Bea nods eagerly.
As we continue through the courtyard, a wolf with glowing yellow eyes lopes past. The little hairs on the nape of my neck rise in warning. A wolf. No—a berserkr. Just like the terrifying ones we encountered outside. I grab Bea. “Aren’t the gates supposed to keep the wolves out?”
Emilía barely glances at it. “That’s a student.”
A memory flashes before me. My dad is facing my mother, his shaggy back to me. He stands hunched on all fours, a beast pretending to be a man. Curved claws catch the moonlight—
I shrink back. Hunters aren’t the only dangerous ones at Skallagrim.
“Don’t worry, they won’t attack you—not the ones on campus, at least.” Nils offers me a sympathetic look. “The students here are in control of their animal forms.”
“For the most part,” Emilía says. “Over here is Odin Hall, the berserkir dorms, where you’ll be living.”
Odin Hall is a striking stone building that towers over us. Behind these walls, there are even more berserkir. And now Bea and I are going to have tolivewith them.
“You guys are lucky,” Emilía continues. “You get suites, unlike us. We have to deal with roommates and common bathrooms.”
“Someone is always singing opera in the shower,” Nils adds with a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Not well, unfortunately.”
“I guess wearelucky,” I say, even though I feel anything but. At leastI won’t have to worry about sharing my room with someone.
“This is the quad,” Emilía says once we reach a wide open area surrounded by numerous buildings. “Think of it as the heart of Skallagrim.”
“All the shared facilities are here,” Nils continues, “like the admin wing, lecture hall, cafeteria, and infirmary.”
“The library is over there,” Emilía says. “My roommate practically lives there.”
I nod, trying to take in everything they’re saying while wheeling my luggage and surveying the campus with Bea. Directly ahead, an imposing statue of a man dominates the quad.
“Who’s that?” I ask.
“Egill Skallagrímsson,” Nils says. “Our school’s founder.”
I crane my neck back and peer up at the statue. A wolf pelt covers his head, but what’s visible of his face is ferocious, reminding me of my dad. I shiver at the sight.
“He seems… interesting,” I say, struggling to find something to fill the silence.
Emilía laughs. “That’s one word for it.”
Nils shoots her a look.
“Sorry, sorry,” she says, before turning to me. “Nils here is actually one of Egill’s descendants, along with the headmistress and—”
“You’re related to that guy?” I ask.
Nils rubs the back of his neck. “I mean, pretty distantly now. He lived more than a thousand years ago.”
“Yes, yes, it’s very cool and all.” Emilía ushers us onward. “Let’s just chalk up Nils kicking my butt in Art of Staves class to his famous ancestors and not just that he’s unfairly good at seiðr.” She snorts, and Nils’s cheeks redden a bit. “Okay, so, from the quad, you can get to the different sections of Skallagrim. As you know, we just came from the berserkir section. If you take the left here, you’ll go to the witch sideof campus. On the right is the hunter side. We’ll start with the left—”
“Wait.” There’s another path straight ahead. “What’s that way?”
“Um, that’s the seer campus.” Nils frowns. “It’s no longer in use.”
“Seer?” I ask, blinking a few times.
“Wow, you really know nothing,” Emilía says. She turns to me, her face breaking into a wicked grin. “Seers have the ability to leave their bodies behind and walk the spirit realm to commune with the dead. It’s a pretty awesome power, if you ask me. Even better than being able to use staves. I wouldloveto…” She trails off, her smile falling. “Although we shouldn’t be talking about them, I guess. We’re not really supposed to. There’s no longer any of them at Skallagrim anyway, not since the Tragedy thirty years ago.”
“Uh… tragedy?” Is there somethingelseI’ll have to worry about here?
