Corviticus University

by J. E. Cluney

  We found some seats off to the side, the red-cushioned seats rather comfy as I sunk into mine. I pulled the little fold-out table over my lap and carefully pulled out a notebook and pen from my laptop bag.

  I’d abandoned my handbag at home, but made sure to stuff my crappy little wallet into the side pocket of my bag.

  The high ceiling was painted cream along with the walls, and the front of the room had a large white presentation screen ready for us. The seats were curved around to favor the small platform at the front of the room, so we could all get a good look at the lecturer.

  “Nothing to be worried about,” Oliver assured me, but I wondered if it was truly for my benefit or his own as his amber eyes flicked around the room nervously.

  More students filed in, and I spied two lecturers standing at the front of the room going over notes and setting up a presentation screen.

  The white board came to life as the projector beamed down on it, the symbol of the phoenix on a shield at the center of it.

  “You know, my life would’ve been so much easier if I could’ve made it here for the Orientation week,” I mumbled.

  “Don’t worry, why do you think Lucas had to show us to our room? I skipped it. Was kinda… incapacitated. As a cat,” Oliver sighed.

  I watched as the second lecturer left, leaving the main one with us.

  I’d missed Orientation week, meaning I was plunged headfirst into all this. The University had been quite understanding with me and handled getting my magic class sorted for me, which was one of things I would’ve done in the orientation week. Along with just familiarizing myself with the campus. At least I’d gone over my map.

  “Good morning all!” the lecturer’s voice rang out, hushing the chattering crowd and plunging the room into silence.

  “I may have met some of you last week when you were getting yourselves acquainted with the campus and getting some of your classes sorted. For some of you, this will be my first time meeting you, and I’d like to formally welcome you to the Corviticus University,” the lecturer beamed as she straightened her white button-up blouse. Her dark hair was done up in a professional looking bun, and she wore a pencil skirt with some small black heels.

  “My name is Dr Thawne, and I’ll be one of your wonderful team of lecturers here to help you learn,” she beamed as she pushed her wiry framed glasses up her crooked nose. She looked no older than forty.

  “Today, we’ll go over your syllabus, and we’ll get your practical and laboratory days assigned. We run a few lectures on the same topics, so you can structure your schedule to suit you. Once we’re done with that, we’ll move on to the introduction to Animal Management for Veterinarians, which I will be your main lecturer for,” Dr Thawne’s voice rung loud and clear in the rather small lecture hall.

  It couldn’t house more than two hundred students, and barely half of the seats were filled.

  I rested my hands on my notebook, my eyes flicking to Oliver beside me who was rummaging in his own laptop bag to pull out a notebook too.

  We waited patiently for the papers to reach us as they were passed along by the other students. Thankfully, we’d sat at the back behind some others, so we didn’t have to get up as the stack made its way to us.

  I eyed the syllabus that Oliver had handed me, scanning over the topics we’d be covering this semester. Good. I had all of these textbooks already.

  “Now, let’s move on to choosing out your practical days. You have two weeks to come to me if the days are no longer suitable, but you are required to complete six hours of prac per animal grouping. This is the timetable available, and I’ll organize you all into groups by your preference,” Mrs Thawne explained as she clicked her laptop and the projector screen changed to a list of days.

  Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays were the main days shown. It would be one full day of prac for some, or split days. It was possible to group your prac days altogether though to complete them in one day.

  “What do you think?” Oliver asked me in a hushed tone as murmurs filled the room.

  “I’m not sure, we could do Tuesday, that way it keeps it all in the one day and we stay in the mindset,” I said as I flicked my eyes over the timetable. Tuesday would be good, I’d finish my day at three and could go to work afterwards for a few hours.

  And then on the Tuesdays with no prac, I could work full days, considering how it appeared we’d get every second week off from prac if we didn’t split the days.

  “All right, we’ll do that then,” Oliver nodded firmly as he jotted it down.

  We waited for Mrs Thawne to ask the students who wanted to do the full day on Tuesday, and we put our hands up. Thankfully, the group size only went over by a few, and she found a few girls who were happy to swap for a split one where they’d do three hours Thursday morning followed by three hours Wednesday afternoon the following week.

  With the schedules out of the way, we moved onto our actual lecture, and I bowed forward as I jotted down as many notes as I could before I exchanged the notebook for the laptop. I owed Lucas big time.

  “So, first lecture wasn’t so bad,” Oliver grinned as we sat under the shade of a large fig tree set away on the edge of the campus courtyard. Our next lecture didn’t start until ten-thirty, in the building opposite where our first lecture was. There were many smaller buildings all around the campus, and it was set up in a large O shape, the large reception and office building with the library in the second story being the main entry point, although there was some parking for students if you followed a side street down to the back of the university. Then more buildings were set up down towards the back forming the O shape. The Athletics track was found at the end of it, just before the carpark at the back, and the center of the O consisted of smaller buildings, the main courtyard for lunch, assorted food kiosks, and even some small shops.

  My map had informed me that the Veterinary clinic we’d be doing our prac in was located behind the student car park down the back.

  “How many students come here?” I asked as I enjoyed the break in the overhead clouds and soaked up the sun’s warmth.

  “About 3,000 I think. It can’t accommodate much more, and many students choose to go down to the Brisbane Universities after school, better chance of getting a job afterwards in the city,” Ollie shrugged as he pulled out a caramello koala from his bag.

  I rolled my eyes at his snack, and he just winked as he bit its head off.

  “Mostly students come from on the range here, maybe a bit further out. You get the odd bunch from the coast like you,” Ollie mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate and caramel goodness.

  “Well, I’m just glad that almost all the animal husbandry and handling can be done on the campus down at the clinic. It’s cool that they offer almost free services to the public to train us,” I grinned. It was an awesome concept, because we also did work on farm animals right here, all but the pigs, as they were a bio-security issue, would be handled at a piggery off campus.

  “Yeah, it’ll be good. We don’t have our first specialized day until week three. Horse in the morning, sheep in the afternoon,” Oliver nodded as he checked his notes again. The teacher would make a list available on the student portal and a template schedule that we could use to build ours with.

  “I’ve never worked with farm animals really,” I murmured. I’d handled dogs, cats, birds, etc, but nothing farm wise.

  “Huh, my grandfather owns a property out from Maple Grove a bit, I spent a lot of time from my childhood there, we even rode the horses, and I helped with the cows sometimes. He said us shifters were the best for working with animals because we could sense when things weren’t quite right. I still wish we could find out about your ability though, you said it’s only really life-threatening stuff you sense, right?” Ollie cocked his head at me as he sat cross-legged in the shade beside me.

  “Yeah, always bad stuff I sense. Cancer was a big one, and now poison apparently. Not so much the minor things unless I really try t
o search for it, even then, it’s luck of the draw,” I mused as I pondered over it. My old dog from childhood, Maisy, had had a few issues with her over the years, and I’d picked up a few, others I’d missed.

  She had been limping once, and despite my best efforts, I couldn’t figure out why until a few days later when I sensed a small infection in her paw. She had a splinter. She got a cough a few times, but I never could tell what that had been from, and when she got arthritis when she got older, I hadn’t sensed that, just known it had come about with her age.

  I had sensed her time was up a few days before it came, wailing and crying in my sleep as she lay on the end of my bed. I could never quite understand that, it was just like I knew there was nothing that could be done.

  I’d copped it big time for that when my Aunt came in, being woken up from her sleep by my wailing and finding the dog inside.

  Maisy had been an outside dog, but in her old age I didn’t want her outside on winter nights, so I’d sneak her in when everyone else was asleep, and sneak her out before they woke. She never gave me away or went to the toilet inside.

  I explained this to Oliver, whose face dropped at my sad tale about Maisy and my bitchy Aunt. I also told him how the pendant I’d worn only seemed to block my mischief magic, not my sense for things.

  “It sounds like maybe you sensed the splinter because the infection could’ve turned really bad, maybe,” he offered his thoughts.

  “Yeah, maybe,” I nodded thoughtfully. I wish I knew more about this ability. Maybe my fae magical class could help.

  “Hey,” Ollie leaned forward to rest a hand on my knee with a soft smile. “I’m sorry about your Aunt, you deserved better than her anger. And despite her, you turned out sweet and kind,” he said, his amber eyes warm and caring.

  “Thanks, Ollie,” I murmured as I covered his hand with mine. How I wanted to confide in him the full truth. The darkness I’d grown up with while with my Aunt. She was only one of my problems.

  The gesture made a tingle run through me as our hands touched, and he gave me his boyish grin as he looked down at his smartphone.

  “We should get moving though, the next lecture starts in less than ten.”

  The Animal and Veterinary Biology lecture went smoothly, and we were doing our prac every second week as well, on Wednesday morning. This would give me more hours that I could work if needed, although I wasn’t too sure how my afternoon would go yet, I still had one last course lecture to attend after lunch to get my schedule fully sorted out.

  Well, that and then the magical classes.

  My stomach fluttered at the thought of it, and I drew in a sharp breath as Oliver led me through the courtyard to one of the kiosks for lunch.

  Students wandered around, some sat at the tables, others headed for the small cafe located up in the main building on the bottom floor.

  “Sausage roll?” Ollie asked as he peered back at me while he stepped into line.

  “Um, hang on,” I murmured as I slipped my hand into my bag to find my wallet. I pulled out the little wallet with a cute little fox face on in, although a number of strings were hanging from the edges and the fox’s face was worn and faded.

  I checked my notes and coins, biting my lip. I should’ve just bought lunch with me.

  “On me,” Oliver waved me off.

  “No, I can buy my own food,” I scowled, but he shook his head playfully with a grin.

  “Nope, I’ll shout the pretty lady,” he said with a wink. Warmth rushed to my cheeks at the mild compliment, and then he was moving up to the counter to order.

  I’d barely even looked at the menu, although it seemed they were a small bakery kiosk.

  “I’ll take a sausage roll and a tropical juice, you?” Oliver turned back to me, his amber eyes glinting brightly in the sun that had finally revealed itself.

  “Blueberry muffin and iced coffee?” I mumbled.

  “What she said,” Oliver nodded, and the man behind the counter just smiled as he got our order out of the cabinet and fridge.

  “I can pay for myself, y’know,” I sighed, not turning down the muffin that the kiosk attendant held out to me with an iced coffee from the fridge.

  “I know, but I don’t mind,” Ollie shrugged as he reached for the bottle of sauce on offer beside the napkin stand. He squirted a line of thick tomato sauce on the sausage roll before grinning and setting it down.

  “Want some sausage roll with that sauce,” I snickered, and he just snorted as he took a hefty bite from it.

  “OLLLLIIIIEEEE!”

  My headed whipped round at the singsong shout from across the courtyard.

  “Shit,” Oliver barely managed to say through his mouthful of food.

  I watched wide-eyed as the rather short girl came sprinting up to us with a grin plastered across her face, her blonde piggy tails bouncing on her shoulders in her tiny pink dress.

  “Hey, Glenda,” Oliver managed a weak wave as his amber eyes flicked to me for assistance.

  I had no idea who this bubbly little pink powder puff was.

  “I’d heard you were starting your studies here! I ran into your sister during orientation, she’s still as bitchy as ever, can’t believe she hasn’t finished her course,” the blonde rolled her eyes and did a dramatic sigh.

  I turned to Oliver, who looked utterly stunned at this new development.

  Who was this little girl, who reached only my shoulder? Surely she wasn’t studying here?

  “So, who’s your friend?” the girl’s big blue eyes fell on me as her mouth curved into a sneer.

  Great. Definitely not someone I wanted to know.

  “This is… um… this is Ally,” Oliver finally got out, still caught completely off guard with his sausage roll now forgotten as he held it at his side.

  “Well, she’s certainly not an upgrade,” the girl gave me a sarcastic grin as she crossed her arms. “I’ll have you know I’ve moved on now, I’m with Grayson now, he’s a true shifter,” the girl cocked an eyebrow as she flicked those amused eyes between us. “Did he tell you that he’s cursed and no longer a true shifter, aye, Ally?” she said, making sure to draw out my name in a tooth-grinding way.

  “Wait, are you his ex?” I asked with a frown. Okay. So Ollie had an ex. Damn, he needed to raise his expectations, big time. This little kitten was still stuck in high school by the looks of things, and judging by those pushed up little boobs, she was trying way too hard.

  She scoffed as she rolled her eyes. “Why, has he told you all about me?” she purred, looking a little pleased with herself as she crossed her arms.

  “He said he’d dated a little powder puff girl for a while, but she was too immature and obsessed with pink for his tastes,” I shrugged, rolling with it.

  Her pleased look turned to one of fury as Oliver choked beside me.

  “At least I can still shift into anything I want!” she shot back, glaring daggers at Oliver.

  “Look, kiddo, I think you should cool ya tits, run on back to high school and your friends,” I said, disbelieving my sudden confidence with this little terror. I did not like how she was trying to make Ollie feel, and to be frank, I was worried it’d force something unwanted. I didn’t want this little pink bitch to ruin his first day of uni.

  She fumed, huffing as she stepped towards me.

  “I’ll have you know I’m studying right here, and my friends are just over there,” she said as she pointed a pink fingernail at one of the distant tables.

  “Let me guess, beauty?” I gave her a charming smile as she boiled.

  “Glenda! Aren’t you nice and bright today? Almost like a pig in a paddock of sheep, maybe tone down the brightness.”

  My shoulders relaxed as Skip sauntered up, beaming at Glenda.

  “Skip,” she managed a half-smile, almost a flirtatious little smirk, before his words sunk in and she scowled at him.

  “Come, Lucas and I are sitting over under the fig, you should join us. I’m sure Glenda here would like to
get back to her friends, right,” Skip turned his focus onto the little pink ball of rage.

  She opened her mouth but Skip waved her off. “See ya, Glenda!”

  Oliver seemed overly grateful as Skip steered him away, and I gave Glenda a quick nod with a smirk before following the pair.

  “What on earth were you thinking, Ollie?” I turned on him as soon as we joined Lucas under the fig tree. He was sitting up against the trunk with a book of spells in his lap and a peach in hand. He certainly liked his fruits, and today he wore a navy suit again, this time with a green tie with little stars on it.

  “Give me a break,” Ollie groaned as he sat down and finally remembered his sausage roll in his hand. He sighed as he took a bite of it, his gaze moving to look across the courtyard to where his ex was still glaring at him.

  “Damn, would not have thought that little psycho would come to uni,” Skip remarked as he plopped down on the grass beside us.

  “How did you date her? She’s… I can’t even come up with a word for that,” I said distastefully as I raised my iced coffee to my lips.

  “So much pink, still,” Skip frowned as he stared at the distant pink beacon. A bright pink that did not belong on the campus at all. Not to mention it barely covered her.

  “She always loved pink,” Lucas chuckled.

  “Why?” I mumbled as I bit into my muffin, baffled that Oliver could ever have been with such a prima-donna.

  “She knew my family, her family are true shifters from Noosa. Why on Earth she came here to study is beyond me, and Grayson, ugh,” Oliver rolled his eyes.

  “Wait, she’s with your cousin now?” Skip turned to Ollie with a look of complete shock.

  “Apparently. Oh, and she thinks Ally’s my girlfriend,” he sighed, and gave me a cheesy grin.

  “I will fake it just to piss that little pig off,” I said immediately, drawing a laugh from Skip.

  “You guys were together, what, when you were fourteen? It lasted not even a year,” Lucas sniggered, his eyes still on his book.