Page 20

“This chode is trying to sit with us,” Alice growls.

“Brett,” he says, holding out a hand. “I was asking if I could sit since all the other tables are full. Your friend seems to hate that idea, though.”

“Go die, shifter scum,” Alice hisses.

Brett’s eyes turn a predatory feline yellow. “I have no issue with your kind. Avalon is a safe haven. If you want to carry over millennia-long prejudices, that’s on you.”

I wiggle between them and sit down. “It’s just a seat, Alice. You don’t have to marry him.”

Alice recoils and turns so she’s facing away from him. Brett drops his hand. His cheeks flush in embarrassment from the spurned introduction, but he rounds the table and sits across from us. “So, you guys first years too?” he asks, trying to make conversation.

“Don’t make me regret offering you the seat, Brett.” I open the tome I found while exploring the stacks and flip through it.

Brett sinks back into his chair a little, and I can see he is starting to regret not just sitting on the floor. “Well, I’m first year,” he says quietly.

Alice huffs loudly. “See? This is why you don’t fucking feed the animals.”

I glance at her, my lips twitching.

“I didn’t know there were female vampires,” he mutters, trying again despite Alice’s vitriol.

I look at him over the top of my book. “You’re taking your life in your hands here, but okay. Yes, we’re first years. Yes, I’m a weird fae. And yes, she’s a murderous vampire.”

Brett blinks, regarding us both with newfound wariness. “Cool,” he says simply and pulls out a stack of textbooks.

Despite not opening a book, Alice begs for a reprieve after several hours of studying. She had continued to make snarky comments and even occasionally hissed at Brett, but he still waves a friendly goodbye as we leave the library. There issomething admirable about his persistent cheerfulness and the way he’s still not taken the hint. Or maybe he’s a moron. Either way, I kind of respect him more for surviving our study session. Alice and my similarities must end when it comes to the pursuit of knowledge. She hadn’t been deprived of books like I had, so they aren’t treasures to her.

Alice and I walk to the edge of the campus, heading for the pizza parlor in Camelot, the town just outside the gate of Avalon. From what I had read of this realm, Camelot is the city that connects the other schools of the realm. At one time, there was only Avalon University, but eventually, other colleges were established. There are now seven in total, with Avalon being the oldest and most prestigious.

“Apparently, the uniforms have built-in glamors. Once we’re outside the wards, anything identifying us as Avalon students vanishes. Cool, huh?” Alice says as we reach the gate.

My brows furrow, watching as other students meet up and head off campus into Camelot. “Why would it matter if this is a realm full of magic wielders?”

Alice shrugs. “With all the other nearby schools, I’m guessing they just want us all to blend in. Maybe there are those bitter that they didn’t get in, and they want to maintain the peace.”

I nod thoughtfully. Just as Alice said, our uniforms change as we pass through the gate. My skirt remains a skirt, and Alice’s pants remain pants, but any identifying school markings blend into nothing. The perfect pleats of my skirt smooth out, the simple black fabric now hugging my ass and thighs tightly.

Alice looks down as her slacks turn into a pair of dark denim jeans, twisting to look at herself in them. “Stop! Look at my ass! You could bounce a coin off it. How do I keep them?”

I laugh as we follow the signs to Camelot.

The path is like something out of a storybook. Trees line one side of it, and as the sun sets, bright sparks of magic flare tolife, guiding us to Camelot. They hover, forming small spheres in midair, and I marvel at them as we walk.

Alice smiles, watching me. “I sometimes forget you didn’t grow up around this stuff.” I glance at her as she continues to chatter. “It’s funny. I’ve never looked at twilight orbs with wonder until I saw you watching them.”

I blanch. I need to get a better handle on my reactions.

“Tell me about Draculea. Is it like this realm?”

Alice chuckles softly. “No. It’s constantly overcast. Every single day. There is no sun ever. Most vampires are required to get a sun charm to enroll here. But it’s not a perfect solution. It feels like wearing a second skin on top of your own. Poor fuckers.”

I tilt my head. “You don’t need one?”

Alice shakes her head. “I’m… an exception.” Alice points ahead at a small pizzeria. “That’s the place!”

“I can’t imagine a place with no sun ever,” I ponder, staring at the orange glow the sunset casts against the cobbles.

“I didn’t really know any different. I also grew up in a palace surrounded by a moat of blood.”