Academy of the Elites: Broken Magic

by Alexis Calder

  "Once before we had a student here who was like you. Untrained but powerful. She never gained full use of her magic. They worried she'd come into her full power one day unexpectedly. Much the way you did when you were attacked."

  "What happened to her?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

  "They came for her and I never heard from her again." He pressed his lips together, brow furrowed. It was the most concern I'd ever seen on his face. Whatever had happened to this girl, it was bad. And he was worried the same thing would happen to me.

  I swallowed hard. I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't. I had to fix this. I had to get my magic back. "You think it'll be enough? Working on extra lessons?"

  "I hope so," he said, his expression returning to stoic disinterest, "for your sake. You start tomorrow. Eight in the morning."

  7

  Raven

  Saturday should be for sleeping till noon then lounging with Makayla or Luka. Not this Saturday.

  Last night Luka had returned to my dreams. He'd shown me how much he missed me. And he definitely made me want him more than I already did. I knew I needed to sort through this missing magic thing a little more before I complicated one of my few friendships at this school. But I wasn't going to last much longer at this rate.

  At least I could carry the memory of the dream with me as I suffered through my first private tutoring session with Professor Halifax. I glanced at the clock. "Fuck." I had ten minutes and was in desperate need of a shower.

  As I padded into the bathroom, I flicked on the lights and caught sight of myself in the mirror. My tousled hair screamed I just got laid and I smirked as I stripped off my pajamas. Even in my dreams, he left me feeling like the real thing.

  The hot water rolled down my body, reminding me of the feel of Luka's skin against mine. Everything with him was so much more intense than it was with any other partner. It was like he was made to make me feel good. He knew exactly where to touch and tease. His hands moved on my skin like a familiar comfort while his mouth made me feel things that shouldn't be possible. He was everything I was promised that sex should be from movies and television and then some.

  I squeezed my thighs together and tried to shake the spiking desire coursing through me. It wasn't even real, yet it left me feeling shaken.

  Quickly, I soaped up my hair with shampoo and used the lather to clean everywhere else. As I rinsed off, I wondered what Luka was doing right now. Was he thinking about me? He was an incubus, after all. Was he off with another partner?

  I frowned as I squirted conditioner into my hand. We hadn't talked about what our relationship was. I just knew I needed him, but I didn't know what he needed. Could an incubus even be satisfied from one partner?

  Clean enough, I climbed out of the shower and dried off. Without brushing, I threw my hair into a sopping wet bun on top of my head. It would have to do.

  I ran into the massive closet and froze. It was Saturday, which meant I should be able to wear my regular clothes. But then again, I was going to meet a professor.

  Shit. The clock was ticking. As it was, I was going to have to skip breakfast and coffee.

  Deciding to go halfway, I grabbed a pair of black pants and a white shirt. The tie could wait till Monday.

  Swinging by my desk, I grabbed my still packed backpack. I had no idea what private lessons were going to entail. Would I need to take notes? Would I need my books? Was she going to stare at me while I didn't do magic?

  Cause so far, every time I'd tried, nothing happened. I failed every time. My gut twisted as nerves churned. I guess it was better that I didn't have time to eat. Right now, I wasn't sure I could keep anything down anyway.

  Professor Halifax was amazing. She was sort of a minor hero of mine. She didn't put up with shit from students and she didn't mince her words. She had zero filter and never assigned busy work. Professor Halifax meant business. Which both amazed me and fucking terrified me.

  Rumor was that she was fae. She never mentioned it, but it did explain her stunning looks and her pointed ears. I was still figuring all of this out, but I had read through every book I could find on supernatural cultures. From what I'd read, fae were rare here as they preferred to stay in their own realm with their own laws. Some books even mentioned that if they crossed over to our realm, there was a possibility they could get stuck here. I wanted to ask her about fae, but I was terrified of pissing her off. So, I stuck to keeping my mouth shut.

  That wasn't going to work today.

  As I approached her classroom, I saw her framed by the doorway, waiting for me.

  "You're late," she said.

  "I'm sorry," I said, lowering my gaze. Maybe the shower wasn't necessary.

  "Well, let's get on with it," she said, sounding annoyed.

  I walked past her into the empty classroom. "I'm so sorry Dr. Green is making you do this. I swear I didn't ask.

  "That's why I'm mad," she said. "I had to wait for him to make you come. You should have been working with me since the beginning. Especially once that wolf got his magic back."

  I wasn't sure what to say to that. I mean, she was the spellcasting professor so in theory, she knew more about this than anyone else. But I didn't want to be a burden. I stood in the middle of the room, looking up into the empty seats where I sat with my classmates every day for class. The room looked so much larger without the students to fill the amphitheater benches that circled around the lower stage floor. I shivered, feeling small and on display despite the fact that there wasn't anyone else in here besides the two of us.

  "I wasn't sure if your magic was gone forever but once that mutt got his back, I knew yours had to be close behind. When it didn't return, I asked Dr. Green to send you my way. I'm going to force the magic out of you if I have to."

  My throat bobbed and my chest felt heavy. Her words should have comforted me, she wanted to help, but they sounded more like a threat than a way to fix whatever was wrong.

  The door closed and I heard her heels clicking across the stone floor.

  I turned to face her, honestly terrified about what she was going to make me do. "How are you going to bring my magic back?"

  "There are things we can try that aren't typically used," she said. "How badly do you want it back?"

  I hesitated, considering the weight of her question. It was clear she wasn't asking this lightly. I knew whatever she was getting at was something big. And based on what I already knew about this world, it was likely dangerous. I thought back to my old life. Kegs popping and sending beer all over my shoes. Lugging bottles to the bar from the back storage room, slapping my boss for grabbing my ass. The real world, the human world, wasn't a good place for me. I'd struggled. More than I realized until I was given a chance here.

  On top of how awful the human world was, add in how amazing this place could be. Sure, someone had tried to kill me, and some bitchy girls tried to make me feel bad about myself. I might get picked on, but it was nothing compared to eating ramen noodles every night for the rest of my life. Plus, there was Luka. The things that incubus could do with his fingers... and his tongue...

  I couldn't walk away from all of this.

  "I need my magic back. Whatever it takes," I said.

  She grinned, making her features look even sharper than usual. "That's what I was hoping you'd say."

  8

  Raven

  "Professor Herd seemed to think it would come back on its own." A wave of nausea rolled through me as I stood rooted to the spot where Professor Halifax had directed me.

  She lifted a perfect brow in annoyance. "I thought you said you were willing to try anything?"

  My throat bobbed. "Yes, I did say that. But this is like the stuff out of horror movies, you do realize that?"

  "Where do you think they got their ideas?" she asked.

  I stood there, in the center of a circle of shiny pink stones. Professor Halifax went back to setting candles up around me. So close that if I moved, I'd risk knocking
them over.

  "What exactly are we doing?" I asked.

  She set down the last candle then stepped over the stones to leave me standing in the circle. "I know you did a magic meld with the Obscura brothers. This will reactivate it."

  "But they're not even here," I said.

  "I know, that's why we have the stones, they'll give us a little more distance on the spell," she said.

  "They said the meld was dangerous," I said.

  "I'm hearing a lot of complaining from someone who wants to get her magic back."

  I covered my face with my hands and closed my eyes. She was right. What choice did I have? Wait and hope my magic came back or go along with this crazy ass plan. Honestly, I wasn't even sure what her plan was. And she was a professor and Dr. Green trusted her, right?

  Dropping my hands to my side I looked up at her. "What do you need me to do."

  She stood in front of me, outside of the circle of stones. Her arms were out on either side of her, fingers splayed. "I'm going to cast the spell, you have to lean into it when you feel the magic surge. Your goal is to light the candles."

  "Alright, I can do that." It sounded harmless enough. No touching like I'd done with the magic meld before. It was just lighting a few candles. I tried not to think about how I'd set myself on fire last time I'd worked with fire. "Let's try it."

  "You have to give me more confidence than that," she said.

  "Okay, let's light some candles," I said with feigned confidence.

  She lifted her arms and closed her eyes. I took deep breaths, concentrating on how I felt, searching for any flicker of magic.

  I thought about the twins and the way we'd connected our magic. The memory came flooding back to me, the sensation of the light that connected us shooting through my legs and up into my chest. Reacting on instinct, I called it to my hands and felt it rush to my fingertips. I had to harness this. I wasn't sure if it was a memory or if it was real, but I needed to embrace it just in case it was real. If this was my magic returning, I had to hang on to it.

  Light the candles.

  The words came from nowhere. I wasn't sure if they were mine or someone else's but I knew I had to try. I looked down at the ring of candles circling me and sent the sparks I felt toward them, urging them to ignite.

  One of the wicks flickered to life as a tiny but steady flame bloomed from the candle. A rush of relief surged through me and I laughed.

  Just as quickly as the magic had arrived, it faded. I stumbled forward as exhaustion set in. Dizzy and lightheaded, I managed to avoid knocking down the single lit candle as I stepped outside of the circle.

  "That was a good start," Professor Halifax said.

  The room was spinning and my pulse raced. I felt like I'd just run ten miles. Everything felt surreal and uneven. I wasn't even sure what was real and what wasn't. The whole room had a dream like haze around it. "What happened?"

  "You found your magic," she said.

  My heart leaped and I smiled and hope expanded in my chest. "Does that mean it's back?"

  "It means it's ready for us to tap back into it. I'm guessing a few more weeks of practice and training and you'll be back at full power."

  That was the best news I'd heard since I arrived here. "How do I practice?"

  "You can continue to meet with me, but you'll do better with the twins," she said. "Since you melded your magic, yours will probably respond to theirs. You three are connected."

  I still didn't understand all of that but all I could think about was that I had a path toward getting my magic back. "When are they returning?"

  "I'm not sure," she said. "I believe their great-grandfather passed. Mages can only extend their lives for so long. He founded this school, you know."

  My lips parted as her words sunk in. The fancy suite, the ability to be late to class while everyone else was punished. They mentioned that their parents donated a lot but left out the fact that their family started the whole thing. "That explains a lot."

  Professor Halifax smiled. "You didn't know."

  "They told me their parents donated to the school," I said.

  "They are also paying your tuition," she said.

  My breath caught and I blinked at her in stunned silence. Did Matt and Zach know that? "I don't understand. I mean, I'm grateful, but why me?"

  "The Obscura family comes from a long line of pure blood mages. They aren't all that different from most of the high fae families in the sense that they believe that magic shouldn't be diluted or mixed. Though, with fae, the reasons are due to giving too much power to other supernaturals. Like you. You shouldn't have the abilities you do. But with the fae blood, you're more powerful than average mages. With them, they feel that it reduces mage power."

  "Does it?" I asked.

  She shook her head. "Of course not."

  "They mentioned something about that to me. Something about the one-kid policy in their family," I said.

  "I still don't see why they'd cover my tuition," I said.

  "Because of your parents," she said. "You come from a long line of famous mages. I wouldn't be surprised if the family is already planning on you joining them in one way or another."

  "Joining them? Please tell me you're talking about a job offer and not an old school betrothal kind of thing."

  She shrugged. "You'll have a lot more options once you get your magic up and running so try not to worry too much. Appreciate the gift you were given."

  "I do," I said. "I'm grateful but I don't know what I got myself into."

  "Don't worry," she said. "It'll all make sense soon enough."

  My brow furrowed as I tried to discern what her words meant. I was tired and didn't want to think any more about the complicated relationship I was in with the Obscura twins. We had a bond of some sort through our magic and apparently their parents were trying to push us together because of who my parents were. None of it made sense. It was too much.

  "What about my parents?" I asked.

  "Not today," she said. "You need to rest. The magic you just performed was more taxing than you realize."

  "What exactly did I do?" I asked. "In all my research, I couldn't find anything that sounded like it would work."

  "You managed to call some of your magic through a small tear," she said.

  "A tear?" I asked, completely lost.

  "A mini-portal, essentially," she said.

  "I thought portals were nearly impossible and super dangerous." Wasn't that what we'd heard in class?

  "They are," she said. "But you're a time magic user, which means you have fae blood in there somewhere. It gives you the ability to use portals unlike any other supernatural. Nearly as good as the fae themselves."

  "Wait, what?" I asked. "Did you just say fae blood?"

  She smiled. "Probably. It might not be much, but most of the time magic mages I've met over the centuries were of fae origin. Someone in your family history got it on with one of the fair folk. It's what gives you your unusual magical signature."

  "How come nobody told me this before?" I asked.

  "It's not widely taught," she said. "And if I were you, I'd keep it to yourself. The fae are not treated well in this realm." She frowned for a moment, then her face returned to normal.

  "Are you treated poorly?" I asked, my brow furrowed. She might have unorthodox methods, but Dr. Green trusted her to help me and she had brought back some of my magic. Her talents were incredible. I would think everyone would want to be on her good side.

  "That's a story for another day," she said. "Today we confirmed that your magic still exists, it's there, but it's broken."

  "So what does that mean?" I asked.

  "It means we have work to do."

  9

  Raven

  The next two weeks flew by as I tried to make good on my agreement with Dr. Green. I knew he was still keeping things from me, but I had a feeling he was on my side. And I couldn't say that of everyone.

  My days were the same. Meals with M
akayla and the other shifters while Ben was who knew where. Luka was actually fitting in with them after the first few days. They opened up around him now, having our usual conversations about the drama going on at school or which teachers were giving pop quizzes.

  Even gym had been tolerable. I couldn't prove it, but based on the way Coach Miller avoided eye contact with me, I was pretty sure someone said something to him. My money was on Dr. Green.

  The highlight of every day was my time in the library with Luka. Each day, we poured through a new book, taking notes of anything that might give us any clues as to what the thief's magic had done to me.

  So far, I'd learned that thieves were only second in their power to those with time magic. Which made sense why one of them was after me. Their magic was largely unstudied in formal studies and most of the books gave us summaries and observations. Some of them dating back hundreds of years.

  All creatures seemed to fear thieves. They were capable of removing even the smallest amount of magic. And as I'd already learned from Ben, they could remove a shifter's ability to shift.

  "Did you see this part?" Luka asked, pushing the latest book toward me, his finger pointing to a passage in the middle of the page.

  I tugged the book closer and read where he was pointing. "When a thief removes the magic of a demon, the creature will be prevented from ever transitioning between realms."

  I looked up at Luka. "Does that mean dreams?"

  "Maybe," he said. "But it could also mean between the other realms. Like the underworld."

  "Like Hell?" I asked. Luka had been pretty private about his life outside of school and I wasn't sure how much he wanted to talk about.

  "Yes, that's one of the names," he said.

  "Do you travel there?" I asked, fascinated by the topic. When he visited my dreams, it felt so real. Was that what it felt like to visit Hell, too?

  "Every year," he said. "You know how humans visit family for Christmas?"