“Woah,” I commented, impressed. “When do I get to learn how to do that?”
“At orientation,” she smiled. “Which is,” she glanced at her pocket watch. “Happening now. Come quickly.”
We hurried through the immense hallway. I hardly even had a chance to look around at the huge space. There were statues and paintings lining the hallway, along with this huge rug. It was gold and blue. I had a feeling that the gold thread was actually gold, but I wasn’t sure why I thought that. Maybe it was just that Hybrid Academy was so beautiful or that the space was just so different from anything I’d ever seen before.
Everything I managed to glimpse seemed incredibly and undeniably wonderful.
My aunt led me down a side hallway, through a large ballroom, and then through an attached banquet hall. There were a few students loitering around, but no one seemed to even spare us a passing glance. That was strange, I thought. Shouldn’t they have been interested in the weird new kid?
Maybe it was good that they didn’t notice.
Maybe I’d be able to blend right in.
Boo was unusually silent as we moved. He hopped from my shoulder to my arms as we scurried through the school. We weren’t quite running, but my aunt kept a grueling pace. I tried to match it, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. She was swift and I was slow.
And not human, apparently.
Once I learned how to shift – if I learned how to shift – maybe I’d be faster.
Finally, we arrived at a door. It stood out from the rest of the space. It was purple, for one thing, and it had a soft glow. It was pulsing, almost like it was a heartbeat. This was the center of the school. I could feel it, somehow. I just had this understanding that everything behind there was different. Once I went through that door, there would be no going back. Everything would change for me whether I wanted it to or not.
“This is it,” she said. “This is where it all begins.”
“What happens when I go through that door?” I asked her. “What’s behind the door?”
“Orientation,” she said simply, repeating herself, and she pushed the door open.
A glow wrapped around me, pulling me in. Boo squealed and tried to run away, but I held him tightly as my aunt and I walked into the room. Once the door closed behind us, the glow calmed down and I was able to see everything around me. Okay, so maybe the room wasn’t magic. Maybe the people inside the room were.
Two adult females stood at a large, oversized desk. They regarded my aunt for a moment. The younger of the women moved over to my aunt. She didn’t exactly run, nor did she walk quickly. She sort-of glided across the room.
“Erin,” the woman said. “It’s so good to see you,” she whispered.
“And you, too, Melanie.” Erin pressed her hand to the woman’s cheek and smiled softly. “It’s been far too long.”
“When Alicia told me you were coming back, I couldn’t believe it,” Melanie said. She smiled, but her voice wasn’t warm. Then she turned to me. “This must be your niece.”
“This is Maxine, yes.”
“Maxine,” the woman said. “I’m Melanie Wilson. I teach Spells and Potions here at the Academy.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said. I stuck out my hand awkwardly. I was still trying to hold Boo and he was doing everything in his power to run away. Melanie looked at my hand and then at my aunt.
“She doesn’t know how to greet witches?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Apparently not,” Erin frowned. “Didn’t your grandmother talk with you about how to properly introduce yourself in formal settings?”
“Uh, no?” Somehow, my answer came out as a question.
Erin shook her head and a thin blush crept over her cheeks. She was embarrassed. Damn. I embarrassed my aunt. The thought shouldn’t have bothered me, but it totally did. I didn’t want to let her down. I wanted her to be proud of me.
“I’m very sorry,” I turned to Melanie. “If you would be so kind as to instruct me, I will do my best to learn.”
“Wow,” Melanie said. She smiled and nodded. “I’m impressed. Most new students wouldn’t be quite so bold.”
“Well, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” I said.
“Unfortunately, the semester is already well underway, and we don’t have all the time in the world.” The other woman in the room spoke. We all turned and looked at her. Tall, lean, and silvery: Alicia Gregory was every bit as fierce as my aunt had implied.
Her long purple robes matched the room. Was I going to have to wear robes? I realized that all three of the other women were wearing these formal robes. They almost resembled prom dresses. That’s how long and full they were.
“Headmistress,” Erin said, nodding her head. It was almost a bow. Melanie made the same gesture, so I followed suit. Even Boo bowed his head. Alicia gave her own nod of approval.
“Why don’t you have a seat?” Alicia said. “And we can talk about the expectations for you here at Hybrid.”
“Actually,” Erin glanced at her pocket watch again. “I believe that’s my cue to leave.” She turned to me. “I have coven business to attend to and I’ve already spent far too much time away from my girls. You’ll be safe here, Max. Everything is going to be okay. Just keep your head down. I’ll come visit you in a month.”
“A month?” I asked. It would be that long before I was able to see my aunt again? That seemed like a lifetime. That was a lifetime.
In a month, everything could change.
Hell, in a few hours, everything could change.
I wasn’t ready for it.
I wasn’t ready for any of this.
But before I could argue or complain, my aunt opened the door and walked away, closing it carefully behind her.
“Why didn’t she just snap her fingers and disappear?” I asked quietly. I wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, but Melanie answered.
“Because there are wards in place to prevent unauthorized use of magic,” she said. “The school protects its own, and even if it didn’t, we wouldn’t permit vanesco on school grounds. It would cause way too many complications. Can you imagine if a student just didn’t feel like taking a test so they used that spell? Or if they got into a fight and just disappeared instead of facing the consequences?” Melanie shivered like someone not being punished was the worst thing she could think of in the world.
Weird.
“Have a seat,” Alicia repeated her request, and Boo and I scurried into the two chairs in front of her desk.
Melanie remained standing.
“So, your aunt tells me you’re a hybrid,” Alicia said. “Can you shift?”
“Uh, no. I actually only found out about the whole being-a-hybrid thing about an hour ago.”
“No one told you before? What about your parents?”
“They are super dead,” I said, looking away and staring at the wall. Really? If Erin was going to drop me off, the least she could have done was tell them my tragic back story. I didn’t really want to spend a lot of time repeating it.
“So, you’re an orphan,” Melanie said.
Ah, there it was.
The word I’d been trying to avoid forever.
The word I hated more than anything else in the world.
Orphan.
I’d never felt like an orphan because I always had my grandmother with me. “Orphan” had seemed like the kind of word that applied to other people and not to me. “Orphan” had seemed like something designed to describe people who didn’t have any hope or any future or anyone to love them.
I had never been an orphan.
Not really.
Not until now.
I managed to nod, and she seemed to take the hint that I didn’t want to talk about it. I looked up and Alicia Gregory was glaring at Melanie.
“I believe what Miss Wilson was trying to say,” she snapped. “Is that we’re sorry for your loss, Maxine. You’ll fit in fine here. Since you’re not able to use your powers y
et, you’ll take remedial classes this semester until you master the art of shifting to your alternate form. Do you know what you are?”
“No.”
“Well then, it’ll be fun to find out, now won’t it?”
“I suppose,” I hadn’t really thought about it as being fun.
Alicia’s eyes softened as she looked at me.
“I know this is going to be difficult,” she said. “You’re in a hard place, my dear. No one wants to start a new life, especially when they didn’t plan for it to happen, but you’re going to be just fine.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Your schedule,” Alicia said, snapping her fingers. A scroll appeared in front of me. It was floating. I reached for it and opened it. Lovely and glittery handwriting filled it. Apparently, my entire life was about to be scheduled for me. Everything from breakfast to bedtime was completely and entirely planned. At first glance, I only saw a few spaces where I would even have a little bit of free time.
“As you can see,” Melanie pointed out. “There’s not a lot of free time. That’s on purpose. We want you to get the most out of your time at the Academy, so you’ll basically be working and studying from sun up to sun down.”
“Okay,” I said. I wasn’t afraid of hard work.
“Your books will be delivered to your dormitory room,” Alicia Gregory said. “Along with your uniforms.” She glanced at my tiny leather bag. “Did you bring anything else with you?”
“This is it,” I said. She exchanged glances with Melanie before continuing. “You’ll wear uniforms while attending classes, but I’ll arrange to have some additional clothing brought to your dorm room. You won’t want to sleep in your witching robes.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate that.”
“Amenities, such as toothbrushes and shampoo, have already been placed in your room. You’ll want for nothing while you’re here,” Melanie said. “You’ll also find a place for your familiar, along with food he can enjoy at his leisure.” She looked knowingly at Boo with a soft smile.
Somehow, they had managed to plan everything I might need. They’d even planned a space for Boo to live with me. How nice was that? They had covered every one of my potential needs, but their thoughtfulness didn’t do a thing to stop the aching in my heart. Anytime I stopped to think for too long, I just started considering my grandmother and everything that had happened that day. It still felt very dreamlike. The reality hadn’t sunk in yet that she was gone: possibly forever.
It would soon.
Soon I would wake up from my nightmare and realize that it was real, that all of it was real, and that I was nothing more than an insignificant blob in the universe, but for now, I needed to focus. I needed to find a way to make it through school, and I needed to find a way to locate my grandmother. If I could do that, then everything would be okay. If I could just think hard enough, maybe I’d be able to determine where she’d gone and what had happened to her.
“Did you have any other questions for us?” Asked Alicia.
“Yes,” I said, looking up at her. “I have one question.”
Before I could ask it, Melanie looked at her own pocket watch. What was it with witches and pocket watches? Seriously. I’d never seen so many in one place in my entire life. Now it was all I seemed to look at.
“I’m afraid I must flee,” she said. “I have a class to teach. Maxine, it was a pleasure. I’m certain that Headmistress Gregory would be happy to answer any other questions you may have. ”
Then she left.
I was all alone with the headmistress.
She raised an eyebrow as she looked at me. When she stared at me, I felt very small, very weak, and very alone.
“What’s your question, child?” She said gently.
I swallowed hard.
“Uh, so what’s the proper way to greet a witch?”
Chapter 6
When my orientation was finished, Headmistress Gregory summoned a student to take me to the dormitories. There were two large dorms: one for boys and one for girls. Well, to be more accurate, there was one for men and one for women. None of us were kids. Everyone who attended the Academy was between the ages of 18 and 25. Most students were exactly the same age as me, which made me feel a lot more comfortable and relaxed than if I’d been with adults of varying ages. Somehow, making mistakes in front of your peers seemed much less terrifying than making mistakes in front of someone twenty years older than you.
Kiera Crowley introduced herself to me, and then led me out of Headmistress Gregory’s office and down the hallway. She walked quickly with a steady pace, like she was comfortable. She’d been here long enough to know her way around, which was wonderful. It was still a newish semester, so maybe that meant there was hope for me, too. After a few weeks or a few months, maybe I’d manage to feel as confident as Kiera did just walking around campus.
“The dorms are in their own buildings,” she explained as we walked. Boo had calmed down and was no longer trying eagerly to escape, so the walk was much easier than it had been previously. Trying to carry a cat who wanted to run away was never simple or easy. Boo was a good cat, but he made me work for his love.
We left the main castle through a backdoor. This one was locked, too. Kiera whispered kaimen and the doors swung open. I wondered if I’d be able to get the doors to open, too, or if I’d be stuck waiting for someone else to come along and help me navigate the school grounds. I’d already heard so many different spells uttered that I wondered if I’d ever manage to even remember them, much less use them. Magic was a tricky thing.
I didn’t like feeling helpless, but something told me that life at Hybrid Academy was going to be very different than what I was used to. Not only was I going to have to get used to answering to more people than just my grandmother, but I’d have to learn how to follow the rules, how to memorize the spells, and how to work my tail off even if my magical abilities never managed to present themselves.
That was a disappointing thought, so I pushed it away. I couldn’t focus on the fact that I couldn’t do magic. Instead, I needed to keep a clear head. If it was possible for me to learn magic, this is the place where it would happen. This is where everything would come together. All it was going to take was time. Then I could use my new skills to conquer the world, or at least to conquer the mystery of where Grandma was.
Kiera and I walked quietly along a little path to the first dormitory. It was nice to have a few minutes to look around the campus a little more closely. There weren’t many students out. I imagined that was because they were eating or studying. Maybe some of them were still in classes. There were a few people sitting on blankets under trees and sprawled out with books, though. It was all very idyllic. I saw one witch waving a wand at a tree. She was saying words I couldn’t quite hear, but she seemed to be having a great time with it.
As we approached the building, I looked up. The first dormitory was tall and built completely of brick. The exterior was multiple shades of brown and red and it had a very retro sort of look to it. It was the type of thing you’d see on a postcard. It was the kind of picture you’d see in a college pamphlet that was advertising, Hey! Come to our school!
“That one is where the guys stay,” Kiera pointed out. “They mostly keep to themselves, but they sometimes cause a ruckus. The teachers’ dormitories are next to theirs.”
“The teachers don’t share a dormitory with the students?” That was a little surprising to me, but I wasn’t sure why. I guess I figured that male students and male teachers would all stay in the same place. Maybe teachers needed their down time after work just as much as the next person, though.
“Nope,” Kiera shook her head with a grin. “We get at least a little bit of teacher-free time, but don’t let that fool you. There are still monitors in each dorm who make sure we follow the rules.” She rolled her eyes like it was the silliest thing she’d ever heard, and I couldn’t help but smile. Kiera didn’t strike me as the type of pe
rson who got into much trouble. She seemed serious, and I imagined that she was a kind girl who worked hard when it came to classes.
“Who are the monitors?” I asked her, curious. Were they other students? Teachers? Random people who had been hired to keep everyone in line? More importantly, were these people who would report my behavior and my actions to my aunt? Now that I’d had a chance to see a little bit of the campus, I was actually starting to see how spending time at Hybrid Academy might not be all bad.
“Former students, mostly,” she shrugged. “They patrol at night to make sure everyone is in their bedroom when they’re supposed to be. They’re mostly harmless, but sometimes they’re assholes.”
My eyes widened at the harsh language. It seemed a little blunt, but maybe I was being overly sensitive.
“Sorry,” she shrugged. “It’s true, though, so watch your back.” I nodded at Kiera, but didn’t say anything. I’d learned long ago that watching your back was the key to surviving just about anything. The problem with relationships was that people had a tendency to betray one another, so even if you thought you could trust someone or that they’d play it cool, the reality was that people tended to migrate towards the best deals. In the case of dorm monitors, they probably cared far more about advancing their careers and impressing the headmistress than they did about keeping it chill with a bunch of students.
We followed the path around the back of the boys’ dormitory to the building where the female students stayed. It was close to both the boys’ dormitory and the teachers’ building and was designed in much the same way. The brick exterior was lovely and beautiful to look at. Again, I had the overwhelming urge to snap a photo. This building was a little different than the others, though. Somehow, it seemed even bigger. It was certainly prettier. Large sunflowers surrounded it. Like Headmistress Gregory’s door, the doors to the dormitory were purple.
Kiera and I walked up to the door and looked at it. She wasn’t even phased by the door itself, Instead, she simply waved her hand and whispered a spell quickly, but confidently.
Hybrid Academy Box Set Page 6