by Eva Brandt
My earlier wariness returned with a vengeance and I wondered why in the world I’d forgotten she was likely very dangerous. I freed myself from her hold and took a step back. “And yet, here you are, leading me around and guiding me through the campus. I have to ask what your real interest in me is.”
Gemma licked her fangs, and her eyes glinted in that same shade of familiar crimson. “Well, your familiar did just shed my blood. I have to return the favor.”
Wait, what?
Before I could figure out what the hell she was talking about, a winged creature came rushing at my head, hissing. I ducked right in time, narrowly avoiding being struck by the furious animal. The beast didn’t give up when its sneak attack failed and flew toward me again. In my rush to get away from it, I stumbled back and fell, tripping on my trolley.
When had Gemma even placed it there? I could’ve sworn it was floating several feet behind us. Bitch.
The creature landed on my chest, and I realized it was a snake of some kind, one that had wings. I’d never seen a winged snake before, but as fascinating as I found its appearance, I didn’t want to learn if it was venomous too.
It was just as well that I didn’t get the chance to analyze it too closely. Once again, Shiro came to my aid, snarling as he leaped toward the snake. For a few seconds, I feared it would attack my beloved friend, but we were in luck. It flew off without putting up a fight and hid behind Gemma.
Gemma clicked her tongue at me. “That was mean. TB, are you okay? The Sacrifice and her beast didn’t hurt you, did they?”
The snake hissed and slapped her with his wing. It was a little hilarious. Gemma spluttered, having obviously expected a better reaction from the snake.
Come to think of it, she had called the creature TB. Was this Mikael’s missing familiar? What was she doing here? Had Gemma stolen her or had Mikael found her and brought her back to the academy while I’d been stumbling around alone, in the forest?
The latter option didn’t seem likely, since Mikael was nowhere to be seen. I supposed there was only one way to find out. Abandoning all sense, I addressed the still infuriated creature. “You’re TB? Your owner was looking for you earlier. He was very upset.”
I actually wasn’t sure if ‘upset’ was the best word to describe Mikael’s earlier state. I didn’t know him well enough to judge. Still, he’d been lurking around the transport point, looking for his missing snake and asking a person he apparently didn’t like—Callum—about her. Logic stated that he’d been uneasy about her absence.
“It’s not my place to say this,” I told the snake, “but you really shouldn’t run off like that. It’s hurtful and your owner deserves better.”
“Familiars don’t have owners,” Gemma snapped at me. “They’re free creatures that offer their companionship—”
“Whatever!” I cut her off. “I don’t think my phrasing is what matters here right now, when TB just tried to kill me while Mikael is desperately looking for her. Don’t you think so, TB?”
TB landed on a tree branch and slowly nodded. I could’ve sworn she looked a little guilty. It should’ve been impossible to tell since snakes didn’t have expressions. Even so, every creature had its own specific patterns of behavior, and snakes were no different.
Besides, TB’s wings were a dead giveaway. Hers were currently slumped in a sort of defensive position. I was no expert at herpetology and ornithology, but I knew enough to identify guilt in a creature that seemed half-snake, half-bird.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I told TB. “Mikael wouldn’t stay mad at you. I know I wouldn’t, if Shiro ever did something upsetting.”
Shiro nudged me with his snout and padded closer to me. Impossibly, TB looked even more depressed and covered her head with her wing. “Do you not know how to make your way back to him?” I asked.
Callum had mentioned she’d been able to do it in the past, but maybe she was having a bad day or something. No wonder she was agitated and upset. She probably hated being separated from Mikael.
TB hissed again, but it didn’t sound in the least bit threatening. It sounded like a cry for help. “It’s all right, TB,” I told the little snake. “Gemma and I will help you. We won’t just leave you on your own.”
Gemma’s outrage faded, turning into horror. “Oh, no, count me out. I’m not going to touch someone else’s familiar. Mikael will find her eventually, and there’s no reason for me to get involved.”
Was there some kind of taboo about contact with a familiar? Based on what I’d seen so far, it was possible, maybe even likely. Still, I couldn’t just abandon the poor snake here to be exploited by Gemma for her own amusement. This whole place was filled with demonic beings. She could even get hurt.
“Well, I don’t care what you say. I’m helping.” Considering my approach with care, I asked, “Do you know if TB is venomous?”
“Of course she’s venomous, idiot,” Gemma replied. “She’s the familiar of a cambion.”
That was one insult I didn’t blame Gemma for. If a snake familiar belonged to someone on this island, there was a good chance the creature was venomous. That meant I needed to be extra careful, because no matter how much I wanted to help, I couldn’t underestimate the instincts and strength of a snake.
I wondered if TB had a problem with her wings. That would explain why she was sticking around the dorms instead of going to find Mikael on her own. “How about we do this, TB? You can ride on top of my trolley and we can track Mikael down if you point us in the right direction. That way, you don’t have to touch me directly. You’ll only be in contact with an item. It’s not magical, so it should be safe for you.” And for me too, since it would allow me to keep my distance and not risk being killed by a snake bite.
TB lifted her wing and eyed the object in question. I picked the trolley up from the ground and showed the snake how it worked. “Are you up for it?”
Instantly, the snake cheered up. She flew from the tree to my side and awkwardly landed on my trolley. Now that I was paying attention, it was obvious that she was having a hard time while flying around. “Are you hurt?” I asked her. “We can look for a doctor, if you think that’s better.”
TB shook her head and pointed at me with her wing. I assumed she meant she wanted to go see Mikael. “All right then. We’ll find your friend. I admit I don’t know much about familiars, but I’m assuming you can track him down. So just point us in the right direction.”
TB complied, directing me back toward the gate. It looked like she understood what I had in mind and wholeheartedly approved.
Gemma wasn’t as encouraging. “You’re crazy and you’re going to get yourself killed,” she shouted. “I hope you know I’ll dance on your grave when that happens.”
“Maybe, Gemma,” I said, laughing, “but you know what? I’ve always trusted animals more than I do people. And that policy hasn’t failed me so far.”
“It’s not the snake you need to worry about, Alyssa, it’s her owner,” Gemma warned me.
Not three minutes ago, Gemma had pointed out familiars didn’t have owners. I didn’t bother mentioning that little tidbit. Hypocrisy and paradoxical behavior was the norm here.
Instead, I ignored Gemma and continued on my path, guided by the snake who’d just attacked me. For the first time since I’d left the city, my head didn’t hurt.
Demonic Sloth
As expected, it didn’t take us long to track down the mysterious Mikael. At one point, he’d met up with Stefan and Callum. They had just entered the academy grounds when we ran into them.
Mikael took one look at the snake now wrapped around the handle of my trolley and cursed. “What the fuck? What in Satan’s name are you doing with my familiar?”
“I found her in front of the dorms,” I explained. “I think she couldn’t fly well enough to track you down, so I offered to help.”
The snake abandoned her spot on my trolley and glided to Mikael’s side. As she landed on his arm, her wings vanished and she
curled around his neck like a gigantic black scarf.
While Mikael was distracted by his familiar, Stefan glared at me with suspicion. “Why would you do that?” Stefan asked. “Why would you want to help?”
“Because I didn’t want to leave her there on her own, obviously,” I shot back. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like any of you. So far, you’ve insulted me, threatened my life, called me names, and made it clear that you consider me beneath you. But even so, no one deserves to lose their familiar and TB seems nice enough when she’s not trying to bite my face off.”
That part was actually true. The snake had been pretty docile throughout our little trip, so much so that even Shiro had relaxed in her presence. Still, I was relieved now that I’d done my duty and delivered the snake to her owner. Master. Companion. Whatever the right term for Mikael was. I could now go find the dorms, maybe take a shower. The island might be beautiful, but it was also ridiculously hot. After walking around for hours in this heat, I was sweating like a pig and beginning to feel light-headed.
“Oh, so she attacked you?” Mikael asked, smiling as he caressed the snake’s head. “How wonderful. She’s always been an excellent judge of character.”
I didn’t bother addressing the hostile part of his answer. It was getting pretty obvious that this sort of thing would be my new normal. “She was lying in wait in front of The House of Sloth Dorms and ambushed me there, although I get the feeling Gemma knew about it.”
I had no problem throwing Gemma under the bus. In fact, she needed a little lesson on how to be a decent person, and I suspected Mikael wouldn’t take the information well.
My guess was proven correct. Mikael stopped petting his snake and turned toward me, his sharp, ice-blue eyes glowing with silent anger. “Did she?” he asked, his voice suddenly sibilant, almost like TB’s own hiss. “And she decided not to share this with me?”
“Maybe she didn’t think it was necessary.” I shrugged. “As far as I could tell, she was confident TB would make her way to you on her own.”
Mikael clenched his jaw in visible anger. He was probably torn between agreeing with Gemma’s assessment—which had echoed his own—and admitting that he far preferred my approach. I didn’t care about his mental struggle.
I’d done my good deed for the day, had gotten acquainted with a snake I liked and several people I didn’t. Now, it was time to retreat to a private space of some kind and try to pretend this whole afternoon had been nothing more than a horrible nightmare.
“Okay, then,” I said. “Since you’ve all found each other, this is my cue to go. Thanks for the help, Mr. Adamson. I appreciate it. Bye, TB. It was nice meeting you. Take care and do come visit when you get the chance.”
I didn’t bother addressing the other two, and the result was quite satisfying. The snake waved at me with her tail, while Mikael and Stefan stared in befuddlement.
This was a chance I couldn’t miss. Despite Gemma’s flaws, I suspected she’d been honest when she’d told me not to mess with anyone’s familiar. And so, I took advantage of their shock, quickly turned on my heel, and rushed back the way I’d come. Nobody followed me.
After all that, returning to the dorms was weirdly anticlimactic. I didn’t find Gemma again, but I did run into another small creature very similar to the grey one in the village. He was apparently an imp and introduced himself as the dorm guardian, Adolf. “New students don’t get rooms assigned to them,” he explained, without bothering to look up from the book he was reading, which appeared to be a copy of Mein Kampf. “You just pick a free one and it’s yours for as long as you stay. It’d be too tedious to manage otherwise.”
“Is there any way to tell which room is occupied and which isn’t?” I asked. I hated the idea of knocking at every single door in this place to figure out which room I could claim for myself.
“Door colors. The free rooms are all white. The occupied ones are red.”
“Thanks,” I replied. He ignored me, completely focused on his book. That, I couldn’t blame him for, and although my taste in literature was different from his own, it was nice to see something familiar in a creature that was, in every other way, so unlike me.
My luck held and I found shelter without too much trouble. The system was as simple as the imp had explained and the difference in the door colors made the available rooms easy to identify. I didn’t stop at the first one, since that was just asking for trouble. I wanted to put at least some distance between me and the entrance and not have every single person entering the dorm rush past my room.
In the end, I gave up on my quest on the second floor and picked at random from there. As soon as I entered the room and saw the bed, a wave of exhaustion crashed into me. I collapsed onto the mattress, feeling more tired than I ever had in my life.
Shiro jumped next to me and curled against my side. I wrapped my arms around his body and closed my eyes. There were so many things I needed to do, so many problems I still had to take care of, but for now, that could wait.
* * *
The sound of loud knocking woke me from my slumber. “Alyssa!” a familiar voice shouted, making the ruckus even more obnoxious. “Are you in there?”
I cracked my eyes open tiredly and looked around. A dull headache was pounding at my skull, but I tried to remember what had happened. The room was completely unfamiliar to me. Where was I?
“Alyssa!” the screeching banshee outside screamed again. “Come out right this instant.”
Just like that, the fog in my brain lifted. I was at The Academy of the Devil. The weird incubus had brought me here earlier. Yesterday? I wasn’t sure how much time had passed.
Rummaging through my pockets, I came up with my cell phone. Miraculously, it had survived my adventures unscathed. It happily let me know that I’d slept a full fifteen hours. Fucking hell.
I shot out of my bed and stumbled to my abandoned trolley. I opened it in quick, jerky motions and found my pills inside.
Missing one dose wasn’t a complete tragedy, but considering my situation, I couldn’t afford to make such a huge mistake. It was the medicine that kept me functional and prevented me from falling apart altogether. I swallowed it dry and leaned against the nearby wardrobe, wanting nothing more than to go back home, where everything made sense.
Shiro crawled from underneath the bed and bounded to my side. His fur looked almost as messy as it had been last spring, when he’d stumbled into three massive mud piles. I wrinkled my nose, but hugged him anyway. “We both need a wash, buddy.”
Outside, my irritating visitor was still panicking and pounding on the door. “Alyssa!”
I let out an exasperated breath. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Hold your horses. I’m coming.”
Well and truly annoyed, I shot to my feet and made my way to the room entrance. As soon as I opened the door, Gemma pounced on me, her eyes alight with dread and ferocity. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you? I thought Stefan had eaten you yesterday.”
Did she mean that literally or figuratively? At this point, I was beginning to think nothing was impossible in this place.
“He didn’t eat me,” I said. “I barely saw him. I left TB with Mikael, and then came back to the dorms. It took less than ten minutes. Didn’t Adolf tell you?”
Gemma scowled at me in visible confusion. “Who?”
“Adolf. The imp at the entrance? The dorm guardian?”
She stared at me blankly, as if she couldn’t process what I was saying. I wondered if she was still sleep-deprived or if the stress had just short-circuited her neurons. Maybe it was better to not discuss it further. “Anyway, did you want something, or did you just mean to check I was still alive?” I asked.
The change in topic snapped Gemma out of her trance. “Of course I wanted something!” she shot back, outraged. “You do realize you’re not just here to socialize with the school princes, right? Class is getting started.”
What? Already? I hadn’t even begun to look around yet.
I hadn’t put my clothes away, packed a bag, retrieved my school supplies. I didn’t have my books. I didn’t know where I was supposed to go today. Fuck. Fuckity, fuck, fuck.
Then again, I’d had plenty of time to do that the day before and instead, I’d delivered a snake to his companion and then fallen asleep like an idiot. I tried very hard not to panic and focused on completing the tasks on my mental list. “Okay. I need a shower and I’m on it. I don’t suppose you—”
“Here,” Gemma cut me off, producing a piece of paper from... somewhere. “I picked it up from the dean’s office earlier. You owe me.”
The paper turned out to be my schedule. I browsed through it in a mix of excitement and anxiety. As much as I hated to admit it, I was kind of looking forward to my classes.
My first class was apparently Demonology, but the list didn’t provide any information on how to get to where it was supposed to be held. Gemma must’ve noticed, because she groaned in something akin to resignation. “You really are helpless, aren’t you? Don’t worry. I’ll take you there, just this once.”
It was weird that she was being so nice, but I decided to not question it. She’d already explained that the school had a ‘cruel to be kind’ policy, so she was most likely going to turn this whole thing against me in some way. In the meantime, I had to use the information and hope I didn’t get myself killed or expelled the first day.
The rooms of the Sloth Dorms each had individual, attached bathrooms, so it was easy enough to rush through a shower. Giving Shiro his bath took longer, but he was more cooperative than he usually tended to be, perhaps sensing I was freaking out.
Still, by the time I was done, at least half an hour had passed. An agitated Gemma shoved a dress into my arms and said, “Quick, put this on.”
The black gown was identical to what she’d been wearing the day before. “Err... Thanks, but I’m not really into clothes that are so... elegant.” Also, so revealing. Was it just me, or was the material slightly transparent?
Gemma rolled her eyes at me. “It’s the school uniform for girls. You have to wear it.”