She pointed at a plain-looking door. “It’s through there,” she said.
I had expected double doors made out of iron or something massively over the top and fancy, but somehow the President’s door didn’t need decoration; the fact that her powerful position spoke for itself made her even more intimidating.
The next second the door opened and the President stuck her head out. She looked around the room as if we weren’t there. Eventually her eyes settled on me. I had the feeling she was looking through me more than at me. “Come in.”
I glanced at Sip one last time and wondered if she could see the despair in my eyes.
Since the President had come to the door herself I expected it to be just the two of us. But I was wrong.
In the room were two professors I thought I recognized from the panel at dinner, but I’d been so terrified that I hadn’t really looked at the other adults sitting at the table, so now I wasn’t sure if these were the same people.
The room was sparse except for a wall of books behind a heavy oak desk. The President slid into a chair behind it and invited me to sit in front of her. A professor went to sit on either side of her, making it three against one.
The President first pointed to the rosy-cheeked woman on her right. “This is Professor Lambros,” she said. Professor Lambros had lively brown eyes. “I teach pixies,” she explained with a wide smile. “Because I am one.”
The other professor was named Zervos. He had sweeping black hair, shadowed eyes, and a ferocious glare, which at that moment was directed right at me. The President explained that Professor Zervos taught vampires in the morning and one mixed class later in the day.
The introductions over, the President leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers. “What happened tonight was…unusual,” she said drily.
I started to say something, although what it was going to be I had no idea, but before I could get a word out the President raised her hand, silencing me.
“It shouldn’t be tolerated,” Professor Zervos cut in.
“It has happened before,” said Professor Lambros, defending me. “With me, for example.”
“And I didn’t think it should have been tolerated then either,” Zervos snapped. “I thought you should have left until you had a clearer handle on your abilities as a pixie.”
“Good thing it wasn’t up to you,” Professor Lambros said under her breath.
Professor Zervos was a lot older than Professor Lambros. He must have been teaching here even when she was a student.
“The protocol is flexible,” said the President. “Since we went to the trouble of getting her here I’m inclined to let her stay for the first semester.”
The three professors kept talking about me as if I wasn’t even there, as if what I thought didn’t matter. Professor Zervos was completely against letting me stay, even tonight, while Professor Lambros argued passionately that I deserved a chance.
I was in college. I was an adult now. Yes, these people were in charge, but this was my life. I said, “Don’t I get a say? It’s my life.”
Professor Zervos’s mouth curved up in an unpleasant smile, like I’d said the worst thing in the world and it was exactly what he had expected me to say.
“No, you don’t get a say,” Professor Zervos sneered. “You Starters always think you’re adults. You always think you know better than your betters. You know nothing. You are not even the paranormal we thought you were.”
I felt my hands clench in my lap, but I knew I should be quiet.
The President was looking at me consideringly.
“Why do you want to stay?” she asked.
Why did I? I wasn’t sure if I could put it into words, but I had to try. “I want to stay because of my mother,” I said slowly. “She was the best person I ever knew. I want to be like her.”
Professor Zervos snorted, but I plunged on. “She taught me well. She told me I had magic and I…I didn’t believe her. Then when she,” I had never been able to say that she had died. Somehow saying it would make it true. On a practical level I knew that I had lost the thing I loved most in the world, but that didn’t mean I was going to talk about it. “After that I stopped believing I had magic. I lost faith in what my mother had said.” I hung my head. “It’s something I’ll always regret. But now I’m here,” I continued slowly. “I may not have the years of training other students have had from their families, but I have desire. I will work hard, harder than you can imagine, and I’ll make my mother proud.”
The President nodded. “I do hope, Charlotte Rollins, that over the course of your time here you come to want to stay for yourself, as well as for your mother. You will have the first semester if you want it. If at the end of that time you have shown no paranormal abilities, you will be asked to leave. Until you prove that you have magic you will be on probation. If you put one foot out of line,” she warned me menacingly with her finger, “you will be sent home. Since it will be difficult for you to accomplish your course work, I will assign you a tutor.”
Great, she already thought I couldn’t handle it.
Professor Zervos started to protest, but the President cut him off. “This is not a negotiation,” she said. “I am the President and I will thank you to remember as much.”
Professor Zervos looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he sank down in his seat, silent.
“I want to stay,” I said. I had already come too far to leave with my tail between my legs. Plus, I couldn’t let that embarrassment tonight during my Demonstration stand as my only act at Paranormal Public. I could do better, and I would.
Professor Zervos made a scoffing noise while Professor Lambros clapped.
“Thank you,” I added.
“Oh, don’t thank me,” said the President. “Until you prove you are paranormal you will be miserable here,” she said with a thin smile, “which apparently will make professor Zervos very happy.”
As Professor Lambros started to rise I felt a slight tremor come up through the floor. Instead of standing, I gripped the arms of the chair harder for support. The tremor came again, stronger this time. The President sprang to her feet. “This meeting is over. Ms. Rollins, think about what we’ve told you. Zervos?” But he was already on his feet and heading towards the door.
The two swept out of the room before I had a chance to say anything else.
“Students playing pranks,” Professor Lambros said, shaking her head sadly. “It takes up a lot of the professors’ time. “Anyway, come along,” she continued, putting her hand on my arm. “Let’s get you out of here.”
I followed Lambros out.
Once we were in the hall my legs sagged. I felt like they had suddenly become more like jelly than flesh over bone.
“Are you alright?” asked Lambros, concern in her bright brown eyes. “Don’t worry. The President is hard on everyone.”
When Professor Lambros saw Sip waiting for me she said, “Ah, delightful. Sipythia, can you escort your new roommate back to the dorm, please? I believe she’s had rather a long day at this point.”
Professor Lambros didn’t know how right she was. When I didn’t move, she peered at me. “What is it? Getcha going!” She made a shooing motion with her green-tinged hands.
I pushed myself away from the wall. Whatever I had just gotten myself into, it wasn’t going to be good.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Of course. You deserve your chance,” said Professor Lambros, beaming.
I followed Sip out. The dark sky was cloudy and I could barely see the moon. I had expected the campus to be quiet and empty, but it wasn’t.
Vampires walked everywhere, shaded hair and pale skin luminescent in the night. None of them paid much attention to us, but being around so many vampires at one time made me nervous.
Sip didn’t seem to notice. “How’d it go?” she asked as we walked outside.
“She said I was on probation. I have until the end of the semester to prove that I’m a paran
ormal. If I can’t do it by then, they’re kicking me out. But Sip, don’t they have some kind of test they can perform on me? My mom was a paranormal, so I should be too, right?”
Sip was quiet for a breath. “I’m not sure. Werewolves can become werewolves, so can vampires. Fallen angels definitely have to be blood and so do pixies. Mages are a little more complicated.”
“Right,” I said, “Well, I have this semester to prove myself or I’m going home.” Or, at least I wouldn’t be allowed back at Public. There was no way I was going back to my stepdad’s house. I might miss Ricky, but I could still see him even if I didn’t live at home.
Sip took me to Airlee Dorm, which was a fascinating mix of building styles. It rose out of the ground as if it had been built into the side of a hill. The building itself was old brick, painted blue. Slides were shooting from the upper floor windows to the ground. “For us werewolves,” Sip explained.
Inside, there were a few other students around, but we passed them without saying anything. As Sip had explained to me earlier, each dorm was unique, decorated in the style of its occupants. Since Airlee’s students were a mishmash of paranormals, Airlee’s style was hard to define. The wood trimmings were brown. The carpets were the same blue as the outside, while the walls were covered with paintings of paranormals that looked like they had been done by students.
“Who are they all?” I asked Sip.
Sip shrugged. “People who were in Airlee Dorm and then became famous for one thing or another.”
She led me to a room on the third floor. I was just about to follow her inside when the door to the room next to ours came flying open. It banged hard against the wall and bounced back. The wall was left with a small dent where the door handle crashed into it.
I could hear a voice yelling, “I’m not living with a freak like you. Get out!” And stepping out of the room was Lisabelle Verlans.
I came to a dead stop. Lisabelle didn’t look upset. It hadn’t occurred to me that we were actually part of the same dorm, never mind that we would be neighbors.
“What are you looking at?” she wanted to know. She examined her cuticle while she asked it, and somehow we both knew she was threatening me.
“Nothing,” I said, trying to look anywhere but directly at her. I wasn’t a chicken, but being scared of Lisabelle was just common sense, a healthy dose of realism to keep me alive.
“Alright,” said Lisabelle, looking up at me and grinning. “Keep it that way.”
“Are you going back in there?” Sip asked. Lisabelle was still holding the door to her room open, and her soon to be former roommate was still ranting and raving inside. Lisabelle slammed the door closed, cutting off the sound.
“Not until she’s gone,” said Lisabelle coolly.
“I’d hate for something to happen to her,” said Sip sternly.
Lisabelle threw back her head and laughed. “Are you threatening me, little werewolf?”
Sip stood her ground, even though I could see she was scared. “I’m telling you to do the right thing,” she informed Lisabelle.
Lisabelle thought that was really funny.
“Do you want a place to crash tonight?” I asked impulsively.
Both Lisabelle and Sip looked at me like I’d lost my mind. Probably because I’d just offered the only darkness mage in the school, who clearly had issues in polite company, to stay with us.
Her eyes trailed over me slowly, then she said, “You have more backbone than it looks like.” With that she turned on her heel and walked away down the hall, whistling.
As I fell asleep that night I wondered if the next day could possibly be any worse.
Chapter Six
The next morning, before I opened my eyes, I thought there was a chance that everything that had happened yesterday had been a dream, and my stepdad would come into my room any minute to tell me to get up for lunch. Ricky would probably scold me for sleeping in. He wasn’t a teenager yet. He didn’t understand.
“Hey, Charlotte, you awake?” Sip’s voice asked.
Nope, not a dream.
I opened my eyes and peered at my roommate. Her whitish blond hair was already perfectly combed back and she was dressed in a neon green top and jeans.
Sip was staring at our blank walls. “We have to do some decorating.” She smiled brightly. “I have some neon colored posters.” Sip liked neon.
Once I was dressed and had brushed my brown hair out, Sip and I went for breakfast. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt sure that more people stared at me than at Sip. I couldn’t even bring myself to think about my Demonstration at dinner the night before…in front of the entire school. Being called into the President’s office was just the icing on the cake of the most embarrassing day of my life. I had known college was going to be an adjustment, one of those life milestones my teachers were always talking about, but this was ridiculous. And if this kept up I’d have a lot more embarrassing days ahead of me. Like, a semester’s worth.
At breakfast there was a table of vampires here, a table of pixies there, and I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to learn magic; I wanted to make my mother proud. She would have wanted this for me. She had once told me that learning mage-craft had been one of the best experiences of her life. I did notice, though, that there were still no tables with mixed paranormals. There were no vampires sitting with werewolves or pixies sitting with fallen angels. And the divisions were clear. Vampires, fallen angels, and pixies had the best seats in the dining hall. They were closer to the door, further away from the professors, and closer to the food.
“Well, look who it is, The Girl Who Can’t Do Magic,” said a sneering voice behind me.
I turned. Camilla Van Rothson, her shiny blond hair perfect and smooth, framing pale, ever so slightly green translucent skin and glaring brown eyes, was standing behind me.
I looked around to see who Camilla was speaking to, but I was the only one there.
“Yeah, I’m talking to you, reject,” she said. Her voice was light and airy, like she didn’t have a care in the world. Two other pixies with her snickered.
“Go away, Camilla,” said Sip, but I could see her hands trembling a little.
“Don’t tell me what to do, little werewolf,” said Camilla, her attention turning to Sip. “You’re only here because of your daddy.”
Sip’s face turned bright red. Her purple eyes locked on Camilla’s brown ones. “That’s not true,” she seethed.
“Riiight,” said Camilla, rolling her eyes.
“Don’t you have anyone else to grace with your presence?” asked Lisabelle Verlans, coming up to our table. She held a breakfast tray in her hands. Lisabelle was dressed in all black today. She had even found time to paint her fingernails black. She should have been a vampire, not that I was ever going to tell her that.
Camilla tried to keep her composure, but I could tell she didn’t like talking to a mage of darkness.
“I guess it figures,” said Camilla, her smug smile returning. “The Daddy’s Girl Werewolf, the Probationer, and the demon all hanging out together.”
Lisabelle moved so fast I barely saw her before black fire sprang up in her hands. Sip jumped to her feet ready to step in.
She grabbed Lisabelle’s arm. “Stop it,” she hissed to the much taller girl. “She’s trying to get you in trouble and you’re letting her!”
I could see that Lisabelle was thinking hard, her eyes still locked on Camilla’s. Slowly, very slowly, the black flame in her pale hand dimmed.
“Good,” said Sip. “Now sit down and eat your breakfast.” Lisabelle gave Sip a look that said she’d never seen anything quite like her before. My guess is that it had been years since anyone had tried to tell Lisabelle what to do.
“You’ll regret staying, Probationer,” said Camilla as she walked off. “Almost as much as you’ll regret hanging out with those two.”
The whole time Camilla had been standing there insulting me and my friends, I hadn’t said I word. I’d al
ways been shy, reluctant to stand up for myself, but I’d never just sat there and taken it before.
“What did she mean about your daddy?” asked Lisabelle, putting her tray down at our table without being invited.
“Nothing,” said Sip fiercely. She suddenly grabbed up her tray and stomped away.
“For someone so tiny she’s definitely got a temper,” said Lisabelle. She was grinning.
“I should go after her,” I said. “I won’t know where I’m going otherwise.”
“We have all the same classes in the first half of the day,” said Lisabelle. “I’ll walk with you.” We finished our breakfast in silence. I didn’t dare ask Lisabelle any questions, and she was shoveling food into her mouth without bothering to make small talk.
Once we were finished we headed out of the dining hall. Sip suddenly appeared at my side, her face doing a good impression of a thundercloud. “Sorry,” she muttered, falling into step next to me.
As the three of us headed to the start of classes, Lisabelle explained how the day would go. Sip, mostly quiet, would throw comments in here and there.
“The first half of the day you have classes just with other Airlee students. Most of them are going to be Starters, but some won’t be. The classes will be about fallen angels, mages, darkness, dream givers, et cetera. You will be taught as whatever paranormal you are…which means I have no idea what they are going to do with you,” she said to me with a grin.
I rolled my eyes. Sip said, “She’s going to be fine. Her mother was a mage so they will probably just put her with the mages.”
“What about the second half of the day?” I asked.
“For second half classes we mix with other dorms. Again, it depends on what paranormal you are…so who knows what they will do with you,” she said, again reminding me that I wasn’t officially a student yet.
I came to a dead halt. Camilla Bitchy Whatever Her Name Was might be able to talk down to me, but not someone I was starting to be friends with. “I’m going to stay here,” I said stubbornly. “I am going to prove them wrong!”
Paranormal Public (Paranormal Public Series) Page 5
