by Cara Wylde
He turned to me. His blue eyes had turned a shade darker.
“He’s an incubus. He had you right where he wanted you, and you’re defending him? Come on, Aleksiev, don’t tell me you’re that naïve. They say you’re the first human who’s lived for two centuries and hasn’t aged a day, nor lost her humanity. I thought you were wiser than this.”
“I don’t…” But my head was starting to clear. I touched my temple. Davien was a few feet away, rubbing his sore jaw, and when I looked at him, I realized I wasn’t as horny as a few seconds before. It was as if my lust for him had diminished exponentially, which meant… that indeed, it hadn’t been real. “Fuck,” I whispered. I looked up at Seth. He was just as tall as Davien, towering over me, and he was angry. Anger suited him, actually. It made him look hot and dangerous. What’s wrong with me? Must be the damn incubus. All I can think about is sex. I grabbed my books off the floor and put some distance between me and the VDC guys. They were both really, really bad choices. “Thank you, Seth. I mean, this wasn’t necessary. I can take care of myself.”
He huffed. “Didn’t look like it.”
I squinted my eyes at him. “It was consensual.”
“Was it, though?”
Davien grabbed him by the arm. “Knock it off, man. I would never do something like that. What’s wrong with you?”
“You’re not fooling me, Krause.”
Davien tensed. I sensed there was a high probability he was going to return Seth’s punch, so I decided to bolt. If I wasn’t there, maybe they’d see there was really nothing to fight over.
“I’m late for class,” I said in a calm, collected voice. They stared at me like I was the eighth wonder of the world. They couldn’t believe that I was so indifferent when they were literally at each other’s throats for me. I walked around them and didn’t look back.
CHAPTER SIX
Geography with Professor Nefertari Maat. She was a sphinx, and a beauty. I was so entranced by her that I didn’t notice who sat beside me until I heard the familiar voice in my ear.
“You’re welcome.”
I turned to look at Seth Khepri. To my relief, his perfect jaw was intact. It seemed that Davien had decided to not punch him since I wasn’t there to see it.
“Again, I didn’t need your help.”
“You don’t understand. Davien Krause is dangerous. He takes advantage of all women, discards them as soon as he gets bored.”
“And you care… why?”
“It’s not right.”
“I didn’t take you for a feminist. Hard to when the first thing you told me was that I’d find myself in your bed by the end of the semester.”
He smirked. “Sorry about that. Sometimes, I’m too honest for my own good.”
“There it is. It’s called asshollery, not honesty. Don’t kid yourself.”
“Hey! I saved you back there, okay?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what you think you did…”
I didn’t finish my sentence, because Professor Maat zeroed in on me.
“Do you want to share with all of us, Miss Aleksiev?”
I sighed. “No. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. She was tall and gorgeous, with raven black hair combed away from her forehead, falling straight down her back, luscious tanned skin, and dark eyes. Her limbs were long and graceful, which was a trait specific to sphinxes. Seth, too, had unnaturally long arms and legs, but it all worked so well with his body structure, that when he moved and walked, it was impossible to look away.
“I was just presenting the curriculum for this semester, but since you’ve decided to interrupt me, maybe you want to continue?”
I stiffened. Not again!
“We’re covering Europe and Asia. Can you name one hidden location in Europe and one in Asia?”
Geography was one of my favorite subjects, actually, so I’d studied it extensively. In year one, we learned about the geography of Earth, but not as it was taught in normal, human schools. We also covered the most remote and hidden places where humans didn’t usually step foot. Those were the places were rare supernaturals liked to hide away from the world, and rare supernaturals died, too. Reapers had to have access to all the seen an unseen nooks and crannies of this wonderful planet we called home. In year two, we studied the geography of Heaven and Hell, and in year three, we covered the geography of the pocket universes attached to our bigger, wider universe. As a traveler at heart, it was easy to see why Geography was the first class I was going to ace. Or, by the way Professor Maat was scowling at me, not.
“Avalon in Europe, the island that is surrounded by marshes. Arthur Pendragon retired there when his career as a Grim Reaper came to its end. Shangri-La in Asia, in the Kunlun Mountains, where many dragon shifters choose to build their nests.”
She tipped her chin. For some reason, she wasn’t pleased that I’d answered correctly.
“Tell me, Miss Aleksiev.” She paused, looking around the classroom. “On second thought, better tell them. Do you believe you are better than the rest of our students?”
“What? No! Of course not!”
“But you’ve traveled the world…”
“Everyone here has traveled the world, I’m sure.” Hayley was sitting a few desks away, and I shot her an apologetic look. “They’ve seen Heaven and Hell…” I wanted to say I hadn’t been to either yet, but Professor Maat cut me off.
“Let me finish. You’ve traveled to parallel dimensions that aren’t accessible to most of our students. You’ve done research and published studies, if I remember well. Do you think all that makes you better than… us?”
I cleared my throat and tried to put as much gravitas in my voice as I could.
“No. I absolutely do not believe I’m better than anyone.”
She nodded. She played with the heavy gold collar adorning her chest for a minute, as if trying to decide whether I was being honest or not, then she spun on her heels and went to write on the white board. She started drawing two columns, one for Europe and one for Asia, as she said:
“Minus ten worth points.”
“Why?!” There was a hint of desperation in my voice.
“For playing smart, Miss Aleksiev. I won’t have that in my class.”
“What the fuck?” I whispered. Only Seth could hear me. I shot him a side glance. “You started it.”
He shrugged. “What can I say?”
“She didn’t even look at you.”
“I’m her favorite.”
“And why’s that?”
“You like to know everything, don’t you?” He laughed lightly, then pretended he was paying attention to the lesson.
I studied his profile for a long minute, on the one hand wondering what he was hiding and why he’d punched Davien, but mostly marveling at how fascinatingly handsome he was. Eventually, I turned to the front of the class and tried to focus – which was hard, since I truly did already know everything Professor Maat was teaching. I zoned out and found myself thinking I was like those kids whose parents taught them how to read and write before they went to school and who, once enrolled, were bored out of their mind for the greater part of first grade.
The bell rang. I let out a breath and started gathering my books. Hayley waved at me, so I moved faster to catch up with her.
“I’m serious, though,” Seth said. “For your own good, stay away from Krause. He’s devoid of any emotion that’s even remotely connected to love or care. He’ll only break your heart.”
“What makes you think I won’t break his?”
We looked into each other’s eyes, and I briefly wondered how someone with hair so black and skin so tanned could have such intense, ocean-blue irises.
“I don’t think you’re the type. Normie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“It’s not an insult. Everyone here knows you’re not… normal.” He chuckled.
He thought he was so funny, didn’t he? “Take it as a term of endearment.”
“All the more reason to never call me that.”
I walked away. Hayley was waiting for me, and we walked together to the next class – Introduction to Dream Traveling. It should have been the class where I fit in the best, but I was reluctant now. So far, my first day at Grim Reaper Academy had been awful.
“Mercury is retrograde.”
“Sorry?”
“Mercury went retrograde two days ago,” Hayley repeated. “So, it’s not you. It’s a general thing.”
I laughed. “Thanks, but I doubt it. Everyone hates me, and I have no idea why.”
“I don’t hate you. The professors don’t hate you, either. I think they just don’t know how to behave around you. Compared to the other students, you do know a lot of things. You grew up with a Grim Reaper of the last generation, and she showed you everything. You teleported in front of everyone yesterday! It was badass! But it puts them at a loss. If you already know so much, what’s left for the Academy to teach you? And if you’ve always known you’ll be a Grim Reaper, how can the others even compete with you?”
“Need I remind you that I’m thirty points down on the first day? I might still fail and not graduate.”
“That will never happen.”
“It will, if they’re all against me.”
We sat together in Introduction to Dream Traveling. Even though only humans and hybrids could dream, the class was compulsory, and all students had to take it. In the supernatural world, dreaming was regarded as an ability or a power in its own right. In some way, it made humans supernatural, too. The caveat was that not all humans remembered their dreams, which meant that even if they involuntarily crossed dimensions, they weren’t aware of it. Those who could control their dreams and travel with intention were rare, and there had been studies showing genetics had something to do with it. Even I’d written an article about how the ability had evolved in my family and how it seemed to be passed from mother to daughter. My conclusion was mostly based on Mila and Aunt Katia, since I couldn’t remember my mother and had never met my grandmother.
Rachel Crane was one hundred percent human. Back in the day, when Mila was a student here and year three was canceled because of her tyrant of a father, the Supernatural Council decided to instate year four as an exception. It was the first time when Introduction to Dream Traveling was introduced in the curriculum, and someone else was teaching it.
Mrs. Crane was petite, barely 5’1, curvy, with a round, pretty face, and short, curly hair. She moved like a pixie – quickly and efficiently. As she stormed into the classroom, I noticed she had an extra book. A closer look at the cover as she slammed it onto the teacher’s desk was enough to freeze the blood in my veins.
“Is that…” Hayley started. Her eyes widened. “Oh shit! It is. Wow!”
Yeah, indeed. Wow. It was one of the studies I’d published a few years ago.
“Hello and welcome to Introduction to Dream Traveling. I am Professor Crane, and I will be guiding you on this exciting journey. Seeing how this is a mixed class, we will be approaching dream travel from different perspectives. We have two humans, Miss Yolanda Aleksiev and Miss Hayley Clarke, and after a meeting with Headmaster Colin, we decided that it’s best for them to attend every week with a different set of students. So, they will act as our constants, while our hybrid and supernatural students will rotate. I know it sounds complicated now, but if you pay attention to your weekly schedules, you will see that you’ll soon get used to this strategy. It’s in everyone’s best interest, seeing how the ones who need this class the most are our only two dream travelers, while the material is merely informative for most hybrids and all supernaturals.”
I had to give it to her. She was honest and direct, and she had no interest in catering to the supernaturals’ fragile egos. She held up the book with my name on it.
“The library will soon have fifty copies of This Universe and Beyond written by our very own Yolanda Aleksiev. I have ordered them myself. When they get in, make sure you check them out and read them. Make your own copies if you have to, as I’m aware there won’t be enough for everyone. If you’re wondering, yes, we will be using the textbook as well, but since it was published, much research has been done, and in my opinion, the textbook falls short and simply isn’t as comprehensive as I’d like it to be. So, we will be focusing a lot on This Universe and Beyond. Your final papers will be based on it.”
Since Introduction to Dream Traveling wasn’t exactly the most important class in the curriculum, it was held only once a week, and not everyone was going to attend it that often. We wouldn’t have a final exam, but a final paper was a decent enough requirement to pass the class. The fact that all the students at the Academy were going to dissect my book was simply mortifying. Since they weren’t experts in the field, I knew there was no chance of them challenging my findings and conclusions, but there was every chance of them criticizing my writing style, and even my grammar. The material had gone through countless edits, but even so, I was crazy to hope it was flawless. Nothing was ever flawless.
Mrs. Crane proceeded to give a short presentation of how we were going to tackle the subject this semester, then turned to me, a bright, encouraging smile on her face.
“Miss Aleksiev, would you like to tell us about your book?”
Not particularly, no.
“What inspired you to write it? Did you think there was something missing in the field and you aimed to fill the gap?”
I bit the inside of my lip. She wasn’t going to let this go, was she?
Hayley nudged me. “You can do it.”
Yes, I knew I could do it! That wasn’t the problem. I’d promoted my book after it was published and held presentations all over the world. I was a decent speaker, at the very least. I stood up, glanced around the classroom, and thanked God that neither Seth, nor Davien were there. Domina was, instead, and so was Scarlett. I recognized a few VDC guys, and there was also Valac, who was watching me intently.
Better get this over with. I stepped away from my desk and took the book from Mrs. Crane.
“There isn’t much to say, really.”
“Oh, don’t sell yourself short,” Mrs. Crane chuckled.
I’m trying not to sell myself at all.
“When I published This Universe and Beyond, there were plenty of good, solid studies available. Research on dream jumping was at its peak, and you will see that, to some extent, my book acknowledges it and develops on it. For instance, the first five chapters don’t bring anything new in particular, just a wider perspective on what had already been discussed in the field. But yes, I did believe there was a gap that I had the necessary experience to fill – dream travelers switching places with their counterparts in the parallel dimensions moving roughly within the same timeframe as ours. I’ve never done it myself, but someone in my family, someone close to me, has. Drawing on her experience and her findings, I wrote three chapters on how a dream traveler can achieve this sort of body exchange. You can find the interview with Katerina Angelov in chapter eight.”
“That’s Mila Morningstar’s mother,” someone in the RDC felt the need to point out.
“Yes.”
“Didn’t she get trapped in a parallel dimension?”
“Err… yes, she did. Kind of. I mean, it was a personal choice.”
Domina laughed. “That’s not what I heard.”
I took a deep breath and released it slowly. Of course everyone was more interested in the drama.
“What would you like to know?” I gave in. If I made them ask pertinent questions, then I could do my best to answer them.
Domina leaned forward. Her blue eyes were filled with curiosity, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“How did she get trapped? Did her husband from that dimension kidnap her?”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Really? She was a seraph, a creature of
Heaven! Why would she stoop to this low level of drama and gossip?
“It’s true that dream travelers can get trapped in a parallel dimension, but it rarely happens. In fact, I would hazard to say it’s impossible unless a criminal hand is involved. The process goes like this.” I paused to reconsider my approach. “Actually, I feel like I must make one tiny parenthesis, just in case this isn’t clear. Don’t try this at home.” I forced a smile. By the looks of my classmates, they didn’t get the joke. I cleared my throat and tried to sound serious again. “Naturally, an exchange can only be made when the dream traveler is alive and well in both dimensions. For instance, I can find a parallel universe that is as similar as possible to this one, and if Yolanda exists in that universe, we can agree to switch places for a while. We can do this for a day, a week, a month, a year… It doesn’t matter. It’s up to us, as long as we’re on the same page. During this exchange, one of us could get trapped, and there’s only one instance when this could happen: if the other Yolanda dies and her body is destroyed. When I say destroyed, I mean… literally destroyed. Burned, for example. Then, if I’m the one who’s still alive in the other universe, let’s say, I won’t be able to return home, because my body is not there anymore.” I threw a glance at Mrs. Crane. “Does that make sense? I don’t know how to explain it any better.”
Her eyes were filled with excitement. “This is perfect! Amazing!”
I blinked and quickly looked away. I had a feeling she was very close to fangirling, and if my classmates noticed, they were sure to burn me at the stake later.
“Did I answer your question, Domina?”
The seraph scrunched up her nose. “Meh. Not really. I wanted to know if Valentine Morningstar kidnapped her.”
“He… No one kidnapped her. It was just… an unfortunate accident.” My voice was mostly a whisper. I wasn’t a good liar, and I knew everyone could tell. Especially the VDC and RDC students. It was like they all had a special bullshit radar. “She is happy where she is. It was her choice to stay.” That wasn’t entirely a lie. Aunt Katia hadn’t chosen to stay, she’d been forced. But in the end, she found her happiness with her husband, Valentine Morningstar, who unlike the Morningstar in our universe, was a decent, loving man.