Academy of the Elites: Unbound Magic

by Alexis Calder

  “You’re supposed to be on my side,” I said.

  “Oh, I am,” she said. “And I applaud you for pulling off what might be the best boyfriend heist of all time.”

  “That’s not making me feel better,” I said.

  “Don’t you know? Vampires are terrible at making people feel good,” she said. “We live too long to sugar coat anything.”

  “I suppose that’s not a bad thing. Especially in a place like this,” I said.

  “You definitely want vampire friends,” she said. “We’re the only ones who will tell you to your face if you’re being an asshole.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind,” I said.

  “Plus, we throw killer parties,” she said. “There’s a party tonight. You in?”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “You could use a night out,” she said. “Maybe ditch the boys and go solo for a change.”

  “I like my boyfriends,” I said, startled by the statement. Not because I was surprised about liking them, but because I’d never really said it out loud. I had four boyfriends. Four.

  I sort of saw why Delores was mad. Though, I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world.

  “You should come, either way” Violet said. “Bring them all if you want.”

  “We’ll see,” I said.

  I knew I had some things to figure out first. Like how the hell I was going to balance the next few months at school with four different men. While they were able to share from time to time, I knew they’d all want alone time. And I had to admit, I did too.

  Having multiple boyfriends wasn’t something I’d ever heard of in the human world. How was I supposed to do this?

  “You’ll figure it out,” Violet said.

  “Figure what out?” I asked. “Don’t tell me you can read minds.”

  She laughed. “No, but you look awfully serious. Whatever it is, stop overthinking it already.”

  I laughed. “You know, it is good to have a vampire friend.”

  A whistle sounded. “Alright you pathetic excuses for supernaturals. Head to the showers. Don’t expect tomorrow to be this easy,” Coach Miller shouted.

  I did not need to be dismissed twice. Violet and I jogged toward the locker room door and got at the back of the line of girls heading in.

  We’d moved on to discussing music while we waited and I shuffled forward in the line. As we got closer, I realized the lights were out. “What the hell?”

  I turned to Violet. “Who turned off the lights?”

  She shrugged. “I can’t tell but I don’t see anything weird.” She gave me a grin. “Another vampire perk. We can see in the dark.”

  I smiled then turned back to the dark locker room. “Hey, someone turn on the lights.”

  Inside the room, girls were screaming and laughing. Nobody seemed to care that the lights were out. I frowned, wondering if I was the only supernatural in the group who can’t see in the dark. Guess the human mage half of me won in the vision department.

  “I’ll go find the light switch,” Violet said.

  Carefully, arms extended, I shuffled in slowly. I just needed to get to my locker. I should get there by the time Violet turned the lights back on.

  Someone grabbed me and I screamed. It was stifled by a hand going over my mouth. I kicked and fought, trying to get out of the grip of whoever had me, but they were strong.

  Hot breath from heavy breathing hit my ear and my skin crawled at how close my captor was. I tried to free myself again, twisting and fighting with everything I had. They were just too strong. Who the hell was this?

  “Calm down, little mage,” a male voice hissed. “You listen to me and you and your friends will be safe.”

  I screamed into the hand, not intending to go along with whatever the hell this was.

  “Hush, now,” the voice said. “You have something I want. An old book. Bring it to me and nobody will get hurt. Library. Midnight. Come alone.”

  As quickly as the arms had grabbed a hold of me, they were gone. The lights flickered to life and I was left standing in the locker room, sweat covering my brow from fear.

  Around me shrill cries of the other girls sprang up around the room and lockers slammed and conversation continued. Nobody else seemed to have just encountered a threat from a mysterious stranger.

  Shit.

  Just when I thought things were getting better.

  3

  Raven

  Magical Theory class seemed to be over before I even noticed what was happening. All I could think about was the weird encounter in the locker room. My skin was crawling at the thought of some random guy getting in there while we were all changing.

  Plus, there was the threat and the book to consider. I had to assume the book in question was the one that Professor Halifax gave me but that didn’t make sense. Who else would know I had that book? And who in the school would want it?

  If a teacher or another student asked me about it, I’d probably have handed it over. Did that mean we had another villain inside the school? What the hell was with the lack of security in this place?

  I didn’t see what value the book even had, but I wasn’t that dumb. If someone went through all that smoke and mirrors of turning off the lights and grabbing me, the book was far more valuable than I realized.

  Which meant, I couldn’t give it to the stranger.

  Fuck.

  I just wanted to have a normal few months at this place, but I was starting to think that wasn’t possible. I attracted weirdos.

  “Raven, did you hear me?” Professor Hurd called.

  I blinked and looked up at the old man. His huge eyes stared at me through his thick glasses.

  “I’m sorry, professor,” I said. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

  He pressed his lips together into a thin line and shook his head.

  “Someone thinks she’s too good for this place now,” someone called from behind me.

  “It’s not that,” I said. “I’m sorry, I’ll focus better.”

  “Well, it won’t help you today as class is over, but tomorrow I want to see you paying attention,” he said.

  The bell rang and everyone around me stood and grabbed their bags. I was so focused on the encounter in the locker room that I hadn’t even gathered my things yet.

  Quickly, I packed up and slung my backpack over my shoulder. I stopped in front of Professor Hurd’s desk. “Sorry about that professor.”

  He lowered his glasses and looked up at me from over the frames. His eyes were now far too small for his face. It threw me off no matter how many times I saw it. “You’re getting sloppy just when you should start paying more attention.”

  “I know, I know,” I said. “The trials and everything.”

  He shook his head. “No, not the trials. Your magic is too strong for you. When you arrived, you had untamed magic. It was weak then, but still chaotic and dangerous. Now you’ve unlocked magic that few understand. You’re a danger to yourself and those around you if you don’t figure out how to use it.”

  My lips parted and I wanted to say something but I didn’t know what. It honestly wasn’t a surprise to hear there was something wrong or different or dangerous about my magic. It’s what I’d been told since I arrived.

  “Hopefully that new professor can help you,” he said. “You need tools and training. And you damn well better pay attention.”

  “I will,” I said.

  “Now go,” he said.

  “See you tomorrow.” I waved as I walked toward the door. My interactions with Professor Hurd had always been odd, but I think there was merit in his words. He’d been right about a lot of things regarding my magic and while I wasn’t sure he liked me, he was at least tolerating me.

  Aside from running to Dr. Green, there wasn’t much I could do about the intruder and I’d been specifically told not to get anyone else involved. For now, I was at an impasse. Until I decided to either go meet the person or violate their strange request and tell someone.
>
  As I walked to Spellcasting, I wondered why the person asking about the book didn’t break into my room. I supposed I should be grateful for that, but the book had come to my room rather mysteriously through Professor Halifax. Did professors have keys to student rooms?

  Matt and Zac waved to me as I walked into Spellcasting. They’d saved a seat between them for me and I was grateful to have them there. The creepy violated feeling of the encounter eased a little as I settled between them.

  “How’s your morning going?” Matt asked.

  “Interesting,” I said.

  “What’s wrong?” Zach asked.

  “Whatever it is, I can feel it radiating off of you,” Matt said. “Spill, Raven.”

  “Not now,” I said. “I can’t say anything here.”

  Zach grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze.

  “You will be silent when I speak,” a woman’s voice called out.

  A hush fell over the class and I turned to the center of the room where a tall, silver haired woman with visibly pointed ears was standing. She was wearing a green dress that was assembled in pieces, like patchwork. Though, it had an elegance to it I didn’t typically associate with a style that usually looked so bohemian. Her silver hair was pulled up in an elaborate series of twists and knots on top of her head, and around her throat she wore a necklace that reminded me of bones.

  She was chilling and enthralling all at once and she was obviously not shy about showing her fae heritage. Though, I shouldn’t be surprised considering Dr. Green’s statement that she’d come through just to teach here. Illegally. The whole thing made me a little uncomfortable and also oddly impressed by Dr. Green’s rule breaking. I didn’t think he had it in him. Though, I was learning more about him with each passing week and his file would not be clean for sure.

  “That’s better,” she said. “I am Professor Flora and I am replacing your disgraced professor. Do not expect that because she was fae and I am fae that we are the same.”

  There were a few gasps around the room at the truth bomb dropped by the new teacher. I grinned. It was refreshing in a school full of lies and deceit and hidden truths to have someone be upfront for once.

  She turned her gaze on me and my eyes widened, my smile faded. Her eyes were gold and reminded me of a cat. I forced myself to stare back, unblinking for as long as I could, but I couldn’t hold. After I blinked, she turned away.

  “I was told you focused on elemental magic last semester,” she said.

  “That’s right, professor,” Jane McCarthy said. I’d know that voice anywhere. If there was an opportunity to suck up to a teacher, Jane took it.

  “I didn’t ask you to speak,” Professor Flora said.

  I heard a stifled squeak from behind me and imagined that Jane was very red-faced right now. I’d never heard a teacher call her on her insufferable brown nosing before. I liked the new professor more every second.

  “You should all be well versed in all four elements with your strengths and weaknesses by now,” Professor Flora said. Her eyes narrowed and I got the feeling she was daring the class to say something. Nobody spoke.

  “Which means you’re ready to move on to more advanced spells,” she said. “Raise your hand if you consider yourself well versed in all four elements?”

  The twins raised their hands. Zach elbowed me.

  I shook my head. I didn’t consider myself well versed in all four elements. I was comfortable with fire, but that was about it. My studies had been limited with everything else going on.

  I glanced around the room. I was the only person who didn’t have their hand up. My stomach twisted and I felt hot. That was not the way to be singled out with the new professor. I nearly put my hand up just to join the crowd, but she was looking right at me now.

  “Interesting,” she said. “Either I have a class of geniuses, or many of you are lying. Such an odd skill that we fae do not possess. It still strikes me as a feat any time I see it performed.”

  She clasped her hands in front of her and began to pace in a slow circle around the auditorium. The whole class was the quietest I’d ever heard them.

  “Things will be different for the remainder of the semester. My job is to prepare you for not only a fictional trials in a controlled environment, but also for the real world beyond this classroom.” She stopped walking and stared out into the class. “The only way I can do that is to get you into real world situations.”

  I straightened. This sounded interesting. And terrifying. What could she be planning for us?

  She turned and walked toward the desk in the center of the room and picked up a large top hat. I was sure it hadn’t been there before. Did she just make that appear? “You’ll draw a topic out of my hat.” She smiled, as if waiting for the class to get the joke. Nobody said a word. I smiled despite myself.

  She walked straight to where I was sitting and held up the hat. “Cheeky, right?”

  “Very,” I said. The fact that it was a top hat, the kind humans associated with magic didn’t get lost on me, though I doubted my classmates were in on the joke. The fact that she knew this also told me she understood humans. She might have come from the fae realm, but she’d been here before. And fairly recently if she knew about top hats and magicians.

  “You’ll go first, my little fae.” The words were endearing but her face was a mask of indifference. She was impossible to read.

  I stuck my hand inside the hat and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She then moved the hat to Zach, then Matt before walking around the room to each student.

  I glanced at my mates and I could tell all of us were confused by this process. Matt shrugged and then opened his paper. I looked down at my own folded paper and opened it.

  Shaking my head, I folded it back up. This was not random. Nothing about this was random. I thought I was long done with this kind of magic, but apparently, it wasn’t ever going away. I glared at the paper, hoping it would change into something else. Anything else.

  “What does yours say?” Matt whispered.

  “Portals,” I said. “Yours?”

  Matt blinked a few times, clearly just as startled by my paper as I was. He passed his to me and I read it. My brow furrowed and I looked back up at Matt. “What is dream walking?”

  “Visiting people in their dreams,” he said. “If you’re really good at it, you can control them. But I don’t think she’s going to teach me how to do it. It’s kind of an incubus thing.”

  “So maybe how to kick someone out of your dream?” I asked, thinking of all the amazing dreams I’d had with Luka. I don’t think I’d ever kick him out.

  “Maybe,” Matt said.

  “What’s yours?” I asked, turning to Zach.

  “Shifters,” Zach said, his brow furrowing.

  “Shifters?” I asked, my mind going right to Ben. Why would shifters be something covered in our Spellcasting class as a real world situation?

  I looked over at our new teacher who was still passing out tasks to students. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure I liked her so much after all.

  4

  Matt

  I had no idea what this new teacher was trying to do, but it sure seemed like she was setting us against non-mages. It was odd considering the fact that she was fae. Professor Hurd never let his dislike of shifters show and favored the mages, but this was something else. Unless she legitimately thought we were at risk of needing to fight demons and shifters.

  The bell rang and Professor Flora called over the sound rustling and zippers. “Next class, be prepared to begin your individual study of your chosen topic. You will be tested.”

  “Can’t wait for that,” I mumbled.

  Raven caught my eye. “At least yours isn’t something that’s possibly illegal.”

  “This woman is insane,” Zach said under his breath.

  I had to agree. We were going to have to keep an eye on her. After Professor Halifax, my trust of fae was thin. I knew Raven was half fae, but she didn’t know anyth
ing about the fae. She didn’t know their past or why they’d really been banned from our realm.

  They were terrifying at full power. The strongest magic users there were. From what I’d heard, they weren’t all that fond of humans and while the practice of stealing human children should be over, considering they weren’t supposed to cross into our realm, I doubted that was the case. The fact there was a fae who joined us from their realm proves that theory.

  Professor Flora watched us silently as we walked past her to the door. I could feel her gaze on me even after I couldn’t see her anymore. A chill shivered down my spine. It was going to be a long couple of months in her class.

  As soon as we were outside, I grabbed Raven and pulled her against the wall so we could get away from the stream of students pouring through the hallway. Zach noticed the action and joined us.

  “Hey, what did you want to tell us before?” I asked.

  Her eyes darted around and I could feel the anxiety practically rolling off of her.

  “What is it?” Zach asked.

  “You can tell us,” I said.

  She shook her head. “Not here. My room.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Lead the way.”

  We went against the flow of students who were heading to the cafeteria for lunch. I tried to think of what she might be so upset over, but I couldn’t figure out what it might be. She’d had 2 classes this morning without us, so my guess is it was something there. Were the sirens giving her shit again?

  Heat filled my chest at the thought. If they were trying to hurt her again, I was going to have to do something to stop it. The last time one of them went after Raven, she’d ended up in the hospital.

  The shifter dorm was quiet as we walked down the stone steps. The temperature dropped as we made our descent. I hated that she lived down here. “You know, you can still move to our room any time. At least there’s sunlight in our room.”

  “I like my room,” Raven said. “Besides, it’s not for too much longer. It seems crazy to pack up and move for such a short time.”