The Reluctant Witch: Year One (Santa Cruz Witch Academy Book 1)

by Kristen S. Walker

  That reminded me about something that had been bugging me since the beginning. “Why does the Queen care so much about this particular bay? If the faeriekin all live on the land and the mermaids stay in the water, it seems like you could just agree to be neighbors.”

  “The faeriekin are supposed to be leaders for all the magikin,” Loki said firmly. “We want magikin to look to our offspring in this world to keep order in the magical community, and part of that is deciding who can live where. There are other water-dwelling races in this area, like selkies and xana. They’ve been filing complaints about the mermaids intruding on their homes, but the baroness ignores them. The Queen wants to make sure the problem is dealt with.”

  I stared at him. The mermaids had already been reported to the baroness, but she’d done nothing about them? Did the academy’s teachers, like Professor Yamasato, know about the reports? “If the baroness isn’t doing her job, the Queen should be talking to her. Make her take the threat seriously.”

  “It’s more complicated than that. If we made it a public issue, that would undermine trust in the Fae Court, which is already fragile.” Loki pointed at me. “You’re gathering information discreetly so we can find a quiet way to solve it. It’s our job to avoid a PR nightmare.”

  Oof. I liked to be unnoticed in the background, but the way he talked about, it made me sound like a spy. Was I cut out to be someone who snuck around, lied to others, kept secrets and stole information?

  But I was already turning into that. This was the mission I’d signed up for, and I had to follow it through.

  I circled back to my original question. “So if I can’t go looking for her in the water, how do I get her to talk to me? Like I said, she’s been ignoring me when I go to the beach.”

  “Write her a letter. You said you could convince her to see your side, so write it all down in your most persuasive way. I can help you with the wording, if you like.”

  “And send it to her how? I don’t think mermaids get email.”

  “Message in a bottle.” Loki winked. “Sometimes, the old ways are the best ways.”

  I’d heard the stories, but it sounded too risky to work in real life. “What if another mermaid finds it first? That would get her in trouble for sure.”

  “I can help you make a sigil. A little magic, crafted just right, will make sure it goes to your friend and no one else.” Loki reached for one of my study notebooks. “May I?”

  “Sure.” I leaned forward, suddenly interested. At last, I was going to do some real magic.

  He tore out a blank sheet of paper and took a pen from my supplies. “I’ll sketch the design for you, but I’ll put the finishing mark separately so it won’t take effect. Then you’ll copy it onto the side of the bottle with your friend’s name.” He frowned at the pen. “Also, this isn’t water proof, so use something else on the glass. Now, it starts like this…”

  We spent several hours hunched over the table as he showed me magical runes. After I learned the sigil to deliver Gabriella’s letter, he taught me a few other tricks, too. Like how to break into Samantha’s stuff without her knowing about it. We made an unlocking charm that would open a simple lock if I held it close enough.

  Okay, I know how bad that sounds. But I’d committed to my new role as a spy, and I’d already crossed so many lines. I had to learn how to control my powers, and if the school wasn’t going to teach me, I needed to get the knowledge for myself.

  By the time we’d finished, it was nearly midnight, and I was exhausted from the strain. The extended curfew for high school students was about to end and I had to get up early, anyway, for cleaning duty. So I convinced Loki not to disguise me and sneak me into the party.

  “Fine,” he said. “But you need to work on not getting in trouble so you can have more fun. You owe me a dance at the next shindig.”

  13

  When I had some time to myself, I sat down to write the letter. It took several false starts before I finally found the right words to speak from the heart.

  Dear Gabriella,

  I’m sorry for pressuring you the last time I saw you. I’ve never felt so drawn to another person the way I feel every time I see you, and sometimes I’m afraid that I will lose my mind. But I shouldn’t let my feelings get the better of me. I want to respect your choices.

  You have the right to be careful. I’ve never worried about doing things that my family doesn’t approve of, so it was hard for me to imagine that you might feel differently. But if being with me jeopardizes your relationship with your family, I need to understand that. Just please tell me that doesn’t mean we can’t see each other at all.

  I’m afraid of losing you. I miss you every day when I can’t see you. Don’t force yourself to do anything that you don’t feel comfortable with, but if there is any way I can be with you… Even just as a friend. I would rather hang out casually on the beach than not see you at all.

  I promise to do what I can to keep our meetings a secret. I just want you to know how much you mean to me, even after such a short time. I think I fell in love with you from the moment I saw you. It’s scary that things moved so fast, but I can’t control my heart.

  Love, Brie

  I sealed the letter in a clean glass bottle, then carefully copied the sigil Loki had taught me. I hid it in my car until I had the chance to visit the seat.

  When I drove down to the cliffs, the wind was strong, and the waves had picked up. I couldn’t even walk down to the beach because the surf was whipping up too close to the shore. The winter storms were just starting. I scanned the choppy water, but there was no sign of any life near the surface.

  I kissed the bottle for good luck and wound it up like a pitch, using the technique I’d learned in the one season I tried playing girls’ softball. Then I threw it as hard as I could.

  The bottle tumbled gently in the air, arcing over the edge of the cliff. It sailed past the sharp rocks near the base and landed in deep water. I couldn’t see beyond that.

  All I could do now was wait and hope she got it. I wasn’t sure how she’d send me a reply, but if she cared, then she’d find a way.

  I stayed on the cliffs a while longer, letting the wind tangle up my hair. The stormy seas stayed unbroken.

  The second week of November, all students had to meet with their academic advisor to discuss their plans for the next quarter. Enrollment for winter classes would open up soon, so we each had to make a plan with our advisor to demonstrate how we were progressing toward graduation. With only two years to satisfy our first degree requirements, it was a lot of pressure to get everything done.

  They called it an academic advisor, but my academic courses would last the whole year. The only classes I was actually signing up for were magic.

  My advisor was a stern middle-aged woman named Mrs. Stiles with a cat-shaped mug that said, “Don’t Stress Meowt.” Several other cat-themed items and pictures were scattered around her office. Not surprisingly, her familiar was a cat with a glittery collar, asleep on a pile of paperwork.

  Mrs. Stiles didn’t give me much chance to speak. “You’re assigned to the Earth elemental track, so you’ll be picking up two more Earth classes,” she said and tapped the course catalog. “Once again, you will have one theory and one practical. Your teacher, Ms. Murphy, recommends that you try Nature Meditation and Crystals I.”

  I knew Ms. Murphy taught Nature Meditation. I’d been very careful to treat her and her daughter with respect since my outburst. It was nice to hear that she was recommending that I come back to her class. “Those both sound good to me,” I said.

  The advisor wrote both course numbers into my plan. “Okay, moving on. Since you’re on track to pass all of your classes right now, you are eligible to add a third magic class in another Element of your choice.” She looked at me over the top of her cat-eye glasses. “I’ve heard that you expressed an interest in Water.”

  I’d thought carefully about what I wanted to do. My first instinct was to take any W
ater class they’d let me into, but I’d been studying Samantha’s notes and I was finally making progress. If I showed a teacher that I already knew some Water-specific techniques, that would look suspicious.

  So I shook my head. “I was actually looking forward to flying,” I said. It was the first class that all non-Air students wanted to take. That would make me look like everyone else, and I’d get more freedom once I could use a broom. “Is it really hard to get into that class? I know it’s popular.”

  Mrs. Stiles smiled. “There is a high demand, which is why we open up extra sessions. There should be enough space for all junior year students to join.” She wrote the final course code in my plan and handed it to me. “Here, you should be set to sign up when the enrollment opens on Thursday. We do it all online these days, so check this website starting at 8 am. If you have trouble logging in, just keep trying throughout the day, or go to one of the computer labs for help.”

  My course plan was a thick stack of papers filled with tiny writing. There were ten lines for every quarter for the next two years, all crammed onto one sheet. The other papers below were carbon copies.

  “Hold on to all of those for now,” the advisor told me. “You’ll need to submit them to several offices when you are getting ready to graduate. It’s a real bother if we have to start the forms over from scratch.”

  I nodded and placed the plan into a folder. I already had to keep track of other paperwork for things like my financial aid, so I’d file it safely with the rest. “Thank you for your help,” I said, plastering on a fake smile.

  “My pleasure, dear,” Mrs. Stiles said sweetly. “I heard you’ve had a rough start to the year, but don’t give up trying. Many students have trouble with the transition to the academy’s stricter rules and higher standards. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of this place soon.”

  Oh, barf. I stood up quickly, hiding my reaction to her sappy pep talk. “Have a nice day,” I called over my shoulder as I hurried out of her cramped office.

  The whole meeting was over and done in almost no time at all. There was a line of students out in the hall and only three academic advisors, so Mrs. Stiles had to rush in order to get everyone processed in five days. So much for “advise.”

  Without a beach to visit, I had to find somewhere else to go off-campus on the weekends. There weren’t many big stores to go shopping with Damian, and I could only spend so much time sitting around in coffee shops.

  Then I discovered Bookshop Santa Cruz. It was in the heart of downtown Santa Cruz on Pacific Avenue and it was full of books, including used copies mixed in on all the shelves. Many books had hand-written recommendations from the staff, so it was easy to find something interesting to read, and there were comfy chairs tucked in the corners. No one complained if I brought my coffee in, curled up in a corner with a novel, and lost myself in a book for hours at a time. It had all the friendliness and warmth that was missing in the academy’s library.

  I was sitting there on Saturday afternoon, wrapped up in a cheesy lesbian shifter romance, when someone touched my shoulder. The scent of the ocean surrounded me and my heart skipped a beat, but I didn’t let myself dare hope. I took a deep breath to steel myself and raised my eyes.

  Gabriella was truly there, standing on a pair of legs instead of her scaled tail. She wore black skinny jeans and a magenta sweater that showed off her curves. A pair of huge gold-framed sunglasses that covered most of her face and her hair mostly stuffed into knit beanie. But despite her attempt at disguise, I knew it was her.

  She pulled down her sunglasses a little to make eye contact with me. “It’s me,” she said, as if she wasn’t sure that I recognized her. “I got your message. We can talk, but only for a few minutes, and it has to be somewhere private.”

  I jumped out of the chair and dropped the romance novel in my bag, trying to hide the embarrassing cover. “Um, sure, thanks.” I jerked my thumb toward the back door. “Let’s go find a spot.”

  She glanced over her shoulder, then followed me out. Several streets ran together here and across from us was a public parking garage, so lots of people were walking through the area. I grabbed her hand and pulled her away.

  Across all the streets, we hit a sidewalk that overlooked the river. Gabriella looked around, then pointed down the sloped river bank. We half-climbed, half-slid through the overgrown brush.

  The water was very low, more like a creek running in the middle of the rocky riverbed. There’d been almost no rainfall yet this season, so it looked like we were in for another drought. I dropped Gabriella’s hand and grabbed a rock, tossing it into the water. The surface was too choppy to skip rocks across it, but I used the move as an excuse to step away from her. I didn’t want to force her to touch me.

  “Sorry if my letter was too much,” I said without looking at her. “Just wanted you to know the truth. How I felt.”

  She grabbed my shoulders and turned me around to face her. She’d taken off the sunglasses, and I could see irritation sparking in her beautiful eyes. On land, she was a head taller than me. “You need to stop apologizing for everything. I never said you even did anything wrong. This was all my fault for talking to you in the first place and not telling you how much trouble I would get in.”

  I reached out and brushed her cheek. “We both share the blame. My school would punish me for this, and I realized that it probably wasn’t allowed with your people, either. I just thought you were worth the consequences.”

  She bent her face down to me. “You care about me that much?”

  “More.”

  She sighed and pulled me toward her, wrapping her arms around me and resting her head on top of mine. “I care about you, too,” she whispered into my hair. “I don’t know about love at first sight, but my feelings for you grow deeper every day. That’s why it’s so hard to leave.”

  My hands clenched in her sweater. “You’re leaving?”

  “My whole family is. Believe me, if there were some way I could stay, I would. But…”

  I froze while she hesitated, feeling her heart rate speed up as my ear pressed against her chest. Something happened. Loki had told someone that I’d confirmed the mermaids here, and they were being forced to leave. How could I be so stupid? I never should have said anything to him.

  “It’s only for a few months,” she said finally.

  I yanked back in shock and stared at her. She didn’t look angry or worried about someone kicking her family out, just sad. “So I can see you when you get back?”

  Gabriella bit her lower lip, which drew my gaze back to her mouth. It was hard to concentrate on anything else when I wanted to kiss her so badly.

  “If we’re careful,” she said, nodding her head slowly. “I know it’s a risk, but I think you’re worth it, too. That is, if you’re willing to wait for me?” She raised her eyebrows.

  “Yes!” I closed the embrace again and kissed her once, quick and sweet. “I will wait as long as it takes. When are you coming back?”

  “Depends on the weather.” Gabriella glanced at the sky. “It’s getting too cold for us, since we’re not northern mermaids. We follow the whale migration during the winter, back to Mexico, where they give birth in warmer waters. When the pods head north again with the newborn calves, we’ll know it’s time.”

  “You follow the whales? That’s so cool.” I tipped my head to the side. “What if you decide to just stay in Mexico, though? Isn’t that where your family is from?”

  She frowned. “We moved because the mermaid colony there has major political issues. I don’t like going back there, even for a few months in the winter. Trust me, we won’t be tempted to stay.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say that wouldn’t sound like I was prying. “If you can’t give me an exact date when you’ll be back, can I at least get an estimate? Like when did you come back last year?”

  “It’s usually in February.”

  I perked up. “Any chance you could be back in time for my birthday?�
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  “I don’t know when your birthday is.”

  “February 14.”

  She laughed. “Isn’t that Valentine’s Day?”

  I sighed. “Yes, don’t remind me. I hate the holiday because it always takes over. I had a pink, heart-shaped birthday cake every year until I was thirteen. So please try to pretend like it’s a normal birthday and not some stupid commercial stunt to sell chocolate and flowers.”

  “I think it’s cute.” Gabriella kissed my nose. “I promise that whenever I get back, I’ll get you a normal birthday present and a separate Valentine’s Day box of chocolates. We can celebrate them on different days.”

  It was hard to say no to that. “As long as they’re vegan chocolates.” I kissed her nose, then she kissed my lips, and we spent several minutes not talking as we explored each other’s mouths. Fireworks were going off inside my head.

  When we finally pulled apart to catch our breaths, a question popped into my head. “When’s your birthday?”

  “The middle of June, the eighteenth.”

  “I’ll plan something special.” My mind was already racing with ideas. School would be out by then, but I could convince my parents to visit the Fae Court in Santa Cruz for the summer celebrations. It was just a few days before the Summer Solstice, which was also Mama Rosa’s birthday.

  Gabriella’s smile faded. “That’s more than half a year away. We might not be able to keep this up for that long without getting caught.”

  “Don’t think about that.” I squeezed her tighter. “Just focus on getting back to me first.”

  “Okay.” She kissed me a final time and pulled away. “I should get back. My family will be wondering where I am.”

  I wanted to ask her to stay, but I’d promised to respect her choices. We said our goodbyes, and I watched her go, following the river bank toward the ocean.