I took a deep breath and said, “Why not horseback riding and guitar?”
I didn't even wince as I said it. Much.
* * *
Chapter 6
My phone rang as I escaped the horror of scheduling myself into yoga and went into the oak grove. I didn’t need to look to know it was my mother. Her ring tone was “I’m Gonna Show You Crazy” and the lyrics disturbed the peace of the nearly deserted campus. I ignored her not sure I could control myself and also certain that she could get around my anti-hex anklet. From across the country, she could hex me, through the anklet, with her eyes closed, doing the times tables in her head, while standing on her fingertips.
I admit that made me upset too.
The grove of oak trees was near the little creek that ran through campus, and it was crowded that way. That was where the path to the lake and the oak trees overlapped. It was, in fact, my most frequent jogging path, and why I had headed that way instinctively before noticing the activity. I looked for long minutes, noticing the cop cars and yellow tape, before heading to the smaller oak grove on the other side of campus. The college was pretty remote from the neighboring small town. It was sort of horrifying when you thought about it. That person who died was staff or an early student like me. Maybe a bright-eyed young freshman who had been counting her dreams and watching the water move.
And then nothing.
Don’t think about it. Don’t wonder if it was a black flame that killed her.
Some New Zealand girl with a fun accent. Maybe she was sporty and cool. Maybe I would have liked her.
I lifted my phone to call my sister. I prayed as I pressed her name that she wasn’t with Mother, but chances of that were slim. Bran spent a lot of time in her room or outside.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” Branka replied. “You didn’t leave. Way to girl up.”
Was it pathetic that we had a code? The identical hello meant that mother was not listening. Some different greeting meant that she was.
“Bran,” Rue said, knowing the whine in her voice was not girling up. “It’s a death magic college. Founded by our stupid ancestors, and my scholarship requires that I study death magic. I can’t take Dream Magic or Runes or anything fun for a year!”
“What? Bastards.” The anger in Bran’s voice was all I needed to start crying. Why was I such a pansy as soon as someone was listening who loved me? If it were Dad, I’d probably be considering coming home.
I took a deep breath and Bran interjected a question.
“It’s still free, though, right?”
“Yes,” I said grudgingly. The stupid cow. Going to the heart of the matter.
“And it still teaches magic. Like really well?”
“Shut up, witch,” I growled. Kicking a stone away from me and then picking it up with my magic to embed it in the tree across the way.
“And you would have gotten in with crap grades?”
“I think so.”
“I guess I know where I’m going to school.”
I snorted a teary laugh and said, “We can be roomies.”
“Guurl, please,” Branka said in her lamest accent. “Imma go to school to parrrrrtay. You’ll be all focused on the classes you want by the time I get there.”
I smiled and then slid down the nearest oak tree and nestled my head into the bark. If Bran were here with me, we’d be sitting side by side with Bran’s head on my shoulder and my head nestled on top of hers. Yes, the thought made another tear fall, damn it to the hells. Wuss, I thought, wuss.
“I miss you,” I said despite the tears. They burned hot and hard at the back of my throat and even telling Bran that she was missed was difficult to say.
“Me too. But if you come back, I’ll beat you up.” She wasn’t joking. She was being a good sister and letting me go from the island without guilt. “Also, you promised not to cry. Now I will make you pay.”
“I can take you.” It probably wasn’t true. Bran was slightly smaller than me but a lot scrappier. And down right mean. She had Mother’s vicious streak but enough self-control to save it only for those she hated.
“You wish.”
I didn’t say anything. I was crying too hard.
“Rue,” Bran said. “Quit being a puss. Find weird hobbies and passions. Make good friends and discover clubs and whatever else colleges have that will let you study what you want early. Go Hermione it up, like you want, and don’t let them push you around.”
I wiped my hand over my face and nodded into the phone. Bran couldn’t see it, but we were connected enough that she didn’t need to see it.
“Okay,” I said. My overflow of emotions still present.
“This, my dear sister,” Bran said with the joy of saying something vicious, “is what we call PMS.”
Oh, the cow…she was right. I was going to slap her so hard when I got home.
“Mother is coming up the stairs, so I gotta hang up before she further ruins your day. Puss.”
“Be strong,” I said with a quiver in my voice hating the little girl I’d become in the woods as I told my sister my secrets.
“You too.” Bran replied, cheerily even though I knew well enough that she was struggling with dealing with Mother by herself. “Oh, Dad said he sent you some things. So look for something from him.”
If I could have packed up Bran with everything else, I would have.
“Girl up,” I told myself and her at the same time. I had books to buy and a room to unpack and a panic attack to fight off.
And a mother to hex.
“Girl up,” Bran replied. “Also, take that PMS potion you make because, sister, I want to slap you from here.”
“So how does this work,” I asked. The guy was tall and super, super slim. Painfully skinny. Despite his skinniness and my certainty that my hips were huge compared to his, I felt a flash of interest. “I have a scholarship.”
“You get what you need and use your student card.”
“How do I know what my limit is?”
“Here,” the guy held out his hand for my student card. As I fumbled it out of my pocket, I noticed his perfect green eyes and dark hair. He had a mad case of acne, but he was probably around my age. You don’t know anyone, I thought and then told myself to make friends. And suddenly, I wanted very much for him to be my friend.
Except, I feel as if I’d strapped on a pair of cement boots and gone for a run before coming in here. Surely I didn't smell? I felt like I must. Oh man. And plastic face. I was experiencing a bad case of plastic face. Had my eye liner run? All I had done when I left the woods was to blow my nose. Oh my gosh, what if I didn’t do a good job? What if I had boogers? Like crispy yellow boogers on the side of my nose.
Oh man. Oh, Hecate. Oh, hells.
“That’s funny,” the guy said. He turned toward me and said, “There doesn’t seem to be a limit.”
I froze and then said carefully, “I don’t understand.” The hugely avaricious side of me had come out in full force.
“Let’s get what you need and we’ll see if it lets us check you out. I’m Oliver.”
“I’m,” I started to say Veruca but I couldn’t force it out. It was the worst name ever. I had gone by Meg for a while, but that was to make my mother mad. Rue. “I’m Rue.”
“Cool name,” he said. “It fits your pale skin and dark hair. We’ll start with the laptop. Your text books can be loaded onto it or a tablet if you have one. Then there are some classes that have old-fashioned books.”
He meant the witch classes. But I already knew that. I’d lusted over the books for the last few days, but I hadn’t been sure if my limit would cover what I needed. But…wasn’t that funny that I didn’t have one?
I smiled and for the first time since I’d left Bran and her Dad at the dock didn’t feel entirely fake. That wasn’t true though. I felt a little more human every time I did magic with Felix too. Felix was his own mini-coven, but that was probably because I was so desperate for human contact
that Felix had started to become enough.
Hecate save me.
“So,” I said… as we walked through the aisles. I remembered Lechner and how she’d been mean and suddenly, I didn’t want to take the responsible get only what I needed path. I mean…with no limit. “What if I didn’t?”
“Didn’t what?”
“Didn’t get what I need. What if I also got some other things that I wanted?”
He grinned and said, “Your card will get declined and we’ll start getting rid of the extra loot.”
I grinned an evil grin and his matched mine.
Oliver helped me gather all the books for my classes that I was signed up for, all the stuff for the classes I wanted to take, the gear for my guitar class, the best of the required laptops and then the best of the tablets as well. And then, I decided to wander over to the clothes section and pick out things like a leather laptop bag and school sweatshirts and running gear. And art supplies. And whatever caught my eye or fancy. I might have added the textbooks for every single magic class that interested me.
Which was most of them.
I felt wicked the entire time I loaded up Oliver with what I wanted. But…what would be the terrible end? There wouldn't be one. I’d get rid of the extra stuff as Oliver said. Put things back if it didn’t work. No big deal. The thought of it was making me retroactively enjoy the conversation with Lechner more.
After all, I thought, I’m the newest incarnation of the founding family. They can give me a leather bag as well as the laptop I need for my stupid U.S. History class.
My smile turned naughty when the bill rang up to thousands and processed without a pause.
“Wow,” Oliver said. “I feel like I’m going to get fired for that.”
“I feel like you should play stupid and innocent,” I said channeling my sister, Bran.
“They truth serum people around here,” he countered.
Now this was something I knew all by myself. I told him seriously, “The key to truth serum is to bite your lip, formulate a true answer, and never meet their eyes. Look panicked instead. Feel panicked. If you know that they can find the truth, you’re walking a dangerous knife's edge.”
“You are pretty confident in that statement,’ he grinned. “You been playing around with truth serum.”
“To be perfectly honest,” I confessed, “My mother is a ripe, obsessive, controlling, super-jackal who has always been overly fond of the truth serum.”
He blinked.
“Want to check out that music cafe over by the Quietus Building later?” The words came out of my mouth so fast I almost didn’t realize I had gathered up the guts to say them. Girling up, like a boss.
He grinned as he digested my question and then nodded. Oh my goodness! He said yes, I squealed inside of my head while hoping the smile that spread over his face was pleased. After all, my corresponding grin was probably maniacal.
“But,” he said, almost dashing my hopes. “I’m off now. I think you might need help with your loot.”
Oliver signed out and then took hold of the heaviest of the bags, giving me a grin that made me a little bit…hungry. Hungry for him. I realized I was in school, and there were possibilities that there hadn’t been before. Nothing was possible with a mother like mine.
For such a skinny guy, he was remarkably cut and remarkably hunky. Was it him or the burning light of freedom?
“So I have to go after this,” Oliver said. “I have to meet my counselor and get signed up for classes.”
My lips pressed together, and he paused to examine me.
“What?”
I couldn’t tell him about the whole legacy of death magic. I didn’t want him to know about that. I didn’t care that this college seemed to focus on that magic. I didn’t care that it was a type of magic that Hazel said was well-respected. I didn’t want anyone to know that I had been handed a scholarship and a lecture to go with it.
“I didn’t get what I wanted.”
“Did you sign up for any electives?”
“Beginning Guitar, Horseback Riding, Yoga, and Astronomy.” My disgust was evident in my voice because he laughed.
“Doesn’t sound so bad,” he said consolingly. “Gotta be better than something like basket weaving.”
“Hah,” I said sarcastically and then frowned. “I’m sorry. I’m bummed.”
“Next year, yeah? I knew about that little tidbit of not letting freshers take any of the good classes. What’s your major?”
I talked with him like I wasn’t hiding my family history, scholarship, and everything else. We talked like things were normal until he left. He didn’t even raise his brows at the OCD way I’d stacked my things around the room while I waited for my magics to work and make the room a little less horrible
Fine, I thought, fine. He was bordering on perfect. But perfect what? Possible boyfriend? I wasn’t even sure I wanted one. Possible only friend? I knew for sure I wanted one of those, and I’d never had the luxury of dude friends before. Not with my mother.
After he had left, I saw that the roomie had arrived. A part of me noted how Oliver had distracted me from her arrival until he left. And a part of me immediately noticed her clothes in a massive pile on the floor while he’d been in the room. But now…oh man, now the way they slumped towards my half of the room made my skin crawl. I needed to find a way to get my own room. I slapped myself into the chair I’d stolen from one of the other rooms and put my head between my knees.
“Wuss,” I told my knees. “Giant, pansy, wussy wuss pants.”
“Are you all right?”
I squeezed my eyes tight and nodded against my knees.
“I’m Chrysie.”
She had a nice voice, I told myself. She just got here, I told myself. Be nice, I told myself.
“Sorry about the mess. I’m trying to figure things out. The study rooms are all gone, and I’m not sure that my clothes will fit in here.”
I lifted my head and looked at her. She had a pixie cut of golden hair too much like Tinker Bell for a human.
“Hi,” I said, “I’m having a mental break down. Don’t mind me.”
“Cool,” Chrysie said. And kicked her clothes to her side of the room.
The pressure released from my chest and I realized that I was a total and complete whack job. I needed to go for a run.
“I’m sorry,” I said, promising myself a run and a complex spell later, “I’m a little…”
“Overwhelmed?”
I nodded noticing the way the light glinted off of her hair and how her smile was sweet, and I felt better.
“Me too! I’m pretty sure I flunked out of everything when I took my placement tests today. I mean…can they start you out in like…dumb people classes or do you get kicked out? I have to meet with my advisor in a few minutes and I…”
Chrysie’s babbling made me feel better. I didn’t want to tell her to get her hopes up. My advisor had crushed my hopes, but maybe she’d have a nice one.
“This side of the room is darker right?” Her voice was lilting and happy despite what she was saying.
I felt instantly guilty for taking the better side of the room. I’d been trying to fix the room with magic, but so far everything had failed. Especially on that side of the room.
“It’s weird though because the light is coming in through this window. So this should be the brighter side of the room. Do you think that the universe is clouding me on purpose?”
I smiled as if I hadn’t noticed.
“I’m sure it’s all in my head. I should get going. I don’t know where the Quietus Building even is.”
“I know,” I said out of guilt more than any desire to go with her. “Let me change, and I’ll go for a run after I show you the way.”
I didn’t want to change in front of her, or anyone, but I was sure that I wouldn’t be dressing in the bathrooms every day, so it was time to girl up and recognize that she had all the same types of lady bits.
I walked
her to the Quietus Building, and she jabbered the whole time. But it was soothing. Like the trees rustling in the wind or the sounds of the ocean. I didn't know her well yet, but I suspected that she was kind and nice, and I was going to like her even though her clothes would slump onto my half of the room sometimes.
*
Felix came into my room without knocking as I got back from my run. It hadn’t helped much, made my legs rubbery and made me drag myself up the four flights of stairs.
“That keep awake potion is a sweet little number. I still haven’t slept in who knows how long.” He sounded like a cracked out bunny.
“It was concentrated,” I said.
“I organized my whole room, did the early assignments for my classes, and actually went for a run. You inspired me. I might have had an asthma attack. I’m not asthmatic though.”
“It’s infused with an energy potion,” I said, watching how his eyes seemed to bounce around his skull. “You downed it before I could tell you it was concentrated.”
“We are going to make so much money.” He giggled and then started tapping his toe.
“You might have a stroke before that happens,” I said idly watching him with the type of sick fascination my mother would understand. Dang, there I was thinking about her again.
He grinned as he said, “What a way to go out though.”
“With a newly organized bedroom your mother won’t have to be ashamed of you when she packs up your things,” I said dryly.
He giggled like a tiny child.
“Is it addictive?”
Probably, but I shrugged. I mean…I was totally addicted to my own energy slash keep-awake potion.
“I don’t think I’m ready for more. I feel like more would be a bad idea.”
“Follow your instincts,” I said. He wasn’t wrong.
He giggled again.
“I could use this and get straight A’s. How many doses was that?” His dreads bounced as he wondered through my side of the room, touching my things, and making me need to break each and every finger. There wasn’t room enough for him to come into my room beyond the doorway. I scowled as I watched him.
“Seventeen,” I replied.
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