“Professors? Wait, all of you?” Both of my brows shoot up. I knew Thane was a professor, but I hadn’t realized they all were.
Thane’s face looks even more weary than it did earlier. “Yes,” he replies bluntly. “And you’ll attend the classes like all new arrivals do, and the academy will judge whether you are worthy to join our ranks. If you’re not…” he trails off.
“I get it. I'll die,” I finish for him.
Thane nods like he’s satisfied with my answer, and he turns to Galen and Raith. “I trust you heard what Knox said. Don’t you have things to do?”
Galen gives me a sensual smile, and Raith has that perpetual crooked grin on his face. Truthfully, I'm sad to see those two go. They might have no concept of personal space, but at least they’re friendly.
“We'll see you around, little shadow,” Galen says in that sultry voice of his that makes my toes curl.
Raith winks at me. “Later, sunshine.”
There's a blur of darkness, and they disappear into shadows like Knox did. It's kind of weird never seeing people walk away from you. One moment they’re there, and the next they’re gone. I mean, what happens if you forgot to say something? Then you don't have the time to say, “Hey wait!” My thoughts run away from me, and it's not until Thane starts walking again that I'm jerked back to the present.
I rush to catch up with him. “Sooo if you’re all professors here, what do you do?”
Thane doesn't speak, and he stares ahead like he’s deep in thought as he leads me along a series of corridors. The corridors are eerily silent despite Tarlaz and Elgen following us along the walls, and after a while, I try a different question. Honestly,I’ll do anything to distract myself from the shadows, even if it means chatting to the grumpy professor. “Okay, how about an easier one. Where are you taking me? And why aren’t we disappearing into the shadows like the others? Wouldn’t that be faster, to you know, shadow walk or whatever?”
This finally gets a reaction from him. “You haven't learned the art of shadow travel yet,” he replies, “and while I could bring you with me, it's good for you to start understanding the layout of the academy for when you must traverse these corridors on your own.”
I look back the way we came and forward again. Every corridor we pass through looks almost identical as the one before. The same filigree wallpaper, decorated cornices, and dark, plush carpet. Some of the elegant décor changes, but I haven’t been paying attention.
“Hold on, I didn’t know you expected me to remember how we got here.” A stab of panic shoots through me.Crap, why can't people just assume that I have terrible navigational skills? Is this a life skill everyone has but me?When I was a bird, my navigational skills were unusually bad, but now they’re even worse. “If you wanted me to remember the way, you really should have told me up front. I would have tried to concentrate harder.”
He gives me a blank look like I’m speaking nonsense, which to be fair, to him I probably am. Lifting his hand, he points upwards. I tip my head to the ceiling, noticing there are black lines that track over the golden paint. Some of them almost remind me of the inked tattoos on Thane’s skin. The longer I stare, I realize the lines seem to have a sort of pattern to them.
“It's a map of sorts,” he tells me. “Once you understand how to read it, you'll never have trouble finding your way around here.”
“A map? And can you tell me how to read it?” I ask. Because while I can sort of see a pattern, it mostly just looks like curves and lines and swirls. I mean, it's beautiful, but none of it’s making sense to me.
“It's written using the symbols of the shadow,” Thane explains. “Understanding will come in time like all of your other shadow gifts, but you will notice that in each room there is a unique symbol present. Moving his finger, he points to one spot amidst the lines that has a small symbol. Well to me, it looks like a weird black blob, but I’m guessing it’s a symbol.
“Start by memorising the different symbols that identify each corridor,” he tells me, “then when you are trying to find your way around, you will know if you’re going the right way. Though, be mindful the shadows do like to play tricks sometimes.”
Elgen and Tarlaz are cackling in my head again like mischievous school children, and I’m already getting tired of that soundtrack. When I turn my gaze on them, the shadows form together to make more black splodges that look similar to the symbol I was just looking at.What the crap is that? So I have to memorise a map, but the shadows might trick me anyway?I groan inwardly.
“It's important you don't lose your way in here,” Thane adds seriously. “You wouldn't be the first student we've lost to the corridors and rooms of the academy, never to be seen again.”
I gape at him and look back the way I've come, because I'm starting to think I made a serious mistake. When I agreed to come to this place no one told me that the academy was a maze. My breathing quickens as I think about getting lost in here and becoming trapped within these walls, unable to find my way out.
Thane keeps talking about the importance of learning to navigate, and I find myself straying closer to the walls as my breaths start coming in shallow pants.Come on, Shade. Just breathe. The room starts to spin, and I don’t see the statueuntil it’s too late. Before I can smack my face into the cool stone, Thane is there, guiding me to the side with a hand on my waist like it’s completely natural. Ice and fire race up my body from where his palm presses against me, and he stops a couple steps later. Keeping his hand on me, he turns, peering down at my face, and we stare at each other for a long moment. Desire flickers in his warm, brown eyes, and my cheeks flush as all other thoughts ebb away, leaving only me and the towering man beside me.
“Thanks,” I murmur, and his gaze drops to my lips as I speak. My heart pounds because I think he’s going to kiss me, but then he frowns, abruptly releasing me and taking a step away. Instantly, the warmth vanishes.
“You need to watch where you’re walking,” he warns me, and my gaze remains transfixed to the hard lines of his face.
There’s a flicker of indecision in his expression like he wants to say something else, but he doesn’t. He simply turns and starts walking again, expecting me to follow.
Mercifully, the shadows, Tarlaz and Elgen, are nowhere to be seen now, and we walk in silence for what feels like a long time. To be fair, since I became human any form of walking feels like an effort, but I’m close to complaining when we make our way to a corridor that's even narrower than the previous ones we’ve been down. Numerous wooden, black doors pepper the sides at even intervals, and I let out a relieved breath when Thane finally stops. I notice he’s standing in front of the only door that has no symbols on it. The other doors all have two symbols of a creature’s head painted in silver on the wood.
“When your shadow creature comes to you, a symbol of it will appear here on your dorm room door,” Thane explains. “Each dorm contains two students.”
“Wait, I’ll get my own shadow creature?” No one has mentioned that before, and I perk up instantly, because I could really use my own badass beastie right now.
“Your roommate will be at class,” Thane presses on, ignoring my question, “but I will instruct her to show you around when she returns. For now, make yourself at home. There will be a welcome box on your bed. Read the contents and follow the rules. Do that and already your chances of surviving this place will have increased dramatically.”
He swings the door open, and I dutifully walk inside. “Okay, but what if—" By the time I turn back, Thane has closed the door and is gone.
