Reckless Souls (Saints Academy, #1)(8)

before me.

“Rhea Harrington, September twenty-seventh—”

I don’t get to finish when the guard interrupts. “Here,” he murmurs, seemingly marking me off

from a register on the tablet in his hand as he pulls my attention away from the little glimmer of magic

before me.

“Miss Harrington, if you could please dip your hand into Pandora’s Box, that would be all you

need to do to complete the test,” the lady closest to me says, and I flick my gaze to her. She has her

blonde hair pulled into an eccentric beehive on top of her head, wearing a quirky orange dress-suit,

with intricate flower detailing running along the hem. There’s nothing mundane about this woman.

Fuck, even her eyes are yellow. Yellow. If that doesn’t tell me she’s not human, I don’t know what

would. She’s definitely supernatural.

Clearing her throat as she runs her hands down the front of her blazer, she lifts her eyebrow, and I

fumble forward, looking down at what she called Pandora’s Box.

All I can see inside is darkness, a black hole, which instantly sets me on edge, but I find my

fingers moving forward of their own accord. Before I even realize it, my fingertips are stroking along

the rim of the intricate box.

I expect them to hurry and nudge me along, but if they do, I don’t hear them as an almighty scream

rings in my ears.

Pain. Fear. Misery. Death.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t see.

I can only seem to feel, and what I’m feeling is utter torture.

The scream continues, ringing and ringing in my ears uncontrollably as I feel my eyes pinch shut

even tighter. My body is locked in place, a mixture of dread and trepidation tainting me as I will the

noise to stop.

“Miss Harrington! Miss Harrington!”

The sudden calling of my name breaks the hold I seem to be in, as if it unlocks me from the

screams attempting to devour me, and I fall. In a heap on the floor, a tangle of limbs, a whimper

escapes from my lips as I sigh in relief, the screaming no longer there consuming my mind, body, and

soul.

I can hear the sound of scuffling shoes around me as I try to pry my eyes open and figure out what

the hell is going on, when a hand on my shoulder suddenly makes my eyes pop open.

Face to face with the eccentric lady with yellow eyes, I watch as her mouth moves, but I can’t

process what she’s actually saying. My brows knit together in confusion, and I shake my head trying to

communicate what I can’t seem to verbalize. She must sense I’m not registering a word she’s saying

because she rolls her eyes, taking a deep breath before she lifts her hand to my temple.

“Better?”

What the fuck?

It’s her voice, but her lips aren’t moving.

“You can hear me then?”

Nope. Mouth still not moving.

Is she… talking directly into my mind?

“Yes, I am, Miss Harrington. You seem to be in a little bit of shock, and actually talking to you

isn’t registering right now, so here we are. Me talking to you in your mind.”

She replies to my thought.

To. My. Fucking. Thought.

I try to nudge back, but she simply widens her eyes at me, freezing me in place as my heart pounds

wildly in my chest.

What on earth is going on? Who the hell was screaming?

“The Box, Pandora’s Box, or I assume, at least, because no one out here has made a noise let

alone a scream,” she states, continuing in my mind as I stare at her with wide eyes. “Are you able to

stand? We have much to do,” she adds, making my frown deepen.

Much to do? I need to get to work, I think, and the woman before me shakes her head. Her

yellow eyes lighten as she looks at me with sympathy.

“I think not, Miss Harrington. Pandora’s Box called to you.”

Called to me?

She must be mistaken, this entire thing is a fraud. I need to lie down because this conversation

can’t still be going on in my head like this. That’s ridiculous.

“It’s not ridiculous. Do you know what this means, when the Box calls to you like that?” she asks,

her voice almost gentler, even in my mind.

I shake my head slightly in response, at a complete loss for words and thoughts. This is probably

the first time in my life where I’ve ever been shocked into speechlessness.

“It means there’s more to you than meets the eye, Miss Harrington. Pandora’s Box only calls to

those with supernatural powers. Although I must admit, I’ve never seen it happen to someone who

simply touched the rim,” she explains, and I feel the blood drain from my face, leaving my brain

empty, void of any rational thought.

“What does that mean for me?” I find myself asking out loud, and she drops her hand from my

head, rising to her feet as she looks down at me with what almost looks like genuine pity in her eyes.

Who would have thought, a supernatural pitying a human?

The noise in the Town Hall slowly tries to creep in and bring me back to reality, but my eyes cling

to her lips, waiting for them to move, but when they do, the words spoken make no sense at all.