Becoming Magical [2]

C H A P T E R - 2 2

"Get ready," Dex said when Dame Alina thanked the audience.

A bell chimed as she dipped an exaggerated curtsy, and everyone leaned back and opened their mouths to catch the white confetti that started raining over the auditorium. Sophie copied them, surprised that the confetti felt warm on her tongue and tasted like coconut and strawberries and other sweet fruits she couldn't name.

"Grab as much as you can!" Dex shouted, stuffing handfuls of the candy anywhere he could store it. Now Sophie understood why the costumes had so many pockets.

She filled everything but the pocket with the tracker, and by the time she was done, the confetti shower had stopped and the Mentors were herding the prodigies outside to the lawn with the mascot-shaped bushes. Dex left to round up the triplets, and Sophie wondered how she was ever going to track down Grady and Edaline in the chaos. But then she spotted Sandor's flat-nosed face towering over the crowd at the far end of the courtyard.

"So I wagged my tail when I was supposed to flick it—what's the big deal?"

Keefe.

And the voice that responded was a voice Sophie had been hoping to avoid hearing again.

"The 'big deal' is that this was your chance to impress the faculty—and instead you've shown them you're just as ridiculous as ever. When are you going to start taking your education seriously?"

Lord Cassius—Keefe's arrogant and overbearing father.

"Hey, I'm a year ahead—what more do you want from me?" Keefe asked him.

"I want you to live up to even a fraction of your potential."

"No, you want me to be like you."

"And what would be wrong with that?"

Sophie knew she shouldn't listen, but she'd been curious about the relationship between Keefe and his dad ever since she'd run into them after midterms and seen the way Keefe seemed to wilt in his father's presence. Not that she could blame him. She'd probably done the same thing the moment she'd looked into Lord Cassius's far-too-intense eyes.

"This is why I didn't want to leave you," Sandor squeaked, shoving his way to her side. "How can I protect you in all this commotion?"

Before Sophie could answer she heard someone near her whisper, "That's the girl who was taken." Several others mumbled something about "unsafe" and suddenly the crowd around them had scooted away, leaving a wide bubble of space.

Sophie's face flamed.

"You sure know how to clear a path, Foster," Keefe said behind her, making her cheeks feel even hotter. He smirked when she turned to face him. "Nice trunk."

"Nice fangs." It was hard to recognize him with the hood covering his messy hair and the white fabric pieces dangling on each side of his face.

"We seem to have a habit of running into each other, don't we, Miss Foster?" Keefe's dad asked, forcing her to finally look at him. He smoothed his immaculate blond hair and treated her to one of his tight smiles, which never quite reached his eyes.

"Only twice now, Lord Cassius." And she would do everything she could to make sure there wasn't a third. She hated the way he stared at her. Like any second he expected her to sprout an extra brain and use it to take over the world.

"How goes your progress with the alicorn?" he asked. "I hear you've had some trouble."

"It's going very well Lord Cassius." Meredith said, suddenly appearing at Sophie's side, narrowing her eyes at him.