The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy
Chapter 0515

He laughs a little, nodding to me and running forward to catch up with the other boys as I do my very best to catch up. I mean, I fail... But hell, it's good to try.

About twenty minutes later my spirits are quiet a bit lower and my feet are dragging, a little, as I haul myself into the breakfast. I mean, with the adrenaline gone, the lost hours of sleep and the workouts I've been going through morning and night definitely take their presence known.

Jackson - fresh, clean, and already seated at the table with Ben - frowns as I draw closer to the table with Rafe and Jesse following close behind. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," I say, sending him a smile as I reach for the coffee even before I sit down, pouring myself a very full cup. "Just sleepy is all - trying to get some energy back for the day."

He frowns at me as I sit and raise the hot mug to my lips. "I don't like that, Ari."

"You don't like anything that's not Ari sitting happy, safe, and spoiled, Jacks," Ben murmurs, yawning himself as he pushes the eggs around on his plate.

"That's not true," Jacks replies, frowning over at Ben. "I like when she's tough."

"Watch your pronouns, buddy," Ben says, pointing a fork at Jacks with a wink. "And I know. I'm just teasing you."

Jacks blushes a little at his gender slip, but he nods to Ben and turns back to me. "Do you mind if I...try something?"

I frown at him and sit up straighter. "Like what?"

"I've had this idea since the Examination," he murmurs, and then he glances around the room and lowers his voice. I look around too, noting that Rafe and Jesse are distracted as well, speaking to Ben. "And then again in magic class. Um, I need to be touching you though, for it to work."

Instantly, I raise my hand towards him but he just frowns at it. "Ari, I already slipped up once today - let's not also hold hands in the dining hall to further raise suspicion."

I laugh, dropping my hand and shaking my head at him. "All right, what do you have in mind."

"Just...sit still," he murmurs, looking down at his plate and casually raising a hand to pat me on the back - but high enough that his fingers touch my neck, his skin laying flat against mine.

I stare down at my plate, weirdly anxious, sitting quite still. For a moment, nothing happens.

And then, quite suddenly I feel it -

Energy, flooding my veins, like someone has turned on a tap - I gasp a little, sitting up straight, as Jackson's magic flows into me, starting at where his fingers touch the nape of my neck and flowing all through my body, filling me up like - Like -

God, like I've had sixteen cups of coffee. It rushes through me, making my eyes fly wide, my fingertips twitch. Immediately, I feel like I could run a marathon, like I could jump from rooftop to rooftop, like I could fly -

And then just as suddenly, it's too much. I'm full- absolutely replete - and I gasp, because I don't know where it will go - energy absolutely crackles through me and I yelp a bit, twitching away from Jackson, breaking the contact between us by force. We both turn to stare at each other, wide-eyed.

"Um, so I guess...it worked?"

"Jacks," I breathe, almost shaking with the amount of energy in my body right now, "do you...do you seriously feel like this all the time!?"

"Like what?" he asks, a smirk coming to his lips as he sees that I'm fine.

"Are you guys being weird again?" Jesse asks, peering over at the pair of us.

"No," Jackson answers with a frown at the same moment that I smile and say, "Yes."

Jesse laughs and Rafe looks between us. "What's...happening," Rafe asks, nosy and pretending to hide his desire to know under a veil of brotherly concern. He sighs. "I can't handle any more weird."

"Nothing's happening, calm down," I say with a happy sigh, remembering that the rest of the boys don't know about Jackson's magic and so I can't tell them - not really - what just happened. Even though it's awesome and I'm dying to tell everyone my newfound secret weapon. But before anyone can ask anything - and trust me, Rafe's mouth is already open with another question on his tongue - Luca comes striding over with two envelopes in his hand.

"Hey man," Jesse says, grinning up at my mate. "Where have you been? I ate your bacon. But it's your fault for not being here, and it was going to waste, so really you should thank me."

"I'll just eat yours tomorrow," Luca says with a tiny sigh, apparently disgruntled but not about Jesse's foraging from his breakfast plate. "I was on stupid messenger duty. And you two," he says, holding out a message to both Rafe and Jacks. "Have a message that you're asked to read right away."