“Have fun!” Odette said cheerfully.
I waved goodbye and tried to shove the thought of being forced to choose a mate out of my head. I proceeded toward the center of the courtyard, where a round stone pillar was set. According to my campus map, Illusion 101 was at the top of that tower. I entered and began climbing steps, taking them slow. I was in pretty good shape, but I felt weaker than normal.
It was obvious my disease was advancing. I was looking forward to starting treatments this week. Shoving needles in my stomach didn’t sound fun, until you literally needed them to keep existing.
When I reached the top of the tower, I paused for a few moments to catch my breath before I went inside. Mahogany desks formed a half-circle around a professor’s desk. The floor was emerald carpet, while the walls were white stone. Skeletons of dragons and griffins hung from the ceiling, and on the shelves lining the walls were a variety of interesting objects in jars— preserved butterflies, shimmering crystals, and live fish swimming in liquids that were purple instead of blue. One jar even had a swirling formation inside of it that looked like an actual storm. Lanterns holding burning candles levitated over the desks by themselves, and a green fire blazed in the hearth, giving the room an eerie glow.
Most students were already here, all female. I’d gotten the impression that many of the classes at the university were separated by gender, as Marked and Companions learned different things.
I caught Gabby sitting up front with Melissa and Morgan. Ew. I didn’t want to sit anywhere near them.
The only seat left was next to a girl in the back. I headed toward it and dumped my stuff onto the desk. It went scattering everywhere. I went to clean it up.
“Sorry,” I told my partner. “I’m kind of messy.”
The girl had a mane of black hair over her face so I couldn’t see it, and didn’t comment. She kept her head bowed and remained still.
She was anti-social. Great. So was I. We’d get along great.
The door slammed shut, and I jumped. I heard the thumping of heels on the carpet. “Enough foolish gabbing, ladies,” a cool voice behind me said. “Let’s see if we can get those pretty little heads to do something else besides exchange gossip.”
My eyes gravitated toward my teacher. She was a tall woman, thin, with a pinched face and eyes that said she’d have no problem throwing you out of her classroom if you crossed her. She wore a long, dark dress, and had her hair up in a tight bun that looked like it pulled her entire face back. Her lipsticked mouth gave an unwavering sneer.
She seemed… pleasant.
“I am Lady Korva, and this is Illusion 101,” she began. “I expect anyone who is a student of mine tokeep up. You will not be coddled in this classroom. Illusion is the bread and butter of a sorceress's magic. If you cannot do this, you cannot be a Marked. It is as simple as that.”
No one dared to speak. Lady Korva clasped her hands together. “Sorceresses are the bond that hold the Arcanea together. Without us, our Companions would certainly be lost, and our race would die out. I cannot stress enough how important your duty is as a mate and future wife to whosoever you bond with. You need to be prepared to defend your Companion at all costs, for as the saying goes here in Malovia, the queen protects her king.”
Korva prowled the room like one of the monsters she was warning us against… cunning and calculating, as if waiting for someone to make a mistake, so she could pounce on us. “Illusion isintention. The magic is created by summoning our will within us, and forcing that reality upon another’s mind. There are limits— for example, you may disguise a building so that it appears not to be there at all, but those experiencing the illusion will still run into a brick wall if they attempt to walk forward, whether their mind sees it or not. You can make someone believe that they’ve been run through with a sword, and still kill them— though their body may remain undamaged, the perception that they’ve been fatally wounded will convince the brain, the heart, and all affected organs to begin shutting down, thus ending your enemy’s life. The mind is the most powerful thing in the world. Trick it, and you will be able to bend anyone you wish to your will.”
Lady Korva crossed her arms. “Imagination is key to an illusionist’s arsenal. Whatever you can think, you can create. That is, if you’re strong enough.”
Lady Korva straightened up. “Let’s see how many of you are prepared to harness your magic, should the need arise. Each of you, take an empty jar from the wall.”
She snapped her fingers. Girls hustled out of their seats to grab empty jars lining the shelves. I rushed to get one before they were all gone, but I found that the girl I’d sat by had already grabbed one for me.
“Thanks,” I told her. She said nothing. Damn, she was shyer than I was.
Lady Korva grabbed the jar with the storm inside of it from earlier and lifted it up high to show it to the class. “This is an example of a minor illusion. As you all know, Arcanea cannot manipulate the elements— that magic lies only with the Elementai. But we can, however, produce theillusionof a storm, and on a much minor scale. It is critical that every Marked knows how to generate these kind of illusions, to produce a distraction for enemies should their Companions be put in danger. I want each of you to produce an illusion that mimics weather inside your jar before the class is over. Begin now.”
There was the sound of scraping chairs and scuffling jars. Lady Korva began sweeping the room to observe. My mouth was left hanging open. She hadn’t even given us instruction. I didn’t know how to do this.
I tried to remember what I’d done when I’d burst an illusion out of my hands to kill the wolf, but my mind went blank. I hadn’t thought about it, it’d just been instinct. I did my best to try and force some sort of… I don’t know,somethinginside of my jar, but nothing happened. I was just staring at blank air.
At least I wasn’t the only one struggling. Melissa had busted open her jar trying to trap tiny lightning, and Morgan wasn’t able to conjure more than a cloud inside of hers. Gabby could create a torrent of rain inside her jar, but it vanished the moment she looked away from it, and she was swearing under her breath with frustration.
My head turned to the right to look at my partner, and my mouth nearly dropped open. She’d already created a mini-typhoon within her jar, and was watching it closely as the waves crashed within underneath a collection of black, churning clouds.
“How did you do that?” I asked. It’d taken her mere seconds.
“Oh, it’s easy,” the girl said behind her hair. “I’ve been doing it for years.”
“Can you help me?” I asked.
The girl paused. She turned in her seat toward me and slowly parted the curtain of hair from her face.
The girl’s face was unlike any I’d ever seen. Her skin was mostly dark, though there were white splotches over her eyes and mouth, with freckles dotted over both. She was totally unique, and beautiful to look at. I wasn’t sure if she had some sort of pigmentation variation or if it was a birthmark, but I had the thought that she looked incredible.
