I nodded as I headed for the door.
“I hope you’re right, Aiden,” I said, knowing in my heart that everything he proposed was a damn myth.
Because I couldn’t afford hope. Not again.
I couldn’t let myself be a danger to anyone else. No, this year was going to be different, and I intended on focusing on my studies, so that I could make it out alive.
It’s going to be a long year.
CHAPTER3
Violet
I’m not entirelysure what I was expecting for an academy shrouded in darkness and secrecy, in which I had to take two trains and hop a ferry through a literal magical fog to get to, but the sight of Blackthorn Academy put all my wildest dreams to shame. Well, that and the buzzing in my veins, in my blood that makes me feel like a literal tuning fork right now. It’s like there’s something about just beinghere, on its land that calls to something deep inside me that both makes perfect sense and no sense at all.
Blackthorn Academy stood like a domineering dragon through the fog, gazing down upon me in all its prestige and ominous glory, and I knew I was in over my head.
When I’d received my letter, I’d half expected it was some joke. Some kid in the town had a wild imagination or something, but after researching Blackthorn I soon came to understand it might be just the place I need. But seeing it in person, stepping on the moist soil once Delaney and I found our way off the ferry... looking up at Blackthorn, I just know being here is my destiny.
Until a student flew by on a bike, skidding their tires into a puddle and spraying me with dirty water, that is.
Yup, yup, seems my luck carries across magical dimensions...
“Come on, Vi, let’s get to you to the headmistress. I have a feeling you’ll be bypassing the general registration,” Delaney said with a smirk.
I followed Delaney across the great lawn and through the doors. My insides continued to buzz as I took in the great chandelier, the high ceilings, and the air of magic and mystique that surrounded the place. Little me would have had a field day pretending to be a princess in a place like this.
I followed Delaney like a mouse through the hallways, down corridors, and up steps until we’d come to a long hallway, with an oversized castle-like door. Delaney looked out of place with her bright eyes and colorful attire, and I almost worried she’d led me to a literal den of wolves, what with all the shadows illuminated by candlelight up here.
“Good luck,” Delaney said with a wink as she knocked on the door, before leaving me to own devices. Sweat bloomed along my hairline as my heart raced, and I thought,This is it, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for...
* * *
“Have a seat, Miss McCreanor,”Ophelia Blackthorn motioned for me to take a seat in a rather large wingback chair that looked upholstered with deep, crimson velvet. Her office felt like the inside of a castle rather than the office of a school administrator. But mixed with her jet-black hair—save for a single silver streak—and her tall, stern stature, it felt just as compelling and ominous as the rest of the place.
“Th—thank you, ma’am... uh, Headmistress...”
“You do know why you are here, don’t you, Violet?” she asked.
I had anidea,but I wasn’t entirely sure why Blackthorn wantedme.
I mean, it would have been hard to ignore the weird happenings in my town, which all happened to travel back to me. As happy as I was to be here, to be given the chance to learn more about my powers, I also knew that the line was thin.
Blackthorn wanted me, and they’d made arrangements to get me on the premises early, according to Delaney, but why?
What did they know about me that I didn’t?
“Because I’ve turned one too many sheep into inanimate objects?” I asked, feigning a nervous laugh.
Ophelia Blackthorn did not flinch. She barely showed any emotion, to be honest. She focused her gaze on me.
“You are here because of your bloodline,” she said pointedly.
My bloodline?
What in the world...
She must have taken my silence for permission to continue, and so she did.
