The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 65

“Don’t you just want to see what else you can melt, Clark?” Jackson asks on a long inhale of breath, looking at me with sad eyes. “Come on, I bet you could melt this whole tree if you wanted to.””

–

“Well, one, that’s not good for the environment,” I say, rolling my eyes at him which makes him laugh, just a little. “And two, no, I don’t want to melt the tree I want to talk about you. Honestly, Jackson, I won’t tell anyone you know I won’t. I won’t even let anyone know that I know! I’ll keep your secret.”

“Why does it even matter, Ari?” he asks, looking away from me. “Why do you want to know so badly? It doesn’t change anything.”

A thousand answers flood my mind. That it could help me understand what I can do how. his power compliments mine. That I want to know more about him. That I’m just so damn

curious.

But, in the end, I settle for the truth.

“I want you to know that you have someone here who will keep your secrets, Jackson,” I say quietly, willing him to believe me.

Jackson looks up at me in surprise, his blue eyes wider than I’ve seen them before.

We’re silent again, but as it has been before with us, there’s no awkwardness to it. But then he breaks it.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” he whispers, half baffled and half…suspicious, I realize. Lik

I’ve got ulterior motives or something.

I stare at him, my heart cracking in grief for the lessons his past life must have taught him.

“Jackson,” I murmur, saying his name like a promise. “Why are you so surprised that I genuinely just…want to be nice to you?”

He turns his face away from me like he’s been struck, staring at the ground beneath the tree in shock and surprise. I watch his profile as he swallows heavily, as he presses his lips

together in frustration or…consternation? Honestly, I don’t know what. But I give him the space to process it.

“I don’t have to eat,” he says suddenly, the words falling from his lips in a rush, like they’ve escaped from a dark place and can’t wait to get away.

ask, confused.

know not at me. “I don’t have to eat like…ever, if I don’t want to. I mean, eventually, I’d have

“That is….that is seriously weird,

agreeing. “I also don’t have to sleep, if I don’t want to, for like…days. Longest I’ve gone is three weeks. And I can run for miles and

eyes go wider as his confession progresses. “And like, nothing happens? You can just go?”

get really skinny after a while,”

I say, looking him up and down,

as long as I wanted. And I don’t get full I just get…”

ask, my laughter fading as I look him over anew. “So….could you get as big as an elephant if you kept

I think my

to imagine it. Jackson – he’s

and then rubbing it down the length of his

to know. Thank god

see how

to me. “Wouldn’t you, if you figured out that that’s what

when everyone else. was asleep? And like,

and nobody gets that. Like, after eighteen blackberry pies…you never

me, so honored that he trusted me enough to keep his secret. “It’s one hell of a power. I wish I could borrow it, would probably keep me up through these long nights of studying.”

down at our clasped hands. “Maybe you can…”

ask, also looking down.

there’s some sort of connection between our…magic,” he

him. Us, I think. There’s something between us. But I clench my jaw to keep from blurting it out.

you were able to melt the marble because of whatever connects. our magic,” he says, and I nod, agreeing. “So…maybe I can pass mine to you

experiment with that?”

pass some energy to you. I’ve got plenty of it – it’s

pleased to see him talking more casually now, like one would to a real friend.

in my mind, trotting anxiously back and forth. She’s pissed, I know, because she

her, stroking a hand over her

but lets

annoying to have

think, in the same ways that I’ve studied him. “It all comes down to what I eat. If I eat too much, it manifests in either sleeplessness or weight gain. If I eat too little, I lose muscle.” He sighs, shaking his head. “It’s annoying,