by Rye Brewer
Kendra pursed her lips when I moved to turn back the way we came.
“No way,” she said, wrapping her hand easily around my wrist and tugging me along. “I still think we should go see the nurse. Just in case.”
“Ugh,” was all I could manage in response. I knew she was right.
Nurse Dahlia, of all things, was a soul reaper. Somewhat spooky in demeanor and almost always muttering under breath, she only wore the color black and kept her ashy gray hair cut short. Soul reapers, like necromancers, tended to keep to themselves at Under Realm Academy, though there were far more of the latter than the former.
Usually very serene, soul reapers all had piercing blue eyes. A different shade of blue than what witches or humans sometimes had. The color was unquestionably supernatural, the type of blue that appeared ethereal and alien. Soul reaper eyes seemed to look deep into your soul.
Of course, duh, they probably did.
Whatever.
“Moira Bloodworth,” Nurse Dahlia greeted me. She opened her thin, wrinkled arms in a gesture of welcome. “Already ill on the first day of school? Oh, and hello, Kendra.”
“Hi, Nurse Dahlia,” Kendra replied. Her Uncle Darian married a soul reaper, so she was slightly more comfortable around them than I was. “Moira nearly fainted in class, so Professor McGill sent her here.”
I pursed my lips at Kendra, who knew very well that I could speak for myself. But she was smart and I bet she realized that if it were up to me, I would’ve lied, said nothing happened, and been on my merry way.
Why did my best friend know me so well?
“Well, come sit down, my dear,” Nurse Dahlia muttered in her strangely hollow, whispery voice. Her tone was kind, and as many times as I’d needed to come to her office during my years at Under Realm Academy, her touch had always been gentle, but I couldn’t seem to shake the fact that people like her spent their days living in both, the realm of the living and the dead.
Kendra stood by while I reluctantly sat down on the edge of one of the neat cots.
Nurse Dahlia puttered about for a few minutes. She checked my temperature, shined a light in my eyes, asked me to open wide to observe my tonsils, and even checked my reflexes with that weird knee-hammer-thing.
“Well, Ms. Bloodworth,” she sighed. “It seems there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you.”
I stuck my tongue out at Kendra in victory, at which Nurse Dahlia tuttered quietly.
Kendra merely snorted at my antics and shook her head.
The truth was, it really was like that sudden fever and faintness never happened. I felt just as normal and healthy as I had when I woke up that morning.
The nurse sent us on our way a few minutes later.
“It’s probably too late to go back to class now,” Kendra said as we wandered down the Southeast Hall, a wide and cavernous section of the castle that was heavily adorned with hundreds upon hundreds of portraits of dead professors and school benefactors.
“Let’s go get coffee at the senior lounge,” I suggested with a sly grin. “Because we can do that now.”
“Oh, my goddess, how did I forget?” gasped Kendra. “Who knew we’d actually make it to senior year?”
“Right?” I laughed as we practically skipped our way to the exclusive senior lounge that we’d been waiting years to be able to set foot in. “Remember sophomore year when Mary Jameson accidentally flooded the girl’s bathroom in the dungeons because she was so distraught over Luca Romanov breaking up with her? And then I tried to fix it by evaporating the water with fire. Only that resulted in my accidentally setting fire to a priceless tapestry? I thought for sure that Headmistress Somers was done with me at that point.”
“There’s no way,” laughed Kendra. “Headmistress Somers is too good of friends with Auntie Inez to ever expel you.”
I snorted. “Who knew being born a Bloodworth would make me so lucky?”
“Who knew being born a Shadowmend would mean I’d have to deal with all you wacky Bloodworths one day?” Kendra joked back.
We dissolved into giggles, linking our elbows together, making our way through the castle as the necromancers’ ravens continued their melodramatic cawing outside the windows.
2
“Hey, don’t sweat it, Moira,” Talia Brown, a demon in our year, told me at dinner that night. “This morning, we were practicing possession of small animals, but all I could manage to do was get my kitten to fall asleep. She was snoring so loudly I was so embarrassed.”
I smiled at the petite brunette. I knew she was just trying to be nice. Honestly, I appreciated it. Thankfully, none of the other witches from this morning seemed too hell-bent on making me feel even more ashamed for blowing up a cauldron in an AP class, of all places.
In fact, everyone on our end of the senior’s long table—one of four—in the cafeteria was too preoccupied with how excited they were to finally be starting senior year. Eager voices floated up to the peaked ceiling with heavy exposed beams, echoing off the stone and timber. At this late point in the day, pretty much all of us had gotten the chance to get to the senior lounge and enjoy one of the best senior perks.
That perk? Our last period of the day was free. Oh, yeah.
Kendra and I had spent the free period unpacking and redecorating my dorm room. Even though I still had an entire bedroom back home at my Aunt Inez’s oceanside cottage, I always came to Under Realm Academy with an armada of belongings. What could I say? I was a material girl. Sue me.
While Kendra organized my personal collection of herbs and potion ingredients, I put away all my clothes in the tiny wardrobe that Under Realm Academy thought was actually an adequate size for a teenage girl’s clothing.
“I don’t know why you bring so many clothes with you,” Kendra laughed as I managed to shove a tenth pair of jeans into the cramped space. “We wear a uniform five days out of the week.”
“Listen, Kendra.” I had sighed dramatically. “Clothes aren’t just things. They’re expressions of who we are. They announce our individuality to the rest of the world. They’re like wearable art.”
She’d simply snorted.
“Plus, I really like collecting things,” I replied.
“Got that right,” Kendra had said, eyeing the wardrobe warily as I’d attempted to shut the doors on its bulging contents with little to no success. After a few minutes, I simply gave up, and we decided to make our way to dinner.
But, not without my usual small rebellion. Before we left the dorms to go to the cafeteria, I’d traded in the structured sweater that I was forced to wear all day for a leather jacket I’d found in a thrift store. There were a few small rips in the sleeves when I bought it, which I’d covered up with tiny patches in the shape of butterflies.
As a younger student, I used to get into a lot more trouble for deviating from the uniform on weekdays. Reprimands, detentions, and calls to Aunt Inez back home never swayed me into following the rules, though. Finally, after years of dealing with me, the professors seemed to give up. When I walked into the cafeteria that evening wearing leather in place of wool, no one even batted an eye.
The first meal of the school year was always the best. The chefs at Under Realm Academy usually made pretty good food, but the first day of school was when they pulled out all the stops. As the necromancers and witches feasted on the usual options of creamy pasta, delicious soup, and unlimited fresh bread, the demons chowed down on their medium-rare steaks, and the soul reapers happily sipped away at steaming mugs of black coffee.
In a school as diverse as ours, there were always options available for everyone. I’d heard of some schools elsewhere in the world that accepted other magical creatures like vampires. Though I was all for respecting other species, the thought of one of my classmates sipping blood next to me while I tried to enjoy my normal food totally turned my stomach.
I twirled my spoon through a thick pumpkin soup as Talia continued telling Kendra and me about the demonic possession they practiced that morning
. It was funny because a lot of humans assumed the demons were pure evil, plain and simple. But demons like Talia were anything but that. She was blond and bubbly and, even though she could technically control human minds and historically worked for the Prince of the Underworld, I doubted she would even hurt a fly.
What happened earlier that day was far from my mind. I chose not to think too hard about the random fever that overcame me and forced me to embarrass myself in front of my favorite teacher in my best class.
Maybe I had simply still been tired from arriving so late last night and waking up so suddenly. Or perhaps I had accidentally inhaled some of the firefly wing dust. That stuff could get pretty dangerous if you weren’t careful.
Whatever it was, I was convinced it was just a freak accident. How else would I have felt so much better so suddenly? Plus, if Nurse Dahlia didn’t think anything was wrong, she was probably right. After all, soul reapers were the wisest and most knowledgeable beings among us. I was sure I’d go to my next AP Potions class with a clear head and be able to amaze Professor McGill with all my natural talent.
At that moment, Headmistress Somers stood up at the raised table at the head of the grand hall where she and the professors ate dinner.
She was at least three hundred years old, or something.
Okay, maybe I was being dramatic.
She was probably, like, seventy-five years old, give or take. With short, silvery hair and piercing gray eyes, she was a formidable witch. She had an affinity for air, and some said that if you stood to close to her, you could feel a constant, gentle breeze. She was well-respected, even outside of Under Realm Academy, having contributed to all kinds of important magical research that I didn’t understand. The Somers witches were good friends with my family, the Bloodworths, so I’d known the headmistress when I was a kid.
However, even to me, her overall aura was incredibly intimidating. Despite all of that though, her voice was always surprisingly gentle. She spoke quietly and evenly as if she knew that she had the power to command a room without needing to raise her voice.
To prove that fact, the entire cafeteria, first-year students and seniors alike—plus everyone in-between—instantly fell quiet as she stood and opened her arms in a gesture of welcome.
“Happiest Autumn Equinox to all of you,” said Headmistress Somers, her tone simultaneously soft and authoritative. “I am delighted to see the fresh faces of our new incoming class from Wailing Creek Junior High, our sister school. I wish you all the best in this exciting transition phase.”
Glancing over at the freshmen table, I took in all of their young faces and nervous forms. It seemed impossible to me that I had ever been that… small, young… whatever.
“It also brings me much joy to welcome back our sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Though we are a school composed of unique magical beings, it fills me with unending pride to see us come together every year and exist in harmony,” Headmistress Somers continued. Her shrewd gaze drifted over our table, stopping on me for the briefest of seconds before moving on. I wasn’t sure if she paused simply because of our familial bond or if she was taking in the sight of me in the incorrect clothing. Yet again.
Probably both.
“Anyway,” sighed Headmistress Somers with a casual shrug. “Let’s have a productive, enlightening year. Now I’ll let you all get back to your exquisite dinners.”
Polite applause followed as she gracefully took her seat.
After Headmistress Somers finished her speech, it didn’t take long for the cafeteria to immediately erupt in a thousand different conversations again. A hundred voices bubbled up from the formerly respectful silence, begging for details about exotic holiday vacations and summer flings.
I turned back to my food, about to take another bite when Kendra’s elbow suddenly dug into my ribs. Flinching and dropping my spoon back into the bowl with a clatter, I shot her a confused glare.
“Don’t look,” she whispered, eyes flashing to someone behind me with a smirk. “But Calder is coming over here.”
Of course, it took every brain cell in my head to actually not look.
Talia overheard Kendra and bit her lip to hide a grin as a large, masculine form sat down in the empty seat beside me.
Curse my friends for knowing exactly how affected by my crush I could be.
Trying to play it cool, like always, I took a sip of water and pretended not to notice. That was usually my modus operandi when it came to boys. I feigned indifference until they fell madly in love with me.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t quite worked yet.
“Hey, Moira,” said a surprisingly deep voice for a seventeen-year-old guy.
Kendra stifled a nervous giggle beside me.
I turned my head to offer our visitor what I hoped was a very chill, totally normal smile.
“Hey,” I replied.
Calder Darkmore. Easily the hottest demon in school.
Actually, scratch that.
The hottest creature, in general, at Under Realm Academy.
Golden hair, golden skin, golden eyes… one look at him, and you didn’t even have to question the fact that he was capable of possessing you. He was just that handsome and charming.
“Hey Kendra,” he added, nodding at my friend practically hiding behind me. He shot a grin at his fellow demon classmate Talia. “Hey, Tal. How’s the kitten?”
Talia groaned. “Still napping.”
“Well, better luck next time,” he told her with a wink. It wasn’t even directed at me, and I still felt like my knees had turned to jelly. And I was sitting down.
At Calder’s arrival on our end of the table, more people nearby tuned into our conversation. He was one of the most popular people in school, and for some inexplicable reason, was also really nice.
Especially to me.
I liked to think that my witty charm inspired hot guys to be nice to me, but the truth was that he was probably only kind because we both had dead mothers.
Anyway.
“That’s a cool jacket, Moira,” Calder said, reaching out to touch one of the butterfly patches. He probably didn’t know this, but butterfly wings were actually a common ingredient in a variety of love potions. I blushed at the thought, much to my annoyance.
“Thanks,” I replied. “That’s a cool blazer. Where’d you get it?”
He chuckled and glanced down at the same navy plaid jacket that adorned nearly everyone in the cafeteria.
“Hmm, can’t remember,” he responded, playing along. “Gucci, I think?”
“Oh, very nice,” I told him, touching the sleeve of his blazer the same way he touched my jacket.
“Hey, Moira,” said another voice from behind Calder. This voice was also, unfortunately, very familiar.
I fought the urge to immediately roll my eyes at the sound.
Wordlessly, I simply turned to throw a glance at Aidan Grimsbane. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with wavy hair nearly as dark as mine and clever black eyes. It made absolutely no sense at all, but he was one of Calder’s best friends.
The reason that made no sense was because Aidan Grimsbane was the worst.
Literally, the worst. A necromancer who took way too much pride in his creepy ability to talk to the dead, he was Under Realm Academy’s resident bad boy. He got away with deviation from the school uniform about as often as I did. Even at that moment, he had abandoned the blazer and thrown on a hoodie with some random band logo on it over his white, collared shirt.
The most confusing thing about Aidan, however, was the pair of dimples that hailed from his smooth cheeks. The adorable-ness of them was an absolute lie; there was nothing sweet or charming about that guy. A lot of girls at school thought he was handsome, but I thought his unpleasant attitude and overall arrogance made him too unbearable to even think of him as attractive.
Calder, on the other hand, was kind and funny and muscular, and really good at soccer.
Yes, even demons play soccer.
“We heard
you set the Potions classroom on fire.” Aidan snickered, leaning against the edge of the table on the other side of Calder. Apparently, he was too cool to sit down properly. “I thought fire was your affinity. Shouldn’t you be able to control it by this age?”
I glared at him but was too embarrassed to respond.
Calder frowned at his friend’s words but he didn’t tell him to shut up. Not that it would’ve worked. Aidan Grimsbane obeyed no one.
At Aidan’s words, a few murmurs traveled down the length of the table. My cheeks were on fire. I knew that they had gone a splotchy red and was pissed at Aidan.
Then again, the truth was, Aidan made a good point. No one had been unkind enough to mention it to my face—until now, at least—but a witch not being able to control her affinity as an almost-adult was pretty much the equivalent of a teenager who still wet the bed.
In short, the fact that I had somehow lost control of a cauldron flame and nearly burnt the laboratory table to a crisp was extremely juvenile of me. It implied that I was both immature and untalented. And Aidan knew that.
On my other side, Kendra placed her hand on my knee under the table as a show of support, though she wasn’t quite bold enough to talk back to Aidan.
The thing was, Aidan Grimsbane seemed to get a lot of sick pleasure from humiliating me. Ever since we were at Wailing Creek together, he always put a particularly high level of effort into picking on me. He wasn’t very nice in general, living up to the necromancer stereotype of general coldness, but it seemed he just couldn’t hold his tongue when handed the opportunity to bring up one of my many flaws.
Across the table, Talia narrowed her eyes at Aidan.
“Don’t mind him,” Talia told me, loud enough for Aidan, Calder, and several others around us to hear. “He has crap social skills because the only people who will talk to him are the ones who are already dead.”
Kendra snorted. I giggled at Talia, grateful to have someone who wasn’t even a witch that would defend me.
Even Calder smirked playfully and smacked Aidan in the arm.