by Demi Dumond
Or something about me being the weak wildebeest, it was hard to be sure.
I wondered if she was sincere. That thought made me laugh, wondering if she hated me but also didn’t want me dead. Apparently, that was more than I was going to get from Professor Smythe.
Once she set her stuff down, her eyes roamed the classroom. Of course, she found me in the back of the room. There was no hiding from her. I met her gaze. We stared at each other for a moment and then she broke it off.
“Okay, class,” she said. “Today we are going to move on with the next phase of magical theory.”
I exhaled and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Right after Ms. Rose comes up here and demonstrates the protection spell from yesterday once more.” Her lips curled into a snarl at me. “I trust you spent last night practicing?”
I stood, my fingers instinctively going to the magic ring Ian had given me. I guessed I was going to find out whether it worked or not sooner rather than later.
I made my way slowly to the front of the class, feeling the eyes of my classmates on me. I could feel blood in the water. This ring better work. If they continue to see me as weak, the bullying would never end.
“I didn’t practice all night,” I muttered. “I had homework, and there was an attack in the forest.”
Professor Kiln heard me. “Why do you think you need a protection spell, hmmm? You think that the amount of danger roaming these grounds mean less chance of needing one? You need to be practicing these spells every single day and night until you’ve caught up with the rest of the class.”
Drama queen. I didn’t feel like arguing with her. I took a step back and assumed my stance. I may not have practiced last night, but I had taken copious notes yesterday on what had and had not worked.
I steadied myself and then emptied my thoughts of everything except the spell.
This time everything felt different. The ring on my finger hummed with energy I could actually hear. I looked around to see if the others were aware of the noise, worried they would accuse me of cheating.
But they just sat there in their chairs either bored, contemptuous, or gleeful at the prospect of watching me fail again.
Moment of truth. The ring on my finger got hot and I had to fight not to get distracted from the spell. I ignored the heat and released the magic.
Even I didn’t expect the dark purple sparks that flowed from my hands and into the crowd. I heard some of the students gasp as they dodged the magic fireball sparks.
The spell was more powerful than yesterday, no doubt about it. The color was more intense, and the output went much farther. And just as I thought it was over, another round shot out of my fingertips. I gasped and balled up my hands in an effort to stop raining purple fireballs at all of the students into the sixth row.
Ha, take that, Kiln. I was proud of myself right up until I heard the screams from the students as they rushed to put the fires out on their desks from where my sparks had landed.
Kiln rushed from her desk to where I was standing, a look of suspicion on her face. She circled me cautiously. I stuffed my hand in my pocket, afraid she would see the ring.
She circled until she was face to face with me, then she narrowed her eyes. “What have you done, girl?”
“A protection spell?” I asked. “I mean, I’m new. And I thought it went pretty well just now. Better than yesterday I’d say. And hey, sorry about those little fires. Magic, you know how it is, with all the fires and stuff, right? I mean look at the hallways, there are burn marks all over them.”
I tried to stop myself from babbling on and on, something I did when I was nervous. And I had been nervous almost every minute since I got here. When I did stop talking, I realized that the expressions of my classmates had changed from scorn to suspicion and concern. That freaked me the hell out. What now?
“What? I did it,” I said to both the class and Professor Kiln. “I did your stupid protection spell and I did a damn good job of it too, so why am I getting all the weird looks?”
“It’s not normal,” a girl in the front row said. Her notepad was still smoking from my spell. “It’s different than yesterday and your magic is the wrong color.”
“So what?” I asked. I waited for someone to explain to me what was going on. When the room got quiet again, I gave up and went back to my desk. As I weaved in and out of the desks, I saw Malachai. He gave me a suspicious look that I did not like one bit.
Once I did get back to my seat, I was grateful that the class went on and I settled into the familiar routine of taking notes.
19
Keira
When the bell finally rang, I got up and filed out quickly through the back door before Professor Kiln could catch my eye again.
Once I got out into the hallway, Malachai caught up to me.
“What?” I asked. “You made it pretty clear yesterday I wasn’t your type.”
“That’s not what I said at all,” he objected. He stepped in front of me. “You’re right. I was an asshole yesterday. I’m sorry.”
I walked around him.
“Where’d you get the ring?” he asked from behind me.
That stopped me in my tracks. Was he going to tell on me to Kiln or worse? “Jealous much?” I responded. “I know it’s pretty, but I didn’t figure you for a jewelry guy.” I turned back to face him. “And it’s none of your business.”
He held his hands up in the air. “You’re right, it’s not. But somebody should tell you what’s going on. Because the magic you did? Well, it was dark magic. And they kind of frown on that here.”
“Frown on it how?” I asked, wondering how anything I did could possibly bring me more scorn than I’d already gotten.
“Well, there are separate academies for dark magic, demons, and other non-mainstream sorcery. Most of the time, dark magic doesn’t get in here.” His expression turned grim.
“You’re speaking from experience.” I said. “You said you weren’t a good person. Is it because of your magic? Is that why you want to get out?”
“Well, you have to admit, it’s not the hippest place in the world,” he said, taking a step closer to me. “You’re the most interesting person to come through these gates in the year I’ve been here. I nearly gave up on ever seeing another student with dark magic tendencies. Despite the fact it’s frowned upon, it’s trained just the same. And there’s no way to predict what kind of magic you will manifest until you make it far enough in an academic setting, so it’s not our fault.”
He was close now. Close enough that I could feel his golden heat thrum through my body. It was intoxicating.
“That’s us,” I said, “just a couple of dark magic rebels in a normie magic school.” I was actually starting to feel like a rebel. I felt a connection to Ian that I wasn’t about to give up despite all of the rules against vampires, and now I was wearing a weird, dark-magic ring. I did secretly wonder if it was the ring or me that was the source of the magic change.
He moved his face closer to me, and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me, but he didn’t. He searched my face, only I didn’t know what he was looking for.
All I knew was that my heart was beating faster and my breath came in shallow gasps. I could imagine those golden arms wrapped around me. I could picture us writhing in ecstasy. Then the bell rang, signaling time to move on to the next class.
It broke me out of his trance. And then I wasn’t sure if I was angry at him for not kissing me or angry at him for getting that close.
20
Keira
The next few days went by quickly. I practiced magic with the ring on, gaining more and more confidence.
Magic no longer felt like something forced on me, it felt like it had been there my whole life just waiting to rise to the surface. It felt as natural as breathing. So many things had changed since I’d come here.
The bell rang, knocking me out of my inner monologue. That meant lunch. I gathered up my things and headed
outside to a bright and sunny afternoon.
I couldn’t help but notice that there was a strange buzz in the air all day. Today was different and I didn’t know why. I went straight for Bree at lunch time.
“Keira,” she said as soon as she saw me. “You’re going to the rave tonight, right?”
“What rave?” I asked. Ever since I’d been at the academy, literally nothing had happened after hours. At least that I knew about. Now I wondered if I had been left out of everything.
“Tonight,” she said, “in the ballroom. The Monster Ball Rave is the biggest party of the year. If you miss it, you’ll regret it. Everybody goes, you have to go.”
I had to admit I wanted to go to the party. Since I got to this place, I hadn’t been offered a single sip of alcohol, or anything else for that matter. Was there such thing as a dry supernatural academy or was this just hell?
“I’d love to go!” I blurted out. Even though I had been down there and knew that it was scary as hell, if everybody else was going it was probably going to be fine.
“Wait,” I said to Bree. “Please tell me this isn’t that thing where you tell the new girl there’s a party and I go downstairs and nobody else is down there.”
Bree laughed. “I’ll go to your room and we’ll go together, okay?”
“And this is a regular party with alcohol and stuff, right?” I pressed.
“Yes,” Bree said. “Of course. It is a rave after all.”
That made me feel better. Tonight, I was going to party.
21
Keira
Bree picked me up right on time. She looked adorable in a baby doll shirt that accentuated her blonde curls. I went goth in a black top and skirt.
I had never been to a ball before, and the thought of going downstairs made it feel even more exciting and dangerous.
Bree and I followed the excited crowd to the exit door and then downstairs. The hallway leading to the rave was lit up with glow sticks littering the floor, it was a very cool effect.
And already, I could feel the thumping of the music beating through my chest. This ballroom had a kick-ass stereo system.
As we approached the door, I glanced further down the hallway, where Ian and I had seen the monster. Luckily, the hallway was clear. That seemed like so long ago now. Time passed quickly here.
And then Bree and I were swept into the ballroom, arm in arm. Inside, the place was decorated with purple and black streamers hanging down from the impossibly high ceiling.
There was no way somebody got those up there without magic. I wondered what kind of spell you needed to do that type of thing. The walls were decorated with stick-figure, glow-in-the-dark graffiti. The overall effect was fantastic.
The crowd was one big, gyrating mass. I looked at Bree and frowned. “What about the courtyard rules?” Out there, lines were not to be crossed. But in here, supernatural creatures who were normally separated were nearly touching each other.
Bree turned to face me so that I could hear her over the roar of the crowd and the thumping of the music. “Tonight, none of that matters. Here in the ballroom, anything goes.”
22
Keira
Within seconds, Bree and I were separated by the crowd. I danced my troubles away for a while, which felt amazing. The next thing I noticed were the floating drink trays.
I stared at them as they floated through the crowd, magically keeping the drinks upright. I watched as new cups materialized after students grabbed cups off. Wow.
I couldn’t wait to try one myself. I swiped a cup off of a passing tray. The liquid was a greenish-pinkish swirl color. It smelled like cotton candy. I took a sip. It tasted like cotton candy mixed with vodka. And it packed a punch.
The best part of the night was the great mood that everybody was in. I wasn’t the new girl, and nobody gave me hostile looks. They were all wasted and having too much fun for that.
Then there was a face in the crowd who danced over to me. He was tall with blond spiky hair and glitter on his shirt.
We danced for a few minutes and then he moved in closer. “I hear you like vampires,” he said.
Um, no, I thought. I like Ian. That’s not the same thing. “I’m good,” I said, and turned to dance with someone else.
A rough hand grabbed me by the shoulder and then I was looking at spiky vampire again. He wore an evil grin. “You are the new girl, right? Let’s get a room!” He indicated the doors at the side of the ballroom that Ian had told me were not used for sex.
“No thanks,” I said, faking a brief smile before heading further into the mass of people and away from spiky haired vampires.
Once I got far enough away and started dancing, he appeared in front of me. Again. My shoulders slumped. “Look, I said no.”
He snarled and grabbed my arm. He looked like he was going to bite it. I pulled it back. He grabbed it again but not to bite it this time. This time he pulled me through the crowd, toward the side rooms.
I pulled back, but he was impossibly strong. I dug a sneaker into the floor and stopped my progress, standing my ground.
He turned and bared his fangs at me. I assumed my magic stance. He was leaving me no choice but to blast him with a bunch of magic fireballs that ironically matched the color scheme of the ball.
I let the spell go, and it did its job. I went easy on the vampire, only stunning him temporarily. If I had to escalate any further, shit was going to go down.
That’s when a hulking figure appeared out of nowhere. It was Rafe. His eyes flashed with anger. Without a word, he growled ferociously, stepped toward the spiky haired vampire, and slashed his arm open.
The vampire screeched as he watched the blood leave his body and drip onto the floor.
Rafe snarled again and the vampire took a step backward. Then other vampires appeared next to spiky hair. They bared their fangs at Rafe but had no intention of fighting. They smiled and grabbed their friend.
“Sorry, some vampires can’t handle the ball.” They pulled him away and out of sight.
I turned to Rafe, who still looked ready for a fight. Anger still burned in those eyes. And then I was breathing in his scent, lemongrass and musk. Mmmmm.
Unable to help myself, I reached out and put a hand on his face, trying to calm him down. “Why did you do that?” I asked. “Why did you help me?”
My touch seemed to visibly calm him. And suddenly I wanted to do a lot more to Rafe than touch his face. I felt a connection to him. He looked at me with those soulful brown eyes. Suddenly I wanted all of him. I wanted my fingernails digging into his back and I wanted him inside me.
I let go, wondering what the hell just happened to me. Where had that thought come from? What was in those magical drinks?
“I helped you,” Rafe yelled over the music, “because you’re my mate.” Just before he said that last part, there was a pause in the music between songs. That part everybody heard. Every head turned in our direction, and I took a step back.
Did he just say I was his mate? I could actually hear the needle scratching across the vinyl that caused the party to come to a dead stop.
It was at that very moment that we all heard the knocking at the door. Oh shit. It wasn’t a knock like a student knocking, it sounded like it was coming from twenty feet off of the ground. And like it was knocking with a battering ram. That’s when the screaming began.
23
Keira
I had no time to process what had just happened between Rafe and I. The room was an orchestra of screams, and it sounded like something outside the room was trying to get in.
Everybody scattered but went nowhere. We were trapped. I took a few steps forward trying to listen, while everybody else was crowding to the back of the room. Judging by their reactions, this had never happened before.
Then the door to the ballroom opened, and a ten-foot-tall green frog with double horns on its head hopped into the room. I watched it with fascination, right up until the moment that it roared fire.
>
It lit up a table with snacks toward the front of the room. Rude, I hadn’t hit that snack table yet. I backed up, shielding my face from the heat of the flame.
The crowd surged forward, trying to get past the weird monster frog now that the door was open. In their rush to get out, I was pushed forward.
Once out in the hallway, I took a step to get out of the crowd. Checking to my left, I could see that the exit was clear. To the right was a whole different story.
To the right, it looked like creatures were massing. Without a powerful light source, I couldn’t be sure, but there was a lot of movement over there in the dark.
Plus, I kept checking behind me to make sure that the frog monster was still inside the ball room.
Students were streaming past me out the door now toward the exit to upstairs. As I watched, the monster swarm at the end of the hallway lurched forward a step.
I nearly fell backward in fear. I didn’t want to go down like this, but neither did the other students. Whether they were assholes or not, there was a chance I was responsible for this. The least I could do was cover for them. For like ten seconds. Then I was going to get the fuck out of here.
“Go!” I yelled. Then I assumed my stance and prepared to send a round of dark purple fireballs down the hallway to cover the other students’ escape.
I was afraid of what was at the end of the hallway and yet curious. Maybe it was an illusion, maybe it wasn’t teaming with monsters out of my worst nightmares. I could be wrong.
I let the spell go, and that’s when I saw them. The creatures at the end of the hallway were real, and they were the stuff of fucking nightmares. They squirmed and shoved and bit each other with razor sharp teeth in their zeal to get to the front and attack. Their oversized, yellow eyes watched me like prey.
