by G. Bailey
Claiming the vacant desks at the back of the room, I sling my bag over the back of my chair and watch as Sage plops down beside me and pulls out her books. I bring out my own things too, including my Book of Zorya. Quills and ink have already been provided and placed on the desks with a little spellbook. My heart clenches when I glimpse Sage pulling out her own personal quill. Its beaded, golden feather is the same one Nessa used to tie into her strawberry blonde hair. I gently squeeze Sage’s arm and offer a smile. She returns it weakly, tears glazing her pink lashes, just as a dark smokey figure appears in the archway.
My breath hitches in amazement when I look up at the new arrival. There’s no mistaking Professor Stonehart is indeed a molten gargoyle. Completely made of stone, from the wings on her back to the gown covering her body, the woman descends the stairs with an almost fae-like grace that contradicts her mechanics. Her fiery hair flickers around her as her incinerating eyes search the faces of her students. Her skin isn’t really skin at all. It’s solid granite with cracks of lava weaving throughout, like veins filled with fire.
She glides over to her desk, her entire body radiating heat into the room. “Good morning, students. I’ve invited a very special guest today to help demonstrate today’s lesson. Please welcome Mr. Sabhain.”
One of the bookshelves behind the desk is actually a hidden door, and lo and behold, Zander emerges from it, looking all sexy in his leather warden uniform. My gaze lingers on the way he shoves his hands into his back pockets, revealing two holsters strapped over his shoulders.
“All right, Shadowborns. Who’s ready to get down and dirty?”
Sage nudges me and wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. I smirk and train my eyes back on Zander, only to see that he’s looking right at me, and he, too, is smirking.
He opens his bowed lips to speak again, then he stops when Jonah slides a nasty remark his way. I don’t catch what he said because he’s right at the front, but I have a hunch it’s something to do with him being a warden. Or maybe it’s Zander’s reptilian eyes. Either way, whatever he said pisses me off.
“There will be none of that in my classroom!” Professor Stonehart bellows.
The floor trembles, shaking the pots of ink on each of our desks. I watch as the professor’s chest glows a violent shade of amber, the colour deepening the angrier she becomes. It’s like a fireball in the pit of a dragon’s chest, seconds away from being unleashed to wreak havoc. Half of me really wants to see that happen.
“Enough shadowborns are being attacked, ostracised, imprisoned and killed out there simply because they are different. Turning on your own kin makes you no better than those who cast the first stone.” The fire in her chest slowly dies down, and she clears her throat. “Now, if you’d please open your books and go to page ninety-three to see which spell we’ll be practicing today, then we can get started.”
With Jonah rightfully put in his place, Professor Stonehart goes over to speak with Zander. I wish I knew what Jonah said. Meanwhile, everyone opens their textbooks and flicks to the aforementioned page. A sense of relief washes over me when I see we’re practicing glamours. I’ve done those before, mostly to avoid people who wanted to socialise with me in the foster home. They also came in helpful whenever the keepers wanted me to endure another therapy session. I’d cast a glamour, they’d come into my room, and all they’d find was a plant where I should’ve been.
“Okay, children. It’s time to split up into three,” Professor Stonehart orders, “and then follow the instructions listed clearly in your spellbook. Remember to use your own abilities to your advantage. A simple glamour can be the very thing that saves you in this world.” The professor suddenly transforms into a pool of fire, then the flames sizzle into water, and voila, she’s a puddle. “And the more you practice, the quicker your spell will take effect and the longer it will last.”
I never thought I’d meet a talking puddle, but there you go.
Just as she manifests back into her original form, Zander steps forward.
“We all have different tricks up our sleeves.” In the blink of an eye, he wraps himself in shadows and disappears from sight. He returns as quickly as he vanished, though his emerald eyes are glowing from using magic. “Use them. Now go.”
Chairs screech against the floor as everyone pushes back to gather into groups.
I grab Sage’s arm and grin at her. “This’ll be a piece of cake.”
“Remember the first time we cast a glamour?”
“Dude, you literally turned Keeper John into a skunk. That wasn’t a glamour. It was a punishment.”
“You’re right. Karma, bitch!”
We giggle at the memory. Those were some really fun times. Maybe they are also why so many keepers said we weren’t worth helping.
I reach for my spellbook, but I notice Izora sitting alone two desks down. Nobody seems to bother about her while they all excitedly prepare to cast the first spell.
“Hey, Izy. Do you wanna join us?” I ask her, giving a genuine smile.
She looks over her shoulder at us, her expression somewhat startled. “Oh, umm… Sure.”
We go over to her and start to discuss the instructions of the spell, not letting on that we already know it. I know Izora is powerful, but I also don’t want to come across like I’m showing off. Quite a number of people already hate me and Sage after the stunt we pulled at the welcoming ceremony. Call me crazy, but I actually want Izora to like us.
“So, I can already cast this stupid spell. What about you?” Izora starts, taking the two of us by surprise.
Sage and I exchange a glance, before I say, “Oh. Well, actually, we can too.”
Izora flicks her long silver hair over her shoulders. “Then let’s show these kids how it’s done.”
With that, we each take turns casting simple illusions to hide in. Sage chooses a pink chair, which is pretty cool, until I sit on her and she starts rocking me from side to side, sending me into a fit of giggles. Izora transforms into a blue butterfly, much to the disgust of another student who squeals that all insects are unsanitary and should be squished. It reminds of the boys I turned into slugs. I wonder if Zander reversed the hex?
When it’s my turn, Sage watches me with her large unblinking eyes, and I just know she’s wanting me to transform into a bee. I decide against that, though, and do a simple raven instead.
Zander and Professor Stonehart walk through the classroom, helping students who are clearly struggling with the task. I transform back and go over to him.
“Hey. About the other day in the forest—”
Zander stops what he’s doing and takes me by the elbow, steering me out of earshot. There’s a dark glint in his eyes that sends a shiver down the length of my spine.
“Never mind that. The little guy you saddled me with still needs a name, you know.”
It takes me a moment to register what he’s saying. “You want to name him, like, together?”
He gives a lopsided grin. “Every creature in this world deserves to have a name, Vina. I like Toad, short for Toad in the Hole.”
“Wait. As in the food?”
He shrugs. “Why not? They’re delicious, warm and fluffy, just like Toad.”
I eye him skeptically. “I think we should name him something that doesn’t make you want to eat him.”
“Then what do you propose, cutie?”
The nickname makes my heart skip a beat. Dammit! Stupid heart!
“What about Tiny Tim?” I suggest casually.
He gasps in horror. “Wait! As in A Christmas Carol?”
It’s my turn to shrug now, though I can’t help but smile at the way he mimicked me. “Yeah.”
“No.”
“Why not?” I all but pout at him.
“It doesn’t fit him. He’s a spunky big fella like his daddy.”
I choke on a gasp of air, horrified and amused by what he just said. “O-okay… Then, if you want him named after you, what about Handsome Egoistical Jerk?”
Zander’s eyes widen into saucers. “You think I’m handsome?”
“No, that’s not what I meant!”
“You think I’m handsome,” he declares decidedly, winking at me.
Squirming as I stand, I try to pretend that a swarm of butterflies isn’t fluttering around my stomach. “Anyway, back to the topic at hand… What about Echo? It was his echoing screams that brought me to him and subsequently saved his life from a group of leeching slugs.”
“Drab. Depressing. Cute. I like it. Echo it is!”
I watch Zander stalk off to help another student, and I can’t help but smile.
That boy is serious trouble, I know it. And yet why does that excite me more than anything?
“Welcome to tryouts, the beginner round,” Headmaster Greyhorn announces as we all stand grouped together at the front of the academy. On either side of Greyhorn are two other teachers: Professor Gale, and a female one I don’t recognise. Her silver hair is wrapped up in a bun and she has a stern expression on her pretty face with pursed ruby red lips. If I had to guess her age, I’d assume middle-forties by the wrinkles framing her eyes and mouth. “This is the most important class you will ever take. In this class, you will be heavily judged on every mistake, every move and every correct idea you come up with.”
“The tryouts are in the enchanted forest and they are designed for us to judge your character, your powers and anything else you might wish to hide,” Professor Gale adds in.
“My name is Healer Julie, and as you can guess, I am here to fix anything. Even though you will be alone in the forest, help is never far away.” The woman looks each and every one of us dead in the eye. “You just have to look in the right places for it.”
“Isn’t that jolly?” Sage grumbles in my ear, and I just manage to suppress a laugh.
“Now, in the forest there are clues,” the headmaster states. “These clues will lead you to the prize you will spend the entire year looking for. The forest will not give its prize up easily, so you must be prepared to fight for it and your lives.”
“Now that’s even jollier,” I mumble back to Sage.
My best friend doesn’t manage to restrain her laugh, and we both receive a sharp glare from Greyhorn.
“There are only ten prizes,” he resumes calmly, his cold eyes flicking away from us, “and the first one to find them will win something very special. The prizes give you a passing grade in this class and guarantees a good job when you leave Shadowborn Academy. So do pay attention and try to win.”
I can’t help but snort at that. Basically what he means is that instead of cleaning the toilets of the train station, we might be lucky enough to clean the toilets of rich assholes instead. Gee, aren’t we the lucky ones? Shadowborns rarely get any of the good jobs; if we don’t manage to become a warden, we get basic, poorly paid jobs in the community. A keeper told me that once. He was one of the rare keepers that were actually honest with me about the world I would soon be getting thrown into whether I wanted to be or not.
He also said the only reason shadowborns are tolerated at all is that our children are usually born as light magic users, or because in a war, we are easy cannon fodder. Shadowborns are disposable in the eyes of the High Wardens. It makes me sick.
“You will be divided into teams of four, chosen by us. Please come up and find your team from my list and group up,” Professor Gale announces, waving his hand to produce a scroll of parchment from thin air.
We all get into a line and I silently pray that I’m in Sage’s team. Or at least in Izora’s. Do not put me in Willow’s. Do not put me in Willow’s. As people rush off to group up, the area becomes chaos as we move through the line and finally reach the professor. He looks right at Sage, who avoids eye contact until it becomes awkward.
“I did this for you,” he tells Sage, holding out a rolled-up parchment, but she doesn’t respond to him. I clear my throat and he roughly hands me two pieces of parchment. Sage is already walking away as I jog to her side, out of earshot from the queue.
“You okay?” I ask her, grabbing her arm to stop her from walking away from me. Dark magic itches my hand as I hold her and she turns to me, smiling softly as the magic fades.
“It’s just him. I’ll eventually get used to it,” she assures me.
“Or we could kill him,” I suggest with a completely innocent smile.
Sage snorts. “Don’t tempt me, girl.”
“Just putting it out there,” I say, handing her the parchment with her name on it. I unroll my own, seeing four names written in blue ink.“Let’s see who we’ve got in our team.”
“It better not be anyone shit. We’ve gotta spend a whole year with them,” she grumbles, and I grunt in agreement, reading the names listed on my parchment.
Corvina Charles.
Sage Millhouse.
Ronan Fairweather.
And what do you know? Last but not wanted, Jonah Fucking Vincent.
Underneath him, there’s a single clue meant to help us complete the task: all year round it grows but never dies.
“I like the first three names,” Sage mutters, peering over my shoulder to confirm our parchments are the same. She sighs. “Professor Gale must have made it so we are together. At least he did something right. I’m still not thanking him for it.”
“I think that’s all he wanted,” I gently reply, though she’s too angry to look past it. I can’t really blame her.
I turn around and find Ronan with Jonah already, both of them arguing.
Sage follows my gaze. “Teamwork, huh?” Jonah shoves a hand into Ronan’s chest. Ronan raises a fist covered in icy magic. “More like we’re all going to kill each other before anything gets done.”
“We should stop the idiots,” I mutter. If they can’t get along, we are never going to get this prize, and I know I want it. I don’t want a more shitty job for me and Sage when we leave this place. We go over and I move in the middle of Jonah and Ronan, who steps away with Sage.
“Can we call a truce in this class?” I ask him, crossing my arms.
Jonah smirks, leaning in closer. “I don’t need your useless help to win. You can follow me like a good little puppy,”
“Is that stick up your ass cutting off your brain skills?” I spit out, cocking an eyebrow. “We need to work together to win this or we will all lose. I don’t want to lose and I don’t think you do either, so suck it up, cupcake. We have a prize to win.”
Jonah doesn’t get to give me some snarky reply as a loud whistle carries through my ears, and we all turn to look at the professors as they wait in the clearing.
The headmaster steps forward. “Good luck, new students. Remember this: nothing in this world comes without risk. Jump the leap that looks too far, eat the berry you’re unsure is poisonous or not, and fall into the well even though you are aware you could drown. ” He looks directly at me as he speaks and I know his choice of words is not random. “May Selena guide your dark souls. Now go. You have exactly three hours.”
Jonah runs off into the forest, leaving us with no choice but to run after him.
This is going to be a long day.
“Maybe next time you could actually be useful, team,” Jonah snaps, storming past us into the academy.
“Maybe if we didn’t have to chase your stupid ass around in circles the entire day, we would have!” I shout at his back and he puts his middle finger up at me as he walks off.
“What a dick,” Sage grumbles, pausing on the spot. Ronan headed in the other direction a while ago to go back to his room, looking as exhausted as we all feel inside. It’s just me and Sage now. “I’m going to the library to research something I saw in the forest. You know they said the tryouts last all year? I wonder if something in the forest changes in the different seasons.”
“That’s smart, but we can look tomorrow if you want to rest,” I suggest over a yawn.
“It’s okay. I’m still buzzing from today and I want to check it out! See you later,” she say
s, briefly hugging me before walking away.
I cross my arms and walk back to our room. As I open the door, I can’t help but feel a little guilty about not going with her, but I’m exhausted after all the arguing and running.
“Pitch, are you still mad at me?” I question, dumping my bag down onto my bed.
Considering he’s been silent ever since I met Zander in the forest the other day, I’m not surprised to get more silence in return. There’s something off with him. He’s never given me the silent treatment before.
I lift my shirt up and sniff it, smelling the stink of the forest and sweat from running around in it all day. I eye the bath in the middle of the room, knowing I haven’t used it yet and Sage is going to be a while anyway. I strip off my clothes and chuck them in the laundry bin in the corner of the room, which somehow magically cleans our clothes overnight and hangs them up in the wardrobes for us.
I’m certain the academy is hiring some of the forest creatures to do little jobs around the academy like this.
I sink into the bathtub and the water feels amazing as it surrounds me. I hold my breath to dip my head underwater, and that’s when Pitch floats out of my soul, appearing in the water opposite me. His messy black hair floats around him as he stares at me, letting me in again to feel his pain. I break out of the pool, gasping for air, and I wipe my hair out of my eyes. Pitch is resting against the other side of the pool, his long arm stretched across the edge of the tub while droplets of water race down his olive skin.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I explain to him. “But you are my shadow, and I have no idea if you’re real or not. You tell me nothing about you that could ever make me feel like you’re real.”
“You want to know something real?” he questions, tilting his head to the side. Goddess, he’s handsome. Almost too perfect. The kind of perfect that makes any girl forget all reason and do stupid things like fall in love with a shadow.