by Megan Linski
Korva prowled the room like one of the monsters she was warning us against… cunning and calculating, as if waiting for someone to make a mistake, so she could pounce on us. “Illusion is intention. The magic is created by summoning our will within us, and forcing that reality upon another’s mind. There are limits— for example, you may disguise a building so that it appears not to be there at all, but those experiencing the illusion will still run into a brick wall if they attempt to walk forward, whether their mind sees it or not. You can make someone believe that they’ve been run through with a sword, and still kill them— though their body may remain undamaged, the perception that they’ve been fatally wounded will convince the brain, the heart, and all affected organs to begin shutting down, thus ending your enemy’s life. The mind is the most powerful thing in the world. Trick it, and you will be able to bend anyone you wish to your will.”
Lady Korva crossed her arms. “Imagination is key to an illusionist’s arsenal. Whatever you can think, you can create. That is, if you’re strong enough.”
Lady Korva straightened up. “Let’s see how many of you are prepared to harness your magic, should the need arise. Each of you, take an empty jar from the wall.”
She snapped her fingers. Girls hustled out of their seats to grab empty jars lining the shelves. I rushed to get one before they were all gone, but I found that the girl I’d sat by had already grabbed one for me.
“Thanks,” I told her. She said nothing. Damn, she was shyer than I was.
Lady Korva grabbed the jar with the storm inside of it from earlier and lifted it up high to show it to the class. “This is an example of a minor illusion. As you all know, Arcanea cannot manipulate the elements— that magic lies only with the Elementai. But we can, however, produce the illusion of a storm, and on a much minor scale. It is critical that every Marked knows how to generate these kind of illusions, to produce a distraction for enemies should their Companions be put in danger. I want each of you to produce an illusion that mimics weather inside your jar before the class is over. Begin now.”
There was the sound of scraping chairs and scuffling jars. Lady Korva began sweeping the room to observe. My mouth was left hanging open. She hadn’t even given us instruction. I didn’t know how to do this.
I tried to remember what I’d done when I’d burst an illusion out of my hands to kill the wolf, but my mind went blank. I hadn’t thought about it, it’d just been instinct. I did my best to try and force some sort of… I don’t know, something inside of my jar, but nothing happened. I was just staring at blank air.
At least I wasn’t the only one struggling. Melissa had busted open her jar trying to trap tiny lightning, and Morgan wasn’t able to conjure more than a cloud inside of hers. Gabby could create a torrent of rain inside her jar, but it vanished the moment she looked away from it, and she was swearing under her breath with frustration.
My head turned to the right to look at my partner, and my mouth nearly dropped open. She’d already created a mini-typhoon within her jar, and was watching it closely as the waves crashed within underneath a collection of black, churning clouds.
“How did you do that?” I asked. It’d taken her mere seconds.
“Oh, it’s easy,” the girl said behind her hair. “I’ve been doing it for years.”
“Can you help me?” I asked.
The girl paused. She turned in her seat toward me and slowly parted the curtain of hair from her face.
The girl’s face was unlike any I’d ever seen. Her skin was mostly dark, though there were white splotches over her eyes and mouth, with freckles dotted over both. She was totally unique, and beautiful to look at. I wasn’t sure if she had some sort of pigmentation variation or if it was a birthmark, but I had the thought that she looked incredible.
Bet she didn’t feel that way, though. She was probably self-conscious about it.
“I’m Kiara,” she said quietly. Her uniform tie was gold. A griffin.
“Emma,” I said back. “Now can you tell me how to do this thing, before Lady Dominatrix comes over here and beats my ass?”
Kiara gave a tiny smile. “Picture a storm,” Kiara whispered. “Visualize whatever you want to create in your head, then direct that intention to the jar. If you believe it’ll come, it’ll happen.”
Sounded hoky to me, but I’d try it. I tried to imagine the type of storm I wanted to create. I pictured it in my head— ice, surrounded by fireballs.
It wasn’t real, but as soon as I thought about placing that thought in the jar, they appeared. Tiny pieces of hail, surrounded by mini-fires, started falling inside the jaw and tinking against the side of the glass. I nearly fell out of my seat.
“How did I do that?” I gaped at the storm inside the jar, feeling both shocked and elated.
“What we’re creating isn’t real. That’s why it’s easy,” Kiara said. “Bringing illusions to life is much harder. We have to get ourselves to believe, and others will see it, too.”
A shadow fell over our desk. Kiara went quiet as Lady Korva loomed overhead. She picked up my jar, and sneered when she brought it to her face to look at the ice and fire raging within.
“That isn’t a real storm. It doesn’t exist,” Lady Korva said. She slammed the jar back down on my desk. The storm disappeared, the ice melting and fire fizzling. “Try again.”
What, was creativity not honored here at Arcanea University? I thought I’d get extra points for thinking outside the box.
Clearly not. Lady Korva was the type of woman who obviously ran things like the military. Step out of line and you’d face her wrath.
“Fine,” I said. I picked the jar up again, made a show of shaking it, then placed it back on the desk, empty. “There. I did it.”
“There’s nothing in there,” Lady Korva snapped.
“It’s an invisible storm,” I said.
Lady Korva’s face went red. A couple of girls put their hands over their mouths, and Kiara cringed in her seat. “Miss Sosna, if you think you’re going to come into my class and disrespect me, you are sorely mistaken.”
“You asked me to create an illusion, and I did. Why does it matter what it is? It’s made up anyway,” I said.
People gasped. Lady Korva’s eyes flashed. “I assure you that what we do here is not made up. It’s the difference between life and death,” she snarled. “With that kind of attitude, I expect your Companion to be slain within a year of bonding with you. Figments of the imagination are not enough to fool advanced monsters, especially childish notions such as yours.”
A coldness went through me. I’d only been here a day or so, but even I knew you didn’t speak of a Marked’s Companion that way. She’d made it sound like I couldn’t protect him if I had to— whoever he was.
Even though I had yet to meet my mate, I still felt fiercely protective of him. Lady Korva had crossed a line.
Her eyes went to Kiara. Kiara’s typhoon had died to little more than a bit of sloshing water inside her jar. Lady Korva sniffed. “A pathetic attempt.”
Lady Korva opened the jar and dumped the water all over the desk before placing the jar back before Kiara. “Try again.”
Kiara focused her attention on the jar, but with everyone in the class looking at her, she lost her ability, and began to shake. Kiara couldn’t recreate her magic under pressure.
Lady Korva made a scoffing sound. “What I expected from a griffin.”
Kiara stared at the wooden desk. Lady Korva turned away from Kiara and said, “I didn’t expect much from you because of who your parents are, Miss Mazurski, but even this is disappointing. Perhaps if you study hard enough, you can learn to cast a powerful-enough illusion to get rid of the hideous mark on your face.”
Kiara’s lip trembled. Gabby and her clones laughed under their breath. As Lady Korva walked away, Kiara quietly gathered her things.
“Don’t go,” I pleaded, but too late. Kiara hurried to rearrange her hair in front of her face and ducked her head behind her books a
s she ran out of the room crying. When she was gone, a couple more girls dared to laugh.
I felt rage well inside of me until it boiled over. This was bullshit. What kind of teacher was Lady Korva, making Kiara cry on her first day?
My mouth spoke before I could rein it in. “I’d rather have a face like Kiara’s than one that looked like it just got done sucking on a lemon.”
Lady Korva whirled around so fast I was surprised she didn’t get whiplash. “Miss Sosna, out of my classroom!” she barked. “You may not come back until you learn to hold your tongue!”
“Gladly.” I didn’t care how things landed as I threw them into my bag. I was hauling ass out of there before she decided to cut my throat.
When I got to the bottom of the tower, I saw Kiara running across the courtyard. “Kiara, wait!” I shouted, but she didn’t listen. She disappeared into a crowd of sophomores before I could catch up with her.
I stood at the bottom of the tower and felt terribly sorry. Yep. The world of the Arcanea could be more brutal than I ever predicted.
“Eyes up! Arms straight. Come now, Emmaline, is that really the best you can do?”
My breaths came in quick puffs as I stroked around the ice, working on my speed. I had my first practice with Lady Magdalina as my coach that afternoon, and hell, she was tough. She pushed me harder than anyone else ever had, even my mom. We’d only been on the ice for an hour, and already, I felt like I’d been there at least two.
The ice rink on campus was huge, and state of the art. It had three Olympic-size rinks, and leather stadium seats instead of stands. On the upper level was a gym, and a couple of dance studios where Odette was currently practicing. This rink was exclusive to figure skaters, while the other two were dedicated for hockey. I heard the sound of boys yelling and smashing each other into the boards through the thick walls. Companions played hard when it came to ice sports.
I switched to skating backwards and did some crossovers before I went into a triple loop. I leaned too far out of the jump and went down. I slid into the boards.
Lady Magdalina made a tsk-tsk sound. “Again, Emmaline. Perform a tighter rotation this time. Your arms are too loose.”
Delmare, who’d followed us along just for the hell of it, was currently eating nachos she’d gotten from the vendor in one of the seats that surrounded the ice. She gave me a thumbs-up as I struggled to get off my ass. I groaned. I was gonna be hurting tonight. I returned to Lady Magdalina, dusting snow off my tights.
My eyes caught someone as they came onto the ice. Shit, it was Gabby. Motherfucker. She was an ice skater, too? What didn’t this bitch do?
Lady Magdalina looked at her as she approached. “Try the jump one more time, Emmaline, then our session is over. Gabby’s lesson is up.”
Gabby wrinkled her nose when she saw me. “Ew. You’re here.”
“Yeah,” I told her. “Turns out you don’t own the rink, so.”
“Just stay out of my way and don’t mess up my jumps.” Gabby’s eyes narrowed.
“Girls, play nice,” Lady Magdalina scolded. “Save it for the competition.”
Gabby sneered. I went to do my triple loop again. This time, I landed it flawlessly. Lady Magdalina clapped lightly. Gabby rolled her eyes.
“Cool down, Emmaline, and call it a session. You’ve done well today,” Lady Magdalina said. “Gabby, warm up, then I want to see your program.”
My body was tired and sore, but it was so worth it. I was going to excel under Magdalene's teaching. I bet once I started infusions my energy would come back and I’d blow Gabby out of the water.
I stroked around the rink and pretended to drink my water, while really, I was observing Gabby perform her program. She was skating to Swan Lake, too, just like I did, but she played the part of the Black Swan, while I always skated to the part of the White.
It was really fucking ironic.
She knew I was watching her, too, and landed every jump. Not one spin wobbled, and her footwork was flawless. Gabby’s eyes were totally directed at me as she finished her program with a smirking smile of victory.
I was gonna wipe that smirk off her face. I resolved I’d train harder, and get better before the competitive season in Malovia began in January. Like hell I’d lose to her. I’d be fine with second-to-last place as long as she was under me.
When I came out of the locker room, Odette and Delmare were waiting for me in the rink lobby. Odette had her ballet bag over her shoulder and was wearing a big smile on her face. Since school was over, all of us were back in our normal clothes. I had on skinny jeans, a white racerback top, and leg warmers over sneakers. Odette wore a cute pink dress that had purple horses on them. Delmare sported combat boots and ripped fishnets with a leather skirt. The best part of her outfit was the spiky black bra she wore over a see-through, long-sleeved black shirt.
I had to give it to Delmare. She was one brave ass bitch.
“That was the best lesson ever!” Odette beamed. “Even better than the last one.”
“I’m sure you say that every time,” I said. I noticed Theo walking out the glass double doors ahead of us. “Is Theo in your class with you?”
“Oh, yes. He’s been my dance partner since we were little kids,” Odette said cheerfully. “We work well together.”
Oh, geez. I could only imagine. That had to make things awkward… for him, anyway.
There was nothing quite like the feeling of the warm sun on your body after you left an ice-cold rink. It sent pleasant pinpricks running up and down my skin. It wasn’t a long walk back to campus from the rink— it only took us five minutes to walk up the cobblestone path through the gardens back to the university. On our way, we passed Chastity— the girl that everyone said Ethan was going to marry.
“Please don’t tell me she ice skates,” I moaned when she was out of earshot. I don’t think I could take anymore competition, even though I really didn’t have a problem with Chastity… just her attachment to Ethan.
“No. Chastity skis and snowboards,” Odette informed me. “She goes to the gym to condition in the off-months.”
Snowboarding was totally cool. I bet Ethan found that really attractive.
What the hell? Why was I thinking of him? He’d yelled at me. He obviously didn’t feel that way toward me.
When we got back to school, Delmare, Odette and I helped ourselves to a dinner of beef tenderloin in the dining hall. By the time we were done, Delmare had suggested a horror movie marathon back in her dorm. Odette didn’t like scary movies, but I was a fan of gore, so we managed to talk her into watching at least one. She was practically shaking in her skirt as we walked back to the girls’ dorms.
“Can’t we watch a cartoon? I love cartoons,” Odette protested.
“Violence makes things interesting. Aren’t you an Arcanea?” Delmare asked.
“An alicorn Arcanea,” Odette protested.
“The way Theo was talking made them sound like the bloodiest of all.” I laughed.
Odette peeped. “Theo doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Both the boys and girls dorms connected to a big, open space that people called the Rec Room. There were couches, TVs, and games inside, including air-hockey and foosball tables, along with a separate area set up for video game tournaments. It was the only area of the college that was decorated in a modern fashion, with posters of bands and celebrities on the wall and giant, body-sized bean bags on the floor. The far wall was completely made of glass, and gave a view of the entire gardens. Basically, it was a place where everyone could hang out without getting in trouble. For a college, this place had strict rules on boys and girls being alone together. They really did hold the Companion-Marked bond sacred.
When we got to the Rec Room, it was humming with excitement. Everyone was on their phones and showing them to each other while gossip buzzed. At Arcanea University, people were allowed to have cell phones, though I’d been informed this morning that any use of them to expose the Arcanea’s secret
on social media or otherwise would result in immediate expulsion— something, so far, no one wanted to chance.
“What’s everyone talking about?” I asked. Delmare took out her phone and started scrolling.
“The Phantom!” a boy shouted near us. “He’s been spotted!”
“Who?” I asked. Delmare showed me her phone. She was on the website of The Annual Arcanea; Dolinska’s local newspaper. At the top of the site was a photo of a tall, hooded man, wearing a wolf mask over his face. He was cloaked in shadow. The photo had been taken from far away— the person snapping the shot had gotten it just before the figure ran off-screen.
I felt… attracted to the photo. Didn’t know why. Something about it just resonated with me. It was something about the eyes.
“The Phantom is a vigilante,” Delmare told me. “He solves crimes that the Arcanea Alliance can’t, and fights criminals that they can’t touch. He showed up a few months ago out of nowhere. They’ve been trying to catch him ever since.”
Holy crap, this place had superheroes, too? It was like I was living in a comic book or something.
“If he’s doing good, why do they want to catch him?” I asked.
Delmare huffed. “The po-po don’t like people stepping on their turf. He’s a hero, but he’s still breaking the law. There’s no due process with this guy. He leaves messes behind. But it’d be so juicy to figure out who he is.”
I stared at the photograph and felt just as curious as everyone else did. Who was the Phantom, and why did I feel like I knew him?
Chapter Nine
Ethan
I’d been careless. Someone had taken a gods-cursed photograph of the Phantom, and now it was making the rounds around Dolinska like wildfire.
The picture wasn’t great, which was my only blessing. Any closer and the police would’ve been able to make out facial features. Not good. I couldn’t make such a mistake again.
I knew I should be lying low, but I was close to busting open a set of slayings that had been committed in nearby warehouses. I planned to go out tonight to resume my investigation after class was over.
