Chapter 2
VERONICA
My new friendship with Wendy really took off the next day when she sat next to me during breakfast. Usually, most of the students were too groggy to congregate and chitchat, so we chose to sit alone and study while inhaling our coffee and food.
“Hey, friend,” Wendy said, her voice high and chipper as she plopped down beside me with a plate of hashbrowns, eggs, and sausage.
“Good morning,” I said through a yawn. For the hundredth time, I wondered why Balthazar demanded we eat at six o’clock in the morning. Would it kill him to let us sleep until eight every now and then?
“Do you want to practice sleight of hand later? We can walk the grounds while we do. It’s supposed to be a little warmer than yesterday,” Wendy said, then shoved a piece of buttered toast into her mouth.
Sleight of hand was a magical trick so rudimentary and common that even non-magical humans had developed a way to mimic the style for party games and street cons.
Unlike their quick tricks and hidden objects, witches and sorcerers actually caused the items to vanish and reappear at will through specific hand motions and magical manipulation of reality.
I didn’t know if I should be flattered that one of the top students in class wanted to practice with me, or ashamed that she thought I might need help on such a basic magical principle.
“Sure,” I said at last, scooping up some oatmeal. “I’d love to.”
Wendy’s face lit up, and her smile was more than enough for me to decide I’d made the right choice.
We were sort of in the same boat. She had very few—if any—friends at the academy, both because of her age and because her uncle was the founder and head instructor.
I didn’t either, but that was mostly because of how isolated I felt as the only shifter in the school and how late I got my magical gifts compared to everyone else.
Most everyone was nice to me, but that didn’t stop me from feeling out of place.
Imposter syndrome was what it was, and I didn’t really know how to fix that.
Over the next several days, Wendy and I spent a lot of time together, walking the grounds and quizzing each other on magical terms and skills, practicing those skills, and talking about magical history.
At times, the conversations went sideways, and we’d complain about the teachers and subjects we didn’t care about, and how irritating we both found Virgil to be.
“What’s your wolf look like?” Wendy said on the fourth day as I sat on a tree branch of an oak tree.
She’d begged me to climb trees, and I hadn’t had the heart to say no, even though it was frigid outside.
Yule, the winter solstice, and the New Year were fast approaching.
December in Chicago was nothing like it was back home in Arkansas.
Shrugging, I readjusted my mop of curly brown hair, unclipping and reclipping the claw clip to keep it off my shoulders, then coiled my scarf tighter around my neck.
“She looks like a wolf,” I said.
Wendy, hanging from a branch like a monkey, gave me a stern look, then rolled her eyes. “Well, duh, but what does she look like? Color and size and stuff?”
Chuckling at my own stupid joke, I said, “Auburn on most of her body, but her neck and belly are brown and tawny.” Then, with only a small hint of pride, I added, “She’s actually pretty big for a female wolf, too.”
“Show me,” Wendy said as she heaved herself upright.
“Excuse me?” I said, blinking at her.
“Show me your wolf. I wanna see it. I’ve never seen anyone transform before.”
Not an entirely unacceptable request. Everyone knew I was a shifter, though in the time I’d been here, I’d yet to have a reason to show anyone else my abilities.
The only times I had shifted was during the full moon, when I’d sneak out into the wilderness surrounding the mansion academy and run through the forest.
“Okay fine,” I said. “Ready?”
Wendy froze, her eyes going wide. “Wait…for real? You’re gonna do it?”
“Did you think I’d say no?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow.
She shrugged helplessly. “Maybe.”
“I thought we were best friends,” I said with mock hurt.
The smile that crossed her lips was radiant, and I was again reminded how young she was, and that no one here was anywhere near her age. It made me feel good that I was able to give her a little companionship, even if I was twice her age.
“Show me!” Wendy said, waving her hand at the ground.
I winked at her, and fell forward off the branch I’d been sitting on.
The look of surprise and horror on her face was priceless, an open-mouthed gape as I swung forward and fell through the air.
At the last second, I closed my eyes and allowed the wolf deep within me to surge forward, giving over control of my body to the magical beastly presence inside me.
My skin vanished, replaced by fur and muscle.
My feet and hands transformed into paws.
When I landed gracefully beneath the tree, I was fully shifted.
The warmth of my fur immediately pushed aside any cold I’d been feeling moments before.
“Holy crap! That was cool,” Wendy cried, clapping her hands.
I’d have been lying if I didn’t feel at least a little pride at her reaction.
“You’re amazing,” she said and the awe and excitement in her voice was nearly enough to bring me to tears. Probably would have if I’d been in my human form.
“We should probably head back soon,” she said as she climbed down from the tree. “The next class starts in an hour.”
I shifted back, shivering at the full-body tingle I always experienced when I returned to my human form.
“Yeah. Let’s go,” I said. “Don’t want to be late.”
I hadn’t realized how far we’d strayed from the mansion, and we only managed to get to the classroom three minutes before the start of class.
“Cutting it close, aren’t you, Paolo?”
“Would you shut up, Virgil,” a voice came from behind him.
He turned to look at who’d spoken. Brooke, a woman a year younger than me, stared back at him, a challenge in her eyes.
“Did anyone ask you anything, Brooke?” Virgil sneered as he adjusted his wire-rimmed spectacles. His, unlike mine, were necessary because he was blind as a bat without them.
“No,” Brooke said, flipping her long, blonde hair behind her shoulder. “But you just never seem to shut up. It’s annoying as hell.”
Virgil leaned over her desk. “Well, perhaps if you all studied more, you’d be able to answer all the questions as quickly as I do. Honestly, it would be nice to hear someone else’s voice for once.”
From across the room, a paper bird flapped over, squalling out an ear-piercing cry and smacking into the side of Virgil’s head, nearly causing him to topple from his chair.
“You ass!” Virgil snarled, turning to glare in the opposite direction.
Douglas Finnegan sat back in his chair, looking completely nonchalant as the paper bird landed on his hand.
“What’s wrong, Virg?” Douglas said with a smirk. “I thought you liked playing with magic?”
Virgil leveled a finger at the hulking nineteen-year-old. “Locomotion spells are only supposed to be used in the practice hall.”
Douglas rolled his eyes and put a hand to his chest. “Oh my word,” he moaned in a high-pitched falsetto. “Whatever shall I do?” He put the back of his hand to his forehead like a damsel in the throes of panic.
“You know what?” Virgil said, “You can—”
“Can what?” Balthazar said as he strolled into the room, his teaching robes fluttering behind him.
Virgil’s face went crimson. “Uh…nothing, sir. We were just discussing our next lesson.”
Balthazar raised an eyebrow and glanced around the room at each of us in turn. If I had to guess, he knew exactly what had been going on.
With the disturbance handled, Balthazar started the lesson—a long-winded lecture on the origins of the magical fields found within certain stones and rocks. It actually sounded more like a science discussion, and I quickly grew bored.
Just as I started to doze off, a hand tugged at the sleeve of my robe. I flinched, blinking away sleep.
It was Wendy. She’d leaned over so far her right butt cheek was hanging off her chair.
“Veronica,” she hissed.
At the sound of her voice, Balthazar turned around from the dry-erase board he’d been drawing magical runes on with a red marker.
“Gwendolyn?” he asked sternly. “Did you want to ask something?”
Wendy scooted back onto her seat and clasped her hands together as she smiled serenely up at him. She’d used another glamour spell the night before to change her hair from dreadlocks to a bright pink mohawk.
“Nope,” she said. “All good.”
Balthazar sent her a glare before turning back to the board.
The marker slid effortlessly across the white plastic board on its own, drawing more runes of its own volition as he strolled to the farthest end of the classroom, continuing to talk.
The other students scratched notes on their paper with pens and pencils.
Of course, Virgil had enchanted his pen to write for him.
I wasn’t sure if he was hoping Balthazar would see so he could suck up, or if he was simply showing off.
What I did know was that I needed to focus.
My grades weren’t bad, but living life in the C realm was much more stressful than bringing in Bs and As.
I buckled down, trying to focus on what he was saying as well as copying down the runes.
“The rune known as Ansuz is one that is most commonly aligned with the precept of truth. This is a good rune to incorporate into things like prophesying the future or even truth serums. What you must be aware of is—”
“Veronica?” Wendy whispered again, so softly I could barely hear her.
“Pay attention, Wendy,” I muttered, keeping my eyes on Balthazar.
“Do you want to come to my room tonight? I thought we could have dinner there and play a board game or something until curfew?”
Sighing, I turned to face her. “You need to listen. We can talk about this after class.”