Page 15 of Messenger of Death (Ouroboros Academy #2)

I t wasn’t safe to discuss my theory in the open. It was probably also stupid to rush forward to join Ari, Ivar, and Alexios and walk with them to Arcane Magic, but I needed them to know we needed to have a second meeting.

“Red, be smart,” Ivar said. “No one is looking at us differently after Professor Kane pointed out clear as day we couldn’t have killed Kira. If anything, they are looking at you like you’re in on it and just waited to scream so we could have an alibi.”

“I am being smart. Unlike the rest of our classmates, I was paying attention to everything Professor Kane said. Meet me after lunch. I have an idea.”

Lucian, Liam, and Khalid caught up with me. They were up to something because they hung back instead of joining me. They’d tell me later.

The Arcane Magic classroom was something. There were drawings of the stars and constellations all over the walls, jars full of crystals, and tools I couldn’t begin to guess what they were for.

We had desks in history class, but there were rows of tables in this one.

We took the one behind Ivar, Ari, and Alexios.

Professor Gefn was up at the front. Wow.

She was gorgeous and oozing power. She had to be a reincarnation.

She also looked like she wasn’t going to be up for any of Lola’s shenanigans.

Professor Gefn squared her shoulders and looked at us.

“Since I have to have this conversation every year, none of you are in high school anymore. My class isn’t the place to start anything you don’t want me to finish.

I was Freya in my first life. She was a God of Love, Beauty, and Fertility, but she was also a God of War and Death.

Kira was a warrior and should have been one of mine, but it didn’t happen like that.

Do know I intend to find out which one of you is responsible. ”

Lola snorted.

“I can tell you who is responsible. They hurt me during the trials. It was them, ” she said, pointing.

“I can tell you that your mouth is moving and words are coming out, but that doesn’t make the words true,” Professor Gefn snapped.

“I was in the tavern to meet those three because Ivar was family in my first life.

They were some of the first people to arrive.

We chatted for a little while and then I stayed to eat. I was sitting with them the whole time.

“There’s a banshee on campus. They scream when it happens, not after.

They have no control over it. Everyone can hear it.

She didn’t scream when it happened and then scream later in front of you to cover for these men.

That’s not how banshees work and you only would have heard the banshee scream.

Any other shriek would have just been her hollering and she didn’t do that. ”

Yeah, I kinda liked Professor Gefn. Ivar and the guys hadn’t told me they sat with a professor at the tavern and that seemed important.

“I know what happened to me,” Lola sniffed.

“That remains to be seen. Moving on. There is magic that is specific to each of you, but there are magicks you all share. That is the purpose of this class. There is basic divination, and healing magicks. You’re all horny college students, so we’ll be starting with the most basics of all healing magicks.

The birth control spell. This isn’t just a female spell.

The men are going to have to learn it, too. ”

“As we should,” Liam said. “It’s shite that’s just on the women. Are there side effects? Asking for Sage.”

“Only if you do it wrong. So, get it right. You’re going to want to grab a rose quartz, castor seeds, and a lemon. The jars are labeled. Don’t get fancy and steal my herbs. I’ve got my eye on you,” she said, pointing at Liam.

“Ma’am, I’m my own lawyer and I’m innocent of these charges.”

“Your previous incarnations are a little too famous to get away with that bullshit in my class.”

“Oh, no. I’m taking this very seriously. If I ever make sweet love to Sage, I don’t want to get her pregnant until she wants to.”

Professor Gefn rolled her eyes.

“The Horned God and The Morrigan together again. The stars help us all.”

“Birth control from lemons is freaking me out,” Lucian muttered.

“Really? Even more than when you went feral and drank my blood for the first time? You’re a weird one,” Liam said.

“I think it’s fascinating,” Khalid said. “Different cultures had their own methods of birth control. Some worked, some didn’t. Some of it worked so well and was so popular, the plant is now extinct.”

“Very good,” Professor Gefn said. “Class, the most important thing you need to know about magic is that it’s about intention.

That’s the basis of it across every magic user.

If you are using ingredients, then they usually serve a purpose, but the same ingredients will give a different result if different people have different intentions.

“Rose quartz is associated with love. This isn’t known so much anymore, but hulled castor seeds used to be used for birth control. There have been various teas over the centuries where lemon and honey were added to improve the taste.

“What all of you are going to do is put your rose quartz in a jar with the castor seeds and lemon and then you are going to set your intention that you want it to protect you from pregnancy. The moon and stars are about to be a very important part of your lives. When the moon is waning, you’re going to want to bury the jar outside.

You’ll want to make one of these whenever you move. ”

Lucian’s hand shot up, but he didn’t wait to be called on.

“That just seems like a recipe for us all ending up on some magical reality teen pregnancy show. Sorry.”

Professor Gefn didn’t look nearly as irritated with Lucian as she did with Lola and I didn’t think any of Lola’s friends even noticed.

“There’s always one of you and you are absolutely justified in calling me out on that.

Freya was associated with fertility and so was the Horned God, just in very different ways.

I’m not asking you to bury a magic rock and trust me.

I have the magicks to tell if you’re protected or you need to try again. Does that help?”

“No, that’s valid. Thanks.”

It was an appropriate answer. I was less doubtful about all of this than Lucian, even with my upbringing, but Professor Gefn was right.

I would have been terrified to have sex on just her word that burying a jar with the right intention would protect me.

I didn’t want to get pregnant yet. I was sure Morgana knew her shit, but I would have been scared with the amulet, too.

Morgana gave me a necklace instead of a pack of condoms. Did condoms even work now? What about diseases? I didn’t want those, either.

Everyone glared at Ivar when he raised his hand.

“Everyone seems to be paired up, but we don’t have a woman in our group. I don’t think our Valkyrie is here. Do we still need to do this?”

“Yes, Ivar. If you’re here, then your Valkyrie is either here, will be getting here soon, or was here and will be coming back. It’s just a matter of finding her.”

“She’s probably hiding because they are violent,” Lola snapped.

Erica. I thought that was her name. She was the one reincarnation that went missing. She could have been their Valkyrie, but she would have been drawn to them to ask to be on their team. They might have said something and not agreed to be on Lola’s team. Maybe she was here, but older.

I did notice one thing as I put my ingredients in the jar. Morgana was right. They might have kidnapped us and drugged us, but the teachers here were at least on our side.

Or, at least, Professor Gefn seemed to be noticing the same things about Lola that I was.