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Chapter Two : Royalty Isn't Fun

The Vancouver Academy wasn't the largest out of the dozen in our world, but it was considered huge for a learning institute by human standards.

Vancouver was now the sixth largest in the world of thaumaturgy and it was filled to near capacity since the campus in the United Kingdom was attacked last year, and Vancouver received a good deal of the surviving students, Masters, and Professors.

Our world was still trying to recover and cope with that loss; nearly seven hundred students ranging from the age of six to twenty-five and another hundred Professors and Advisors were brutally murdered or their bodies were never recovered.

When you are part of a rare race of magical and mythical beings, a hit like that severely affects your numbers and morale.

I'd blame the man, but I don't know who the man is in this particular case to blame.

No one did.

I suppose this is where, in the story, I explain what in the Hell I'm talking about.

This is, after all, my story.

To keep it simple, two worlds have harmoniously coexisted since the beginning of time. The one you are familiar with is the human world, which is completely ignorant of the world of magic and the supernatural that is running parallel to it. That world is the world of Thaumaturgy, which includes the supernatural and mythical.

Magic is such a broad term in our world compared to the human world, and it encompasses every aspect of it. Humans think magic is all smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, and card tricks.

In actuality, it's what keeps their precious world of ignorance and bliss intact.

As with everything that exists, there's darkness to the light.

Thaumaturgy is good magic, white magic in essence, and the reverse side of that light, that shadow and darkness, is called Devilry.

Many of the premodern world-changing events with a body count weren't because of humans, it was those of Thaumaturgy and Devilry battling for control over both worlds.

Witches of Thaumaturgy are called Cauls and their Devilry counterparts are Benandanti, and their male counterparts are Brujo and Stregone. Vampires are called many things from Moroi to Strigoi and Vampyre, but their evil counterparts are called Upír, the living undead; they're a real pain in the ass, to put it bluntly.

One of my best friends, Harper, is a Vyras, which is what a human would consider a werewolf, and their evil counterparts are called Werewolves just to be derogatory because they don't like it.

Aside from the expected beings of magic like Wizards, Mages, Druids, Sorcerers, and the above-mentioned, and so many others that I can't begin to get into at the moment, there are the rare, but exciting, Elementals; they're as cool as they sound! Elementals can control one of the elements: Earth, Wind, Air, Fire, or Spirit. But Spirit is just rumored from what I've heard since no one had ever actually seen an Elemental of Spirit before.

Those who are born from two different magical bloodlines but present with a predominant form of magic, like our resident Wizard Slevin, he is called a Wizard-born. He isn't a pure-blooded Wizard, but his thaumaturgy is that of Wizardry so he is denoted as to what his magic is sourced from. Slevin is a Wizard-born even though his mother was a powerful Caul. If his thaumaturgy had presented predominately from his mother's side, he would have been called a Caul-born.

Knowing the source of one's thaumaturgy is important in our world.

Then there are Wights. They are considered to be Blended Heirs of Light since they are made up of various thaumaturgic classes but with no dominant form of thaumaturgy that would denote them as being a "Born" class. Because Wights have completely unique thaumaturgy that is genetically passed down from all branches of their family trees, they don't fit into one set of magical classifications.

Those of pure blood tend to look down their noses at Wights because of it, but it is fear because Wights are of unknown thaumaturgy, and that makes them potentially dangerous and uncharted.

Then there are the great disappointments in our world of magic and wonder, those they call Mundane; children of Wights or those of the pure magical races, heirs that don't possess any thaumaturgy, like me.

Wights or non-house tied races with thaumaturgic prowess train to be guards in our world called Sentinels, or Guardian to those with a dedicated Charge. Those Wights that lack strong magical aptitude oddly make up for it in a physical sense; they can be faster, stronger, and possess heightened dexterity. Since they weren't house-tied, it gave them a higher purpose in our world.

Personally, I didn't think being a Sentinel was such a bad gig.

You got to kick serious ass and kill stuff once you graduated!

Sure, you're stuck as a guard, and will most likely have a premature death protecting your charge and our world, but it's better than being bound and tossed into the human world to die.

Humans had no place in our world, and being called Human was a grave insult even for a Mundane.

Sentinels keep the Royals and those of considered importance in the world of Thaumaturgy alive and safe since they're constantly targeted by Devilry...

That, honestly, is the hardest lesson I've yet to accept since I've never met a royal that wasn't a pompous ass that deserved whatever ill-will came their way.

"Miss Li," Headmaster Bakshi greeted me from behind when I started up the stairs leading to the large administration building.

Damn it.

I turned around and offered a smile. "Good morrow to you, Sir," I said with a sweeping bow.

"Why must you always be so amusing in the morning when I know you are trying to prevent the inevitable?" Headmaster Bakshi asked with a chuckle, heading up the stairs.

"The question is, Sir, why mess with perfection?" I retorted, following him.

He groaned, but a smile tugged at his full, dark lips. "What did you do this time?" he asked.

"You know, same old-same old. I gave a one-finger salute to a new student," I offered with a shrug. "Nothing major. I didn't even assault him...ish?"

"That's it?" he asked, not impressed.

I rested my hand over my heart. "Sentinel's honor, Sir. The stake didn't make contact, aside from his hand, not for my lack of trying though."

"Go back to class and tell Master Dade to stop trying to make an example out of you because it only gives me a headache."

A smile filled my face.

That's one thing I liked about Headmaster Bakshi; he's more reasonable and chill than the last Headmaster that I scared off. He's calm and mellow, for the most part, and older. He was a lateral transfer from the Academy of the Mayans in Mexico and has advanced education in history and archaic thaumaturgy.

"Wait," he said, causing my smile to fall. "The new student you saluted and tried to stake, it wasn't Prince de Babineaux, was it?" he groaned.

Oops.

Only those of the first Five Houses of their respective races were acknowledged that they held the title of Prince or Princess by those of authority or position in our world.

"Um..." I shrugged. "Hypothetically speaking, let's say it was, would that be bad?" I asked with a cringe.

"Oh, Ari," Headmaster Bakshi scolded, shaking his head. "Was the Prince offended?"

That's a good question. He actually smirked when I flipped him off, not appearing pissed in the least.

"He didn't look mad, and if I were to be honest, he looked as if he was expecting my poor staking attempt. But then again, when royalty is involved, I'm not the best judge of character... Wait, he's a Vampire, right?" I asked, that just seemingly registering with me for some reason. "Two sets of fangs, of the first Five Houses, Vampire?" I wanted to clarify.

Headmaster Bakshi nodded.

"Holy shit. Is he a mutant?!"

"Ari!" he scolded.

"Seriously, I've never seen a vampire that big before!" I said. "Or dark-haired. Usually, they're skinny stick-like, little blood-sucking mosquitos that you want to bash with a rolled-up newspaper! Are you sure?"

Headmaster Bakshi gave me a look. "Yes, he is of the Fifth House and just transferred to our Academy. Will you please not antagonize the Prince any more than you already have? We do not have that many crowned royals of the first Five Houses in Vancouver or that many Vampires, which I am more than certain that you are to blame for."

I gasped as if I was offended, which I wasn't.

I took that as a great compliment.

Vancouver did have the smallest Vampire student population, but I'm not sure why, and the highest population of Mundane and Wights. Vancouver did boast the most extensive and difficult Sentinel training program out of any of the Academies.

That, I did know the reason for and it was because of me and the balls-out training program I put together my first year when I came to the Vancouver Academy after being homeschooled.

Headmaster Bakshi offered a smile. "Ari, please go back to class and do not assault anyone today, and try not to antagonize anyone else. I am running out of ways to punish you, and by now it is rather obvious that I am not punishing you in the least."

I smiled wide. "Next punishment you can finish reading to me from that Eteocypriot tablet you have on display in your office that you started during my last punishment."

He chuckled. "Sounds like the perfect way to spend detention. Get to class," he said.

I slid down the handrail with a wave.