by Jaymin Eve
“Step-through,” she replied quickly as she pushed me across and slid in next to me. A what now?
Wait … if she was in the back with me…
I turned to the driver seat, and when huge brown eyes met mine, I let out a short, startled scream.
“Shut her up,” it growled.
What in the fuck…?
It was too much for me, being tied like this while trapped in a vehicle with some green freaking gremlin. Darkness pressed in around the edges of my vision.
“She’s going to pass out!” I heard Ilia yell. “Drive, Mossie. The step-through is not far away and we need to get there now.”
Mossie. Even in my hysterical state I still had enough coherency to wonder if the name was a tribute to its green skin and high, pointed ears.
Tires screeched as the car took off, and I focused on breathing in and out, filling my lungs over and over. As we skidded around a corner, I went sprawling across the wide back seat. Mossie was going too fast; if we stopped suddenly I was going to really regret not having a seat belt on.
Thankfully, when he slammed on the brakes, Ilia put a hand on my shoulder, stopping my face from smashing into the seat in front of me. I was then half lifted out of the car as freezing air howled around me again. I shook Ilia off, not wanting to be helped.
“Maddison, I’m not your enemy,” Ilia said as she shouldered my bag—it contained all of my worldly possessions.
“Bet you say that to all your kidnap victims,” I shot back.
Mossie jumped out of the car and joined us. I scooted around the other side of her, putting as much distance between the gremlin and me as I could.
“I’m not a gremlin,” he said in his raspy voice. “I’m a goblin. There’s a difference.”
I almost tripped over the flat ground. “You read my mind?” I whisper-yelled. “Do you know how fucking rude that is?”
Mossie grinned at Ilia, pointed teeth filling his mouth. “She seems to be adjusting to the supe world already. A human’s first question would be how did I read their mind, but not Maddison.”
“It’s Maddi,” I said stiffly. No one called me Maddison. “And I just assumed grem— goblins can read minds.”
He flashed me a look, one that I couldn’t decipher on the foreign features of his face. His skin looked leathery, tough with raised bumps across his cheeks and nose. The green was like a leaf from a rainforest tree, with lighter khakis across his ears. He was no taller than four feet, but he was nimble and looked strong.
I’d never seen anything like him outside of the movies, and staring at him was really helping to distract me from the fact that I was still bound.
“We can only read thoughts that are projected at us,” Mossie explained as we moved farther from the car. “If you’re thinking something at me, or sometimes even about me, then I might pick up on the thought.”
Good to know. “Is this something all supes”—the word felt foreign on my tongue—“can do?”
“No,” Ilia said, with a shake of her head. “Only a few of the demi-fey have that ability. And maybe some very powerful sorcerers, but you won’t have to worry about them. It’s rare.”
Right. Of course. Just demi-fey and powerful sorcerers.
What in the actual fuck of all fucks was happening to me?
“Just up ahead is the step-through sent by the Academy,” Ilia said. “Are you going to scream again?” She watched me closely.
I shrugged. “I don’t even have a clue what a step-through is, so, yeah, probably.”
Mossie grinned, and its distinct creepiness distracted me again. There was nothing calming about the goblin, that was for sure. We turned a corner and ducked under some dense bushes, and Ilia stopped before a … swirling portal. There was no other way to describe it.
“Uh, I’m not touching that,” I said, shuffling back. Which was dangerous when your hands were bound. If I tripped, I couldn’t break my fall.
Ilia followed my movements, staying close to me. “You have no choice. It would take us days to get to the Academy otherwise, and we’d have to fly on a plane with humans because I don’t have the private one here. I’m sure you don’t want your hands bound for days.”
“I hate you,” I groused at her, injecting as much anger as I could into the words.
She almost looked hurt then. “I’m just doing my job! Everyone has a part to play in this world, and for me it’s making sure supes are not stuck in the human world without training.”
I almost felt bad, but the truth was she’d still bound my hands with her hocus-pocus bullshit and was now attempting to kidnap me. So she could just suck up my anger. Resigning myself to the fact that I was still at the stage of “do anything to get these stupid things off my wrists,” I reluctantly stepped closer to the swirling step-through.
Mossie was waiting patiently. “I’ll show you,” he said, and he took two steps forward, disappearing into the swirl. I looked around the back of the bushes, but he had not walked straight through.
It had taken him somewhere.
I gasped, choking on my own panic as I tried to backpedal again.
Ilia stepped in right behind me, stopping my backward trajectory. “It doesn’t hurt,” she groaned, sounding exasperated. “You’re going to be fine.”
Easy for her to say, she was clearly used to this world. A world I wasn’t sure I actually believed could be true. If I didn’t have a tiny green goblin as evidence and bound hands I needed freed, I’d be screaming and running.
But a part of me wanted to stay.
To find out answers to the many burning questions I had.
And the deepest, darkest truth of it all was … what did I really have to lose? Another year of waitressing and hiding from the world? Fuck, maybe this was the change I’d been hoping for.
Or … maybe I was about to be murdered and used in some sort of witchy cult ritual.
Either way, my life was definitely going in a different direction.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward, closing my eyes as I crossed through the step-through.
3
I opened my eyes to find myself in a winter wonderland. It was white fields of snow, trees dusted with fresh powder, and not a sliver of civilization in sight.
“Nice school,” I said sarcastically when Ilia joined me. “Architecturally designed, I see.”
Mossie snorted from nearby and I spun to find the goblin leaning against a snow-covered tree. “You’ll need that humor to keep yourself afloat in this new world,” he told me, still chuckling.
“Where are we now?” I asked. “Still in America?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Europe. The Academy is hidden in Switzerland. Been here for a very long time.”
I coughed. Whoa. My first trip overseas, and I hadn’t even stepped foot on a plane. What in the…
Magic.
I swallowed hard, but before I could lose my mind, Ilia linked her arm through mine, dragging me along. I couldn’t do anything to dislodge her either, not with my hands bound. “Come on, the Academy is just over here,” she said, her voice lit with excitement. “You’ll see it soon enough.” She winked at me. “And it was sorcerer designed, if you really want to know.”
I snorted, and a small bud of anticipation pushed through my shock. It was clear Ilia was happy to be back here, and I wanted to see it for myself.
“How long have you been tracking me?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Five years, give or take.”
I swallowed, one date standing out for me. “Since the night my mom died?”
Ilia’s face fell. “That night your grief triggered some of your supernatural powers. You sent a blast of energy into the world. It was from then we had you on our radar as an unknown, powerful supe. But you disappeared again so quickly. We remained on the case, tracking you whenever you sent out a flare. Recently, your energy has gotten stronger, which helped me narrow the search.”
I remembered the night my mother died so clearly. She’d
been fighting with the current dirtbag pimp-slash-drug-dealer-slash-boyfriend. He’d hit her just a little too hard, smashing her head through the glass coffee table. I walked through the door thirty minutes later to find him wrapping her body in a sheet. My screams had drawn his attention, and he’d immediately come after me. Somehow, though, with strength I shouldn’t have possessed, I shoved him so hard he’d hit the side of our trailer and got knocked out cold.
Maybe that was the surge in power? There had been this heat burning in my stomach, but it had disappeared so quickly I’d written it off as mere adrenaline.
“Are there others like me out there?” I asked softly. “Supes living with humans?”
Part of me was screaming not to play her game, but it all felt real to me. It made sense. In whatever fucked-up way. Plus, she had a goblin and a magical portal to back her up.
She nodded. “Yes, there are a lot more than you’d probably think. But you were different … to me, anyway. Even when my supervisor moved on, I couldn’t.”
“Why?” I asked, confused.
Ilia shrugged. “I couldn’t let you go that easily. For some reason, I was worried about you being in the world alone. I turned up at your mom’s just after she passed, and … I felt a connection. I have no family left either. My mother died giving birth, and my father is dude unknown.”
I could see it cost her something to admit that, and it made me like her a little more. “You found a place at the Academy? A home?” I asked, trying not to let hope filter into my heart.
Hope was a killer. Any time I’d ever let myself hope for something more, the disappointment when it didn’t work out crushed me. Eventually you learned to stop hoping.
And accept your shitty reality.
“The best kind,” she said. “Follow the rules, stay out of trouble, and I think you’ll find your place there too. If you choose to stay.”
I didn’t want to call her a liar, but somehow I doubted I’d have a choice. Not when the princeps had magically bound my hands just to get me here.
“Are you still in school?” I asked.
Ilia shook her head. “Technically, no. I’m twenty-seven, and I graduated from basic classes last year. I’m still in some specialised classes, even though I’ve been working in my field as a tracker for a few years.”
“What classes?”
“Attack magic, weapons, advanced spell work.” She shrugged, like that wasn’t a huge fucking deal. Attack magic! “My training in these areas will continue for many more years. You start your basic Academy classes at twenty-one, so you’re going to fit right in.”
We were still plowing through the field of snow. Mossie was slightly in front, clearing a small path for us. I was just about to ask how far away the school was when a slight shimmer in the air caught my eye. “It’s a protective shield,” the goblin said, looking back. “It deters humans and protects those inside from exposure. Only supernaturals can enter.”
He stepped through first, and I didn’t hesitate to follow, wanting to see this world. I closed my eyes as I went to cross, and just as I stepped forward I wondered if I might get rejected. This was the first test of their belief that I was a supernatural.
There was a slight ripple of air around my body as I crossed the threshold, and I was stunned to actually make it through. No rejection...
Lifting my head, I let out a gasp. “Whoa…” I breathed.
Supernatural Academy spanned as far as I could see. Four huge towers, all slightly different in structure and design, were spaced around the edges of large buildings. The main Academy walls were made of brick and stone, and everything was ancient, in both look and design, like this school had been standing here for thousands of years.
As we stepped closer, I saw there was a wide body of water completely surrounding it like a moat. I also started to make out more details in the stonework. There was a crest with M V F S in it, iron twisting around the edges, pushing it out from the wall. As I stumbled forward, desperate to be closer to this new world I’d found myself in, I kept noticing new details.
More initials carved into stones near the front bridge; ivy and rose trellises along the outer walls; huge stained-glass windows scattered across the stonework.
The building had a presence, a history about it that transcended normal buildings. It had experienced a lot of life. And it wasn’t just the building; there was a feeling in the air here. That same extra that I’d noticed in Ilia when she spoke with passion. It was like static electricity shocking me, sending tingles down my spine.
Ilia placed a hand on my arm like she was sharing this moment with me. “This is the Supernatural Academy,” she said proudly. “It was started in 1455 by a small community of supes in this area. They wanted a safe place for their children to learn about the world. It’s designed so that you go to supe junior school first and learn the basics: reading, writing, math, and so on. They also learn how to fit into the human world. Then, when you’re older, you advance your supernatural abilities at the Academy.”
I shook my head. “Why would you start so late though? I mean, why waste all the years in human schools and not learn supernatural stuff until you’re twenty-one?”
“Most of us don’t have strong energy or abilities until puberty or older,” Ilia explained. “I was seventeen, and most of the other supes I knew were even older. So there’s really no reason for advanced classes younger than that.”
“It’s also important for you to fit in with humans,” Mossie added, voice dry. “I mean, there’s no point in goblins, or most demi-fey, trying.” He waved a hand across his green, bumpy skin. “But the four other races, it’s fundamental to ensure our worlds remain safely connected.”
I guess that made sense.
“So no humans know about you … I mean us?”
“There are some,” Ilia said quickly. “We have Guilds that smooth our passage into the human world, and a few others are privy to the secret, but in general humans do not know.”
Mossie snorted. “Human brains can’t really process our truths without driving them crazy. Better this way.”
Having spent the past forty minutes trying to process it myself, I kind of understood the reasoning.
I turned my focus back to the school. “I can’t really believe this,” I said. “The rational side of my brain keeps trying to discredit what I’m seeing … create plausible excuses to explain away the weird.”
Mossie laughed, an odd bark. “The barrier let you in. There’s no doubt you’re supernatural.”
I still had doubts.
“I’m ready,” I lied, moving again. No one could be ready for this, but I was certainly ready to have my hands released. We crossed down a small incline, an expanse of thick green grass under our feet. “It’s not snowing or cold in here,” I noted.
It felt like a mild spring day, actually.
“Yeah, the weather changes daily in here,” Ilia said, her brows scrunching. “Which can be annoying if you’re trying to plan an outfit for an event.”
I coughed out a laugh before realizing she was serious. “Daily? Why the hell would anyone want weather that changes daily?”
She exchanged a glance with Mossie, shrugging. “There was a spell that went awry a long time ago, when they were trying to make it rain. And now all of us pay for it with the most erratic weather. In truth, there’s really no predicting anything within the school grounds.”
Good to know. Always comforting that I could be killed in my sleep by some random burst of magic. We crossed the wide bridge that led across to the front entrance, and I stared down into the sparkling blue waters. “Don’t ever go in there,” Ilia warned. I jerked my head up at her tone, curiosity holding me. I loved to swim. Loved it so much. But it had been a long time since I’d had the luxury.
“What’s in there?” I asked.
She shuddered. “Lots of things. Mermaids being one of the tamest creatures. Trust me, don’t go in there. It never ends well.”
Judging by her ex
pression, the mermaids here were not like the ones depicted in the human world. I noted it on the list I was making in my head of things to explore further.
The double entrance to the first building we entered was huge. Twenty feet high, and almost that wide, it was both impressive and intimidating. Inside was an open circular room with light streaming in through the stone archways that crossed overhead. There were statues lining either side of us, each with a different creature carved into it. I didn’t recognize most of them, but there was a wolf, a bear, and a panther among them.
“Come on, we need to get to the princeps’s office,” Ilia said, linking our arms together again.
My stomach did a crazy swirl as I looked around. The entrance was deserted and I wondered where all the supernaturals were. Nerves almost locked my limbs in place at the thought that I’d soon see the different races she had mentioned. Vampires, shifters, fey, and witches were the stuff of fantasy novels. And scary movies.
“Where is everyone?” I asked, forcing myself to stop being a scaredy-bitch.
Mossie grinned, and this time I didn’t even flinch at his pointed teeth. Progress. “It’s breakfast time. They’ll be in the common area.”
Breakfast. So weird, because back home it was probably around 1:00 A.M. Ilia shot me a disconcerting look. “Ah, shit. If it’s breakfast, we might have to go through the commons to get to Princeps Jones. He always has breakfast with his daughter.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, but before I could protest she nudged me along a window-lined hallway, the arched and stained glass on my right side spanning almost to the very high ceilings, letting in colored beams of light.
Ilia moved faster and I hurried to keep up. Mossie continued at a more leisurely pace, but still stayed right with us. My eyes couldn’t move fast enough to take everything in. I wanted so badly to explore this ancient building; it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. But Ilia was on a mission, and at least I’d be able to think clearer once I wasn’t bound.