Mind of Distinction (Hawthorn Academy Book 7)

by D. R. Perry

  "The school should have had a counselor besides the headmaster." She sipped her tea again. "But running that school's not my business."

  "You think I'll be okay, then?"

  "If you do the work on self-care before and after, yes."

  "What work, exactly?"

  "Start seeing Ms. Khan now, and make it regularly. Talk to Logan about what you fear and what he can expect. Then afterward, take time and small steps. With help, from them and your other friends and family."

  "I'm not supposed to talk about it though."

  "You've got a lot of people who care about you, Aliyah. Most of them are brilliant. I think you'll figure out how."

  "Especially Logan."

  "You two are exceptionally close since last spring. Is this why you asked me about your grandpa?"

  "Partly. Noah had something to do with it too."

  "Oh?"

  "I tried talking to him about love. We think maybe we're too different when it comes to that."

  She raised an eyebrow.

  "There's no, um, sex in it for me." I winced. "He said he thought you might understand better than him."

  "He's right." Bubbe nodded. "It's never been about pretty faces for me. Maybe I'm not wired like the majority of people. There's no shame in that. I experience love a little differently; that's all."

  "So what did that mean for you and Grandpa?"

  "When we were together, the world felt kinder. Friendlier. A more joyful place. Does Logan make you happy?"

  "Not all the time, no." I sighed. "There's been too much misery going around, stuff not our fault."

  "Then what's it like when you're unhappy together?"

  "We've done an awful lot of crying on each other's shoulders. Over his parents. The test. Professor Luciano."

  "Would those times have been harder if you'd cried alone? Or with a different person, even?"

  "Absolutely." I looked up. "Bubbe. Crying with Logan is almost like crying with one of you. Like he's part of the family but not another brother. Is that love?"

  "I think you're well on the way to an answer." She nodded. "It's your decision, what your feelings mean."

  As we finished our tea, Logan came downstairs yawning. Bubbe cleaned up the tea things, leaving him to walk me to the stairs. Although I had a potential name for the place he held in my heart, I didn't dare say it aloud until I was sure.

  Speaking with Care

  The story continues with book Eight, Speaking with Care, coming soon to Amazon and Kindle Unlimited

  Glossary

  People

  Changeling- A mortal child of either one or two faerie parents. Most changelings choose a monarch sometime in their twenties, although some do it earlier than they have to.

  Dampyr- The mortal offspring of two vampires. They aren’t as rare as many suspect, although because their blood is exceptionally sustaining to vampires, they keep their status secret. Dampyr sometimes have magic or psychic powers that work unreliably.

  Faerie- A term used to describe either a changeling who has tithed to a monarch and spent a year and a day in the Under or the pure creatures such as Gnomes and Pixies who were created by the king and queen.

  Ghost- A dead person with unfinished business becomes a ghost. If a mortal makes a contract before death, that gives them unfinished business and lets them linger. When ghosts finish their business, they move on, but no one knows where they go from here.

  Magus- A mortal who can use magic. Magic comes from energy in the world. Most magi can only use one type of magic. However, a rare few can do more than one kind. Those are called extramagi.

  Merfolk- People who can live on land with legs or in the sea with fins and tails. They only emerged from the ocean after the Big Reveal and are still extremely rare outside of harbor towns.

  Psychic- A mortal with psychic power. Psychic ability comes from a person's own body and mind.

  Vampire- An unliving person who drinks blood to survive and enhance their abilities. Only regular mortals, psychics, and magi can get turned into vampires. Shifters, changelings, and faeries won't turn, and most of those won't survive an attempt.

  Shifter- A mortal who can take an animal’s shape. Shifters have one form, with coloring similar to what they have while human. They usually have an enhanced sense while human-shaped, which goes along with their animal. For example, an owl shifter might have keen eyesight and a wolf shifter, a great sense of smell.

  Shifter Varieties

  Dragon- The only shifters who can see both magic and psychic abilities, though only while shifted. The most powerful ones can partially shapeshift. Dragons are immortal and reproduce infrequently. There are so few of them since the Reveal that they've started taking other magical shifters as mates.

  Kelpie- A magical shifter who gets their abilities from an enchanted faerie pelt that bonds with their soul. The Kelpie pelts were created by the Goblin King, so they have Unseelie energy and restrictions. A Kelpie's animal form is a horse. Families pass the pelts down through generations, and part of each ancestor lives on to help their descendants. The ancestors can get distracting, however.

  Selkie- A magical shifter who gets their abilities from an enchanted faerie pelt that bonds with their soul. The Selkie pelts were created by the Sidhe queen, so they have Seelie energy and restrictions. A Selkie's animal form is a seal or sometimes a sea otter. They can use water magic as long as they wear the pelt. Families pass the pelts down through the generations, and part of each ancestor lives on to help their descendants. The ancestors can get distracting, however.

  Tanuki- A magical shifter with enhanced speed and the ability to see all types of magic while shifted. They are also the only creatures who can manipulate luck, causing it to turn from good to bad or the other way around. They stop aging if they own a charm infused with luck from humans. Very few of those charms exist, having been either used up during the Reveal or locked away.

  Powers

  Air magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish wind or air.

  Earth magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish earth, sand, or rock.

  Empathy- A psychic power to sense and influence emotions in other people.

  Fire magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish flames.

  Ice magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish ice.

  Lightning magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish lightning.

  Poison magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish poison. Each magus has a slightly different type of toxin they produce. Some are even antidotes to others.

  Precognitive- A psychic power to foretell future events.

  Spectral magic- the power to conjure, control, and banish light.

  Spectral Affinity- A trait some spectral magi have that makes them charismatic and believable.

  Summoner- A psychic power that lets the user make contracts with pure faeries, letting the summoner call them in times of need. Each creature has an anchor, some item symbolizing the bond. Mastery of summoning takes decades of study, which is why the most powerful are either vampires or past middle age.

  Seelie- The Sidhe queen's court. The Seelie way is about following the letter of the law, even when it's hard or cruel. They have a hard time reconciling faerie rules with the new mortal laws since the Big Reveal.

  Solar Magic- The power to conjure, control, or banish sunlight. Some of the most powerful practitioners can find hidden objects or discover long-kept secrets.

  Solar Affinity- A trait some solar magi have that makes them beacons for coincidence.

  Space magic- The power to move the self or objects instantly across distances. Some can even move other people.

  Space Affinity- This space power comes with an ability to locate people or things important to the magus.

  Telekinesis- A psychic power that moves objects.

  Telepathy- A psychic power to read minds.

  Tithe- The process of pledging to either the queen or king, making a changeling choose to
be either Seelie or Unseelie.

  Umbral magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish shadows and veil or camouflage objects or people.

  Umbral Affinity- A trait some umbral magi have that makes them difficult to remember without psychic ability, faerie magic, or a shifter pack bond.

  Undeath magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish unliving energy.

  Unseelie- The Goblin king's court. The Unseelies bend the rules and often navigate mortal society more easily than their Seelie counterparts.

  Water magic- The power to conjure, banish, and control water.

  Wood magic- The power to conjure, banish, and control wood. It takes extreme power to influencing a living plant.

  Creatures

  Basilisk- A venomous serpent that also has poison magic.

  Dragonet- A tiny dragon-like creature, always associated with one or more element which powers their breath attacks later in life. They have scales but are warm-blooded like birds. Most don’t get much bigger than a small cat.

  Familiar- A magical or mythical creature who makes a bond with a magus.

  Gryphon- A chimera which has the head of a bird and hindquarters of a predatory mammal. They come in several combinations of base species, and habitat influences their choice in magi to bond with.

  Karkus- A crab that can change its shape. They’re said to be the offspring of the crab that pinched Hercules as he battled the Hydra.

  Lightning Bird- A familiar from South Africa with an affinity for lightning. Its beak can jump-start a car.

  Mercat- A shapeshifting feline with fur for land and scales in the water. They can live in lakes, rivers, or in the sea as well as on land. They must never completely dry out, or they will die.

  Moon Hare- A magical rabbit that gets power from its particular moon phase. They commonly bond with umbral magi.

  Pharaoh’s Rat- These natural predators of dragon shifters are the size of ferrets and resemble a mongoose with more fur. They have an affinity for space magic and can use it on occasion.

  Pigeon- Not as mundane as most think, some pigeons have an uncanny sense of direction due to their affinity for air magic.

  Pricus- An aquatic goat said to be descended from Capricorn. They can warp time even better than Gnomes.

  Pure Faeries- Creatures who spring to life from magical sources in the Under. They are genderless, and their type and ability depend on place of origin. They're associated with only one court, although they will work together to defeat a common enemy.

  Sand Cat- A feline that lives in the desert, able to go for weeks without water. Earth magic lets them do this.

  Sha- A magical desert dog from Egypt. Sha are the size of mundane toy breeds with short hair and small pointy ears. They could pass for mundane except for their blue tongues. They are attracted to anything undead.

  Sphinx- A magic cat with an affinity for fire. The reason they’re hairless is that they’re resistant to flames.

  Strix- A venomous owl with an affinity for poison. Female striges have rounded tufts on their heads, while males have pointed ones.

  Sumxu- A lop-eared cat found only in northern China. They are masters of camouflage and have an affinity for several kinds of magic.

  Places

  The Academy—Something between a community college and a military academy for extrahumans, the Academy is geared toward helping extrahumans who don't play well with mortals get ready to join a blended society. It's got divisions for learners of all ages, though they are housed separately.

  Cherry Blossom School- A dojo geared toward teaching extrahumans self-restraint, meditation, and how to temper their enhanced physical abilities with more mundane skills. It's been around for close to a hundred years, run by the Ichiro family. Mundane classes used to be offered as a front but now are a separate division.

  Ellicot City Magitechnic- A prep school for magi and psychics specializing in magipsychic technology. It’s located outside Baltimore.

  Gallows Hill School- Traditionally for shifters, this prep school in Salem recently opened its doors to changelings and other extrahumans not categorized as magi or psychics.

  Hawthorn Academy- A preparatory school for magi in Salem. Its campus is in the space between the mortal realm and the Under, giving it unrivaled privacy. They specialize in teaching familiar magic.

  Providence Paranormal College- A school founded just one year after Brown University and located right in its shadow. Providence Paranormal used to admit only magi and psychics, but it's been accepting all types of extrahumans ever since Henrietta Thurston became headmistress. There has been trouble since then for students and faculty, leading people to believe dissenters are sabotaging the school.

  Trout Academy- A prestigious preparatory school for changelings with magic, recently open to magi and magical shifters. Its campus is located in South County and has been operating in some form or another since Rhode Island Colony was founded.

  The Under- The faerie realm. It's been divided into two parts ever since the Sidhe Queen and the Goblin king split up thousands of years ago. Mortals don't age in the Under, but it's a dangerous place for them to be. Getting lost means never being seen again, and it's easy to get indebted to something nasty while trying to get through or out of the Under.

  Wolf Messing Prep- An institute for psychics to learn to control their skills before heading to college.

  Events

  The Big Reveal- The term used for the 1990s, when the world discovered magic was real and extrahumans existed. The decade was marked with fear as everyone adjusted to the changes. Since the 21st Century, law and technology work for both humans and extrahumans.

  Boston Internment- A reaction by Boston government officials to the disappearance and suspected trafficking in extrahumans, especially shifters. All registered extrahumans in Boston lived on barges for close to a month under guard by the Boston Police. The traffickers got their hands on some magical gadgets, rendering the protection useless. Few survived.

  Thank you!

  Thank you for reading! If you loved this book, please leave a review. You can find my other work by clicking the links below, going to my website or visiting my Author Central page.

  Also by D.R. Perry

  Providence Paranormal College

  Bearly Awake (Book 1)

  Fangs for the Memories (Book 2)

  Of Wolf and Peace (Book 3)

  Dragon My Heart Around (Book 4)

  Djinn and Bear It (Book 5)

  Roundtable Redcap (Book 6)

  Better Off Undead (Book 7)

  Ghost of a Chance (Book 8)

  Nine Lives (Book 9)

  Fan or Fan Knot (Book 10)

  Hawthorn Academy

  Familiar Strangers (Book 1)

  Acting in Kindness (Book 2)

  Fire of Justice (Book 3)

  Learning to Give (Book 4)

  Light of Equality (Book 5)

  Worthy Lives (Book 6)

  Mind of Distinction (Book 7)

  Speaking with Care (Book 8)

  Gallows Hill Academy

  Year One: Sorrow and Joy (Book one)

  For other books by DR Perry please see her Amazon author page.

  Connect with the Author

  Website: https://www.drperryauthor.com/

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  Find more of D.R. Perry’s books on Amazon.

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