“Prince Erik of Aira is her boyfriend. They… are off and on a lot. You will see. It’s kind of their thing.” She comes over and sits next to me. Scrunching her nose at the faint smell of salt, she probes, “What about you? Are you dating any princes or princesses?”
I don’t know about dating, but I did just fuck the Prince of Darkness last night.
Broin must have been reading my thoughts, because he flaps his wings and gurgles again. This time it sounds more like a laugh.
—Stop reading my thoughts, you naughty boy!—
—Boy?—
—Fine. Daddy. Whatever.—
—You’ll pay for that tone of voice later, young witch.—
“No, I’m not dating anyone,” I answer her question, smirking at what Broin just promised, “and I really don’t plan to be.”
“Oh. Did you have a bad experience?”
“Umm…”
I think on that, surprised by her forwardness. The cynic in me has never wanted to get my heart broken, so I’ve only ever had physical relationships with members of the clan. If I don’t let anyone in, no one can hurt me. I suppose Broin has been the one exception. Oh, and my ‘unconditional love’ for the Dark Lord. But then I decided to break things off.
That ended well.
Not.
“I guess you could call it that,” I answer, shrugging. “What about you?”
She reaches over and grabs hold of the black lace dress I just had my eye on. “This would look amazing on you.”
I blush. “Thanks. It is beautiful. I’m worried I’ll ruin it.” I lift my hands and wiggle my fingers. “Butter fingers. I’m always falling over and doing something stupid.”
Alice smiles and sets the dress back down. She looks down, her long lashes brushing her dimpled cheeks. A fleeting sorrow flits over her face. Since she clearly wants to avoid answering about her love life, I drop the question, not wanting to pry.
“About our classes… have the schedules already been handed out?”
She lifts her head, smiling again. “Did you break your scroll?”
“What do you mean?” I fold the dress back up and tilt my head at her.
“The scroll. You need to break it first to get your schedule.” I watch her go over to the wooden nightstand beside my bed and bring out a scroll. When she hands it to me, the brown exterior reminds me of a fortune cookie. “Once you break it, the schedule will appear inside. Isn’t that cool?”
I hate to admit it. “It’s pretty neat.”
We both hold our breaths as I gently bend the scroll at the middle. Crack. The shell falls away and inside, a white scroll appears.
I take it out and look over my classes. “Yikes. The first class is today, in an hour. Potions with Professor Rumpkin.”
Alice peers over the box to get a better look. “At least you’ll be with Sirena. What other classes do you have?”
She really doesn’t understand personal space, but to be honest, neither did Redera. I grew to love that about her. In a way, Alice reminds me of my twin—the pale skin and the soft, slightly spaced out voice. Even her dark hair is a similar black that looks almost blue in the lights.
“Oh, you’ve got double Familiar Handling tomorrow.” She points at the class titled FAMILIAR HANDLING 1—Professor Abdiel. “I have that class too! We must be going into the forest. Sirena’s big sister, who graduated last year and is going to be queen of Poseida, told me that the lessons are usually one hour long. If you have a double period, that means you’re in for a surprise, unless it’s exam time.”
We both groan.
“Speaking of which…” I turn the scroll over but the other side is blank. “There’s nothing here about our exams.”
“Yes, those details will come later, usually two weeks before. I overheard Marcin say that we have exams every season. The Year’s End Exams usually determine our next year’s schedule. Some advance while others have to sit back and do the whole year again.”
“Well, that stinks,” I mumble, scanning my schedule again.
The classes don’t look particularly hard. I just might be able to do this…
POTIONS 1—Well, I’ve been mixing dragon scales and toad livers since I was two. May Satan strike me down if I fail to live up to the Hemlock name.
FAMILIAR HANDLING 1—I think I’ve pretty much got that covered.
ENCHANTMENT 1—Bibbity bobbidy boo. Done. This is actually where I’m strongest. I wonder if the white magic His Unholiness gave me will improve that?
MAGICAL THEORY AND ETHICS—I know the basics, but most of my knowledge is about Dark Magic and Sinister Arts. This will be interesting, except for the ethics part. Snore.
CONJURING 1—Now here I’ve got my work cut out for me. I’ve never been good at that. I can conjure food and that’s about it.
ELEMENTAL CONTROL: EARTH—This is completely new to me and I honestly can’t wait.
I roll the schedule back up and grin at Alice. “What class are you most looking forward to?”
“If I had to pick just one it would be conjuring. That’s what I love most.”
“Hopefully I can learn from you. I’m terrible at conjuring anything that isn’t food or tea.”
Just as I say that, the door creaks open and a white rabbit hops into the room.
“There you are!” Alice leaps off my bed and runs toward it. She crouches down so all I can see is her back. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you… No, class hasn’t started yet. I know. Don’t worry. I’m not going to be late. Oh, stop nagging.”
Straightening off the floor, she turns around with the rabbit in her arms, and suddenly something clicks.
The voice… the white rabbit… Surely it can’t be?
Alice holds the rabbit out as if the poor thing is a sacrifice. If that’s the same rabbit I saw in the forest, it almost was. “This is Jasper. My familiar. He’s always worried that I’m going to be late.”
I eye the rabbit curiously. He could just be any ordinary white rabbit, because even some mortal ones have red eyes. “Is Jasper also a Spirit Guide?”
Her arms fall by her side and she lets Jasper hop onto the floor. “How do you know that?”
“I saw him yesterday. Last night. He… guided me through the forest. He told me to come here. You told me to come here.”
“Me?” I never thought it was possible, but she turns a whiter shade of pale. “Oh, no. It happened again.”
Broin flies over to the rabbit and twitches his head from side to side, probably communicating with him.
I soften my voice, genuinely curious. “What happened?”
Alice sits next to me again. She ponders for a moment, and I notice she’s flicking her fingernails off her thumb, her attention on Jasper instead of me.
“I’m not a witch. My parents, whoever they are, were one hundred percent mortal. But my great-great grandfather was a warlock and I inherited some of his power. My seer ability is the only reason I was invited to this school. The only reason I was allowed to… never mind. But my power isn’t something I can control yet. I’m hoping Everafter will help with that.” Her eyes widen into saucers. “It’s rather exhausting.”
I digest every word, including the part where she trailed off. There’s a light feeling blossoming in my stomach. Hope, maybe, or excitement. I definitely saw Jasper last night and heard Alice’s voice.
“What kind of clairvoyance is it?”
“Dream scrying,” she answers softly, confirming my speculations. “Psychic navigation. Precognition. Astral projection. Every one of them. Too many for me to always remember what happens, especially when I’m asleep.” She blinks, as if she’s just joined reality again, and looks at me. “Last night, I dreamt of nothing, so I knew Jasper and I were in the spirit realm. But just like every other time, I forget what happens when I wake up. Today is the first I’ve ever seen you in real life. I’m sorry I don’t have any answers.”
The hope growing inside me withers. If she can’t remember why she cam
e to me last night, or why she told me to come to this academy, I have nothing to go on. For now, at least. There’s a reason Alice appeared last night, just like there’s a reason I’ve become her roommate. Nothing in life happens by coincidence. While it might be unclear right now, I do believe there will be something to help light this path for me.
“Don’t worry about it.” I gently rub her arm, giving her my warmest smile. She tenses a little, looks at my arm, then relaxes and returns the smile. “We’re going to be roomies for four years. I’m sure we’ll find out the meaning of it all.”
She gives a hesitant nod. “You know, I wish I could say that I love my power, but I don’t. It keeps me awake while the rest of the world is asleep.”
“I know that feeling.”
“You do?” Her eyebrows disappear underneath her choppy fringe. “Are you a night owl, too?”
“That’s one way to put it. I just…really like the moon.”
Another smile from her and this time it brightens her face. “Sirena is like that. I have a feeling we’re all going to be really good friends.”
As if on cue, Sirena kicks open the door, dressed in a plaid uniform. I don’t know where she changed her clothes. “Hey, my little freaks. Who’s ready to make potions?”
I change into my school uniform. The skirt itches, but it shows off my legs to a nice effect. Most of the girls, including Alice and Sirena, are wearing white knee-length socks, but I opted for black, because, well, black is the color of my soul. They blend with my black shoes and make my already long legs look even longer. I enjoy walking past the boys on my way to the courtyard. Some of them can barely keep their tongues in their mouths and I take note of the ones who are the most interested. You never know when that will come in useful later.
Sirena stops before we enter the classroom building. “Hold up,” she says. “I’m going to get a drink of water. Once we get there we won’t be able to drink anything, just for safety’s sake.”
I shrug. “Sure.”
“Go ahead,” she smiles. “I’ll catch up.”
I’m not sure what I expected Professor Rumpkin to be. Maybe I’m expecting a canny little dwarf like Rumplestiltskin, or maybe something ridiculously cute and furry. I know for damned sure that I wasn’t expecting…. This.
Clarinda Rumpkin is a fairy. An honest to Satan fairy. Blue gown, blue pointy hat trailing a blue chiffon scarf, and blue gossamer wings. She’s about a foot tall, maybe less, and she hovers and buzzes like a hummingbird. She’s bouncing slowly up and down at the front of the classroom, her wings beating so fast that they’re nothing but a blur when we file in.
She claps her tiny hands and calls out in a voice like a piccolo, “Places, please. Right away. Sit at the benches here at the front.”
I head toward the first bench I come to. There’s four chairs and only one is occupied. Just before I sit, the boy who’s already there flings his leg across the seat.
“Saved,” he says.
He’s a little too good looking, with black wavy hair and hazel eyes. He’s wearing a leather jacket with his school uniform, which makes him look like an idiot. He gives me the once over and a slow smile that I think is supposed to be sexy creeps over his face.
“I might make an exception, if you make it worth my time.”
I roll my eyes and walk to the next bench. He’s not worth my time.
Aurora, the blonde bimbo from the assembly, comes flouncing in with her equally blonde posse in tow. They look like they came from the same factory. Perfect faces, perfect bodies, perfect blue eyes, perfect everything. She sneers at me and sits beside the boy. Her girls sit down at the bench, too.
“Thanks for saving the best seats, Erik,” she simpers to him.
He smiles at her and I can practically smell his ego from where I’m sitting. “No prob, babe.”
Erik? I’m sure that’s Sirena’s on-again, off-again boyfriend. If she sees this, they’re definitely going to be off again.
Right on cue, Sirena strolls through the door just as Aurora reaches out and flips one of Erik’s dark locks off his forehead.
My roommate stops and puts her hands on her hips. “Really, Erik? Really?”
He looks startled to see her, but Aurora only smiles a little ‘gotcha’ smile at Sirena. This bitch needs to get hexed. Or axed. I’m okay with either.
Sirena walks closer, her eyes fixed on Aurora’s smirking face. “You have until the count of three to get away from him. And let me tell you, my people are good with tridents.”
Aurora tilts her head. “What’s in that necklace, Sirena? Don’t you know that we’re not supposed to bring familiars to class?”
Sirena’s face goes red and blotchy and I expect her to lunge for Aurora at any second. Professor Rumpkin interrupts what might have been an interesting cat fight.
“Now, now. Please leave a seat open between you, just in case of splashing. Prince Erik and Princess Cinder, please move to the bench behind.”
Erik and one of the blonde girls stand up and move back, clearly reluctant, even though doing so saves Erik from being filleted by a mermaid. I’m a little disappointed. That would have been poetic justice. Sirena sits down at my bench, obediently leaving an open seat between us, and glares daggers at her boyfriend.
“Face the front, please,” Professor Rumpkin chirps and she starts to flit around the room like an exceptionally fat blue bumblebee. “Now we’re going to go over the syllabus and I’m going to help you identify all of your equipment.”
Beaker, candle, retort, jar, cauldron, pipette, crucible, mortar and pestle. Got it.
Sirena mutters, “He’s going to be nothing but chum if he keeps it up.”
I nod approvingly, then settle down for the business of being bored to death for an hour.
It’s actually worse than that.
It’s not boring, it’s absolutely insulting.
I knew more than the rest of the class by the time I could walk. I want to leave, but instead I sit quietly, pretending to listen the way Redera would. It takes a lot of self-control to pretend to be as good natured as my twin was.
Everybody around me is feverishly taking notes about the hardware and how it’s used. Professor Rumpkin looks at me quizzically a few times, since I’m not writing anything, but she lets it go.
I wonder what she’d say if I told her my grandma had a potion that used fairy wings as an ingredient. Some potion ingredients can be a little grotesque. Well, for Darkblood potions, anyway.
It’s a shame we aren’t allowed to bring our familiars to class—except to Familiar Handling. I’m sure Broin would be keeping me more entertained than this class ever could. Why is she literally starting with the basics? We’re eighteen—some of us probably only that in human years. This lesson feels completely unnecessary. Maybe it’s more of a refresher than anything? I don’t know. I just feel like I’m wasting my time here. But I am Redera now and I know she’d respect the professor and classmates enough to listen.
After class is finally over, we all walk out into the sundrenched courtyard. Aurora marches right up to me. She’s holding her books in her arms like they’re part of a push-up bra, and her fountain pen is between her fingers like an inky cigarette. She knows how to pose, that’s for sure.
“I noticed that you weren’t taking any notes,” she says.
Cinder, whose delicate hands are covered in equally delicate gloves, backs her up. “Yes. Why didn’t you take notes?”
Another prince ambles over, tall and fair headed. Now this is the sweater-over-the shoulders Biff Buffingham type I was expecting. “Maybe the poor dear can’t afford a pen and paper.”
“Maybe she thinks she’s too smart for notes,” Aurora ventures. She glares at me. “Is that it? Do you think you’re too smart for Everafter?”
I am trying, really trying, to play the part of the good twin, but she’s making it fucking impossible. “As a matter of fact, I am. I don’t need to take notes on something I already know.”
; Cinder snorts, which isn’t a very princess-like thing to do. “Oh, right. You already know it,” she mocks. “I don’t think you know anything.”
Sirena growls, “Knock it off, you guys.”
Prince Biff smirks. “Oh, is this your new girlfriend? Finally gave up on Erik and decided to switch teams?”
They laugh like it’s the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. I notice Erik and one of his buddies standing nearby, not getting in on the bullying but not doing anything to stop it, either. Cowards.
I look at Aurora’s pen and mentally check where it’s pointing. The target is too perfect for me to pass it up.
“Exspue atramento,” I whisper sweetly.
The pen explodes like a water cannon, shooting Cinder square in the face with more black ink than its cartridge should have held. The black splat covers her face like she’s the guest of honor at a bukkake party. It drips onto her blouse and gets in her hair, staining the blonde strands. For a heartbeat, she stands in stunned, horrified silence, and then she starts to scream.
A hawk streaks down at my face, only to suddenly be intercepted by Broin, who’s cawing up a storm, probably cussing the hawk out in every language known to familiar kind. He’s supposed to be in my room but he must have sensed my annoyance. Aurora shakes the pen in my face.
“Did you do this?” she demands. “Did you do this?”
“Sure did, and I can do it again. Watch where you’re pointing that thing. You just never know if a witch is watching.”
She looks uncertain, then lifts her chin. “I don’t think you can cast something like that twice. You’re not that powerful. You’re just a basic witch.”
Oh, that’s rich. I throw my head back and laugh. This time, I don’t even bother with anything as obvious and showy as magic words. I just poke my finger toward her. The pen bursts again, splattering her in the face and destroying her carefully-applied makeup. It feels good to cast small spells without my wand, especially on bullies.
Cinder’s screaming has attracted a crowd of students and Sirena grabs my arm and pulls me away. The preppy prince takes both Cinder and Aurora and guides them back toward the dorm. One of the guys next to Erik, another infuriatingly good-looking blond with shoulder-length hair and a sweet round face, applauds and points at me with a grin on his face.
Once Upon A Wolf: A Dark Academy Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Everafter Academy Book 1) Page 7