“I promise not to go near Logan,” I said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to remain safeandat Weatherstone.”
Dad didn’t look convinced, but he was calmer. “Okay, let’s go.”
We trudged back to the school in silence, joining the dozenstudents entering through the double doors. A few glanced curiously at me, noting that I had a parent with me, but no one said anything.
Dad led me toward a set of curved stairs at the back of the entryway. “You have a map in your welcome pack,” he said, soundingnormal, but I knew him well enough to hear the undertones. He didn’t want me here, and he was beating himself up about givingin. “Which you’ll refer to a lot to start with, but here’s the basic layout. This main building is Writworth Hall, named afterone of the witches who created Weatherstone. The building behind it is Ancot Residences, named for the other witch. Ancothouses the dorms, while Writworth has most of your indoor classrooms, along with dining and assembly halls, spell storage,and more. Outdoor classes take place in one of the ten outbuildings. They aren’t named but are numbered.”
When we ascended to the first landing he directed me toward a set of gorgeous arched gothic windows. I glanced out at themassive expanse of the school campus, catching a glimpse of the lake glinting in the dull winter sunshine. “Stay out of thenature sprites’ barracks,” Dad said, pointing toward a row of low, wood lined buildings in the distance. “As I said earlier,this is where they house their familiars, and you don’t want to unintentionally wander into a zoo without guidance.”
I’d always envied my sisters’ affinity and their familiars, inbuilt friends and companions for life. Unfortunately, I’d neverbeen able to draw a fly to me, let alone any creature with higher intelligence, so I lived vicariously through the twins.
As we continued, halls spanned in four directions, and despite the chilly day it was warm and homey inside. The stone andtapestry decor continued up here, and the building’s innate power traced tingles of energy across my skin.
“This hall is referred to as theZoo,” Dad said, pointing outa tapestry of needlepoint zoo animals. “It leads through to the Ancot Residences. The quickest and most direct thoroughfare.”
We started along the Zoo and Dad fell silent. He held both of my bags, so I opened the welcome pack I still clutched in myhand. Inside was a much larger brochure than the one on my desk back home. On the front in gold lettering it said,Welcome to Weatherstone College.
The motto and short bios of the founders, Writworth and Ancot, were detailed on the inside pages, and I decided to read throughall the information later. For now, I needed my dorm assignment. “I’m in Florence Wing,” I said, skimming the page. “Room267.”
Dad let out a harried huff. “None of your siblings are in that hall, so be careful. All of the halls intersect with each otherat some point. Including Nightrealm.”
According to the welcome pack, there were five halls in Ancot: Florence Wing, Spectral Wing, Aura Hall, Ember Hall, and NightrealmHall. Officially, your affinity didn’t dictate your dorms, but unofficially fire elementals, spellcasters, and necromancersmore often than not ended up on Nightrealm and Spectral, nature sprites in Florence and Aura, the others in Ember.
Hence why my father was a touch panicked about my hall intersecting with Nightrealm, and our newest spellcaster. “We’ll securemy room,” I reminded him. “It’ll be fine.”
I really couldn’t imagine anyone holding on to a grudge for eighteen years. If they’d wanted to attack, it would have happenedlong ago, right?
Dad huffed but let it rest again, picking up the pace, and I knew he was keen to get back to Mom and tell her what we were dealing with. Realizing this might be my only chance to experience Weatherstone, I peered out of every window,examining the grounds. The college was huge, and if I wasn’t yanked out by my parents, I’d no doubt be using the included map more than once.
My future hung in the balance, and it was all thanks to Logan Kingston. I hadn’t even met the warlock yet, and already hewas a pain in the ass.
That perfect, boyish face flashed across my mind once more, and I wondered what he looked like now. I only had fractured memoriesof a child, and if fate was kind, his golden skin, laughing green eyes, and contagious smile would have morphed into a dullblob. Maybe a beer gut. Crooked teeth and busted nose would be nice too.
The moon goddess would have my back on this, right? Of course she would.
Hopefully I’d be here long enough to find out.
Chapter 4
Florence Wing was beautiful and had its own theme, as did all the other halls. We stepped onto a thick red carpet with aninterwoven filigree pattern; the walls were papered in a similar swirling design of faded reds and golds. Between each ofthe dorm rooms stood intricately carved cream-colored pillars, giving it a very French Provincial look.
“This is amazing,” I said as we strolled past doors. “I didn’t expect such opulence.”
Our house was simple and small, with a large yard that suited our need for nature. Mom hadn’t used magic since that day inthe woods, which meant she’d had to leave her job with their coven: Blessed Souls of Spokane. She’d been an accountant fortheir various businesses, but once she halted her magic, she’d been unable to fulfil other tasks.
I’d never heard my parents discuss money, but I had the sense that when the twins graduated at the end of this year and headedinto covens to earn their own money, there would be a huge relief on their finances. Weatherstone College had quite reasonablefees—all the magic colleges were heavily sponsored by the covens on the understanding that they were fostering the futureof the magical world.
But it wasn’t free. Not even for a tenured professor, though he did get a faculty discount that helped.
“Your mother was on Florence Wing,” Dad said, his expression calmer now. “I used to sneak in here all the time, because in our day, only witches were allowed on Florence and Aura.”
As much as I didn’t want to think about my dad sneaking into my mom’s room, I was curious. “So, all floors are co-ed now?I know we don’t have roommates, but we do share bathrooms, right?”
“Yep, there’s two on each floor. One for witches and one for warlocks.”
I was well used to sharing a bathroom with four siblings, so this didn’t bother me hugely. It was college and we were alladults here, so there would—hopefully—be very little incidence of magical sabotage.
It was strictly forbidden to use your affinities against other students, but it was college and not everyone enjoyed followingthe rules. Hopefully most of us were beyond bullying and toxic behavior.
