Chapter Ten
Audrey
“ I ’m sure you’ve noticed there are a lot of buildings on campus,” Brenden says once we’ve finished eating and our trash has been taken care of. “As with most things, the buildings are separated by what month of the program you’re in. All first and second months are in the buildings up front, as they’re the largest. Each building only houses one particular class but is taught by many. Once you move into your third and fourth months, there are only two buildings for classes. Then, in the fifth and sixth months, there is only one building for classes—though there is a separate combat arena for these students.
“All four of your classes will take place in the Abyss Magic, the Hellfire Combat, the Purgatory Reaper, and the Shade Supernatural buildings, along with every other first and second month student. I’m afraid you won’t be able to avoid the crowds in these buildings, Audrey.” He shoots me a sad smile before continuing, “There are, on average, about 60,000 first and second month students on any given day. This number varies daily because of new arrivals and people whose souls are sent for judgment, but it means that even with as large as these buildings are, the classes are huge. Each building houses about 160 classrooms that hold about 100 students each. Most of the guides will either hit the combat or reaper buildings first, since they’re closest to the dining room, so we’ll head to one of the other buildings.”
Trailing behind him, we follow him down the central path back toward the dining hall but veering down another path between the auditorium and the magic building. It doesn’t take long for me to realize there are a lot more buildings back here that aren’t visible from the main path. Brenden stops in front of the next building, gesturing to the sign in front of it.
“As you can see, this is the Shade Supernatural building. This is where The Supernatural World classes are held. The three of you have Professor Gregory as your last class of the day.” He wrinkles his nose. “I apologize now. She’s not overly pleasant to be around, but I am required to bring you to meet each of your professors.”
I snicker. “I already know how unpleasant she is. She’s the one who escorted us to our suite last night.”
“Oh, lucky you. That means you get to meet her twice.” Brenden starts up the short path to the building, waving for us to join him. “Even better, the classroom is on the top floor. You’ll know what floor it is based on the first number. Anything in the 100s is on the first floor, the 200s on the second, and so on. You’re in room 422 at 4:00. Now, while Professor Gregory might not be good with people, she’s an amazing teacher.”
As we step into the building, I find myself smiling at the gorgeous architecture—the black and gold marble floors, the high ceilings, the tall windows with the arched tops. At the end of the hallway is a massive staircase that curves part way up. I could spend all day just admiring the beauty of the building.
“You coming, Audrey?” Brenden’s amused voice pulls me from my reverie. Glancing up, I find the three of them already at the top of the stairs.
My face burns, a flush creeping up my neck and into my cheeks as I hurry to catch up. “Sorry. The buildings are just so gorgeous.”
Yolanda laughs, nudging me as I move to her side while Harriet seems to ignore all of our presences.
“You might think so now, but you’re going to be really unhappy at the end of the day when you have to run through this building to get to the top floor.” Brenden nods to the other end of the hallway. “There aren’t any elevators in these buildings, and the stairs are at opposite ends of the hallway.”
I groan. “You mean we have to walk from one end of the floor to the other on all the three bottom floors before we even get to our floor? That’s insane.”
“But good cardio,” he offers before starting off down the hallway again.
He’s not wrong because my legs are already burning by the time we make it to the fourth floor. Then we still have to walk halfway down the hallway before we reach the classroom.
When we step inside, Professor Gregory is sitting behind a desk at the front of the auditorium-like seating. Her head jerks up when she hears us, eyes narrowing when she recognizes me. She sighs, a smile forming when her eyes land on Brenden. “Oh, Brenden. Of course, you’re the one to bring me my first group. You’re always the one thinking outside of the box. Why don’t you come on down?”
Once we reach her, she glances between me, Yolanda, and Harriet. “Did you really manage to send five souls to judgment in an hour?”
“Some of them just couldn’t grasp the concept of not being able to do whatever the hell they want anymore,” Brenden says with a tight smile. “In fact, we still have one struggling with that.”
Professor Gregory’s eyes find me. “Let me guess? This one?”
“Not at all.” Brenden laughs as he nods at Harriet. “She doesn’t like the way we run things around here. Or maybe it’s just that she doesn’t understand. I’m giving her until the end of the tour to figure it out.”
Harriet huffs. “I’m standing right here. You don’t have to talk about me like I can’t hear you.”
Professor Gregory’s eyebrows shoot up. “I see what you mean. And what is your name, dear?”
“Harriet. Harriet Turnadge.”
“Well, Harriet, Brenden has been much kinder than I am.” She snaps her fingers, Harriet’s mouth dropping open just before she disappears. “While I can appreciate you giving someone a chance, I don’t think it would’ve helped.”
She pats Brenden’s arm before turning to me and Yolanda. “Audrey, wasn’t it? After your arrival, I’m honestly surprised that you weren’t one of the souls sent to judgment. Who are you?”
I bite back my response, not wanting to give her any reason to send my soul for judgment. I don’t think it would take much for this professor to snap her fingers and send me on my way. I’ll just need to keep that in mind in the future. I can be adaptable—I think.
It’s times like these that it would be convenient to remember something about myself besides my name and age.
“I’m Yolanda, Professor Gregory.”
The professor hums. “It seems at least someone has manners. As the two of you have seen, being sent to judgment can happen anytime and for any reason. As professors, we don’t pull our punches. Death has tasked us with finding the best of the best, and this is just one way we do that. In my class, you’ll be learning about the supernatural world. Some of it is information that you might already know, but you’ll likely find that there’s much you didn’t know. It’s important for our reapers to know about the world they’ll still be a part of. While reapers mostly remain in the underworld, some do venture earth-side from time to time when they’re not on a job. It’s a privilege allowed to them, but it means they must know the climate of the world they’re going into.”
As Professor Gregory continues, I find myself pulled in by her words. Brenden was right. She might not be someone I’d want to be around outside of class, but she has a way of explaining things that makes me want to listen.
She continues to explain the class for another few minutes before handing each of us a flash drive. “This has the syllabus on it. You’ll want to look it over before class tomorrow because we’ll be jumping right in. Did either of you have any questions?”
Yolanda shakes her head.
“Thank you, Professor Gregory. I’m really looking forward to learning from you.” I’m surprised to find I mean every word.
She seems just as surprised by my words as I am. “Thank you, Audrey. I’ll see the two of you tomorrow.”
Then we’re off again. Brenden continues down the path, showing us one of the third/fourth month buildings before the path circles back in front of another set of buildings. There’s a student center and a shop that sells snacks and supplies for classes. The last building before we hit the main pathway again is the library, and it’s massive. I’m definitely going to have to check it out.
“We’re just going to continue across and I’ll show you the other buildings on the backside here. When the path curves back around, we’ll hit the last three buildings you need to see. Hopefully, we’ll have avoided at least some of the masses.”
He shows us the massive sports center, the building for the fifth/sixth month students, and the building where the professors have offices before we loop back around. Then there’s the second third/fourth month student building and the reaper building where our Becoming a Reaper classes are held. This time our class is on the second floor in room 212 with Professor Hall, a robust former human with a kind smile. I’m still smiling when we leave his classroom with the provided flash drive.
From there, we hit the combat building. Professor Redding is a huge werewolf with a gruff personality and what seems to be a quick temper, based on the way he blew up on the group before ours and snapped them all away to be judged. I’ll definitely need to make sure to keep that in mind when dealing with him in the future. We leave his classroom in a bit of a hurry after he hands us our flash drives, a growled warning following us.
It’s not until the Abyss Magic building, where our Relearning Your Magic and Abilities as a Reaper classes are held that I feel like I can breathe again.
“Is it always like this?” I ask with a laugh as Brenden leads us down the hall to our final classroom.
“What? Professor Redding? I’ve never had him, but I’ve heard stories. Some of the professors have been here for a very long time. You’ll find out in your classes that there are ways for reapers to retire, but it takes a very long time. I’m sure the ones who have been here the longest are ready to do just that.” He laughs, gesturing to room 140. “Last one and then you can call it a day. Professor Novak is a favorite of mine.”
Brenden opens the door and gestures for us to go ahead of him. There are five groups waiting around the front of the stadium seating, so I start down the stairs but duck into a chair in the bottom row. Might as well take a moment to rest while the professor talks to the other groups and not crowd them. Yolanda sits on one side while Brenden sits on the other.
Professor Novak seems to be talking to multiple groups at once as they crowd around him, making it impossible to tell who the professor is. It’s not until some of them begin to shuffle away that I get my first glimpse at him, and what a glimpse it is.
Holy hell, that man is hot—tall, dark, and handsome to boot.
His close-cut hair falls somewhere between black and brown, a beard hides his square jaw, and his dark eyes are hidden behind a pair of black, blocky glasses. He’s taller than most of the people standing around him, and definitely wider. His suit jacket lays perfectly over his wide shoulders and even unbuttoned, it’s clear that it’s been tailored to fit him perfectly.
“Damn.” Yolanda whistled, making Brenden chuckle.
“Right?” he offers as he sits forward so he can see both of us as he waggles his eyebrows. “He’s hot, and he knows it, but he knows what he’s talking about. He also has to send more souls for judgment than most because some students can’t seem to focus on anything but how hot he is.”
I blink, clearing my throat. “Maybe if they wanted people to pay attention to something other than his face, they should’ve gotten someone besides an incubus to teach the class.”
Brenden frowns, eyes narrowing. “It’s not well-known that he’s an incubus. They actually try to keep that on the down-low. Who told you?”
“No one.” I shake my head, realizing I’ve revealed more than I should have. “I can just tell. I’m surprised no one else can.”
“I couldn’t tell, but I guess it makes sense,” Yolanda says slowly. “But he doesn’t seem to be seeping pheromones or whatever.”
I hum, shrugging. “I don’t know, then. I just knew.”
Before either of them can call me out on it, Professor Novak’s eyes swing to us. He smiles when he sees Brenden. “Hey, man. What happened to the rest of your group?”
“If anyone knows how it goes, it’s you,” Brenden says with a laugh as he stands. “This is Audrey and Yolanda, the only two who made it through the end of the day.”
Professor Novak laughs, eyes dancing as they look between the two of us. “That must mean something if you made it this far. Brenden doesn’t play around when it comes to finding the best. He might end up with some of the smaller groups, but those are the ones who tend to go far. Don’t ruin his roll now.”
“Right. Wouldn’t want to do that,” I manage to get out as I push to my feet. “It’s nice to meet you, Professor Novak. Brenden says you’re one of his favorite professors. I’m looking forward to your class, if that’s the case.”
The professor hums. “Don’t listen to him. He’s a suck up. My class is boring.”
I can’t help the giggle that spills from my lips, drawing attention from some of the other groups who entered after us. “Right... because relearning to use our magic is going to be boring, I’m sure.”
“Okay, I think I like you.” Professor Novak grins before going into a quick rundown of what we can expect from his class and handing us our flash drives. “I’ll see the two of you tomorrow!”
He’s gone and moving onto the next group before any of us can call out a goodbye. Brenden laughs at the glazed looks on mine and Yolanda’s faces. “Come on, newbies. You’ll get used to his presence eventually.”
When we step out of the classroom, the hallway is much busier than it was when we entered. Flinching away from the crowd, I end up pushing myself up against Brenden.
“Hey, it’s alright. Let’s just get you outside, yeah?” When Brenden’s arm comes down around my shoulders, I relax into his touch. I don’t know what it is about this man, but he makes me feel safe. Weird considering I watched him send a soul to judgment, and I’ve only known him for a few hours. I guess there are just times where you know someone is meant to be in your life. Maybe that’s what’s happening now?
Who knows?
What I do know is that it’s easier to breathe with his arm wrapped around me as he leads me from the building. Outside, there are just as many people hurrying up and down the pathway, so Brenden leads me over to a nearby table.
“Are you okay?” he asks, worry written all over his face.
“For real, Audrey. That was some scary shit,” Yolanda adds. “You went as pale as a sheet. I thought you were going to pass out.”
I shrug. “I’m guessing I have some trauma from when I was alive, and dying didn’t make it go away. Too bad about that, am I right? I just wish I could remember.”
“Eventually, you will. It’s been less than twenty-four hours. Give yourself a break.” Brenden kneels in front of me, holding my hands in his as his thumbs drag along my wrists. It feels amazing.
Smiling, I nod. “I’m trying. So what next?”
“That’s actually it for the day. You’re both free for the rest of the day. They’ll start serving dinner in about two hours in the dining hall, and you’ll want to make sure you look over your syllabi before class, but that’s all I have for you.” Brenden starts to release his hold on me, and I grasp his hands in mine instead. His smile is soft as he returns to rubbing his thumbs along my wrists. “Do either of you have any questions?”
“Nah, I think I’m good. I guess I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Audrey?” Yolanda grins and waves before she takes off.
Sighing, I turn my eyes back to Brenden. “I’m sorry. I’m probably keeping you from something.”
He shakes his head. “Not at all. When I help out as a guide, I get the day off from my afternoon classes, so I have nothing else going on until dinner. Speaking of which, I was serious about you joining me for meals. There are still a lot of people in my building, but nothing like the main dining hall.”
“I’d hate to put you out—“
“I’m the one that offered,” he cuts me off with a smile. “I think the two of us could be friends, and now I’m not taking no for an answer. We can have dinner in the dining hall in my building tonight, then tomorrow we can get up early to have breakfast in the main dining hall so you can at least see it. If you also want to do lunch, then I can run in and grab it like today. Since I know your schedule, I know we have lunch at the same time. Don’t make me turn into an even bigger stalker by just showing up and kidnapping you to eat with me.”
His words surprise me so much that I burst out laughing while he grins at me. “Yeah, okay. I guess I could use someone to eat with. Thanks, Brenden. I think I’ll like being your friend.”