by Laney Powell
“Does this happen often?” I felt a flicker of worry. Her reaction was making me nervous.
“Occasionally,” she said, her lips narrowed as she looked off in the distance.
The room that had seemed calm before now felt heavy and threatening. I wondered if the room was alive in some way, the way it seemed to mirror Sagura.
She got up, and with a wave of her hand, the basin rose from the table and floated behind her. “Come along,” she said over her shoulder. “Let’s make a schedule for you.”
I got up, and trailed along after her.
“You’re going to have a schedule that’s a bit heavier than a lot of our first years,” Sagara said, almost as if she was talking to herself rather than me. “Until we know which class is your strength, you need to be trained in all of them.”
I might be new to this whole magic thing, but I knew enough not to ask just how hard it could be. There was a sinking feeling that I was about to find out.
Just at that moment, a small creature brought in a tray with bread, fruit, and cheese, and I tried to eat a little bit and not throw up.
Chapter Six
One week later, I was really glad that I hadn’t asked how hard it was going to be. I was in class from nine in the morning until six at night. I had an hour for lunch, and dinner was served right after our last class.
On my first day, true to her word, Nicola had come to find me in Sagara’s rooms. “Do you have your schedule?” she asked. “I’m an Origin. What are you?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head, looking at the piece of paper that Sagara had given me.
“Didn’t you do the test?” Nicola asked.
“Well, yeah. But…” I hesitated. The last thing I wanted was to be the new girl and the weirdo.
“Let me see your schedule,” Nicola said, all business, reaching for my schedule. She took it before I could protest and we stopped in the hallway, other students moving past us. I paid them no attention. If Nicola, who was nice, recoiled, or reacted negatively—I steeled myself. I’d gone without friends before. Nerves aside, I could do it again.
“Holy hell,” she said. “You have stuff for all three classes.” Nicola looked up then. “That’s going to be a ton of work.”
“My test wasn’t clear,” I said quickly.
She shrugged. “That happens sometimes. A lot of us know before we come to the school, but if you didn’t even know what you were, it’s not really a surprise, is it?” Shrugging, she handed the schedule back to me, and started walking again.
That was it? I hurried to keep up with her. I’d always kind of been the weirdo on New Castle. No mom, biker dad, lots of big scary dudes and the occasional hot scary dude hanging around my dad’s shop, which was right in front of our cottage—it made it tough at times. Being here dragged all that back. But maybe it wouldn’t be a big deal. At least, if Nicola’s reaction was anything to go by.
“Come on, you can sit with us at lunch,” Nicola said as I caught up with her. “The lunch is one of the great things about Darklight,” she added. She moved through the crowd that was thicker than it had been in the corridor, heading for one of the tables.
“Hey, Nic,” a short girl with auburn hair pulled up in a ponytail said. She was the kind of person who looked like she was always smiling, and she had freckles across her nose.
“Hey, this is Raven,” Nicola said. She sat down next to the auburn-haired girl. “This is Carla, and that’s Bettina,” she gestured across the table.
Bettina was tall, taller than me. She had very pale skin, and dark hair with hints of what looked like blue in it. Her eyes were a soft, glowing amber. “Hi,” she said, her voice quiet.
“Raven’s a siren. Not sure what class,” Nicola said. “Carla’s a siren, too, but she’s an Olympian. Bettina’s a vampire.”
“First day?” Carla said, smiling.
I nodded.
“It can be overwhelming,” Bettina said.
“It is,” I finally spoke. “Twenty-four hours ago, I had no idea I was a siren.”
Carla and Bettina looked at me.
“Really?” Carla asked. “So how did you find out?”
I hesitated. “Well, it was weird. It was like the sea was calling to me, and I drove my bike—” I felt a pang for my bike. I’d told my dad about it, and he’d looked like he was about to cry, but he promised to fish it out. I wasn’t sure it would ever be the same, though. “Right into the water.”
Both of the other sirens nodded.
“That’s normal?” I asked.
“Well, if you’re a siren,” Bettina said. “I think it’s completely mental.”
“Shut up, fang girl,” Carla said, but with a smile. “It is normal. The sea is really powerful for us. What did you hear?”
I shifted a little in my seat, still not all that comfortable. “It was my mom.”
“That makes sense. Didn’t you say your mom was the siren?” Nicola asked.
“She’d have to be. It wasn’t my dad,” I replied.
Bettina and Carla plied me with questions, and I answered, feeling less uncomfortable as we talked. Everyone here was the weirdo. I remembered what Madame Perpetua said. This was where all the supernatural creatures who were thought to be bad went. So maybe there was more acceptance?
There were small men and women who brought the food out. They were varying shades of brown, green or red, and some had horns, others had tails, and there were some with both.
“What are they?” I whispered as the little woman who put a plate in front of me disappeared.
“Imps,” Bettina said. “They get a bad rap, too, although they’re a pain in the ass when they have nothing to focus on. But they’re great cooks.”
“You eat?” I gaped at her.
“Of course I eat.”
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry,” I said.
Bettina stared at me for a moment and then laughed. “It’s fine. I eat raw meat, and drink blood. The blood is human, donated, and the meat can be whatever.”
“I thought… “ I began, as I felt the heat move up my face.
“Yeah, yeah, blood drinkers and Dracula,” Bettina waved a hand. “Listen, sirens are supposed to have bird bodies, so don’t believe all the legends.”
“There’s some truth in them,” Nicola said. “There are sirens who were birds rather than more like mermaids.”
“We’re mermaids?” I asked, my mouth falling open again.
“That’s such an attractive look on you,” a voice said over my shoulder.
I whipped around, finding myself facing Sorcha. “Can I help you?” I asked. I might be new, and kind a weirdo, but she was a mean cheerleader in the regular world. I’d been dealing with this type of girl my entire life.
“Doubtful. What are you, a stray?”
“A what?” I asked. I could feel the heat rising to my face again, only this time it was because I was pissed.
“A stray. Where’d the Concilium drag you in from? I heard they dropped you off here last night. You know, like a stray.” Sorcha shrugged. Another girl had come up behind her, also with blond hair, also in a bun. The new arrival snickered.
I rolled my eyes. “You guys are so original. No, I went and talked with my dad, who was sad that I was leaving. I’m sure that wasn’t the case for you. How long have you been here? Since you were what? Five?” I smiled, making no effort to make it sincere.
I heard a choked laugh next to me, although I wasn’t sure who it was.
Two pink spots appeared on Sorcha’s cheeks. “Listen, stray,” she stressed the second word, “I don’t give a shit about you, unless you get in my way. Stay out of my way, and I can pretend you don’t exist.”
“Or what?” I asked, letting my eyebrow go up.
“Or I’ll make you wish you hadn’t,” Sorcha snapped, and she turned and flounced away. The blond girl gave me a look that should have killed me on the spot, and followed her friend away.
“You don’t waste any time,”
Bettina remarked. “She’s a pain in the ass. She’s not really all that skilled from what I can see, but she runs her mouth a lot.”
“She’s an Ordeal,” Nicola said. “She’s got her skills like everyone else.”
I stared blankly.
“The Ordeals are the sirens that Hades created, the ones that drag you to Hell,” Carla said.
I glanced back to where Sorcha had retreated, to a table full of a lot of blond girls who were taking turns glaring at me. “An Ordeal? That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Well, maybe try not to antagonize her,” Carla added. “Bettina’s right. She is not going to lop off your head or try to eat you—”
“That happens here?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“Sure, if you piss off the dragons,” Nicola said calmly.
Then all three of them burst into laughter.
“You should see your face!” Bettina said between laughing. “We’re kidding!”
“Yeah, they don’t let the dragons eat anything that attends classes,” Carla added.
Which sent them into laughter again, only this time with me joining them.
That had been the first week. Outside of having to haul my ass around what seemed like a never-ending castle, I felt like I was holding my own. There always seemed to be some girl who was friends with Sorcha in every one of my classes, which was annoying. But I had Nicola in one class, and Carla in another, and generally, the rest of the sirens were pretty nice.
I noticed a very definitive difference between the three classes. The Origins, which was what Carla was, were very kind. Motherly, almost. They helped with creation, and given some of the discussions I heard, there was a lot of touchy feeling going on with those girls.
The Olympians, which was Nicola’s class, were more focused on right and wrong, and justice, and doing the right thing. They were definitely not rule breakers.
Which was not the case in my classes with the Ordeals. They had no problems breaking the rules, and delighting in catching other people breaking the rules.
“I thought Ordeals were supposed to help people stop being assholes,” I blurted out in one class.
Several of the other girls turned and looked at me, and then Dahlia, who had long brown hair that she flicked back and forth a lot, laughed. “We can’t stop people being anything, Raven! If someone’s an asshole, then who are we to get in their way?” Thankfully, despite the one blond named Karina who was tight with Sorcha, the rest of the class laughed and from that moment on, the Ordeal based classes got a little easier.
I enjoyed all the classes, which encompassed history, and how to use your powers depending on your class, and the movement and control of water.
It was in one of the Origin classes that I finally got the courage up to ask, “So are all sirens mermaids?” I figured they’d be less likely to laugh.
The teacher, a tall willowy siren named Tasha with a creamy complexion and soft brown hair, said, “That depends. We can all breathe underwater, but not everyone can shift. Shifting isn’t as important, because all sirens swim fast, and the water is our element.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“If you can shift?” Tasha asked.
I nodded.
“In your second year, we toss you in the water and leave you there for a day.” She smiled.
“Are you kidding?” I asked.
“No. It’s not like you’re going to die,” Tasha said mildly. “But it allows us to see what you’re capable of. We do practice before then, but that’s really when we start getting focused.”
No one else looked bothered, probably since they knew this or had heard it before. It made me wonder why I hadn’t managed to breathe or do much of anything when I’d driven off the jetty. Although—I didn’t know how long I’d been in there. It hand’t seemed long, but I couldn’t be sure. The only good thing that came out me asking was that I wouldn’t have to deal with it until next year.
At the end of my first week, one of the Olympian classes was held in a different room. I’d gotten to class to see a note pinned to the door. “Great,” I sighed. I still didn’t know my way around all that well. I headed off to where I thought the room was.
Which was how I found myself wandering down a corridor that was narrowing, and while there were lights along the corridor, it felt darker. Smaller. I passed a couple of doors. “Shit,” I muttered.
“Language,” a silky voice said behind me.
I whirled around to find that I was face to face with Xavier Lasker, the demon I’d met on my first day and hadn’t seen since.
My heart quickened and the blood rushed to all my lady parts. God, was I going to have this reaction every time I saw him?
“Are you lost, little siren?” he asked, moving closer to me and leaning down to whisper in my ear.
My breath caught, and I inhaled the scent of… I wasn’t sure what it was. It almost smelled like baking bread. Something that hinted at the dark, at being in a small, closed in place with him. Warmth, and danger. But the best kind of danger. The warmth of his breath whispered along my face, and I shivered.
“I’m so disappointed I haven’t seen you all week,” he continued, as though we’d known each other for years. His hand came up to brush against my waist.
“I think your blond friend would have some sort of conniption,” I managed to get out, hoping my voice didn’t sound too breathy.
“Well, she’s not here,” Xavier said. “You and I are.”
Oh, really? I thought. Isn’t that convenient? I didn’t like Sorcha, but I sure as hell didn’t like guys who screwed around.
“That’s all very nice, but I’m lost and have to get to class.” I put my hands out to push him away from me—or get me away from him, I wasn’t sure which.
That was my mistake.
The moment my hands touched his chest, I felt the same electric jolt I’d felt when I’d met him. A wave of want and longing roared through me, so strong I couldn’t concentrate on anything but the guy in front of me.
Xavier’s hand reached down to touch my cheek. “There is something about you. Do you sing, little siren?” He leaned close to me, his lips mere inches from mine. His breath touched my lips, and I felt my hands fist into his shirt, pulling him closer to me.
So slowly I thought I might scream, Xavier lowered his head and let his lips rest on mine. Then he moved, and I thought my body was going to explode. His lips were firm, but soft, and he kissed me like there was no one else in the world for him.
My hands, as though propelled by something I couldn’t control, wrapped around his neck, bringing him closer. He yanked me close, letting me feel his hard body. And I could feel him pressing into me. He wanted me as much as I wanted him.
Why not? We were both adults.
His lips moved from my mouth to kiss down my neck, his hands coming up to tangle in my hair. He murmured something, something I couldn’t understand.
And then the spell was broken. I pushed him away, one hand in front of me, one on my lips, even as my body cried out for me to stop, get him back here, and drag him off to a room with a locked door. Everything about him was… delicious.
“Offended, princess?” he asked, seemingly not bothered at all.
“No. I’m late.”
“Where are you going?” Xavier asked.
“To the conservatory. I have no idea where it is!” I felt the panic return. I hated being late.
“Come on, I’ll take you. Wouldn’t want you to get lost down here. Lots of demons,” I could hear a teasing note in his voice.
“What, everybody has a section?” I asked, enjoying the feel of being near him. It calmed my panic, even as I wanted his hands on me, his lips on my—Stop! I scolded myself. Stop. This isn’t going to get me graduated, or whatever, and back home where I belong. I need to do well, and—the thought hit me—maybe find out what happened to my mom. Figure out what I could tell my dad, and go and live a normal life.
But then I wouldn’t b
e able to see people like Xavier. Or my new friends. As though he could read my thoughts, Xavier took my hand in his, turning me back toward the direction I’d come from before I ran into him.
At that thought, a small piece of me made a protest. After a week, Sorcha and her hell spawn minions aside, I liked it here. I really liked the way my hand felt wrapped in his.
“I just came this way,” I said.
“You missed your turn,” Xavier grinned at me over his shoulder, his smile wide, and his teeth very white. The look of him smiling at me made part of me melt.
Focus!
Xavier turned down a small hallway off the main corridor that I’d passed, and kept moving, his long strides making me work to keep up with him.
I could see light at the end of the hallway. As we reached it, Xavier stopped so quickly I nearly bumped into him. He turned, and his hands were on my arms.
“You’re more than welcome to get lost with me again, little songbird, but next time, you’ll need to sing for me,” he leaned down and his lips were on mine again. Heat raced through me, making me want to say the hell with class and stay with Xavier.
But he made the decision for me. “I’ll see you later,” he whispered. “Your class is right through there,” he jerked his head across the corridor we were next to. Then he was gone, leaving me gasping for breath, and not entirely capable of anything. I leaned against the wall.
Dear god. How was anyone supposed to get anything done with this sort of distraction?
When I’d got my breathing under control, I pushed off the wall, crossing the corridor and opening the door.
“Miss Nox,” the instructor, Professor Cordelia, drawled, “Nice of you to join us.” Professor Cordelia made us call her exactly that, whereas most of my other instructors were on a first-name basis. So of course she called attention to the fact that I was running behind. I hastily moved to where Carla sat, sliding into the chair next to her.
“Where have you been?” she hissed.
“Why are we down here in this ridiculous classroom?” I whispered back. “I’m lucky I found it.”
“Shhh,” Carla whispered.
I could see the eyes of Professor Cordelia on us, and I clamped my mouth shut.
