Chapter 18 Raven
Raven
Moonlight shone down on me as I plucked devil’s wort.
Adam would be furious if he knew I’d crept out this late, but I couldn’t sleep.
Besides, everyone always told me we were safe here.
No humans would stray onto our property thanks to the strong repelling wards Adam and Nova had cast around the perimeter.
As I examined a mushroom growing in the shadow of a gnarled tree, I heard a low growl. Coyotes and mountain lions were common out here, but never this close. I crouched low and listened.
Another growl. Louder this time.
The barn loomed behind me, only a few hundred feet away, but I knew I’d never reach it in time if a mountain lion attacked.
Two red eyes glowed like burning embers in the dark, and as my heart pounded in my chest, a bulky shadow creature moved forward. I frowned as the sheer size of it became apparent.
This was no mountain lion.
The moon slid behind a cloud, leaving me in semidarkness.
Vicious spikes rippled along the creature’s back with each step it took.
Giant paws tipped with razor-sharp claws padded closer until the creature had cornered me against a tree.
Rough bark scraped my back. The dog-like creature opened its maw and roared in my face, revealing teeth dripping with saliva.
My stomach heaved at the stench of rotten meat and sulfur.
The thing sniffed me.
I whimpered.
Would being eaten by a devil dog hurt? I pictured Willow stumbling across my corpse when she released the chickens from the coop in the morning, and I sobbed.
But to my surprise, the creature stepped back and its tongue lolled out, although it still towered over me. Two intelligent eyes bored into mine.
My terror receded as I realized the devil dog didn’t seem interested in gobbling me up like a tasty snack. But before I could try touching its leathery skin, a blast of blue magic hit it square in the face. It flew several feet back with an inhuman shriek. Two hands grabbed me and hurled me aside.
A blade flashed through the air, and then I heard a dull thud as the creature’s head hit the dirt. The stench of burning filled my lungs. The fire burned so brightly I felt sure it would burn me too, but Adam scooped me up and carried me indoors.
Tears ran down my cheeks. Not from relief at being saved, even though Adam had come running the second he sensed the wards had been breached. No, I cried because something deep inside me knew the creature hadn’t meant me any harm.
Glynda chewed her lip and frowned, wholly unconvinced by my terrifying story. “So you think this demon was friendly? I have to say, this goes against literally everything I’ve ever read about demons.”
I sat back in my chair and traced a circle on the table. A stack of books sat in the middle, reminding me I had a paper to write. While I loved reading, I hated writing, so this promised to be a massive chore. Was there a spell I could use?
Glynda rolled her eyes when I asked her. “No. Using magic to do your assignments is cheating, Raven.” Ugh. Somewhat annoyed that I’d have to write the stupid paper, I picked up the last of the pastries Glynda had collected from the dining hall and shoved it in my mouth.
“Did you see any more demons after your guardian killed that one?”
I shook my head. “No. Adam reinforced the wards. A few days later, we moved to a new property several hundred miles away.”
“Maybe it was a one-off.”
“I guess… but if one demon escaped the hell realm, surely others can too, right?”
“True, but if demons could come and go relatively easily, why don’t we hear about it? Lesser demonic creatures lack intelligence and will attack any living creature. Higher demons might not go on a murder spree, but humans would definitely notice them.”
“Ugh, I don’t know. Can we talk about something else, please?” It had been ages since I had thought about the dog creature, but it still upset me that Adam had killed it. A normal witch would have been grateful, which meant I wasn’t normal.
“You’re right. No more talking about demons.
Let’s talk about the new PT coach instead,” Glynda smirked.
“You still owe me an explanation for why you came back to the dorm several hours after he sent me and the other two packing.” She glanced around to check nobody was within earshot. “Do you know him?”
I scrambled for an explanation that didn’t involve me confessing to breaking several rules in the student handbook. We’d missed each other this morning because I’d overslept and skipped breakfast, so this was the first time Glynda had had a chance to grill me about my meltdown in gym class.
“Um, we sort of met before I arrived here.” Stars above, how to explain it all without sounding insane? “He was there when the mages showed up after I set a table of candles on fire at a market.”
Instead of laughing, Glynda looked concerned. “Something must be disrupting your magic. Mine only behaved like that when it first manifested, and only for the first few days. Is there a trigger?”
Exhaling with relief that my magic issues were more interesting than our coach’s unprofessional behavior in the gym, I nodded. “Yeah, it happens when my emotions go haywire.”
“Hmm, and what exactly triggers your emotions?” From the gleam in her eye, she knew exactly where this was going.
“Um, stress about doing a gym class?” Glynda snorted, making it clear my bullshit explanation didn’t fool her one bit.
“Sure, let’s go with that for now.”
I picked up a book about demons and flipped to the first chapter.
Thankfully, Glynda took the hint and did the same.
While we were becoming friends, I didn’t know her well enough to want to spill all my deepest, darkest secrets, and admitting I’d let a member of the faculty do bad things to me was way more reckless than I was comfortable being.
By the time we’d had enough of reading about the demon realm, my stomach was ready for more food. I planned to eat my body weight in pasta and then go to bed.
Maybe if I were really lucky, the cute cat from last night would visit me again. When I’d woken up this morning, cursing Alar-dick for sticking me with detention, the cat had gone, leaving nothing behind but a warm indentation in my bed.
I’d expected it to still be in my room, but my window was open, and even though I was three floors up, an agile cat could have jumped out and climbed down via the overhanging stone ledges at intervals.
“Have you found your familiar yet?” I asked Glynda as we left the library and followed the path to the main building.
The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, lighting our way and highlighting the fallen trees from yesterday’s storm.
I’d seen a few dead birds this morning, which made me sad.
Storms seemed a regular occurrence around here, and I prayed my stupid magic wasn’t triggering destructive energy patterns.
“Not yet. Most witches don’t find theirs until the third year, and some never find one at all. My sister didn’t.”
“Oh, that’s sad. I’m sorry!” Willow had never found hers either, and I knew it bothered her. Adam’s familiar was a crow. I hated that bird. It used to spy on me constantly when I was growing up, reporting back to Adam if I misbehaved or sassed the witches caring for me.
“Familiars can die in accidents, I guess, just like witches.”
She brightened as we reached the entrance to the dining hall and the smell of delicious food washed over us. “I hope my familiar is something cool like a raven or golden eagle,” she told me as we took our place in the queue.
A loud scoff behind us made my fists clench. Demelza.
“You’re more likely to end up with something pathetic like a mole rat or a rabbit.” Her friend laughed way too loudly for such a stupid joke.
“Couldn’t be any worse than the trash panda your cousin got,” Glynda replied with a giggle. “I hear he leaves fast food wrappers in her bed as a gift.”
I slapped my hand over my mouth to contain my giggles, but an unladylike snort slipped out. “Really?” The idea of a snooty witch related to Demelza ending up with a raccoon as a familiar had me in stitches.
“Fred’s not a trash panda!” Demelza hissed, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. “He’s a highly intelligent mammal with a keen nose!”
“Yeah, for cheeseburgers.” Glynda and I fell apart laughing as Demelza stormed away in a huff of outrage. Cassie threw us a vicious glare and chased after her.
“I’m being mean,” Glynda admitted once she stopped laughing. “A raccoon is a fun familiar. They’re super intelligent. Honestly, I’d be thrilled if a raccoon chose me as its witch.”
“A cat showed up outside my bedroom door last night. I wondered if it was someone’s familiar,” I mused as I grabbed a bowl of tomato pasta with garlic bread. It smelled divine.
“Maybe, but they tend not to bother with other witches unless ordered to spy on them.”
My amusement faded.
Oh well, it was too late to worry now.
Pasta with extra cheese would soothe my emotional wounds. I had botany studies with Glynda at 7 p.m., then I’d go back to my room, lock the door, and enjoy an early night. I had only two more detentions left.
While Glynda ate her crispy chicken salad and read something on her phone, I pulled out the paper timetable I still carried in my jacket. Whereas the other students had phone apps, I still didn’t have a phone. Or money to buy one.
Honestly, it was embarrassing how behind the curve I was.
Technology had largely passed me by. Sure, I knew how a DVD player worked, but if someone sat me in front of a computer, I’d be clueless.
Glynda had mentioned using a laptop to write my paper for Professor Dunton, but I told her I’d write it on paper. With an actual pen.
My paper timetable said I had PT at nine in the morning with Coach Wilder. The thought of seeing my bear again made my chest ache, along with the rest of me. We hadn’t crossed paths today. Not that I was expecting to see him.
Sadness hit me hard. Maverick claimed I was his mate, but from what the student handbook said, even mated pairs had to stick to their own classes while at the academy.
The only compromise permitted was for mated pairs in different year groups.
Once the older student graduated, the school let them remain on campus in a teaching role.
I frowned. Would that loophole work for us? If I were Maverick’s soul-bonded mate, surely the school would allow us to stay together with him in his teaching role, right?
I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear the commotion behind me. Glynda uttered a deafening scream and shot to her feet, knocking the table over in her panic. When I looked up, a huge dog-like creature bounded across the room, growling and snarling and heading right for me.