“What are you in for?” Kallie asked, propping her elbows on the table.
“Illegal prostitution. I’m a sex worker,” Ivy said. “I was making bank as an escort. You should’ve seen the dollars I pulled in. They never woulda caught me if I hadn’t overdosed.”
“Overdosed?” I blinked.
“I have aslightproblem with nightshade,” Ivy admitted.
I’d heard of nightshade from my Uncle Jonah, but he’d told me the Miriamic Coven had stopped producing it years ago, when I was just a baby. It was a magical drug that was very dangerous. “I didn’t know nightshade was still a thing.”
“Oh, you mean from when our parents were young?” Ivy asked. “It’s a different formula now, synthetic, but the effects are similar. Anyway, once I came out of the coma and did a fresh round of rehab, they sent me straight here.”
Opal frowned, like this was a common problem with her cousin. I rushed to say something. “Are you still—?”
“Nah. I’m off it now,” he said. “My last stint in rehab was enough, trust me. I’m clean.”
Opal made a sound like she didn’t believe him.
I hurriedly changed the subject. “I love your outfit, but I’m surprised the Institute let you wear it like that.”
“School rules. The Institute can’t dictate what a student wears, as long as all components of the uniform are there. It’s discrimination against gender identity, and no matter what the Warden thinks, he can’t do a thing about it.” Ivy flashed a fanged smile. “Besides. I wear what I want.”
Ivy and I would get along just fine. He drummed his nails on the table. I noticed they were painted a violent shade of red. “You had the mostconfusedlook on your face when you walked in. Let me guess. Your man fooling around with a bit on the side?”
I sighed. “You could say that.”
Ivy leaned in. “If you’re interested, I know a couple moves that’ll have him eating out of the palm of your hand.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Of course,” Ivy purred. “Any friend of Opal’s is a friend of mine. Just say the word.”
I was considering accepting his offer when Professor Gael strode in. His monotone voice rang out over the classroom as he told us to open our textbooks to the current module.
Ivy rolled his eyes, like this was already pointless. Gael dove into his lecture, and it took all of five minutes for my attention to start wandering. Ancestors, Professor Gael was the most boring teacher at the Institute. He could make any subject dull. I was willing to sign a contract never to try drugs at any point in my life, if the exchange was I didn’t have to hear him lecture about them ever again.
No one was really paying attention. A couple of people had fallen asleep. The rest were either doodling in their notebooks or throwing paper wads at each other across the room.
Professor Gael didn’t notice. The guy was kind of self-absorbed, and therefore, oblivious. I was certain I’d witnessed a drug deal in this very class on our first day. He hadn’t seen a thing.
“This class is boring,” Kallie huffed quietly. Opal stirred sleepily next to her, like she’d nodded off.
“It’s not like we have to stick around,” Ivy sang under his breath. “What do you say, girls. Wanna ditch?”
I glanced forward. We were at the back of the room, near the door. Professor Gael was so engrossed in his lecture, he wouldn’t even notice us sneak out. “Gladly.”
Oberi shifted into a husky, so he could slink out of the room without being noticed. Ivy, Opal, Kallie and I got up and crept toward the door. Ivy used his vampire speed to open the door in a flash. We ducked out, and he shut it behind us just as quickly— and quietly.
“So, you wanna learn how to keep your man?” Ivy asked when we were out in the hallway, and he put his hands on his hips. “If so, follow me.”
“I want to come, too,” Kallie offered. “There’s someone I’d like to impress.”
“The Ivy School for Debauchery is open,” he offered, and he flung his arms wide. “Let’s see if you have what it takes to get a passing grade.”
He headed down the hallway, and we followed. Oberi changed into a unicorn, and Ivy observed her flaming mane with awe.
“Your unicorn is beautiful, by the way. I was always jealous of Elementai. I’d love to have an animal companion follow me around,” he said.
Nobody ever said they were jealous of us. It was nice.
