Chapter 3 Raven
Raven
Ihad no clue who this massive man was, but I respected his commitment to the cause of protecting me. I didn’t know who the mages were either, but they seemed like major assholes. The only useful thing they’d done was freeze all the human bystanders.
At least Adam wouldn’t see me on the local news channel being manhandled by a sexy guy in a plaid shirt. Stars above, he’d be furious when he found out I’d disobeyed his orders and sneaked off the compound.
Honestly, all I’d wanted was a small taste of freedom. A chance to see a bit of the world. If I’d known what would happen, I’d have stayed in bed. Or maybe not. That chocolate drink was pretty amazing.
I sighed at the thought of never seeing my sexy lumberjack or drinking melted chocolate again. He really was cute with his thick brown hair, neatly trimmed beard, and more muscles than any male had the right to. But from what the mages said, he was a bear shifter.
Witches didn’t mix with shifters.
Sure, he seemed to think I was his mate, but the poor man must have made a mistake. Mate bonds were rare in witches. They hardly ever happened. Most witches formed relationships for convenience’s sake, not a mythical soul-bond.
From what I’d read, it happened more often with shifters. The wolves ran in packs and partied under the full moon. They actively searched for their mates. Held social gatherings and mixers with finding their mates in mind. Many other types of shifters existed, but they mostly kept to themselves.
I tuned back into the conversation when the mage guy said something about not being paid enough. Willow shrieked as my lumberjack protector shifted into the biggest bear I’d ever seen in my short and not terribly exciting life.
The bear towered above us all, taller than a bus.
He probably weighed as much as a bus. Yikes.
I froze, but he took great care not to squish me as he roared at the mages.
One of them peed themselves, and I couldn’t help but smirk.
Willow tried to reach me, but the mage behind the leader shoved her back.
“Stun the bastard!” the leader yelled.
Another tent nearby caught fire as my anxiety spiked.
I heard Willow calling my name, but a mage flung magic in her direction, instantly silencing her pleas.
The mage leader blinked out of sight and reappeared behind the bear.
I saw him stab the bear in the butt with a small metal device, and the enormous creature collapsed.
He went down hard, nearly squashing one of the other three mages.
Part of me wished he had squashed them. They’d have deserved it.
Assholes.
“Witchling, get over here before I stun you too.”
My eyes widened in shock. How dare he threaten me!
Flames burst from my fingertips as my magic decided now was an excellent time to play. The mage leader cursed up a storm and quickly cast a dampening spell, snuffing out my flames. Then he grabbed my wrists and cuffed them. I tried to call on my magic, but it had vanished.
“They will remove these cuffs once you’re safely inducted at Starfall Academy,” he told me as thick, black shadows formed above our heads. He glanced up and frowned before pulling me away from the chaos. He was sending me to school?!
“I can’t leave!”
Willow jumped up and down while pointing and yelling. At least I assumed she was trying to yell. Nothing came out, so I couldn’t be sure. Nova appeared behind the group of frozen humans, her face locked in fear. Stars. This was bad.
I rolled my shoulders and forced myself to relax. Adam would fix this. He had contacts.
“I’ll be alright!” I shouted to Willow and Nova. “Don’t let Tally steal my romance books!”
Willow looked ashen as Nova gripped her shoulder, but I refused to stop smiling.
Behind me, the bear grunted. I twisted my head to see he’d shifted back into a male. A very large, sexy male. Oh my stars. I gulped. This was the first naked male I’d seen in the flesh. Were all males that… big?
“Hold on, witchling. This is going to feel unpleasant.” The mage gripped my wrist before the world faded. My stomach lurched as we landed outside a high stone wall and a set of beautiful wrought-iron gates.
“Welcome to Starfall Academy, witchling. This will be your home for the next three years.”
The mage gently pushed me forward when the gates opened. He seemed sympathetic to my plight, even though he had refused to listen to my pleas.
“What will happen to the bear?” My heart pinched painfully in my chest. The poor bear had tried his best to protect me and got zapped for his trouble. I hoped he wasn’t hurt.
“He’ll wake up with a nasty headache. I’ll let him go once he calms down.”
“You better!” I growled before cringing. Where did that come from? I was not the kind of witch who threatened people!
“Calm down, witchling.” The mage took my arm and walked me toward a tall, imposing stone building with turrets that disappeared into the clouds.
All around us, people scurried along gravel pathways while carrying books.
None of them paid us any attention, and I wondered whether the mage had cloaked us in an invisibility spell.
Adam used those. Mostly to catch us out. It sucked being caught doing something banned, like watching bootleg DVDs. Or sunbathing instead of weeding the vegetable garden.
“Do I really have to stay here for three years?” I asked in a small voice as the mage steered me through a thick wooden door and down a corridor. Paintings of mystical creatures stared down at us. Some I recognized; others looked way too fantastical to be real.
Rare supernaturals like dragons, griffins, and hydras existed only in books these days.
“Yes.”
“I have none of my stuff with me.”
“Everything you’ll need will be provided and paid for by the Supernatural Council,” he said in a smug voice, like I ought to be grateful some anonymous dicks with bags of money were happy to cover the cost of an education I didn’t want.
I’d learned plenty from the books in Adam’s library.
And besides, my magic was weak. Sure, I’d lit a few random things on fire once or twice, but I was hardly a grave threat to humanity.
Maybe the headmaster would listen? Surely he wouldn’t want a pathetic little witch like me in his school. The best I could do was cast a few minor spells and hexes. Yes, I knew a ton about herbs and stuff, but I would bet my last cookie on there being dozens of more powerful witches here.
We stopped outside a door at the end of the corridor. A prickle of magic washed over my skin, and I stumbled forward, feeling nauseous. The mage knocked. A second later, a deep voice rumbled, “Enter.”
The headmaster stared at me from behind his desk. With his shiny head, beady eyes, and leathery face, he reminded me of a tortoise. Was this male a mage? I assumed so. Mages seemed to hold most of the power positions in our world.
A deep blue aura pulsed around him, so bright I wanted to shield my eyes against it. Adam was a powerful mage, but this mage made my head throb the more I looked at him. Still, it made sense he was the most powerful person on campus. He needed to be.
I forced myself to focus on his craggy face and maintain a polite smile.
“Welcome to Starfall Academy, Raven Blackstone. My name is Headmaster Montgomery. Thank you for escorting her, Andreas. Please pass on my best wishes to your father. Tell him he owes me a game of golf.”
The mage behind me chuckled. “Of course.” The door clicked shut as he left me alone with the headmaster. The magical handcuffs burned my skin, making me shudder. Being cuffed reminded me of how vulnerable I was.
With no magic to call on, I had no protection. Anything could happen to me here. Sure, the mage claimed it was a school, but what if it wasn’t? What if he’d delivered me to a nefarious criminal organization that trafficked young witches?
Willow and I had watched human TV shows when Adam wasn’t around. One of them had a whole plot arc about witches being kidnapped and trafficked so Mafia criminals could use their powers for evil.
I shivered again while the creepy headmaster stared at me like I was a bug in a jar, then the magical cuffs vanished.
Almost immediately, my magic surged back through my veins.
I rubbed my wrists, even though the cuffs hadn’t left a mark on my skin, despite the horrible burning sensation.
A sudden urge to set something on fire had my fingers tingling, but nothing happened.
Much to my relief, as I’d caused enough damage for one day.
“Interesting,” the headmaster murmured eventually.
Nobody had ever called me interesting. Annoying, exasperating, and willful, yes. But not interesting.
“I detect nothing but minor elemental magic.” Two deep frown lines appeared between his eyes.
“But there’s something different about you, young witch.
I’m not sure what exactly, but never mind.
Your magical abilities will manifest in full during your time here, so we will discover your latent abilities in due course. ”
“There’s nothing special about me,” I felt compelled to point out, hoping it might encourage him to send me home. “The only thing my magic can do is start small fires and make a few simple potions.”
“You’re uneducated, Miss Blackstone. You have a lot to learn.” I almost snorted. He had no idea I’d spent my whole life soaking up knowledge from books and whatever else I could find. Yes, I had no real-world life experience, but my head was full to bursting with theoretical facts.
Before I could protest some more, he plucked a folder out of thin air and handed it to me.
“This contains all the information you need. Please read it before your lessons begin in the morning.” The door opened behind me to reveal a young woman with glasses and frizzy red hair.
“Moira will show you to your room. Enjoy Starfall Academy, Miss Blackstone. This is a great opportunity for you to reach your magical potential, so please try to make the most of your time here.”
Being torn away from everything and everyone I knew felt more like a punishment than an opportunity.
“The lock has been keyed to your magical signature,” Moira explained when we reached a plain door on the third floor of a dorm building that backed onto a thick forest. “So nobody else can enter unless you give them permission.”
“And what if I change my mind after I let them in?” A frisson of excitement shot through me at the thought of making new friends. I loved Willow, but she was a lot older than me. It would be nice to have friends my age.
“Then say out loud that you revoke permission, and the door magic will eject them.”
“Cool!” Maybe the headmaster had a point. If being here helped me learn how to do new magical things, I would be more useful to Adam when I finally went home.
“Once you learn how to do wards and other protective magic, you can tweak the door lock, but for now, this basic ward will keep you safe.” I frowned. It sounded like she was warning me I might not be safe here without actually saying the words.
“Am I not safe?”
Moira’s lips flattened as she stood on the threshold of my room, unable to enter because I hadn’t given her permission.
“Not everyone here is nice, Raven. It’s best to always be on your guard.
I recommend you join a coven as soon as possible.
Once you do, your coven members will protect you from the more aggressive shifters and other magicals with bad intentions. ”
“A coven?” Adam was the head of our coven at the compound. Surely I was already a member of his? Then again, maybe not. He’d never once mentioned an initiation ceremony, which I knew from reading books was essential if a witch joined one.
“Yeah. Come downstairs once you’ve settled in. This building is where all the witches live. We hang out in the common room on the ground floor after lessons.”
I hadn’t realized this dorm building was only for witches. Silly me. I’d assumed all the various magical factions at Starfall mixed as one big, happy family. Given how divided the magical communities were in the wider world, I should have known better.
Moira gave me a small smile. “Welcome to Starfall, Raven. I hope you’ll be happy here.” From the way her smile didn’t quite meet her eyes, I had a feeling she thought I wouldn’t last long, which was a legitimate concern.
But I refused to be a Negative Nancy. That wasn’t me. I preferred to look on the bright side, even when life gave me lemons.
Moira left, leaving me to check out my new room. It was small, but I didn’t mind. The realization that I’d have a space of my own for the first time in my life helped soften the blow of being kidnapped.
The bed had a pale blue comforter and two pillows.
There was a small chest of drawers next to it, and under the window stood a desk and chair with a reading lamp.
A door to the left revealed a small bathroom, and inside another door, I found a closet with three sets of uniforms and other assorted items of clothing and accessories.
A sudden wave of exhaustion hit me hard. Even though it was barely midday, my energy levels were at rock bottom. This was all too much. Being targeted by mean humans, then the bear-man calling me his mate, followed by the mage depositing me in a strange school, was more than I could handle.
Willow had always told me I was stronger than I knew, but right now, I didn’t feel strong. I felt weaker than a newborn kitten. And I missed my friend and the familiar faces I saw every day.
Okay, so maybe I didn’t miss Tally. Was she still bedbound with explosive gastrointestinal issues? I hoped so because she deserved it.
I sighed and sank down onto the surprisingly comfortable bed. A brief nap might help. Once I’d boosted my energy levels, I would go explore my new home and, hopefully, find somewhere that served food. No doubt all the important information was in the folder the headmaster had given me.
I should probably read it.
My fingers touched the amulet around my neck, and a yawn broke free. The stone comforted me. A reminder of home. I curled up on my side, pulling the comforter over me, ready for a quick power nap.