The Windhaven Witches Omnibus Edition : Complete Paranormal Suspense Series, Books 1-4 by Carissa Andrews (graded readers txt) 📕

He rubs his hand across his mouth. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m being overly self-conscious, but I swear, I feel everyone’s eyes on me. Like they’re judging me for something, and I have no idea what.”

“That’s ridiculous. No one here knows you,” I say.

He nods. “Right? That’s what I keep telling myself, but I swear, there’s a vibe…”

“I’m sure it’s just first-day jitters. I felt the same way last year.”

Two guys enter the commons, view the two of us, and stop. A tall, lanky brunette leans over to his blond friend and says, “That’s the one.”

Wade frowns, his jaw clenching.

“Hey,” I say, standing up. “You got something to say?”

The shorter blond steps forward, tipping his chin toward Wade. “Yeah, why would you do that to your grandpa’s grave? Cold, man.”

“Yeah, like, I can’t say I like my grandparents either but that’s brutal,” the other one says.

Wade’s gaze narrows and before he can retort, the two guys twist around and head back the way they came.

“What in the hell?” I say, returning to my seat.

Wade’s expression darkens. “Ah, they think I’m the one robbing graves. Excellent.”

“No, I’m sure that’s not…” I begin.

“You heard them, Autumn. At the very least, they think I damaged my own grandpa’s columbarium. What in the actual hell? I thought when you went to a college people were meant to be smarter or more mature. It’s like being in high school all over again,” he says, leaning back in his chair. He blows out a long breath and looks up at the ceiling.

“Why on earth would anyone even tie those two things together? Your grandpa was cremated and the graves here were full-on graves with coffins. It makes no sense. The MO doesn’t even match,” I say, walking over to my chair and sitting back down.

Wade shrugs. “Probably because the two police teams feel like there are similarities.”

“What?” I say, twisting to face him better. “There are?”

“Yeah, that’s what they told me this weekend when I was in Mistwood. Magical signatures were found at both places, but that’s as much as they know. Something about needing to bring in a special team to determine what kind of magic so they can clamp it down and figure out who it’s tied to.”

“Do they think you were involved?” I say.

Wade snickers. “I hope not. I don’t have any magical abilities. At least, none that have surfaced yet. They’re checking with the academy to verify, though. So much for being on Ms. Cain’s good side.”

My gaze falls to the ground. “Damn.”

“Regardless, that obviously doesn’t stop the gossip from spinning out of control. God, I wish I had a way to throw this all back in their faces. It’s ridiculous.” Wade runs his hands over his face. “One of the cops did say they thought it was similar to something that happened thirty some odd years ago. So, with a little luck, they’ll be able to trace it back. Unless of course they think this is a copycat situation.”

“Well, if it happened before, maybe we should take a trip to the academy library. Last semester, when I was trying to get clear on what was happening to me, going to the library was the only thing that kept me sane. Even though it didn’t really feel like it at the time. I know it’s a different library, but what I was searching for wasn’t magical—at least, it didn’t start out that way.”

Wade quirks an eyebrow skeptically. “Why the library? There is this huge information superhighway called the internet. It also has the added bonus of not needing to be around people.”

“Yes, but the supernatural underground isn’t always broadcasting all of its news on the World Wide Web, he who wishes to hide,” I say, smiling. “Besides, I could call Cat and have her meet us. She might know—”

Wade shakes his head, raising a hand. “No, I’d rather not involve Cat if we can avoid it.”

I clamp my lips shut and nod.

“I didn’t mean to be so abrupt. I like Cat, I really do,” he says, backpedaling.

I wave a hand in front of me. “Don’t worry about it. I get it.”

“All right, if you think we could dig up something…” Wade’s face scrunches. “That was not a Freudian slip. I swear it.”

I chuckle. “You don’t have to convince me, Wade. I know you wouldn’t do anything like this.”

He lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. I’d hate to think this sort of bullshit could shake your confidence in me. I just can’t even believe it, you know?”

Standing up, I take a seat on his lap and wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m not a rumor girl. This doesn’t shake my confidence in you. Not even a little bit. I know you, Wade Hoffman. But I wish you would open up to me more. We need to get on the same page again. So, come on, let’s go see if anything like this has happened before. If magic is involved, we should be able to find something.”

“I sure as hell hope so. This is not how I planned to spend my one and only year here,” he says, frowning.

“Don’t say that. We’ll get that sorted out, too. But one thing at a time,” I mutter, kissing the crease where his eye meets his cheekbone. “All right, let’s do it.” I stand up and reach out, offering my hand.

Together, we walk to the school’s library. The space looks more like a place of worship than a place to learn and read things. Especially with its high ceilings and stained-glass windows that span the entire height of the room. However, the ambiance is unlike anything else.

In all honesty, I’ve only been in this library a handful of times and never to do research like this, so I feel a little out of sorts. All of my personal research last year was done at the local library in town—and in a dark corner of it, too.

“Where do we start?” Wade says, his