My stomach turned at the idea.

  "Are you all right?" Dyson asked. Evidently I was easier to read.

  "I'm fine." I was mostly not lying.

  "Great. Here comes Kane." Dyson nodded toward the door.

  "Roll up your sleeve," Kane told him.

  Dyson supported his elbow with his opposite hand and cupped his chin. "Are you qualified to take my blood?"

  "No, now roll up your sleeve." Kane grabbed a needle and a vial and nodded toward his brother.

  "See what I mean about science geeks?" Dyson said cheerfully. He pulled his sleeve up to his bicep and held out his arm.

  I smiled. "Yeah, but he's helping you, so down boy."

  "Yes ma'am." He gave me a sly smile.

  I responded by sticking out my tongue.

  "I can think of better uses for that," Dyson said.

  I wiggled my tongue, then drew it back to say, "I'll bet you can. That will have to wait." I caught Kane glancing over to the other students. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. With him, I knew just what he was thinking, and he'd do it, too. Right there on the workbench. I wondered what the other students would think or do.

  I sighed. I wouldn't dare to try to find out. There was enough tension between the UA students and me as it was, without alienating ones who seemed more tolerant.

  Kane sighed a moment later. I suspect he'd come to the same conclusion I had. He shook his head slightly and jabbed the needle into Dyson's vein.

  Dyson winced. "Ouch, dude."

  "Sorry." Kane filled the vial with blood, then drew out the needle and handed me a bandage to put on Dyson's puncture wound. "Don't shift until you stop bleeding."

  "Where did you learn to take blood?" I asked while he capped the vial and took it off to a corner full of equipment.

  "I watch TV," Kane said. He smiled faintly. "Our mother is a nurse. She wanted me to be a doctor, so she taught me a few things. If I'm going to study paranormal physiology, it's something I'll need to do."

  "He used to practice on me," Dyson remarked.

  "Only with syringes without needles," Kane said. "The needles were reserved for our teddy bears."

  "Mine you mean," Dyson said. "He would never practice on Mr Snuggles."

  I grinned. "You have a bear called Mr Snuggles?"

  Kane blushed bright red. "I was three when I named him. Anyway, Dyson's was called Miss Pussy. He couldn't tell a bear from a cat."

  I smothered a laugh. "I suppose they could look a bit alike."

  "For your information," Dyson declared, loud and firm, "nothing else looks like a pussy. I was young and naive at the time. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it." He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.

  I patted his shoulder. "I believe you."

  "This might take a while," Kane said. "Maybe you two can go and study, or…whatever."

  "I like whatevering," Dyson said. He glanced toward me.

  "I'm fond of it myself," I agreed. "I could whatever all day."

  "Me too." Dyson grinned. He held out his hand. "Come on, let's leave Captain Science Geek to solve the mysteries of the universe."

  I took Dyson's hand and gave Kane a kiss on the cheek. He responded with a distracted smile. I guessed he was in his element here and we should leave him to it. I would have liked to help, or at least watch, but I really had no idea what I was looking at. Besides, we'd probably distract him and slow him down anyway.

  "Oh," Kane said before we'd taken more than two steps. "Be careful and don't take cake from strangers." He shot Dyson a frown that seemed laced with further meaning. He trusted his twin implicitly, but was worried about what influence he might be under.

  "I'm fine, I swear," Dyson assured him. "I feel like my normal, paranormal self. I haven't done anything strange for at least a few minutes." He smiled sweetly and batted his eyelashes.

  Kane took a moment before nodding. "Fine, but still be careful. If they tried anything once, they might well try again."

  "We will be," I said firmly. "We'll be all about being careful and trusting no one." Even each other. That sucked, because I really, really wanted to be alone with Dyson. Naked. And sweaty. "Although, we should fill Nash in on what happened."

  "And Matt," Kane said.

  I grimaced. "Him too, I guess." I nodded and headed out of the lab and into warmer air.

  "Nash is probably teaching right now," Dyson remarked.

  "Right. And Matt is probably in class. What is he studying anyway?”

  Dyson frowned. "Would you believe, I have no idea? Knowing him it's something to do with killing Zeta agents."

  "Is there a degree for that?"

  "Bachelor of Death and Destruction to Assholes?" Dyson suggested. "I'm not even sure what faculty that would come under."

  I shrugged with one shoulder. "I suspect it comes under humanities."

  "Right," Dyson drew the word out. "He could double major in death and destruction and minor in something fun, like theatre."

  "That sounds accurate." I nodded and tried to hold back a smile. "I can imagine him up on stage, makeup and all." Honestly I couldn't imagine anything more unlikely, but the idea cheered me up a little.

  "What sounds accurate?"

  Matt spoke so suddenly behind me, I jumped and whirled around.

  "Speak of the devil," Dyson drawled. "We were just discussing what you might be studying."

  "Ah." Matt didn't seem interested in elaborating, so we drew him to the side of the corridor and told him everything that had happened after the duel, up until now. He eyed Dyson with the mistrust he gave to pretty much everyone anyway.

  "Should we be packing?" The gods knew why I always deferred to Matt. He seemed to have connections to the Paranormal Council, but when it came down to it, he was a second year, like me. One whose ass I had saved in the Zeta attack on the AMM.

  Matt rubbed his forehead. "I'll look into it. In the meantime, just keep doing what you normally do. It's possible they don't know we're onto them yet. If we start acting strangely… More than usual, they'll realise."

  "If there's anyone watching," I said.

  Matt's brow creased. Damn, why was he so adorable when he did that?

  "There's little doubt someone is watching," he said slowly, but firmly. "They could be anyone, anywhere." He gave Dyson a meaningful look.

  Dyson bristled. "I'm not working for them."

  "I didn't say you were," Matt replied coolly, "but you'd say that if you weren't."

  Dyson stepped toward him, hands in fists.

  I gripped his hand to hold him back. "Don't. Fighting amongst ourselves is what they want."

  "How do you know what they want?" Dyson dropped my hand.

  I stared. "I beg your pardon? Did you just suggest I might be working with them?"

  "No," he said hastily. "Of course not, but it would explain a few things."

  "Like what?" I demanded.

  He looked toward the floor. "Like how they always know where to find us."

  "You working with them would also explain that," I pointed out coldly. "Remember the whole "Dyson acting weird" thing?"

  His head jerked back up, eyes wide. "I already said—"

  I cut him off. "I know what you said. You think I'm the one who is betraying us."

  "I don't, I just—" Dyson glanced toward Matt, who raised his hands to indicate he was staying well out of this conversation.

  "Someone is doing it," Dyson said finally.

  "Well it's not me." I crossed my arms and stepped away from them both. Tears prickled in my eyes.

  "But you're okay with thinking it might be me," Dyson said bitterly. "Don't deny it, I've seen it on your face since you stepped into the computer lab."

  "I—" I couldn't deny it, and I loathed myself for it. "At least Kane is trying to find out what's going on."

  "Yeah, he is. He'll prove I did nothing wrong."

  "I'm sure he will," I said. I wasn't that sure and I knew it showed on my face.

  Hurt filled Dyson's eyes before he turned and stalked away.

  "Fuck," I muttered. If division was what Zeta wanted, they certainly had it. Dyson would probably never talk to me again.

  My heart ached. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.

  18

  Matt shrugged. "Is there any point in telling you not to let him get to you?"

  I gave him a sour look. "None." I sagged against the wall and bit back tears. "Is there really any chance he's involved?"

  "There's a chance any of us could be," he replied. "Except me. I know I'm not."

  I opened my mouth to make some kind of smart ass comment, but sighed instead. Having been offended only a couple of minutes earlier, I could hardly go around throwing stones at Matt. Besides, after all I had seen him do, I was ninety-nine percent certain he was on our side. It would be a hundred percent, but he didn't tell me everything about Zeta and the Paranormal Council and I suspected he withheld things I should know.

  "I know you know I can be trusted," I said finally. He and Ariana had been asked to protect me after all.

  "When it comes to Zeta, yes," he agreed. "Not with other things." A smile played around the corners of his mouth, so I knew he was teasing.

  I wasn't much in the mood for it though. I grunted and started off down the corridor.

  "Where are you going?" His long stride caught up with me quickly.

  "I don't know, just walking."

  "Do you want some company?"

  "Not especially." This whole day sucked, winning the duel notwithstanding. To be honest, I couldn't care less about the stupid duel right now. Everything since then went to crap.

  "If it's any consolation, the photo was very tasteful."

  I stopped so suddenly the students walking behind us almost ran into the back of me. I expected them to give me a dirty look, but they wove around us without so much as a glance back.

  "Tasteful?" I echoed.

  "Sure. You know, more like art than porn." Matt's expression was completely unapologetic. He actually seemed impressed.

  I gaped at him for a moment, then kept walking. "I suppose it was. Do you know who hacked Kane's phone to send it to everyone?"

  "No, but it's easy enough to find out."

  I almost stopped again. "It is?"

  "Yeah. Well, it'll be harder here than at the AMM, but it was probably a magical hack. The academy keeps a record of spells used on campus."

  "Uhhh, like making tigers appear so they can attack other students?" Shit. How much trouble would I be in if they looked up those records?

  "Making the tiger, yes, but not the why," Matt replied. "But don't worry, I have that covered. Or rather, Nash does. If anyone asks, he'll say you were training under his supervision."

  I frowned. "He shouldn't have to lie for me."

  "It won't be the first time, or the last," Matt said easily. "But it goes both ways. It probably already has."

  "I guess so," I agreed uneasily. He was right though. I would lie for any of my friends or lovers, as long as no one was hurt as a result.

  "Come on, let's find ourselves a hacker."

  To my surprise, he grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the basement the AMM admin had been relegated to. A bigger shock was the intensity of the jolt of heat his touch sent to my core. I felt as though he had ignited an inferno I hadn't known existed. One I suddenly, desperately, wanted to burn with him.

  He gave me a look which suggested he felt it too, and dropped my hand.

  "Sorry," he muttered.

  "No you're not," I replied. "You're just sorry you like me more than you want to."

  He looked over at me before we stepped into the basement. "Interesting theory. Liking you would be a conflict of interest. And probably a bad idea."

  "That doesn't stop,” I mouthed, "Nash."

  "He makes his own choices," Matt replied. "I never said I thought they were good ones." He stepped inside and plonked himself down in front of a computer. None of the staff so much as gave him a second look.

  "You'll have to explain that to me someday." I wheeled a chair over and sat beside him.

  He glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah, someday." He turned on the screen and tapped in a password. "This is my personal account, so don't think I know the AMM's password."

  "That thought hadn't crossed my mind." I had memorised his, though. I never knew when I might need to get access. "How many people would know spell logs are kept?"

  He tapped on the keyboard. "It's not a secret, but they don't go around announcing it either."

  I crossed my legs. "How does someone hack a phone?"

  "With another phone," Matt replied without looking away from the screen.

  "The UA doesn't use phones to do magic," I pointed out.

  "No they don't," he agreed.

  I blinked a couple of times. "But that would mean…"

  Matt sat back and regarded me. "Don't assume you can trust everyone, just because they're AMM students."

  "I wouldn't," I said quickly. "I didn't, I just…"

  "Prefer to assume a UA student did it?" He turned back to the screen.

  "Yes, I suppose. Dyson did say the pink donut woman was one of us."

  "Trust no one," Matt said simply.

  "Except you."

  "Except me," he agreed.

  "Trust the one person who doesn't like me."

  "At least I'm impartial."

  "Great." I snorted.

  "You can trust Ariana and Nash," Matt added. "They like you, for some reason."

  I would have stuck out my tongue at him, but his attention was all on the screen. Instead, I made a rude noise with my tongue.

  He smiled and clicked the "return" key. "Okay, this should give us some idea. Although, I'm not sure if you're mature enough to deal with whatever we find."

  Asshole.

  "I'm plenty mature enough, so there."

  "Mmmhmm, sure," he replied. The reflection of the screen showed in his eyes, words flickered upward rapidly.

  "I had no idea so much magic was done here." I probably should have realised, but I had never given it any thought.

  Matt looked as though he might say something, but his gaze snapped toward the screen. He pointed to a line of text.

  "There, someone did a hacking spell at one am."

  I peered where he pointed. "How can you tell?"

  "It's a phone to phone transfer. If it was done voluntarily it wouldn't have needed magic."

  "So…you're guessing?"

  "Yes, but's an educated guess." He lowered his hand and scrolled down a few more lines. "There's nothing else here like it. Here's your tiger conjuring. There's Xav's two magical creatures." He leaned in closer and squinted. "That's odd."

  "What?" I looked too, but I didn't know what I was looking at. "Is your major magical computer science, by any chance?"

  He glanced at me. "Yeah. I worked on the development of this program."

  "Oh." That made sense, and explained why he was trusted to use it. He was probably here all the time, updating it. "So what's odd?"

  "Someone cast a protection spell. Like the magic bubbles we use."

  "I know what a protection spell is," I said impatiently. "Why is that odd? I used one and so did Xav, remember?"

  "Yes, but no one else there did."

  I rubbed my forehead. "Are you saying someone else was out there, watching?"

  "Exactly. Someone who didn't want us to know they were there."

  "Can you tell who it was?"

  Matt shook his head slowly. "No. It might have been a random passerby, who thought they'd stick around to watch. Or…"

  "Someone who meant me harm?" I finished for him.

  "It was probably someone who wanted to keep you safe." Matt exhaled loudly.

  "That's not a bad thing, is it?" I asked.

  "Only if they helped you in some way. Then you'll have to forfeit. Xav will have won the bet."

  "No one helped me," I said insistently. "You were there, you saw the whole thing."

  "I didn't see you when you were invisible," Matt pointed out.

  I frowned. "I didn't have any help," I said again.

  "Can you prove it?" he asked.

  "Ye—no, I suppose not. Xav can't prove I did, though. They might have been there to help him."

  Matt snorted a laugh. "If they did, they didn't do a very good job. But if anyone knows about this, they could insist you won by cheating."

  I growled. "Please tell me we'll leave high school behind at some point."

  "I've heard it lasts until you're forty and give away your last fuck," Matt said.

  I grimaced. "Figures. Can you delete the record of whoever it was?"

  He frowned. "I can, but I'm not sure I should."

  "Do you want me to be accused of cheating?" I asked.

  He hesitated.

  I glared.

  "Fine, but you owe me one."

  "One what?" I said with thinking.

  His Adam's apple bobbed. "I'll think of something."

  Did I imagine the catch in his voice?

  He deleted the line of text and updated the program. "There, your tracks are covered."

  "Not my tracks," I commented. "So what about the phone hack? Can you see who did it?"

  "That one is a little easier," he said. "Phones have numbers."

  "No shit," I replied dryly. "So what?"

  "So, just like calls are logged, so is magical use. Here is the number of the phone the photo was taken from." He pointed to the screen.

  "That's Kane’s number," I said after I checked it with my phone. "Whose is the other one?"

  Matt grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled down the number. Or rather, wrote it quickly, but in neat, precise writing. "I don't know off the top of my head."

  "Of course you don't. Who knows anyone's number from memory these days?" I gave him a look of disbelief. I quickly followed that with a snort. "Let me guess, you even remember your own number?"

  "Of course I do, you don't?" He arched an eyebrow at me.

  "I don't call myself, " I reasoned, "so, no."

  He looked as though he might say something, but closed his mouth and shook his head instead.

  "So…I already know it's not my number," he said slowly. "Because I would know it by looking, and I'm not a hacker. At least, not in regard to this matter." He smiled slyly.

 

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