking you’re right, though, looking at the set-up. You okay with this?”

“I guess. It’s not like I have a choice, anyway. I have to learn to deal with my powers, and that’s what this is for, right?”

“It is.”

“You’ll stay, right? And yank me outta there if anything goes wrong?”

“Yep.”

“Faustine, are you ready?” Professor Bern asked.

“I guess.”

“Okay. Let’s get you settled into the chamber and get started. There is nothing to worry about. If at any time you need me to stop the test, just say
Stop now
. Okay?”

“What exactly is going to happen?” Faustine asked.

“Well, we have no idea what triggers your blackouts or what happens during them. So, the first step is to find out what triggers them. Or more precisely, help you figure out what triggers them. To do that, we are going to test how you respond in different situations. We’ll be inducing you into a dream state and testing you with different dreams. For example, you may find yourself on a beach, lying on the sand, enjoying the warm rays of the sun. We are going to start off with gentle scenes, and then move on to more difficult situations. If we see you starting to transform, we’ll stop the scene. Our aim today, and for the next few sessions, is merely to establish what sets you off.”

Faustine sighed in relief and stepped into the chamber to sit down in the chair. The lab assistant went over and fastened a pill-sized metal disc to her forehead, and then walked back out, leaving her alone in the chamber. Professor Bern directed me to a chair, while she and the lab assistant took their positions behind two hooded computer monitors on a table facing the chamber.

I gritted my teeth and asked, “Professor Bern, may I peek at the monitors as well?” Then I waited for her
no
!

She looked over at me, pursing her lips. “Cordelia, that would be highly irregular. Still, I guess there is no harm. All you will see is the simulation sequence sent to Faustine. You won’t be able to see her inceptional response to it.”