“Bacon?” Aunt Lisanne asked, taking a dish towel off the top of a plate.
“Mmm, bacon,” I moaned, sliding into my seat.
After stuffing myself with half of a platter of bacon and two pancakes smothered in what I was told was locally produced bilberry syrup, all washed down with a cup of freshly made coffee, I waddled upstairs to brush my teeth and change into my uniform. Reaching my room, I blinked. Where was all my stuff? All that was left was my make up tote, hairbrush, one uniform from the box, a pair of socks, and my wedges. I had an aha moment then.
“Is this a boarding school?” I asked.
Aunt Lisanne looked at me in surprise. “I thought you understood that you’d be staying in the dorms. The school isn’t in the village, dearie. It’s on the border of the Winter Court. You’ll come home for holiday celebrations, don’t worry.”
What with it being college and the purchases of the laundry bag and hangars, I should have been better on the uptake. Intuition fail, but then, I’d been more than a bit overwhelmed yesterday.
“Cool,” I said, faking nonchalance. “Just checking. Um, my stuff is gone from my room already.”
“I loaded it in the car while you were busy brushing your teeth and fixing your hair and stuff,” Uncle Joe said.
“I haven’t brushed my hair yet, and I still have to put on my makeup.” He’d had what, less than five minutes?
“Best go do that and bring it all with you. You’ll probably want that stuff there, too.”
“Did you get her new sheets?” Aunt Tillie asked him.
I had new sheets?
“And the blanket and her new pillow,” he replied. “I put those in last night.”
“We bought you new bedding,” Aunt Tillie beamed at me.
“Thank you!” I hurried down to kiss her cheek before dashing back upstairs to deal with my hair and makeup. That didn’t take long as I only needed to run a brush through it and put on some BB cream, a little bronzer on my lids, a touch of mascara, and some lip gloss. Then I was ready, and as I walked down the stairs carrying my make up tote with my brush tucked inside, I wished I hadn’t eaten so much. The butterflies in my stomach threatened to make my food suffer a reappearance.
Aunt Lisanne looked at me critically. “You’re looking a bit green,” she observed.
“Nerves,” I mumbled.
She hummed, reaching into her purse, pulling out a small tin. She took out a little, hard candy.
“Suck on this. It’ll settle your stomach and soothe your nerves.” She beamed at me. “I make them myself. Just honey, herbs from my garden, a bit of fruit, and a touch of magick,” she assured me.
I was willing to do anything to not embarrass myself by becoming car sick or worse, get there and throw up in front of the whole college. I took the sweet and popped it into my mouth.
“How did you get it all in the car so fast?” I asked Uncle Joe as we walked out.
He tapped the side of his nose. “Magick, me girl.” He turned his head at me and winked.
I should have guessed that would be the answer. It seemed to be the explanation I got for most things I asked about. I wondered if I would use my own gifts so easily, and as often, once I learned how to wield them. I climbed into the back seat, George materializing onto my lap once I buckled myself in.
“There you are,” I murmured.
“One of the first things you should learn is how to summon him,” Aunt Tillie said.
“I’m sure they’ll cover that at the beginning,” Aunt Lisanne said as she climbed into the back seat with me. I’d had a feeling she would, so hadn’t sat in the middle. “They’ll see she has a familiar and will want to make sure he’s not left under utilized.”
I tuned them out as Uncle Joe pulled out onto the road. Aunt Lisanne had told the truth, the hard sweet had settled my stomach. That was a good thing, as the cobbles paving the village streets jostled and bopped us around on our seats. Then we were out onto the smooth main thoroughfare that linked the towns and cities together. This section couldn’t be called a highway as it was a single lane road with small places to pull over to allow oncoming vehicles to pass.
Watching the other cars got me to thinking. I didn’t have a driver’s license yet as the one Driver’s Ed class that didn’t clash with the core classes I needed to graduate had been full. Not that I had a car of my own, anyway, or the means to buy one. That class wouldn’t have taught me the driving rules here, anyway, and we certainly didn’t have any of the passing places nor any of the European style roundabouts like I’d seen in town yesterday. I’d have had to have someone teach me all that if I wanted to drive here. That could wait, though. Magick first.
I glanced out the window, self-doubt beginning to creep back in. What if it was all a huge mistake? Maybe I was just enough fairy to kiss my elbow, and the magick from my blessings and recent unbinding was all the magick I had in me? I pushed my fears down. This was my fresh start, damn it, away from all everyone thought they knew about me. We would all be freshmen together, or whatever they called them here, so there would be no cliques. Maybe I could even join a sorority or a club or whatever it was they had. This was college of a sort, after all, even if it was an academy of magick. College was supposed to be the time of my life, right? This was going to be my year, and if it turned out I wasn’t powerful the way they thought I was, well, I’d cross that bridge when I got to it.
The road widened to a two-lane highway, and Uncle Joe accelerated. Fields gave way to clumps of forest, then more fields until finally, we drove into a small village. This one had smoothly paved streets, and the shops and homes we drove past were a mix of old and modern. We drove through, the last of the houses giving way to more highway. We didn’t go much further, as to the left, large looming stone walls rose. Uncle Joe slowed down, putting on his turn signal. Reaching a set of tall, open, cast iron gates, he turned to go through. An impressive green lawn peered out between the tall cypress trees standing sentry on either side of the winding driveway. When the building came into view, I wasn’t sure if we were at the right place or not. Was this a school or some kind of church? It looked more like what I imagined a cathedral to look like than a school. Maybe the church ran the school, and the actual school buildings were behind it? If so, what kind of religion was it?
“The Grand Hall,” Aunt Tillie said, glancing over her shoulder at me. “It’s the main admin area and the atrium is where large magickal demonstrations take place.”
Whoa. So that was the school, just not a fancy church. Talk about building to impress.
There were a few other cars parked off to the side. Uncle Joe ignored those, pulling up right in front of the steps to the double front door.
“Almost everyone else has arrived already,” he said. “They said to pull up here, and someone would meet us.”
My heart sank. So, I was late.
“I’ve missed the first day of class?” I asked.
“No, no,” Aunt Lisanne hurriedly reassured me. “That’s not until tomorrow. Some students arrived much earlier, though yesterday afternoon, nearly everyone else came to settle in. I’m sure you’re not the last, however.”
Close enough, though, meaning I would have a thousand pairs of eyes looking me over, and people would already be forming groups and making friends.
A woman dressed in a smart pantsuit came out from inside the double doors, accompanied by two men. One of the men looked to be about my aunt and uncle’s age, as did the woman. She wore a button-down shirt and a tie with what my uncle would call dress slacks. The younger man was around my age and wearing what looked like a male version of the school uniform, with white piping along the blue trousers’ outside seams. The other man wore dress a navy blue suit with a bright red tie.
Aunt Tillie and Aunt Lisanne got out of the car and walked over while I hung back with Uncle Joe, who leaned against the side of the car. Aunt Lisanne noticed my absence, and turned around, motioning me to come to join them. I pasted a smile on my face and
clambered up the steps to stand beside her.
“Hello, Tuesday,” the woman said. “Welcome to Dark Light Academy. I’m Sharon Hargreaves, the headmistress, and this is my deputy, Michael Olivant.” She indicated the guy in the blue suit. “We’d like to welcome you here. We know you’ve grown up ignorant of magick and the existence of this realm, but I’m sure that with effort, you’ll soon find your feet.”
Two women came out of the door, hurrying down the steps. They wore smocks and cotton work trousers, indicating they must be housekeeping staff. This was further borne out when they approached the car and began removing my things from the trunk once Uncle Joe opened it.
Hargreaves placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “This is Laurent Harcourt. He’s in the same year as you and was head boy at our feeder school, Ravenscourt Academy. He’ll take you around and help you get settled.” She held out a book, and I took it. I was unsurprised to find it was a student handbook.
Hargreaves turned her attention away from me and began talking in a low voice to my aunts. Mr. Olivant did the same. Laurent flicked his gaze at me, eyeing me up from head to toe, his lips thinning. I heard the click of the car trunk closing as the housekeeping staff hurried past us, laden with my worldly goods.
Laurent’s gaze followed them for a moment before returning his attention to me. “Come on, then.” He turned away, leading me into the main admin building. Apparently done talking, the headmistress hurried up the steps beside us, disappearing through the double doors and into the hall. As we entered, I spotted her opening a door marked OFFICE. I glanced over my shoulder. Aunt Lisanne was now having what looked like quite a friendly chat with the deputy head. From the way they looked at each other, I’d guess they knew each other passing well before today.
“I arrived last week,” Laurent said, leading me through the atrium. “I’ll give you a quick tour along the way to the dorm.”
“Thanks.” He didn’t have to sound so bored about showing me around, but I was grateful that I wouldn’t have to rely only on a map.
He didn’t reply. Okay, then, so not the chatty type.
“Well, we just passed the office, and across the hall, that’s the infirmary.”
I craned my neck around to look back the way we’d come. Yep, the door across the hall from the office was marked INFIRMARY, all right.
“That’s the dining hall,” he said next. I whipped my attention back around. We’d crossed the atrium now, and a set of triple doors were set into the back wall.
“Meals are included in our tuition, so that’s where you go to eat. Your class schedule will tell you when your meal breaks are.”
He turned left, walking to a set of double doors on the side. Pushing it open revealed the outside. There was a small garden with a couple of benches to the left up ahead. He ignored that and turned right. Pointing ahead, he said, “That’s the gym.” He moved his finger. “And that’s the greenhouse The field in the middle of the track between them is where we’ll practice growing some of the plants we’ll use.”
I had wondered at why the area in the middle had tilled soil instead of the usual grass.
“See that building next to the gym? That’s the Year Three dorms. They’re off-limits to first years, so stay out of them, no matter what anyone tells you.” He briskly walked away from the gym, heading towards the greenhouse. He stopped abruptly and turned to gesture behind us. “The main classrooms are there, on either side of the main admin building.”
From here, I could see what I mistook for wings of the building, when viewed from out front, were actually smaller buildings with a facade wall running between them and the main admin building. The small garden I spied earlier was nestled between the buildings, one each side of it. “Stay out of the garden. Those are for royals only.”
Royals? The little girl hidden deep inside me thrilled at the thought that a real-life fairy princess might be attending school with me.
“Not that sort of royals,” he snorted. “So you can get the stars out of your eyes. These royals are the school’s elite. They run the school, pretty much. You’ll see. Just be careful around them.”
Great. Cliques. Just what I always wanted, high school drama bullshit following me to college, with added magick that no doubt would be used to add to the misery of those that fell foul of the entitled assholes who thought they were some kind of royalty. That was definitely a step or three up the asshole scale from the kids back in Bowring who thought the epitome of cool was to call my name, snap their fingers in the air, and ask if my aunt’s real name was Mortiltia and my uncle’s Joemez.
He started walking again, taking me towards a building to the far side of the greenhouse. It looked identical to the one housing the Year Three students, so I guessed it was another dorm.
“Is it going to storm?” I asked, for the first time commenting on the cloudy haze that hovered over the otherwise sunny school.
“No, that’s from the concentration of magick within the grounds combined with atmospheric reactions from the proximity to the Winter Court.” He pointed at the dorm-like building. “That’s the other dorm, the one the Second and we First Years live in.”
“Only three years?” I thought college was always four.
“It’s enough.”
We passed a group of students.
“Hey, who’s the cutie?” one of the guys called out.
“A half-human pauper whose aunt lives by me. She couldn’t even afford to buy books for class at the store.”
I felt my face burning, anger and recognition flooding me. The person who’d spoken was the girl from the bookstore, the one I’d bumped into. I wouldn’t say we were rich, in any way you might measure that, but between my aunts and uncle, I knew we weren’t poor, either, just careful. And what if we were? A person’s worth was so much more than what they had in a bank account!
“I have books, thank you,” I replied, trying to muster up some dignity.
The girl snickered. “Yeah, old raggedy-ass ones from like a million years ago.”
The boy who’d asked who I was shook his head, a faint smile of regret on his face.
The other guy rolled his eyes. “Half-human, huh? Do you have any magick?”
Laurent snorted. “Obviously she does, or she wouldn’t be here, Charles.”
“True, true,” Charles conceded.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us, Hargreaves tasked me with giving her the tour and showing her to her room.”
“Poor Laurie,” the girl purred, slinking forward. She placed a well-manicured hand on his arm. He stiffened, a look of annoyance crossing his patrician features. She didn’t seem to notice, keeping her hand on him possessively as she turned a narrowed gaze to me. “Just don’t you get any ideas. He’s mine, and those two are already taken, too.”
Laurent jerked his arm away, nostrils flaring. It was Charles who answered her, though.
“Hey, we are not. We’ve told you girls several times already, just because our parents used to pair us up for functions, including the end of year dance the last term, it doesn’t mean we are your boyfriends or anything like that.”
She looked around, seeing the anger now visible on all three of the guys’ faces. She huffed in annoyance and flounced off.
“Be careful around her,” Laurent warned me. “When she’s nice, she’s very nice. But when she decides she’s mad or that she doesn’t like you, she and her friends are vicious.”
The third boy nodded and drew a line across his throat, making a sound to indicate cutting.
“Best get you to your room before anything else happens,” Laurent muttered. “Catch you later, Charles, Brent.”
I committed the guys' names to my memory. Charles was athletically built, standing at least six foot tall with thick muscles. Brent was a little shorter and not as bulky. Both had thick brown hair, Charles’ on the shaggy side, and a streaked from the sun while Brent’s was clipped short and was a deep shade that reminded me of old, aged wood that made his pale blue ey
es stand out even more. I gave them a small wave good-bye and hurried after the swiftly retreating Laurent.
“All Year Ones are on the top floor.” He pushed the front door open as he spoke. “What’s your room assignment?”
I shifted uncomfortably under his expectant gaze.
“It’s written on the inside of your handbook.”
I gave him a grateful look then opened up my handbook. Sure enough, inside was my name and a room number written in dark blue ink right inside the cover. “It’s 331A.”
“Right. A Wing means it’s on the left side of the stairs, B is on the right. A is for girls,B is for us guys.” He began walking up the stairs.
“No elevator, huh?” I asked him idly. Did they not have a disabilities act here or did those students get housed in special accommodations?
“Not for only three floors, no. You’ll get used to it.”
We reached the third floor. It was no less impressive a looking space than the lower two levels. The staircase rose in a spiral, the first half ending on the second floor, and a few feet away, a second spiral rose to the third floor. Instead of hall landings, the floor space was open and deep, providing a common area with chairs, tables, books, and a fireplace.
“I have to ask,” I said as he walked to my side of the dorm. “Why the fireplaces?”
“It gets a bit chilly in the evenings during the cooler months sometimes, and as close as we are to the Winter Court, sometimes a magickally charged storm blows from there to here. Also, it makes for a relaxing ambiance. We can have fire without putting out heat.”
“Oh, right.” I didn’t fully understand their seasonal changes here, but I guess I would as I experienced them. The ambiance thing, that kind of made sense. Kinda like putting on the fireplace channel at Christmas.
Discovery of Magick (Dark Light Academy Book 1) Page 4
