CHAPTER 5
I woke with the dawn, feeling refreshed after entering the nexus point that Blackthorn Academy rested on. I knew this extra energy would fade, settling into the new normal, but it was really nice to feel rested for once.
Even Lilia and Hazel woke up with very little prodding from me. We got dressed and went hunting for the rest of our friends. Una and Rhiannon were a few doors down from us, and the five of us hugged for a minute.
“I can’t believe this is our last year!” Una wailed loudly. “I’m going to miss you girls so much!”
“Me too,” I echoed. “It’s going to be so weird next September, not getting ready to come here.”
“No, instead, you’re going to be traveling the world with your husband!” Lilia exclaimed.
“He hasn’t proposed yet,” I hedged.
“Yet.” Rhiannon rolled her eyes.
Hazel nodded. “It’s only a matter of time. You’re soul bonded. He’ll do whatever you ask. If you don’t want to get married, I’m sure he’d be all right with that, but you’re going to be together for the long haul.”
“Of course I want to get married!” I said emphatically. “I just don’t see how we’d be any different from how we are now.”
“You wouldn’t have to worry about casting the contraceptive spell every time you fuck,” Una said impishly, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
I blushed, covering my face with my hands. “Don’t say it like that.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Every time you make love .”
“I think that’s worse,” Lilia said, tilting her head in consideration.
“Definitely.” I shuddered. “Euphemisms aside, we don’t want to have kids right away. They’d slow us down.”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t be able to fuck all the time,” Una said around her laughter.
“Una!”
“Let’s go get the boys,” Lilia said, practically vibrating on the spot.
“And Bruce and Clarissa,” I added.
“I keep forgetting he isn’t Aiden’s roommate anymore,” Hazel said, linking arms with me as we headed out of our wing. “Is Aiden alone still? Or did he get a new roommate?”
“He didn’t say.” We’d seen each other at dinner the night before, but I hadn’t thought to ask him about his roommate situation. I had assumed he’d get a single room, but that was hardly likely.
I did, however, know which room was his, so when Lilia stopped to knock on Brom’s door, I continued down the hall until I reached Aiden’s room and knocked.
A fourth year who seemed vaguely familiar opened the door, looked down at me, and then, in a thick French accent, called back into the room, “Is someone expecting a cute redhead, or do I have a chance with her?”
Aiden pushed his roommate away with a growl. “She’s mine.”
The roommate backed away, hands up in surrender. “I don’t mess with soulbonds, mon ami . Don’t worry. Didn’t know she was your special girl.”
I beamed at Aiden, still in just his pajama pants. “Sleep well?” I asked, wrapping him up in a hug. The top of my head barely came to his pectorals.
“Terribly. There are people in my room, and they’re not you,” he grumbled.
I laughed. “You’ll get used to them. Invite them to breakfast with us. Get to know them better. I would like to meet them when they’re wearing more clothing.”
“Why?”
“Why would I like to meet them?” I asked. “Because I’m going to see a lot of them if I plan on sneaking away to your room every once in a while?”
Aiden glowered. “There’s no way we’re going to have sex where they can hear you.”
I snorted. “Because we haven’t already mastered invisibility and sound barriers.” I patted his chest. “I’m not into exhibitionism where someone can actually see me. We’ll take all the precautions, don’t worry.”
He nuzzled his nose against mine. “I don’t like people lusting after what’s mine.”
“Why not?” I asked coyly. “You’re the one who gets to be with me.”
A low growl built up in his chest. “I can’t explain it.”
Clarissa approached from in the hall. “I can. You’re not fully bonded yet. It’ll settle once you’ve undergone the ceremony.”
He stared at her, considering her words. “That makes sense.”
“Come on, invite them to breakfast. I’m hungry,” I urged him, giving him a light push into his room.
“And get changed?” Clarissa suggested with a chuckle.
“He doesn’t have to,” I said, looking him over slowly. His pajamas had ridden low on his hips, oblique muscles on full display. I bit my lip.
Clarissa laughed harder. “I don’t think you’re hungry for food!”
I shook my head a little to clear it. “Sure I am.” I smiled sweetly at Aiden. “See you in the mess hall.”
Aiden nodded at me and closed the door behind him.
Brom was waiting for us with the girls and Bruce, and we all headed down the stairs for breakfast.
There were more people up and about than usual. I knew that they, like the extra energy we all felt, would settle back into a regular routine soon. Breakfast was usually rather quiet until the last five minutes, when the portable foods were snatched up and eaten on the way to class.
We snagged our regular table, plates piled high with pancakes, bacon, and eggs.
“Who are Aiden’s roommates?” Una asked, leaning so far forward that her curls dragged on her plate.
“I haven’t met them yet,” I said after swallowing my bite of egg. “I did tell him to invite them to breakfast, though. The one who answered the door seemed vaguely familiar.”
“We know most of the people in our year,” Rhiannon said. “We’re bound to recognize most of the faces.”
“Yeah, I’m just more used to knowing their names as well,” I said. “I hope they take him up on the offer.”
Aiden and two guys who must’ve been his roommates entered the mess hall at that moment. I waved, and he nodded in acknowledgement before heading to get his food.
Rhiannon turned to get a quick glance, blushing slightly when she returned to her plate.
“Is everything okay?” I asked her.
She nodded quickly. “I know one of them. He’s in my advanced magical creatures class. He’s really good with the bigger animals.”
Una raised one eyebrow. “What’s with the blush? You like like him?”
Rhiannon shook her head in reply.
“Excellent. I can seduce both of them at once,” Una said, rubbing her hands together.
I thought I was the only one to notice Rhiannon’s subtle change in expression, but Una immediately halted her show of enthusiasm.
She whispered in Rhiannon’s ear, so quiet that the rest of the table couldn’t hear her over the noisy cafeteria.
After a few more whispered exchanges, Una nodded in satisfaction. “I promise,” she said, crossing her heart. “You’re like my sister.”
So, I thought, interested in this development, Rhiannon has a crush! But will she act on it?
I caught Aiden’s eye as he led the others over to us and scooted closer to Clarissa to make room for him beside me.
He kissed the top of my head as he sat down. “Everyone, these are my new roommates, David and Pierre. Pierre is an exchange student this year from Academie Bellamie. He’s to study something or other that Blackthorn is well known for.”
Pierre cut him off with a laugh. “ Mon ami , I am here to study the aquatic culture of the northern Irish Sea. Do not presume that Blackthorn is better than Bellamie for anything.”
“Those are fighting words, Pierre,” Una said coquettishly. “I can prove to you that Blackthorn is better than Bellamie in many ways.” She did something with her arms that pressed her breasts together, creating a deep cleavage.
“Unlikely,” Pierre said with a snort, barely glancing at her.
Half the table’s jaws dropped.
Bruce recovered first. “I was present for the inception of Blackthorn, and I attended Bellamie. Come eat with me, and we will talk.”
Pierre’s eyebrows rose. “Time traveler?” He rounded the table to join Bruce.
I stared at Una, who looked crushed. She kept her eyes trained on the French boy, and I wondered what she was thinking.
David quietly sat next to Rhiannon, barely saying a word to her beyond a morning greeting.
“Are you ready for today’s classes?” Hazel asked in general, drawing my attention. “I’m looking forward to helping out in the first year Herbology classes.”
“Do you have any class that isn’t Herbology?” I teased.
She stuck her tongue out at me. “Sure I do. I have Charms and Potions with you in the afternoon.”
I nodded my understanding. “Of course you do. But Potions is practically Herbology,” I said.
Hazel gasped dramatically. “You take that back!”
Aiden chuckled into his pancakes, and I nudged him with my elbow. “Back me up, love. You know that Potions is just Herbology with frills.”
Aiden shook his head. “You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out.” His eyes twinkled with amusement.
I huffed in partial annoyance and turned back to Hazel. “In Potions, you have to know all the plants and their properties before you can use them properly.”
“Herbology is more than just knowing the properties of plants. It’s how to grow them best, where they’re located in the world, how to harvest them without damaging them, how to prepare them properly without damaging their properties. Potions ingredients are prepared for you in advance,” she countered.
I waved my hand. “Ingredients are prepared for us in school. It won’t be like that in the real world. If I want to make a potion at home, I need to know all that stuff from Herbology as well as how to incorporate the ingredients properly.”
“Which is generally why a herbologist works with potion makers in the real world,” Hazel said triumphantly. “The only person here who thinks you have to know everything about everything is you .”
I opened and closed my mouth a couple times. “Really?” I asked quietly.
Hazel’s expression softened. “It’s not an insult, babe. I admire how much you want to learn. But yes, in the real world, potion makers rely on herbologists for their ingredients.”
“That seems like a waste of time, waiting for the herbologist to prepare the ingredients.”
“It’s the opposite!” Hazel insisted. “The potion maker is busy making the potion, and they don’t have to waste time preparing the ingredients properly.”
“I hadn’t thought of it like that,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry. I see the difference now.”
“Thank you,” Hazel said, beaming at me.
I poked Aiden again. “Why didn’t you say anything to correct me before?” I demanded.
He raised his hands. “I didn’t know you thought that, and I wouldn’t have been able to argue as effectively as Hazel.”
“Humph,” I said, pouting.
“Eat your breakfast,” Clarissa suggested. “It makes me feel better when I’m wrong about something.”
I half chuckled. “I’m not usually wrong.”
“It shows,” Clarissa said gently.
I did my best not to take offense at her words, and took her suggestion to eat.
After finishing my breakfast in silence, listening to Bruce and Pierre bicker over which school was better, I was relieved to head to my first class, Qualitative Spellcraft.
As always, Bruce and Aiden joined me.
“I thought you were going to drop this class?” Aiden teased his friend as we found our seats.
Bruce rolled his eyes dramatically. “Hardly. This is one of the mandatory ones. If I want the headmaster job after Ophelia retires, I need to be the best.”
“Is that your goal?” I asked, interested.
“Eventually. Clarissa and I would like to travel a little, like you, first. But since the headmaster job is only held by a Blackthorn, my end goal would be to come back here to my home.”
“Does Ophelia have children?” I wondered out loud.
He wrinkled his nose. “Yes. I met them last Christmas. They’re older than me. Only one wants the job, but I think I’d be better at it than him.”
“Biased?” Aiden asked gently.
“Massively,” Bruce agreed with a chuckle.
Professor Reynolds entered the classroom at that moment, sparing further replies. His fangirls at the back of the room started whispering amongst themselves, reminding me that I had forgotten to speak to Emma last night before bed. I made a mental note to try to catch her at lunch and settled in to listen to the syllabus.
“Good morning, and welcome to your final year at Blackthorn Academy,” the professor began. “I will not go easy on you this year. You are expected to know how to build a spell, how to break one down into its simple components, and how to analyze the building blocks of spells. By the end of the year, you will have written up a report a week, minus the weeks of midterms and finals, on new spells you have designed. As a final project, you will build a new spell from simple components and report on its success... or failure. We can learn as much from our failures as we can from our successes.”
I thought about Hazel and her staunch defense of Herbology that morning at breakfast. I had certainly learned a lot.
“We shall begin today by reviewing simple spells. May I have suggestions?”
The rest of the first day of classes passed similarly, reviewing the basics that we had learned in the previous three years. Magical Nexus class was definitely going to be my favorite, as usual. Professor Akhtar had quizzed us verbally on the main nexuses and how we had to modify our spells at those locations to account for the increase in magical potential, and Professor Wainwright had given us a pop quiz on five simple potions and their ingredients. I was grateful that those were my only classes this year, because in my spare, I had to work on my thesis; ley lines and what caused them. I spent the first day in the library, making a list of potentially useful books. I had written my overview the year before, so I knew what each part was going to be about, but I didn’t have sources for anything yet.
I wished we had computers, to make editing easier.
I made another mental note to look up an editing spell.
I hadn’t seen Emma at lunch, so I made a greater effort to locate her before dinner, but she eluded me.
I settled into our usual table with my friends, craning my neck as I scanned faces. Everyone ate at the same time on the first night, because Headmistress Blackthorn made announcements about the year at supper.
She didn’t rise to speak at the platform until after we had started on dessert.
“Good evening,” she said. “I trust you all had an excellent first day. This year is shaping up to be an exciting one, and not just because of all of you; this year will be the Magical Olympics!”
She paused for the excited chatter to die down.
“As you know, these take place once every decade,” she continued, and then had to stop again, because the noise level increased dramatically.
“Unfortunately, the decision has been made that only fourth year students can participate this year.”
I had to cover my ears, the shouts of outrage were so loud.
One of the professors I didn’t know had to stand up and broadcast his voice. “Settle down, or nobody from this school will participate!” he roared.
An uneasy silence fell over the students.
The professor bowed to the headmistress, who nodded at him.
“For those of you unfamiliar with the Magical Olympics, there are multiple events, all of which take place at nexus points across the world. The seven continents select teams for each event from the eligible students who submit their names. The events are physically, mentally, and magically demanding, so I would like those of you who are eligible to think long and hard about whether you would like to enter. Remember that you have your theses to work on, and you can’t fall behind in class work, or you will be eliminated.” Headmistress Blackthorn put her hands on the podium and scanned the faces around the room. “I know that every entrant will make our school proud. We will allow any student, including those of the lower years, to attend the events to cheer for our competing students, provided they are not tardy in any assignments and have a score higher than seventy percent in all their classes.”
A groan, quickly suppressed, rolled across the cafeteria.
The headmistress smiled grimly. “Perhaps you will dedicate yourself to your studies a trifle more diligently this year, with such a prize waiting for you.”
A ripple of nervous laughter met her words.
“Those who wish to enter have until noon tomorrow to submit their name in the box outside my office. Welcome to Blackthorn Academy.” She sat down to scattered applause, everyone chattering excitedly about the Olympics.
“I’m going to enter,” Aiden said immediately. “Siobhan? Bruce?”
I nodded eagerly. “I’m on top of my thesis work. It should be fun!”
“If I’m eligible,” Bruce said.
“What, you think you might be too old?” I teased.
He rolled his eyes. “Who knows how these things would take temporally displaced individuals.”
I inclined my head. “Understandable. You can ask the headmistress.”
“I think I will.” He stood and held his hand out for Clarissa. “Do you want to join me?”
She nodded eagerly. “It’ll be exciting!”
They wound their way to the front of the room where the teachers were sitting. Several other students must have had questions too, because there was quite the queue to speak to the headmistress, blocking my view of the professors.
A furtive movement off to the side drew my attention, and I noticed Emma, her invisibility spell flickering, sidle along the wall.
“Oh no!” I exclaimed, grabbing Aiden’s arm. “I forgot about Emma again!”
Aiden frowned, confused. “Who?”
I didn’t have time to explain, but I couldn’t move quickly enough. There were too many students getting up, either to leave the cafeteria or head to the main table. Frustrated by my lack of progress and the fact that Emma had vanished again, I cast a hovering charm on my shoes, giving it a little extra boost so that I rose completely above everyone’s heads.
The murmur of conversation rose along with me, and I knew I was drawing unwanted attention, but I had to get to Emma before she did something foolish.
I scanned the wall again, trying to spot her.
“No magic in the cafeteria!” shouted a professor.
I ignored him, Emma flickering into view right at the edge of the main table. She was heading back to the wall.
“No!” I whispered. I scanned the head table for Professor Reynolds. He was lifting his glass to his lips. “No!” I shouted louder. “Don’t drink that!”
I flew toward the table, trying to get to him in time, but the instant the cup touched his lips, a cloud of sound and smoke exploded, the professor at the epicenter.
“No!” I said again, weakly. I landed outside the cloud of smoke, and magically fanned it, lifting the smoke until I could see the professor’s chair, sitting empty between his colleagues.
No, not empty.
I stepped closer to see over the edge of the table. Lying swaddled in his clothes, was an infant.
“Professor?” I gasped.