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L iterally, as soon as my phone had a charge, I had the email with my dorm assignment and one of my roommates found me. I had two, and all I knew was that they were sophomores. I couldn’t tell who they were from their names or even if they knew.

A fellow ginger with bright-green eyes came to our table to get me.

“Hi! I’m Morgana. I’ll show you where our room is and then you can meet your friends for karaoke. I was born to witches, so we knew about the birthmark and I had some training before I got here. I was Hecate in my first life, which makes so much sense. I’m also a triple goddess, so Headmaster Mykene put you with me. We’re both stuck with Iman.”

I liked her so far, but I had a big question.

“What’s wrong with Iman?”

“I actually have no idea. Some of us have familiars. Others access an animal spirit or totem for extra powers. Some of us actually shift into those animals. Everyone takes classes in all of that until you know for sure which one you need. Iman was Bastet in her first life. She turned into a cat in her first shifting class. Everyone thinks she’s stuck and can’t shift back, but I think she just prefers it like that.”

“So, wait, I can shift into a jackal?” Khalid asked.

“Uh, yeah, with some training.”

“Can the Prince of Darkness turn into a bat?”

“You’ll have to be more specific. There were several Princes of Darkness.”

“He’s the original vampire,” Khalid said.

“Oh, then yeah, he can turn into a bat and fly. Some vampires can and others can’t. From what I’ve been told, it’s a bitch to learn unless you’re the original. Oh, how do you feel about dogs?” Morgana asked.

“Are they corgis?” Liam asked.

“Uh, no, hounds. They are my familiars and there are two of them. They think there are too many people in the dining hall and tavern, so they don’t go there, but they stay in the dorm with us and come to class with me.”

“I love dogs, but how does Iman feel about that?

“I think she’s ambivalent about my hounds, but if people annoy her, she’ll look them dead in the eye and knock their shit off the counter.”

“We don’t have to scoop her litter box, do we?”

“Not at all. She’s either going outside, or she’s not stuck and is sneaking random poops in our bathroom when no one is watching. Iman is kind of a mystery like that.”

We got to our dorm, and I was a little shocked when I saw it. I was expecting a tiny room with single beds crammed against walls. It was nice. It was big enough for three full-sized beds with antique nightstands and I could see three closets and a private bathroom.

One of the beds was covered with two giant black hounds. There was a gorgeous, majestic-looking, flame-point cat sitting on one of the nightstands.

“Seriously, Iman? Why do you always have to perch on my nightstand? What’s wrong with yours?”

Iman just glared at us and slowly slid a bottle of water off the nightstand and onto the floor.

“Oh, fuck you,” Morgana said, flipping her off with both fingers. “There’s like, three other Egyptian reincarnations in the freshman class. I just met Anubis, and he’s cool. You could try not being antisocial and go meet people. I’m like, ninety-nine percent certain you can shift back and don’t want to.”

Iman just yawned like we were boring her and jumped out the window. Morgana just sighed.

“I try not to be a bitch because I don’t know if she’s going to go full cat and puke in my shoes or piss in my bed if I make her angry.”

“How does she go to class and take tests?”

“From what I understand, she’s some kind of next-level genius with a photographic memory. Like, child prodigy and when she was taken, she’d already completed a PhD and was working on a second. She wanted to combine her science with magic and come up with new ways of healing. Headmaster Mykene assigned her to work in the clinic with the healers, so maybe she isn’t stuck. Someone who got their PhD that young isn’t lazy and would turn into a cat to get out of work.”

I just shrugged.

“I would imagine a child prodigy in any field had a lot of pressure on them and if they could just be a cat for a little while to get away from expectations, they’d all do that.”

“That’s actually a damned good point. So, Anubis, Vlad, and the Horned God, huh? You’re probably someone very interesting. There were three people on my team. Me, Loki, and Hermes. Loki is Elliot in this life and Hermes is Petros. Elliot fucks with everyone and Petros will steal all your stuff just to see if he can get away with it, but he always gives it back.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure Liam knows how to pickpocket, too, and he’ll know when someone it doing it. He also got his switchblade back, so Petros might get stabbed.”

“Petros would think that was hilarious. Petros and Elliot are a little unhinged. This is the tavern. The food and booze are excellent and so is the entertainment. Everyone who gets up there can actually sing, and it’s hilarious when someone tries who can’t because the sirens get so offended.”

“Um, Liam asked for a kiss if he impressed me singing karaoke. I was joking when I said I’d only kiss him if he did The Devil Went Down to Georgia, but I really think he’s going to get up there and perform that.”

I could have said that to anyone and they would have known I was joking. You didn’t even sing that song. You just had to be able to talk really fast. I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the entire school. From what I understood, even though it was just talking, it was notoriously difficult to perform.

Fuck me. I joined Khalid and Lucian at a table. They’d ordered appetizers and Liam was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Liam?” I asked.

“Waiting for you to get here. He really wants that kiss,” Khalid said.

Shit. When I turned to see if I could grab him, it was already too late. Liam was already on the stage heading towards the mic.

I was such an asshole.