Bet she didn’t feel that way, though. She was probably self-conscious about it.
“I’m Kiara,” she said quietly. Her uniform tie was gold. A griffin.
“Emma,” I said back. “Now can you tell me how to do this thing, before Lady Dominatrix comes over here and beats my ass?”
Kiara gave a tiny smile. “Picture a storm,” Kiara whispered. “Visualize whatever you want to create in your head, then direct that intention to the jar. If you believe it’ll come, it’ll happen.”
Sounded hoky to me, but I’d try it. I tried to imagine the type of storm I wanted to create. I pictured it in my head— ice, surrounded by fireballs.
It wasn’t real, but as soon as I thought about placing that thought in the jar, they appeared. Tiny pieces of hail, surrounded by mini-fires, started falling inside the jaw and tinking against the side of the glass. I nearly fell out of my seat.
“How did I do that?” I gaped at the storm inside the jar, feeling both shocked and elated.
“What we’re creating isn’t real. That’s why it’s easy,” Kiara said. “Bringing illusions to life is much harder. We have to get ourselves to believe, and others will see it, too.”
A shadow fell over our desk. Kiara went quiet as Lady Korva loomed overhead. She picked up my jar, and sneered when she brought it to her face to look at the ice and fire raging within.
“That isn’t a real storm. It doesn’t exist,” Lady Korva said. She slammed the jar back down on my desk. The storm disappeared, the ice melting and fire fizzling. “Try again.”
What, was creativity not honored here at Arcanea University? I thought I’d get extra points for thinking outside the box.
Clearly not. Lady Korva was the type of woman who obviously ran things like the military. Step out of line and you’d face her wrath.
“Fine,” I said. I picked the jar up again, made a show of shaking it, then placed it back on the desk, empty. “There. I did it.”
“There’s nothing in there,” Lady Korva snapped.
“It’s aninvisiblestorm,” I said.
Lady Korva’s face went red. A couple of girls put their hands over their mouths, and Kiara cringed in her seat. “Miss Sosna, if you think you’re going to come into my class and disrespect me, you are sorely mistaken.”
“You asked me to create an illusion, and I did. Why does it matter what it is? It’s made up anyway,” I said.
People gasped. Lady Korva’s eyes flashed. “I assure you that what we do here is notmade up. It’s the difference between life and death,” she snarled. “With that kind of attitude, I expect your Companion to be slain within a year of bonding with you. Figments of the imagination are not enough to fool advanced monsters, especially childish notions such as yours.”
A coldness went through me. I’d only been here a day or so, but even I knew you didn’t speak of a Marked’s Companion that way. She’d made it sound like I couldn’t protect him if I had to— whoever he was.
Even though I had yet to meet my mate, I still felt fiercely protective of him. Lady Korva had crossed a line.
Her eyes went to Kiara. Kiara’s typhoon had died to little more than a bit of sloshing water inside her jar. Lady Korva sniffed. “A pathetic attempt.”
Lady Korva opened the jar and dumped the water all over the desk before placing the jar back before Kiara. “Try again.”
Kiara focused her attention on the jar, but with everyone in the class looking at her, she lost her ability, and began to shake. Kiara couldn’t recreate her magic under pressure.
Lady Korva made a scoffing sound. “What I expected from a griffin.”
Kiara stared at the wooden desk. Lady Korva turned away from Kiara and said, “I didn’t expect much from you because of who your parents are, Miss Mazurski, but even this is disappointing. Perhaps if you study hard enough, you can learn to cast a powerful-enough illusion to get rid of the hideous mark on your face.”
Kiara’s lip trembled. Gabby and her clones laughed under their breath. As Lady Korva walked away, Kiara quietly gathered her things.
“Don’t go,” I pleaded, but too late. Kiara hurried to rearrange her hair in front of her face and ducked her head behind her books as she ran out of the room crying. When she was gone, a couple more girls dared to laugh.
I felt rage well inside of me until it boiled over. This was bullshit. What kind of teacher was Lady Korva, making Kiara cry on her first day?
My mouth spoke before I could rein it in. “I’d rather have a face like Kiara’s than one that looked like it just got done sucking on a lemon.”
Lady Korva whirled around so fast I was surprised she didn’t get whiplash. “Miss Sosna, out of my classroom!” she barked. “You may not come back until you learn to hold your tongue!”
