Rooming with the Wicked

11 | under a rock

Professor Renis, although unknowingly, had solved one mystery for me. The only way that portal could have been unguarded, was if it wasn't supposed to be used again. Ever. That meant its twin crystals were supposed to be destroyed. Except they weren't. Someone had deliberately kept them, and now they were untraceable and hidden.

Well, sort of. If I was right, they were somewhere at school.

Who had I seen with a beautifully glowing set of twin crystals?

Syn.

And who had access to the portal because he was training to be a portal master himself?

Also Syn.

Searching his dorm would be next to impossible, but if he'd stashed the soporis book on Jaydis' shelf, he might have done the same with the crystals. If I could find them, maybe there was a way to check who had used them and when. Professor Flamel would help me. He was trustworthy. I could take the crystals to him and he would know what to do.

But I had to find them first.

Much to my delight, the room was empty when I got back. Maybe I could just—

The bathroom door swung open and my least favorite roomie emerged. With black shorts hanging low on his hips and absolutely nothing covering that stupidly muscled torso of his, he strolled across the room without acknowledging my existence. How did someone who lounged around all freaking day look like that anyway? It was...stupid. Just like him.

Stop staring, Ariel.

Clenching my jaw a little too hard, I stalked over to my niche. I was about to unhook the freeze trap when his annoyingly bored voice broke the silence.

"Just a tip, when you go sneaking around the room at night, don't use a lux crystal bright enough to glow through your hoodie."

He...but—how?

Damn it.

It took everything in me not to spin around. "I-I wasn't sneaking!" I said in a voice much too high-pitched.

"Sure, you weren't."

"For your information"—not that I needed to justify myself or anything, nope—"I was looking for a book." I finally turned to give him a pointed look—and instantly regretted it.

That bastard still hadn't put on a shirt. With his arms crossed in front of his muscular chest, biceps bulging, and his still dripping obsidian hair in his crimson eyes, he looked...hot. Wait, hot? Haze?

I shook my head. My brain clearly needed that nap.

"Some of us actually have stuff to do," I said, my throat drier than the wastelands of Infernis.

He yawned, stretching those trained arms behind his head. "Sucks to be you."

Maybe I could spare one of my paralysis potions...

"I get everything's basically a chore for you, but could you like—I don't know—put on a shirt or something?"

A small smile tugged at his lips. "Bothered?"

I made a show of rolling my eyes. "Your face is nightmare fuel enough, thank you very much."

That smile turned into an amused grin. "Whatever you say...Cupcake."

He didn't make a move to cover himself, of course not. And why did he have to look so...smug?

Seeing as I would likely only embarrass myself further by staying, I spun around without another word and disappeared behind my curtain, careful to avoid triggering the Liquid Ice. After ensuring the rest of my traps were untouched, I fell into bed. It didn't even take five minutes and I was out like a light.