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My mind drifted to Killian again. I needed to stay far away from him. He was too hot for his own good and too dangerous.

A blur of motion passed by my periphery, and I snapped my head around.

A girl sprang in my direction, her blue hair going wild in the wind, worry tightening her pixie features.

It was Bea, the witch!

A group of seven students—fae, witches, mage, shifter, and siren—were chasing her, shouting in elation, thrilled at the hunt.

A boy and a girl outraced her, cutting off her escape route. The rest of the gang hemmed her in like a pack of coyotes, ready to tear flesh and taste the blood of their prey.

“Where are you running, freak?” A siren chick, who smelled of seaweed, stepped into Bea’s path.

“Leave me alone!” Bea cried out, her trembling left hand thrusting a wand in front of her, her right arm hugging a thick book against her chest.

“What can your toothpick do?” a small-nosed witch snorted, pointing her more refined wand at Bea.

I tilted my head as I recognized this witch as the fake blonde who sat on America’s other side in the class I’d stumbled into while fleeing from Louis. I could bleach the color out of her hair with a snap of my fingers.

This mean witch was stuck up, and she, like the others, mistook Bea as lesser. I sniffed again just to make sure. Yep, Bea was more powerful, but she had a block, just like me.

“I’ve never bothered any of you,” Bea said. “I’ve been keeping to myself.”

“You should never have gotten into this elite school and brought down the reputation of our house,” the mage boy who had outraced her shouted. “You’re defective. Go into exile, like your father!”

“It’s not like I wanted to be here,” Bea protested. “It’s mandatory for every coming-of-age supernatural to join the school and expand the pool of the Brides Selections.”

“So, you think you can be one of the brides and land a prince?” the fake blonde witch snorted, and the gang snickered.

“You’re putting words in my mouth,” Bea said. “I don’t have your kind of agenda or ambition. I’m here to learn magic, so I can find a proper job after I graduate from the academy.”

“Yet you drool over Prince Cade every time he passes by the house,” the fake blonde witch hissed.

“I don’t drool,” Bea said. “But since when is it against the law to look?”

“How dare you talk back to us? Do you know who I am?” a rich fae brat barked, his arm around the fake blonde witch’s shoulders.

Huh, that was how the fake blonde witch got accepted into the gang that seemed to be trying to police the school.

“Who are you?” Bea asked, and I chuckled.

The fae boy darted forward and shoved Bea with such force that she fell to the ground. Her precious book dropped and flipped open at the middle.

“Book of Shadows!” the fake blonde witch hissed, envy glinting in her eyes. “Where did you get it? A low witch like you should not have that book!”

“It’s a grimoire from my grandmother,” Bea said as she crawled toward the book, but the siren girl kicked the book away.

Bea waved her wand, sending a gust of wind with sparks of fire toward the siren chick, flinging her into a bench. The other bullies threw up their shields. At the same time, their magic—fire, ice, wind, and water—joined, hurling toward her.

If the collective magic hit Bea, she’d be maimed if not killed. The students hadn’t held back. Bea was a nobody here, like me. I doubted anyone would even be charged for murdering a less powerful supernatural in the Shades Academy.

I tossed out my dark wind, neutralizing the gang’s collective magic. Not a single spark of their offensive powers reached Bea while I held them hostage.

The bullies traded a look of disbelief and threw up their hands again. Nothing. Their magic didn’t obey them. They looked around in anger and panic, seeking a target.

Some students had stopped, forming a small crowd to watch the fight, but many students kept going about their own business, passing through the courtyard. Not one of them came forward to help Bea.

“What the fuck?” a small-eyed, dark-skinned shifter boy called. “What did you do to us, freak? What kind of witchcraft is this?”