Starlight & Shadows: A Limited Edition Academy Collection by Laura Greenwood, Arizona Tape, Juliana Haygert, Kat Parrish, Ashley McLeo, L.C. Mawson, Leigh Kelsey, Bre Lockhart, Zelda Knight

by Laura Greenwood

  The teacher gave me a warm smile. “I’m Mr Davies. I’m a Master Slayer and I’ll be in charge of training you. Now, I understand that you’re new to magic?”

  I just nodded again.

  “Well, it may take some time for you to adjust, but I am sure that you will catch up in no time.” He turned to the rest of the class. “Noah, can I rely on you to help the girl to get up to speed?”

  One of the walls of muscle, one with soft, curly brown hair and a dimpled smile nodded. “Of course, sir.”

  Mr Davies turned back to me. “We’re working in groups today, but you and Noah can work in a pair while he gets you acquainted with the weapons you’ll be expected to use in combat training at the end of the week.”

  “Weapons?”

  “Of course. What else would we fight Demons with?” He laughed, and I realised that I wasn’t in on the joke as he walked away.

  Noah turned to me with a kind smile. “So, I take it you didn’t know about magic at all until recently.”

  “A few days ago. Is it that obvious?”

  He shrugged. “It is when you’re surprised by Slayers wielding weapons. And you also looked shocked when you walked into the room. Was it because we’re all guys?”

  I nodded.

  “Yeah, the first Humans chosen as Slayers were mostly men and it seems that the magic doesn’t like passing to women very often.”

  I frowned, folding my arms. “So, what makes me special?”

  He smiled again, shaking his head. “Nothing, I assure you. It’s random, as far as anyone can tell. And I’m sorry if gender is a sore spot. I should have been more careful with my words. I didn’t mean to imply that you were any less of a woman for being a Slayer.”

  I shrugged. “It’s okay. Just… I was afraid you were going to start spouting some of that Extreme Male Brain bullshit.”

  I froze as I realised what I’d just said.

  Extreme Male Brain was a sexist load of crap that said that autism was the result of… Well, of having an extremely ‘male’ brain.

  And there would have been no reason for me to bring it up if I wasn’t autistic…

  “Ah, right, you’re Litcorde then? No, don’t worry, we don’t believe any of the Human nonsense. I mean, Witches were the first ones to name Litcorde and they’re mostly women.”

  A wave of relief crashed over me so hard I nearly passed out as I remembered that magical beings were apparently okay with autism.

  “But if you want to get caught up for tomorrow, we should probably start on the weapons…”

  If you’d asked me if I would have been interested in magical weapons before my first Slayer lesson… Well, to be fair, magical weapons sound cool as hell, so I probably would have said that I’d be interested.

  But it definitely ignited that special interest itch and I found myself groaning as the bell rang to signal the end of the school day.

  Noah smiled as he put down the enchanted dagger he’d been showing me. “So reluctant to leave my company?”

  I shrugged. “I could listen to you describe magical swords for the next decade.” And maybe magical axes too. Were there magical bows and arrows?

  What about magical guns?!

  Noah’s smile widened. “Well, I could certainly talk to you about them all day. Though, we should probably take it elsewhere. Say, perhaps, the dining hall?”

  I nodded. “I’m supposed to meet my friends there anyway.”

  “Friends? You’ve been quite the social butterfly. Isn’t it your first day?”

  I shrugged as we picked up our bags and headed out of the room. “I technically arrived here yesterday. But I get on with my roommate and his sister. And his sister is roommates with someone I used to know from Human school, so I guess I’ve been lucky.”

  “I guess you have. Well, even if you already have an abundance of friends, I would be glad if you counted me among them.”

  I smiled, glad that he didn’t seem to hate me – or even just didn’t like me – as all of the other kids at my Human school had.

  “I would be glad too.”

  We continued walking in a companionable silence as we made our way to the dining hall, though when a tall boy covered in scales almost barrelled into me, Noah gently placed his hand on my arm to pull me away, and I had to stop myself from bristling at the overly familiar touch.

  He was just trying to stop me from getting flattened, but still, it reminded me too much of the way Sam had touched me before declaring me his girlfriend.

  Still, Noah let go of me after that and we were just around the corner from the dining hall, where I swiftly found Viktor and the others.

  Viktor spotted me approaching, but his warm smile turned cold as he frowned at the Slayer beside me.

  “Noah,” he greeted as we approached, his voice ice.

  “Viktor,” Noah replied, his own voice a little sheepish as he ran a hand through his hair. “How are you?”

  “Fine. And you?”

  “I… I’m also fine. Just figured I would pick up some food with Olivia now that we’re done with class.”

  “Really? Because Liv said that she was going to sit with us. Do you really want to risk being seen with a Demon?”

  “If you’re Olivia’s roommate, and Olivia and I are friends, then that’s hardly ‘being seen with a Demon’, is it?”

  Viktor frowned, but nodded, and Noah seemed to take that as a sign that he was welcome, though the two of them talked as little as me and Riley – that is to say, not at all – and poor Dana struggled to lead a conversation all on her own until I managed to fake a yawn and use it as an excuse to head back to my room.

  Viktor swiftly followed.

  “So,” I said once I closed our bedroom door behind us, “what was all that with you and Noah? Do you know each other?”

  Viktor shrugged. “It’s nothing. We just grew up together.” He then raised an eyebrow, doing a very good Spock impression. “What about you and Riley? What went on there?”

  I mirrored his shrug. “Nothing. We were friends at school and then she disappeared. I guess, if she had magic, she came here. Mystery solved.” I folded my arms. “But seriously, it seemed like you were mad at Noah.”

  Viktor sighed, dropping down onto the edge of his bed. “We were also friends once. Look, I don’t know if you picked up on this or not, but Dana’s not a Demon. And neither are our parents. They’re all Guides – which is, like, the opposite of a Demon – and they adopted me when I was a baby, so I didn’t understand that I was different. Noah used to live down the road from us and we all played together growing up. We were pretty close.”

  “And then something happened?” I asked as I sat on the edge of my own bed, my elbows on my knees as I leaned forward to listen.

  “Yeah, I guess. Just… Things changed when we got to Ember. Noah wanted to be a Master Slayer, and that meant that he couldn’t be seen hanging around with a Demon. So, he stopped talking to me.”

  I frowned. “That’s awful. What a dick.”

  Viktor shrugged. “He promised that he would change things when he was a Master Slayer. He said that’s why he wanted to get to that rank, so that the others would have to listen to him when he told them that Demons aren’t that bad. But I stopped believing that promise a long time ago. Either it was his way of justifying his behaviour to himself, or it was some childhood dream that he’s surely given up on now.”

  My frown deepened. “But if he had to stop talking to you because you’re a Demon and he’s a Slayer, and I’m also a Slayer… Will they force me to do the same?”

  Viktor shook his head. “No, you don’t need to worry about that. I take it they explained about how there’s not many women Slayers?”

  “Yeah. Well, they just told me that there aren’t many, nothing else.”

  “The fact that there aren’t many means that there aren’t many Slayers who can carry children. There’s magic that can help, but it’s not as safe for two cis men as it is for two cis women – it’
s a lot easier to grow a dick for a night than a womb for nine months – and between the cis women, trans men and non-binary Slayers with wombs… There’s barely enough of you to keep the population going. So, if you keep talking to me, there’s not much they can do about it. They wouldn’t risk alienating you.”

  I glared at the ground. “And, what? Lose my breeding potential?”

  Viktor shrugged. “I know, it sucks. But if you want to walk away, they won’t stop you. They won’t force you to do anything, I’m just saying… They’ll give you more leeway than they’ll give the men. Though, you should also know that those men will likely flock to you like moths to a flame. Noah looked particularly cosy with you today.”

  I cringed. I’d been hoping I’d been misreading that hand on my arm, but if Viktor had picked up on it as well…

  “I can stop talking to him if you want,” I said, finding that I kind of wanted him to say that he did want that.

  But Viktor shook his head. “No, no. After all, you seemed to like him, and you’ve got a curse to lift. Who knows, maybe Noah’s the person who you can love.”

  I suppressed a grimace as I realised that he was right.

  I did have a curse to lift, and Noah… Noah was probably my best shot.

  After all, he was the only one who’d shown interest – and even if the magical world was more accepting, I didn’t see that happening often – and the fact that I was a little reluctant around strangers didn’t mean that I couldn’t warm up to him in time.

  Chapter Five

  I felt awful for Dana the next day.

  Between me and Riley, and Viktor and Noah, she was barely getting one-word answers out of any of us.

  But still, she tried over both breakfast and lunch to hold conversations, and I really appreciated the fact that she was keeping the awkwardness from completely overwhelming us.

  Even if I couldn’t find my voice to help her out.

  Not with Riley sitting right across from me.

  I would have to ask Viktor what Dana’s favourite colour was. I couldn’t think of a way to say that I appreciated her attempts that wouldn’t sound weird and awkward, but I could at least knit her a scarf or something.

  Once again, I barely paid attention in my morning classes, too nervous for my afternoon ones.

  Though I relaxed a little as I checked my timetable. I had Potions after lunch, and the little notation on my timetable told me that this was a beginner class, designed for those of us very new to our magic.

  Which meant that it likely wasn’t a class that I shared with Noah.

  I sheepishly hovered in the doorway as I entered the room, glancing around to see that it was filled with the same kind of high benches we’d had in my Chemistry classes at Human school, but these had large cauldrons on top at every seat.

  The teacher at the front of the room – a thin woman with mousy brown hair, the ends dyed blue, and a rather raggedy jacket – turned to me with a warm smile.

  “You must be Olivia. Gail told me you’d be in my class today.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Gail?”

  “Ah, sorry. Ms Griffin. I’m Ms Bennett, the Deputy Headteacher. And also Gail’s wife. Though I swear, the first came before the latter.” She widened her smile and I realised that she was making a joke. “Anyway, if you need anything, you can come to me if you can’t find her. Now, for today, I think you’ll be able to follow along with our new project, though perhaps we should ask another student to help.” She turned and scanned the room before smiling once more. “Ah, Noah. Could you help Olivia with her first potion today?”

  I froze, having to force myself to turn and follow Ms Bennett’s gaze to see Noah approaching with a warm smile.

  “Of course,” he said as he approached. “I’d be glad to.”

  “Great. Well, if you show her how to set everything up, I’ll start instructing everyone on today’s potion in five minutes.”

  Noah nodded before turning to me and then gesturing to the other end of the room. “Here, there’s a spare seat next to where I’ve already started setting up.”

  I just nodded, figuring that there was no reasonable excuse not to follow him.

  So, I did, though I couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you in a beginner’s Potions class?” as we reached our table.

  He shrugged as he began to move things about, dividing up what I assumed were supplies for making the potion between us. “Slayers don’t often bother with potions. We use them often enough, but most buy them from Witches. Still, if I want to be a Master Slayer, I can’t ignore a skillset like this, so I decided to start learning this year.”

  “I see… Yeah, Viktor mentioned about you becoming a Master Slayer. He also said that you stopped talking to him over it.”

  Noah stopped dead halfway through moving some strange looking reeds over to my side of the desk, his jaw tightening as he kept his gaze on the desk.

  “Was he… Was he angry with me? He seemed angry at lunch. I was actually going to ask if you still wanted me to sit with you. I thought that he would calm down a little – hell, part of me had even thought for a moment that he might be glad that we could talk again now that you’re providing us with an excuse – but I think it’s clear that I was wrong.”

  I bit my lip. He sounded so dejected… “I think he’s upset that you put your advancement with the Slayers above your friendship.”

  Noah finally moved again at that, putting the reeds down, though with perhaps more force than needed.

  He kept going like that for a few moments, until he finished dividing up his pile of supplies, and then he sighed, leaning heavily on the desk, still not meeting my gaze.

  Not that I minded not having to fake eye contact. It was actually making the conversation easier, despite the tense topic.

  “I didn’t want to stop talking to him,” Noah eventually said. “He was my best friend, and much better company than most of the Slayers I hang around with now. But it would have caused problems for both of us, not just me. Yes, it would have made it harder for me to climb the ranks in the Slayers, but it also would have made it difficult for Viktor to get Underworld citizenship.”

  I frowned. “What’s the Underworld?”

  “The realm of the Demons. If Viktor wants to go there, he’ll need someone to sponsor his citizenship, and while Queen Freya has been a lot more lenient with such things over the past several years, being close friends with a Slayer might be too much.”

  “And Viktor wants to go there?”

  Noah shrugged, finally turning back to me. “He will eventually. He’s not certain of much regarding his biological parents, but he knows that they’re from there. If he ever wants to find them, he’ll need citizenship. I couldn’t stand in the way of that for him.”

  “So… You still want to be friends with him?”

  “Of course.”

  “And the fact that he’s my roommate and we’re friends gives you an excuse to hang out without anyone being suspicious.”

  “Exactly. Everyone will think that I’m just putting up with his presence to spend time with you, not that I actually enjoy his company.”

  “And they’ll think that you’ll put up with a Demon to hang out with me because…?”

  Noah looked away, his hand going to rub the back of his neck. “I… Well… Because they’ll assume that I like you. That I want to date you.”

  “And would they be right?”

  He hesitated for a moment before sighing. “Look, Olivia, I don’t know that I really explained what the fact that there aren’t many Slayer women means–”

  “Viktor told me last night. Everybody’s going to want me to have their babies.”

  “Well, not just that. I mean, that’s a rather crude way to put it. But if a straight Slayer wants to find a partner who is also a Slayer… Well, it’s rare. I honestly didn’t think that I would ever find someone. And maybe I haven’t, maybe you don’t even like me like that, or maybe we’ll get sick of each other. But, well, I have
enjoyed what little time we have spent together, and if you would be open to the idea, I would maybe like to take you out on a date sometime. But I don’t want you to feel pressured. You just got here, and this is all new to you, after all.”

  I bit my lip, shifting my weight from side to side.

  I’d been braced for another situation like I’d had with Sam, where he pushed me into a corner that I didn’t know how to get out of.

  But… Noah wasn’t doing that. There were no games here, just honesty.

  Maybe Viktor truly had been right. Maybe Noah was the person I could finally let my guard down around so that he could break the curse.

  “When?” I finally asked.

  He stared at me. “What?”

  “You said you wanted to take me on a date. When?”

  “Oh… Um, how about this weekend?”

  “I promised my mum that I would go home this weekend. But… I don’t actually go until Saturday morning.”

  “So, Friday night?”

  I nodded. “Friday night sounds great.”

  I had a free period next, while Noah had extra combat training, so I headed to the library, where Viktor and Dana had said they’d be.

  It was a relief to find some time to spend with them without the awkwardness between Noah and Viktor, but then I remembered that Riley would also be there.

  Maybe I should try to talk to her. Maybe if I just got over how weird things were, they would be fine. Maybe I’d imagined how weird she was being, and this was all just me…

  I headed into the library, scanning the tables for signs of Viktor or Dana.

  But neither of them were there.

  No, there was just Riley, sitting on her own on the sofa in the corner.

  She looked up to meet my gaze and I froze as I realised that neither of us could pretend that we hadn’t seen each other.

  I was half tempted to walk away anyway. To screw how rude it would be and save us both the trouble.

  We already weren’t friends, so would making it obvious really make things worse?

  But then, I didn’t want to make things any more awkward for Dana and Viktor than I had to, so I made my way over to Riley, doing my best to smile.