by Jaymin Eve
Simon and I ended up at desks in the center, and the teacher started out the same way as the last one had. “Welcome, first years, to Pronunciation of the Fey Language.”
I focused on her for the first time since entering the room and was surprised to see a very perfect, blond supernatural.
She was fey.
I had expected a magic user, which made no sense because the name of this class clearly had fey in it. She smiled around the room, and I could admit that she had the most perfect face I’d ever seen: heart-shaped and symmetrical in a way that was unnatural; high cheekbones, large blue eyes, and full pink lips. Simon let out a low sigh next to me and I shot him a smirk. Every dude in this class was a goner. Even in a world of hotties, and the supernatural world had a lot, this chick stood out.
“I’m Rowena. I was born in Faerie, which gives me a unique understanding of the fey language. As most of you know, this is where much of our magic originates from.”
Fey is Faerie … good to know.
“The words you’ll learn are loose representations of the spells you’ll cast,” Rowena continued. “Even more important is the intention behind the spell, which will come later. First you must learn to speak the language like a native. Trust me, it will improve your spellcasting every time.”
By the end of the class, we’d written down twenty words that we were to memorize and practice saying. Rowena wrote the word on her board, and then followed it with how it was to be said, breaking each syllable down. It was hard to get my tongue around some of the sounds, and we were warned that if we didn’t master these basic fey words, we’d never be able to move on to the more advanced ones.
Definitely a future Maddison problem.
With two classes under my belt already and no drama to be seen, I was actually feeling pretty damn good about being back at school.
“Lunch now,” I said excitedly to Simon as we left the classroom.
He laughed and shook his head. “I feel your enthusiasm, but I actually have one of my electives now: Ancient Spells.”
“Oh, cool,” I said, almost meaning it. Without Simon I’d be braving the common area on my own. “What made you take that class?”
We stopped walking and he shrugged, stuffing some books into his satchel. “My parents are historians. Record keepers for a prison town near Munich. I’ve kind of developed a love for history from them. It runs in the family. Even my older sister, who graduated last year, is now a historian.” He shuffled his feet. “We all like to know how things originated, you know. Learn about the building blocks for what makes up our modern world.” He jerked his head toward the door behind us. “This is my room, so I guess I’ll see you in our next class together.”
“Have fun,” I said, waving as I walked away.
The history thing was cool. The events of the past explained so much of the present and future. And it always repeated itself.
If only we could start to learn from it, then the world would be a better place.
12
When I reached the commons, it was raining again, and the magical barrier was back in place, keeping us dry. The feeling of spring was gone from the air; it legit felt like late fall. It was messing with my mind—I was not used to living in a place where the weather changed every five or six hours. I mean, I knew there were states in America that often experienced four seasons in one day, but I’d never lived in one.
The other first years I’d been with dispersed, moving with their friends toward free tables. I searched for the closest table that was empty and settled in. Placing my hand on the shield, I said, “Lunch.”
The selections today were all different from last night’s dinners, and I ended up choosing a salad and tacos because they were favorites of mine. I also got some water and orange juice, which arrived immediately.
While I waited for my food, I cast a look around the school, searching for Ilia and Larissa. The commons was not as filled as it had been the last few times I passed through. Now that school was back on, it appeared everyone had different lunchtimes.
There was no sign of my friends, and I made a note to ask them about their schedules the next time I saw them. According to my parchment, I had two hours until my next class, which was a nice little break. Even though I was actually pretty excited to continue with this magic learning thing.
A tingle of energy rushed across my skin a moment before the food arrived, and even though I wasn’t starving, the smell of corn, salsa, and chili mince was enough to have my stomach growling. The Supernatural Academy cooks, whoever they were, made a mean taco.
“You’re at our table, new girl.” His voice was a low rumble and my eyes flew open as I swallowed quickly. I had to tilt my head a long way back to find his face, and the moment I did, I swallowed again. I hadn’t been able to place his face last night, but today I recognized him. The fifth Atlantean.
Jesse was green-eyed, dark-skinned, and a lion shifter. He was one of the biggest guys I’d ever seen in my life, well over six and a half feet and built like a linebacker. He was also really hot. Atlantean-level hot, because I was starting to think that they were definitely their own race of supes.
Before I could break down all of his pretty pieces, I finally registered his words. Their table.
Ah, fuck. Nerves skittered across my insides, making me squirm.
“I didn’t know there were set tables for lunch,” I said in a rush.
Jesse swung himself into a chair directly across from me, and I still had to look up at him.
“We claimed this table in our first year,” he said, “but since you’re new here, I won’t give you too much shit about sitting your pretty ass in our space.” He flashed me a half-smile, the white of his teeth extra bright against his dark skin.
“I’ll move then,” I said, already gathering my stuff together.
Just as I was about to stand, he waved a hand. “You can stay if you answer some questions. You’ve got some of my brothers curious, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to find out some fun facts about you.”
I narrowed my eyes, hands clenching in front of me as I released my plate, letting it clatter to the table. My fear of these unknown Atlanteans faded as a sliver of anger swelled in my chest. “I’m not a sideshow amusement. I just want to eat my fucking lunch. Is that too much to ask?”
Jesse’s smile grew, and then he threw his head back and laughed. “Are you sure you’re not a shifter? Because that sort of fire is rarely seen in the other races.”
Charming and scary. They were literally both.
“I have no idea,” I said, before realizing I’d let a pretty important piece of information slip out.
Jesse didn’t miss it either, his eyes narrowing on me. “Don’t know, hey? Calen mentioned that he couldn’t read your race, and that’s actually a skill that cocky mage is quite good at.”
“Calen spent four point two seconds with me. I doubt he got much of a chance to read anything.”
I was hungry, so I picked up my taco and took another bite. Jesse’s expression shifted then to something darker, more primal, and I almost choked. “What?” I said as soon as I swallowed that mouthful. “Do I have something on my face?”
He shook his head, body unnaturally still. “You sure you’re not a shifter? Have you ever felt like … something else was inside your mind? Taking over your body?”
I shook my head, reaching out to grab the icy glass of water. Swallowing a few mouthfuls, I watched him closely. “No, I’ve never felt that. Princeps Jones says my energy is blocked. They’re waiting for a powerful sorcerer to release it.”
I took another long gulp of water before going back to the taco. He kept watching me with that indecipherable expression, and it was making me nervous.
Thankfully, he turned his focus to food, and I was able to eat a few more bites in peace. He ordered at least six meals. Guess it took a lot of food to fill his height and muscle.
“What was it like being raised as a human?” he asked whe
n he was done ordering.
“I didn’t know any different,” I said truthfully, wondering why the hell I was still sitting here. I should be running, like I had yesterday, but Jesse as an individual didn’t seem too bad. “Yesterday was my birthday. I changed my hair color like I do every year, and then boom, there’s a witch standing in front of me telling me that I need to accompany her to a supernatural school. I’m probably still in shock.”
Being human had never felt quite as shocking, that was for sure.
“How old did you turn?” he asked.
“Twenty-two,” I replied.
He nodded like he’d expected that answer. “As you age, your powers grow stronger, and it doesn’t surprise me they found you on your birthday. Do you know that each year at the time of your birth, you have a moment where your power connects to the gods? The very gods we are born from, gifted to our mothers.”
I blinked. “Seriously? How many gods do you all believe in?”
“A lot.”
His food started to arrive then, and he took a moment to maneuver the plates around before he was finally satisfied everything was in reach. The time and care he took to position everything amused me, and I bit back a smile as I watched.
When he was finally satisfied, he said, “I have OCD when it comes to food. It all has to be in reach and positioned from most appealing to least in a half circle, starting on my left side.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me how you like to eat. As long as you don’t drop a half-chewed carcass on the table, then you do you.”
Jesse laughed again, and I was starting to like the warm rumbly sound. “I’ll keep my kills away from our table, then, shall I?”
He said our so casually that for a moment I was taken aback, until I realized he meant his and the other guys. Not his and mine. He started to eat, and since I’d finished my tacos, I picked at the salad, again wondering why I was still sitting here.
It should have felt weird, not getting up and moving the moment he opened his mouth and all but kicked me out, but for some reason, the draw to remain near him was stronger than my fear of what I was doing.
I didn’t understand it, but I was chalking it up to some weird supernatural thing. Maybe it was just the attraction of their Atlantean blood. It had seemed like everyone wanted to be close to them when they arrived last night.
Jesse started to eat, and I eyed each plate, already working out what I’d get next meal. He was very observant, noticing my examination of his food, and then he shocked the shit out of me when he nudged a few plates forward.
“I can share, if you’d like to try something.”
I stared at him, not quite sure if I’d heard that right. Did he just offer to share?
I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. You’re a growing boy. Gotta keep your energy up.”
He watched me for a long moment, before he returned the plates to their original positions and continued to eat in his neat and methodical way.
“What did you mean that some of your brothers were curious about me?” I asked, searching through my salad for the cherry tomatoes. They were my favorite part.
Jesse shrugged. “A human-raised supe that Calen can’t get a read on … they aren’t the only ones curious. Trust me.” He shrugged. “Rone seems to think you’re a spy or assassin, sent here to take us out. This has piqued Asher’s interest because he likes to know everything that’s going on, stay in control of situations. He wants to talk directly to you … I just beat him to it.”
I snorted, before coughing on the tomato I’d just bitten into. “Spy or assassin? Yeah, that’d be a cool story, but nope.”
I was deliberately ignoring the Asher thing, because there was still something disconcerting about that guy. Something that both drew and repelled me. And I’d never even spoken to him, which should have been the biggest worry of all.
Jesse let out a low, growly laugh. “Yeah. Twenty minutes in your company and I can already tell there’s nothing dangerous about you.”
Twenty minutes. I checked my watch, and sure enough, it had been over twenty minutes since he’d sat down. Time was flying and my lunch break would be over before I knew it.
Another large body dropped into the chair next to Jesse and I found myself staring at a familiar supernatural, the one who had been with Calen and Rone yesterday, Mr. Plaid Shirt and silvery eyes.
“Hey,” he said quietly, not questioning why I was at the table. “The others will be here in a minute.” He was looking directly at me as he leaned over the table and held a hand out. “I’m Axl. It’s nice to meet you, Maddison.”
He wasn’t as tall or built as Jesse. If anything, his muscles were long and wiry, like a runner or long-distance swimmer. He had messy auburn waves, and those eyes, which were a beautiful shade between gold and silver.
Grasping his hand, I shook it quickly. No energy hit me and I wondered if he was keeping it locked down. “Nice to meet you as well.”
He sank back into his chair and immediately pulled out a textbook and some notepads.
“Axl is our resident genius,” Jesse said with a smile. “He’s studying the three hardest areas: healing magic, combat magic, and advanced spellcasting. And he’s topping every single class.”
There was a fondness in Jesse’s voice that spoke of a clear and genuine friendship between Axl and him.
Axl shrugged. “What can I say, my brain craves knowledge. It’s never satisfied. I need to know everything, break it down, and then build it up again perfectly. I wouldn’t say I’m a genius though.”
Jesse shot me a knowing look. Genius, he mouthed, and I covered my smile with my hand. Axl continued reading his book, so Jesse reached out and ordered a few more meals, which I assumed were for his friend, because if that boy ate one more thing himself, he’d probably explode.
Realizing that I was still just sitting there at this table with guys I didn’t know and that the rest of them would be there in a minute, I started to rise.
“Wait,” Axl said, and I almost jumped out of the chair because I hadn’t been expecting that. “I haven’t had a chance to ask you anything about your life and energy and future yet. I need to know all about it.”
“Uh,” I started slowly. “I mean, that might take a while, and really, I’m not that interesting.”
Jesse made a rumbly sound that I was certain no human could have done. It was very leonine, starting deep in his chest. “I have to disagree about the not-interesting thing.”
Whatever that meant, I was totally not analyzing it.
“And if you don’t sate his curiosity somewhat,” Jesse continued, “he’ll never stop asking you questions.”
“What about the others?” I asked, trying my best not to look around the table. “I mean, pretty sure after having met me just once, Rone already hates me. Might get a little awkward.”
Jesse and Axl both laughed. “Nah,” the book-smart wizard said, “Rone is just angry a lot. He doesn’t trust easily. He’s had a messed-up life and—”
Jesse cleared his throat, interrupting Axl, who trailed off. “Sorry,” he muttered, “I have a problem with keeping secrets. My natural curiosity means that I’m almost incapable of keeping anything I learn to myself.”
“Honesty is worth a lot to me,” I told him seriously.
Jesse looked wounded. “It’s not that I’m not honest, I am … almost to a fault. It’s just that some secrets are not ours to tell. Rone’s and Asher’s especially. They have a lot of darkness in their past, and it shapes the supernaturals they are today. Something you’ll have to learn on your own.”
Uh, yeah. I doubted that would ever happen.
Axl nodded, and I could tell this was an old conversation they’d had to have a lot with him. Genius he might be, but he was sort of a clueless genius, if that was possible.
Since they thought they could ask me questions, I decided to throw some of my own back at them. “So, it’s just the five of you in this Atlantean club?”
It slip
ped out before I could think about it, and I wondered if maybe I’d offended them by bringing up their heritage so casually. A relieved sigh left me when neither of them reacted negatively.
“The five of us grew up together,” Jesse said. “Axl, Rone, Asher, Calen, and me. We met in Russia, when our parents were travelling between the prison communities. We’ve stuck together ever since.”
“You don’t sound Russian,” I said, looking between them both. If anything, Axl had almost no accent, and Jesse’s was slightly British.
Axl chuckled, his hands flat on his textbook even though he wasn’t reading it any longer. “We’re not Russian. You can think of us like human army brats. Our families were close because the ‘descendants of Atlantis club’ is small. They were mostly all friends, which turned into shared work traveling between the different supe communities. We were dragged along, and in that regard, we have no real home or identity.”
“Except here,” Jesse added. “This is the first home for all of us.”
“It’s my first real home too,” I admitted, before slamming my lips shut. That was such a personal thing to reveal, but then again, they were sharing with me and it felt right.
Silence fell between the three of us, and it was surprisingly comfortable. Which lasted exactly two point three seconds before an asshole destroyed it.
“What the fuck is she doing at our table?” Rone said, slamming a book down on the other side of Jesse. Now it was three of them facing me, and whatever comfort I’d been feeling completely disappeared.
Rone was even broader across the shoulders than Jesse, which was quite a feat. His features were beautiful. I mean, a fallen angel from the sky beautiful, with that golden-blond hair and icy blue eyes framed by long golden lashes, defined cheekbones, and a strong, angular jaw.
But I knew angry men, the kind that had a hatred festering deep inside of them, swirling violently until they could no longer control themselves. Rone was that sort of angry.
Lurching to my feet, I slipped around the chair and started to back up. “Wait,” Axl said, holding a hand out to me. “Ignore Rone.”
