by Oxford, Rain
I sighed. “Don’t touch his skin. If anyone touches his skin, you’ll have to deal with Henry and me. Other than that, Darwin, you need to learn to talk it out.”
“But I didn’t do it and she said I did. They think they can blame me because I’m a throwback.”
“Then either tell her louder, turn her backpack pink, or shift and eat her. I’m going to class.” I went back inside and found the classroom easily.
Remy was a strong woman who, except for a little anger-management trouble, was very emotionally stable. Despite her gorgeous appearance and the feminine clothes she wore, she was more of a tomboy growing up. She hated being treated with gentleness or sympathy, but I had been in her head; I knew what Rosin Flagstone meant to her.
The classroom had a skylight, yet the sun was low enough that it wasn’t blaring down on us. Actually, all of the fae students who entered the class went straight for the seats in the sunlight, so I figured it had more to do with them. I sat in the back, away from the sun and Darwin sat beside me a few minutes later.
“I figured Remington would have gone after Alpha Flagstone,” I said quietly.
Darwin nodded. “I’m surprised Alpha Flagstone hasn’t come back. A familiar is like a limb; you can lop it off if it’s infected, but you’re not going to do it for fun. You also don’t see arms running away.”
“I think that’s exactly why Flagstone left; it can’t be fun being compared to a limb.”
Darwin shrugged. “He’s powerless if something happens to Hunt. He’s being a fool.”
“Darwin, thank you for volunteering,” Remy said. We both faced the front to see her glaring at us. Everyone else turned to stare.
“Sorry, sheila, but I wasn’t listening.”
“No shit. Daydreaming is bad enough, but if you’re going to talk during class on the first day, I’ll flunk you here and now.”
Darwin started to stand, but I grabbed his arm, held him down, and opened the connection between us. “Calm down,” I told him. “She’s upset, which you can understand. Use your brain. Say you’re sorry and it won’t happen again, whether you mean it or not.” I didn’t push tranquility or anything else at him because I knew he was capable of calming himself.
He withdrew himself from the connection until it collapsed. After a moment, he settled down. “I’m sorry and it won’t happen again.”
Shock flashed across Remy’s face for an instant before she hid it. “See that it doesn’t.” She handed a stack of papers to Len, who I assumed was her assistant this semester, and he tripped over his chair in eagerness to obey her unspoken command.
“When do we get to make wands and staffs and stuff?” a student asked.
“In your forth semester. You learned the basics in your first and second semesters, but you need to understand the purposes of your focal and balancing tools, like incense, colors, candles, sigils, and the like before you can use these in creating your higher tools. Can you imagine an eighteen-year-old C-One running around the halls with a powerful staff?”
“Is illusion a different variety of magic, like psychic magic and elemental magic?” I asked.
“It depends. For fae, yes. For wizards, it’s more of a middle ground. In this class, you will learn to use magic to distract others and distort their perception. In rare cases, you may want to distort your own perception. But first, a written pretest.”
Groans, moans, and pleas met her words. “Why?!” one student cried dramatically.
She grinned evilly. “Because I’m the professor and I said so.”
* * *
“How many of you have had your privacy invaded?” Professor Nakari asked. “Someone read your private journal, or eavesdropped on a private conversation, or…” she looked right at me. “… read your mind.”
Every one of my classmates raised their hands, most looking around to make sure they weren’t the only ones. Jackson snuck a glance at me and put his hand down.
“In this class, you will learn to protect your mind and body from psychic attacks,” the professor said when the students put their hands down. Several other students peeked at me. I ignored them.
* * *
Lana Ashwood was a thin woman with long black hair and a sweet, older face. The Intuition and Prophesy classroom was dark, since there were no windows or torches. The only light came from a built-in pit in the center of the room filled with blue fire. Instead of desks, there were blood-red pillows on the floor with small, low tables. I sat down on the pillow closest to the door and Becky sat next to me.
“How was your summer?” she asked. “I heard you were teaching Darwin.”
“You heard right.”
“I think that answers the question of how your summer went.”
“Darwin isn’t a bother. I mean, he’s not a throwback, either, and my kitchen could have done without a magical paint job, but he’s not bad once you get to know him.”
“He’s nosy.”
“He is that.”
“He’s extremely rude.”
“When he’s nervous, he says intentionally rude or weird things to divert attention.”
“He’s a pervert.”
“No, he’s frustrated. He can never touch a girl. How would you feel?”
She frowned remorsefully. “You’re right. It would suck if I could never touch a girl again. I bet you’ll be great at this class.” She blushed when she said the last part.
“Welcome to Intuition and Prophesy,” the professor began. “I am Professor Ashwood. Although this is an elective class, do not take that to mean it will be easy. If any of you have a class after this, you need to speak with Professor Watson, for that is a mistake. Your schedules state this is a two-hour class, but that is not the case. Every day, I will give you an assignment and you will have as long as you need to complete the assignment. You can leave as soon as I see that you are successful, and not a minute before. If this takes five minutes or five hours, it makes no difference. If this is a problem, drop out now. If you miss more than three classes for any reason, you automatically fail.”
* * *
At dinner, Astrid got a tray with us instead of a cup of blood. After considering her hamburger, Darwin asked if refusing blood made her a vegetarian. “No, I’ll just have to have Stephen send packages of real blood. Since I’m not actually a student, it shouldn’t be a problem. Unless Devon wanted to volunteer…”
“I will shoot you,” I said. When she smirked at me, I saw the other side of her face. “What the hell happened?” I asked. A patch of skin from her left ear to her left eye and all the way down to her chin was burned. It was only as bad as a sunburn, but no vampire should have a sunburn at all.
She shrugged. “No idea. I woke up with this. I must have dreamed of sunlight in my sleep.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
Addison sat next to Henry without a word and ate her burger. “How come shifters don’t eat raw meat?” Astrid asked her, obviously trying to get the attention off herself.
“We do in our shifted forms. In our person forms, our stomachs are designed for cooked food just like a human’s. Physically, we are very similar to humans in this form. We’re usually more athletic, but that’s because of our shifting abilities. Otherwise, cold-blooded creatures like the snake shifters would be S.O.L. In fact, I knew a throwback once whose father was a python shifter, but his mother was a wolf shifter. He couldn’t shift, but he had a lot of problems, as he was basically a cold-blooded human.”
“I met one of those this summer,” Darwin said.
“Mr. Oakland was a lawyer, not cold-blooded,” I argued.
A loud explosion had me ducking and reaching for my gun instinctively. Fortunately, I didn’t have my gun, but I was confused as green confetti showered from the ceiling and a dozen or so cat shifters of various species shifted right there in the dining room. Addison gasped. Henry’s pupils dilated and his hand clamped down on Addie’s. His fingertips morphed into black claws that dug into Addie’s skin.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked, wiping the small, dried, green leaves off the table.
Henry shuddered. “Catnip.”
“That works on shifters?!” Darwin screeched.
I eyed Li Na, who was rolling around in the catnip and licking it off her fur. Most of the shifted cats were doing the same, but one leopard attacked another and chased him out of the room.
Henry’s expression was almost longing, almost sick. He obviously wanted to shift as well. Addie cuddled against his chest, purred, and rubbed her face on his arm. “Those of us who have the gene in cat form and have a feline sense of smell in our person form can be affected by catnip. It’s not very strong in this form, but it’s enough to make us want to shift.”
“Someone is playing pranks,” Astrid said. “I was told there were snakes in the women’s showers this morning.”
Henry got up and left, followed by Addison.
After eating, we headed to my room, where Henry and Addison were studying. “Time to go sit in the forest for hours with nothing to show for it,” Henry said. Darwin shot him a glare. Henry was definitely acting odd. Then again, so was everyone else.
“What are you trying to do?” Astrid asked.
“Darwin is trying to learn magic using the amulet.”
“They think I’m not a throwback,” Darwin explained.
Astrid unexpectedly backed him against the door, not touching him, and they locked eyes. After about a minute, just long enough for it to become very weird, she stepped back and broke whatever was between them. “You’re not a throwback. You have conflicting natures, but you are capable of both shifting and using magic. The only thing stopping you is you.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m a woman; I’m never wrong.” With that, she left.
My roommates and I spent four hours outside, watching Darwin not shift.
* * *
After the unsuccessful practice, Darwin and Henry went to the library, but I opted out. Ghost was sitting on my desk when I returned to my room, his tail flickering slowly and his eyes narrowed with annoyance. “What’s your problem?” I asked.
Darkness spread from the far corner. My first thought was to run over and pull the thick window curtains open, but my instincts didn’t fire up to warn me of danger. The cat didn’t even stop glaring at me. A few seconds later, the darkness receded and left my uncle standing there. Ghost vanished.
“I was not sure of your schedule, so I asked Ghost to watch for your arrival.”
“Have you come to tell me about the key?”
He grinned and sat in Henry’s chair. “I would not do that to you; it would deprive you of the fun.”
“What fun?”
“Didn’t you become a private investigator because you liked to solve mysteries? How could I deprive you of your investigation?”
I sighed. “Are all wizards out of their minds or just the ones I know?”
“You have all the answers you need. If I told you too much, you would be targeted, and to tell you too much before you learned to protect yourself would be irresponsible. However, you apparently have not changed much since you were a child. You will try to find that tower no matter how many times I tell you you’re not ready, correct?”
“Of course.”
“Then I see no other option but to teach you faster. Your element is fire, so are you meeting your elemental mentor on Sunday or Tuesday?”
“Sunday.”
“Then you will meet me on Saturday mornings at nine in the north tower library.”
The library where I kept seeing Heather in. “Are we going to continue with the visions?”
“No. It’s a library. You are going to read.”
“Can’t I just have Darwin read the books and he can tell me the information?”
He laughed, stood, and started for the corner. As the shadows started to reach out for him, he paused. “Stay away from the tower until you know more.”
“No promises. I think Krechea is after Astrid.”
He looked at me. “There is power in a name, so be very careful about who you call. If you want to protect Astrid, you need to keep her away from Keigan.” He vanished. In the middle of my desk was Vincent’s book.
When I sat in my chair, the book flipped open to a specific page about a quarter of the way through, so I started reading.
Chapter 4
The first week of school passed quickly. The classes involved more magic, which was great. Although I knew it wouldn’t be smooth sailing the entire year, I was hopeful. Friday presented the first hiccup.
When we arrived for dinner, the other students were very agitated, and we quickly found out why. There were over a dozen copies of the same letter taped to different areas on the walls of the dining room, to the point where it was impossible for anyone to miss them.
Fellow students,
This is a warning of what’s to come of our world. The wizard council has devised a plan to enforce new rules on ALL paranormals beginning in January. In order to enforce these rules with severe consequences for breaking them, they have already begun cataloging every paranormal known. Soon, everyone will be known as a number. Everyone will be judged and labeled.
All wizards will be required to have a license sold by the council in order to use magic, and women will only be able to use magic under the supervision of men. Every paranormal person, throwback, or person even remotely related to a paranormal in this country, visiting this country, or with a citizenship of this country will have to pay taxes to the council. Starting in January, only students who attended the children’s paranormal school can attend the university, and only after receiving their license.
These are rules that have already been approved and will take place if the council is not stopped. What’s worse is that even as you read this letter, the council is trying to build evidence to close down Quintessence for good.
The council has committed and covered up many crimes, including arresting and killing human witnesses, children of paranormals, and foreign paranormals. We must stop them before it’s too late.
“Do you believe it?” Darwin asked.
“It’s very specific, but I don’t know. It’s not signed by anyone and although it ends saying that we have to stop it, there’s nothing to say how everyone can get together to do something about it. No meeting place or time. Plus, there have been a lot of pranks lately.”
Most of the pranks were harmless, such as dumping sticky sparkles in the pool so everyone who went in came out sparkling. Others, however, like the itching powder in the washing baskets that three people had serious allergic reactions to, were not so innocent.
“Is there anyone here foolish enough to make something like that up? Nobody knows how many students here have parents on the council, and I can name at least two dozen who would rat out their own mothers for a chance to make the council proud, so I can’t imagine anyone here would be daft enough to risk getting caught just to make something up. Well, maybe Jackson, but he’s not smart enough to make this up, either.”
“If it’s real, though, who could get this information? Other than you, of course. And furthermore, how would you not know about it? I thought you would be the first to know when the council screwed up.”
“I’ve been with you all summer. The council doesn’t have records online. To spy on them takes tapping their phones, conspiring with their servants, and breaking into the council mansion itself. I couldn’t do that from your apartment.”
“They have phones?”
“Old wired ones.”
“Isn’t everyone going to blame you? Everyone’s got to know you’re capable of getting that information.”
“Yeah, but if they know I can get the info, they know I’d be smarter in leaking it. I would splash it in the face of every paranormal in the world simultaneously using an entire network of systems. People, technology, books… If I wanted the information out, I would have proof. Also, I would make sure the council couldn
’t even slow it down or trace it back to me. Trust me, it wouldn’t be this simple. If this is real, then it’s really bad, and whoever leaked it just shot themselves in the foot.”
“I’ll talk to Vincent when I see him tomorrow.”
* * *
Saturday morning at nine, I went to the north tower library. This library was older and smaller than the others and had many large, hand-written books. There was a heavy wooden desk, which my uncle was sitting behind and reading from a huge book. “I’m not really here just to read, am I?” I asked.
He sat back. “This school hasn’t been around for a long time. There are many iconic places, objects, and people in the paranormal world. This school is not yet one of them, but when it is hundreds of years old and some of the most powerful people graduate, it will be. Eventually, Logan will leave and it will follow the path of other iconic places. Quintessence will become a legend and wizards will wonder how something so great could ever fall.”
“How do you know it’ll close?”
“Because no matter how powerful a wizard gets, he is still a person. The history of wizards in power is no different from that of humans. Greed, envy, and betrayal are just as strong in our world. If anything, the fall of our heroes is even more gruesome.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“The stronger you get, the more people will try to bring you down. And if you’re not one of the strongest, you’ll get left behind.”
“What about the council? Are they going to go out the same way?”
“Eventually, yes.”
“Before the implementation of their new rules?”
He frowned. “Not unless someone stops them first.”
“It’s true then? Have they gone completely insane? I thought with the bad guy dead, they were supposed to get better.”
“John was a criminal mastermind, but he knew how to keep his position. He made sure the council would remain for many years in order to further his own power. Without his mind control, the council turned to enhancing their power. They have tried repeatedly to confiscate Logan’s records, because they can’t know for sure who attends the school until they have those. Darwin was a weak excuse that will only pan out if he fails his test.”
