A Mastery of Magic

Chapter 6: Cassandra

I clamored to my feet and pushed the guys out of my way as I darted toward Oliver. Ashlyn raised her hands and fired a purplish lightning bolt at Oliver who quickly created a water barrier that absorbed the crackling death-rod. The hair on my head stood up from the electrical charge that almost killed me. My life was never going to be boring.

"Stop!" I held out my hand toward Ashlyn and put my other hand against Oliver's chest as the charges between his fingers began to glow. The anger on his face suggested he meant to kill Ashlyn. It still blew me away how small the world of magic had become. I thought Ashlyn had died. As it turned out, Oliver hoped that she had. "What's going on, Oliver?"

Ashlyn lowered her hands. "Yeah, Oliver, what's going on?" She sounded like a spoiled schoolyard bully. Not much had changed since I last saw her. She had to know I would protect Oliver regardless of what issue they had between them.

I looked behind me and saw students making their way back into the auditorium, surrounding the stage, looking from Ashlyn to Oliver. Also looking at me to figure out what to do next. Day one of the semester had turned into a major cluster-f**k, and people were expecting me to un-f**k it. I held back a smile and took a deep breath.

"I'm not backing down from you, Ashlyn." Oliver's voice cracked and once again sounded strange. I picked up a hint of an accent that I'd either ignored or hadn't heard before. "You might as well go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under."

"You know what I want, Oliver. Just turn her over, and you can go back to doing whatever in the hell it is you're doing here." Ashlyn glared at me as if I were somehow interfering with Oliver's purpose in life. "Yeah, I heard about your little arrangement with the guys." She shook her head at Braeden as if disgusted by what she knew.

I turned away from Oliver and crossed my arms, glaring back at Ashlyn. "I don't think you want to f**k with me," I said, and the students surrounding the stage awed.

"Get out of my way, b***h. This is between Oliver and me and Ruby." Ashlyn nodded toward Dash, Braden, and Kyler. "Surely three is enough."

"It's a package deal. If I were you, I'd walked out while I still had legs to do so." My hands began to burn, and I knew I was close to starting another fight.

"Cassandra, it's okay."

"It's not, Oliver," I said. "Especially if she's responsible for all this destruction."

Ashlyn looked around the auditorium. "I think you caused most of the destruction." The students around us awed again, their heads moving as if watching a tennis match. Someone yelled catfight, and the throng of students groaned.

Braeden sidled up next to me and placed his hand on my arm. "We need to get everyone out of here and then figure this out. We also need to let Oliver handle his s**t the way we let Kyler handle his."

I nodded and then pointed at Ashlyn. "This is not over." I walked off the stage, and then we began ushering people from the auditorium, Ashlyn and Oliver still staring at each other as if they were in the Wild West. I had no doubts Oliver could handle his own s**t, as Braeden put it, but I also knew Ashlyn was not one to fight fair.

"I thought I was the only one who could piss off women enough to make them want to kill me," Dash said as the last student left the auditorium. He laughed, but I didn't. "Ease up, cutie. It'll be fine."

I gave Dash the evil eye, and he held up his hands in surrender. "There's something going on with Oliver." I closed the entrance door and locked it, adding a secure hex for good measure. "First his voice began sounding weird, and now this chick appears out of nowhere to kick his ass." I looked back at the stage. "Who the hell is she wanting him to turn over?"

"Let him deal with it," Kyler said. "It's between those two. We know better than to get into each other's business too soon."

Braeden shook his head. "It's not. Sounds like he's hiding someone. Maybe someone at the academy." He shrugged. "We can't just stand around and do nothing. Those two will kill each other."

"Where's Ruby and Nicolette?" I scanned the auditorium and saw neither before looking back at Oliver and Ashlyn.

Ashlyn raised her glowing hands and cast a spell at Oliver. Aurelius dashed onto the stage and blocked Ashlyn's spell, yelling for her to stop. Ashlyn smirked but backed down when Aurelius raised his own glowing hand.

"She doesn't listen very well," Kyler said.

"I can't hurt a girl." Dash gave an innocent smile.

"No, but I can!" I believed in equal opportunities for all.

We raced toward the stage and stood between Ashlyn and Oliver. Aurelius lowered his hand, and for the moment her life was spared.

"Someone please explain what the hell is going on," Aurelius demanded. He pointed toward the roof. "We have more pressing things to address than some teenage squabble."

Ashlyn, hands on hips, smirked. "He needs to hand over the traitor who left our kingdom under the guise of darkness." She pointed at Oliver. "You've been hiding her, and now it's time to stop. I've spent too many f*****g years hunting you down to just walk away now."

We waited for Oliver to reply, but he said nothing.

"Well?" Ashlyn said. "Turn her over, or I break up your little love fest."