Kaia leads the way out of the dorm. We’re on the same floor as the boys’ dorm, but on the other side of the building. The window in our room overlooks the front yard of the academy. A gravel road runs along it, disappearing into thick woods on either side. But through the woods, I can see the faint glow of lights from the nearby village of Grimsby. Kaia said we get to visit on the weekends. A train echoes in the distance, and mountains stretch to the sky beyond the village, dotted with the glowing lights of houses nestled into the peaks and valleys.
“After dinner, we usually hang out in the common room and play games and stuff,” Kaia says. “Do you want to join us?”
“Maxon is quizzing me over spell casting basics after dinner.” I make a face. “But if it doesn’t take long, I’d love to join. Curfew is at…shit. I already forgot. I’m going to get written up before my first week is even over.”
Gertrude laughs. “Don’t worry. We got you, girl. Give yourself a week or two and you’ll be used to everything here. Are you settled in with your classes yet?”
I shake my head. “I’m just shadowing and observing for the rest of the week, and then I’ll be privately tested and placed accordingly. Whatever that means.”
Kaia nods. “There are some things you probably can’t skip, but others you don’t need to go back on. I heard how you solved the sigil. I doubt you’ll be put in Beginners Portal Opening after that.”
“I’d love to jump right in,” I say, unable to hide the enthusiasm in my voice. “I’m hoping if I can study enough on the side, I’ll be all caught up with the rest of you by the end of the semester. Then again, that might be a far-fetched dream since I literally died only a day ago.”
We all laugh. “Well,” Kaia says, “I hope you can make it. And if you can, bring your friend…Cass is her name?”
“Cassandra, but I call her Cass for short. And she’d love that.” A question from earlier pops into my head, and I ask it before I can forget. “What’s the…the Soul City or whatever Celeste was talking about?”
“Yeah, Soul City,” Kaia says. “It’s the capital city of the afterlife, and where all souls go to be processed after they’re reaped. The ones who are atheists or don’t subscribe to any particular religion end up staying there, but the ones who have specific faiths are sent on from there to enjoy whichever particular afterlife they subscribe to.”
I gape at her. “You mean…you mean there isn’t just Heaven and Hell?”
Kaia laughs. “Oh no, of course not! Each religion has its own idea of what heaven is, so rather than try to cater to them all, we’ve split them off into different cities so that each soul can enjoy their own version of paradise. Hell is in a different realm altogether. Anyway,” she says, tossing her hair as if what she’d said was perfectly normal, “spirits aren’t really supposed to be here at the school. But I don’t really see the harm in letting her stay, and the professors seem to be okay with it, too. Once you graduate, I’m sure she’ll go off to Soul City and allow herself to be processed properly.”
“Where exactly are we located in relation to everything else?” I ask as we head down the stairs. “Grimsby is the only nearby village, right?”
“Yeah, but Soul City is only about a half hour away. We’re on a secluded mountaintop halfway between Soul City and Summerland.” Kaia’s eyes sparkle. “Maybe I can take you to Summerland during our next school break. My family home is there, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s the best of all the afterlife cities.”
“Yeah, that would be great,” I say as we enter the common room, which is filled with students. A roaring fire crackles, music plays from the juke box, and the happy chatter and laughter of students floats through the air.
A group of young reapers sits around the coffee table, putting together a puzzle. A few teen girls are huddled together on the couch, reading a magazine that looks like the reaper version ofCosmo.Two guys are sparring with wooden scythes, getting yelled at by a girl who’s sitting in the line of fire trying to read a book.
It’s perfect.
My new friends and I are some of the first to arrive at the mess hall and go to the table in the middle again. Tonight’s dinner is made up of roast beef, corn pudding, roasted sweet potatoes, fruit salad, smoked duck, and several different types of pie for dessert.
I’m definitely going in for seconds on this. It smells as good as it looks, and I’m sure it’s going to taste even better.
Neve and Nova wave to me when they come in, taking a spot to the left side of the mess hall with the other Magi. Blaze, Maxon, and another guy I’ve yet to meet join us at our table.
“I read the first chapter,” I tell Maxon, who’s seated one chair over. “And looked over your notes.”
Maxon groans. “Fuck. I forgot about that. Meet me in the library after dinner.”
“What?” Blaze loads his plate up with roast beef. “We’re supposed to go over drills for Captura.”
“I have to fucking tutor.”
Blaze shifts his gaze to me. “My offer still stands. I’ll gladly take over.”
“No.” Maxon clenches his jaw, and I bury a sigh. Part of me wishes that he would agree to let Blaze take over…it would be nice to have a tutor who actuallywantsto spend time with me. Then again, Blaze would probably spend the entire time trying to get into my pants instead of helping me learn things, and I need to catch up, badly. Maybe it’s for the best that I keep my current tutor, surly though he may be.
“What’s Captura?” I ask Kaia as I cut into a sweet potato.
“It’s a game,” she explains. “Each house has a team of ten players and we play each other throughout the year. Basically, fifty magically-charged spirit orbs are released around the grounds, and whichever team collects the most, wins.”
“Oh, sounds fun.”
“Eh…fun is one way to describe it.”
