Wave tapped his nose as she walked past him and behind the counter.“Pretty face won’t save everything, you know.Now, please contain your grumpiness, and I’ll get the books.”
“I’m not—”
“Can’t hear you,” Wave shouted over her shoulder.There was a pile of books on a table with Professor Kilkenny’s name on top.Sighing, she picked all of them up and walked back to the counter.“Here they are.Let me just scan them and you can be on your way, Mr.Grumpypants.”
“No one has called me Mr.Grumpypants ever,” Jarred muttered, but he didn’t seem as annoyed anymore.
“Well, first time for everything,” Wave replied cheerily and finished scanning.“Pleasure containing malicious books with you.Bye!”She pushed the books at him, and before she could do anything stupid, like drool, because the damn man was just that hot, she retreated to the safety of the backroom.
Mondayrolledaroundwitha faint drizzle and some ominous-looking clouds.Wave refused to think that the weather had anything to do with her anxiety.It could totally be some other new student who was nervous, or even just plain old Mother Nature watering the grounds.
Thanks to the endless tours around campus during orientation, she knew her way around the place pretty well.Not that she had all the shortcuts figured out, but she could find all her classes without desperately looking at the campus map.She’d call that a win.
What she didn’t know was any of the faces around her.Her classes were totally different from the first-year students from her orientation week and now Wave found herself looking at a sea of strangers as she claimed her seat at the back of the lecture hall.And they were looking right back.
According to her orientation tutor, transfers to later years were pretty rare.Not thateveryonewas staring, but enough people were nudging the person next to them to garner her way more attention than she’d ever wanted.Wave kept her face blank and pulled out her books and notebook.
Most of the students seemed to have laptops or tablets in front of them, but Wave’s laptop was old enough that the battery didn’t hold more than half an hour of charge at best.Pen and paper it was for her, then, since the scholarship didn’t include a personal computer.Student libraries had communal ones she could access as needed.
Astrology and magical fluctuations was a second-year class that had been assigned to Wave’s schedule, and it was with slight trepidation that she read the professor’s name—Professor Jameson Kilkenny and his teaching assistant, Mr.Whitfurst.Wave dearly hoped that the professor had more than one assistant with that name.Maybe Mr.Whitfurst had a brother who was also a TA?Wave didn’t want to deal with the handsome jerk all the time if she could avoid it.
As the door opened and the professor waddled inside, she knew her luck had run out.The jerk with beautifully precise spell casting strolled in after the professor, carrying a pile of papers.Without a word, he walked to the first student and handed the pile over.
Outwardly, the class held it together marvelously, but there were enough spikes of lust and interest tickling against her skin that Wave decided to pull her third shield up again.Maybe she should make three layers her new normal around here.
She let her eyes trace over the students, trying to identify who was the most interested in Mr.Whitfurst, but the task proved impossible.There were too many of them.She was willing to bet her left brand new sneaker that every succubae and incubi in the classroom were shielding like crazy or snacking off the energy.Energy that she should have no idea was there.
Storm spirit.Storm spirit.Simple fucking storm spirit.Get a grip on yourself, woman.
The pep talk helped her enough to focus on Professor Kilkenny, who had taken a seat and was reading a book, ignoring the rest of the class.Mr.Whitfurst had moved to the other end of the room, clearly waiting for the rest of the paper to be passed around.Wave was thankful her seat was in the middle of a row.
“Now, you’ll find the syllabus and required reading material in the paper,” Professor Kilkenny began, without lifting his gaze from his book.“You’ll hand in your papers on time, no extensions or exceptions.My contact hours, as well as Mr.Whitfurst’s, are also listed, and we will not be at your beck and call outside of those hours.”
Now he finally looked up.“You are lucky.We’ll have Hell Moon rising in three months.This event occurs only every 250 years, so we will be taking a field trip to witness the event outside of the campus.I expect all of you to be prepared appropriately.Make sure your shields are effective in handling the power fluctuations.If you have any doubts, contact Mr.Whitfurst.Class dismissed.”
Then he pushed back to his feet and headed out of the room.Wave was still waiting for the pile of papers to make it to her, but the first row was already packing up their stuff and leaving.
“Is it always like this?”she asked the girl sitting next to her.She was petite, had creamy skin with red veins, and flaming red hair to go with her ruby colored irises.Wave’s best guess was a fire demon of some kind.
“What?”She turned to look at her.Wave waved her hand at the professor’s back.“Ah, this is your first class with Professor Kilkenny?”
“I just transferred this semester, so everything is new,” Wave replied.“I’m Wayla.”
“Tulias,” the girl said and held out her hand.Gingerly, Wave clasped it.“Well then, Wayla.Let me give you the lay of the land.You a second year?”
“Third, actually.”
“Ah, that makes sense.And yes, this is normal.Professor Kilkenny is way more interested in his research than teaching.He does know his subject well though.”
“Okay, that’s good to know.”The pile of papers made it to Wave, and she took hers before passing it off to Tulias.
“Now his TA is another matter entirely.As one of the Powerhouses, he knows his stuff, but his pretty face is quite distracting.He’s also a hard ass.From what I hear, I don’t recommend being late for class.”
“Thanks for the tip,” Wave said and glanced at the said hard ass.“I’ve had the displeasure of dealing with him already, so I'll take you up on that warning.”
“You have?”Tulias gasped and grabbed Wave’s arm.“Tell me everything, and I do mean, everything.I’ll be your best friend if you do.”
Wave laughed.“Nothing special.I work part-time at the faculty library, and he came up to pick some books for Professor Kilkenny.Apparently, ‘he didn’t have all day’.”
