Mor’s gaze strays to me then back to her. “You know as well as I do that many students aren’t going to be accepting of her once they find out what she is.”
“Yes, but we can always keep that hidden for as long as possible,” Sage replies. “In fact, it might be for the best for now if very little students and teachers know what she is.”
"I agree," Mor says. "However, her guides should probably be made aware of her situation and be accepting of it. And considering what the Death Triplets are, I think they might be our best bet."
Sage scratches her horn. “Perhaps. But do we really want to risk the Death Triplets turning into the Death Quadruplets?”
“Whatever group she’s part of, she’ll pose the same amount of risk,” Mor stresses. “At least this way, she’ll be surrounded by creatures that can handle her…” He casts a wary glance at me. “Intense abilities.”
Intense abilities? Just exactly what can I do?
I think about Mia and Tim and what happened to them when I felt that darkness purring under my skin.
What are my powers?
Sage gives a nod, strands of her red hair falling into her eyes. “You’re probably right. I just hope this doesn’t turn into a disaster.”
“I do too,” Mor agrees with a frown. But then he shakes his head and turns to face me. “All right, Haven Wyllowravelee, do you have any questions before we assign you to your guides?”
Do I have any questions? Is he freakin’ kidding me?”
“Yeah,” I answer nervously. “What exactly is this academy for? And what’s a Maddening? What can they do exactly? And what am I going to be learning while I attend here?”
The room grows so silent you can hear the shuffling of Mor’s feathers underneath his cloak.
“I’ll handle this,” Jude says to Sage and Mor, lifting his blazing arm in front of him and sending smoke swirling through the air.
“Thank you, Jude,” Sage says then looks at me. “I want you to understand what a great honor it is to attend this academy. Do not take that lightly, okay?” She doesn’t wait for me to respond, turning to Mor. “Ready to get back to business?”
Mor gives her a grin that makes me wonder what sort of business they’re going back to, if it has anything to do with why Mor has lipstick on the collar of his cloak.
Then just as abruptly as they materialized, they dissipate into thin air. And I’m left standing there, speechless, and so freakin’ confused.
Story of my life, I guess. Only this is way, way different than just being a socially awkward girl in the human world that everyone seems afraid of.
Jude sticks out his flame-y hand for me to take. "Come along, honey. Let's go get you checked in. And while we do, I'll try to explain some things to you. And prepare you for the Death Triplets. Although you handled them well earlier, so I'm not too worried."
Part of me doesn't want to take his hand, feels like the second I do, my life will forever change. But honestly, my life wasn't that great to begin with. So I place my hand in his, crossing my fingers that whatever is waiting for me in this new life will be better than what I had in the human world.
But considering what Mor and Sage said about me supposedly being deadly…
Yeah, I’m a bit worried that I might b
e worse off in this new monster life.
Haven
Jude and I leave the office the same way we entered—through a cloud of smoke. When I ask what the crap it is, Jude explains to me that the smoke is a magical form of transportation, that everything in the academy is magical.
“But you have to have access to that magic,” he explains as we make our way down a narrow, dimly lit hallway paved with cobblestone. “And you won’t have access to that until you’re a third year.”
We're headed to dorm area where I'll get checked in and be assigned a room, classes, etc. From what Jude has told me about the academy, it sounds similar to private prep schools. Only this school is run by magic, is located in the Moonlight realm, and only monsters with magical bloodlines are allowed to attend, like vampires, fey, werewolves, shapeshifters, and a lot of other creatures I've never heard of, most of their titles ending with demon. Jude also informed me that the main goal of the academy is to train creatures to hunt down dangerous monsters that pose a threat to our realms. Monster hunters and huntresses, he called the creatures that graduate from the academy and get hired to go hunt dangerous creatures down. Like Annabella, the witch who shoved me into the vortex that brought me here, which leaves me wondering why she felt like I needed to be here and be protected.
“How many years do creatures go to this school?” I ask as I try to take in all of this.
It’s complicated, though. Trying to believe everything I’m being told, everything that’s happened, everything I’m seeing. Honestly, part of me is still convinced I’m in a nightmare. The only thing that has me questioning if perhaps this is real is that I’ve spent years wondering if I had some sort of magic ability.
“A total of three years.” Jude’s ember-like eyes slide to me. “How old are you now?”