The Uptown Witch

by Chandelle LaVaun

  Something stung my arm and I swatted at it, but there was nothing there. I pulled my sleeve up to see if I’d been bitten – my eyes widened. It wasn’t a bug, it was our soulmate glyph. It’d grown. Finally. It felt like months since it last grew back at that awful Gala here in the city. Now the dark, swirly lines stretched into my forearm.

  My heart fluttered. I pulled my sleeve back down and smiled to myself. This really was shaping up to be a great evening.

  Chapter Seven

  Emersyn

  For the first time in a long time, I was excited as I walked into school Monday morning. Granted, I wasn’t a student here but the person running the school, so it was a little different…but still. As I climbed the front steps of SOMA, I felt light and rejuvenated after a nice relaxing weekend.

  With Deacon’s parents.

  I still couldn’t believe it.

  Deacon had been so beside himself with happiness that he got up before sunrise, saying he just couldn’t lay still any longer. I’d thrown my pillow at him and threatened to set him on fire if he called me before nine. I’d been kidding, mostly. Luckily, he’d listened. He’d sent me one text at precisely five minutes after nine but nothing since. I’d told him I was on my way over, but a quick check of my phone confirmed that he still hadn’t responded. Not that I was worried…I was just…paranoid.

  As I hurried through the empty front lobby a million horrible scenarios played through my mind – with more than half of them starring one of those damn spider demons. It was entirely irrational. The school wasn’t under attack, everything was quiet and calm. Even our new school mascots were still piled in a big lump in front of the fireplace. Deacon was fine. I just wasn’t sure I’d ever shake what happened in Salem.

  Stop that, Emersyn. He’s FINE. He’s fought dozens of demons before and after that one. That was a fluke. And he’s alive. It’s okay. You’re going to see. Just find him.

  I kept reassuring myself that he was fine as I ran up the grand staircase and into the main part of the school. Typical for student services, there were a handful or two of students lingering about. I pulled my phone back out, but there still wasn’t a text from Deacon.

  “Oh, Emersyn!” Caroline yelled from…somewhere.

  I froze in place and glanced around, looking for her. But I didn’t see her anywhere. Did I just make that up? Am I hearing things? From Caroline?

  “I’m in here – hold on.”

  I held. Wherever in here was, I was clueless.

  A moment later, Caroline emerged from behind the school secretary’s desk. She opened the door and jumped out into the hall next to me with Noah hot on her heels. Her long red hair was braided to the side and her face was fairly clear of makeup – a rather refreshing change. She grinned and gave me a quick hug. “Hi! Good morning!”

  “Lady of the Flame, what’s good?” Noah grinned and gave me a high-five.

  I chuckled. “Lady of the Flame? Ya know, I like that.”

  “Good, ‘cause I may have accidentally taught it to some of the students already.” He shrugged. “And by some, I mean most.”

  I shook my head, but my cheeks burned from how hard I was smiling. “I’m not even upset.”

  “And aren’t you lucky for it.” Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. Then she turned back to me. “So, did you really get Heather and Sebastien to buy a real Christmas tree on Saturday?”

  “Oh my God, YES!” I pulled my phone out and opened my photos, then held it for them to see. “Look.”

  Noah’s eyes widened. “Girl, you’ve got skills.”

  Caroline grinned. “Can I text this to myself? Because I want a real one, and if they got one, my parents will totally let me get one.”

  I chuckled. “By all means, send all of them. Though I recommend letting the place deliver it for you…you don’t wanna know how pathetic the five of us looked trying to carry our twenty-foot tree all the way from Lexington—”

  “Stop it.” Caroline gasped and handed my phone back to me. “You did not.”

  I nodded. “We did. It was utterly ridiculous. Pretty sure there are tons of videos online by now from strangers laughing at us. But we had a good time, surprisingly.”

  “I need to see this. If it’s online, I will find it.” Noah started typing away on his phone.

  “Let me know if you do.” I stepped out of the way for a group of kids. “So, how was your weekend?”

  “Oh.” Caroline’s eyes sparkled. She held up a stack of papers that I hadn’t realized she was holding. “We were busy making plans for our mascot so that we’d be ready as soon as a design was picked.”

  “That’s awesome. How’s that contest going, by the way? Need any help getting it started?”

  “Started? Girl, we’re done.” Caroline held the stack of papers up. “Luckily our school appears to be full of eavesdroppers, so everyone heard our conversation at lunch Friday. SOO, Noah and I had no problem setting up the contest. We gave everyone the weekend to draw up our logo of our blue fluffy cats —”

  “Hey, where are yours?”

  “Eating snacks.” Caroline shook her head and pointed to the secretary’s office. “Someone likes to spoil them with treats.”

  “Oh, nice. Anyway, so wait – you said you gave them until today?”

  She nodded. “Yep. They technically have until the end of the school day to submit, but I was too excited to wait, so I collected the submissions so far – already at about fifty. Want to see?”

  I opened my mouth, then shut it. “Yes, but no. I don’t want my opinion to sway anyone. This is y’alls school, so it’s your mascot.”

  “Well, you should still vote in the final.” She tucked the stack of papers into her Chanel bag. “We’re going to post all the submissions online and let the school vote.”

  My eyes widened. “Wow, that’s a great plan. I knew you’d make a great school Major.”

  Her cheeks flushed. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Thanks, Emersyn. Well, we won’t hold up any more of your time – I just wanted to update you.”

  “I’m glad you did! When they go up for voting, send me the link? I definitely will vote anonymously.” I smiled and started to walk away, then stopped. “Hey, have y’all seen Deacon this morning? I can’t find him.”

  “Oh yea, he’s helping in one of the classes.” Noah pointed to the ceiling. “Third floor, second room on the left.”

  I sighed with relief. “Thank you. See y’all later!”

  They waved then turned and headed back into the secretary’s office. I smiled and skipped down to the elevators. I had no idea which class Deacon was helping in, but it definitely explained why he hadn’t returned my text message. See Emersyn, no big deal. Way to panic. I laughed at my own craziness as the elevator opened onto the third floor.

  “Okay, second room on the left,” I mumbled to myself as I walked down the hall, my cowgirl boots clacking against the hardwood floors.

  I stopped outside the second room and peeked through the window in the door.

  The room was full of students in padded gear and helmets, with a variety of weapons in hand. They were all older, like my age, and sweaty. One of them was leaning against the wall panting and I related so hard to it that it hurt.

  And then I spotted Deacon and my breath left me in a rush.

  He was wearing some kind of sweatpants I’d never seen on him and they clung to his ass in ways that couldn’t possibly be appropriate in a school setting. He spun and a little mortifying gasp escaped my lips. Heat and butterflies bloomed in my stomach. I bit my lip and leaned closer. He wore a white tank top that was soaking wet and clinging to his body. Even with the shirt, I could see each ripple of his abs. The muscles in his arms flexed as he moved. Sweat dripped down the side of his neck and I licked my lips. My breath hit the window and it fogged up the glass — my phone vibrated in my hand and scared the crap out of me.

  I cursed and pushed my hair back. Damn it, woman. Losing your marbles over a sweaty tank
top. Get a grip. I groaned and looked down at my phone – and my heart stopped.

  Tennessee.

  “Don’t freak out. It’s probably nothing,” I grumbled and stepped away from the door. “Tenn can text you for a number of reasons.”

  I opened up my text messages and found a single text from our Coven Leader in a group chat to me and Deacon.

  Tegan and I will be arriving there Wednesday night.

  “Ah shit.” I pushed away from the wall and ran my hand through my hair. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

  I knew this would happen eventually. Hell, I knew he was coming for the Yule Ball this Saturday. But still. Wednesday night. That meant I had two days to prepare for his arrival. I wasn’t worried about Tegan. In fact, I was excited for her to come. My twin had all kinds of great ideas for just about anything. Her presence could only bring good things. And I could use her help with the Ball.

  But Tennessee?

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  Damn it.

  Son of a biscuit batter.

  I took a deep breath and typed what I hoped was a calm, not panicked, response. See you then!

  I groaned. Why does he have to come so early?

  No, no. Don’t freak out, Emersyn. You can handle this. It’s fine, right? Right.

  I leaned against the wall and chewed on my thumbnail. Tennessee was coming to New York. Our Leader. Our boss. The guy who could hate what we’ve done with this school and have our Marks and magic stripped.

  Really? Tenn is gonna do that? Now you’re just being crazy. I didn’t know why I was panicking. The school was in great shape. The location was perfect. Classes were running smoothly. Students seemed to be thrilled to be here. I was super proud of Caroline and Noah for their mascot project. It was a great idea that I wished had been mine. Everything was going great so far. And I had three whole school days to make sure we were ready for Tenn’s arrival.

  And besides, I really only had one concern.

  The shifters.

  Chapter Eight

  Emersyn

  My plan was to go room to room, say hello to all the shifters, and see if any issues were brought up. It wasn’t until I swung the door open of my first classroom that I questioned whether this was a good idea.

  The second the door opened, two dozen eyes snapped toward me.

  I froze mid-step.

  All of these students were children, some about Amelia’s age but most as young as Bentley…and they were staring right at me. None of them moved.

  I cleared my throat and waved. “Hello…”

  “Hello?” A man stood up in the back of the classroom. He looked up at me with the craziest green eyes I’d ever seen. They sparkled like the North Star against his beautiful ebony skin. He smiled and it made his whole face light up. “Oh, hello! You must be the Empress, right?”

  I cleared my throat and nodded. Then held my left hand out for him to shake, subtly showing off my Empress Mark. “Yes, but please, call me Emersyn.”

  He shook my hand with a smile still in place. “Nice to meet you, Emersyn. I’m McCallis, this is my classroom. To what do we owe the honor of your presence this morning?”

  “Um…” I shifted my weight around and glanced at the students watching us. “Well, honestly, I’m just going room to room to make sure all of our shifters are doing okay here.”

  “That’s very thoughtful of you. Thanks.” He gestured to the class. “Would you like to see what we’re working on?”

  I bit my lip. “If that’s okay, I’d love to. Which class is this?”

  “My class is to teach our young shifters how to assimilate in the human world. But today’s lesson is focused on shifting on the fly.”

  “Oh…on the fly? Isn’t all shifting that way?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “Not quite, no. See, in the human world, we have to be ready at any given moment to shift back and forth between our animal forms and our human forms. It could mean the difference between life and death.”

  My eyes widened. “That sounds…intense.”

  “It is. Which is why it’s the first thing we teach in this class.”

  I pursed my lips and looked at the students. “So, how does it work with your clothes? I’ve been wanting to ask Silas but —”

  “Good luck getting a single word out of that guy.” He walked over to the line of students and pointed to the boy’s white cotton shirt. “The answer is…cotton. Or any natural material, like silk or wool. So long as we’re wearing one-hundred-percent natural material, our clothing shifts with us.”

  “And if it’s polyester?”

  “We shift back in our birthday suits.”

  I chuckled. “Wow. That’s incredible. So basically, y’all live in cotton.”

  “Basically.” He rubbed his hands together. “All right, class. Now, let’s give this a try. Focus on what I taught you. Deep breaths and let it go.”

  The kids grimaced and nodded. Some of them closed their eyes and took deep breaths. A good handful scrunched their faces up like they ate an entire bag of Sour Patch Kids at once. Then there were a few wide, panicked stares in the back of the room. There was a flash of light and the little girl who’d been standing right in front of me turned into a calico cat. She spun around in circles and flicked her tail.

  “Yes!” McCallis pumped his arm. “Nice work, Molly.”

  The two boys standing beside her scowled and balled their fists – light flashed and then two dogs stood in their place. No wait. Not dogs. Wolves. They stuck their snouts in the air and howled.

  “That’s it, that’s it, good job!” McCallis moved down the line to the opposite side of the room. “This isn’t a competition. Just concentrate and push.”

  Lights flashed left and right like a fireworks show as the students shifted into their animal forms. I gasped. Incredible. Up until this moment, I’d only seen dragon shifters – which was breathtaking to watch – but this was just as amazing. In front of me I saw a red fox and a black bear cub. Off to my left there was a falcon, a long-eared white rabbit, and what looked like a lemur. A giant, neon pink butterfly fluttered around my head. A monkey bounced up onto the windowsill. On the other side of the room, a few more wolves were sniffing around a coyote.

  A little kid in the back of the room whined and stomped his feet. “It won’t go!”

  “Just breathe, Ryan. Don’t force it.” McCallis called out to him. “Reach down inside and feel it.”

  Ryan wasn’t the only student struggling, there had to be almost half of the class fidgeting with their clothes and trying to shift. With each one of their classmates changing, their desperation grew thicker. I knew how they felt. That was me back when I first discovered I was a witch. I couldn’t get the hang of things as fast as my sister did and it sucked.

  Then I remembered that poor kid from lunch on Friday. He’d been so startled that it forced him into his animal form. Maybe that was all these other kids needed, a little push. That was how it was for me, too. When I was calm and trying to get my magic to work, I got nothing, but the second there was danger my flames soared to life.

  Maybe they just need a little boost…

  I walked through the class, dodging tails and flapping wings, until I got closer to the kids who were still in human form. They all looked up at me with fear in their eyes, which made me feel a tad guilty about what I was about to do, but I wasn’t going to hurt them. Just a little surprise.

  I rolled my wrists and summoned my magic to my hands, then flicked my fingers out in front of me. Big, glowing orange flames shot out from my palms. The students screamed and dove away from me — and shifted. I grinned and pulled my fire back, but the trick had already worked.

  There wasn’t a single human in front of me now.

  McCallis cheered and clapped his hands as he walked around the room. “Excellent. SEE, guys? It’s that easy! Now try to shift back.”

  “Incredible.”

  “It really is.” McCallis sighed and shook his head. He stopped next
to me. “I love watching kids learn to shift, seeing their excitement. It’s almost as good as watching non-shifters’ faces when they see us turn to animals.”

  I covered my face with my hands. “Sorry!”

  “No, no, don’t be. I’m sure our reactions to your abilities would be the same.”

  “Touché.”

  “And thanks for that assist there.”

  My cheeks warmed. “No problem. Happy to help. So, may I ask which animal you shift into?”

  He grinned. “A black leopard.”

  “Wow. That’s awesome.” I glanced around at all the different animals. “But I don’t see any dragons here.”

  “And you won’t.”

  I frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because literally the only way for one of us to be born a dragon shifter is if we’re born with the royal bloodline. And even that doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be one. It’s been known to skip around.” He shrugged. “And if you are a dragon, you live in Issale with King Kothari –I hear you know them?”

  “Yes, I’ve been there and met them. I know Koth and Silas, mostly. A couple of the others were very quiet. Issale is a beautiful place.”

  “It really is.” He frowned and turned to look over his shoulder. “Actually, we have a new student who just arrived today from Issale. She’s our only student actually from there, so it’s quite an honor.”

  I followed his gaze to a little girl with long jet-black hair braided down at her sides. Her tawny eyes were wide and bouncing around. She chewed on her bottom lip and huddled in the corner with her arms wound tight around her stomach. My heart broke for her. She looked terrified. This had to be overwhelming for her. Issale didn’t have modern technology, the magic of their species prevented technology from working in their homeland. So New York City was a rude awakening.

  “Did she come with siblings?”

  He shook his head. “Nope, not even parents. Apparently they were just concerned that she hadn’t shifted at all yet and shipped her off here. Just arrived a few hours ago. As far as I know, she hasn’t made much in friends along the way.”