The Legend of the Eight: The Charmed (Book 4)

15: The Asklepian

FIFTEEN: THE ASKLEPIAN
OCTOBER 5
NICOLE BRADLEY

A LATER MORNING, NICOLE AND the rest of the World of Magic awoke to a news report that a second body had been found along the edge of the East Woods. Like the first, it had appeared as something other than human and it was pierced to a tree by a carbon fiber arrow. Unlike the first, however, the second body was said to have a mix of scales and fur with teeth sharp enough to tear flesh right off the bone.

At breakfast, Phoebe told Nicole and the others that the first body was identified as John Thomas. She overheard Dr. K on the phone and learned that the body had morphed back into its human state hours after death and was then identified as the missing junior student.

"I don't think his family knows that he was killed," Phoebe whispered to the table—where she sat with Liam, Kate, and Nicole. "I think the Council wants to keep it quiet. Understandable, I guess. He was only seventeen. The Realm would riot if they found out."

"Do they know who the second Beast is?" Nicole asked and then surveyed the Dining Hall like she was taking a mental inventory. "Or how JT shifted into a Beast?"

"Better yet, why someone killed him?" Kate mumbled.

Phoebe shook her head. "Drew told his dad. Nik said he'd ask around the wolves if anyone knows anything—if they've heard of other shifting creatures. I doubt anyone has seen this before but then again, a year ago, I would've thought the same thing about us."

Nicole wanted to ask if that meant Phoebe and Drew were on better terms but she bit her tongue. Everyone was talking about the night of the full moon—when Drew got into a fist fight with Prince Leo—and everyone knew the fight was over Phoebe. Nicole thought about telling her sister—she was bound to find out through someone, it probably should have been her sister. But what was she supposed to say? Hey Mare, your boyfriend cheated on you all summer and he tried to do it again last week?

"What about the arrows?" Kate asked and Nicole stopped thinking about the Drew-Phoebe-Leo triangle. "They could lead us somewhere. We should get a better look at them."

"They're evidence, Kate. We can't exactly walk right in and take them," discouraged Liam. "Besides, we don't even know where they're keeping them."

"I do."

Looking up, Nicole saw Wil had joined them for breakfast and with her, Chloe had tagged along too.

"Damon said that they're bringing the arrows on campus tonight for him and Dr. K to take a look at," she revealed, making it obvious they'd been talking to him about the Beast—er, JT. "Which means they'll be in the Headmaster's Wing."

"Perfect," Nicole said cheerfully. "We're pretty good at sneaking into places we're not supposed to be in."

Kate shook her head. "The Wing will be surrounded. Security will be at an all-time high. We'll never get close enough."

"Not a problem," Phoebe said despite the group's mixed feelings. "I have something I've been wanting to try out."

"CLOAKING? THE NEW THING YOU want to try out is cloaking?" Nicole asked with a gaped mouth after Phoebe explained her plan later that night. It was after dinner and according to Wil (via Chloe and Damon), the arrows were in route to the Academy with Prince Leo. Arrival was imminent.

"How does cloaking even work? And no offense, Phoebe, but how do you even know you can do it? I thought cloaking was Alchemist-level magic."