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A few mumbles of agreement, because we’d all been there on the lowest rung of the ladder, getting picked on because we were in House Felinita.

“Marina’s right, Harlow. You seem like you know a lot about the world. What did you do for a living?” Ellie asked, her voice soft as her eyes. “Before, I mean.”

I blew a raspberry as I scrambled for an answer. “Odd jobs. You?”

Ellie blushed. “I was in a Dim school training to be a nurse.”

“Firefighter,” Ross said.

“Photographer,” Caterina piped up.

“Engineer,” Zeed said, no surprise there.

“Police officer,” Marina added. “Assuming I still have my job when I go back.”

“I work in a warehouse, stacking boxes at night.” Gary said.

We all looked to Fable. “I’m in training to be a teacher. I like kids.”

What I took from this was that all of them were employed in the Unlit world, because none of them were strong enough to be considered for a job amongst the Dwimmer community.

“Okay, so what else?” I scrunched my face as I pondered. “What about Quirks? Anybody got a good one?”

I scanned the forlorn faces in front of me and cleared my throat.

“Nobody?”

They all shook their heads.

“You?” Ross asked, eyeing me hopefully.

“Nope. Nada.” But there had to be some reason Tarquinius had chosen us .

.. “Okay, how about potential Quirks that haven’t surfaced yet?

Strong ones that come up in your families every generation or so?

My great aunt was a Clairvoyant. Maybe Tarquinius is hoping if they put us in our proper house, our Quirks will reveal themselves? ”

They all exchanged looks and Zeed spoke first. “My grandad had an uncommonly green thumb. He could make plants and trees grow super-fast. I think he was the only one, though.”

Neat. I tried to think how that might win us a war against Nocta but came up empty.

“Fable?”

She shrugged. “My aunt and granny both have x-ray vision. They can see through solid structures ... like walls and stuff.”

Again, cool, but surely not something that had made Tarquinius flag her as the potential chosen one.

“No necromancers or fire wielders?”

Marina was shaking her head and about to speak when Tarquinius stepped onto the stage at the front of the massive hall.

“Students of Neverthorn,” he said, voice booming over the microphone on the dais as the rest of the room went silent.

“Today, the school’s defenses were tested by the Dwimmer world’s most vile of evils.

Nocta sent his emissaries to our hallowed grounds, as he did to our sister school, Heathermoor, last month. Needless to say, we passed that test.”

He held up a triumphant fist, opening his fingers, a burst of light rising from them. Fireworks flickered over everyone as the students erupted with applause, the sound of their cheers deafening the room before both faded away, as Tarquinius held his hand for silence.

“Sir, I thought there were wards in place to protect the school from Nocta? That’s what my parents told me,” a familiar male voice toward the front of the room called out. “How did they get through them?”

That was one of the boys from this morning. A Draconell kid.

The Sage’s lips twisted as he lowered his hands.

“There were and are, young Julius, many wards in place. Which is why we only saw the two very small, isolated attacks. One by the Nevershoppes, where the wards are less robust, and one here in the school’s courtyard.

No students were hurt, and Nocta himself did not and cannot set foot on school grounds.

Fear not for your safety. We will always protect you.

” Tarquinius continued to talk, but my heart stopped.

There had been two attacks?

“There was an attack in the courtyard?” I turned to Fable, heart pounding.

“Yes. Although calling it an attack is a stretch. Three creatures of some sort just appeared out of nowhere, apparently. A student passing by the entryway caught sight of them and called for help. Doyenne Storm was holding our lesson on Weather Defense in the gardens and rushed to the courtyard. I only caught the aftermath ... it was over before it started. She mowed them down with a lightning rune, and that was that.”

Only three assailants, and again, no damage done to any students or professors. Strange ... such weak attacks at the helm of such a strong wizard. Maybe he hadn’t sent his men for battle. Maybe he’d sent them for information.

About me?

My fingers tightened on Bandit’s fur, and he wriggled in protest.

“As you all know,” Tarquinius pressed on, “we have the newly reinstated House Phoenix here. Soon enough, the threat of Nocta will be neutralized completely by them.”

Low whispers broke out, and some of the other students turned toward me and my group.

I had to admit, they didn’t look like they were exactly brimming with confidence, and I could hardly blame them.

There would be upperclassmen who had been in school with several of my housemates and knew full well that we weren’t exactly the cream of the crop.

Word traveled fast, after all. And the fact that most of us had spent the morning in detention probably didn’t help our image.

“Seems dodgy. Some of those losers were in school with us, I’d bet they can’t cast runes as well as my gran. Might as well have her take on Nocta,” Julius snorted. His housemates around him snickered and laughed.

At us.

At me.

Shame bit into me and Bandit squirmed on my lap until I realized I was clutching his thick coat. I breathed through my nose and fought to calm myself.

Tarquinius waited until the laughter faded, as he’d done with the applause.

“While your gran is a dear friend of mine, and a powerful witch in her own right, that won’t be necessary, Julius,” Tarquinius drawled.

The headmaster waved his hand loosely in the air and a scroll of solid black paper appeared above his head, then slowly unfurled.

If words were written, I couldn’t see any.

Tarquinius touched a finger to the paper and words that hadn’t been there a moment before turned into bright white light that flew off the page and glowed above all our heads.

A voice that was not Tarquinius’s, but a woman’s, circled around the room.

In the darkest hour,

In the darkest days,

The child with the power

Shall the darkness raze.

House Phoenix will rise

And save those lost,

The soul behind the eyes,

The cost beyond the cost.

In one hand the world will live,

In the other a death will give

Our world peace,

And the darkness will cease.

The words faded, the scroll went black and the words above our heads disappeared. In the silence you could have heard a mouse fart.

Tarquinius looked at our group, his deep brown eyes almost ... sorrowful.

“That was the last prophecy of the Oracle of the Horned King, before she disappeared thirty years ago.” Gasps followed that little tidbit.

“While they might not seem like much to you right now, House Phoenix has been resurrected. They have been prophesied as the saviors of our world. And we will all help them become the best that they can be, to face their destiny, so one or perhaps more of them may save us all.”

No pressure there.

Every freaking chair seemed to creak as the entire auditorium turned to us. The others beside me squirmed. Well, there was the answer we’d been searching for.

A prophecy about our entire house ... this was no small thing. You didn’t mess with prophecies, and you sure as sheet didn’t try to change them – even I knew that. Not when they came from the Horned King’s oracle.

Hell, I wished they had told us sooner. It would have helped make sense of why they brought us back. Then again, sharing it now with the whole school was smart – there would be fewer grumbles from the dissenters if they knew we were here because of a prophecy.

Tarquinius was a smart old codger.

Opie’s face was all I saw though, shining with pride. She grinned and I saw her whisper to her friends, “That’s my sister.”

Gods, it was going to break her heart when I failed.

Tarquinius tapped his hand against the lectern.

“Now, as for the attacks today, I imagine Nocta got wind of the fact that we’re looking for a replacement or replacements for Heronius but haven’t yet found them.

Until we do, I suspect he will continue to try to probe for weakness.

But have no fear. We have several measures in place to increase protection, and we intend to prepare the House Phoenix students for the dark days ahead as quickly as possible.

For the time being, we will move forward with caution until we’re certain that we’ve done all we can to ensure the safety of all students here at Neverthorn.

To meet that end, I hereby invoke the rule of two.

Students will be matched up with one of their housemates as a pair.

Whenever you leave Neverthorn, you will be with that person.

No one ... and I mean no one,” Tarquinius’s gaze landed unerringly on me, “is to leave this school alone. As for the members of House Phoenix in particular, we will need to take a different approach. If Nocta somehow got wind of one of you being the eventual replacement for Heronius, or if he has heard of the prophecy, you might already be on his radar. Therefore, you will be paired with your companion at all times outside your dorm rooms.”

There were more than a few grumbles around the room.

“Companions everywhere? What if we forget?” Zeed’s voice rang out from a couple of seats down.

“Staff will be keeping an eye to ensure that doesn’t happen.

” Tarquinius frowned again, his wrinkles gaining newer, deeper lines.

“If anyone is caught breaking the rules, your house will lose private room privileges and be forced to stay together in a shared dorm room. You’ll also miss out on the Solstice Games at mid-terms.”

Collective gasps spread around the room of “he can’t do that, can he?” and “no way I’m missing the games.” I’d missed my own Solstice Games, what the kids affectionately called “The Coliseum.”

I wondered if I’d make it to them this year.

Unlikely at the rate I was going, and it was just my first day.

“Maybe they’ll let us be paired together,” Fable whispered as various doyens and staff members stepped to the front of the auditorium. I could see Nikita skirting around some of the other professors to stand next to Typhon. He glanced down at her, then away.

“House Felinita, make your way to join Doyenne Parunah for your pairings. House Draconell, to Doyen Moreno. House Phoenix to Doyenne Elmwood ...” he droned on.

I tapped Bandit. “Off you get, buddy.”

With a grumble, he leapt from my lap and waddled toward the exit as we all made our way to our respective lines.

When we got to our section, I made a concerted effort not to glance at Nikita, and even took a step away from Fable. If she knew we wanted to be paired together, it would be super on-brand for her to ensure we weren’t.

Ellie stood next to me. “It’s weird, isn’t it? Like Zeed said about all of us being from the same house, and all that? And the prophecy ... I’ve never heard of anything like that relating to a house before.”

I nodded. “Weird indeed.”

I tried to wrack my brain, thinking of anything else we might have in common.

“Did you ... leave anyone behind? You know, like a partner?”

She blushed. “No. I don’t think any of us had a partner. Which also adds to the coincidences.”

“Well, maybe you’ll find the love of your life here.” I flicked my eyes toward the students who’d grouped together, nodding toward a tall, handsome young man with a buzz cut. Ellie shook her head.

“Not really my flavor. Too much testosterone.”

“Ah, gotcha. There’s this really nice –”

“I know you love being the center of attention, but I’m running the show here,” Nikita cut in.

I remembered my vow to fly under the radar and managed a smile.

“Roger that.”

Her nostrils flared but she didn’t take it any further, instead, quickly rattling off the pairings. Zeed and Marina, Ross and Caterina, and then Gary and Ellie. It wasn’t until there were three of us left – me, Phyllis, and Fable – that I knew for certain I was about to get frucked.

“Well, this is unfortunate,” Nikita said with a tight smile that suggested it was anything but. “Seems like if we keep counting by twos right to left, it’s Phyllis and Fable paired. Which leaves an odd man ... or in this case, woman, out.”

I bared my teeth and shrugged, “No skin off my asterisk.” Guh. Frigging Typhon and his stupid spell. “I’m happy to fly solo and take the risk.”

“Oh, that won’t do at all,” Nikita replied, stepping toward me, eyes shining. “It looks like it’s going to be me and you, Ms. Daygon. Just like old times.”

For whatever reason, she’d wanted it this way. Over my dead body was I going to willingly spend time with that ... punt.

I coughed a word under my breath before I spoke. “If my choice is death by Nocta’s franken-critters or spending one-on-one time with you for the better part of my day, I’ll risk the monsters.”

“Be that as it may, my job here is to protect you students from doing anything stupid that might put you or your classmates in harm’s way ...” she raised a brow, “for the second time today.”

I clenched my hands together, barely resisting the urge to whip off a rune that would temporarily seal her mouth shut.

A thought occurred to me then. She was clearly married, hence the change to Elmwood. Where was her husband? Maybe he’d faked his own death to escape her.

The pairs began to peel off and I had to go with her. I smiled and held out my hand, which she ignored. She gave me her back and snapped her fingers like she was summoning a poodle.

“Follow me.”

I’d been at Neverthorn for approximately half a day, and it was already the second worst of my life.

Fruck this place.