by Logan Jacobs
“Well, it cost extra for students,” he chortled. “Especially for Wicca.”
“Give us a moment,” I growled before I turned to the witches and lowered my voice. “How much coin do you all have?”
The witches all shared a terrified look.
“I barely have more than the requirement for the quiz,” Akira grumbled. “I have just over three hundred.”
“Same here,” Vesta sighed.
“We have a bit more from the patrons we stole from,” Faye said as she indicated Morgana, “but we don’t have a hundred extra coins between us.”
“Well.” I cocked an eyebrow and grinned. “Guess it’s a good thing I do.”
“You do?” Akira demanded. “How much do you have?”
“Enough.” I shrugged casually. “You’re welcome.”
Before the women could say another word, I turned back to the ferryman. I was in no mood to fight or bargain with this old fucker, and time was running out to reach the rendezvous point. So, I reached down into my pocket and pulled out one hundred and five gold coins in a small sack before dropping them into his withered old hands.
“Satisfied?” I growled.
“Yes, yes, very much so.” He grinned. “Now, come along, hop in, don’t be shy.”
We all stepped into the small boat, and no one said a word to each other as the old man slowly began to paddle upstream. All we could hear as we moved along the green river was the sound of crows cawing and the haggard breathing of the old man as he pushed the boat onward. Trees bordered the river, and they were lush and green, but the foliage slowly merged into golden and amber leaves as we paddled on.
I actually enjoyed the silence, though. Last night had been a wild ride, but I was certainly feeling the aftermath of all those drinks now. My head pounded, and my mouth tasted sour, but it had all been worth it. In fact, last night hadn’t felt like a quiz at all. It had been invigorating and exciting. Plus, fucking two of the witches had been an added bonus, but that didn’t mean they were going to warm up to me.
In fact, they were doing their best to avoid any eye contact with me right now.
I didn’t care, though. I was feeling too damn good about my academic progression, and I was actually excited about the next class. Both the Blood Magic and Premonition quizzes had been a significant success for me, but just because I passed the quizzes didn’t mean I was in the clear yet.
We continued to slowly go upstream, and I tapped my fingers impatiently against my arm as I tracked the sun above us.
We were running out of time.
Finally, after nearly two hours, we started to approach familiar land. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I saw the gray trees and dark, rolling hills. I was tired of being on this river. We’d been sitting for hours, and I was ready to be back on firm ground and away from this unnerving, foul-smelling man.
“Gruesome place,” our ferryman whispered with a haggard breath.
We ignored him as he slowly came toward a rock covered shore. Then he came to a full stop, and not one of us bothered to thank the swindling old man as we stepped out of the boat and onto dry land.
“Old fucker,” Faye hissed under her breath.
“You’re welcome!” he shouted after us as we entered the woods. “No, really, it truly was my pleasure, young ladies.”
“Fucking bastard,” I grumbled.
“I could have done without him staring at my breasts the entire time,” Morgana hissed and tipped her elfin nose up into the air.
We still weren’t far enough away from the old man, and he continued to call out after us.
“Oh, no, please, don’t bother to tip me!” he shouted, and his croaking voice startled a flock of birds from the reeds along the riverbank.
We ignored him as we made our way through the thorny thicket. The mud below us was soft, as if it had just rained and soaked the earth beneath our feet. The thin, sharp branches cut us as we moved as gracefully as possible through the woods. The air smelled of dead, rotting leaves, and the sound of owls and crows vibrated through the frigid air. There was no clear path to follow, so I used my senses to navigate through the gray woodland.
I knew we were getting closer. Soon, we would be out of these ominous woods, and we’d meet up with Theodora. Then she would take us back to the academy, and we would have officially passed this quiz.
We silently trekked through the woods, and I knew the witches were tired. I was fucking exhausted, but I knew I had to keep pushing myself onward.
As we walked, my mind wandered back to my night with Akira and Vesta, and I wondered if they would tell the others about how hard I fucked both of them.
I doubted it.
They probably felt as if they betrayed Morgana and Faye by sleeping with me. I didn’t really care, though. It had been an incredible night, and I tried not to smile as I remembered the way they moaned when I fucked them. I could bet all my winnings that it would have pained them to admit it out loud, but I knew they enjoyed every fucking minute of it.
The woods grew cold as we continued forward, and I could only imagine how cold the witches were in their skin tight and mesh dresses.
“Hellfire,” Akira spat after a while. “I can’t wait until we get back to Scholomance.”
“I hope we can change first, though,” Faye said with a violent shiver.
“I hope we can take a bath,” Vesta muttered, but as soon as she said that, I immediately pictured her naked in the water. Her purple skin would be covered in bubbles and slick with droplets, and her green hair would be plastered around her beautiful, unique features.
When I met her glittering silver eyes, Vesta blushed as if she could read my mind.
I smiled and kept walking ahead of them.
After another half hour, we finally came out of the woods, and I smiled when I saw a figure standing in the hills.
It was Theodora. She was dressed in a long, dark navy gown with a black lace collar, leather gloves, and boots. Her hair was up in a high bun, and she smiled when she saw us.
“Welcome back, and with just a minute to spare.” She then glanced at each of us and frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t see Sweeny anywhere.”
“Should we wait for her?” Vesta suggested.
“She has one minute.” Theodora shrugged. “Part of the quiz was to arrive at the rendezvous point on time. She knew the consequences of being late.”
The witches all looked at each other with concerned expressions, but no one dared say a word.
“Wait, look over there!” Vesta gasped.
I squinted and saw Sweeny sprinting up the hill, and I immediately noticed she looked like hell. Well, at least more than usual. Her already disfigured face was bloody and cut up, her hair was a mess, and she smelled of sweat and dust.
“Fucking hell,” I breathed when she reached us. “What happened to you?”
“None … of your business, man, now get out of my way,” she panted before she pushed past me and headed to Theodora. “Apologies, Professor. I was … held up.”
“You made it just in time, which is all that counts,” Theodora replied, but I could tell she wasn’t impressed by the scarred witch. “Now, does everyone have their three hundred coins?”
“Yes, Professor,” we all replied in unison.
“Let me see,” she said and held out her hand.
One by one, the witches handed their bags of coins to Theodora.
“Three-hundred-ten for Akira,” she murmured with a nod. “Three-hundred-twelve for Vesta. Three-hundred-twenty for Morgana. Three-hundred-twenty-two for Faye. And three-hundred exactly for Sweeny.”
The headmistress cocked an eyebrow at the scarred witch.
“I met the requirement,” Sweeny grumbled, like she could feel Theodora’s disapproving glare.
“Barely,” the professor reminded her in an unimpressed tone, but then Theodora turned to me. “And what about you, Cole?”
“See for yourself.” I smiled and handed over my bag.
Theodora balanced the heavy, jingling pouch of coins in her hand, and she bounced it once in her palm. Then her eyebrows raised toward her forehead.
“Twelve hundred and eighty gold coins,” she murmured. “I am impressed, Cole.”
“It would have been a bit more.” I shrugged. “But the ladies wanted to take the ferry back to see some scenery.”
The witches shot me scathing glares, but Theodora merely chuckled.
“Well, nonetheless,” she said, “you have all passed your Premonition quiz. Now, everyone must link their hands. It’s time to go home.”
We all held hands, and the spinning sensation made my stomach churn as we rotated for a full three minutes. When I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar, tall, black gothic castle towering over us, and I grinned.
“We’re home,” Akira sighed. “Finally.”
“Thank the devil,” Vesta muttered.
Theodora led the way back inside, and the witches began to whisper to each other.
“I hope we can change before the rest of the students see us,” Faye hissed to Morgana. “I’ll die of humiliation if I’m caught in this dress by anyone else.”
“Me, too,” the brunette witch replied with a frown.
“I can’t believe you talked us into putting these ridiculous dresses on, Cole,” Faye seethed as she whirled on me.
“It was your idea,” I groaned. “Or did you forget already? Stop moaning and complaining for once. We made it out of there alive, and that’s all that matters.”
The women grunted their agreements as we headed toward the castle, and when we finally made it through the doors, we all sighed with relief. The halls were empty, and I supposed most students were either in class or in the study hall.
Either way, I was relieved to finally be back home. As strange as it was to call this place my home.
When the headmistress turned to look at us, Morgana and Faye quickly covered their exposed nipples with folded arms, and as if things couldn’t be worse for them, the corridors began to fill up with older students who giggled and pointed in their direction as they passed by.
“Hellfire,” Faye hissed, and her pale face flushed bright red. “This is beyond embarrassing. Everyone is going to be talking about this for weeks.”
“Well, you two may change.” Theodora smirked. “Go on.”
Morgana and Faye both mumbled something that sounded like a thank you before they disappeared down the corridor behind us, and I couldn’t help but watch them over my shoulder as they ran off. Their asses looked pretty damn good in those see-through dresses.
“The quiz went well,” Theodora remarked.
“It did.” I nodded.
Her bright blue eyes met mine, and she smiled wider before her gaze traveled over Vesta and Akira, too.
“You won quite a bit of money,” the headmistress said. “Good for you. You used your senses to the fullest ability. Now, you may all take the rest of the afternoon to prepare for your Shadow class tomorrow. Cole, if you’ll follow me, I’ll give you a copy of the textbook so you may get your reading done.”
I nodded and left Akira and Vesta in the hallways as I followed the headmistress to her office. When we were inside, she marched over to her extensive bookshelf and pulled out a sage green textbook from her collection. Then she blew the dust off the cover and smiled before she handed me the copy.
“Here you are,” she said. “Your next class will be taught by one of my most exceptional students. Her name is Luna, and while she might look like an angel, she is the exact opposite and will have no qualms about murdering you if you fail, so I suggest you get as much reading done as possible.”
“Thank you, Professor.” I nodded. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
“Excellent,” Theodora replied as her eyes studied me. “I’ll be watching you closely, Cole. Do not let me down.”
I nodded again, left her office with the book, and headed down to the banquet hall. I was absolutely ravished and couldn’t wait to eat a plate of hot food.
When I strode into the crowded banquet hall, my eyes landed on my table. I quickly spotted Vesta, Akira, Morgana, and Faye, but Sweeny was not seated with them. The scarred witch was probably humiliated and was off somewhere licking her wounds. She nearly failed the quiz, and we all knew it.
The witches at the table, though, had all changed into their uniforms and were digging into their meals, and as I got closer, I noticed Vesta and Akira were deep in conversation. Morgana and Faye were not paying attention to their fellow witches and were instead just focused on their food, but the two women I had fucked last night were so immersed in their food and discussion that they didn’t see me approaching them, so I heard snippets of what they were saying.
Even when I was about a foot away, Vesta and Akira didn’t notice me, so I stood utterly still and strained to listen in to what they were saying.
“I’m still soaked,” I heard Vesta say. “He got so deep in me that--”
Akira spotted me and then turned a bright red before she covered Vesta’s mouth with her hand.
The green-haired witch looked offended until she met my eyes, and then she just looked humiliated.
“What was that you were saying?” I grinned.
Akira released Vesta, and both of them looked away before answering.
“Nothing that concerns you,” the lilac-skinned witch snapped, and her cheeks were a dark plum color. “Why don’t you just mind your own business?”
I chuckled before taking a seat next to her. She smelled like lavender and spices, and I could feel the warmth radiating off her body.
“So, who’s excited about Shadow class?” Morgana asked after a moment of awkward silence. “I can’t fucking wait.”
“Me either,” Vesta coughed. She was clearly trying her best to pretend like she wasn’t just talking about me and our night together, and I could sense her embarrassment, but I decided not to call her out on it.
For now.
“I certainly can’t wait,” I said before I started to eat.
I dug into my plate of potatoes, steak, and green beans. Everyone ate quietly, and I knew the two of the four witches were still embarrassed by what happened. I supposed they didn’t expect to get that drunk and lose control over themselves, but I was glad they had.
It was a night I was definitely not going to forget.
“I’m going to get another plate,” I said as I stood from the table. “Anyone want anything else?”
“I’m fine,” Vesta muttered, but the other girls ignored me, so I shrugged and went back to the counter to get another serving of steak.
On the way back, I saw the four of them were huddled close to each other on the table talking, and their shoulders seemed tense.
“I wonder what they are talking about?” I snickered as I casually walked around the backside of the hall so I could eavesdrop.
I passed several other dining tables filled with witches enjoying their meals, and each of them was absolutely gorgeous, although it was obvious most of them weren’t human. If they noticed me walk past their table, they gave me an angry glare and then whispered to their classmates, but I just ignored them and focused on getting to a spot where I could catch a hint of what my classmates were talking about.
“We need to spend more time searching tonight,” I heard Morgana say.
“What? You mean ten minutes isn’t enough to search a whole fucking library?” Akira scoffed. “We are going to need weeks to find it.”
“We don’t have weeks,” Faye said. “If the Blood Pact does what he says it does, we need to do it as soon as possible.”
“I still don’t see why we need it,” Akira grumbled. “Plenty of other witches have taken the final without this pact.”
“Do you know what the death rate is?” Faye scoffed. “It’s three out of five. You know what the common theme is of those who survive? They work together.”
“So?” Akira hissed. “Let’s just work together.”
“With
Cole?” Morgana groaned. “You two might be fine spreading your legs for that fucking man, but I have standards.”
“Doesn’t have to be working with Cole, you dumb bitch,” Akira growled. “We could just cut him out and agree to work together. We don’t need the Blood Pact.”
“But what about the power?” Faye asked. “Immortality? And we know we’ll easily win? This is worth pursuing.”
“Which brings me back to the fact that we haven’t found the fucking spell yet,” Akira huffed.
“Maybe Cole’s a liar?” Vesta whispered. “It wouldn’t surprise me. Maybe this Blood Pact doesn’t exist?”
“We broke into the library before we left for the quiz, and there was nothing.” Morgana said. “I went back just now after I changed, and I thought I found something interesting called The Book of Survival, which talked about different, difficult pacts and soul bounds, but not the Blood Pact. It was strange.”
“Do you think … Cole might have found it first?” Akira whispered. “Do you think he destroyed the pages or something?”
“Did he fuck the brains out of you?” Morgana scoffed. “He’s not smart or knowledgeable enough to break into the library and get there before us. How could you even think he’s capable of planning that far ahead? He can’t even keep from drooling when he sees us. It’s disgusting, and I can’t believe the two of you let him put his--”
“Oh, shut the fuck up about it already!” Akira hissed. “We just had some fun.”
“Yeah, but now that you two fucked him, are you loyal to us or to him?” Faye demanded.
“I’m loyal to myself,” Vesta sneered. “And if you keep bringing up how Cole fucked us, I’m going to start thinking you are just jealous.”
“As if,” Faye growled.
I couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction. I was ten steps ahead of them, and they didn’t even know it. If anything, they were too busy arguing with each other about me to really plan how to survive the final test.
And soon they would run out of time, and they’d have to come to me.
They’d have to beg me to join my blood pact.
“Did I miss anything important?” I asked, and the women all jumped in their seats and glared at me.
