by Jaymin Eve
Truth.
We fell in behind the largest group of students, and while we walked to the assembly room, I spent my time examining them closely, trying to guess which race they were.
Vampires—even Larissa—had this preternatural way of moving. Too quickly, too gracefully, very predatory. I picked a few out in the crowd and was excited when I spotted some pointed fangs on one. Evidence that I’d actually guessed right.
Fey, again, were reasonably obvious. They looked perfect. Like … nothing had ever ruffled them and they didn’t wake up with bed hair and bad breath—supermodels with a full makeup and filter job on them.
Shifters and magic users were a little more difficult. I guessed at a few, because I felt like shifters would be more … animalistic. But, after seeing Asher, that wasn’t necessarily correct. He’d had all that feral energy in his gaze.
I’d figure it out though.
I continued to follow my friends, not paying the slightest attention to where we were going. We ended up in a huge brick building—as big as any concert stadium. It had fancy padded chairs that went on for miles; students were filling them at a rapid rate.
“How many students go here?” I asked.
Ilia blinked, her face going blank. “Uh, I have no idea.” She shot Larissa a look. “Daddy princeps ever fill you in?”
Larissa shook her head, a small smile quirking her lips. “Dad, or one of the teachers, tell us at the assembly every year. You haven’t listened once, have you?”
Ilia didn’t even look remotely contrite. “Your dad is awesome and I consider him a friend as well as an employer, but … yeah, I usually miss the first assembly.” She waved her hands around. “It’s such a clusterfuck of supes in here, and I need my space.”
Her independence was one of her coolest traits. Made her seem extra badass to me, because part of me had always been looking for my place in this world. Larissa led us down the middle aisle—there were at least four other aisles splitting the rows of chairs—and Ilia groaned when we ended up near the front. “Could you be any more of a princeps’s-daughter-cliché?”
Larissa stuck her tongue out but didn’t seem offended. “Best seats are up front, Ilia, you know that.”
Ilia shook her head like homegirl was crazy but didn’t argue again. We filed across the front and took three seats together.
The noise increased as more students arrived. “Is it normal for the races to mix together?” I whispered to Larissa, who was on my right.
She gave a little half shrug. “Yes and no. In the real world we’re pretty segregated, but Dad tries to change that up here. Yes, we are often with our own races for specialty classes, but for the most part we mix. This Academy is well known for fostering supernatural unity.”
Princeps Jones was fast becoming my favorite principal ever. The schools I’d gone to before had been a dreary existence for student and teacher. That was not the vibe here at all.
A few minutes later, the vampire himself walked out onto a raised platform in front of us. He wasn’t alone; a dozen or more other supernaturals followed him. Most of them looked a little older than the students, but also … not. There was a sense of maturity about them, but their faces remained young and unlined.
“Good morning,” Princeps Jones started, his voice naturally projecting across the huge room. “Or, good evening for some of you night dwellers.”
There were chuckles across the crowd.
“I’m happy and excited to see so many familiar faces returning,” Jones continued, “and to have many new students gracing our fine establishment for their first year at the Academy.”
Someone started to clap, but unfortunately for them, that clap didn’t catch on, dying off in an awkward silence. I tried to hide my smile. Usually it was me being awkward as fuck the few times I’d found myself in social situations.
I should find that person and make a new friend.
“Before we get into the fun stuff, I’m going to go over the rules. I know a lot of you have heard this speech multiple times, but a refresher never hurts. Some of you have selective hearing.” Princeps Jones started to stroll across the front of the stage.
“First, we have a zero tolerance policy to using our race gifts against another student. I do not care what they did to wrong you, do not retaliate. If you are suffering at the hands of a student, or struggling with something socially or academically, report it to a member of staff and it will be dealt with swiftly. Abusing race gifts to punish another often has dire results, including but not limited to dismemberment and death. It’s not worth risking. For any reason.”
His face was fierce, and those canines looked awfully sharp as he stopped center stage again.
“Zero tolerance. Don’t push me on this. You all have a lot of special gifts. This is what separates us from humans. We have to respect the gifts, or you’re not welcome here at the Supernatural Academy.”
Larissa shot me a wry smile. “He tries his best,” she whispered, leaning in close, “but there’s only so much he can do.”
Yeah, humans were hard to control. I imagined supes were near impossible.
“Rule number two: do not venture into the herbalism wing of the school unless you know what you’re doing. The same with the water world. Both of these quadrants are dangerous to the unsuspecting.”
Second time I’d gotten that warning, and I was definitely intrigued and slightly freaked out by what might be in those quadrants.
“Rule number three,” Princeps Jones continued, “respect your teachers. We are here to guide, not raise you. Having reached this age, we expect you to already know the basics of common decency. Of common sense.” He waved a hand toward the people standing behind him. “Each of these supernaturals has life and race experience that would take you decades to learn on your own. Use their wisdom to push yourself further than you’ve ever been before. Supernatural Academy is here to set you up for the rest of your life … do not waste this opportunity.”
For some reason I was half on the edge of my seat. His speech was compelling...
“Is he using that compelling thing?” I whispered to Larissa.
She tried to cover her laugh. “Nope, that’s just how he gets.”
I shut up as he finished. “Finally, every year I get the same question about why we enforce uniforms, and it’s as simple as this: the supernatural world will try its best to divide us by race … to keep magic users away from vampires and so on. We even have to do it to some extent in classes, because there’s no point focusing on race attributes you don’t have. The uniform is one way to unify all of you. You’re all Supernatural Academy students. Under one banner. One uniform. No segregation.” He clapped his hands together and straightened his broad shoulders. “That’s enough with the rules. If you have any questions about our expectations here at Supe Academy, just come and speak to me.”
This time when the clapping started, it picked up in intensity.
And I knew I’d never forget this first day of my new school.
11
After Princeps Jones finished, some of the other teachers made short speeches, noting things like the term dates and holiday times. We learned that there were twenty-five hundred students enrolled this year, and that there was a waiting list of over double that who didn’t make the cut.
This freaked me out, because I had no idea why I’d made it in. We didn’t even know what my race was or if I’d be powerful yet.
“So,” Larissa said as we stood, preparing to file out and head to our first classes, “you now know how many students are here.” She fluttered her eyelashes at Ilia. “Or did you miss that again?”
Ilia waved a hand. “Caught it this time, thank you, smartass.”
When we made it outside, there were students everywhere. We had to push our way through the crowds to make it into the rooms where my morning classes were held.
“Basics of Magic is a practical class,” Ilia said, using her elbows to move students who were in her way. “So y
ou’re in this quadrant.”
This was my first trip into the practical magic section, and I was surprised to see how open and airy it was inside. We walked past a ton of different environments. The first one was a desert, and I could feel heat wafting off it. “Some magic users like to work under intense conditions,” Larissa explained. “There’s a desert and ice land here.”
The ice land sent literal chills across my body, and I shivered all the way past it. Ilia and Larissa stopped at the next part of this quadrant. “This is your room,” Ilia said.
I peeked around the corner. The room was large and dimly lit; there were only a few soft lights glowing up high. The ground was covered in a dark brown bark, and when I stepped onto it, it was spongier than I expected.
“The bark is from the jujeniat tree,” Larissa told me. “It originated in Faerie and has amazing magical properties. It protects the students from spells that go awry, which as you might guess, is important when you’re learning new things.”
In my head, Faerie was this weird mythical world that had been mentioned a lot of times, but I still couldn’t quite get a clear image of how it all worked. I sort of pictured it sitting side by side with Earth, but in an alternate dimension. I’d enjoyed one or two superhero movies in my life, so I was well aware of multiverses. I had thought they were fiction, of course.
Along with vampires and witches…
Students pushed us further into the room, and my nerves decided to start a dance party in my gut. “I’m not sure I can do this,” I said, swallowing hard. “I mean, yesterday morning I thought I was human, and that magic was when you managed to wash, dry, fold, and put your clothes away in the same day. This is insane!”
My panic kicked in hard as I met a pair of serious green eyes. “Maddison Marie James,” Ilia said with a scowl. “I’ve watched you, one way or another, for years, and I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do.”
“How do you all know my middle name?” I said stupidly. Of all the things to focus on.
She ignored me. “You fought against huge odds to survive. You practically raised yourself. This is no different. So get it together, get your ass out there, and learn some fucking magic.”
She gave me a little shove, and I sucked in a few deep breaths for courage before walking toward the gathering of students. I turned back once; Larissa waved, and Ilia fist pumped.
I felt a little better.
The teacher entered the room then. “Welcome,” he shouted across the large area, moving closer. “Welcome to your first day of basic magic.”
When he reached us, I was surprised by how young and handsome he was. Looking no older than late twenties, he had broad shoulders and a trim waist. His full head of thick auburn hair was neatly trimmed on the sides.
“I’m Abraham, a sorcerer and Star Wars fanatic,” he started conversationally. I was amused to hear such a human reference in a magic class, but it made me feel a little less like a weird outsider. “I’ll be teaching this class for your first year. We’re going to approach this with the idea that none of you know a single thing about practical magic and that you only just came into your powers last week. That way, no base skill will be missed, and no one will go out into the world—or into year two—unprepared.”
The butterflies faded more as I hovered near the back of the students. There was about fifty from what I could see, which hopefully meant I could hang around the edges and not be noticed until I got my blocked energy figured out.
Abraham clapped his hands and I leaned forward to see him better. Lights started to swirl between his palms, the same sort of soft light from above. “This is energy,” he said, moving his hands back and forth. “Magic is just a manipulation of energy, directing it where you need, and making it work for you. When you’re first starting to harness your energy inside, it requires discipline and the use of words spoken out loud. But as your skills and confidence grow, you’ll be able to direct that energy with little more than a thought.”
The light exploded from between his palms, expanding across our heads like a curtain of fairy lights. My pulse picked up as I waited for his next move.
“All magic users have energy inside that can be used for spells,” Abraham continued. “Sometimes, though, the magic you want to achieve will take more energy than you have, and you’ll need to tap into a ley line—something you’ll cover much later in your training. For now, let’s start exploring the energy inside.”
He waved his hands. “Spread out. Give yourselves some room,” he shouted.
Once we were all situated, he started to walk between us. “The first thing is to recognize the magic. Find the foreign warmth swirling in your center. For some of you, it will already be as familiar as the beat of your heart, but for others this might be your first time truly exploring that part of yourself.”
Some of the students sat, and when Abraham didn’t reprimand them, I did the same. It felt like I could focus better down here. Closing my eyes, I breathed in and out deeply, trying to calm my mind and search inside. I wasn’t holding out much hope, considering my blocked energy situation, but the heat thing had happened once before. Maybe I could find it again.
“Feel anything?” a nearby voice whispered, and I popped one eye open to find a guy a few feet from me with a mop of black curls and dark blue eyes.
I shook my head. “Nope. So far I got nothing. You?”
He shrugged. “I’m not holding out any hope. I barely even register on the power scale. I’m pretty much the embarrassment of the family.”
“Shit, sorry,” I said, giving him a rueful smile. “I have no family if that makes you feel any better about your situation.”
He winced. “Ah, yeah. I suppose it does.” He laughed then. “Maybe we can just be powerless outcasts together.”
I shrugged. “As long as they don’t take away my bed and free food, I don’t care about having no power.”
Mostly the truth. It might have been nice to be good at something for a change.
He wiggled a little closer before holding a hand out to me. “Simon,” he said.
I shook it quickly. “Maddi.”
His eyes widened then. “Oh, you’re the one who was raised human, right?”
I raised an eyebrow and his cheeks got a little red. “There have been some rumors floating around. Your situation is pretty unusual.”
With a shake of my head, I laughed. “Yeah, I’m aware. So much for blending in.”
We shut up then because Abraham was back in our section. I closed my eyes to search for my power again.
“Maddison James?” My eyes flew open to find Abraham standing at my right side. “How’s your first day going so far?”
I blinked, forcing a smile. “Uh, good, I guess. I mean, I still don’t have access to my power or anything, but for a first class this one isn’t sucking.”
His grin grew. “Would you mind if I tried a few things to see if I can sense or unlock some of your energy?”
I hesitated, wondering if I should mind. “That depends on what sort of things,” I finally said, getting slowly to my feet; I would never give any person unhindered power over me.
“Nothing inappropriate, I assure you,” Abraham said, his face softening. He wasn’t classically handsome, not someone you would see in movies or as a model, but his features were kind. Comforting, almost. “I just need to touch you, on your shoulder or arm. Bare skin works best, but it would still work over your sleeve.”
He was trying to reassure me … and it worked. I took a step closer and held my hand out to him. He wrapped his warm palm over mine, and I jolted at the buzz of static electricity between us. It zipped across my hand and up my arm.
Abraham chuckled. “Well, you definitely have energy inside of you somewhere. My power responded to yours without any help from me.”
I felt disconcerted and … stunned, not quite sure how to deal with that feeling still tingling through my veins.
“Can you unlock my energy?” I asked h
im.
He shook his head, forehead crinkling. “It’s beyond my power.”
He released me, and I let my hand fall to my side. “Thanks for trying,” I said.
With a disappointed smile, he turned and resumed his walk through the students. As I took a seat again, the teacher’s voice rose up. “Now that you’ve spent some time exploring your energy, let us try one of the most basic spells in any magic user’s arsenal. A mage light.”
A ripple of excitement washed through the students—most of whom were sitting now. “Magic users have many words for light. The one I want you to note today, for future use, is illumina.”
Simon started to mutter it beside me, and he wasn’t the only one. I could hear whispers around the room. I quickly pulled out a notepad and jotted it down. Abraham had already spelled it out for us … in lights above his head.
Show-off.
By the end of the class, a third of the students had managed to produce light. I produced sweet fuck all, which was annoying, but not surprising.
“I want you to continue to explore your energy,” Abraham yelled as the music bell rang out, indicating class was over. “The better you know it, the more you’ll control it. Push it outside of your center … your comfort zone. And try not to set any buildings on fire. See you all next class.”
It got noisy as everyone started to file from the room. There was more than one disappointed face, and as bad as it sounded, it made me happy that I hadn’t been a failure alone.
“What class have you got next?” Simon asked, falling in beside me as we stepped out of the dimly lit room.
“Pronunciation of the Fey Language,” I told him, double-checking my schedule to make sure nothing had changed.
He nodded. “Me too.”
Pronunciation was in the quadrant with the classrooms, and since Simon seemed to know where he was going—we were both mostly following the crowd—I let him take the lead.
The pronunciation room looked a lot like a normal classroom back home. Rows of desks, nice high-backed chairs, a whiteboard at the head of the room, and a teacher already waiting for us.