Forcing myself not to look at Asher, I tried to control my breathing, shoving the phone back into my pocket and focusing on Princeps Jones. I could see Asher in my periphery, and there was that slight smile tilting up his lips that made me want to both punch and kiss him.
“This year, I want you all to work on integration,” Princeps Jones said. “This is why we’ve introduced a mandatory, all-year sports morning on Wednesdays.” He shot us a warm smile. “Which, lucky for you all, is today.”
It got a little noisier then as everyone started to guess at what sports it might be. Princeps Jones had to clear his throat a few times to regain the attention of the room. “Before I sign off and allow my amazing fellow teachers a few words, I just want to add one more thing. This world is going to try and divide us. We’re all different races. This is a fundamental truth. But once you push aside the small differences, you’ll find that we’re all the same as well. Supernaturals. Together we can fight anything. If one race has a weakness, then there will be another race with that as a strength. Learn to fight together, and nothing will ever take you down. Thank you all. Have a wonderful year.”
His words resonated deep in my soul. Maybe it was because I hadn’t grown up knowing I was a supernatural, but I’d never seen that many differences between the four races. I had best friends who were shifters, vampires, and magic users. I’d met fey and liked them as much as I did other magic users like me.
I didn’t get the divide.
Fleecia, my old Herbalism teacher, stepped up to speak: “This year, we’ve had an influx of students. We’re at maximum enrollment with two thousand, seven hundred and fifty-six students. Our waitlist is now at ten thousand.”
She let that sink in for a moment, reminding us that we were all lucky to be here.
“We’ve opened up some new classes to meet the demand, so if you need to change any of your timetable around, come and see me on level two. Room 1912.”
She smiled and pushed back her golden-blond hair as she rejoined the other teachers.
When the teachers were done, the chimes sounded and everyone jumped to their feet.
I’d been doing my best to ignore Asher, because those texts were running through my head, driving me insane. I was so fucking turned on that I’d probably leave a wet patch on the damn seat when I stood up.
Now that the assembly was over though, I couldn’t help but tilt my head up to him. He was watching me, that lazy smirk still on his face. Leaning over, I returned it with a smirk of my own. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Asher Locke. Better make sure you can win.”
He didn’t look worried by my words; if anything, his amusement grew. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Maddison James.”
Most supernaturals didn’t have middle names, from what I’d learned. That was more a human thing. In fact, in the Academy, most of them didn’t use their last names much either. I only knew Asher’s because his family owned a massive company in our world, and it was famous. Locke Industries.
“Come on,” Calen bellowed over the noise, pushing along the row. “We’ve gotta get to this sports bonding thing.”
Axl was grumbling as he walked out as well. “We better be on the same team, because I don’t have time to learn how to be sporty today.”
That made me chuckle. “I’m excited about it,” I said. “Nice to have some classes outside. Fresh air, friends, sunshine—”
A crack of thunder and lightning interrupted me, like the asshole weather it was, reminding us that there was not a ray of sun to be seen in the Academy.
“Where are they holding this sports thing?” I asked Larissa, looking at my schedule to see it hadBack Fieldnoted next to the class.
“It’s out in the same field where they held the Shifter Full Moon party,” she told me.
Jesse made a low rumbling sound, like a contented cat. “That was one awesome night.”
It had looked pretty incredible—we’d watched from the Atlantean house—but I also was kind of glad I wasn’t a shifter, falling victim to baser instincts at times. Ilia knew all about that. Last Full Moon party, her ex-boyfriend, Josh—a lion shifter—had sex with another shifter, and she was apparently pregnant. No one had heard anything about her after that though, and according to Ilia, she’d left the school and was living back with her parents.
Josh … he’d been trying his best to get back into Ilia’s good graces, but she was staying strong. I was proud of her. She deserved so much better than that sort of disrespect. Maybe it was very “human” of me to think so, since supes were generally promiscuous until they found their mates, but I still thought it was disrespectful.
“What will they do about the rain?” I asked as we crossed through the commons. It was fine in here because the barrier was up, but out in that field, there was no barrier.
Asher looped an arm around me. “You’re about to get a firsthand view of mass magic at work.”
Generally we weren’t supposed to use magic outside of classes, but I’d noticed that wasn’t policed that closely. It was mainly to stop “magical bullying;” otherwise, the teachers turned a blind eye. This, though, would be teacher sanctioned. It was for an official class.
Excitement had my feet moving faster. “I can’t wait to see how they erect the huge barriers,” I said.
“I’ll be front and center,” Calen said, smirking. “If there is one thing I have no issue with, it’s erect—”
I blasted him in the face with water, cutting him off midsentence. I’d recently learned that when it rained, I could take the excess water in the air and form water weapons to shoot at dickhead Atlanteans with more balls than brains.
Calen just grinned as he wiped his face. “You always think the worst of me. I was just going to say that I’ll be out there adding my magic.”
