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5

Summer

A lice and I continue to chuckle and chatter as we head back toward Kelpie. I stop to take off my heels, carrying them in my hand. Alice wraps an arm around my waist as we stroll across campus. “How was the golden dude?”

“The golden dude tried to make me eat a sandwich mid-make-out.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders. Even with her heeled boots, she barely reaches my shoulder.

Alice snorts. “Is that code for his dick?”

“What? No. He wanted me to eat an actual sandwich.” I roll my eyes and let out a huff. What a way to ruin a perfectly good opportunity to fuck. Men. “To soak up the alcohol or whatever.”

Alice frowns. “Why?”

“So that he could kiss me, knowing I wasn’t intoxicated.”

“Ugh.”

I shrug, trying to shake off the lingering dissatisfaction. “Whatever. I didn’t even give him my name.”

“It’s a big school. I doubt you’ll see him again,” Alice says. We walk arm-in-arm, supporting each other all the way to Kelpie Hall. I lean against the wall as she fishes in her pocket for the key to the dorm. While the rooms are accessed by our fingerprints, the main doors need a key, or entry is granted from within the dorms via intercom.

“Exactly,” I agree.

“And that punch… Shit. It was perfect,” Alice says, kissing her fingertips.

She stumbles into the building once she manages to get the door unlocked, and we practically crawl up the stairs. I laugh and follow her into the dorm, locking the door behind me with a wave of my hand.

“Well, we’re a team, and she was being an asshole.”

“Damn right.” Alice holds out her pinky, and I link mine with hers. “If someone comes for one of us, they come for both of us.” She shakes our hands before releasing me, the pact made.

Alice smiles sleepily, the alcohol obviously tugging at her sleep receptors. She yawns widely and salutes me before turning on her heel to shuffle to her room.

I grab a glass of water and peek in at Alice. She is already completely passed out on her bed, fully clothed. I pull her bedroom door closed before going to my room. I look at my still unpacked bag and the empty shell of my room. Is this any more like home than the last place I dwelled in?

I grab my still-mostly unpacked bag and pull out a small box. I open it and place it on my bedside table. Inside is a tiny sprig of wood with one single flower on it. A flower that’s never wilted, living without water, sun, or even air, barely clinging to life for years. Just like me, barely living, barely breathing, barely existing.

It is the last piece of my home. My true home, and one I never knew.

I sigh, brushing my finger down the immortal sprig before curling up on my side and propping up the box so I can look at it. A single tear slides down my cheek. I only have a moment to think of my lost home before I fall into the abyss of sleep.

“Summer! We have to get ready!” Alice beats on the wall that separates our rooms, and my head pounds in response. The alcohol from last night churns in my stomach and regret crawls through me, dragging nausea in its wake. I groan, pressing my face into my pillow, trying to get control of my stomach before the contents of it end up on my floor. It must be that stupid Eden Mist. I’ve never been this hungover from regular alcohol.

Slowly, I open my eyes, and the room spins. Apparently, not only am I hungover, but simultaneously still drunk. Fucking perfect. I sit up and wait for my vision to stop kaleidoscoping the room before I risk stumbling through to the bathroom.

I press my back against the cold tile of the shower and allow myself to slide to the floor. Keeping my eyes closed is definitely the better option. Unfortunately, I didn’t explore my ensuite last night and my impaired sight is needed to turn the shower on. The first spray of water is freezing, but my broken body barely jolts beneath it. I nearly sob in relief when it starts to get warmer.

The shower does wonders for my hangover, and I’m able to function enough to recall a rune to lessen the effects even more.

Runes have always come naturally to me. When I was a child living in the wrong realm, they used to get me into enormous trouble with my caretaker. She would admonish me for anything remotely to do with magic. Most, I was able to conceal, to hide within myself, accepting that it was somehow wrong. Yet, it’s always been so potent in my life. They come into my mind when I need them most, and when they’re so clear in my head, it’s difficult to ignore the impulse to draw them. I used to have notebooks and diaries full of them littered around my caretaker’s home, but without a key ingredient, runes are just symbols. They require magic to power them.

I grab a small blade from my toiletry bag and slice my finger. The sting is so familiar to me now that I barely feel it. Something within me always seems to wake at the small bite of pain. I wipe the mirror clear of condensation and then turn my back to it, slowly drawing the swooping rune of hydration onto my left shoulder. The long line curls at both ends and is tied with a sweeping slash across the middle. The rune is so clear to me that I don’t have to watch as I draw it, though I do if only to appreciate how my fingers masterfully glide the blood over my skin.

The rune glows faintly before my skin absorbs the blood, leaving only the shimmer of its shape. I flex my shoulder, and the light catches on the iridescent mark. This is a temporary rune and only lasts a few hours. There are some runes on my body that are much longer lasting, but all of them are the same glittering iridescent shade.

The rune’s effects are immediate, and I can brush my teeth without the fear of vomiting. I walk back to my bedroom and notice that the wardrobe doors have a note attached to them. I pull it off, reading it.

Miss Tuatha De Daanan,

Avalon has a strict uniform policy, and we have provided all you need. Please wear as per the school rules included in your information packet.

Regards,

Ms Dune, School Administrator

I lift an eyebrow, dread filling me at what I might find behind the doors. Will the uniform be ugly? Shapeless? Oh fuck. What if it is brown?

Taking a deep breath, I open the door and am surprised to find it full of immaculate black clothing. Thank the gods. I sift through them, looking at the options, and I am impressed to note that they all seem perfectly tailored to me. It’s probably an enchantment of some kind. I open the jacket, and as I suspected, find the runes embroidered along the hem with blood string. Someone drenched the thread in their blood and then used it to create the runes. Based on the black stitching, it must be a sorcerer.

Embroidered on the left breast of the jacket is the Avalon insignia. This isn’t like the one the tour guide had on her shirt. This is much more akin to what I expected from such a prestigious university. The bordering circle proudly displays the school’s motto, Fear Fire Fury . Within the circle is an intricate-looking A formed of hard lines and loopy swoops. Beneath is what looks like an unrolled scroll with the words To know is not enough written on it.

I pull out a pleated skirt and a black shirt. The black and silver tie I choose matches the stitches on the skirt and jacket. After I pull on my underwear, I slip the skirt on first and study my reflection in the mirror. It is short, very fucking short, but it’s also the nicest skirt I’ve ever owned in both quality and design. I try the black shirt on and tuck it in, surprised again that it fits so perfectly. Instead of wearing the tie up at my throat, I decide to let it hang midway down my chest. The tailored jacket is cut tight to my form, the decorative silver stitching flickering along the edges.

Alice walks into my room, having opted for a pair of fitted black slacks and a black shirt. She’s not wearing the jacket, but it is hanging over her arm. “I mean, I know why we have to wear them, but… uniforms are weird.”

“Are there any rules about shoes?” I ask, glancing at her.

She shrugs and points to her black boots. “I’m just wearing these.”

I decide to wear something similar for my first day. The skirt is enough, and I do not want to draw more attention to myself by wearing heels. I step in front of the mirror and tilt my head. Something isn’t quite right. I roll the waistband of the skirt, making it even shorter, and then nod at my reflection before pulling on socks and my baseball boots.

“You’re making it shorter?” Alice snorts.

“Why not?” My lips twitch.

As we leave the dorm, it’s clear that news of our fun last night has flooded the campus. Several people stop to stare at us, whispering incoherently. People gawking at me is nothing new. At my last school, everyone knew there was something different about me, but it was my non-mortal nature that they suspected there.

“Coffee, please. Large,” I order when we reach the coffee cart in the middle of the quad.

“Make that two,” Alice adds, scrolling through her phone. “Oh, looks like somebody uploaded pictures of the fight last night.”

She turns her phone so I can see a post from an account called @TheOtherTwin . The picture shows me punching the shifter bitch. The look of surprise on her face is incredible.

“Oh, my gods!” I gasp, grabbing her phone to look at it. “I looked so hot last night. You did not hype me up enough.”

Alice snorts and pulls me closer, lifting her phone to take a selfie. I wink in the picture, pouting a little as Alice laughs. It occurs to me that I have arrived at a crossroads. I can hide away as I’ve always done or embrace this a little, leaning fully into it. If my time at Avalon is temporary, I may as well enjoy myself, right?

“What are you going to caption it?” I ask, glancing at her phone over her shoulder.

I laugh and grab our coffees from the barista.

“What’s your username? I’ll tag you.”

“Oh. I don’t think I have that,” I say, frowning at her phone. I’ve never heard of Nexus before. It looks kind of like the socials from my previous realm, but… more.

“Oh, my fucking gods! You’ve been deprived!” Alice shrieks. “We’re making you one right now.” She grabs my phone and downloads the app before making a profile for me. Her thumbs practically blur as she types out my bio.

She swaps my phone for her coffee, and I scroll through the profile she’s made for me.

“Okay, I just need to tag @RaysofSummer. ”

The second Alice tags me in the post, my phone blows up with notifications as people follow me, obviously intrigued by the new weirdo who causes fights at the hottest party of the night.

“I can’t believe I’m friends with someone who pouts in photos.” Alice nudges me, rolling her eyes.

I look at the photo. “What? It’s good!”

She mimics my artful pout. “Is this how you practice it?”

I roll my eyes, nudging her. “You’re an asshole.”

“You know, the other benefit to having Nexus is that you can access your class schedule on the app. The whole school uses it, and there’s a portal for official school stuff only. Rumor is it started as a way to get school information to students fast, but eventually, it spiraled into a more social networking thing. And it’s not just Avalon exclusive anymore. People from all over the realms use it.”

I scroll through the app and pull up my schedule. My interest piques when I notice that my first class is Realms 100, and Alice is in it as well. The last book I read was on Realms, specifically this one. Alice is decidedly less enthused about the idea of going to class, and when we arrive, she tugs me to the back row of the classroom. I pull out my notebook, so ready to learn and excited to be in a place that reveres knowledge and hands it out.

A handsome sorcerer steps forward. Fuck, are they all this gorgeous? Though this one is far less intimidating than the headmaster. I am unsure if there is anyone who could top him on that.

“Welcome to Realms 100, first years. My name is Professor Ambrose, Sorcerer First Class. As part of this course, we will be analyzing each of the realms that no doubt many of you have either come from or visited. As part of your grade for this course, you will be asked to do a final project on a randomly assigned realm and its history.”

The classroom door opens, and the angel from last night, the one who I made out with, the one who tried to force-feed me a fucking sandwich, walks into the room.

“Ah, Mr. Morningstar, thank you for joining us,” Professor Ambrose greets him. “Mr. Morningstar will be assisting me today prior to his classes commencing tomorrow.”

Morningstar? Why is that name so familiar? I realize why the second the door closes. Connor walks into the room and sits next to the professor. I slouch lower into my chair.

Alice looks at me, her eyes wide as she finally puts a face to the name. “Oh, shit,” she whispers loudly, drawing everyone’s attention in the otherwise quiet room.

Connor meets my gaze, and his lips pull into the most handsome, shit-eating grin I’ve ever seen.

Fuck me.