Academy of Mages and Shifters 2

by Laura Wylde

  He groaned once more. “Oh God, I don’t want to see her looking like this. I haven’t hung out with her all summer. She has been in Greece, probably surrounded by hot Greek Gods and now… urgh, no this is all wrong.”

  I glanced at my watch and nodded determinedly. “Right, well if you drink that coffee quick and get a shower then I will come with you to the airport. I can even drive if it’s too much for you.”

  “You would do that for me?” He looked overwhelmed by the suggestion. “Thank you, buddy.”

  “You know that I would. Anything for love. You know what I always say…”

  “Don’t tell me what you always say,” he said while shaking his head. “I don’t want to hear some bull shit made up quote about life and laughter, especially now, when I feel like I’m going to die. Save your pranks for later.”

  I nodded in agreement then waited for him to drink chug his coffee, all in one go, before we walked back to his room where he could get himself ready to face Felicia today, to see if he could finally work up the courage to finally let her know how he felt. I really needed him to get on with it already, the tortured love story was impossible to watch from afar. The whole ‘will they, won’t they?’ needed to come to a conclusion soon.

  “Oh God, who’s that?” Evan groaned as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I have been getting random text messages all day long. I must have been giving out my digits to everyone last night.” He glanced at the screen. “I mean, who the hell is Joshua? Why did he say that we had a good time?”

  “Joshua was hanging out with us for hours last night.” I rolled my eyes at Evan’s short term memory. “He’s a good guy. A first year. Really clever actually, from what I could hear of your conversation.”

  “Urgh, well I don’t want to hang out with him again. I am no fun if I’m not drunk.”

  “That’s true. You are far too serious.” I laughed quietly. “Oh, and another person that I remember you hanging out with and giving your number to was Andrew. So, you might get a message from him as well…”

  “Condescending Andrew? Oh God no.” Evan shook his head in disappointment. “I hate him. Why would I talk to him? I know that Felicia says that he ‘has a nice side’ but I don’t see it at all.”

  I didn’t bother to tell him that was probably why he had an issue with Andrew, because Felicia had a bond with him due to their shared passion for history and the UK’s significant sites. But this wasn’t the time. He knew anyway. He had to. His jealous streak when it came to Felicia had always been a problem, it always would be…

  “Since when did your hair go back to its normal color?” Evan asked me with bit more life in his expression now, which I guess was to be expected since he’d had plenty of time to recover since his shower and Felicia would be here any minute now. “I thought you liked the purple and was going to stick with it for a while.”

  “Since when do I ever stick with a color for more than a couple of days?” I rolled my eyes and snorted with laughter. “Anyway. I needed to shift last night, which is how my color always ends up back at its natural state. I’m thinking that I might go for an electric green or teal next time around. Anything to make a statement.”

  “And why exactly did you need to shift last night?” Trust Evan to pick up on that. “Was it for me? Or another one of your stupid pranks? Because I really think that it might be time to take life a bit more seriously now.”

  “This is why people prefer you when you’ve been drinking,” I insisted. “Because you’re far too serious sober.”

  “Oh, because I don’t think that it’s the best idea to act like a fool all the time? Yeah, that’s a real problem…”

  I tuned out his rant because I had heard it a million times before. Evan might be my best friend, but we were very different in our outlook when it came to having fun. I loved to have a laugh all the time. I couldn’t help but assume that had something to do with our species because foxes were always a whole lot cheekier.

  “Oh, God.” He only stopped talking the moment he spotted that all too familiar shock of jet-black hair that grabbed his focus at all times. Instantly, Evan’s body language changed, and he stiffened all the way up. He would relax later on when they fell back in to friendship mode, but I suppose it had been a while. “She’s here.”

  “You might want to try and play it cool, Evan,” I warned him. “Don’t freak out. This is Felicia.”

  But that was the problem. Even as she spotted him, her pale gray eyes glittered with excitement. Even as she tore across the airport and she flung herself in to his arms and she wrapped herself around him. Even as she chatted excitedly about some text messages, they had shared last night, hopefully before he got too drunk and stupid, he didn’t calm down. It was almost laughable to see him like a board, but the need to tease him melted away because I knew that would only put him in even more of a nervous state. He didn’t need that right now.

  “So, where are we going?” Finally, Felicia pulled back and she stared at Evan. She flickered her eyes to me and smiled, but only for a second before she refocused on her best friend. “Because I have these pictures…”

  “What’s going on?” Curiosity got the better of me and I peered across to see what pictures Felicia was showing Evan. “Oh, is that a magic streak? Where is that? It looks like a really old building…”

  “It’s the Big Ben.” Felicia’s face lit up at my interest. “And yes, at least that’s what I think it is. And you as well, don’t you, Evan? That’s what you said when I sent you the pictures last night. You said that we need to show some of the teachers at the Academy to see what they think about it, because it might mean something. Especially when you think about all of those rumors from the end of last year…”

  “What rumors?” Admittedly, as much as I was a social guy, rumors didn’t ever meet my ears. Or perhaps they did but I didn’t pay much attention because I had no interest. Rumors and gossip weren’t ever fun…

  “About the demons and London.” Felicia screwed up her forehead as if she wasn’t quite sure of all the details. “Erm, I don’t remember it exactly, but I really think that there could be something here. What do you think?”

  I had absolutely no idea, so I simply offered her a one shouldered shrug. “Sure, getting advice could be good. I don’t know which teacher you could go to about this though. Who would be the best to go for help?”

  “I don’t know.” She shot me a helpless look. “I guess I’ll have to think about it during today’s classes.”

  “You’re going to go to classes first?” Evan demanded, in shock. “I thought you wanted to get to this right away.”

  “Trust me, I have been thinking about this on the flight up here, but I don’t know yet. I’m keen to get started though.” Felicia glanced at her watch and smiled at the pair of us. “Plus, it’s the first day of the academic year, we don’t want to start this year on a low, do we? Missing lectures isn’t a good plan…”

  Oh God, the pair of them were like two peas in a pod. It was hard to have any fun around here with everyone so focused on being the best people that they could be. Even the others who had the same attitude as me in the first year, that being too studious and worrying too much about jumping in to an immediate harem, were now changing their minds and settling down. I had no intention of doing any of that… not until I knew that it was right.

  “Okay, come on, then,” I replied with a sigh. “Back to the academy. Let’s get on with it.”

  The first day of classes went much smoother than I expected it to. I wasn’t even sure why I was so disheartened this morning. I could find a way to get my studies completed and have fun at the same time. Even if Evan didn’t want to join in with the japers that I had concocted during magic duel class. But now, the fun was gone, it really was time to be serious, because we were waiting to meet Felicia, to finally speak to a professor.

  “Evan!” All of a sudden, someone grabbed on to my friend. “How are you? Joshua, remember?”

&n
bsp; Ah, of course it was. The eager first year who Evan had become best friends with last night. I chuckled to myself as I watched Evan try to become the more funloving relaxed person he had made himself out to be.

  “Joshua, of course! How are you? How, er… how were your first classes?”

  While they talked, albeit a little awkwardly, I tuned them out and watched as all the students milled about the Academy and readjusted to life here. It always amazed me how I never wanted to come back after a summer of fun, to how quickly all of this became completely normal all over again. It was like we hadn’t gone away at all.

  Oh! I spotted Felicia, and I was just about to point her out to Evan to give him a moment to prepare himself, but as soon as I spotted who was by her side, I decided against it. He was going to be pissed off if he caught her in a serious conversation with Andrew.

  Felicia was probably only talking to him about academy work anyway, it wasn’t going to be anything to worry about. He might even peel away before Evan could see him which would make life easier…

  “Hey guys. Guess what?” As Felicia touched Andrew’s arm, basically inviting him to stay beside her, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. That meant I was in for an evening of ranting. “I was just talking to Andrew about the Big Ben, and he thinks that this might have something to do with what happened last year. He thinks that there could be some trace magic left there because it’s a demon portal, which really needs to be protected…”

  “If it was a portal, then wouldn’t we know about it?” Evan shot back, clearly unimpressed.

  “Well, I think that it could be silly to assume that we know everything…”

  I couldn’t help but assume that Felicia was only clinging to this because she had attached herself to the idea that she was on to something and she was willing to go along with any theory to make that fit. Because, personally, I couldn’t see it. The magical community knew about every portal into the demon realm and protected the mortal realm from every one of them. To assume that one could go under the radar was a bit much.

  “The Big Ben has those runes, right?” Joshua all of a sudden jumped in, dragging my attention back to the conversation at hand. If this charismatic new guy was getting involved, then it had to be juicy. “The ancient stones look older than the rest of the building. Wouldn’t that be a place to start looking if you want to find something?”

  “Joshua, you are a genius!” Felicia clapped her hands together excitedly. “Would you two come with us when I go to speak to one of the teachers about this? Because I want all of the support that I can get.”

  As Andrew nodded and Evan’s face darkened, which was followed by Joshua making excited agreeable sounds, I wanted to laugh at what a weird group we were. Felicia, who found the magical markings, Evan, who would have told her whatever she wanted to hear just to hang out with her some more, and me who was being dragged along because of Evan, not really of any use at all aside from just being another body in the mix, a first year student who was pretty cool and seemed to know a lot about runes, and condescending Andrew with his information about Big Ben. Any of the teachers here was going to be very confused about what the hell all of us were doing together, asking about something in London and rumors from last year, making no sense, acting like crazy conspiracy theorists.

  But then the confusion could have turned out to be a good thing. It might make them listen more than they would have done normally, which if it was something would be exciting. It could be a fun start to the year actually. A bit of drama to get us through the first few days, something very different…

  Or it could turn out to be nothing of any interest and everything would return to normal, causing this strange little group to go our separate ways and never be seen together again. Either way, I was in for the time being, and happy to find out. It was better than sticking to the normal routine anyway…

  “Are we going then?” I asked quickly before Evan could explode with jealousy, turning this into a fight, which would have been drama for sure, but not the fun kind. “Find the right teacher for this?”

  Felicia shot me a heart-warming smile, grateful to have me around even if I wasn’t directly useful in any way. I couldn’t help but beam back, glad that we had this little connection. She was a beautiful and warm person; I liked her a lot. If Evan wasn’t so utterly in love with her, I might have liked her a lot… but I didn’t want his jealous wrath, no way. So, I would only be able to admire her from afar instead.

  Chapter 3

  Felicia

  There was something about the way that Trent grinned at me which made my heart flutter. Actually, he always made my heart flutter, I liked him a lot. Sure, I didn’t know him half as well as I did Evan, but I liked his fun-loving side. As Evan’s best friend, he made sure Evan didn’t take life far too seriously. Trent made him have fun, even if he didn’t want to. Perhaps other people found the pranks and jokes too much, but I liked them. In fact, I might have even had a little crush on Trent Carr. More than I ever wanted to admit.

  Sometimes I thought about how we would look together. The ‘emo’ druidess who was always in black, and the electric colored neon prankster… it would get tongues wagging for sure. People would love it…

  But then it wouldn’t just be Trent, would it? Druidesses had a harem, not just one man, and while I had a lot of fun with Trent, there weren’t any other fox shifters that got my attention. I didn’t really see myself as a fox druidess anyway. Not that I particularly saw myself with any clan in particular. If I could have my way, I would have a mix of everything. Trent, the fox, maybe even Evan, the wolf… although that would be a strange transition, from friends to lovers, maybe a bear and a dragon… something like that. But that wasn’t common. Not unheard of, I wouldn’t be the first druidess in the world not to stick to one species, but it wouldn’t be typical. People would gossip.

  The reason that the Academy was so important to us as magical creatures was to ensure that the magic didn’t run out, that none of the shifter species died out because each and every one was as important as the other. To ensure the future of each species, they usually wanted to create a harem with one another, so that the day the druidess would fall pregnant, they’d know what animal shifter was about to be born. Trust me to not want to follow with that tradition, to want something different to the rest of the world… perhaps that was what left me still single.

  I didn’t know if either Trent or Evan felt the same way about me anyway, and I wasn’t about to humiliate myself by asking anything. I was happy focusing on my studies, planning on doing something with my life. All of these thoughts were probably because of all the torture with my mother in Greece, planting ideas of romance in my mind, giving me a distraction that I didn’t need.

  “Should we just knock on the staff room door?” I asked as we walked, wanting to break the tension in the air.

  “I think so,” Andrew agreed. “You don’t know who will be best to talk to about this. Asking everyone would work well, because then you are bound to find someone who believes that this has to be looked in to.”

  I forced myself to stifle a sigh. It was this sort of thing that put people off Andrew, that made sure they didn’t see his nice side . You had to dig really deep to find it. His tone was always superior and a little snotty and he managed to override anything that anyone had thought before and somehow make it his own idea.

  It was only because I had eons of patience with him that I usually never called him out on it. But the other guys… well, Evan especially, I could feel the rage rolling off of him in waves. He could yell at any moment. We needed to get this done quickly. Perhaps all of us coming to speak about this together wasn’t the finest idea I had.

  Finally, we were there, so instead of letting my nerves get to me, I knocked immediately, and patiently waited. It was funny how while waiting for a member of staff, we all transformed from the adults that we were, to kids waiting to be told off by the Dean of the Academy. Crazy.

  “Ah, Feli
cia.” The door finally swung open to reveal a cloud of magical smoke surrounding the staff. It was Professor Michele Eccles, the French defense teacher, with a sunny demeanor that could make anyone smile. She was one of my favorites and she liked me too. That was good because I already felt like she might listen to us. “How are you? And what exactly can I do for you today?”

  “Erm…” I immediately handed her my phone. “I was in London yesterday, at the Big Ben, and I noticed something weird. Some trace magic, although it didn’t stick around for long, so I waited until dark to see it again. Which I did. There was some graffiti on it as well, which was weird. So, I took these pictures…” My voice trailed off as I realized that this actually did sound a little crazy. I needed to prove that I wasn’t the only one who thought this was odd. “So, I showed Evan and he said it was strange, and so did Trent. Andrew knows a lot about old buildings and Joshua is well read in runes… and err… both of them agreed with me that it might be something that needs looking at…”

  Professor Eccles’ eyes narrowed as she examined the pictures. “You know, this reminds me of last year…”

  “Oh.” I didn’t mention the rumors about the Big Ben from last year because I didn’t want to seem like I was leaping on to something, but if Michele was going to start it…

  “Yes, there was a harem last year. Megan and the dragons… I’m sure that you have heard of them because everyone was talking about them and their adventures with the demon who broke free in Inverness.”

  Oh, Inverness… my heart sunk because that wasn’t near the Big Ben at all. Urgh, this was so frustrating.

  “The trip took them all the way to London, because of course they were assigned to get rid of the demon, since they were the ones who set it free, and the Big Ben was a big part of their investigation. That might not be where they got rid of the demon, but Megan in particular could never quite get rid of the idea that there was something there.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “It hasn’t been followed up, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing there…”