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I guess it was my turn. Did these people realized they kidnapped me to this droll university when I was set to go to the best in my country? I was going to learn how to use my computer skills to make the world a better place and quietly punish the bad people.

I wasn’t one of those kids that checked the wardrobes to go to Narnia or wanted to get whisked off to Half Blood Camp. I went to school with a complete moron who tried to make a spider radioactive and let it bite him. I always thought those people were idiots who didn’t know the difference between fact and fiction.

I wasn’t even sure I believed magic was real now. Yeah, I saw the ice cream appear, but I didn’t eat it. Those people drugged me once. I was pretty sure we all thought we saw ice cream appear out of nowhere, but it was probably side effects from whatever they injected us with. That was probably why they injected us in the first place—so we’d be docile and open to hypnotic suggestions.

I didn’t see why all the people in the dining hall didn’t realize that and were losing their minds about magic being real. Idiots. I was surrounded by people dumber than my brothers and that was saying a lot.

So, I went to this little meeting to let Headmaster Mykene know I would only stay once I contacted my parents, and they intended to disown me if I didn’t. I sat down and scowled at her.

“You’re going to want to eat while you can. Some people don’t handle their rations well and don’t know how to live off the land.”

I scoffed.

“I don’t trust food from people who drug me.”

“The drugs are not my idea, but aren’t you dying to know why your parents let us take you?”

“I’m a spare. I’m their fourth spare. They popped out sons like we were all going to die from poor sanitation. We were never close anyway. I’m betting you bribed them.”

“Actually, your line has ended up at Ouroboros or similar schools before. I can’t guess who or what you’ll be, but you have all kinds of interesting things in your DNA. It’s a family secret that you only need to know when you need to know.”

“Please. I’m not stupid. I know how things used to be with royalty in any country. The only things hiding in my DNA are potential genetic defects because cousins used to marry.”

Professor Mykene let out this long-suffering sigh like I was the one being difficult.

“There’s always one in each group.”

She waved her hand and this swirling vortex opened behind her. A gorgeous, white owl flew through and landed on her shoulder.

“After we do the ritual, you’ll get a vision with a clue. A lot of originals had an animal associated with them or a familiar. Athena was associated with owls. This is my familiar.”

“Pretty sure whatever you drugged us with makes us susceptible to manipulation and you’re making me see an owl. The drugs are probably going to wear off soon and that was why you offered to feed us.”

The owl hopped over and landed on my leg. And then it bit the shit out of me and flew off. I jumped up and yelled.

“Your fucking pigeon bit me. Do birds get shots? If you gave me some kind of disease, I’ll ruin you!”

“Nyctimene is a magical creature and doesn’t carry any diseases. I believe she was proving a point and would like to prove another since you disrespected her.”

“You keep that bird away from me!” I warned.

The owl made this noise. I didn’t speak bird, but I was pretty sure it was mocking me. It was rude and I couldn’t do a damned thing about it. If it were a human, I’d just whip out my phone and ruin them. I had big opinions about hurting animals.

“I believe the point of the entire exercise was to prove you aren’t hallucinating. It was a short-acting sleep potion that allowed us to bring you through a portal. You were all out maybe five minutes. It’s not even a drug. You were given a very small dose of a sleeping potion. No side effects, you just went to sleep for a bit. It’s magic.”

“It was still rude. And my parents know how I feel about getting kidnapped. Everyone kept trying to kidnap me instead of my brother who is going to be king. It’s exhausting.”

“Yes, that’s the council, not me. I keep trying to change it. I’ve got a student willing to give testimony to help me get it changed. You could help with that.”

I just sniffed.

“I could do that. I’m much better at public speaking than my brothers.”

“Back to the issue at hand. You belong here. Your parents knew that and that was why they let us take you. The birthmark on your neck is probably why people kept trying to kidnap you instead of the heir. We try to keep that it means something a secret, but a lot of people we don’t want to have that information do. Most of the time, all of you are safe, but you’re a public figure, so someone would have found out.”

“I thought it was just because I’m so much better looking and smarter than my siblings. It was the birthmark?”

“Most likely, yes. Do you have any requests going forward?”

“I don’t want a roommate. I can’t stand sharing my living space with anyone else.”

“That’s probably a hint as to who you are. I can arrange that. Anything else?”

That was easy. I was expecting some kind of bullshit bonding like they threw at me in school. Group projects were agony and so was getting up and telling the class five interesting things about yourself. It was more than just my five interesting things could get passed on to parents and end up in the tabloids. And it was stupid. Most people weren’t interesting and their five tidbits were boring.

“I don’t want to do trials with idiots, and you kidnapped a bunch of them. I want to be paired up with that Egyptian fellow and the girl with diabetes. They seem intelligent.”

“That’s Khalid and Sage and I can do that as well. Khalid asked to be paired with her and so did Liam.”

“Which one is Liam?”

“The Irishman with the big mouth.”

“Is it against the rules for me to kill him if he annoys me?”

“I wouldn’t try with that one. He’s deadlier than he looks, even without magic.”

“Who did Sage request?” I demanded.

I didn’t even know why I wanted her to pick me. She didn’t know who I was. I hadn’t talked to her yet, and I didn’t know if she was annoying or not. I knew she was smart because she knew how to advocate for herself instead of hiding that she would need help. I could appreciate that.

“Sage and I had bigger things to discuss than her teammates. She didn’t actually request anyone for her team. If she feels the need to tell her teammates what we discussed, that is up to her. Now, the food really isn’t drugged, so you’re going to want to eat up because after I’ve decided on the teams, we’re going to do the ritual, give you supplies, and immediately send you out to the trials.”

“Have people died in these trials?”

“Yes, and it’s never by the students testing them. It’s never intended and all of you are supposed to survive. You’re only supposed to fail the trials if you tap out before you collect the crystals. It’s usually one of the other teams that goes too far and tries to take out the other teams, even though we tell everyone every year that’s not how it works.”

“Don’t bullshit me because I can’t believe I’m saying this. Are crystals really magic?”

“Yes, they are. They need to be cared for and properly charged to be useful, but they all do different things.”

I sighed. I was a prick, but I wasn’t an arsehole and I could admit when I was wrong. I was going to have to send a heartfelt apology to a girl I went to school with who offered me an amethyst to improve my aura.

Fuck me.