by Lexie Scott
I wanted to ask what that meant, but she spun back to her desk and put her headphones on, ending the conversation.
My history book could no longer hold my attention, so I grabbed my shower caddy and headed to the bathroom.
Later that night, when I was lying in bed, fighting to keep from falling asleep, a familiar tug pulled at me. I closed my eyes, allowing it to take over.
When I opened them, I was in my wildflower field with a brilliant cotton candy sunset hanging over the horizon.
Warmth spread through my chest. This was one of the only constants left in my life. A piece of who I used to be that wasn’t going away. I cherished every second of being here.
A shrill call filled the air, and I scanned the skies for my hawk. His wings spread wide, gliding in circles over me before he dove and landed on a patch of grass next to me.
I stroked my fingers over his russet wings before bopping him on the yellow dot on his beak. He snapped at me, and I laughed, “No, I will not stop doing that.”
He ruffled his feathers and hopped a foot away from me.
I rolled my eyes and returned to the gorgeous view. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.”
He flapped his wings and landed on my bent knee, facing me.
“Miss me too much?” I teased, and he nodded. That was how I knew this was a dreamland. Birds couldn’t understand English, and they certainly couldn’t respond, but my hawk always had. He’d been there for me wherever I needed him over the years. He listened to me complain about how strict my parents were when girls were mean and when boys didn’t like me back.
It was probably a weird way for my brain to process, but I wasn’t sure lucid dreaming was all that normal. Maybe it was for witches.
“It was a really long day.” I dropped back and stared up at the orange sky. “I knew I was behind, but I was reminded of it in every class. This boy, who I’m pretty certain hates me, has to tutor me. I don’t know how that’s going to go over. We’ll see if I survive one day with him.”
My hawk hopped lightly onto my thigh, stomach, then chest, before peering down at me with his head cocked to the side.
“I’m not sure why he doesn’t like me. It’s been one day, and I have an enemy.” I sighed. “There’s something about him. I can see it in his eyes. He’s lonely. Sad. I get that. Maybe he doesn’t like that I can recognize that in him.”
Or maybe I was overthinking, and he just didn’t want to be bothered by people who kept telling him to help me.
“Also, I had the strangest thing happen to me, which is saying something since I’m at a witch school now,” I huffed, and he waited. “I think I had a premonition, and not like my dreams. I was completely awake. I bumped into a guy here, and I had this flash of seeing us together in the future. It was so bizarre. I told my friend that it felt like a memory, but she didn’t know what I was talking about.”
He snapped his beak, and I studied him. Sometimes, like now, it felt like he was desperately trying to communicate with me, but even after all these years, I wasn’t great at deciphering his movements and calls.
“What?”
He ruffled his feathers around his neck. He didn’t look happy.
“Is that a bad thing?”
He nodded. I swear he did.
“Why?”
He snapped again. Huh. He didn’t like me having premonitions? But why? I kind of thought it meant I was getting more powerful, but maybe I was wrong. I was just happy I didn't see anything bad. I could have seen Sai get hurt or die. I’d much rather see us laughing and holding hands.
“Fine, we don’t have to talk about that.” I thought over the rest of my day. “I learned about bonds and pairs.” I waited to see if he would react, but he didn’t. “I guess some people, well, supernaturals, have a pair in the world that helps strengthen their powers. Cool, huh?”
He made a low sound, but at least he wasn’t grumpy anymore.
“What else?” I ran my arms along the soft grass. “Oh, my new friend has a crush on another one of my new friends, but she doesn’t think he likes her back. I think she’s wrong, though. He would have to be stupid not to like her. Maybe I’ll be their matchmaker.”
He shrieked, and I laughed, “Geez, you’re not into the gossip either? What do you want me to talk about?”
His golden eyes held mine, and I swore he was trying to talk to me through his signals. I sighed. “Maybe if I had a pen and paper, I could play twenty questions or something until I knew what you were thinking. Could you answer my questions?”
His head turned to the side.
“Or maybe, I’m crazy for talking to a bird like he understands me.”
He shrieked again and snapped at me. “Okay, fine! You do understand me.”
He shuffled on me like he was pleased I understood that.
“It would be really convenient if I were a shifter. Maybe if I had an animal form, we could communicate.” I didn’t understand why I didn’t take after my dad’s side. Did all hybrids only have the characteristics of one parent?
Theo was a vampire and a witch. Maybe I should ask him some questions. That would only require me to work up the courage to talk to him again.
My hawk cawed again, and I looked around. The sky darkened, and the wildflowers faded. My dream was ending already. I stroked his feathers one more time.
“I’ll see you soon.”
When I woke up this time, I was lying on my stomach with my Water Magic textbook still open next to me. It was the only chapter I hadn’t finished, but hopefully, I’d have time during class while everyone else was getting sorted into their specialties.
As long as nothing unexpected happened, I was pretty sure I was ready for my classes. I let myself drift back to sleep, hoping it was dreamless.
Chapter 16
Five nights without a nightmare. I felt more refreshed and energetic than ever. Maybe it was all the reading and studying I was doing. I went to bed each night so exhausted that my mind couldn’t come up with any disasters. I wasn’t positive about what caused the change, but as long as this kept up, I wasn’t going to ask any questions.
“Do you need help?” Malik asked, leaning over and reading my answers to the history homework.
“I don’t think so.” I smiled and read the next question.
My classes weren’t as terrible as I expected. History IV was pretty close to the world history course I took my sophomore year but with a lot more information about the supernatural world. Phenomena humans couldn’t explain were caused by supes. The sudden change of tides in battles? Supes. The mysterious death of a corrupt king or ruler? Supes. Several inventions that helped progress human kind? Supes!
It wasn’t all that surprising once I accepted that the world had more beings and events than humans knew. There was less speculation and assumptions. The historical records kept by the supes were much more detailed, so there wasn’t a need for interpretation. Another thing I noticed was how much less biased the texts were. They were written from the supernatural perspective, sure, but when they made mistakes or shameful decisions, they still recorded them and we learned them. Things weren’t shoved under the rug, forgotten about, or distorted by time.
It was the class I was most confident about since it was all facts. I simply had to learn the supernatural pieces and commit them to memory. I wasn't sure how it would help in the long run, but I dedicated time every night to making progress. I needed to pass all my classes.
For the first time in my life, I was doing well in math, and it was the only class where I wasn’t behind. Conversions and measurements weren't something that changed from the human world to this one. The best part was Mr. Fitz accepted we would almost always have access to tools like conversion charts and calculators in real-life situations, so he let us use them on assignments and the upcoming exams. It wasn’t the most interesting course, but I was grateful to have one worry-free class.
“Did you get to the one about Joan of Arc yet?” Daniel asked, ch
ewing on the end of his pen.
“Yeah, you need to skim the entire Hundred Years’ War section for the answer,” Hannah replied.
This was how most of our study sessions went, and I was glad it wasn’t entirely focused on me like I’d expected. We did our assignments together, and as questions came up, we asked each other. On Tuesday, Malik and Daniel’s friend, Carter joined us. He was a vampire from their rugby team, and he hadn’t said much other than asking how I was liking the academy and letting me know he was willing to help me too.
It was really nice of him. I thought the students might be more competitive or mean like at my last school, but everyone I met was nice. Aside from Niall and my brash roommate. Maybe it was because they were friends with my new friends. I hadn’t talked to enough of my other classmates to know for sure.
I closed my math book and opened my Science IV text with excitement. I was actually going to learn magic for potion making, portal creation, and animating objects. Not that we’d done any of that yet, but I had read through the previous year’s textbook Hannah helped me check out. Since their first two years had been really basic, I was only behind by one. I’d never done so much school work or studying in my life, but things were different now. I cared more. Learning mattered. This wasn’t useless information to cram in minutes before a test only to forget as soon as I turned it in. I needed to know how to create spells, brew potions, and control magic. History gave me a much better understanding of my new world and answered questions I hadn’t even known I had.
Like the supernatural council. It was founded hundreds of years ago before William Drexel established peace. The group led the entire supe world, keeping non-supes unaware of their existence and acting as the governing head of all the people. The council was the judge and jury for crimes, wrote the laws for the supes, and established a welfare system so no supe was left homeless or hungry. With the peace pact in place, the main council was now located in Scotland, but branches oversaw different regions. Ours was in New York City, and once a year, a representative came to the school to check on the students and give a report, like a State of the Union.
“I can’t do it anymore.” Malik fell back on the floor and threw his arm over his eyes. “Can’t we be done?”
Hannah chuckled. “Did you finish everything?”
He sighed. “No.”
“Just get it done, man. You’ll regret it if you have to do it during lunch tomorrow,” Daniel encouraged. “You don’t want to cancel on Travis, do you?”
I looked back and forth between the two guys. “Who’s Travis?”
Daniel smirked at Malik’s groan. “His latest crush. They have a lunch date planned.”
“It’s not a date,” Malik protested while he sat back up.
“You asked him to hang out. He said lunch worked best. Sounds like a date,” Daniel taunted.
“It’s just hanging out.” Malik didn’t sound convincing at all.
I smiled. “It does kind of sound like a date to me.”
He turned and glared at me while Hannah giggled. “It so is.”
If Malik would be busy during lunch, maybe I could find an excuse so Hannah could have some alone time with Daniel. I caught her staring at him at least a dozen times tonight, and I was ready to shake my friend until she spilled the truth because the other thing I noticed was how many times Daniel watched her when she wasn’t looking. How they kept missing each other was a mystery.
Did Malik know? Could I recruit his help? I didn't want to violate Hannah’s trust, so I’d have to find a discrete way to ask before going to him.
“Hey, guys,” a familiar voice greeted from behind me. I twisted around to see Sai. “Mind if I join you?”
My cheeks warmed before I had time to face my books again. I hoped he didn’t notice. I didn’t want to make things weird, but every time I saw him, I couldn’t help but remember the vision I saw of the two of us.
“You’re late,” Malik scolded. “I could have used your backup a minute ago.”
Sai laughed and sat a few feet from me with his back against the wall. “What did I miss?”
“Just teasing him about his crush,” Hannah answered.
“Oh, Travis.” Sai smiled knowingly. “Yeah, I’ve been hearing a lot about him too. Apparently, this summer was very kind to him.”
Malik dropped his hands in his hands. “I hate all of you.”
I reached out and patted his leg. “There will come a time when you can get back at us. I’m sure of it.”
He peeked through his fingers with a wicked gleam in his eye. “Oh, I’m planning on it.”
I laughed and went back to my textbook, trying to ignore the pull I felt toward Sai. He was so handsome and sweet, and it wasn’t much of a surprise I had some sort of daydream about him.
Something hit my foot, and I glanced up to see Hannah grinning at me and darting her eyes toward Sai like she wanted me to do or say something. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite close enough yet to have the silent communication thing down, but I was pretty sure she wanted me to talk to him.
About what? I didn’t know him, other than he was a tiger shifter. I only knew that because they’d told me, but maybe I could ask anyway. Was that a polite conversation starter? I wouldn’t mind if he asked me what kind of witch I was, so maybe it was okay.
“Sai, they told me you’re a shifter. What’s your animal?” The words came out in a rush, but I kept my smile in check, so he couldn’t see how nervous I was waiting for his response.
He pushed his hair up, away from his face, and grinned at me in a way that made my heart race. “I’m a tiger shifter.”
“That’s so cool.” I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth to keep from grinning too wide.
Malik scoffed next to me. “I can still take him in a fight.”
I looked at each of them. “Like at the fight club?”
Sai’s brows furrowed. “No. Just with the vampires and shifters. To practice.”
“On campus? Like rugby?” It didn’t sound all that unusual to me. Shifters wanted to be in their animal forms, and it made sense they’d want to practice fighting in those forms.
All the guys made noncommittal noises, so I turned to Hannah. “It’s not school-sponsored, but there are two dedicated areas out past the sports fields for shifters to stretch their legs so to speak.”
“It’s where we fight and train in our animal forms,” Sai added. “Fights do occur, but not like random brawls. It’s only for training purposes.’”
“That’s so cool. Can I watch sometime?”
Sai and Daniel shared a look, and Sai rubbed the back of his neck. Oh, no. This was one of the lines I shouldn’t cross. “Sorry. Is that not allowed? Ugh, every time I think I’m catching on, I stick my foot in my mouth.”
Daniel laughed. “No, it’s not like that. It’s just sometimes it can get pretty nasty. Most witches and vampires don’t like watching.”
“Oh.” That was surprising. Weren’t they all just used to each other by now?
“You can come, though. If you want,” Sai offered. “Maybe after the rugby game tomorrow night? My tiger is normally dying to get out after.”
Daniel nodded, and Malik agreed. “Sure, we can do that.”
I beamed, excited to see more of their world.
“It’s a date,” Hannah teased, and Malik stretched to knock her ankle with his shoe. We all laughed, but her eyes locked on mine with a slight raise of her brow. I knew what she was hinting at and shook my head.
She bit her lip and looked away. Luckily, Daniel changed the subject to the game, and the guys talked about their plans to beat the other year-four team.
I finished up my assignments and added a few questions I wanted to go over with Mrs. Hedgings during our Saturday tutoring session. She left a note for me in the dorms, stating we would meet each week in her office from eight to ten until she felt I was caught up. Niall told me he was open on Mondays and Wednesdays from seven to eight. Between my three different t
utoring groups, I felt pretty good about my progress. As long as I stayed on track and kept my focus, I might have a chance to make it past the holiday break in December. I couldn’t let any visions or daydreams lead me off course, even when the subject of them tempted me from mere feet away.
Chapter 17
While I had some idea of what a rugby game looked like, it was ten times more brutal than I imagined. Each hit and tackle made me cringe and tense like I was the one getting thrown to the ground.
The first time Daniel was the victim, I grabbed Hannah’s hands and closed my eyes. It was too much. Football at my last school was tame, boring even, compared to this.
“It’s okay. They can take it. They’re tougher than non-supes,” she said, prying my fingers off her.
“How is any of this legal? Shouldn’t the refs be calling penalties?”
“No, this is how the game is played,” she reassured me.
Even without the helmets and pads, it was hard to recognize Malik, Sai, and Daniel. Hannah told me their numbers and the positions they coordinated with, but I couldn’t keep up. All it looked like to me was someone trying to throw the ball and then everyone on the field trying to kill whoever was unfortunate enough to catch it.
How no one broke bones on each play was an absolute miracle.
“How much longer?” I whined. I wasn’t sure I would ever want to watch another match. Maybe I’d just wait for soccer season to cheer for my friends.
“Thirty minutes.”
Great.
There was a pause in the game. The two teams huddled, and a really cute, tall guy with a mop of curly brown hair stepped away from his group and waved toward the stands. I followed his line of sight and spotted a pretty brunette waving back. She was sitting with three guys. At first, I didn’t think anything of it until the guy with messy hair and adorable freckles on her right kissed her cheek while the one on the left with blond hair and a serious expression was holding her hand.
