Celeste slams her hand on the desk. “She had to have cheated. There’s no way a first year could do that!”
I look Celeste right in the eye as I set my chalk down. “Looks like one just did.” I dust my hands deliberately, sending a cloud in her direction.
“That’s enough, ladies,” Professor Adria says in a stern voice before Celeste can say anything else. Is it just me, or does she look a little unnerved? “Very impressive work, Miss Blake. Ten points for Proeliator. Please take your seat.”
I glance sidelong at my professor, but do as I’m told. Kaia high-fives me on the way back to my desk, and Maxon’s face is curiously blank. Something like admiration flickers in his gaze as I catch his eye, but he looks away quickly. He’s so quick to criticize me at every turn, but when I finally do something right, cat’s got his tongue? What a bastard.
“Nice moves, new girl,” Blaze whispers, twisting around in his seat. He’s in front of me, and his hazel eyes sparkle from the sunlight coming through the skylights above us. He’s looking at me like I’m a snack and he hasn’t eaten in days, and it’s both flattering and weird. Even though I’m a solid seven most days, all the guys at my school avoided me thanks to Becca Stevens reminding everyone constantly about what a freak I was.And yet, the very thing that repelled so many people in my former life is making me…dare I say it…cool, here?
My lips curve into a smile. “Thanks.”
Professor Adria clears her throat, regaining everyone’s attention. She passes out a pop quiz next. I don’t have to take it for a grade—chances are I’ll be attending Basics to Portal Openingwith the second years instead, but she gives me a scroll to look over.
Unlike the sigil on the board, none of these answers start to glow and jump out at me. I carefully roll the quiz back up and move it to the corner of my desk. I pull my notebook in front of me instead, and quickly draw the sigil from the board, just so I have it to look back on.
It just came to me, just like that demon did. Never in all my years of seeing and hearing ghosts did I think I had any sort of psychic powers. I’d channel things without realizing it from time to time, but nothing ever played out in the future like that.
But how would I know what the demon looked like, and how the hell would I know the correct way to draw a sigil that opens up a portal to get from the reaper realm to the human world?
Could it be that one of my parents really was a reaper, after all? Or that neither of them were my real parents, and I was some kind of weird stork baby instead? I stare at the blackboard, willing the answers to appear. But just like my mind, it remains stubbornly blank, leaving me more frustrated than ever.
9
“How did your first day of classes go?” Cass sits on the windowsill in the girls’ dormitory. I was given a full supply of everything I’d need to get me through the rest of the year here, and am in the process of moving into my new room.
Each room in the sixth years’ dorm sleeps two, just like the boys’ dorms. The more private rooms are something that are reserved for students in their last year at the academy. All of the rooms were full, but Kaia and her roommate Gertrude offered to let me squeeze in with them. Professor Dal used some sort of spell to make my bed into a bunk bed above Kaia’s, and I might have been slightly disappointed no one laughed when I said we’d have so much more room for activities. My days of wise-cracking pop culture references are over, I’m afraid.
“Pretty damn well,” I tell her, and refold my stack of underwear before shoving it all into a little basket. Since both the dressers are full, I have a large wooden trunk to keep my stuff in. I situate the basket inside the trunk, trying to figure out the best way to keep things organized. “Human Studies was a breeze. I know more about humans than reapers ever will.”
Cass sticks her legs through the glass, dangling them over the side of the building. “What’s the point of Human Studies?”
“The theory is understanding human behavior will help with reaping. Not all souls want to cross over. Sometimes we have to help them with unfinished business before…” I trail off, not needing to say it.Before they become bound to a certain area.
Like Cass.
But hey. She’s here now.
“Even the history classes here are fun. Right now we’re discussing the different forms of reaping. It’s so cool.” I lay the button-up shirts that go with my uniform on the bed. They’ll wrinkle for sure if I put them in the trunk. Kaia did offer me some closet space, and I don’t want to intrude, but I think I might hang these up at least.
I fill Cass in on more details about the classes as I put the rest of my stuff away. I have several of the same uniform I’m wearing now, as well as sweaters to wear over it in the winter, several pairs of thick black tights, wool socks, and one pair of insulated boots. The pajamas are school-issued, and I have my choice between traditional flannel—all black with a little red Proeliator House symbol on the breast—a long, black silk gown, and sleeper shorts and a T-shirt—thank God.
“Finally,” I say, standing and closing the trunk. I grab my button-ups and go to the closet, finding a few spare hangers. I put them to the side, pausing to admire Kaia’s scythe that’s hanging in the back of the closet. It’s mounted on the wall, not necessarily hidden from view, but kept safely stowed away until it’s time to reap souls. There are intricate carvings on the metal blade. It’s some sort of Celtic pattern, and I wonder if it means anything or is just decorative.
The dorm room door opens just as I close the closet. Kaia and Gertrude come in, dumping their books on the long table in the middle of the room.
“Ohh, this looks nice!” Kaia inspects the bunkbed. “It doesn’t take up much room at all.”
“You won’t even notice me,” I say with a laugh. “I did end up putting my button-ups in the closet.”
“Good idea. Those things wrinkle like crazy.”
Gertrude sits on her bed, eyeballing Cass curiously. Cass is so used to having me be the only one to see her, she might not even think about how different it will be now that I’m sharing a room with two others who can see her as well. She can’t be popping in like she did with me back in Chicago, though even there we had boundaries: never materialize into the bathroom, and if my bedroom door was closed, don’t enter.
“Are you ready to head down to dinner?” She loosens the ties on her boots and pulls the bands from her curly hair, shaking it out.
“Yeah, I’m starving,” I tell her, and look over at Cass.
“I’m going to go haunt the library,” she says. “And work on getting a book off the shelf. I’d love to read something.” She leans forward, falling through the glass before vanishing.
