by J. E. Cluney
Damn, she knew a lot. And some of the fae sub-species were utterly epic.
“True fae?” I queried.
“All of the above, some they can specialize in, but they have all the abilities of the subspecies,” Emma nodded happily at her own knowledge, proud of herself. “But they never seem to hone it to the same perfection that the subspecies do. Guess they prefer to be a jack of all trades rather than a master of one.”
I went to ask more, but the lecturer moved onto pixies, and we focused on what our classes would consist of.
It was up to us if we wanted to buddy up with another of our kind, and Emma was keen to be my buddy as she grinned at me. Maybe she just liked being able to teach me, who knew.
We’d learn to mask our magic when outside of warded areas, although many already knew how to do that. Then it was honing and controlling our magic, learning all the little things we could do with it.
Once she’d gone over the course outlines with everyone, we were informed our syllabus would be found on the portal, but if we needed a printed copy, see her afterwards. We were now going to be tested for an elemental ability.
“How do they test us?” I asked Emma softly.
“They’ve got a warlock who comes in to do the elemental tests on the first day,” Emma said as the door to the room opened.
I watched as the older gentleman walked in, his greying hair slicked back as he held his hands behind his back. He walked with poise and grace, his short beard neatly trimmed and shaped, with a salt and pepper look. He wore a grey suit, and my first thought was actually Lucas and his love of suits.
“That’s Mr Brady,” Emma hissed, her eyes wide at the sight of the warlock.
That name sounded awfully familiar, and I frowned as I tried to rake my brain for where I’d heard it.
“I heard he’s got two kids attending the University, a son and daughter. His son is a warlock as well, his daughter is just a witch, but a powerful one. I’d be no match,” Emma murmured as she nibbled on the end of her pen.
“Everyone just relax, this won’t hurt, but those of you with an elemental affinity will be revealed,” our lecturer said. Mrs Johnson I believe she’d said her name was. Our magical classes would be with a Miss Watson though.
“How does he test?” I asked softly.
My question was answered as Mr Brady planted himself before us and swept his arm out to the side.
A ripple of golden magic-like smoke flooded the hall, washing over us all.
Two girls stood up, gasping as they glowed softly, along with a boy on the far side of the room.
“Well, we’ve got three,” Mrs Johnson clapped her hands gleefully. “Do you know what your elemental abilities are?”
“Fire,” the first girl said confidently, smiling brightly as she looked around the room smugly.
“I… I don’t know,” the second girl stammered, a brunette.
“I had no idea,” the boy said when all eyes fell on him, and he shifted uncomfortably.
“Well, you three will come with me now then, you will have additional classes to hone your elemental ability,” Mr Brady said as he clasped his hands together and nodded at the three students. They all shot each other looks before gathering up their things and heading down to the front of the room to follow after him.
Once they were all gone, Mrs Johnson turned her attention back on us.
“Now, for the rest of this introductory lecture, we’ll be practicing warding our magic. In order to do this, you must learn to ward yourself. Those around you, other supes, will struggle to sense you when reaching out, that’ll be a sign that you’re picking it up. You’ll be practicing it more with your specific tutors, but we’ll go over the basics today,” Mrs Johnson said as she stood readily before us.
I focused all my attention on this, and Emma helped guide me through it when Mrs Johnson’s explanation wasn’t helping too well.
In order to ward myself, Emma’s explanation made more sense. Mrs Johnson said to imagine a glow seeping out from me, shielding me from view of humans and twisting their reality. My magic would do this a little on its own apparently, but by mastering warding and concealing, I could completely conceal it rather than it just being a little twisted.
Emma’s explanation made more sense. Imagine my energy that I feel, the same one I summon forth to see the supes around me, cloaking me, protecting me from sight and all my magic with it.
The rest of the class was practice, and we were set up in pairs or groups, whichever we chose.
“How come some of the elementals don’t know what they are?” I asked softly.
“It doesn’t always awaken without some effort. You could go your whole life not knowing you’re one,” Emma shrugged.
“Hey, you said Mr Brady has kids here, what are their names?” I asked as I watched her practice. I was reaching out to sense her, but I was only seeing the faintest line of color around her, but it was almost invisible. She already had been taught to conceal her magic, so we’d focused on me for most of the session. I was struggling to perfect it, but she was coaching me on.
“Cathy and Lucas,” she said as she scrunched up her eyes in thought for a moment.
“Wait, Lucas Brady?” I frowned as I finally realized. The emails I’d shared with Lucas, his last name had been Brady.
“Yeah, he’s the reject of his family, they didn’t like his… uniqueness, so he left. Inherited his grandfather’s place just down the road, lives with a bunch of guys, most of them are rejects of the supe community too,” Emma shrugged.
“Why are they rejects?” I asked, my mind completely moving away from the practice we were meant to be doing. Maybe I would finally learn more about my housemates. And what did she mean by Lucas’ uniqueness? Sure, he loved suits, and he could be a little flamboyant at times.
“Is Lucas gay?” I suddenly asked. I’d been curious about it, but hadn’t asked anyone. Emma seemed more than happy to share, which was a good thing right now.
“No, he’s bisexual, and very interesting too, rumor has it that he experiments a lot, in strange ways,” Emma wriggled her eyebrows with a cheeky grin.
“Oh,” I breathed. So what was up with Skip and him then? Was there something there? Or was I looking too much into it?
“As for the others, Oliver, the true shifter, ran away from his family, although, truth be told, he was kinda run out by them. A stain against their good, upper class name, with his curse and all. A laughing stock. Not to mention his arranged girlfriend then left him. True shifters are all about arranged stuff, they’re pretty old kingdom with that shit, wanting to keep true shifters pure. Then there’s Skip, he’s not so much a reject really, I guess. He bailed on his family’s farm to study, and from my understanding, he’s running away from something. And then there’s the renowned vampire Marcus,” Emma sighed as she frowned sadly at her notebook. She stabbed at it momentarily with her pen before clicking her tongue.
“Poor thing lost his whole family when he was turned, that news was big here, who would’ve thought such a thing could happen in this town? His maker murdered his family apparently,” Emma pursed her lips, and I could see the pain in her eyes for Marcus.
Now I finally understood him, and my housemates, so much more.
Poor Oliver and Lucas, and Marcus, my God, I felt completely horrified for him. No one should have to experience such a thing like that.
My parents had died when I was little, but it was still painful at times, wondering about the life I could’ve had, what they were like. I barely remembered them at all, I was so young. But I knew I’d been loved.
“Most people here know about them, Oliver and Lucas’s families are, like, royalty, and Marcus’s were pretty well-known too. Skip’s grandmother was loved by all in this town, a social butterfly that one, right up until she passed,” Emma said as she peered down at our lecturer, who was checking in one of the groups down the front.
“I never knew,” I murmured.
“Well, you
’re not from around here, but you would’ve found out eventually, sooner or later,” she shrugged. “Why so curious though?”
“Well…” I chewed my lip as I wondered if I should tell her. No harm in it.
“They’re my new housemates.”
“Hold the phone, you moved into that house? With four guys?” Emma’s jaw dropped as those twinkling grey eyes widened.
“Yeah, I was running out of time to find a place, it popped up, and they seemed nice, so I applied,” I sunk back into my chair. They seemed like a lovely bunch of guys too, for the most part.
“Damn, what I wouldn’t do to be stuck in that house,” Emma swooned as she fanned herself with her notebook.
“What?” I snorted at her.
“Really? You haven’t noticed how fine they are? They are sexy as hell,” she moaned as she rolled her eyes.
“Well, I guess,” I mumbled, my cheeks heating up. I wouldn’t deny that they were all good-looking. But they were also my housemates.
Which meant they were out of bounds. Not to say I couldn’t look though.
“I’m soooo jealous, you lucky bugger,” Emma chuckled. “So, what’s it like, living with them? How’s that dark little vampire?”
“I haven’t seen him much, I only moved in on Friday night,” I admitted.
“Damn! You moved in late, didn’t you?” Emma grinned, showing off her pearly whites.
“Well, I had a job and a rental, so I needed to help my housemate there find a replacement since I was breaking my lease. Left most of my stuff there too, wasn’t much anyway, a second-hand bed, a chest of drawers, figured it could help with finding a new housemate if it was a little furnished.” Sadly my old housemate got ultra pissed about my breaking lease and tossed some things while I was packing. She threw out some of my favorite dresses too.
“Did it help find someone? And what a cow, guess you’re not friends, huh?” she asked.
“Yeah, we found someone,” I nodded. “And no, definitely not.”
“We can go shopping sometime? Get you some pretty dresses?” she suggested with a bright smile.
“Maybe, I’d like to save a bit for some things first. Dresses can wait,” I said, and she just nodded understandingly
“So, you didn’t say, what’s it like living with those guys?” Emma cocked her head at me with a mischievous glint in her eye.
“Interesting, I guess, they’re nice, friendly, showed me around, watched TV shows with me and stuff,” I shrugged, not sure what she was exactly hoping for.
“Seen any of them naked?” Emma asked slyly as she arched an eyebrow.
The image of Ollie poised on the end of my bed with that erect little member was the first thing to sear into my mind, and Emma’s grin widened.
My cheeks must’ve reddened, because she clicked her tongue.
“Well, you’re a lucky girl. As far as I’m aware, they’re all single right now,” Emma winked as she lounged back in her seat.
“Really? Huh,” I murmured. I’d known Ollie was, and Lucas, kinda. Being bi gave me a little hope though.
Skip was a player, so I wasn’t sure how I felt about him, he was some delicious eye candy for sure. And then there was Marcus.
Marcus, whom I’d just discovered the reason to why he was such a jerk.
The lecturer ended our conversation as she called out that the class was finished, and to collect our schedules online or see her for our continuing classes with specific tutors.
“So, how you getting home?” Emma asked as she gathered up her things and stuffed them into her bag.
“I’ll be walking with Ollie,” I said.
Emma’s mouth curved up at this, and I rolled my eyes. She sure liked my housemates.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you next week in class, if not before. Or, you know, I could give you my number or you could add me on Facebook, then we could chat if you ever have any questions?” she offered as she slung her bag onto her back and stood.
“I’m between phones right now, but I’ll probably make a new Facebook account tonight, so I can add you on that?” I said.
“Ouch, between phones, that must suck,” she cringed at the thought as she held her smartphone in her hand. “But sure, I’ll be under Emma Hall, you’ll recognize the profile pic,” she said with a smile. “But it was nice meeting you, Ally.”
“You too,” I nodded at her as I gathered up my things and packed my laptop bag before standing up. We both headed down to the door where we parted ways, Emma bouncing on her toes as she looked forward to seeing me in my next class. We agreed we might try to catch up before then, but she knew I was still settling in at my new place with the boys.
I found Ollie at the fig tree like we agreed, and he was looking rather dejected as I joined him and sat down beside him.
“What’s up?” I asked as I touched his arm softly.
“She’s in my class,” Ollie muttered.
“Glenda?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Yeah, all the true shifters are in one, the first years,” he groaned.
“Do they offer more than one class?” I asked, but I had a feeling I knew the answer.
“There’s only five true shifters this year, including her and I,” he sighed as he played with a blade of grass.
“Do you have to attend them?”
“Well, no, not really. I wouldn’t have minded though,” he said as he finally dragged those sad amber eyes up to meet mine.
“Well, maybe we can just practice outside of class. Skip and Lucas probably know a bit about what you’d learn, we can all help you outside of class?” I suggested.
“Yeah, I guess so. It’s not like I can practice turning into different things anyway,” he gave a sharp laugh. “I can’t wait until this curse lifts, before it, I could turn into anything I wanted. I could fly over all of Maple Grove as an eagle, to feel the wind like that again, to fly so high over everything, I miss it,” he breathed as he leaned back on his hands, staring up at the blue sky overhead.
“Wow, that would’ve been amazing,” I awed as I followed his gaze.
“Yeah, it really is. Being a true shifter was something I loved so much, becoming anything you wanted, there was so much you could do. A lot of mischief too,” he chuckled. “But I’m past that now, I paid the price for playing around.”
“Well, it wasn’t really you though, was it?” I remarked softly.
He turned his head to me, those amber eyes softening as he gave me a small smile.
“Nah, but that doesn’t change anything,” he said quietly. “Anyways, Lucas texted offering to hang around and drive us home, you probably missed his car this morning, he’s got this fancy silver Mercedes 4x4,” Ollie grinned. “I told him we’d just walk, it’s a nice day today.”
“Yeah, we can walk,” I agreed. “So, apart from that, how was your first shifter class? Do you guys have magic too?”
“It was good, and not really, our shifter classes teach us how to fight in different forms, how to shift into many things. Our magic is the ability to shift.
‘We learn about everything we can do, even how to only shift parts of our bodies. Want some claws but nothing else? They’ll teach us that, amongst other things,” he said as he climbed to his feet and offered me his hand.
I allowed him to pull me up, feeling sorry for him. Emma had said he’d run away, but his family had also pretty much run him out. He didn’t deserve that. He was such a sweet, cheerful guy.
“So, I met a girl today, think we might be becoming friends, she’s very knowledgeable, taught me a fair bit more than my lecturer today actually,” I said as we began walking.
I wanted to ask him about what she said. About everyone. About Lucas being bi and being the reject of his family, about Marcus’s family, and what Skip was running from. And I wanted to know why his family had abandoned him? Was it seriously because of his curse? His so called ‘taint’ against their name?
“Oh yeah, what’s her name?” Ollie asked as he kep
t in step with me.
“Emma, Emma Hall,” I said.
Oliver clenched his jaw as he stopped, staring hard at me.
“White-haired chick?” he asked, frowning uneasily.
“Yeah, why?” I asked, uncertainty washing through me now.
“You should be careful with her,” he sighed.
“Why? She seems really nice. A halfling like me, witch/pixie,” I shook my head. She’d been overly kind to me, and helpful.
“She’s also a psychic witch, and a pixie with psychic powers makes for a bad combo,” Ollie murmured.
“Why?” I asked.
“They can sometimes read minds.”
14
“You’re bullshitting me, right?” I stared dumbly at Oliver.
“Nope, she can read minds on occasion,” he said seriously.
“Damn,” I murmured. So Emma could see into my head. Whenever she chose too? Oh God. Oliver. Naked.
“Whenever she wants?” I asked softly, not wanting to know the answer.
“I think she can choose when to, but when she was growing up, she could hear in randomly, whenever her mischief magic flared up. She’s learned how to better control it now I think,” Oliver shrugged.
“That must be a weird power to have while growing up,” I mused as we reached the edge of the campus and headed out onto the street. Other students were making their way off the campus or onto it, and I wondered how many students didn’t bother attending their lectures and just watched them on the portal instead.
“Yeah, psychics are interesting ones, they can normally just commune with the dead, the whole tarot cards and whatnot, they’re the real deal version of them,” Oliver informed me.
“I don’t see why reading minds should stop me from being her friend,” I frowned.