Page 28 of A Curse So Cruel (Fated Mates of Shadowbone Academy #1)
Chapter Eighteen
~ Shade ~
W hen Thane finally orders us to stop running, we’re given a short rest before he spends the next hour making us cycle through a series of stretching and strength exercises.
Of course, the other students can perform way more reps than I can, and when I collapse for the third time while trying to do a push up, Thane mercifully announces class is over and orders us to report to the dining hall for lunch.
Crippling relief rolls through me, and Thane watches as Kenzie helps me stumble away toward the academy building.
Despite my roommate’s warning to eat something light, when we’re in the dining hall I wolf down a cheese sandwich and guzzle water like a dehydrated camel.
Thankfully, none of the professors are at the dining hall to watch my face grow pale, a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead, and I stagger from the room, only just making it to a toilet before throwing everything back up.
Kenzie holds my hair back, staying silent until I’m finished, and when I’m done I slump against the wall of the cubicle.
“I warned you to take it easy,” my roommate says sympathetically.
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “Don’t eat a big meal straight after the physical training class from hell. Noted.” Lifting to my feet, I slowly move to a sink and wash my face. The water is cool against my hot skin, and I longingly eye the showers on the other side of the room.
Kenzie leans her hip against the sink beside mine. “Don’t get any ideas. We have Shadow Basics class soon.”
I groan loudly. “Is it just me, or is this day taking forever?”
“They like to keep us busy. Leira and I had this theory that they make sure we’re exhausted so there’s less chance we’ll get into trouble outside of classes.”
Sighing, I comb my fingers through my hair and stare at my reflection in the mirror. I’m a sweaty mess, but the thought of using magic to fix myself up still fills me with dread. “So what you’re saying is, every day is going to be this bad?”
Kenzie stares at her own reflection and tucks a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. I can tell she wants to use magic to fix her braid, but it feels like she’s holding back for me.
“Like I said, it gets easier,” she tells me. “And if you graduate and become immortal, your strength and endurance increases significantly. At least, that’s what they say. The students who graduate leave the academy that night, so it’s hard to know if that’s true.”
I turn from the mirror. “What do you mean the graduates all leave straight away? To go where? The battlefield?”
“No, didn’t you pay attention in this morning’s history class?
A city has been built around Queen Krosia’s castle.
All the graduates go there, and then they’re assigned.
Become a top graduate and you get a more favorable position.
It’s why Satine is so desperate to become the professors’ favorite.
She’s hoping they’ll put in a good word for her with the queen. ”
“Oh right,” I say, walking across the room and wiping my face with a rolled-up towel I pluck from a stack close by.
She starts toward the door. “Come on, Shadow Basics shouldn’t be too bad. There’s no exercising involved, I promise.”
That perks me up a little, though I still wish I was back in the library in the human realm. I miss Pumpkin and my pillow fort.
Kenzie leads us through the academy to another lecture room with rows of seats that angle upward. She finds us a spot at the back of the room again, and I relax in my chair, resting my arms on my small writing table.
The room fills quickly, and as if she’s been there all along, Professor Lankin steps out from a mass of shadows against the far wall, materializing at the front of the class just as the last student sits.
Like the night before, her red hair is pulled into a tight high bun, and the dim lighting makes her features appear even sharper.
Her fox moves from her side, and it sits on her wooden desk, watching us with cunning red eyes.
I jolt in my seat, glad that I hadn’t said anything inappropriate while we’d been waiting.
“Good afternoon students,” the professor says, not even acknowledging I’m new to the class, which suits me perfectly.
“I trust you are all refreshed and ready to begin. Over the past weeks, it has been promising to see you all starting to master the magic provided by your academy rings. Today, we will be working on accessing shadow pathways. I have activated a barrier so you will not be able to see any paths that lead outside academy grounds. However, even so, your task is to create a shadow pathway, but not to walk it. When you access a pathway, you should be able to detect where it leads. You must feel the energy coming from the pathway and be able to visualize the end destination. To walk into a pathway blind is a foolish thing to do.”
I expect the professor to give me extra instructions, and detail an easier task for me to complete, one the others have likely already mastered, but she doesn’t. She simply stares at us all expectantly, her gaze falling on me before going to other students in the class.
Professor Lankin paces the room with her hands tucked behind her back.
“Close your eyes,” she coaches. “Feel the power that flows through your ring. Access the shadow magic and imagine yourself traveling to another area of the academy. Picture somewhere simple like the corridor outside your dorm room, the dining hall, or another common area.”
“You’ve got this,” Kenzie whispers to me, and she closes her eyes like the other students, her brow furrowing as she concentrates.
I run my thumb over my academy ring, rubbing the little skull.
Considering the only successful shadow magic I’ve managed to perform is when I created a chocolate bar, I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for me to be trying to access more magic.
I contemplate pointing this out to the professor, but when I look up, she’s staring at me impatiently.
“Remember,” she says as she holds my gaze, “you are not to travel the path. Simply visualize it. Feel the magic, and see how long you can hold the entrance to the path open.”
Okay, so I’m not getting out of this. Breathing steadily, I reluctantly close my eyes and try to follow her instructions like everyone else.
What had she said? Visualize a common area in the academy.
My first thought is my dorm room, so I try to picture that.
I think of the decorated walls and the gothic furniture.
I have to admit, it would be handy to be able to shadow walk around the academy.
Some of the students whisper excitedly around me, no doubt having accomplished the task already, but as time passes and no pathways appear for me, I find myself getting distracted.
My thoughts go to Thane, and I wonder what the professor is doing now.
Is he busy training more students? On the one hand, I dread the thought of my next physical training class, but on the other, it does mean I’ll get to see the grumpy professor again.
I bite my bottom lip, thinking about the growly professor with the warm brown eyes, and the way he’d so easily slung me over his shoulder.
Kenzie had said she’d never seen him carry a student before, and my stomach flips, a tendril of excitement going through me.
I’m deep in thought, busy imagining Thane’s hand on my ass again, when my body starts to tingle.
Heat spreads from my ring, and the pain is so sudden I don’t have time to cry out.
Like when I try to change my outfits, the magic feels wrong.
It feels warped, somehow, and yet, it also feels right at the same time.
When I snap my eyes open, there are multiple pathways in front of me like I’m sitting at an intersection.
The dark tunnels twist and weave in different directions like bridges all waiting to take me somewhere else.
Warmth emanates from a tunnel to my left, and it’s a comforting, enticing heat that draws me closer.
Around me, Kenzie and most of the other students have their eyes open as well, but it’s obvious they’re not seeing the same pathways that I am.
I stare at the one particular pathway that has snagged my attention.
The tunnel stretches on, shadows slithering along the path like snakes moving away from me, as if they’re coaxing me to follow them.
I know I’m not supposed to go. Professor Lankin’s instructions are loud in my ears, reminding me that we’re only supposed to create the pathway, not travel it, but I don’t think.
Before I know it, curiosity has me lifting from my chair, and I step into the tunnel.
As soon as I have both feet on the shadow pathway, the lecture hall disappears behind me, and I’m surrounded by walls of darkness and shadows on all sides. There’s no going back, as far as I can tell, so I walk forward, gingerly moving along the dimly lit trail.
Great going, Shade, now you’re on a shadow pathway headed to who the hell knows where. Sure, you could end up lost in here, doomed to die without anyone knowing where you are, but no problem, just follow the shadows.