“I heard she’s some sort of psychic,”the redhead had said, whose name I learned to be Becca.
“She doesn’t seem smart enough for that,” the blonde, Jenny, had said, even though I hadn’t said so much as a word to her.
Unless the “hey” she’d blatantly ignored counted, but that didn’t seem a fair sample to judge my intelligence off of.
Maddie was right. Vampires really were shallow.
“Please,” Amari had huffed. “She’s probably just some half-rate witch. She doesn’t even have powers.”
“Then why is she at the Academy?” Jenny had challenged.
“Who knows? She probably just pissed off the wrong supe,” Amari had said, clearly irritated that the conversation had taken a turn away from her choice of dates to the formal next week. I really had come into the busiest part of the semester.
As I walked the halls headed to my first class, I realized there were flyers posted all around the building for the formal. It seemed weird for a correctional facility to make such a big deal over a glorified dance, but it was probably one of the few chances we got to dress up and forget we were all just stuck in the same prison together.
Classes didn’t help, especially since there was always at least one guard stationed at the door. The teachers were intimidating enough on their own. Most were angels, but the alchemy professor was a human witch, as far as I could tell.
Maybe that was all I was. That seemed to be the most common theory around campus, and I’d learned that witches were disproportionately represented among the Academy’s students. For one thing, the lure to practice forbidden magic was strong enough to convince even witches from prominent magical dynasties to break the law. Necromancy, death hexes, and spells that would risk exposure to humanity… They were all offenses that could land you a spot at the Academy, best case scenario, or execution at worst.
The more I learned about the world I’d fallen into, the harsher it seemed to be. In fact, as intimidating as the Academy was with its brooding guards and towering walls, it sounded like a safe haven compared to what was waiting outside if we failed.
Then again, the prospect of graduating was full of just as many uncertainties. I had glanced over a few of the path descriptions in the materials Maddie had given me at the office, but none of them seemed intuitive.
Administration sounded boring, and the military sounded way too regimented. Then there was special ops, which… hell, I didn’t know what it was even after I’d read the materials twice. All I knew was that most of the other students had already chosen theirs, and I only had until the end of the semester to do so.
As I sat in alchemy class, I found myself struggling to stay awake. Light streamed in through the window I’d chosen a seat by, and every time I nodded off, the sun peeking through the clouds would jolt me back awake.
I felt like a zombie making my way through the rest of my classes, but so far, no one else had made any declarations of undying devotion to me, so there was that. I’d entirely avoided breakfast, and I wasn’t sure if I should take the risk of going to lunch, but my stomach was growling to the point where I was starting to get looks in my last class.
Ultimately, I decided I’d at least pop in and grab a granola bar or something. Whatever Dean and Alistair were up to, maybe they’d found someone else to move onto by now, if I was incredibly lucky. And in the time that had elapsed since, I had convinced myself that was all it was. Maddie had only confirmed that it was pretty much impossible, and just how many anomalies could surround one person?
I opted for a bagel and took a seat at an unoccupied table in the far corner of the room, hoping everyone--including a certain werewolf and vampire--would leave me the hell alone. Much to my chagrin, the exact opposite happened when said werewolf spotted me across the room and quickly picked up his tray to join me.
I couldn’t help but groan. But before I could tell him I wanted to be left alone, he was staring at me with a confused expression that was dangerously close to puppy eyes.
“Why did you blow us off yesterday?” he asked, as if he really had no idea why I would ever want to do a thing like that.
I took a deep breath and let it out, hopefully along with all the less than pleasant retorts rolling around in my head to that question. He hadn’t done anything to deserve it, as irritated as I was with the world in general, and his part in making it more complicated than it needed to be.
“I had a lot going on after breakfast,” I answered, deciding that was the safest version of the truth. I expected him to argue, but instead, he looked genuinely concerned, which made me feel even worse.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting down across from me. “Is everything okay?”
Something about the edge in his tone made me think he was willing to fight whoever happened to be the reason it wasn’t. Now I had to worry about not sicking my werewolf on anyone.
Though I definitely wouldn’t mind if he wanted to keep Amari’s friends out of my room, I thought with a snort.
“It’s complicated,” I told him. “I had my first talk session, and it didn’t go the way I was hoping.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
His offer sounded so open and casual, I actually was tempted to take him up on it. Talking to Maddie had made me feel better, even if she had only confirmed I had reason to be concerned. Hell, maybe Dean would know what had happened. It seemed doubtful if Dr. Price hadn’t known, but I was desperate.
“You know how they make you go back to your fifth birthday?”
“Yeah,” he said with a grimace. “Mine sucked.”
“Well, mine turns out to be classified information,” I replied. When I realized he was even more confused, I explained, “I was about to learn what I am, but I got kicked out of the memory. Dr. Price said it was ‘redacted.’”
