Surviving Year One (Grim Reaper Academy 1)

The images inside the energy ball changed. The same woman was now in a dingy bathroom, looking at something in her hand.

“Well?” Another woman banged at the stall door.

The blond woman sniffed. “Positive.”

“Fuck, Katia! Fuck fuck fuck! How did you get pregnant, stupid?! What will the ma’am say?”

“I don’t know.” She was crying harder now.

“She’ll kick you out!”

The images shifted again. There she was, in a rundown apartment, giving birth by herself. No one was there to help her, not even a friend. It didn’t last long, though, and soon she was holding her baby to her chest. “Mila,” she whispered. “Your name will be Mila because you’ll bring mercy and grace to this godforsaken world.”

Fuck. I felt my knees give in. Luckily, GC was there to support me. No. This isn’t true. My mother is Ilena, and my father is Stepan. My hands flew to my chest, then my throat. I felt like I was choking.

But that wasn’t it. More was coming. Katia was arguing with a man. He had his back to her. She had her baby in her arms, and she was trying to convince him to hold her. Hold Mila.

“She’s yours. You’re the only one… the only one… Please, at least look at me! Look at her!” She grabbed him by the shoulder, and he turned around. Half of his face came into view…

“Enough.” Headmaster Colin stepped forward and made Lorna’s magic ball disappear with a flick of his hand. Lorna fell to the floor, exhausted, and he nodded toward her parents to help her. “Enough with his madness.” He turned toward the students and their parents, toward all of us. “Enough with these games. It has all been in bad taste, and I apologize. Ladies and gentlemen, eighteen is a difficult age. Forgive our students their childish ways. Now, we shall eat, drink, and watch the Righteous Death Cabal perform their scythe demonstration.”

“I have to get out of here,” I whispered. “I must… I can’t breathe.”

“Shh… it’s okay. It’s okay, my goddess. We’re going.”

GC dragged me out of there. When I looked back at Andromeda and her husband, I noticed something had changed in the woman’s eyes. She seemed… intrigued.

By what? By a sex worker’s daughter?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

We slow-danced under the stars as the music poured through the open windows of the dining hall. GC held me and guided me through the motions, and I let him lead, not even knowing what I was doing with my feet. I was there, but not there at all. I was with that woman, the blond, sickly mother who’d given birth alone to a girl named just like me. Mila. But it couldn’t have been me.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I answered after what must have been a minute. “I’m sorry, I… I can’t focus.”

He kissed my forehead. I could feel his body against mine. My hands on his strong chest, our legs touching as we moved, his crotch brushing my pelvis every now and then. But I was so distracted that I couldn’t even react the way I used to. When he tipped my head back and kissed me passionately, I went through the motions, but didn’t even close my eyes. I could still see Lorna’s blue vortex running images from the past, and the more I allowed myself to think about it, the more I let myself fall into the mage’s trap, the more I started to believe there was an invisible connection between me and the woman. I kept seeing her face, her eyes, and I felt like I’d known her a long time ago, like she was someone I’d lost and now finally found again.

“You’re not into it.”

“Mmm? Sorry.” I pulled away and touched my lips. How was this possible? GC was here, with me, when he could have been at the ball, dancing with some other girl. Or other girls. I had him all to myself, and… this was crazy! I didn’t want him. I wanted… to be alone.

“I understand.”

I chuckled bitterly. “You do? Because I don’t. What I just saw in there… What Lorna showed everyone… I don’t know what that was.”

He sighed deeply. “I can… ask around. Hell! I can go ask her, if you want me to. If it was a prank, I’ll get it out of her.”

“No! Don’t. I… I’ll figure it out by myself.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Mila, you don’t have to do anything by yourself. Not anymore. You have me.”

“And I…” I stepped closer to him and cupped his face with my trembling hands. God, he was handsome! His eyes were a dark shade of green now, – which reminded me of Paz; so, so weird… oh my God, Paz was hurt! – and his hair was dark red, almost kind of brown. When would I get used to his shifting features? GC fucking Apis was here, he wanted to help me, he wanted… me, and I couldn’t focus. I just couldn’t. I’d had plans for tonight! Big plans. They’d all gone down the drain, and what wouldn’t I have given to take it all back. The prank I pulled on Sariel, the embarrassment I’d caused him, the scar on Paz’s cheek… And then, Lorna wouldn’t have suspected a thing, because there wouldn’t have been anything to suspect, and she wouldn’t have gone all wild mage on me. “I appreciate all you’re doing for me. I do. Thank you for being here, thank you for… trying to help…”

“But?”

“I… I think I want to be alone. I need time. To think.”