Are we talking about the same person? The guy they’d just described was definitely not the one I met at Dean’s party. Psh, you met him for like two seconds. And you were drooling over him. Plus, he saved your life. Give the guy a chance.
Shut up, brain. You’re just saying that because you think he’s cute.
“…the crystal ball.”
I cursed. I’d been so off in my head I’d missed what the Headmaster had said. The stage floor opened up, and a pedestal popped up from under the stage. A giant crystal ball perched on top, and it had to be at least two feet tall.
My stomach dropped. I don’t like this.
“The ball tells you which Suit you’re in,” George whispered. “Or…well, it shows it.”
“Yeah, but if it turns blue, it means the person isn’t a witch at all.” Freddy bounced in his seat. “Blue smoke will come out and wrap around the person to remove every magical memory before they’re sent back home to the human world.”
Oh my God. That’s going to be me. I didn’t realize there would be a test to get in. I thought it was already determined I was a witch. Why would they bring me all the way here if there was a sliver of doubt? My stomach twisted. My palms grew sweaty. I had no idea what I was going to do if Dean was wrong.
“Okay, when I call your name, First Years, you will come up and gently place your hands on the ball. Don’t worry. It doesn’t hurt.” The Headmaster cleared his throat and held up a piece of parchment. “Abigail Landry.”
A girl jumped up from the front row. Her auburn curls bounced as she ran up the stairs and onto the stage. She must’ve had witch parents, too, because she didn’t even hesitate to put her hands on the crystal ball.
“Gonna be Cups,” Freddy mumbled.
The crystal ball flashed with bright white light, and then a golden chalice appeared within it. Her silver cloak shimmered like a disco ball and then changed to a vibrant aquamarine the same color as Jackson’s eyes.
Ew. Stop that. I shook myself and refocused. I had no idea what had just happened, but the girl’s cloak turned from silver to aquamarine.
“Told ‘ya.” Freddy sighed. “All the Landrys are in Cups. The Cup Major is her sister Marcia.”
Abigail squealed in delight then ran over to the Cups Major. The two embraced in a big hug. Sisters. Right. Lucky. Not for the first time, I wondered what it must be like to have a sibling.
“All right. Darren Troy,” Headmaster announced once the ball was clear.
A boy in our row with short black hair and green eyes got up and walked up to the stage. When he raised his hands to the ball, I took small satisfaction in seeing they were shaking. It meant I wasn’t the only one who was nervous. The crystal ball filled with gray smoke for a few seconds before a golden pentagram appeared within. Just like with Abigail, his silver cloak shimmered then changed color, this time to a pretty hunter green.
“Pentacle,” George whispered. “Man, I don’t want Pentacle. That Suit is no fun.”
I frowned. No fun? No one told me certain Suits were more fun than others. Dean had said they just symbolized your strength of magic. I wrung my hands under the long sleeves of my cloak. Dean definitely did not give me enough information. Do I want a fun Suit? Am I fun?
Headmaster waited until Darren joined the blonde girl in glasses, then he held up the parchment again. A silly smile lit up his face, and he shook his head. “George Jr. and Freddy Walton. Let’s just do this together, eh?”
Both boys jumped to their feet and cheered. The crowd laughed with them. I smiled and watched them walk up to the stage, until I realized my informants were gone. A wave of wild nervousness washed over me. My skin turned hot and clammy. It’s okay. You don’t need little kids to help you get through this.
Freddy and George went up to the crystal ball together, both shorter than the ball, even on its stand. Not that they noticed. They placed their pale hands up on the crystal, and it immediately shined bright purple. A golden stick appeared from within the ball. Oh, right. Wands. Their silver cloaks turned to a dark purple at the exact same time. They pumped their fists and skipped over to the long-haired Suit Major. The three of them high-fived. I chuckled.
“Bettina Blair.”
OH SHIT.
No wait, I’m not ready. All of the warmth I’d just felt vanished, leaving an icy chill in its wake. I shivered and stood up. Butterflies bounced around in my stomach. I took a deep, shaky breath, then headed toward the staircase.
Okay, you can do this. It’s no big deal. Just don’t trip.
I kept my eyes on the ground and just concentrated on breathing. When I was almost at the ball, I heard George and Freddy call out my name. I looked up and found them smiling and cheering me on. I gave them what I hoped was a smile, but I couldn’t be sure. My body had gone into panic mode. I blinked and looked away from them, only to meet the gaze of Jackson Lancaster.
My breath left me in a rush. He was just as pretty as the last time I’d seen him, and his eyes were just as sharp. My pulse thundered in my veins. FOCUS. I peeled my eyes off of him. The crystal ball was right in front of me. No doubt the entire student body of Edenburg thought I was a coward. How long have I been standing up here?
I licked my lips and raised my hands out to touch the ball. They trembled like leaves in a hurricane, and I hated it. Oh God. Don’t be blue, don’t be blue, don’t be blue. I pressed both hands flat to the crystal ball and waited. It was cool to the touch, but not uncomfortable. Energy tickled my palms.
Gray smoke swirled around inside of it for what felt like an hour. Oh God, it’s gonna be blue. I’m just human. Stop it. That doesn’t make sense. Demons don’t attack humans. Do they? I frowned and focused on the mist swirling inside the ball. Come onnnnn. Golden light flashed from the middle. It moved and started to take the form of a Wand. I sighed with relief. A Wand. I had no idea what that meant, but the long-haired dude looked cool. Freddy and George were super nice. I could be a Wand—
Bright white light flashed. A golden shape stretched wide within. I scowled. What is that? Before I could ask, my silver cloak shimmered bright, and then in the beat of a second, it turned jet black.
The crowd gasped.
My eyes widened. “Wh-what d-does this m-mean? What is b-black?”
Headmaster Daniel smiled and gestured to his left. “The Suit of Swords.”
Chapter Eleven
BETTINA
Sword? I’m a Sword? No, no, that can’t be right.
That was all I kept thinking the rest of the entrance ceremony. One by one, all of the First Years went up to the crystal ball to get sorted. More than half of them went to Pentacles. The next biggest portion went to Cups. Then Wands. The least amount of First Years went to Swords…and those who did were all boys.
Jackson refused to even look at me.
Every other First Year sorted into Swords got a handshake from him.
Me? One hell of a death glare.
The only thing stopping me from being a complete and total mess over his behavior was the fact that I was somehow sorted into SWORDS. The other three Suits may have been unclear in my mind as to what they did, but Swords? Pretty damn obvious. I groaned and followed the rest of my black-cloaked First Years out of the auditorium, or whatever they called it. To my surprise, the second the crystal ball disappeared, all of the crowd’s white cloaks changed to one of the four Suit colors.
Jackson looked incredible in black.
When we got out to a main hallway, I spotted Dean leaning against a railing. He had on an aquamarine cloak.
He smiled and shook his head, then waved at me. “Well, well, well…”
I practically ran over to him then sighed and ran my hands through my hair. “You’re a Cup. Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shrugged. “Because I had a strong suspicion you weren’t going to be.”
“Oh?” I frowned and tugged at my long black sleeves. “What did you suspect?”
“Honestly, Wands. Though it appears the ball t
hought the same at first, too.” He held his hand up and gave me a high five. “But I shouldn’t be surprised. You handled that demon well.”
I rolled my eyes. “You mean I managed to not die.”
He pursed his lips. “That’s more than any of my Cups could’ve done.”
“Swords means what I think it does, doesn’t it?”
He had the good grace to cringe. “Warrior Suit.”
I groaned and tugged at my hair. “There must be some confusion in that ball.”
“Give it a try and see.”
I stuck out my tongue at him. Being around Dean was easy. Comfortable. “What do I do—”
“Bettina,” that glorious English accent yelled.
I tensed. My heart fluttered and sent more butterflies into my stomach. He hadn’t said my name before, and it did weird things to my body. I licked my lips and turned, only to recoil.
“Stay with the Swords. You have to get registered.” The glare in his aquamarine eyes was livid. “Your job is done here, Hoover. Return to the Cups.”
Dean frowned, but then he just rolled his eyes. “All righty. Bettina, if you need anything, I’ll be in the Cups’ dorm.”
“She’ll be fine,” Jackson snapped.
It was my turn to scowl. Just who does this guy think he is?
I shook my head then gave a smile to my friend. “Thanks, Dean.”
He bowed then turned and walked away. I sighed and spun to find Jackson glaring at me from fifteen feet away. I rolled my eyes then jogged to catch up with him. He didn’t speak a single word as he led me back to where the other First Year Swords stood. Waiting for me. Crap.
My cheeks flushed. “Sorry, I didn’t know I was supposed to follow.”
A couple of the guys smiled, and the rest just nodded and turned to follow Jackson into a room. When I walked through the door, I found it was just an office, with mahogany hardwood floors and vaulted ceilings. The walls were lined with breathtaking murals of countrysides, all thriving greenery.
I stood there a few minutes inspecting the paintings until I heard the heavy pounding of footsteps. Turning, I found Jackson stomping up to our group with papers in his hands. He went through each one, then handed them out to us First Years. I watched each paper go until there was only one left. Mine. Naturally. Jackson’s aquamarine eyes met mine and the heat in his gaze sent my pulse into a tailspin. His lips smashed into a straight line. He thrust the paper toward me with a snarl. How could my heart sink and soar at the same damn time?
I reached out to take the paper but I misjudged the space between us and our hands slammed into each other. Our fingers brushed, sending a hot blast of electricity up my arm. I gasped. My whole body burned like I’d been dropped in a bonfire. He yanked his hand away from me so fast I thought for sure he’d given himself a papercut. Kind of hoped he did, actually. My arm still tingled from his touch.
“These are your dorm assignments and your class schedules,” Jackson said with that scruffy English voice of his. “Should have all the information you need. If not, the location of my dorm is marked on your map. Come and ask me, and I’ll tell you who to direct your question to.”
One of the younger-looking boys, maybe ten, raised his hand. “Excuse me, Jackson? What are we supposed to do now?”
“Go to your room. School starts tomorrow. Once you look at your schedules, you’ll be wanting to rest up.” Jackson bent over and pointed to something on the young boy’s paper, then straightened. “Your belongings have already been delivered to your dorms. They don’t encourage First Years to go to the food hall on entrance night, so they provide a one-time food delivery. It will be at your door in one hour.”
I looked down at my papers and gasped. They were silver. Like shimmering, metallic silver. Cool. The first page was my schedule, but I’d look at that later. I was in desperate need of privacy. I needed to cry, scream, punch a pillow. Maybe not in that order. But when I looked at the paper for my dormitory, it just told me the name of the building, room number, and other information I knew I’d find helpful at a later date.
“Where is this building at?” I asked to no one in particular.
Jackson’s tan hand shot into my line of view. He yanked my paper out of my hand and flipped it, showing me a detailed picture of a map. “You’re old enough to read. Try not to blow up my school.”
He stormed off and out of sight.
“A simple ‘there’s a map on the back’ would’ve sufficed, I think,” I mumbled to myself.
Chapter Twelve
BETTINA
It took me thirty minutes to find my dorm building. At least. It wasn’t my proudest moment. I’d never realized how small my school in Charleston was until I tried to navigate Edenburg. Alone. At night. First problem, there were students everywhere. The entrance ceremony was over, and whatever party they’d been having prior to it had clearly resumed. Second problem, we were all dressed the same now. My black Swords cloak looked just like everyone else’s, so no one noticed I was the new kid lost on campus. Third problem, I was far, far too prideful to stop and ask for directions. Fourth problem, all the damn buildings looked the same. All brick!
Fifth problem—okay, I had a lot of problems.
To make matters worse, it turned out the dorms were separated by Suit. The Cups were in the East building, Wands in the West, Pentacles in the North, and Swords in the South. It took me way too long to realize this, and apparently way too difficult for Jackson to tell me. Asshole.
I walked up to a set of wide wooden doors and froze. They looked like black stained glass with metallic gold and silver lines. On each door was a picture of a sword with two crowns on the blade. I frowned and looked down at the map. It said this was the entrance, but there weren’t any handles. Just then two students in black cloaks walked by me. When they got up to the doors the glass just disappeared.
Whoa. I scurried to follow after them. As soon as we passed over the threshold the black glass reformed behind us. Nifty. I smiled and turned to look ahead of me and my jaw dropped. The inside of this building did not match the rest of the school. It was super modern-looking, with black hardwood floors and satin-finished black walls. Even the ceilings were painted black.
The dormitory building opened up into a massive atrium, with shiny black glass everywhere. There were couches grouped around small fireplaces, nooks with desks for studying, and about a dozen or so tables with chairs. Running along the sides and against the back wall were rows of books stacked on top of each other. It was somehow cozy, modern, and functional all at the same time. The floating candles were a nice touch.
I followed another student around to the side wall on my left and found a staircase tucked away. A few more students in black cloaks moved by me then rushed up the steps. I glanced around but didn’t see any other stairs so this must’ve been the way up. I walked up the steps then paused at the opening to the second floor. It was the fanciest gym I’d ever seen. It had machines, free weights, and some kind of sparring space in the back with an open floor and punching bags.
This is not a good sign. With a shudder, I spun and continued my climb up the stairs. By the time I made it to the fourth floor I was gasping for air, and that really didn’t bode well.
The hall was lined with rooms, as I passed by some of the doors were open. Students poured in and out, bouncing between rooms as they socialized. I ducked my head and tried to be invisible as I searched for my room. But then my stomach growled so loud a kid walking by in a black Swords cloak pulled out his dagger.
So, that was fun.
It wasn’t until I got to my door that I realized I didn’t have a key.
This is just not my day.
I sighed and tried the handle, but it was locked. With a groan, I checked all of my pockets, just in case someone had magically put the key in there. When I came up empty-handed, I pulled the paper out and read the damn thing front and back. Twice. Still nothing about a key.
“You’ve got to be bloody kidding me,”
I grumbled.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood tall. Heat rushed through my body like I’d stepped into a sauna. The air around me warmed, and the energy tingled. I was about to turn around when an arm covered in black shot across my line of view. A large, tan hand gripped my sleeve then dragged my own hand over to the lock on the door. The metal contraption clicked. My door popped open.
Oooooohhhh. Magic. DUH.
I looked down at the hand holding my arm and smiled. There on the guy’s hand, stretching from his wrist down to the last knuckle on his thumb was a tattoo of a single red rose. It was super hot, and I would’ve bet money there was significant meaning to it. I looked over my shoulder to thank him, and my words caught in my throat.
Jackson Lancaster stood mere inches away from me. Every nerve ending in my body came to life, tingling and sizzling. My heart fluttered. I blinked and tried to recover from the effect he had on my system, but when I took a breath, I inhaled the strong scent of pine and almost sighed. He smelled like Christmas. It was wonderful and soothing, and completely and totally intoxicating. I swayed a little on my feet.
My cheeks filled with heat, and I knew I had to be blushing. “Um, thank you.”
He dropped my hand like I’d burned him. “The magic in your veins will open any main school door on campus, the Swords training facilities, this dormitory building, and your specific room.”
His advice was helpful and welcomed; the snappy tone in which he’d used to say it was not.
Still, I was grateful for his help. Whatever this guy had against me was his own problem because I’d never done anything to him.
I smiled wide in spite of his anger. “Thank you. I’ll remember that.”
He nodded once then spun and stormed away from me.
Dude, what is your problem?
I shook my head and pushed my door open. Darkness greeted me, and I threw my hands to the side then dragged my fingers along the wall until I found the light switch. Soft golden light filled the room…and my jaw dropped.
The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series Page 7