by Evie Wilde
“Oliver,” Oliver Morris said and stepped forward. He was the shortest of the three but had odd, handsome features, like he was better than his looks. “Hmm.” He held my other hand. “You are five-foot-two or 62 inches. Or 157.48 centimeters.” He rested his chin on his right hand. “I believe 110 pounds or 49.89516 kilograms.”
“A lady doesn’t tell her age or weight,” I quipped.
“Ignore the brainiac,” Kyler said. “He’s smart. We get it.” He moved Oliver away. “Kyler Bowen, artist extraordinaire.” He reached into his front pocket and pulled out a perfect dozen red roses and placed them in my hand. He then held up a thumb as if to take aim at me. Using his other hand, he began drawing a picture in the air, a picture of me. “Anything you need, I'm at your service.”
Dash reached out and waved his hand through the picture, and it dissipated. “Forget these two. Welcome to the academy. I’m the guy who can get things. You remember that and you’ll do fine.”
I glanced at Braeden who just shrugged. I could see jealousy beginning to fill his eyes. Neither of us were used to other guys being around. Even at the guild the men kept their distance, though I thought Braeden had a lot to do with that.
“If the five of you are done playing, we can begin the tour. My name is Ruby Thompson. Like you, I’m a witch at the academy.”
I first noticed the glow of her hands and then her beautiful features: wavy, flowing black hair, eyes so blue they could be made of artic ice, perfectly aligned facial features, and though tall, a body to die for. She also had an air of confidence I wished I had. And though she looked to be our age, I sensed and older soul, something different from the rest of us.
She followed my eyes to her hands. “Ice and darkness,” she said, and raised her hands. “A welcome combination.”
“Fire, of course,” Dash interrupted and showed his red hands. He created a small fireball and then swiped a finger through the center. Using that same finger, he drew the word welcome in mid-air, tiny flames flapping from each letter.
Kyler chuckled, and right before my eyes he became a black wolf. He howled and padded around the room, his black fur shiny and long. He moved next to me and licked my hand. His black eyes shimmered from the lights above. He howled again and changed back when my jaw dropped. “Earth is my element,” he said. “I’m also a shapeshifter, obviously.”
I looked him over and smiled.
“Clothes,” Dash said.
“Oops.” Braeden snapped his fingers, and he was no longer naked. “Always forget that part.”
Oliver sighed loudly. He raised his hands over his head and moved them back and forth, water appearing in the air. He brought his hands down, and water hovered above each palm. “Water,” he said.
Dash swatted the water droplets, and they splashed against a painting on the wall. The colors began to run, and as they did Kyler darted past us. He waved his hand across the painting, and the colors reversed course, returning to their proper place. He ran his hands through his black hair and shook his body as if to rid himself of a chill. He was tall but not as tall as Dash. But unlike Dash, Kyler was of solid build, his muscles pressing against his shirt. For such a young man, he wore a thick beard that made him appear years older. His eyes were distant, as if he were looking at you but thinking of something worldly. I wondered if he were the loner of their little group.
“Show off,” Dash said. With his arm still around my shoulders, he walked us forward as if he were the baddest man on campus.
I was a bit taken aback by all the attention, some I wanted, some that made me worry. They apparently had not heard the stories of my witchery, or the lack thereof. When they did, the friendliness would wear off. They would return to their group of three and treat me like a disease.
“As I’m sure you’re aware, we’re currently in the admin building, a place you want to stay out of,” Ruby said quietly. Even mentioning the building gave her shivers. We walked outside, and she pointed at the instructors’ housing. “Stay out of that building.” She stopped and stared at me. “Be watchful of the male instructors. If they ask you back to their apartment, you say no. Some of the female students have inadvertently found themselves inside those walls.”
“Notice she didn’t tell us to stay out,” Dash said.
Braeden glanced back at me and then glanced at Dash’s arm around mine. I slipped my arm away, and that was when Dash noticed Braeden’s glare.
“Calm down,” Dash said to Braeden. “There’s enough of her to go around.”
“Shush,” Ruby said and continued leading us to the next building. She took her job seriously which meant she probably took her studies seriously. I needed her as a friend. “These buildings contain the classrooms and auditoriums used for your training. Except for field training, this is where you’ll spend most of your time.”
I thought about what Dash had said. “There’s enough of me to go around.” I glanced at each of the four young men, and an idea began to take shape in my mind; an idea I would never have considered before entering the academy.
“Earth to Cassandra,” Dash said.
I looked up at the crystal buildings and raised my hand. “Why the crystal?” I asked Ruby.
“I got this one,” Oliver said. He sidled up next to me and pointed at the crystal buildings. “Crystal is the only substance capable of repelling a spell or an element. It keeps inexperienced students from destroying the campus.” He then stopped us from continuing. “Like the witch who destroyed half of Wayfair City a month ago.” They all laughed, and that was when I knew I was in trouble.
Kyler stopped and turned to look at me. “I thought you looked familiar,” he said. He turned to Dash. “It’s her.”
“Her who?” Dash asked.
“The witch who destroyed Wayfair City. The one who lobbed fireballs, hitting everything but her target.”
Dash released my arm and began laughing. “The fae city witch,” he said. “Wiped out the entire town.” He laughed again.
“There were over a dozen Sarchi ravaging the city,” Braeden said, Ruby by his side. “You should know by now the Sarchi are the fastest moving creatures we have to deal with. Any one of us could have made the same mistake.” He went at Dash, and Oliver and Kyler separated the two.
“No,” Oliver said. He pulled a glass device from his pocket similar to what the old man at the entrance had used to check us in. “Wayfair City is just the most recent. Of course, there was the fae city, the field of cows she turned into steaks. The river she turned to alcohol and killed all the fish. The list goes on.”
I shook my head at Braeden for him not to do what he was thinking about. He would fight to the death to protect my honor. Everything Oliver, the little shit, said was true. I’d screwed up more times than I could count. And for the second time since my arrival, I doubted my ability to be successful at the academy. My past was following me around like a lost puppy. I couldn’t spend the next four years listening to all the trash talking.
“We need to finish the tour,” Ruby said, her fear of me obvious. I gave her a gentle shrug, hoping she wouldn’t hold all those things against me. With all the testosterone around me it would have been nice to have a female friend, especially one who took schooling so seriously.
I waited for everyone to follow Ruby, and then I fell several paces back, feeling as though a shadow had been cast over me and my abilities. It was not how I wanted my first day at the academy to start.
As we continued the tour, Braeden stole a look at me, and I shook my head. Defending me again in front of the others would make him look bad. He needed to be his own man, although I wondered about him being mine. I pushed away the thought and tried to concentrate on the reason I was at the academy. To become the best witch in the world and to prove other people wrong. The three guys had set the bar a few notches higher. I decided to be better than them and not cause a scene.
Kyler dropped back from the pack and joined me, his face consolatory. “Sorry about the way Dash tr
eated you. He’s always messing with people. We’ve known each other since high school. He’s got a lot he’s dealing with inside. Don’t hold it against him.”
“That’s what I figured. I’m not here to make enemies,” I said. “And I knew my past would come back to bite me in the ass anyway.”
“Yeah, I get it. I’m kinda an outcast as well. You’ll get used to it.”
I nodded but felt my insides crumble at his remark. Again, I felt like crying refused to show weakness. “You never said where you’re from,” I said.
“Up north, where the woods are thick and dark,” he said. “It’s where I learned to hone my Earth element, and where I roamed free as a wolf cub.” He held my hand as we followed the others. “Maybe during break, you can return with me. I think you’d enjoy it.”
I nodded and looked down at his hand, the glow melding with the glow of my hand. An odd sensation filled my body.
CHAPTER FOUR
Cassandra
That evening when I retired to my room, I had the first of several bizarre dreams.
I suddenly found myself entering a grand ritual room where a man sat at a desk, facing away, reading a book. Everything in the small room appeared old, some items in disrepair. A bookshelf like the one back home lined one wall, the titles written in a language I didn’t understand. A candelabra stood tall next to the desk, the ten candles struggling to light the room. A stack of books sat at one edge of the desk, threatening to fall over. The room was exactly what I had imagined a ritual room to look like which meant the man could be only one thing, an archmage.
The man turned, the book closed, the jewels embedded into the cover shimmering. He wore a blue robe with decorative shoulder guards. He reached for the staff leaning against his desk, the jewel-covered book in his other hand, and stood. Like the book cover, his staff also glowed from jewels of different colors.
“You’re a grand archmage,” I said, and he nodded. “What’s your name?”
“My name is not important, young lady, but your name is,” he said. “I’ve waited a long time for you to come to the academy. A very long time.” As he came around the desk, he towered over me, his eyes gray and wise. His white hair, whiter than it should have been for a man I guessed to be middle-aged, reached past his shoulders. His nose was short and didn’t match the other features of his face. He spoke softly but with a dire tone.
“I don’t understand. I’m nobody. Just another student here to learn.” For some reason I guessed he knew of my past and the devastation that followed me like a noon-day shadow.
He moved closer, using his staff to help him stand. For a moment I thought he might hand me the book, but when he saw my eyes fall upon it, he pulled the book away. “Your parents knew,” he said.
“What? You knew my parents?”
“They knew you were brought into this world to stop an evil that has been growing over time.” Tiring, he leaned against the desk, and the stack of books tumbled to the floor. “Edius knows you’re here. He’ll seek to steal your powers as he has done other students.” He began to fade, and I moved toward him. “I’m glad you’re finally here, Cassandra. You are the only witch capable of stopping Edius. The fate of the academy and the other witches and warlocks rests in your hands.” And then he was gone.
“Cassandra? Cassandra, wake up!”
I bolted up and pushed Braeden away.
“Hey!” he said. “Come on or you’ll be late for class.” He looked at his shoulder where I’d shoved him.
I threw back the covers, got out of bed, and changed clothes while Braeden looked away. Not for the first time did I want him to turn around and look at me, to tell me how beautiful I was. He’d said it before but only in passing, as if he were embarrassed he was attracted to me. I wanted him to see that I’d grown from the child he knew to the woman he needed to know.
I finished changing, and we raced through the dormitory, nearly bowling over other students. I was hungry and thirsty and needed to pee, but Braeden was hellbent on us getting to class on time. We entered the building with only minutes to spare, rushing into the classroom and grabbing our seats. Ruby Thompson, our tour guide from the previous day, entered right after we did, the smile on her face letting us know her day was going better than yesterday. She sat next to me, and I hoped it was a start to a long friendship.
“Sorry about yesterday,” she whispered. “Your friends goofing off during the tour kind of put me in a pissy mood.” She offered her hand. “Let’s start over. Ruby Thompson.”
I shook her hand. “Cassandra Clarke,” I whispered back. “A witch whose reputation obviously precedes her.” We giggled at my remark. I nodded at the four young men in front of me. “They aren’t my friends. Well, Braeden is.”
Ruby leaned closer. “But they definitely want to be. I think they come as a team or not at all.”
I glanced at Dash, Kyler, and Oliver and smiled. Each were different in his own way, but I somehow felt a kinship with all three. A feeling I couldn’t shake. It had started the first day when we entered the admin building. I had actually enjoyed Dash putting his arm around my shoulder. Kyler holding my hand was more than a friendly gesture.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” the woman entering the room said. “I’m Professor Zena. I’ll be your Hexes and Potions instructor for the semester. My rules are simple. Pay attention and don’t kill me or one of your classmates.” She walked around the room, handing us each a login ID and password. “The glass device on your desk will be your savior this semester. I suggest you login now and save your information. Miss class, it’s on you to find out from another student what hexes and potions you missed. I will not repeat myself. Have I made myself perfectly clear?” In unison, we acknowledged that she had.
Dash leaned over and whispered something to Kyler, nodding at Professor Zena’s bottom as she walked toward the chalkboard.
“I hear everything in my room, Mister Bancroft.” She turned, now morphed into a wolf, large and brooding. She padded toward Dash, and he leaned back in his seat, watching in horror as the large wolf approached. A strange smell wafted through the air, and I thought for sure he shit his pants. Zena snarled, and saliva dripped from her jowls. Nobody had mentioned we had a shapeshifter as an instructor. Kyler watched with amazement and a twinkle in his eye.
“Yes, ma’am,” Dash said, scared, still leaning back, his arms raised in the air.
When Zena stopped snarling, I thought it was over. Dash relaxed and then she bit into his desk and tore a chunk away, tossing it across the room. Before the piece hit the floor, she changed back to human form, her point well given, well taken.
“Are we good now, Dash?” She ran a finger beneath his chin and turned away. Dash again watched her bottom but said not a word. He glanced at Oliver who shook his head for Dash to stop.
Along the walls of the classroom were eight mixing stations, each with a variety of containers: beakers, boiling tubes, and flasks. Each station also had a heating element protruding from the wall, the small blue flames only a wisp. I hoped the class was more advanced than the dissecting frogs we did in high school.
“I need you to break into three groups,” Professor Zena said.
Dash joined Kyler, I joined Braeden, and Oliver joined Ruby.
Professor Zena turned to the board and began writing. I noticed Dash had given up on watching her behind.
“Did you hear?” Ruby whispered as she removed a beaker from the shelf and placed it in front of her. “Four more students had their powers stolen. Headmaster Eliphas is interviewing the students now. They went into town and when they returned, nothing—no elements, no hexes. They’d completely forgotten how to mix potions.”
“There’s a town nearby?”
“Yes, but we now have curfew,” Ruby whispered. “We must be back before nightfall every night.”
Professor Zena turned from the board. “Our first potion will be a simple healing potion. It will heal any scar you might have. Physically not emotionally.”
She pointed at the three ingredients. “Mix in this order.”
Braeden and I poured the three ingredients into a beaker in the proper order and bent down to watch the colors change. A modest amount of steam rose from the beaker. I glanced over to see Oliver leading Ruby, concentrating so hard I thought his head might explode. He had an intelligence that made him adorable. Ruby glanced at me and shook her head. Dash and Kyler were laughing, not measuring the ingredients according to what was written on the board. That was when I had my first suspicions the two were going to be goof-offs all semester long.
“We did it right,” I said to Braeden. I needed the first potion to work without a hitch. One good win would prove to everyone I wasn’t as bad as my reputation.
Braeden nodded. “The past is in the past,” he said. “Let’s show these suckers what we can do.”
“Now, using your dropper, find a scar on your body and place two potion drops on your skin.”
I rolled up my sleeve and found the three-inch scar from the surgery I had at three when I fell from a tree. “You do it,” I said to Braeden and handed him the dropper.
Braeden held my arm steady and filled the dropper from the beaker. He looked into my eyes, and something passed between us. We’d been friends since I was seven and never had anything so powerful passed between us. I think we both knew at that moment our friendship would soon be changing. “Ready?” he asked and winked. Braeden placed the first drop on the scar, and it sent a tingling sensation along my skin. He looked at me again. “You okay?” I nodded.
I glanced at the other three men who were our age, who I was beginning to be drawn to. I nodded at Braeden, and he placed the second drop on the scar. The scar turned red and then evaporated.
“We did it,” Braeden said and touched my hand.
“Yes, we did,” I whispered.
“Because we’re a great team,” Braeden said softly. “You can do anything, you know that? Don’t let the past determine your future.”
I nodded, and then the two of us turned to watch the others.