Gift of the Gods (Magic Blessed Academy Book 1)

by Eva Ashwood

  My mouth hung slightly open as I stared at Oberon. My brain felt like it was running at half-speed, working far too slowly to be of any help in coming up with a way out of this. The silence stretched out uncomfortably, but the group standing in front of me seemed to have infinite patience. They just stood there and waited, as if they were certain that eventually I would say something. The stubborn part of me wanted to hold out, make them wait forever—or make them drag it out of me by force.

  Then again, I had no fucking clue what’d happened or why, and if there was even the slightest chance they could give me answers, maybe it was in my best interest to play nice with them. So I gave in and tapped out.

  “No.” I shook my head, meeting his gaze. “I had no idea I had any type of magic. I don’t understand how it possibly could happen. I’m not from a magical bloodline. My dad was human. My mom died when I was little, but she was human too. I’m sure of it.”

  A woman stepped around Oberon and flashed a cursory smile at me. She was very neat and tidy. Her clothes were perfectly ironed, and her white blouse had a collar on it that stood up to her chin, lined with a bit of lace. She looked like what I imagined an old-fashioned school teacher would look like, only much younger. She pushed a pair of thin, black-rimmed glasses up her nose and clutched her hands together in front of her.

  “It’s entirely possible neither of your parents had magic,” she said in a light, airy voice. At my shocked look, she lifted her shoulders in a delicate shrug. “I’m sure you’ve been taught for most of your life that there are two categories of people in the world—magical and non-magical. The truth, however, is slightly more complex than that. There are a small portion of people who exist in a third category—newly magical. You are correct that you didn’t have magic before. But you do now. The gods have blessed you, Aria.”

  I snorted a laughed, looking around for anyone else who wanted to chime in—maybe to tell this woman she was crazy. When no one did, I slowly dropped the smile and cleared my throat. “Okay, so I’ve acquired new magical abilities. Why exactly do you have me tied to a chair then?”

  Oberon took a deep breath and released the bind he had on me. I rolled my shoulders, feeling the soreness in them. I wasn’t sure if it was from the invisible rope or from the fights I’d gotten into the night before. He crouched down next to me, and I leaned back a little, feeling suddenly claustrophobic.

  “What you need to understand, Aria, is that when you acquire these new magical skills, especially at an older age, you lack the ability to control them. I’m pretty sure that last night, control wasn’t something you even thought about—you just lashed out, and your power lashed out too. We’re here to offer you guidance and instruct you on the next steps.”

  I wrinkled my nose, knowing full well I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. “And what is the next step?”

  Oberon stood up and smiled down at me. “School. It’s time for you to go back to school. And before you say anything, it’s not really a request.”

  On any other day, I would’ve fought them. But my fingertips were still tingling with magic, and I could still see the slight aura radiating from me. Even if I managed to overpower four trained mages and escape, I’d be a walking beacon for more of these magical enforcement people to come find. And I was sure the next ones who found me would be less gentle than these four.

  With a deep sigh, I nodded grudgingly. “Fine. But I’m not wearing a damn uniform.”

  Chapter Four

  Ten minutes later, I stood at the kitchen sink, my back to the magical popo, taking a drink of warm tap water. I could feel their serious gazes drilling into the back of my head, making me want to run. Holding my glass so tight I was afraid it might shatter, I turned around and scowled at them.

  “You guys are a scream. I bet your company parties get wild.”

  They all just blinked at me, except Oberon, who was writing something down. He smirked.

  Oberon finished writing with what looked like a quill from the eighteen-hundreds, but there wasn’t any ink that I could see. I watched as he swished his hand through the air, and the paper rolled up, wobbled back and forth, and disappeared. I could feel my right eye twitch at the sight of it. It wasn’t that I’d never seen magic before—it was that I had never seen magic that had to do with me. I’d tended to stay in the background, to stay out of the way of magic users. I’d learned that lesson very early on.

  When he was done, he motioned to the chair next to him with an almost kind smile on his face. I took my time, setting the glass in the sink and walking over slowly. Pulling out the chair, I plopped down, knees apart, shoulders slumped, and my hands folded on my belly.

  Oberon didn’t even seem to notice my attempt to get under his skin. He was like a magical fucking robot. “You will be enrolled in Magic Blessed Academy. It’s a training program for people just like you, those who have been gifted with magic despite having no magical blood in their family line. I just sent word to the school that you will be arriving through the portal in one week. That should give you enough time to get your affairs in order and pack whatever you’d like to bring with you. We do ask that you leave all weapons behind.”

  “Well.” I huffed a breath. “Then I don’t have any luggage to bring.”

  No one seemed to get my attempt at humor. Oberon kept that same placid smile on his face and continued without skipping a beat. “The portal will appear right here in your living room. Make sure that you’re alone at exactly this time one week from today. The portal will be made specially for you. Anyone who is not invited will be blocked from entering. And let me just warn you, it’s not very friendly to an unauthorized person trying to pass through.”

  I nodded. “Got it. One week from today, be right here to jump through a portal. Don’t bring any of my boyfriends or my dealer with me.”

  No reaction to that either. Gods, these people were no fucking fun at all.

  Oberon stood and nodded at me, motioning to the others with a wave of his hand. They headed out the door and closed it behind them, leaving me sitting in my rickety kitchen chair, wondering what the hell had just happened. They had disappeared from my apartment just as quickly as they’d appeared.

  I rose on shaky legs and grabbed my keys from the counter. I had agreed to go to this Magic Blessed Academy, and that was that. I hated the fact that I had to do it, and I hated even more that I knew it was the best thing for me. Oberon had been right about one thing. A person who couldn’t control their magic was a danger to themselves and others. And my attempt to fight off him and his little squad had proved pretty clearly that I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.

  Grabbing the door handle, I flung the door open—but it stopped short, almost pulling my shoulder out of joint. Glancing at the chain, I realized Oberon had put everything back together as they’d left. I breathed deeply through my nose, trying to keep my impending freak-out at bay. The best thing I could do for myself was go a couple rounds with a punching bag at the gym.

  I headed over to the rundown boxing gym to meet up with Vin. A couple of the guys whistled as I walked in, and I gave them the finger with a grin.

  “Where you been?” Vin’s gruff voice called out as soon as I entered, making me grimace. “You were supposed to be here an hour ago.”

  I walked toward his office door where he was yelling from. Sticking my head around the doorframe, I pulled a face. “Sorry. I had something kinda strange happen to me, and I was held up.”

  The slight glow of magic still surrounded my body. None of the guys out on the main floor had noticed when I walked in, but that was only because they hadn’t been expecting it. They had no reason to think I would suddenly develop magical powers.

  Vin didn’t even look up, just waved me in and motioned to shut the door. I did as he asked and dropped my gym bag on the floor before plopping down in the chair across from his old, wobbly desk. He finished writing in an old leather ledger and glanced up at me as he flipped it closed. “So, w
hat happened?”

  I’d spent the entire walk over wondering what the hell I was going to tell Vin, but the second he caught sight of me, I knew I wouldn’t have to tell him anything. He already knew.

  “Apparently, I’ve acquired some sort of new magic.” I held my hands out helplessly, glancing down at my pale, glowing skin.

  Vin had gone perfectly still, and I knew that wasn’t a good sign. I continued anyway, fully aware that I was going to have to get this all out whether I liked it or not. “I was attacked by some guys on the way home from the fight last night—”

  He opened his mouth, concern reflecting in his eyes, but I waved him off before he could speak.

  “I’m fine. I kicked their asses. But the thing is, I used magic to do it. Then some magical police showed up at my house today and pretty much told me I have to go to school and learn how to use my magic. I leave in a week.”

  That was the simplest, clearest explanation I could give, but Vin blinked at me as if I’d just started speaking in a foreign language. As if nothing I’d said made sense.

  Well, it hadn’t.

  This was all entirely insane. But I was coming to accept that it wasn’t just a nightmare. It was real.

  He shook his head, pushing his ledger away from him. “That’s not possible. You don’t have magic in your family.”

  “I know.”

  “So how come you have magic?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “And now you gotta go to some special school?”

  “Yeah.”

  Vin put down his pen and let out a long, deep sigh. He looked like he was at a loss for words for a moment, then he finally scrubbed a hand down his face. “You know what this means, right? I can’t let you fight anymore—not before you go to this school and not after. Not if you have magic. For one thing, it’s against the rules, and for another, it’s too dangerous.”

  My shoulders slumped, my cheeks flushing hot with disappointment and an odd sense of shame. “Yeah. Yeah, sure, I understand. You gotta do what you gotta do.”

  I felt suddenly uncomfortable around a man whom I’d known for years. I could tell he was already looking at me differently, and it made me want to crawl out of my own skin.

  This is such bullshit. I just want my old life back.

  Sure, it’d been kinda shady, and I’d been constantly behind on rent, but I’d liked it. It’d been mine, and I had been the master of my fate.

  Now that I had magic, everything was going to change.

  It’d been a nice gesture for Oberon to give me an entire week to get my life in order, but the reality of it was, I had very few friends, no family, and almost nothing to pack. So it was an easy week for me.

  I didn’t feel comfortable going out, what with my dimly glowing aura and the possibility that I could unleash an accidental spell on some unsuspecting passerby. So I lounged around, slept a lot, and played with my new power a little. And when I say a little, I mean I tried it out once, broke the sink, and decided that I needed to wait until I got some proper training to try again.

  By the time the week was over, I was more than glad to be moving on to something else. At that point, I didn’t care what it was as long as it got me out of my apartment. Thirty seconds before the designated portal time, I grabbed my bag and made sure I had all the essentials. Mostly just clothes, an envelope full of the last of my cash, and all my fight gear. I threw a couple of books in there that had been sitting on the shelf for months, even though I knew I’d probably never read them. I felt better having something in my bag.

  I tightened the straps on my beat up duffel, not really sure what to expect when walking through a portal. In my mind, I kept picturing Alice falling down the rabbit hole. I watched the clock on the wall as the second hand ticked by one small click at a time. When it hit the exact moment, I squared my shoulders and readied myself.

  I expected a huge torrent of wind and wild colors to come racing toward me… but there was nothing.

  After standing stock still for a few more seconds, I began to think they had forgotten me. A wild hope bloomed in my chest as I tapped my foot and kept my eyes on the clock. Maybe I’d gotten my get out of jail free card after all.

  Almost as soon as I had that thought, there was a loud crack, and vibrant colors began swirling in front of me. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to step through, but the whole thing didn’t look very safe. As I waited, the colors began to fade, and I could almost see through to the other side. It was strange, like looking through a mist into another world.

  Suddenly, a head popped through the thin veil. It belonged to a middle-aged woman with cat eyeglasses and a big grin. She was wearing a button-up collared shirt, and her overly friendly appearance instantly put me on edge.

  “Come on in.” She raised her eyebrows, her smile never wavering. “Just walk straight through.”

  I puffed out my cheeks and hefted the duffel higher on my shoulder, muttering under my breath. “Here goes nothing.”

  The moment my body breached the semi-transparent portal, I felt a suction that pulled me right to the other side. The woman caught my arm so I didn’t fall to the floor.

  “Careful there! It can be a doozy the first time, but you’ll get used to it quickly. Welcome to Magic Blessed Academy. Thank you for being on time to your portal. And only people who have a portal attuned to them can travel directly to our school, so you don’t have to worry about anyone finding you here.”

  I looked down at myself, wondering if she was saying that because I was dressed in tight black jeans with holes in the knees, combat boots, and a black wife beater. I shook it off, figuring she said that to everyone.

  Half a second later, a portal opened up next to me and someone else came through. He stumbled forward and caught himself, laughing as if he’d just stepped off the best rollercoaster he’d ever ridden. Straightening, he pulled down the hem of his tight black T-shirt and stuck his hands in the pockets of his attractively beat-up jeans. Thick leather bands decorated his wrists, his forearms were covered in tattoos, and I was sure there were more decorating parts of his body currently obscured by clothing. He looked like a rock star. In fact, he looked really familiar.

  The woman glanced at him, her cheeks flushing slightly. When she spoke, her voice had dropped into a slightly lower register and become a little breathy. “Trace Murphy. Welcome back.”

  Oh, so this guy was a returning student. Oberon had told me this was a three year training program, so maybe he was a second or third-year.

  “Ah, Aria. I’m glad you made it.” A familiar voice spoke up as the man it belonged to walked forward from the back of the room.

  Oberon smiled widely, looking just a little less FBI this time and lacking his entourage. He nodded at the guy next to me, whose name was apparently Trace. Then he shifted his attention back to me.

  “Welcome. The opening convocation for the school year will take place soon, and then this admin office will be your best friend for the next couple of days. You’ll get all your class information here, and they will assign your dorm room. This is Miss Avery—she’s in charge of student affairs. She’ll take you right over to the ceremony. My department is recruitment, so now that you’re officially a student here, our paths likely won’t cross again, but the staff here will take excellent care of you.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the guy next to me watching our exchange. He was kind of distracting—not because he was doing anything attention grabbing, but because he was hot as fuck. His black hair flopped over his forehead, and his eyes were bright, icy blue. He looked exactly like the kind of guy I might’ve taken home after a fight back in my old life.

  I pushed the thought out of my mind, reminding myself not to trust anyone in this strange new place.

  Miss Avery walked past us and opened the door. “Well, come on, we’re late. You two are the last ones to arrive, and the dean will be waiting for you to take your seats before she begins.”

  Trace grinned
at me and went first. The crooked curve of his lips made him look even more handsome, but I kept my face stony as I followed after him, glancing around at the stone hallways that led through whatever castle-like structure we had fallen into from the rabbit hole. We took so many twists and turns I wasn’t even sure how to get back to the last hallway we’d been in, much less to the admin office.

  “I’m gonna have to get a damn GPS to navigate this place,” I muttered, and the tattooed man laughed.

  “It’s not so bad,” he told me, interest gleaming in his eyes as he leaned down to speak to me.

  He didn’t even seem to be paying attention to where we were going. He probably already had the layout memorized.

  “You a second-year or third-year?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity. I wasn’t one for making small talk with strangers, but something about this guy drew me in. Besides, I had about a million questions about the school, and I figured he’d give me more interesting answers than Miss Avery would.

  “Second.” His lips curved up again, and he ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “Me and my buddies sort of run this place, so if you need any help getting settled in, let me know, yeah?”

  Wow. Blatant.

  I sort of had to respect that though. And it wasn’t like I could blame him. Everything about me, from my voice to my body language, was conveying my interest in him. He’d picked up on that and thrown down his own cards.

  “Thanks,” I murmured. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Fuck. I was really tempted to take him up on his unspoken offer. It was probably a really bad idea to hook up with a guy who I’d be stuck going to school with for the next two years—especially since I’d gotten the impression we wouldn’t be leaving school grounds, wherever those grounds might be, except during the summer and winter breaks.

  That was a long time to be trapped in a building with an ex-one-night stand, no matter how large the building was.

  Still… it was tempting as hell.