by M Guida
Rusty crinkled his forehead. “No, shit? Fog? That’s weird.”
“I know, I know. But Professor Tuamma said I will be able to compete against the witches from Goodie Academy now.”
“Yeah, and she’ll be beat him,” Zayne said loyally. “Gotta go. I’ll see you later, Ebony.”
Rusty cocked his eyebrow at me.
“Well, I’ll have to practice a lot between now and then. To win, I would have to keep that form longer than the others.”
He clasped my neck and squeezed it. “You will. I know it. Come on, I’ve got to get you to class before I go to mine. And I don’t want to be late.”
I laughed. “I thought you didn’t care about the rules.”
“I don’t. But Anton’s teaching wolf today. I have no intention of being late and getting stuck scrubbing toilets in the dungeon.”
I bit my laugh to keep from laughing. Rusty was a badass and even he didn’t want to get on the bad side of Anton, but I got it. A five-hundred-year-old vampire would make anyone think twice.
Rusty dropped me off at Potions. I was so behind in my next few classes and would be buried in books this weekend.
Cadye waved her arm. “Ebony, come sit next to me.”
“Ebony, I’m so glad you’re out of the hospital. Welcome to Potions.” Professor Griffith hurried over to me, grinning from ear to ear. With his round little belly and his bald head, he reminded me of a Weeble, one of those old toys ‘wobble but they don’t fall down,’ but he was jolly and made me feel welcome.
He stretched out his arm and escorted me over to join Cadye at a science lab table with an empty stool. “ Yes, yes, yes. Please, sit with Cadye.”
I put my backpack on the floor and pulled out my potions book. Each of the science lab tables had white candles, a hot metal probe, a jar of white wax, a Bunsen burner, and purple, white, and blue herbs in metal dishes that smelled really good and made me feel peaceful. One of them, I thought, was lavender.
“You’ve missed a week of class, but Cadye will catch you up. Your sister was a whiz at Potions and I’m sure you will be too.” Professor Griffith patted my shoulder. “Today, we are working on sleeping potions.”
Maybe I could give it to Victoria so she wouldn’t hear me when I snuck out to meet Gunnar. I didn't need her ratting me out to both Rusty and Nora. My life would become a living hell.
When he walked away, I leaned close to Cadye. “Guess what?” I whispered. I couldn’t hide the excitement in my voice.
Her eyes brightened and she pressed her hands together. “What? You shifted into a dragon?”
“No, but I transformed into a silver fog. No one else in the class could change into an object.”
She clapped her hands enthusiastically. “That’s so cool.” She winked and lowered her voice. “Are you ready for tonight?”
“Cadye, shhhh.” I looked around to see if anyone overheard, but no one seemed to be listening.
“Now, class, potions can be enhanced by a technique called ‘loading’ the tools. Loading means placing herbs inside a tool and today we will be doing this with candles. Each of you have white candles at your stations and three herbs. The purple one is lavender from the human realm. The other two are from the Starlight Kingdom—Winter Sumac, which is white, and Dukosop, which is blue.”
Professor Griffith picked up a white candle and a hot metal probe. “Now, just take the hot metal probe and gently push and twist it into the bottom of the candle.”
Bits and spiral strips of the wax fell onto a dish as he twisted the tool. He held up the bottom of his candle and moved his arm so we could all see, showing us the bottom of the candle where there was now a hole about a centimeter wide.
“Next, take your spoon and gently put all three herbs in the hole. Light the Bunsen burner and heat up the wax in your canister. Once it has melted, dip the candle in the wax to seal up the hole. Then, say Stuulis Mixendo.”
As soon as the professor said that, yellow stars floated around his candle and descended onto it, leaving an imprint.
Both Cadye and I gasped. “That’s so cool,” Cadye said.
“If your candle has yellow stars on it, then you know the sleeping spell will work. If you don’t have stars on your candle, it will not.”
I raised my hand.
“Yes, Ebony?”
“When would you use such a spell?”
“I’m glad you asked. It’s used when you’re tossing and turning at night. If you find yourself stressed, light the candle and the scent will help you sleep soundly and then you'll wake up refreshed.” He moved his arm. “You have until the end of the period to make your sleeping potion.”
Cadye and I both picked up a candle each and used our hot metal probe to make holes in them.
Cadye frowned as her candle cracked. “The professor made it look so easy.”
I nodded, but my candle remained whole as I turned the tool deeper into the wax. I wanted this to work so badly, so I could prove I was just as good as Raven.
Cadye’s candle split up the side. “This is so frustrating.” She slammed her candle down. “My stupid candle just split in two.”
I patted her hand, not sure what to say. “I’m sorry.”
“God, yours is perfect.”
“Hey, what can I say? I’m overdue for a win.” I finished twisting the probe into my candle and I had a nice hole in the center. Some students were grumbling around me and others had made a hole like I had.
“I’m going to see if I can get another one. Be right back.”
Cadye wasn’t the only one needing another candle. I carefully put the herbs into the candle, starting with lavender. I turned on the Bunsen Burner and held the small canister of wax over the flame.
Cadye came back with a new candle, but this was one was yellow. “Griffith is keeping track of how many candles you go through by the color. Yellow is your second one, Green third, and Red fourth. Hopefully, I won’t end up with a red candle.”
“You won’t.” The wax in the middle of the canister had melted and I put it down on the table. “Here goes nothing.” I swirled the bottom of the candle in the wax, sealing the herbs inside.
Pleaseworkpleaseworkpleasework
“Stuulis Mixendo." I held my breath and every muscle tensed. At first nothing happened, but then yellow stars floated around the candle and landed gently on the wax.
I exhaled and the tension in my muscles slowly unwound. “Oh, my God, it worked.”
“Bravo, Bravo, Ebony.” Professor Griffith came over to my station. “You did this perfectly, just like your sister would have.”
“Thank you.” I forced a smile. I was happy it had worked so well, but I wanted to be known for my own accomplishments, not be compared to Raven.
Still, I exhaled and grinned. The spell had worked. Maybe I could use it to make sure my wonderful roommate stayed asleep. Nothing was going to keep me from seeing Gunnar tonight.
Chapter 11
Professor Griffith said I could keep the candle, so I had tucked it carefully in my backpack. I didn’t want anything to happen to it, because I was going to use it tonight on Victoria. I didn’t want her snooping around when I went to my secret rendezvous with Gunnar. At least, I hoped it was with Gunnar.
Rusty walked me to Demonology, where Gunnar and Nora had just entered the classroom. Rusty clutched my arm and steered me to the opposite side of the room from both of them. He proceeded to go talk with Professor Elfiel who looked at me curiously and then frowned. I felt like I had committed a mortal sin under his greenish blue eyes. He was Fae and had the same white stars flickering in his eyes like the others of his kind.
I squirmed in my seat and pulled out my demonology book. If I had been in a normal college, all of these thick books would have been online and I could have just used my iPad, but there was no internet at Legacy. In some ways, it was still run as if we were in the Dark Ages. That’s what you get when a five-hundred-old vampire is in charge, I guess.
Unfortunat
ely, Cadye didn’t have Demonology with me. The girl with long blond hair sat next to me instead. I recognized her from Dragon Magick, but couldn’t remember her name for the life of me. I seemed to remember she was a blue dragon. Besides Zayne, she was the only person who had spoken to me.
She smiled. “Hey, Ebony. Very impressive in class today. That fog was so cool. I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Phoebe.”
I gave her a big grin. “Thanks, I do remember you. Good to see you again.”
She lowered her voice and glanced over her shoulder. “That guy you walked in with…is that your boyfriend?"
“Rusty?” I tilted my head back and laughed out loud. “No. More like my parole officer.”
She drew her slender brows together. “What? I don’t understand.”
I forced myself to not look at Gunnar and lowered my voice. “My dad has appointed him my guard, to keep me from talking to a certain person he doesn’t approve of.”
Her big bright blue eyes widened. “Really? That kinda sucks. Why does your dad care so much?”
I shrugged. “Because he’s overprotective and thinks I’ll get into trouble.”
She pulled out her demonology book and put it on her desk with a loud thud. “Well, from what I saw in Dragon Magick class, I think he’s dead wrong.”
“Thanks, I hope you’re right.”
Professor Elfiel stepped up to the class. “We have already learned how angelic forces have impacted demon history.” He pointed to some names on a chalkboard, including the Archangels.
Today, you are going to be working in pairs. Your assignment will be to pick an angel and do a presentation in front of the class on how this angel impacted demon history. You’ll both present at the end of the week.” He walked over to a stack of books on a large table. “Resources are here at your disposal. Both of you must contribute equally.”
People started chatting all at once and I couldn’t resist looking over at Gunnar. I couldn’t believe it. He and Nora had pushed their desks together. He was actually going to work with Nora. It was like he was pouring salt into my wounds.
What if Armond was wrong? What if I was reading too much into this meeting tonight? From what I saw Gunnar was digging on Nora.
“Ebony, did you hear me?”
I blinked. “What?”
“Do you want to work together on this?” Phoebe asked shyly.
I nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, for sure.”
We scooted our desks together like everyone else.
“So, since I wasn’t here, I obviously don’t know what you were talking about in class last week.” I glanced over my shoulder at Gunnar who was whispering with Nora.
“This past week the Professor was going over all the angels and how they played into Demonology.”
I looked at the list on the board. “Well, which one do you want to do?” My strawberry pancakes hadn’t lasted long and my stomach grumbled.
“Are you hungry?”
My cheeks heated. “Sorry. I guess my waffles didn’t stay with me too long.”
“That’s okay. I’m getting a little hungry, too. Anyways, Archangel Azrael is pretty cool. He was known to be the angel of death.”
“Yeah, I know about Azrael and Chamuel from Raven. Sort of our family history.”
Phoebe flicked through the pages of her book. “Wow, that’s so cool. We should do our presentation on one of those, then.”
“Yeah, maybe. But I bet everyone will do Azrael.” Something prickled on the back of my neck. All of a sudden, I blurted, “What about Raphael?”
Phoebe stopped skimming the pages. “Raphael? Mmmmm, I think he was the Archangel of Healing, wasn’t he?”
Gunnar was a healer and so was Armond. Raphael intrigued me. Maybe he had something to do with their powers, especially Gunnar’s.
In my Demonology book, I found the Archangel Raphael. “Do you mind if we do him?” I asked Phoebe.
“No. Not at all.”
I found out that Raphael was full of compassion for people who were struggling physically, mentally, emotionally, or even spiritually. He brought people closer and was often the angel of joy and laughter. I had to force myself to concentrate on reading about him and not on my empty stomach. My throat was dry and I wanted something to drink.
Stop Concentrate
The more I read about Raphael, the more I wondered. What had he to do with the Golden and Dark Demons? Maybe he made the Healers, which I could totally believe, but so far, I hadn’t seen anything about that. Phoebe and I both got books on Raphael and decided we would do a diorama of Raphael healing dark demons. Maybe he helped Chamuel with helping the dark demons turn Golden.
Before I knew it, class was over and time for lunch. I thought maybe I’d be able to sit with my friends, but no, Rusty was waiting for me and escorted me to the cafeteria.
Ahead of us, all my friends walked together, including Gunnar and Nora. This was so stupid. I should be able to sit with whomever I wanted to.
“You’re sitting with Evan and me,” he said as he opened the door to the cafeteria for me. I wanted to argue, but I knew I had a better shot at pushing a Mac Truck into a parking spot than changing his mind.
I dropped my backpack off at Rusty’s table and we both got into line. My stomach growled even louder.
He laughed. “Starving, Ebony?”
My cheeks went up in flames. “I guess so.” None of the club sandwiches looked good to me today, even though my mouth was watering. I wanted something I could really sink my teeth into and got into the burger line. Rusty was waiting in the line for Mexican food.
“Hey, Ebony.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin as Gunnar came up alongside me.
“Gunnar, I didn’t see you.”
“Yeah, I know. I heard what you did in Dragon Magick—pretty cool. Don’t—“
“Beat it, Dark Demon.” Rusty came up with his tray loaded with four heaping tacos, a burrito, and a tamale. He tilted his head. “She’s off limits.”
Gunnar picked up his tray of double cheeseburger and French fries and shrugged. “Just getting my lunch, dude.” He left without saying goodbye.
I glared at Rusty, but then turned away, refusing to battle with him. Talk about pointless.
“What can I get for you, dearie?” a woman behind the counter asked.
“I’d like a rare hamburger with cheese and onion rings.”
Rusty looked at me and then at the cook. “Rare? Seriously?”
“What’s your problem, Rusty? I just feel like eating a hamburger the way I like it. Anything wrong with that?”
He didn’t even flinch at my cold tone. Instead, he winked. “No, not at all. Eat whatever you want.” He leaned closer. “By the way, your horns are showing.”
Stupid horns.
The cook handed me the plate and then I got big glass of tomato juice.
He shook his head. “Now, that’s a weird combination.”
I didn’t care what he thought. It’s what I felt like having. I whisked past him and headed to our table, pretending not to notice my friends laughing and eating at the Royal Table.
I sat at my seat with Rusty right behind me. He plopped down and attacked his tacos with gusto. Wolves always had such a huge appetite.
My stomach let out a roar and I picked up my delicious burger. It was so juicy and tender. I relished the taste, enjoying the feeling of the juice running down the back of my throat.
Evan sat across from me. “Still sitting with us, Ebony?”
Rusty picked up his fourth taco. “She sits with us until her old man says she can sit with her friends.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t argue. What could I say? My dad was the Golden Phoenix and no one went against his orders, not even Rusty. No one but Raven.
It might have been easier for Raven to rebel against him. She wasn’t as close to him as I was. He'd always been there for me, and I just couldn’t go all rebel on him. I didn’t agree with what Dad was doing but I love
d him. I just had to prove to him that he was wrong about Gunnar.
Evan shook his head. “I think you’re making a mistake, dude.”
“Up yours, Costa.”
Evan ignored me and gave me a sympathetic look. He handed me a napkin. “Here."
“What?”
He touched his chin. “I think you’ve got blood running down your chin.” He grinned. “You look like a vampire.”
“Thank you.” I took the napkin and wiped my chin. I stared at the blurry red stain on the napkin and I could smell it. I could actually smell cow.
Goosebumps rolled over my arms and I trembled. That was so strange. I must be tired.
Evan looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?”
I put down the napkin. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Good.” He flashed me a soothing smile and some of the tension inside me drifted away.
He nodded and went back to discussing classes and girls with the other guys.
Only half listening, I polished off the burger without leaving any more bloodstains all over my face. As I picked up a fry, it dawned on me that I had never eaten anything rare before. I usually liked my steak or burgers medium. Rare meat had never been a thing for me.
So why now? What was happening? Something had changed since I came to Legacy. Was it me, or the school?
Chapter 12
After lunch, I only had one class Defense and Battle Techniques with Montae. Rusty dropped me off at the classroom and Montae almost seemed to be waiting for us at the door.
He flashed his gaze over Rusty. “Wolf.”
“Invisible asshole.”
I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of their banter and brushed between them. Once again, Cadye’s cheery face made me smile. She waved me over to her table with Phoebe.
Cadye grinned. “Hey, girl. Ebony, do you know Phoebe?”
“Yeah, we have Demonology class together.”
I looked around the room. Every Medieval weapon you could imagine was either lying on a table or hanging on the wall, but none of the students had any weapons yet. Supernaturals didn’t use firearms. It would have been pointless, as bullets didn’t always have an effect on the enemy.
