Yes, I know it's been WAY too long for a chapter update on this book. Better late than never? Enjoy. I will try for another next weekend.

We rounded the corner and at the end of the hallway was the door to the school offices. With everyone still outside, the halls were still eerily quiet. Matt strode right past the reception desk without reservation. I, on the other hand, lingered outside in the corridor.

"You're afraid of her?" Jake rested against a locker. "After facing that wyndham, tackling anything Mrs. Kennedy has to say should be easy."

"I'd rather square off with the dragon," I mumbled.

"You're kidding. That thing ate your desk."

My feet shuffled forward almost of their own accord. Even if I wasn't an expert at fighting off the demonic and possessed, with them, I knew what to expect. But when it came to Mrs. K, I had no idea what to say. Talking to anyone about my weird and creepy talent only made me feel like a freak show. After breaking curfew, Jake's death, and the wyndham ripping through two floors, I couldn't help think this conversation wasn't going to be in my favor.

"I'll be right here with you." Jake peeled off the locker, towering above me. A sympathetic smile eased across his face.

My heart rate quickened and thumped loud enough I would've thought he could hear it. But no, he stood there oblivious to the effect he had over me.

"Miss Brackstone, are you coming?" Mrs. K called from inside.

I focused on Jake, grounding me in place, and I resisted going through with the escape attempt I'd already plotted in my head. "Let's get this over with." I expelled all the air from my lungs in a long breath. I stepped past Jake and headed inside.

Just like the first time I'd been in her office, the room still had stacks of papers piled high on top of the filing cabinets positioned beneath the windows. There were even more stacks of files covering the desk in front of her. It looked like it would take a lifetime to get through all that work. Nicknacks and decorations were stuffed between the books on the shelves behind her leather chair. I felt claustrophobic just being in the room. She gestured for me to take a chair across from her.

I licked my lips and dropped into the cushion, waiting to get blasted for all the school rules I'd broken, and unfortunately for me, that list was getting longer by the second.

Matt perched on a corner of Mrs. K's desk, crossed his arms and glared at Jake. Mrs. Kennedy reached next to her chair and pulled out something that looked like a game board. She flipped it over slowly, and Jake took a gigantic step backward. Matt smirked, still not taking his sight from where Jake stood. The yes and no, printed in bold, black font at the top of the Ouija board had a firm grip on my attention.

"Is this yours?" She tapped the letters on the surface with her boney, pale index finger.

I shook my head.

"I told you there was no way it belonged to her," Matt answered. "Getting the dead to talk to us isn't a problem." He glanced from the board back to Jake. "It's getting them to shut up that's the trick."

She paused, furrowed her brows, then gave Matt a sharp look. After another long moment of silence, she returned her attention to me. "I suspected as much." She removed the board from her desk and placed it on the shelf behind her. "Who's idea was it to visit the cemetery?"

"I don't know." And that was the truth. Winter and Chloe never told me where we were going. That little tidbit wasn't made clear until Chloe turned into the parking lot and the car's headlights shone on the rusted Hemlock cemetery sign.

"Even if it wasn't your idea, you still went into the cemetery just before the witching hour." She lifted her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose, then set the frames down on the desk. "Honestly, with your ability, I would've thought that would be the last place you'd go willingly. The risks you took not only put you in danger but everyone there."

Willingly—was the keyword. Nothing like a good dose of peer pressure to make a girl do something stupid to fit in.

"I..." I mumbled, knowing full well I had no excuse. Choosing to follow Wynter and Chloe down the path to the mausoleum hadn't been just a bad idea, it was a horrible, stupid one—and I knew it.

"Tessa, don't listen to them." Jake knelt next to my chair. "This isn't your fault."

His words stabbed at my heart. My tears threatened to spill over my lashes, and I blinked, trying to hold them back. If I'd given Seth the keys, Jake might still be alive. But even now, I know that still wasn't an option.

"She's a necromancer, dumbass." Matt rolled his eyes. "Going anywhere near that cemetery at midnight put you all of you in danger."

Jake's image flickered, and a stack of papers a mile-high rustled on her desk then spilled over onto the floor at Matt's feet.

"Since neither of you two moved, I can assume that's Jake's fault." She tapped her pen against the desk. "And you're going to pick them up."

"What did Tessa think would happen?" Matt rotated the glass paperweight with a rainbow-colored butterfly trapped inside. "Walking through a cemetery at midnight is like having a flashing pink neon sign above your head while screaming, come and get me. I'm only surprised half the underworld didn't claw their way into our realm to find her."

"Jake, do you hear me?" Mrs. K said in a stern tone. "And alphabetize them." She pointed her pen at Matt. "And you stop antagonizing them."

"You heard her, Matt, back off." Jake clenched his fist, straightened his fingers, then shook out his hand. "We don't need your crap."

Matt cocked a brow. "She should've known better. That's all I'm saying," he said in a flat tone.

"And you should've been here at the start of term, helping her as you promised," Mrs. K snapped.

Helping me?

"So now this is my fault?" Matt gestured to Jake with the paperweight still in his hand. "I don't think so."

"No, it's Seth's," I said, barely above a whisper.

"Seth?" She put the pen down and leaned forward. "Who's that?"

"Not who, more like what." I rubbed the armrest with my palm. "He's a demon bent on opening the gates of hell, and now he knows where the keys are." I shook my wrist, letting the tiny keys jingle against each other. "Nothing will stop him from trying inventive ways to get them. Eliminating people doesn't even make him flinch." I pursed my lips wishing I could feel the warmth of Jake's hand on mine. "While I clearly don't agree with his tactics, personally, I think sending the wyndham to get rid of me was quite creative."

"It's nothing to joke about Tessa, especially if that demon is responsible for Jake's..."

"There's no 'if.'" I looked up from my lap. "He's responsible."

"What are we dealing with?" Matt put the glass orb back on the desk. "You know, what level demon is he?"

"How would I know? We didn't exactly have time to exchange credentials. I've been a little busy trying not to get eaten, stabbed and clawed to death." I rested back in the chair wishing this whole discussion was over, and I was back in my dorm room.

Matt pursed his lips and let out a long breath. "Can he control objects on the physical plane?"

"He tore a broadsword from the mausoleum wall. Yeah, I think he has that covered."

"Besides the wyndham, any other beasts under his control?" Matt asked.

"Hellhounds, lots of them." I could still picture the ugly beast's nose, that I'd clipped with my blade.

"Do you think he sent that garm after us?" Jake asked.

"I don't know, possibly."

Ms. K's brows scrunched together like she was trying to puzzle out what Jake might have said.

"Jake and I ran into a garm in the underworld. And before you ask, it's a big hairy ball of nastiness."

"You gotta watch out for their acid blood too." Matt pulled down the collar of his t-shirt showing off a pink scar.

"Yeah, I know. That acidic goo destroyed my favorite jeans. But I guess that was a bonus. It gave us a way to get rid of the wyndham."

Matt raised a brow. "That's inventive."

"Don't let the coven hear you say that. They are going to be furious their source for a potion amplifier has disappeared." Mrs. K opened a file on her desk, pulled out a piece of paper and passed it to me. "You're starting magical realms tomorrow and a few other classes during the rest of the week. Matt has promised to help get you up to speed with your lessons outside of class."

My head was spinning. I wasn't sure which I was more surprised about, that they taught magic classes or that Matt was assigned to help me. "This school teaches magic? You're joking."

"We've been teaching the gifted for centuries. But nowadays we only have enough students to make up a class. To keep the lights on, we've had to take in non-magical students too."

"But why does Matt have to help me? He's only been here for like two minutes. There's gotta be someone else."

"No, there isn't, or I wouldn't be here." He crossed his arms, pulling his t-shirt tight against his muscular chest, then tilted his head toward Kennedy. "But if she told me you were gorgeous with a rocking body to match, I might have been a little easier to convince."

My cheeks flushed, and Jake groaned.

"I'm not a dating service." Mrs. K snatched a magazine off her desk and swatted him with it. "He's here because you two need to work together."

"Stay away from my girlfriend."

That was the first time I'd heard him call me his girlfriend, and I couldn't help grinning at the thought. I'd die of embarrassment if Jake knew how many times I'd written my name Tessa McGee since the beginning of the year.

"Can't. I'm afraid that one's out of both of our hands." Matt smirked. "Mrs. K's right, Tessa and I have to figure out a way to work together. But she'd know that if she'd had any training."

"Then Jake's coming along," I blurted.

Matt let out a blast of laughter. "Sure, bring ghost-boy. I doubt he'd survive our first session together."

"Vanquish Jake, and you'll have the council and me to deal with. Do you hear me?" Kennedy tapped her index finger against the desk. "Matt?"

"Fine." Matt's brows knit together and his expression turned icy. "Then keep him away from our sessions."

"He can't order me around." Jake blurted out behind me. "I'm coming, and there's nothing he can say about it."

She looked over my left shoulder. Her eyes were sad and held the same look my mother used to give me when I needed something for school, but we didn't have the money for. "Sorry, Jake."

My heart broke for him, and I could only imagine how he felt. Kennedy, still staring off in the wrong direction hadn't a clue where Jake was. I shook my head and pointed to my right, and she adjusted her gaze.

"But you won't be able to wander the halls near the study room and to be sure you don't"—she took out her wand—"I'll place a few wards up for your protection."

"Protection? I'm already a ghost. Honestly, how much more dead can I get? Tessa, you reason with her."

I knew he didn't want me in the same room as Matt, forget spending alone time with him. But I agreed with Kennedy, Jake's safety had to come first. I'd already screwed up once, and I wasn't going to do it again.

"Jake..." I let the physical plane drain from me, welcoming the cool temperature of the astral plane and the warmth of Jake's grip on my hand.

"You agree with them," he said with his voice full of sadness.

"You know I need the training." I slid my arms around him and rested my cheek against his chest.

"I just wish it didn't have to be with him." He let out a long sigh. "You saw how we handled that wyndham together. I guess I thought you and I were already a team."

"Of course we are." I reached up on tip-toe and kissed his cheek. "It's just that this team member needs to brush up on her skills and wants her partner in one piece when she's done."

He pulled away slightly and lowered his head until his lips grazed my ear. "You're not going to run away with him, are you?"

There had only ever been one guy I'd had feelings for, and it wasn't Matt. "Trust me. You have nothing to worry about."

"Oh, I trust you." He squeezed me tight. "Him on the other hand? Yeah, not so much."

I cupped his face in my hands, drawing his attention back to me, but before I could say a word, he crushed his lips to mine. His wet tongue lapped mine, delving deeper into our kiss. He dragged his hand up my back, making my arms tingle and my neck tickle.

"Enough with the public display." Matt crumpled a paper and tossed it at us. "I can see you, you know."

The ball went right through us, smacked the wall and rolled into the corner.

"Mrs. Kennedy?" said the mouse of a receptionist. Her tiny frame matched her meek voice. "The fire department has given the all-clear. They said the Math room smelled of smoke, but they couldn't find the cause. They thought that was what might have caused the student to pull the alarm."

Jake chuckled. "Yeah, not even close."

"Well, I'm glad they didn't find anything more," she said sounding relieved. "Can you sound the bell to give the all-clear for students to come back in please?"

The woman nodded and scurried off back to the main area.

"Tessa, Matt, you both can come with me." Kennedy stood and smoothed out her skirt. "Jake, you have my papers to sort out." She pointed to the floor. "And if you don't do it, you'll find the training room won't be the only thing off limits to you."

Jake's eyes widened. "She wouldn't block my access from the school, would she?"

"You better pick up those papers. After everything that's happened in the past day, she probably would."

Kennedy led the way to the door with Matt trailing behind her.

"Come find me in my dorm room later?" I whispered.

"Now that's an invitation, I won't refuse." His eyes sparkled, and he kissed my forehead. "You better go before Matt figures out how to turn that glare of his into a ghost-busting flamethrower."

"Today, Miss Brackstone," Mrs. K called. The two of them were waiting at the door. "In physical form too please."

I let the astral plane drain from my skin and settled into the weight of my physical form once more with my sneakers pressing into the floor. I jogged over and couldn't help looking back at Jake just before I crossed the threshold.

I smiled when I realized he hadn't taken his sight off of me.