House of Mages and Raven (Shades of Ruin and Magic #4)

Chapter 22

22

Barbie

E ven in my sleep, I could feel an unnatural cold draft in the room. I had a low tolerance for pain. I was also sensitive to heat and cold. My sensitivity extended to my ability to experience pleasure more intensely than others as well.

When the temperature suddenly dropped dramatically, a ghost was often the cause.

Your ghost familiar is here, Sy informed me in displeasure. She still hadn’t warmed up to him, as she didn’t like anyone taking energy from me, but she no longer repelled him. After all, Pucker had saved me when I had a run-in with Medea.

I peeled my green eye open and spotted Pucker’s phantom face looming over me with a grin.

“Open the other eye,” he said.

“Why?”

“You know all I ever want from you is respect.”

“A lie.”

As I opened my sapphire eye as well, a forlorn feeling swept over me. I hadn’t gotten used to the new bed in the House of Mages, and I missed my old bed in the House of Chaos.

Rubbing my eyes, I rolled off the bed while Pucker inspected my new room. Like a deflated balloon, I padded to the small window, looking out and hoping none of the mages had seen Pucker sneak in. No one knew that he was my familiar, not even Killian and Rock, and I’d like to keep it that way.

“I’m not your dirty little secret,” Pucker protested.

From the window of my corner room, I could see part of the lime-and-gold building in the pale rays of dawn.

“How did you get in?” I asked as I glanced at the pentagon courtyard on the west side, fenced by dwarf burning bushes. I’d once stripped the offensive spells from the bushes, but Cade’s mages had put the spells back and added a few more, so the bushes had turned dark crimson again.

Mages appeared laidback, but they were just as paranoid as other supernaturals. I’d never seen so many spells until I came to the mage house. They’d warded every brick, every pane of glass, and every inch of steel, spells woven through them like impenetrable spiderwebs.

Pucker might be the guardian of the House of Chaos, but he had no business being in other houses. “There was resistance,” he confessed, “but I pushed through. Being a familiar to a goddess has its perks, though more often, trouble follows me because of you. Remember that time I got dismembered by Medea’s chains?”

“Yeah, you saved my butt,” I said, turning away from the window. “But could you not constantly bring it up?”

He smiled at me, puffing out a perfect ring of smoke, the strong smell of weed drifting across the room.

“I like the mage house’s casual atmosphere,” he said. “But they should get rid of half of the potted plants in the common hall. Also, the shelves of old books are overkill.”

“Take it up with Cade, then,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to listen to your criticism early in the morning.”

“I can’t let other houses know that I can now travel to their houses easily, since I can follow you anywhere,” he said. “Anyway, I’ve come and seen. The room is not up to standard, Barbie. In fact, it’s an insult to your status as a three-quarter goddess. You should return to the House of Chaos.”

“No, thanks,” I said. “I’ll never return to that house.”

“Maybe you should shout out your origin aloud, so everyone will start to treat you as you deserve,” he offered. “You deserve better.”

I wondered why he and Sy kept handing out bad advice like spoiled milk. Well, I knew, because no one wanted it even though it was free.

“Sure,” I said. “I can see from a mile away how everyone would react to my association with Ruin. And I’d welcome all the hate and fear, more than I’ve already received.”

He squinted at me. “Is that sarcasm? With you, I can never tell. Anyway, I want you to know that no one has touched your old room. The chaos house magic and I make sure of it.”

“I’ll make myself at home here,” I said. “And I’ll decorate my new home when I’m not too busy.”

My room was small, but it had a twin-size bed, a desk, and a chair. I even had a closet.

Just then, a windchime sounded at the doorway. In front of my eyes, the room started to shift, the wooden floor stretching, the small window turning to two large ones, and the four walls expanding. I leapt away from the window in alarm, as did Pucker. I had to duck as the old furniture was tossed out like junk. When I blinked, my bed sank down into the floor and vanished.

“Shit, the mage house is throwing a fit at my criticism,” Pucker said, eyes wild.

“Look what you’ve done.” I stared hard at him. “You know that all five houses in Shades Academy are sentient. They’re very sensitive. Must you bring negativity everywhere you go?”

Sy scowled at Pucker too.

“I’m sorry,” Pucker said to the house. “I didn’t mean it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You need to mean it when you say sorry.”

A blink, and a lanai appeared with a newly added French door. A king-size bed emerged from the floor, and a crystal chandelier dropped from above and hung from the ceiling.

“Shit,” I called, my eyes wild. “Cade is going to kill me. I think the house magic just dragged in the chandelier from the grand hall. The bed must belong to a high mage. If they find out?—”

Pucker shrugged. “No one needs to find out.”

“How are we even going to hide the lanai?” I asked in a shrill voice, not that I didn’t like it. Sy especially loved lanai.

“Maybe you can make me a room here, mage house magic?” Pucker asked. “I’m considering moving in. Where Barbie goes, I go.”

I widened my eyes. “Then the House of Chaos will be short a guardian.”

“It’s a sham business anyway,” he said dismissively. “Magenta will still be around.” Magenta was an ancient half-fae ghost. She was fading and nearly forgotten now due to her lack of activity. “She’s mostly sleeping these days, depressed and envious that I landed a demigoddess. I feel sorry for her. If I’m ever diagnosed with depression, I can just go solid and take antidepressants.”

I eyed him in suspicion. “You sure the drugs will work on a ghost?”

“Weed works,” he said. “I get stoned every time I smoke it in my solid form.”

Now he could go solid for a couple of hours. Boosted by my energy, he could probably go on a date with some na?ve dude. I shuddered and shook off the image.

I wondered if he still got a boost from Killian as well, but I didn’t ask him, as I desperately wanted to move on from the chaos prince and that short-lived romance with him, if one could even call it a romance. I’d tried my best to avoid the chaos prince. Out of sight, out of mind. But that asshole kept showing up at Jubilee Haven where I had my daily meals.

Could Sy be right about Killian not exactly letting me go?

The room kept shifting and transforming. A few minutes later, a completely different room was set forth before me. House magics were competitive too, like the heirs. The mage house magic was showing me what it could do. The end result was a room suitable for royalty. I stood upon the new Persian rug, my jaw hanging open.

“I’m definitely moving in,” Pucker declared.

“No,” I said firmly.

“C’mon, Barbie,” he said. “I miss my old crowd. Mages are usually weird and as snobbish as any other supernatural, but I used to be a mage.”

“You were a warlock with one-tenth demon blood in you,” I pointed out.

“Warlock, mage, to-may-to, to-mah-to,” he said.

“There’s a difference,” I insisted.

“No matter,” he said. “Warlocks don’t have their own house, so warlocks, witches, sorcerers, and even druids are now all in the House of Mages. I bet my murderer was a mage. Now that I have a shot at finding him, I’m not going to pass on this opportunity. I must investigate my own brutal, untimely death and solve the century-old murder mystery. I’ll find out who was responsible and make him pay.”

“You can’t make him or her pay,” I said. “Your murderer must’ve died a long time ago, if it offers any comfort.”

Pucker had been a clairvoyant when he was alive, but he hadn’t foreseen his own death.

“It offers me no comfort,” he said bitterly. “I’d rather they were still alive, and they might be. Mages, warlocks, and witches might not be born immortals, but they can live for a long time. Some of them even achieved immortality by stealing others’ lives and magic.”

We were talking about black magic like human sacrifice here. I shuddered while rage seared through me. The druid and his cult had sacrificed those victims in the tower of Skyward. He almost sacrificed me on the altar to achieve his dream of being the most powerful druid. I’d thwarted his plan, but his ambition lived on. He’d gotten away, and none of the sentinels had gotten wind of him. I bet that he was lurking somewhere close and waiting for an opening to strike again.

Supernaturals never gave up their hunt, like my father, who wouldn’t stop until he had his evil claws in me. I shuddered again in fear.

The mage house magic took the shape of a blue wand of light, pressed against my leg, and whined, responding to my fear and fury. All magic was in tune with my mood.

Every house magic had its own distinct signature and brand. Vampires carried air magic, so the vampire house magic was most potent at creating currents, even a violent twister if the house was under attack. The shifter house had water magic that could flood the entire school. Mage magic was mostly tied to spells, though mages and witches had their own variety of innate magic. Their house magic got a boost from every spell cast in the house.

I had yet to visit the House of Fae. I’d peeked at the pink-and-ruby building within a vast garden from afar. Fae excelled at earth magic, which they used to make their dwellings lovely, but when they went on the offensive, the fae house magic drew power from the earth to cause a major earthquake. Thorned vines would shoot out to trap, cut, or smother their enemies to death.

Chaos house magic was, well, chaotic. It must’ve missed me. Even from the mage house, I could feel its call, though not as strongly as the pull from Underhill. The magic in Mist of Cider was fading, so it tried to cling to me, drawn to my power.

I could take every magic for myself, but the magic in this realm knew that I was their protector instead of a predator as I’d once been. I hadn’t had much choice while I was under my father’s thumb, but he hadn’t known that I’d left a backdoor when I harvested magic and brought it to him. I’d always kept a drop of magic in the land and offered a drop of my power, then sent the land into hibernation, so one day, if I survived, I could revive that magic, even though on the surface, everyone saw only the blight left in my wake.

“I’ll find that motherfucker,” Pucker kept venting. “And I’ll torture him over and over. He’ll beg for death, but I won’t relent. I get what you said about his being long gone, but even if he went to Hell, he still has offspring. I’ll take them out one by one, so they can go to Hell to report to him about who erased his bloodline brutally and methodically.”

Pucker was malicious and even barbaric when it came to his century-old murder. He couldn’t get past it, so it was pointless to argue with him that children should not be responsible for their father’s sins. I was thinking of myself as well. I should not be burdened with Ruin’s sins either, though the guilt of draining the land and laying waste to cities throbbed deeply in the marrow of my bones.

“We must put down every black magic practitioner, starting with the druid,” I said, more interested in hunting and slaying the druid than helping Pucker solve his cold murder case. He had my sympathy, but we had to prioritize. The oracle said the fate of the world lay in my hands!

“Trust me.” Pucker pointed two fingers at his eyes. “I’ve been watching, and I don’t sleep. I’d know if the druid even farts. He won’t get near you.”

“But you’re only one ghost, Pucker,” I said. “And I need you to watch the Veil twenty-four seven. Even your coming here to chat is a waste of a resource. What if a Shrieker sneaks in?”

He gave me side-eye. “I’ve told you over and over that I won’t live in the wilderness like a homeless ghost warlock. Who do you think I am? I’m a goddess’s familiar!”

I gave him a hard stare, frustrated by his inability to adapt and compromise, which was often a problem when anyone got older. People who reached a certain age usually no longer gave a shit about anything except their health and money.

The mage house magic suddenly shot toward Pucker’s phantom form, attacking him.

“What the fuck?” he cried out.

The magical wand slapped the ghost guardian in the face. I guessed the house magic had had enough of Pucker’s lack of cooperation.

Even in his phantom form, Pucker couldn’t free himself from the grip of the wand, which now bent into a ring around his neck and dragged him toward the wall. Half of his ghostly torso was pushed through it.

“Wait a minute, please,” Pucker pleaded.

The house magic didn’t wait and hauled him further into the wall, ready to cast him out once and for all. After this, the mage house would bar him for a lifetime.

“Help me, Barbie. Don’t let it throw me out,” he shouted in a pitiful voice. “I came with a mission. I was about to report to you as you demanded before I got sidetracked.”

I sighed. “He’s sorry about being negative, even vengeful,” I told the mage house magic. “Please let him stay for a little longer until he finishes his briefing, as a favor to me. And I’ll vouch that he won’t murder anyone cold-bloodedly in our mage house without my approval.”

The house magic released Pucker, and he bounced out of the wall and jerked to a stop in front of me. He shuddered like a wet phantom dog. “That was intense.”

“What news did you bring me?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“You’re cranky, Barbie,” he stated.

“I didn’t get much shuteye last night,” I said.

He shook his head. “I don’t like you and the prince fighting. You overreacted when he seemed to pay more attention to your counterpart, Barbie 2.0. The prince does everything for a reason, and he isn’t exactly interested in her. He’s playing along to protect you. You need to see through the ruse.”

“What the fuck, Pucker?” I narrowed my eyes in anger. “Are you high? Which side are you on? Where’s your loyalty? And how much juice do you still get from that asshole prince? Did he send you to spy on me? Are you his spy now?”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” He sighed. “Even if Prince Killian is distracted by Princess Grace, you can’t exactly blame him. Men are men. Red-blooded males are visual. So maybe instead of blaming him, you should spruce yourself up? Polish yourself a bit more, show less attitude, and beat Barbie 2.0 at her own game?”

My eyes narrowed to slits. Pucker stepped back a few paces and raised his phantom hands in surrender.

“Don’t shoot the messenger, please.”

“Whose messenger?”

“Myself,” he said. “I’m always on your side, Barbie. You should have no doubts. I just don’t sugarcoat things since I don’t need to con you. I can help you level up. With both you and the prince as my patrons, I’m powerful enough to enter any house. Lady America from the House of Fae has good fashion sense. I can raid her wardrobe and bring you the most fashionable dresses, with a discount, which will be two sips from your goddess essence.”

“Once a con man, always a con man, even dead,” I snorted.

“You don’t see what I see,” he said. “I’m older and wiser, and I don’t lie to myself or to you. Queen Lilith, your romantic rival, came before you. Technically, in her eyes, you’re the other woman. So, she initiated the Barbie 2.0 game to beat you and take back her lost ground.” He continued despite my huff of displeasure. “Prince Killian and Queen Lilith appear like a perfect power couple in everyone’s eyes, but I know better. The chemistry between them pales in comparison to the chemistry between you and the prince. Your chemistry with him is off the charts. I can barely breathe whenever the two of you are in the same room with that sizzling sexual tension, which says it all, considering I’m a dead gay.”

A sick feeling brewed in my middle whenever anyone put the chaos prince and his betrothed in the same sentence.

“Oh, they have plenty of chemistry.” I sneered. “Haven’t you seen how she hung on his arm?”

“She wouldn’t need to hang on his arm if they had enough chemistry, and she wouldn’t have to bring in her ward, who looks just like you but is a princess who speaks the heirs’ language, to tempt him and to win him for her. She’s a queen, so she can’t stoop low to get into a dog fight with you.” He ignored my glare. “However, her ward, who appears to be your upgrade and makes you look like an inferior copy, can do her dirty jobs. Together, they plan to push you aside for good.”

I clapped my hands in a sarcastic way. “Congratulations to them then. They did it! Killian dumped me cold and hard. He’s eating out of Grace’s palm, just like everyone else. I’m not sure if Bea still wants to be my friend after she comes back. I won’t blame her if she ditches me too. The pressure is too high for anyone.”

“As soon as the underdogs saw Grace as a better option to power them up, they jumped ship. It must hurt,” Pucker said. He could feel the hurt I buried within me as my familiar.

“It’s fine.” I shrugged. “I’m no one’s hero. At least the underdogs won’t be bullied while Grace leads them.”

“She’ll discard them and stomp them as soon as they aren’t useful,” Pucker said. “Their only use is as a weapon against you. You’ve always been the target. First, the kidnap failed, then the maiming and poisoning failed. Even the Queen of Kingdom of Chaos couldn’t off you. I’m impressed. You’ve proven to be very hard to put down, Barbie, so your primary enemies are waging a new war against you by stripping you of protection first, a war they’re skilled at and you’re clueless about.”

“Clueless?”

“It’s the war of the courts.” He nodded. “Court intrigue is above your pay grade, since you are basically from the streets.”

“I am not from the streets.” I ground my teeth. “I came from the pit of the God of Ruin!”

I would never have blurted out my origin if not for Pucker riling me up by pushing me down and lifting my enemies. I was insecure, all right, but he didn’t need to kick me when I was already down, considering he was my familiar.

“Well, you might have three-quarter goddess power, but you’re still but one person.”

“The other heirs stand with me,” I argued. “Didn’t you see them side with me during lunch?”

He lifted a phantom finger. “One lunch, girl. Your counterpart will be working double hard to win them over.”

My Rowan will never go to that tramp, Sy said. Lay a paw on what’s mine, I’ll pluck her claws out one by one, then feast on her eyeballs while she’s watching.

I’d stop her though, as I didn’t want any part of my doppelg?nger to be in my stomach.

“She’ll make moves to get them to change sides as soon as she secures Prince Killian—your once biggest backer,” Pucker said, looking at the ceiling.

“She already secured him by batting her same-colored green eyes,” I said bitterly.

“Your dual-colored eyes aren’t a defect,” he said. “Your goddess power is veiled within them. You should not let ignorant talk get to you.”

“It’s hard not to when I’ve been replaced,” I said.

“They might’ve set you up to fail, but no one can replace you, Barbie. No one! No matter how fucking hard they try. And you’ll be more powerful than anyone when you reach your full potential.”

I hadn’t shown all my cards, and nor had Grace. She hadn’t gone toe-to-toe with me like Medea had done. I had no idea what her strengths and weaknesses were, but she didn’t seem worried.

“Your power needs a trigger—a big, bad one—to reach its full strength,” Pucker said.

I eyed him warily. “When did you become my life coach?”

He smiled. “I’m a smart dead guy who was extremely knowledgeable even centuries ago, and I’ve retained some of my foresight here and there as a former clairvoyant, especially now that I’m bonded to you and boosted by your goddess essence.” He nodded in appreciation that I didn’t reciprocate. “While you aren’t a powerhouse yet, your opponent brought in a new player who has the upper hand over you in every way, or so it seems. No wonder the underdogs flocked to her. You aren’t above them, since they believe that you came from nothing, but she is legit royalty. They think she can give them what you can’t—more power. All you can offer them is rebellion, and in the end, it’ll be stomped down when your novelty wears off and all the heirs are fed up with you, leaving you high and dry. In the past, the heirs have always chased the hottest things, and now Princess Grace is the new shiny. It’s safer to join her than stick with you and fight an uphill battle. No one wants to end up on the losing side, and in their eyes, you’re doomed to be a loser.”

“You’re a party pooper,” I murmured.

“Thank you. And now Princess Grace, the new ‘favorite’ of Prince Killian, a ‘better’ version of you”—Pucker made air quotes with his phantom fingers—“has invited everyone, except you, to the party. Who’s going to turn it down?”

“No one,” I said sourly.

“What the hell is going on?” Prince Cade stood in the doorway. Neither Pucker nor I had noticed him coming until it was too late. I stared at the mage prince while he widened his eyes at my transformed room. “What the fuck did you do this time, Barbie?”

“Huh?” I asked sheepishly. “I haven’t done anything yet.”

Pucker mouthed at me, Good luck, and zoomed toward the doorway, squeezing through the space between Cade and the doorframe and vanishing.

A phantom wind caused by Pucker’s exit stirred Cade’s fashionable scarf. That was how powerful my ghost familiar had become. Bonding with me indeed gave him perks.

Cade patted down his scarf in annoyance. “What the fuck? Did that poltergeist from Killian’s house just visit mine?”