“Yep. I thought you’d like it.” He smirked, and I narrowed my gaze on him, my thoughts finally free of the surroundings.
“You don’t know me, so don’t be so cocky. Only an idiot wouldn’t be fascinated by this place the first time they see it.” Deciding I needed a break from him, I asked, “Where do I go now?”
Before he could answer, a peppy blonde dressed in a plaid pleated skirt, white collared shirt, and thin teal tie caught my attention.
“Hi, there! I’m Gemma. I’ve been sent to bring you to the headmaster’s office.”
Tension I didn’t even realize I held was immediately released from my shoulders. I wasn’t going to have to spend all day with Enzo. Even if Gemma was a bit over the top with her greeting, she hopefully wouldn’t infuriate me like Enzo had.
“I brought her all this way. I can get her to the headmaster’s office,” Enzo answered, surprising me with the unhappiness in his voice.
“Headmaster Stone wants me to do it, so take that up with him if you have a problem with it,” she remarked, losing some of her previous pep.
“Fine.” He dropped my bag and disappeared into thin air.
“What the…” My head cocked sideways, trying to see any signs he had been standing before us just moments before, but there was nothing. Not even a whisper of wind.
“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. Elves like to disappear all the time like that.” She glanced at her watch. “Come on. We’re late.”
Her hand clutched around my wrist as I scrambled to grab my bag, which was obviously too full, considering it seemed we were supposed to wear a uniform at the school. I wasn’t sure I would be comfortable with the skirts, but I had some killer black pants that would work with the shirt and tie.
As she dragged me along the walkway, I realized I hadn’t asked her what we were late for, but I didn’t really care. Instead, I went back to checking out the school.
The creepiest part was the gargoyles. Their eyes, even though made of stone, seemed to follow me as I walked. They reminded me of an old sculpture my mom used to have of a wolf. The thing always creeped me out as a kid, but it had disappeared one day after I began having nightmares that it was chasing me through the house.
When we arrived at the main entrance to the actual building, there was a huge archway made from concrete just like the surrounding walls that encased two large wooden doors. Each door had the SVA crest I’d seen earlier, along with dark bronze handles.
The doors looked ridiculously heavy, but Gemma opened the left one with ease and gestured for me to go in first. When I stepped inside, the entrance before me was not what I expected. We were on a platform about thirty feet wide, and beyond that were several staircases and hallways with plaques above each opening.
Elves, Shifters, Vampires, Witches, and Hybrids were the names above the hallways. Magic, Combat, and History were the three names above the staircases, and I wondered if those led to the turrets I saw when I first arrived.
“I know it looks confusing, but it’s more of an optical illusion. Magic is used to make the school a whole lot bigger than it looks. I’ll show you to our dorm after we see Headmaster Stone. His office is in the Magic wing.”
When we were both on the stairs, they started to move like an escalator, causing me to flinch and possibly squeak, but I chose not to think about that. My focus was on the brick steps that were somehow moving without any sign of a mechanical function.
“How?” I asked as I glanced up at Gemma, hoping she’d know what I meant.
“The answer is almost always going to be magic. Things will seem less weird the longer you’ve been here. I’m on my second year like Enzo, and I still get surprised with some things, but it’s not very often. By June, you’ll be immune to most of it.”
Ugh. Everyone I was meeting was going to be a year ahead of me. Enzo’s previous words came back to me, though. There was a possibility I could get thrown in with the second-year students, but I didn’t know how high that chance was.
If they looked back at my previous school records, they’d see I was a good student. Even though I was happy to finish early, that had more to do with my parents’ death than the learning.
The corridor we ended up at opened into a wide dome-like area. There were skylights above us, letting the sun shine in, and several more hallways between three main doors.
The one that caught my attention first had “Headmaster Stone” carved into the wood door with elaborate filigree decoration underneath the name. My fingers itched to reach out and touch the artwork.
Instead, Gemma tugged me along once more and knocked twice on the door. “Leave your bag by the door when we enter and stay standing until he addresses you,” she whispered before the door opened on its own.
“Come in, Gemma,” a deep voice called.
She gave one last smile before pulling me forward.
I did as she suggested and left my bag a couple feet in front of the door, pushing it against the wall so it was out of the way in case anyone else entered. The lights were dim in the office, and it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. Once they did, I took in the massive floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that held much more than books.
Bottles of all sizes littered the shelves, along with herbs and plants that I assumed were needed for spells. My throat dried up, and it was hard to swallow as my nerves got the best of me.
I was in way far over my head.
“Headmaster Stone, this is Raegan Keyes. She just arrived, and we came straight here as per your request,” Gemma said with respect as she stood up straight in front of his desk.
I tried to take her same posture, but how she stood ramrod straight while keeping her eyes on the headmaster was beyond me. When my gaze landed on him, I took in his appearance. He was exactly what I expected, and I actually felt a little relieved since everything else had taken me by surprise.
His hair was shoulder-length and silver along with a two-inch-long beard he rocked surprisingly well for an old guy. His eyes were a dark amber color, and the wrinkles around them told me he was well past retirement age in human years. He wore a black robe with silver trim, and the school crest was embroidered into the left shoulder area.
“Thank you, Gemma. Will you please wait outside? I’d like to speak with Ms. Keyes privately before you show her to the dorm area.”
Oh, shit. Private conversations with the principal were rarely good. My eyes flicked to Gemma, silently begging her not to leave. I didn’t even know her, but having someone else in the room with me felt safer than being alone with the old guy before us.
“Yes, Headmaster.” She bowed her head and backed up without even looking at me. The fact that she had been so peppy when she greeted me and then turned so submissive with the boss man told me I had every reason to be freaking out.
“Have a seat, Raegan,” he said.
My head turned toward the door, but Gemma was already gone. Realizing I’d already committed to this and needed to comply for the time being, I took the offered seat.
“I hope Enzo got you here safely and there were no more incidents after the scavenger attacked you.”
I nodded. “Everything went fine, thank you.”
He finally smiled at me. His beard parted to show perfectly straight white teeth. “You don’t need to be afraid of me. We mean you no harm. I only wanted to speak with you privately in case you were more comfortable. If you’d prefer Gemma to come back in, I can call for her.”
A sigh escaped my lips. “No, that’s okay. It’s just a lot to take in.” Relief flooded through me that I wasn’t about to be chastised or something.
He leaned back in his chair and brought his hands together before settling them on his lap. “We’ve never had a student arrive late, so I’m not sure what to do with you. The fact that you know nothing about our world makes the decision that much harder.”
“What decision?” I asked when he paused.
“Well, I have a few of them. The most important is
whether or not you should be allowed to stay here, or if we should wipe your memories and keep your binding in place with a renewed spell.”
My hands tightened on the arms of the chair. As much as I wouldn’t mind being normal again, the thought of my head being messed with like Enzo had done previously pissed me the hell off. I wanted to scream “no” at him, but I knew better.
“If you stay, I also need to figure out where you come from and where you belong. Once we remove the suppression on your magic, I’ll be able to recommend a better class schedule for you. Though, you have a decision to make as well.” He paused, waiting for my reaction, but I gave him nothing. I wasn’t interested in playing games, and I hoped he would get to the point.
“Do you want to work twice as hard as the rest of the students and take extra classes to catch up with your peers, or would you like to start fresh as a first-year? I’d like your opinion before I make my decision.”
My fingers tapped against my thigh as I thought about everything he had said. There was a decent chance I wouldn’t even be able to stay, but if I could, what did I want?
I had only known Gemma for five minutes, but she gave off a genuine vibe and, in a world where anything was possible, something told me that trait wasn’t found very often. I would be better off sticking as close to her as possible if she’d let me.
“I’d like to enter as a second-year student. Enzo told me about the breaks every eight weeks. I will commit to studying as much as it takes and using the breaks to catch up if someone will be around to teach me.”
“That’s good to know, and I will take that into consideration. Did your guardians leave anything behind that would tell us about your birth parents?”
Pain erupted within me. Fast and unexpected.
Grief was a bitch like that.
Triggers could be anything, and today, it was a simple question.
Shaking my head, I hoped he didn’t ask me anything else, because I wasn’t sure I could speak without crying first.
“That will be all then. Use today to get settled. You’ll be staying in the hybrid dorms with Gemma, and she’ll show you around. If you have any issues, please come straight to me. Tomorrow, we will unbind your magic and see which classes you’ll fit best in when we know exactly what you are.”
Still afraid my emotions would get the best of me, I only nodded and waited for him to excuse me. Even though figuring out who I was and where I came from was high on the priority list for me, I knew my limits and needed a distraction from my history before I lost it completely.
“Gemma?” he called as his doors opened again. “Please, show Raegan to her room and whatever else she’s up for seeing.”
“Yes, Headmaster Stone.”
She grabbed my bag for me as I followed her out the door. When it closed behind us, she whipped around, scaring the shit out of me. “What did he do to you?”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“Your eyes are all red like you were crying. What happened in there?”
“Oh, nothing. He just asked me a question that took me by surprise. My emotions got the best of me, but I’m fine. Really.” Damn it. I was going to have to work on keeping my grief in check. I had no desire to share my business with strangers.
What I wanted most was to keep my head down, do whatever work I needed to do in order to protect myself from other supernatural beings, and stay as unnoticed as possible. All of that while trying to find the answers to the questions burning within me.
“Okay, then. Let’s go see your room.”
The fact that she didn’t press me for more information told me my initial perception of her had been right, and I breathed a little easier knowing that.
We headed back the way we came, and I found it easier to handle the moving stairs than the first time. When we stepped off, Gemma took a hard right toward the hallway marked Hybrids. The segregation of the races seemed too old school, but maybe it was safer that way. I had no idea what these people were capable of.
The hallway we walked through was covered in tanned cobblestone. Each piece seemed to fit perfectly where it lay, and nothing was out of place, including the pictures that hung on the walls. I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t recognize the people in any of the portraits. I considered asking who they were but was more interested in seeing my room than taking a history lesson in that moment.
“There are three floors of hybrid rooms. We’re on the second level, and your room is three down from mine. We use floating platforms to go up and down when needed.”
Floating platforms? Hopefully they were comparable to the moving stairs. I really didn’t want to throw up in front of what I hoped was my first friend.
“They’re big, and nobody has ever fallen off. There are security measures in place to make sure of that.” The smile she threw my way only made me feel a miniscule better.
As we arrived at the platform area, two others were coming down, a guy and a girl who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. My eyes diverted as Gemma laughed, but I didn’t ask about what.
“Hey, guys. This is Raegan. She’s going to be living on our floor. Raegan, this is Jess and Ethan.”
I waved, but they didn’t separate far enough from each other to reciprocate.
“Hey.” Jess giggled before Ethan’s mouth devoured hers again and they kept awkwardly moving along, not at all watching where they were going.
When they left, we stepped onto the platform, and I was more than pleased when my stomach didn’t lurch as the floor moved up. It felt just like an elevator without walls. As long as I didn’t look over the side, my motion sickness would likely stay in check.
“You’ll also want to get used to public displays of affection, at least from the shifters. They have a weird thing with touch, and they’re not shy about it. Jess is part wolf shifter, and her boyfriend Ethan is part bear.”
“Are the dorms co-ed?”
“Yep.” She beamed as if I should be happy about that, but I didn’t fully return the smile.
It wasn’t that I was unhappy about the situation. Believe me, I appreciated a fine male specimen as much as most others did, but I also wondered if it would have been easier to settle in without worrying about male testosterone floating around.
When the platform stopped, we stepped off the solid surface and walked two doors down. On the left side was a room with my name already on the door. There was a keypad above the handle that I assumed took a code I didn’t have.
“Here.” Gemma handed me a sealed envelope. “Don’t worry. You can change the code at any time in case you think I peeked.”
Tearing open the paper, I took the code out and punched it in, uncaring if she saw. I was going to change it, not because I was afraid she’d barge into my room, but because I wanted something I could easily remember. I wasn’t stupid enough to leave it written down somewhere, and I didn’t want to chance being locked out.
When the door swung open, the first things I saw were a queen-size bed, my own bathroom, and a mini-fridge. Nothing like what I had pictured but everything I wanted if I had to be stuck in a dorm room.
“You good here? I’ll let you get settled and be back shortly to give a tour if you want.”
I turned back to her. “That would be great. Thanks for helping me out.”
“Us hybrids have to stick together.”
Before I could ask her what that meant, she snuck out of the room and closed the door behind her. I tried not to worry about it as I dragged my bag to the bed and began to unpack.
When I was done, I settled on the mattress and thought about how everything had seemed easier than I expected so far. It made me curious about whether it was the calm before the storm or if maybe I had been meant for this place all along.
Only time could tell me which was true.
Chapter 5
An hour later, Gemma came back to check on me and offer a tour of the academy. She had changed out of her uniform and was wearing bright pink pants, a tight d
ark tank, and black heels that extended her five-and-a-half-foot frame by a few inches, bringing her eyes level to me.
Her light blonde hair had been pulled back and braided, making her look like a completely different person than the prim and peppy girl who had greeted me earlier. The glittery makeup she added caused her hazel eyes to pop and added to the overall appeal.
“What happened to the uniform?” I asked.
“I only wear it when I’m officially working for the administration or going to class. I’m now off duty besides showing you around, but I’d do that anyway, so I put something on a little more my style.” She glanced at my skinny jeans, flats, and loose tee. “You, on the other hand, could use some sparkle in your life.”
“Hmmm. I’ll think about it. How about that tour?” I changed the subject quickly. I didn’t need a makeover. I didn’t need to stand out. If my lack of “sparkle” helped me stay under the radar, then I was perfectly okay with that.
“Follow me.” She grinned and began to chatter on about the layout and some of the history of the school. Most of it went over my head, but hopefully the information would make sense later when I was in class.
There were four hundred and eighty-six students enrolled in Shadow Veil Academy. Each student arrived when they were seventeen, and when they left the academy at twenty-one, they could choose to continue practicing their magic or venture off wherever they wanted without being bothered. Most students went back to where they came from, but we were free to find homes wherever we liked in the world.
The school sat on several-hundred acres, most of which was forest and space for those who needed room to run. I didn’t ask about the different beings who had such a need, but I was certainly curious.
The building had been around for close to two-hundred years and was created as an escape when the elven world Elora fell. Apparently, all magical beings were created by elves, making them the strongest among us.
When we arrived at the main entrance, Gemma turned to me. “Outside or inside first?”
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