Winter Term

by J. J. Krzemien

  “What? No.”

  “You tell me about your love life and I’ll tell you about mine.” She waggled her eyebrows.

  I laughed. “And who are you dating?”

  “No one. Ew, have you seen the boys here?”

  I chucked again. “Yeah, they’re all gorgeous—like all supernaturals. But that’s beside the point, you were trying to trick me. I’m glad I didn’t fall for that.”

  “You’re no fun. I thought we were friends.” Lana pouted.

  “Fine. Angel and I are friends.” I sighed. “It’s complicated. We were dating, but then it got weird—for him, not me.”

  Lana side-eyed me. “You know, I’ve heard other rumors too. About you and a couple other teachers.”

  I stopped walking, turning to her in surprise.

  She gave me a wry grin. “On a campus this size no one has many secrets. And they don’t stay hidden for long. Besides, it’s not a crime or anything. I also heard that Nalea’s having a fling with a second-year.”

  We started to stroll along the path again.

  “So,” she said, “is it true?”

  Chewing my bottom lip, I nodded.

  Lana clapped her hands. “That’s so exciting! Those three are so hot. Do you have any idea how many people lust over them? Well, them and Mr. Freeman, too. When he’s not being an asshole, he’s kind of cute.”

  “I don’t have anything going on with Montrell,” I said.

  “I know. But he’s a hot teacher. Don’t you think?”

  I had to get her off of this subject. “Hey, I thought Montrell was a shapeshifter, but the other day he turned into a bear.”

  “Really? That’s cool. Ah, he is a shapeshifter. Beast-shifters only have one animal they can morph to, while shapeshifters can do objects or living creatures—they’re not limited.”

  I frowned at my boots. “When he shifted down, he was fully dressed. How does that work? You had to go find new clothes after morphing to your full-form.”

  “Yeah, shapeshifters are different from us. They shift by magic, not so much by genetics like us. They can shift their clothes as well as their bodies. Lucky bastards,” she said.

  “It would make more sense to me if beast-shifters were in the Cortez dorm with the werewolves.” Not that I wanted to be anywhere near Destiny and her crew.

  “Yeah not so much. Werewolves are pack animals and have all kinds of weird pack ranking shit that you don’t want to be a part of. Beast-shifters like to fly solo, we do our own thing.” Lana pulled open the door. “Welcome to hell. You know where his office is, have fun.”

  I sighed, walking the short distance to Montrell’s office and knocking.

  “Enter,” his voice boomed.

  The first thing I noticed was Ms. Duinn seated in front of Montrell’s desk. My gaze slid over her to my advisor’s face. “What’s this all about?”

  Ms. Duinn rose up to her full height. “You know well enough. You can’t go around harassing—”

  “That’s enough,” Montrell said. “You may leave Ms. Duinn.”

  “I really think I should—” she started.

  “No.” It was all he had to say. She strutted out of his office, offense painted on her face.

  I waited for whatever scheme she’d come up with to be launched at me. “What did I do now?”

  Montrell stood, clasping his hands behind his back. “She said you were harassing three witches on the lawn earlier. Were you?”

  My pulse quickened. “I was not harassing them. They were threatening me.”

  “Hmm.” He studied me with his even hazel gaze. “She said you used magic on one of them. Made him walk away from you against his will.”

  No way was I going to admit that to Montrell. Besides, it was only a theory at this point. I was unsure of exactly what happened.

  I squared my shoulders. “I—that’s impossible. I’m not a witch.”

  “That’s quite obvious. But why would the young witch make up this story?”

  “We don’t get along.” I ground my teeth together.

  “Don’t get along? Can you elaborate?” Montrell asked. The casual body language he assumed while interrogating me was annoying.

  “I can.” My hands balled into fists. “He stands accused of attempted rape with the Council. He was bragging that his father was going to clear him of all charges in a couple of weeks. He’s a liar and not a nice person.”

  “He’s the Aimes boy.” Montrell’s jaw worked.

  I ducked my head. If he knew who Aimes was, and the crime he was accused of, he probably knew that I had been the witch’s victim. That couldn’t make me look very strong in his eyes. Fuck him.

  I lifted my chin, daring him to make some cruel comment about it. “Yes, he is.”

  Abruptly, Montrell sat. “You may go.”

  I was surprised, but took the opportunity to flee. At the Hall’s large oak door, I glanced toward Ms. Duinn’s office. So Aimes had coming running to her. Had I really cast a spell on him? All I’d done was breathe in his face and tell him to go away. Could dragons even use magic?

  I was going to be up late reading that rest of that dragon book. It had taken a back burner to my Physiology final. If dragons had magic, hopefully that author had written something helpful about it.

  21

  Caprice

  “Sounds like that bitch needs to get what’s coming to her.” Lana spooned the last of the hearty stew into her mouth.

  I’d told her about Ms. Duinn taking up Aimes’ complaint against me with Montrell. Also, how she ruined May’s relationship—not all the details of course, but enough to get my point across. Ms. Duinn generally seemed to have it in for me. I’d had enough. Dean Wright was supposed to have taken care of this. Whatever she did to Ms. Duinn apparently hadn’t stuck.

  “I want to get back at her, but I’m not sure how,” I said. “Any ideas?”

  “Hmm, let me think about it.” She gazed across at me. “She’s got to have some kind of secret, or weakness, or something we can exploit. You were in her class for a term.”

  “I know, but I don’t have any ideas. I don’t even know what she has against me or May. It’s like she’s out to cause trouble wherever she can, for the fun of it.”

  “Well, she has been teaching her for decades. It takes a certain kind of messed up person to do that. To watch your students get sacrificed year after year.” Lana made a disgusted face. She had a point.

  I rose to me feet and Lana followed. We carried our lunch trays to the bus bins. My gaze roamed over the cafeteria tables, noting Destiny and her werewolf girls at their usual table. Since that attack last weekend, I hadn’t run into them. Had one of the guys confronted them on attacking me?

  I wasn’t sure that would make a difference. Destiny seemed to really believe that Angel was hers. My inner dragon snarled at that thought.

  Across the cafeteria in the opposite direction, I spotted the United Kingdom witches’ table. Of course they weren’t foreigners. The two witch cliques were descendants from the UK and Italy. They didn’t get along.

  Aimes was holding court at his table, joking around as if he didn’t have a care in the world. His father wasn’t really going to get him out of the Culling, was he? Those three guys had beaten me and left me laying in the woods. Out of everyone here, they deserved to be sacrificed. They shouldn’t be let out into the world.

  I turned away, following Lana out of Sorrentino Hall. Outside it was pouring rain, thunder rumbled in the distance.

  I pulled my hood up. “Does it ever stop raining here?”

  “How would I know?” Lana hurried through the storm to her next class.

  I headed off to English, convinced that the lack of coverings over the footpaths was just another form of torture. The only good thing about all this horrible weather was I had plenty of time to stay indoors and read. I’d made it through that dragon book last night. I thought the Count of Monte Christo had a lot of pages, but The Last Dragons had several hundred on it. />
  One of the passages that stuck with me was:

  Dragons are drawn to wealth, power, and magic as if they needed these to survive. For all we know, they do need those elements in their life to survive and live happy lives. Some say magic originated with dragons, although not all dragons can use magic. It is unclear of how they might cast spells but in the legends of Tannin…

  The pages after that went into legend after legend of dragons. Only a few of them mentioned dragons using magic. Of that ones that could, some cast an enchantment with their talons, others by incantation, and some with vapors. The vapor-casting ones caught my attention. I had exhaled on Aimes when I told him to walk away. I knew instinctively that the magic I’d absorbed earlier this term could be used. Was that the answer?

  Clearly, it was time for more experiments.

  After classes that night, I decided to see the dean. She needed to know that Ms. Duinn was still trying to make trouble for me.

  Dean Wright sat with her hands folded on her desk. “Miss Sorrentino, you need to understand that the first year here is a test. It’s supposed to be a challenge. The teachers are encouraged to challenge their students in any way, as long as it won’t lead to a crime or serious consequences. Some teachers make this more of a priority than others.”

  “Is that why you interfered with me and…Jaxon, Liam, and Angel? Because if the Tromara found out it would lead to serious consequences?” I asked, sitting across from her.

  “Exactly. But taking a complaint to your advisor is neither a crime, nor rendering a serious consequence.”

  I sighed. “Well, she still has it in for me. She’s singled me out. It’s not fair.”

  The dean pursed her lips. “And what would have you have me do to her?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, bury her alive in a coffin for a few hours.” The comment was flippant.

  Dean Wright gave me a sharp glance. “Why would you say such a thing?”

  “Because that’s what Ms. Duinn did to me last term. Seems only fair to have it come back on her.” I fidgeted with my sweater sleeves, feeling petty.

  “Why didn’t you come to me when that happened?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “May and Liam found me. Neither one said I should come tell you. Apparently, Ms. Duinn did the same thing to May her first year here.”

  The dean’s jaw clenched. Did she think this qualified as a crime or serious consequence? Of course, if May and Liam hadn’t found me… I shuddered. But, Ms. Duinn wasn’t stupid, the transportation spell or the lock on the coffin probably had a time limit.

  “I have some urgent business to get to,” the dean said. “Please excuse me, and let yourself out.”

  I hadn’t really gotten what I’d come for, but Dean Wright looked like she wasn’t in the mood to humor me any longer. “Okay. Thanks for your time.”

  I made the short walk over to Academy Hall and up the stairs to Jaxon’s apartment. He, May, and Angel were gathering around the table for dinner.

  Sitting down, I asked, “Will Liam be here?”

  Jaxon shook his head. “No, he’s still working on that project.”

  “What project?” May asked.

  Jaxon and I exchanged a knowing glance. Angel focused on his plate. We’d promised not to tell anyone else, and that included May.

  “Just some personal pet project that he’s all wrapped up in,” Jaxon said. “You know how nerdy he gets about research or whatever.”

  “Yeah, I do.” May chewed on a bit of salad. She pointed her fork at me. “I’m sorry I’ve been so out of sorts and busy this term. Did you still want to try that experiment? The one you talked about a couple months ago?”

  I had to wrack my brain. Oh, right, when I’d come to her about breaking into Ms. Duinn’s office by disabling the warding spell. Back then I’d had a feeling that I could use the power inside me. Now I was growing more sure.

  “I don’t know what I was thinking back then,” I said. I didn’t want May involved in all this dragon stuff. “Turned out to be nothing.” I made a mental note to tell the guys about the potential magic and what had happened with Aimes last night.

  May frowned, seeming disappointed. “Okay. Well, I’m here if you need me.”

  “I know.” I gave her a warm smile. It was too bad our friendship had kind of stalled out. I hoped to fix that over spring break.

  Speaking of stalled out…was Liam ever going to be close with me again? He said he needed to stand up to his father and figure out how to do that on his own. I felt so useless sitting back, waiting for him. He thought that he wasn’t good enough for me if he couldn’t protect me from his parents. I didn’t believe a word of that.

  The weekend was jammed with studying. I finished my Physiology report on mutated genetics. Reading over it one last time, I wondered why Montrell had assigned this topic to me. There was no way of him knowing that I’d find those hidden books in the Obscura Room. Was it just a challenging topic to research and he wanted to test me? That sounded like something he’d do.

  Although there was one part of the report that caught my interest. Shapeshifters needed DNA of the creature they wanted to morph into before they could make the shift. Which meant at some time Montrell had been close enough to a bear to capture its genetic material. That DNA then entered the shapeshifter and mutated their genetics to adopt the new form.

  At least the topic had been interesting.

  I moved on and finished my English report, and continued going over Math problems that weekend. Finals were still a week out, but I was determined to move up on the Academy scoreboard.

  There was no time to spend with Jaxon, as I would have liked. I did get half a minute to check my text messages late Sunday night. Isabella had sent a text that just said she didn’t have any news for me.

  Elena had texted back. Hey! Sorry for being so distant, just a lot going on around here. Me and Tyler are doing great. We’re going to Miami for spring break! Can you believe it? His family has money or something. I can’t wait!

  Ready to get out of here for a bit, for sure. There’s like a murderer in the area. A few students have gone missing from campus recently. It has everyone all freaked out. We have curfews and stuff now. Not fun. Anyway, text me!

  I frowned at her message. Murderer? What the hell? I wrote back:

  I’m glad you found someplace fun to go for spring break. Again, I’m sorry I can’t come visit. Please watch out for yourself. Both in Miami and on campus. Okay?

  With a sigh, I powered off my phone and returned it to the dean’s secretary. I’d give Elena a call over spring break, it was the least I could do.

  That night I went back to my dorm and wrote out a list of topics that I could discuss with Elena. So much of my life was freaking unbelievable. And she still didn’t know that supernaturals existed, even though she was dating one.

  22

  Liam

  The only thing I was grateful to my father for was continuing the family tradition of learning Latin. My family—the Kavanaghs—had one of the most extensive Latin libraries in the United States. I’d gotten my Masters degree in the linguistics, figuring I’d go on to be a professor in the human world once I’d done my time at Academy Obscura.

  Since I had no class for the first period slot, I pored over the last few pages of Ex Codice Tromara. It was an extensive, original work—not a copy. Paired with Marsilia Sorrentino’s journal entries of King Sebastian’s desperate search for this tome, I was convinced that the Tromara were weakening. They could no longer create new Tromara, and the existing ones were not able to feed.

  Each year, the Tromara were putting on a show of taking the Culled students away to be eaten. They did take the students, but if they weren’t eating them, then what were they doing with them? Depending on exactly how long this Codex has been out of King Sebastian’s hands, there could be a couple hundred supernaturals living out their lives in captivity.

  Caprice was right to be infuriated by this possibility. We’d nev
er once done anything but taken the Tromara at face value. We trusted the cannibals and they’d duped us. They weren’t born superior beings—unless you considered their turning into Tromara to be a second birth. Which they probably did. Even so, they had to perform heinous rituals to gain longer lives and powerful abilities.

  Marsilia had stripped them of their Codex. She’d taken away their ability to gain superiority. I wondered what her plan had been, if she’d lived longer. Was she going to reveal the Tromara to the supernatural community?

  By finding these hidden books were we charged with that same mission? This discovery couldn’t be undiscovered and shoved back in the dark. We owed it to ourselves and all those who’d been Culled to put an end to the Tromara. To end the Truce once and for all.

  How much of the supernatural community was up for taking part in that?

  A knock sounded on my office door. Annoyed, I glanced up. Who was bothering me now? I caught a subtle sense of determination radiating from the other side of the door.

  I stashed the book in my desk. “It’s open. Come in.”

  My father strode in, his gaze locked on mine. “You shall not look away from me.” His voice was laced with compulsion.

  I hadn’t been prepared for him. His words slipped through any barriers I might have been able to erect. He had me at his mercy.

  “Have you made progress with the Sorrentino heir?” he asked, coming to stand before my desk.

  “No,” I answered honestly. “You told me I had until spring break.”

  My father’s face contorted in an annoyed expression. “That starts next week. If you were going to follow my orders, you would have done so by now.”

  I clenched my jaw, unable to look away.

  “I’m going to make this simple for you.” He leaned over the desk, his voice taking on the lilt of compulsion again. “You are going to find Caprice Sorrentino and you’re going to fuck her. You will tell her anything she needs to hear to get her in your bed. You will compel her if she resists you. You’re going to do this right now.”