by Lan Chan
“What the hell?” I screamed to nobody in particular.
I twisted around thinking someone must be playing a joke on me. There was nothing in the vicinity besides magically manicured landscape. Ignoring the dull pain in my side, I pushed myself up and forward. My nose hit a flat surface. It felt like a sheet of plastic. The material was pliable but there was not much give.
“Curtis?” I called out. “Bran?”
I was going to be so late. This was my last semester in the junior campus classes. I’d managed to catch up enough that I wasn’t even going to be in the under-twelves class anymore. I’d been bumped up with the fourteen-year-olds. This would not make a good impression on them.
“Marshall!” I screamed, adding a few syllables to his name. Sophie had told me once that six months before I arrived at Bloodline, Marshall had been possessed by a demon. That knowledge made me feel like I had a kinship with him. We vessels had to stick together.
When he appeared with Bran on the opposite side of the barrier, his expression was apologetic.
“I can’t get through!” Just to prove my point, I placed both palms on the barrier and pushed like I was trying to move a broken-down car.
Curtis ran his hands through his dark hair. “I take it Jacqueline hasn’t spoken to you?”
“Not since yesterday. Anyway, I don’t have time. I’m already running late to class. Can one of you give me a lift?”
They didn’t outwardly share in any nonverbal form of communication, but the way Marshall blinked made me think there had been a message exchange. “I think you’d better go and see the headmistress,” he said. “Come on, I’ll take you.”
Feeling like I had missed something, I stepped back and held my hands up in a surrender position. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think that I’ve been uninvited from the junior campus.” This time, they did exchange a glance.
Alarmed, I whipped my timetable out of my backpack even as Marshall grabbed hold of my wrist. I yanked myself out of his hold. My schedule appeared to be in flux. The contents and classes kept appearing and disappearing like somebody was currently actively rearranging it.
My classes were being swapped in and out. The only thing that remained constant was that I no longer had any classes on the junior campus. “I don’t get it,” I said, looking up into Marshall’s eyes.
His head dipped. “It’s not my place to explain. Jacqueline will be able to fill you in.” For a second, I had the irresistible urge to unsheathe the demon blade from the scabbard on my back and try to cut a chunk out of the wall. Marshall sensed the riotous thought because he reached out and placed his palm on my forehead.
I blinked and we were in front of Alex’s desk. The mink shifter didn’t so much as flinch when we appeared. If anything, he was one step ahead of us. His hand was already on the crystal ball.
“Alessia Hastings is here,” he said. The crystal turned green. “The headmistress will see you now.”
Marshall gave me one last mournful glance. “It’s not personal,” he said. Okay, now my alarm bells were ringing. I wasn’t sure what possessed me, but I reached out for his arm.
“So long, Marshall.”
He reeled back as though I’d struck him. I sniffed to clear the hint of moisture in my eyes before I pushed open Jacqueline’s door and stepped inside. Professor Mortimer was in there with her. Even though Dmitri was technically the deputy headmaster, Jacqueline often conferred with Professor Mortimer on things that concerned students.
Sophie wasn’t a fan of our vampire deputy headmaster and claimed he had made her life a nightmare when she was still in the junior school. I could well believe it. He didn’t seem all that impressed with students despite the fact that he had chosen a vocation where he would have to be in contact with us daily.
“Hi, Lex,” Jacqueline said. “Come sit down.” The tone she used on me was the same one I’d heard Professor Allen, a bear shifter, use on the griffin in the Fae forest.
“I take it I’m not going to classes in the junior campus anymore,” I said as I slumped into the armchair beside Professor Mortimer. If possible, he appeared more rumpled than he had been the day before. His cheeks was still pretty ashen. I thought of what Samantha had said about the soul gate. The thought of Professor Mortimer dying had me biting my tongue.
Jacqueline leaned forward and clasped her hands together. The ruby sheen of her nails matched the wine-red suit she wore. She’d recently changed the colour of her hair to a brassy grey with a mauve wash through it. How in the world did that actually make her look younger?
“We’re still trying to tweak your timetable,” she said. “It’s proving more difficult than we had anticipated.”
“That wasn’t really my question.”
Beside me, I swore Professor Mortimer actually flinched. Jacqueline didn’t bat an eyelid. I knew she gave my chain a lot of slack on account of many things, Kai included, but I never forgot that above all else, her responsibility was to the Academy.
“We had to take the precaution,” she said.
“We who?”
“The School Board made a unanimous decision,” Professor Mortimer said. It turned out the School Board was made up of Jacqueline, a number of the professors, two of the Nephilim from the Council, and some of the funding parents. That also included Orin Harcourt. My number one fan on the Council.
I tapped my foot on the floor. “I get not having time to devote to some of the entry-level classes, but I don’t see why that would mean I can’t –”
Halfway through that thought it hit me. It felt like somebody had taken a sledgehammer to my chest. The way I shrivelled in my chair must have been visible because Professor Mortimer grimaced. “The barrier isn’t just to stop me from going to classes, is it? You don’t trust me around the younger kids.”
This time Jacqueline leaned forward and grabbed my hand. Even if I wanted to pull away I couldn’t. Her grip was too solid.
“This has nothing to do with how much we trust you,” she said. “But you have to understand this is uncharted territory for us. So much of what we know about the Sisterhood is conjecture. We’re flying blind. I know you’d never do anything to endanger the lives of the other students. But we don’t know what other abilities the Sisterhood possess. They proved beyond a doubt that they are anything but our allies, and they don’t have any compunction about using their powers to disarm us.”
Professor Mortimer nodded even though he looked slightly green in the gills. “The Council are still trying to come up with a way to ease the populace into accepting the Sisterhood are back. This is just a precaution we’re taking to alleviate the backlash.”
“And believe me,” Jacqueline added, “there will be backlash. No matter what the grand mistress –”
“Samantha. Her name is Samantha.”
Jacqueline wrote something down on the notepad in front of her. “Right. No matter what Samantha says, their motives are suspect. They believe we’re monsters, so slaying us wouldn’t be condemned in their eyes. They will continue to petition for Giselle’s release. On the other hand, we will find it difficult to protect ourselves. They are human. We’ve taken oaths to protect the human populace. I know this is difficult after all you’ve sacrificed to fit in. But it would put the minds of the parents at ease if the children are protected.”
“What about the parents of the other big babies on the senior campus?” I said. “If everyone is so worried I might as well just leave Bloodline.”
“We’ll do everything we can to ensure your education isn’t impacted,” she said. “Most of your professors have said you probably didn’t need to even stay in the junior campus this year.”
I wanted to tell her it wasn’t about study. It was about the way this would look and about the fact that I would be leaving my friends behind. Yeah, it was weird that an almost eighteen-year-old was friends with thirteen-year-olds, but I didn’t really care about that.
“And another thing,” Jacqueline said. “Given t
he circumstances, we think it might be best if you are withdrawn from any House-related activities this year.” This just got better every second.
“I’m sorry,” Jacqueline said. I shook my head.
“It’s not your fault. It just...sucks.”
“Yes, it does.”
I swiped my hand over my face. “Any other surprises I should know about before I go running headlong into them?”
Jacqueline pulled out the parchment that held the skeleton for my schedule. It came from her top drawer, so I gathered she had tucked it in there hastily when I’d arrived.
“We’re having a difficult time working the timetable. It makes the most sense for you to attend Terran Academy Thursday through Friday. Some of the classes you would have had this year are only held later on during the week. It means you could miss out on the practical field portion of your Weaponry and Combat as well as your Potions class.”
“Not to mention most of my weekends are gone.”
“Your weekends still belong to you,” Jacqueline said.
I gave her a pointed look that said I was on to her. As if both Academies wouldn’t be trying to make me use my spare weekend time for their purposes. If nothing else, they would try to make me catch up on the things I had missed during the week.
“Are there any other classes you think you might be able to do without?”
“Aside from my two favourite classes that Samantha just decided to pull me from?”
Professor Mortimer patted my hand. Without Arcane Magic, I wouldn’t be seeing much of him either.
I perused the schedule. Now that Sophie wouldn’t be in my Potions class, I was on my own. I wasn’t a fantastic potion brewer, but it was a skill that I thought would eventually come in handy. I would have loved to drop Dead Languages like a hot potato. Like Weaponry and Combat, it was the class that I was least proficient in. Sadly, that was towards the beginning of the week as well. I was beginning to see why they were having so much trouble. And then it hit me that one of my classes was in bold and therefore static.
“Why is Elemental Magic non-negotiable?” I asked. “I’m not Fae.”
Professor Mortimer scratched at his short beard. “You might not be, but some of the other low-magic users have proven able to harness elemental magic in order to boost their powers. As a hedge witch, imagine if you could control the structure of the earth in which you grow your seeds.”
“I haven’t really had a problem getting anything to grow so far.”
They looked at each other. “That’s a good point,” Jacqueline said. Her cheek puckered like she was biting the inside of it. “At the same time, I think it might be useful as a backup in case you’re ever in a situation where you might need to call on elemental spirits.”
“I think I’d be in a lot more trouble if I suddenly need help from a Fae. I don’t want to be spending any more time with them than I have to.”
Professor Mortimer suddenly clicked his fingers. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier,” he said. “If we move these two classes to the earlier session and Lex gets an Elemental Magic tutor, it might make up for the lessons she misses out on.”
“Hang on, a tutor? No way! I already have too much going on!”
But Jacqueline’s eyes had gone starstruck at the idea. She grinned at the professor. “I love it!”
“I don’t! I’m not getting a Fae tutor. Unless Thalia can do it.”
“Thalia is already booked solid. Most of the professors don’t have any time to take on a mentee. Your best bet would be to –”
“Don’t say it,” I warned. “I am not asking one of the fourth-years to mentor me. And I am definitely not going to be tutored by Brigid Harcourt.” Whatever else I might think of her, Brigid was good at school. She was powerful in her own right. And she seemed to be a hard worker. It was just unfortunate that she hated my guts and believed me to be the spawn of the devil.
“I’d never suggest something like that,” Jacqueline said. Though she kind of looked like it was exactly what she might be suggesting. “There are plenty of Fae who are more than capable of catching you up on that class.” She clapped her hands together. “That settles it.”
“Wait, no it doesn’t. It doesn’t settle anything!”
“Lex.” She pinned me with the full extent of her Amazonian gaze. “You need to take these lessons. Perhaps working with a water elemental will help dispel your fear of the oc –.”
The look I gave her could have flayed a dragon’s hide. “Who says I’m scared of the ocean?”
For the first time since I’d known her, she seemed sheepish. “I, ah...”
“He told you, didn’t he?” When next I saw Kai, I was going to wring his neck.
“Now don’t go getting angry at him. It was my fault. I suggested we could take a trip to the beach with Cassie and he said you’d never go and –”
I wasn’t sure why but my face was getting really warm. She cleared her throat. “Anyway, perhaps you should take the rest of the day off while we finalise your timetable. Everything should be in order by then.”
I scratched the back of my neck. “Will the kids be able to come to this campus?” I asked.
“If they choose to. But you won’t be able to cross over the threshold for the foreseeable future.”
I couldn’t help the frustrated breath that I let out. “What about getting to and from Terran? I don’t know if I can handle the school bus every time.”
“We’re working on that too. I still don’t like the idea of just handing you over to them, but we don’t have much of a choice.”
Now would have been the perfect time to tell her about the Gaia thing. If I waited long enough, Nora probably would have said something to her. But for some reason I didn’t really want it getting out there that my great-grandmother had been the one to bind a deity. How was that even possible? Basil had said that my great-grandmother had been a powerful hedge witch but this seemed a little farfetched.
“Yes, I still need to go.”
“Then I suppose we’re done here.”
I got up to leave. Just as my hand hit the door, she called out my name. “I know once you start to attend Terran Academy you’ll end up being placed in a difficult situation. I wouldn’t want you to do anything you feel compromises your integrity. We’re not naive to the fact that they may want you to keep some things to yourself. While it’s not ideal, as long as it doesn’t endanger Bloodline, we’re willing to let it slide. But I expect you will let us know as soon as anything changes.”
All I could do was nod my head. What was there to say to that? I hadn’t even started at Terran Academy yet and they were already preparing for the day when I would betray them. It was a wonder I was being allowed to walk around freely at all.
10
I really wanted to say I told you so when I walked into my first Elemental Magic class later in the week. More than a dozen Fae turned to watch me. There was a boy with dark hair and bright grey eyes who actually bared his teeth at me. The rest of them wouldn’t stop looking even when I tried to stare them down.
I wasn’t sure where I was walking except that I needed to get away from as many of these people as humanly possible. There were a few spare seats in the middle of the room, but I zoomed in on the one empty seat in the back row.
Somebody beside me groaned when I sat down. “As if I don’t have enough problems as it is,” Isla said. She dragged fingers through her straight black hair and grimaced at me.
“You think you’ve got problems?” I shot back.
“At least they’re acknowledging you’re alive. I’ve been blacklisted.”
“Trade?”
“I wish.”
I had to believe she was just trying to be sarcastic. There was no more room for talk because the professor walked in. I had seen Professor Aisling in the halls but never had cause to be in one of her classes. Until now, I had avoided the Fae subjects like the plague. She was a pale-skinned Fae with black wings and blonde hair
. Every time I’d seen her, she was wearing either all black or all white. Today it was a white maxi dress. I imagined it was a way to accentuate the colour of her wings. She was just as untouched by time as the rest of her kin, but there was something dewy about her. I wished I had the ability to see past glamours. Then again, I was slightly scared of what I might find behind their masks.
“Well, class,” she said, “I see we have a new addition to our ranks this year. I have to say I’m surprised that you’ve decided to join us, Alessia.” Decided was a strong word. As was the maniacal grin that she gave me. A sinking feeling in my gut had me gripping the spine of my textbook.
I shrugged and smiled brightly. Sometimes, shutting your mouth was the best way to defuse a situation. Colour me surprised when it worked. Isla must have been as shell-shocked as I was because I could see the whites of her eyes in my periphery.
Professor Aisling cleared her throat. Now that she knew she wasn’t going to get a rise out of me, she decided to teach.
Despite myself, I was kind of captivated. “We’re learning about water this semester,” she said. “We’ve already covered earth and air. Both of which have their own special caveats. But some would argue that water is by and large the most important element.” There was a round of good-natured hissing from the Fae who specialised in other elements. Beside me, Isla crossed her arms over her chest. She was a water Fae. In the trials for our first semester, she’d used her abilities to bring us rain. I had to admit that was very cool. Never in a million years would I tell her that, though.
The professor allowed the disturbance to go on for a half minute before she continued. “Water is essential for all life.”