by Luna Pierce
That’s what he gathered from all of that?
“Yep.”
“I knew it was something, I just wasn’t sure. The full moon came and you weren’t out there with us, so I eliminated wolf. Usually I can smell the vampires from a hefty distance, and you smell like honey and lavender, nothing close to one of them. I sort of figured witch, but I could never be sure. Not without confirmation.”
“Did you… did you say ‘vampire’?”
My heart stutters. Vampire? Like, blood-sucking, garlic-fearing, sunshine-scared, turning into bats?
“Was I not supposed to say that? Shit, umm, cat’s out of the bag. Surprise! Vampires roam the earth.” He tries to play it off playfully.
For some reason, this revelation startles me the most. Especially putting the other things together. Sydney, a witch, loathes Silas and his kind. Said he was vile and threatened him about my safety. Silas, on the other hand, is stiff and fast and massively serious about keeping his distance. Plus, the wickedly sharp incisors I caught a glance of the other day.
This all seems to make sense.
Sydney is a witch.
Deghan is a werewolf.
Cameron is a human.
Silas… Silas is a vampire.
And I have intense feelings for each one of them.
Chapter Nineteen
At the mere thought of all of this new information, a weighty exhaustion hits me like a ton of bricks. How is it possible that I have romantic feelings for four guys, three of them being supernatural?
It’s only been a day since even finding out my own truth, that I’m a witch, and now this? So much for the flying under the radar, blending in, and enjoying a normal college experience. Maybe, though, this is the exact change that I needed in my life. Now I have to figure out how to keep learning about my true self and the ones I care for without depleting my energy sources left and right.
I yawn widely, and my eyes water.
Deghan smirks. “Me, too.”
“I’m so tired. Is this normal?”
“Yep, you’re processing excess amounts of new info, stuff that has been hidden from the world. It’s strenuous to consume. Eventually you’ll build up a tolerance and it’ll get easier.”
Without really much thought, I lean my body sideways, head resting on the pillow next to me. My legs still hanging off the bed, and I just awkwardly lie to the side. I inhale deeply. This must be Deghan’s pillow. It smells of him. Warm and earthy. I settle my face onto it.
Deghan reacts by reaching down. One hand on my shoe, he says, “May I?”
I murmur an “Mmhm.”
He pulls one foot free, then the other, lifting the bottom of my legs and gently placing them onto the bed. He wiggles the comforter out from under my body, tenderly covering me with it. His feet shuffle across the room, and the light flips off. He’s back and relaxing onto his other bed within seconds.
A very small part of me thinks I should leave, that it’s dangerous or wrong to stay, but Deghan saved my life last night, so if anything, I should accept the safety he provides. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Easier than I expected, I get pulled under, only waking once when my hand falls off the bed. Being too tired to move it, seconds later, I’m glad I don’t. Warm fingers meet mine and they weave their way together. I’m unsure if he does it on purpose or in a hazy sleep state, but either way, it doesn’t matter, I welcome it all the same.
Monday morning, I do as I’m told and show up early to my first period class. North wing, fifth room. The one with the oversized window that in a simpler time, I’d love to curl up on and read a book, letting the natural light bathe me while I explored fictional worlds.
I expect a professor, someone I haven’t met yet, and am surprised to catch a glimpse of Headmaster Walker strolling down the hall toward me.
He nods and smiles at passing students.
“Good morning, Willow.” He hands me a steaming cup. “You can thank Sydney.”
I take it gratefully, smiling, and smelling the heavenly goodness. “Morning, thank you.”
“Today we’re going to take things fairly slow and work on accessing the shadow realm and going over the basics. Over time, this will all become much easier to process.”
I nod. “Okay.”
“Now, tell me if you notice anything.” He mutters toward the doorway.
Immediately, the purple haze appears, and I flinch at the closeness of it. “Um, yeah, I can see that.” The vivid colors weave through with a saturated darkness. It’s mesmerizing. The colors form to make a shape, like a silhouette of the doorway.
“That’s great, do you see the entrance?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“I’m going to ask you to take my hand, and then say the words, infito grantum modem, and then we’re going to step through the threshold together. There will be no pain. Everyone experiences it a bit differently, but the general consensus is a momentary tingling sensation.”
“Okay.” I hold out my hand, ready to see what this shadow realm is about, not afraid or intimidated, more curious than anything.
He takes my hand, and we say the words together. They’re solid and smooth on my tongue, rolling off with natural ease. We cross over, and for a second, I swim in the purple haze, and then land on the other side, in an identical classroom. No tingles, no shocks, or startling bolts of energy.
I frown and look up to Walker. “Did I do something wrong?”
He chuckles. “No, you did everything right. This is it, the shadow realm.”
I allow my eyes to adjust, scanning the room. It appears to be exactly like the other, but upon further examination, the seams of the room are a bit fuzzy with dark-violet hues trailing.
“This is incredible.” I gawk.
He releases my hand and walks to a desk, sitting on top and watching while I inspect the space. “The first time is usually much more challenging than that, Willow. You have a natural predisposition that is remarkable. Trained witches sometimes struggle on their first attempt.”
“Is that bad? That I didn’t have an issue with it?” I take a long look around and then meet his gaze. “I have no idea what to expect.”
Walker shakes his head. “Not bad at all, but a bit unexpected, given the circumstances.” He sniffs and readjusts, his tone changing. “I was able to find a little bit of information about your heritage.”
I swallow and take a seat a desk away from him, anxious anticipation coursing through me. “You did?”
“Willow, you’re descended from a line of incredibly powerful witches. With that power was danger, though. I could only find bits and pieces of it but, your lineage’s magic was suppressed sometime in the past, basically making the Oliver name and history fizzle out centuries ago.”
“But I have power, right? Does that mean the curse is broken?” I don’t understand.
“I don’t think it’s broken at all; I just don’t think it’s taken its hold on you yet.”
I allow a small gasp, letting his declaration sink in.
“You’re in the best place for this, though, Willow. Harper Shadow Academy can aid in giving you the knowledge you need, to grow, prosper, to protect yourself. And we’re prepared to help you every step of the way. We preserve all things good and we’re willing to fight this battle with you.”
“But why?” I mutter.
“We stand firm in the sanctuary and education of the supernatural. We don’t want there to be death and destruction because of misinformation or limited resources. We want to better those blessed with their gifts. Being different than the rest of the earth’s population is a lonely enough thing, that’s why we band together to help the ones that we can.”
“How do you even find people like me?”
“We can scan and locate supernatural adolescence. Sometimes we can establish a relationship early on and encourage their attendance. Your case is a bit different. From what I’m told, your magic is hidden, untraceable by our methods. Which is great because if
you have a target on your back, that makes it that much harder for them to locate you. The school is under protection, too, doubling that barrier.”
“This is all a lot to take in,” I admit.
“That’s understandable. Are you experiencing fatigue right now?” His brows shrink together in concern.
“No, I meant in general, it’s a lot. I feel surprisingly great right now.”
“I’m not surprised,” he huffs. “If you’re comfortable with it, you can continue lessons following your lunch period. I believe you’re due in the north wing again, am I correct?”
“Yes, Ethics, N six.”
“Great. I’ll make arrangements.” He takes a long swig of his coffee.
Only then do I remember the cup in my hand. Apparently, coffee can travel to the shadow realm, too.
“I must warn you, Willow. You must not access the realms alone. Make sure you always have an experienced traveler with you. Eventually, you will be able to have more control, but for now, you must not take that risk.”
What would happen if I did? Would I get stuck?
“Okay, I won’t.” I wouldn’t be that stupid enough to find out, anyway.
“You may experience a negative surge in energy when we return to the proper realm. Each time you use the portal, you leave a small portion of your magic behind. Of course, it will replenish itself without you knowing, but I wanted to warn you in case you felt any adverse reaction.” He stands, motioning toward the way we just came. “You ready?”
That was a quick lesson, but in the real world, I definitely would be late for first period.
“This time the incantation will be infito grantum hodem.” He holds out his hand.
We step back through, the shadow hugging me midway but not making any noticeable impact on my body. No strange feeling, nothing.
On the other side, Deghan stands, leaned up against the opposite room’s doorframe. He smiles, like he was waiting for me.
“Morning,” Deghan says.
Walker nods to him, then focuses back to me. “Let me know if anything changes between now and lunch. Otherwise, same thing, ten minutes prior.”
“I will, thank you. And please let me know if you find anything else about what we were discussing.”
Walker offers a sad smile. “We’ll get it figured out. Don’t you worry.” He turns on his heel and strides down the hallway, disappearing from my line of sight.
Bug-eyed, Deghan asks, “Soooo… how did it go?” He clamps a hand onto my shoulder and nudges me into the classroom.
“Surprisingly well.” Minus the whole being cursed a long-ass time ago thing that is ultimately going to find and rob me of the powers I newly discovered.
“I partially shifted my first time,” he whispers into my ear.
“No way,” I blurt. “That sucks!”
“You’re telling me. I got so nervous and freaked out at the whole idea, my body was like nuh-ugh and tried to only send one portion of myself. Talk about embarrassing.”
“I didn’t think it was that bad. I mean, not to make you feel inferior about yours. I expected it to like hurt or something, but I just said the words and bam, there we were.”
The room fills with students, and our conversation comes to a halt.
“Hey,” he says quietly, pulling a notebook out of his backpack.
“Yeah?”
“I know it’s early and all… but if you’re not doing anything after school today, you should come over for a nap.”
I fight back a growing smile. “A nap?”
“I slept better than I ever have yesterday. We can stay in separate beds. I’m not trying to force myself on you or anything, I swear.”
I laugh a little. His words ring true for me, too. I slept wonderfully in his room, his presence lulling me to a blissful slumber. I thought maybe that would never happen again, but here he is, asking for it right now.
“I’d love to.”
He blushes and turns away, giving the teacher attention when class starts.
A calming warmth settles over me. Even with all the terrible news, there’s still wondrous things happening, like funny moments with Cameron, intense ones with Silas, mind-changing ones with Sydney, and comforting ones with Deghan. My new friends are a blessing, too. One of the greatest breakthroughs of all is the solace in knowing the truth about my mom and being able to breathe a little easier knowing I didn’t totally abandon her, that she’s going to be fine without me there around the clock.
As big and heavy as all of this is, I’m surrounded by the people who are going to help me get through this. I just have to figure out where to start, and when lunch is over, I hope to uncover more about how to make it through this new life I’ve found myself living.
But for now, I have to get through this math lecture.
Chapter Twenty
“Willow,” Abigail calls to me while walking down the north wing corridor, meeting me at the entrance of room six. “It’s you and me this time.” A large bag hangs over her left shoulder. “You ready?”
I nod, and she takes my hand into hers.
“Infito grantum modem,” we say in unison.
The shadow realm continues to leave no lasting imprint of the journey. I don’t know whether that’s a good or bad thing. I glance up to the walls, checking the space for the hazy violet seams to confirm I’m in the right place.
“Go ahead and take a seat,” she commands politely, pulling books out and onto the table in front of me. “We’re going to go over some witch basics today, just fill you in on some history to give you a better understanding.”
“Okay.” I look at my backpack. “Should I take notes?”
“Not now, no. We prefer you to retain the information without documenting it on paper.” She opens a sizable volume, scanning her finger over the first few pages, then flipping about a quarter of the way in. “This may come as a surprise, but there are endless types of witches. You’ve got cosmic witches, who deal with celestial things; divination, who focus on predictions; green, who use nature, like you; sea witches… you can probably guess they deal with bodies of water.
“Witches who practice alone, we call them solitary; eclectic ones who use various power sources; the more traditional ones who access old grimoires; there are those born into their magic; and hedge witches who can do astral travel. The possibilities are endless.”
“Yeah…” I manage to mutter. “I’d say so.”
“There are witches who dabble or even fully partake in dark magic, too. They use their power for evil and coincide with the demon realm.”
At her last statement, I pause. “Demon realm?”
She nods. “We are fortunate enough to access the shadow realm, a mere blip on the other side of our realm. It takes minimal magic to access and is so close to our own plane, that we can access it with ease, especially on ancient grounds like where Harper is located.” Abigail takes a breath. “With greater access to magic, there are other realms, some of which are incredibly dangerous and off-limits. And when I say that, I mean one hundred percent off-limits. Demons lay waiting for unsuspecting, or sometimes suspecting witches to cross into their realm, allowing them access to our territory. They take up space in multiple realms. Not all of them are bad—the realms, I mean—but they’re so few and far between that we no longer explore to find the non-threatening ones.”
“Demons?”
“Yeah, like flesh-eating, eyes bulging from their hands, gaping mouths, will tear you apart type of demons. They come in all shapes and sizes, but let me tell you this, they are bad news. So please, if you gain the power and knowledge to do so, don’t ever cross into a demon realm.”
I glance around the room, looking for cracks in the seams. How can she be so sure we aren’t taking that risk now?
“I know what you’re thinking, but the shadow realm we’ve tapped into is safe. We’ve taken drastic measures to ensure this and are constantly on top of any change in the structure. None of those wretched creatures he
re. They wouldn’t have the power to do so, especially without a willing witch opening the portal from our side.”
Her words don’t put me at ease; instead, they make me wary of this place.
“Anyway, over the next few sessions, I’ll be doing my best to explain these types of witches in more detail, and help you discover your abilities. Then we’ll get into more advanced things, and yes, before you ask, we’ll touch base on demons and the demon realm.”
“That’s good.”
“Mhmm,” she says while going through a few pages. “Now, I don’t want you to think I’m going to be teaching you spells in the sense of words and flicks of the wrist, that type of magic comes from within. The magic you harness is self-tapped, and for the most part, a simple willing it in your thoughts is enough to make it happen. But there will be certain elements you can draw from, like crystals, the weather, ancestral powers… things like that.
“It will take time to gather the control you need, but that’s what we’re hoping to help you accomplish, along with informing you of history and various other things. Speaking of history, I took it upon myself to do a little research about your curse. I was able to find something cryptic regarding love. Does that ring a bell to you?”
“Um, no. Not that I can think of,” I reply, unsure.
“In very old text, I found a passage about the Oliver witches, that they were fueled partially by love, and in order to suppress them of their powers, their love was taken away, rendering them defenseless.”
Jesus Christ. If that’s true, I hope like hell there’s some way to break it.
My mom mentioned that her magic was taken from her long ago, by the curse. Did that mean that her love was taken, too? If that’s true, that would explain the lack of a father figure in my life. I always thought he was some lowlife nobody who wanted nothing to do with my mom once he found out she was pregnant with me. What if he was actually forced away, or worse, killed? Mom was always too sad to talk about my father, so at a young age, I started to pretend I never had a dad, and that it was only ever me and mom. It was another one of those things I resolved myself that I would never know the truth to.
