The Iron Gate Read online

“I’ve abused you plenty of times before,” Aiden teased. There was a real smile on his face now.

  “Yes well, I got better,” Nicki said before heading out of the room and into the mythology section.

  Ill Thoughts

  Stopping in front of her dorm room, Alex took a deep breath and braced herself in case Jenny was home. The research session had gone on for hours with Nicki grabbing every book with Arthurian legends or analyses of the legends from the shelves. Aiden had finally insisted that they were done and threatened to tell Nicki’s grandmother that she was ‘being obsessive’ again if she didn’t take a break. At the time Alex had been grateful to get away from the books, but now the dread of seeing Jenny, knowing the truth about her reincarnation status, hit Alex like a punch in her gut.

  The door was unlocked, and Alex slowly stepped inside, hoping that Jenny would be taking a nap, but her roommate was painting her nails and texting on her phone with earphones in. Jenny looked up at Alex shut the door behind her, giving her a wide smile and a wave. Forcing herself to smile, Alex returned the wave before busying herself with unpacking her bag. Behind her, Jenny stood up and began moving around, humming gently along with her music.

  Turning her head slightly, Alex studied Jenny thoughtfully as her roommate moved around her side of their room, putting shoes away and tidying up the top of her dresser which served as a vanity. Jenny’s long black hair was partially tied back in a bun with a few long strands hanging around her beautiful olive face. For a moment Alex was struck by the easy grace with which Jenny moved and wondered if it was an echo of the queen she’d been so long ago. Shaking her head, Alex moved to her desk, reminding herself that Arto had been a leader, but not a crowned king, so his wife hadn’t been a queen.

  Alex retreated to her desk and pulled out her Spanish workbook and started filling in the blanks with conjugated verbs, but made a note to herself to recheck it later since she eyes kept glancing up towards Jenny and her mind wasn’t on her homework. After straightening out her side of the dorm room, Jenny returned to her desk and began texting on her phone again. Soft giggles escaped Jenny and Alex glanced over curiously, but Jenny made a dismissive hand gesture. Alex went back to her work, trying not to wonder who Jenny was texting with.

  “So?” Jenny asked as she pulled out her earbuds. “Can I assume you were at another study session or is there any chance you were out with a boy?”

  Alex turned her chair around to find Jenny watching her with a mischievous smile. “Study session.” Alex raised an eyebrow.

  “Alex,” Jenny whined softly. “Come on, I agreed to let you get through the first semester without nagging you, but come on! It’s college, get a boyfriend!”

  “That’s not high on the priority list right now.” Alex turned back to her Spanish book.

  “You’ve had a boyfriend before right?” Jenny asked, sounding remarkably worried.

  “Yes,” Alex replied, barely containing a smile.

  “So what was his name?” Jenny questioned as she turned her chair around and stared at the back of Alex’s head.

  “Thomas Williamson,” Alex answered with a shrug, refusing to look at Jenny.

  “Why’d you break up?”

  “We broke up just last March; we’d been accepted to different schools and were growing apart. He suggested we part as friends rather than risk dragging things on too long. Tom’s at Northeastern University in Boston now.”

  “What about prom?” Jenny scooted her chair closer, almost bumping into the mini fridge between their desks. “You did go right?”

  Chuckling, Alex nodded. “Tom and I went as friends,” she assured Jenny. “With a bunch of our friends as a group, we had fun. Only Michelle is still with her high school boyfriend, they both went to the University of Washington.” Alex turned slowly to look at Jenny. “I suppose it’s only natural to drift apart after such a big transition.”

  Her roommate flinched slightly, her smile fading only for a moment before it returned and she reached for her phone. Turning her attention back to the textbook in her lap, Alex took a slow deep breath to control her reaction. Arthur had indicated that he and Jenny were more distant and maybe Jenny felt weird about it, but her flinching didn’t mean that anything had happened with Lance yet.

  “Are you hungry?” Jenny asked a few minutes later, just when Alex had finally started to focus on her homework properly.

  “Uh?” Alex repeated, not having caught the question.

  “Are you hungry? The boys are over at Michaels for dinner and wanted to see if we could join them.”

  Jenny was already putting on her shoes and reaching for a coat when Alex processed the question. Swallowing, Alex nodded and stood up. All the other mages seemed to have agreed that it was her job to watch Arthur, Lance, and Jenny, but her stomach turned at the notion of being around all three of them at once. She’d avoided the group ever since finding out the truth on Wednesday, and her hands began shaking with nerves.

  Her roommate was a few steps ahead of her, already in the hallway and having turned the lock for the door when Alex joined her. Jenny studied Alex for a moment and frowned slightly. “Are you okay, sweetie?” She reached towards Alex.

  “I’m fine,” Alex told her quickly only to get a suspicious look. “I’m a little run down,” Alex said with a small shrug. “I’ll probably go to bed early tonight.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Jenny agreed, closing the door and testing that it was locked before she led the way to the stairs. “Maybe your night owl habits are finally catching up with you,” Jenny joked to lighten the mood.

  “I can’t help it that I’m most productive between ten at night and two in the morning.” Alex followed Jenny down the stairs.

  They settled into a calm silence as they left Hatfield Hall and crossed the lawn over to the large red brick building that was Michaels Hall. Despite the chill in the air, many students were standing in groups around the doorway talking with friends and even a few debating when they could use the volleyball pit again. Jenny shivered at the idea of playing in the cold and tugged open the doorway, holding it open for Alex with a soft smile.

  “The boys should be waiting for us.” Jenny stepped inside next to Alex and glanced around.

  The boys in question were waiting near the door of Michaels Cafeteria, Arthur leaning against the brick wall with a wide smile. Even at a distance, Alex could see his blue eyes twinkling at something Lance had said. The other young man, Lance, was standing with his arms crossed and a wide smile revealing his white teeth which contrasted with his dark brown skin. Skipping ahead of Alex, Jenny called to them both and slid up next to Arthur who grinned and planted a quick greeting kiss on her lips. Lance turned to face Alex and nodded to her as she joined them.

  “Hi,” Alex greeted, grateful that she managed to force the word out as she avoided staring at Arthur. “How are you guys?”

  “Good,” Lance replied, shrugging his broad shoulders and nodding his head towards the door. “Starving, though.”

  “Me too,” Arthur agreed. “Weight training builds up an appetite.”

  “I still live in hope for a weekend that your life isn’t controlled by football,” Jenny sighed with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

  The light-hearted banter continued between Jenny and Arthur as they led the way into the cafeteria with Alex and Lance trailing behind them. Despite not feeling hungry, Alex got herself some pizza and a salad, taking a few moments to breathe deeply before joining the others at their table. Jenny was seated between Arthur and Lance with a broad smile on her face as Alex took the fourth seat across from her. As Jenny began telling Arthur about an upcoming project she had for her journalism class, Alex forced herself to take a few bites of her pizza.

  Feeling lightheaded, Alex fell silent and let the others talk around her. Next to her, Lance was his usual quiet self, interjecting into the conversation only occasionally. Jenny switched topics easily with a smile, expressing her excitement for the upcoming Spirit Squad tryou
ts, asking Arthur if he wouldn’t reconsider joining Ballroom Dancing club with her and discussing classes. Arthur smiled gently at Jenny’s rapid speech, and there was no sign of the concern for their relationship that there had been only a few weeks ago. Everything seemed fine with Arthur occasionally joking with Lance and allowing Jenny to talk his ear off.

  She felt like an outsider. The knot in her chest tightened, and she clenched her fingers tightly around her fork. These three had known each other time and time again for three thousand years; it was no wonder that she felt like a fourth wheel. To outsiders, it probably seemed a nice balance, a group of friends, but Alex now felt certain that it wasn’t the case.

  There was a shadow over them now that couldn’t be unseen. Jenny’s bright smile was drawing looks from Lance out of the corner of his eye that Alex hadn’t noticed before, but then he’d look at Arthur and drop his gaze back to his food. Arthur reached over and squeezed Jenny’s hand only to have her eyes move quickly to Lance. Looking down at her food, Alex speared a piece of lettuce and forced herself to take a few more bites. Maybe she was just over thinking what she saw. Maybe there was nothing strange going on yet, but what if the betrayal was already happening.

  “Alex?” Arthur called gently. “Alex!” Snapping her head up, Alex blinked at Arthur, meeting his worried blue eyes. He was frowning at her, a look of concern on his face. “Alex, are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” Alex croaked out before clearing her throat and forcing a smile. “I’m just a little brain dead. We were working on a world mythology project earlier,” she lied easily, suddenly grateful that she had a shared class with Aiden, Bran, and Nicki.

  “Oh,” Arthur replied with a nod. “What’s the project about?”

  “The project?” Alex blinked and shook her head to force herself to focus. “It’s on King Arthur. We were looking at some of the Celtic myths that may have helped inspire the story.”

  “That’s sounds interesting,” Arthur said with a smile slowly appearing on his face. He ran a hand through his blond hair as he leaned back in his chair, his shoulders relaxing slightly. “I thought it was just a medieval story.”

  “Well in some ways it is.” Alex glanced at Lance and Jenny in the corner of her eyes only to find them listening. “It was updated greatly; Camelot, for instance, is a medieval creation. Some of the earliest stories related to King Arthur may have their roots in warrior chiefs and the warfare that took place before the Romans arrived. It’s hard to say since a lot of traditional stories were recorded by Christian monks and the oral tradition was lost.”

  “That’s neat,” Arthur agreed. “I bet that’s an interesting project for you at least since you’re a literature major.”

  “It’s interesting,” Alex confirmed with a forced smile. “But a lot of work. Nicki’s the one who good at the folklore research.”

  “Still King Arthur, I love those stories,” Arthur said with a wide smile. “There’s a lot of different versions though so I bet you have your hands full trying to sort them out.”

  “Yeah,” Alex agreed. “But we’ll manage, we have some time to get it done.” She added the word ‘hopefully’ in her mind.

  The conversation shifted away from her with Arthur commenting on the online class discussion for International Politics he’d added to that morning. His energy for the subject was palpable, and Alex found herself smiling softly even though he was rambling on a bit. Then Lance asked Jenny about the homework they had coming up for their chemistry lab. Alex dropped her fork; she’d completely forgotten that Lance and Jenny had the same Chemistry class and Chemistry Lab. Blushing, Alex leaned down to pick her fork up from the floor and glance under the table. Jenny was sitting with her ankles crossed and her knee touching Arthur’s, but one of her feet was touching Lance’s left foot.

  Sitting up, Alex set the fork to the side and swallowed thickly. She wasn’t sure if she was overthinking things or not. Slowly she raised her eyes back to Jenny who was speaking with Lance about the upcoming lab. There was a soft, happy smile on her face and a matching one on Lance’s.

  Alex’s stomach turned as she watched the interaction. It looked so innocent, just a smile between two friends. Arthur was smiling right along with them, but Alex couldn’t help but wonder. Had the betrayal already started, was it too late to stop whatever romance was going to happen between Jenny and Lance? She couldn’t help but think back to Halloween night. After Arthur had left to drive some drunk teammates home, Lance had driven Jenny home and promised to come back and pick her up. He never had. It was while walking home that Alex had been attacked by the Sídhe Hounds for the first time with the other mages and learned that magic was real after Professor Cornwall and Professor Yates had saved her. She’d holed up in Nicki’s dorm with Aiden, Bran, and Nicki until sunrise ended Samhain and limited the Sídhe’s ability to enter her world.

  And yet… she’d still gotten home before Jenny. At the time Alex hadn’t given it much thought, but now she wondered about why her roommate came stumbling into their dorm after sunrise when Lance was supposed to be taking her home hours earlier. Swallowing, Alex shivered as her limbs grew heavy and cold worry, anger and guilt coursed through her veins.

  “Alex,” Arthur called. “You alright?”

  Tearing her eyes away from Jenny and Lance, Alex met Arthur’s concerned eyes and her stomach turned. She jumped up from her seat, covering her mouth and ran towards the restroom tucked away in the far corner. Knocking into several chairs, Alex barely reached the bathroom and didn’t bother to lock the door before collapsing in front of the toilet. With painful heaves, she lost her dinner and felt hot tears running down her face. Her fingers clutched so tightly at the toilet bowl that her hands began to ache. Sobs mixed painfully with the heaves, leaving Alex with no control left.

  Warm hands pulled her long hair out of her face and away from her neck, gathering her hair together in one hand. Another hand moved down to her back, rubbing gentle, comforting circles. Alex gasped for breath as the heaving eased and sniffed loudly.

  “Easy,” Jenny cooed to her, still rubbing her back. “Easy, Alex, it’s okay sweetie.”

  Alex’s stomach turned again, hearing the voice of the very person she now couldn’t help but suspected of cheating on Arthur and potentially destroying the mages’ chances of stopping the Sídhe. But the gentle rubbing forced her muscles to relax, and Alex sighed in defeat. Reaching around Alex, Jenny flushed the toilet before tucking the ponytail of hair she’d collected in the back of Alex’s t-shirt.

  Feeling Jenny pull away, Alex stayed on the floor and listened to her roommate’s movements around the bathroom. The sink turned on a moment later, and she heard paper towels being ripped out of the dispenser. Jenny returned a few moments later, pulling at Alex’s shoulder to get her to turn towards her. Closing her eyes, Alex allowed the movement but wasn’t prepared to look at her roommate in the eyes just yet. The moist paper towels were gently applied to her face and some of her hair to clean her up in silence.

  “Time to get you home.” Jenny stood up and tugged at Alex’s hand. Standing up slowly, Alex finally opened her eyes but kept them lowered. Jenny mistranslated the hesitance. “It’s okay, sweetie,” Jenny told her. “Everyone gets sick sometimes, and at least you made it to the bathroom.”

  They opened the bathroom door to find Lance and Arthur waiting outside, holding their coats and bags. Alex managed to give Arthur a small, grateful smile as he helped her into her coat and took her bag from him.

  “Get some rest,” Arthur said gently. “And try to feel better.”

  Not trusting herself to speak, Alex nodded quickly and allowed Jenny to take her hand and led her towards the door. If other students were looking as they left Michaels Cafeteria, Alex didn’t notice. She only noticed they were outside by the sudden drop in the temperature. Inhaling the chilly air, Alex felt her head clear a little and took several slow deep breaths to regain control.

  She and Jenny made their way slowly acr
oss the large lawn between Michaels Cafeteria and their own dorm Hatfield Hall. Alex’s eyes traced the darkness around them carefully. Morgana and Merlin had collapsed the Sídhe tunnel at least for a while, but the paranoia of the dark of night that Alex had developed wasn’t so easily shrugged off. Jenny moved ahead of her and pulled out her key card to unlock the front door, gesturing Alex to go ahead of her. They took the elevator to the third floor, something Alex didn’t usually bother with, but Jenny didn’t seem to trust her on her feet. Her roommate unlocked the door of room 321 with a practiced motion and pushed the door open. Flicking the light switch, Alex mumbled a quick thanks to Jenny before grabbing her pajamas and toiletries. She retreated to the floor’s communal bathroom to wash her face properly and brush her teeth. Using the sink, Alex rinsed out part of her hair and considered calling the other mages before deciding against it.

  When she returned to her dorm room ready for bed, the comforter and sheets of her bed were pulled back, a glass of water was set at the corner of her desk for easy reach, and their trashcan had been moved from its perch behind the microwave next to her bed. Jenny was at her desk, texting on her phone and looked up to give Alex a soft smile. Managing to return the smile, Alex crawled into her bed and grabbed the plush dog that had been her lifelong companion. Hugging Galahad to her chest, Alex tugged the blankets over her head and closed her eyes. She heard Jenny stand up from her desk and move around for a few moments before the dorm room door opened once again. The lights turned off and the door shut with the click of the lock, leaving Alex alone with her tumultuous thoughts.