Chapter 18 #2
The rest of the way to class, they caught up.
Maya told her the latest gossip, how she had missed out on the latest episode of their reality TV show, how one of the swimmer’s boyfriends had cheated on her.
Avery half listened, nodding her head a lot and saying, “That’s crazy,” at least five times.
Maya could tell she was distracted, but luckily, didn’t pry.
And that was why she loved her, even on the days that Avery hardly felt like a person, Maya wouldn’t chide her for it; she would let her float off in her own world and hold her hand while she did.
There weren’t many people who would let you exist without it being just for their benefit.
The lecture hall loomed as her stomach dropped below her ankles. Many of her peers had been training for months with their familiars, and while Avery understood the theory, channeling from a shifter, if it was even possible, would be something else entirely.
She supposed she had channeled blood magic.
Would it be so far-fetched that she could try to channel from a shifter?
Getting Felix on board with the idea would be an entirely different mountain to climb.
And it was a mountain she wanted to climb, in more ways than one.
Ugh. Could she go an entire day without thinking a dirty thought? It was starting to feel impossible.
The students filed into their seats, Avery and Maya taking their spots near the window. Students talked among themselves while the professor strode in, robes swishing against the wooden floors. Felix hopped onto the table, gave a lazy stretch, and knocked her notebook off the table. Asshole.
“Good morning, class. Before we begin, we have some new additions to our year.” He gestured toward the door. “Transfer students from our sister academies!”
Avery twisted her pen in between her fingers, looking at the intricacies of the stained-glass window beside her while fighting to keep her eyes open. Anything was better than watching the lucky bastards who strolled through the door.
She had applied for a transfer out of Caerwyn two years ago, but her mother denied it. She never thought that nepotism would work against her.
Felix passed out next to her, his belly facing the sky and his mittens stretched out, once again using any opportunity to sleep.
It was strange sleeping next to an enemy.
Although in some convoluted way, it was comforting.
For over a year, she had been stewing in her own presence, a soup of loneliness.
Somehow, sleeping next to her enemy had resulted in better sleep than she’d had for the last year. Was that fucked up? Probably.
Maya nudged her, forcing her to look back to the front of the class.
Her heart stopped for a moment as her gaze landed on the tallest one in the group. He was sporting a shit-eating grin. Her jaw hung open.
Felix, not cat Felix, stood in front of the class wearing a Caerwyn uniform with a Cheshire Cat smile plastered on his face and a black ferret on his shoulder.
No ears. No tail. No sign of being a shifter at all.
But it was unmistakably him. She looked back down at cat Felix, who somehow also had a shit-eating grin plastered on its face.
She put her hand down on the cat, and it looked and felt like a normal cat, but when she looked closer, she saw the swirling patterns, a dead giveaway.
It was made of shadow. She looked back at him, her jaw still slack.
He eyed her from across the room, smirking, before tapping his chin with his finger. She clamped her mouth shut.
That rat bastard.
A group of girls murmured, craning their necks to get a better look. He sent them a devastating smile, his fangs no longer there. They gasped like the damn goddess herself had blessed them. If only they knew.
Standing next to the witches, he was a colossal mountain next to them. It wasn’t unheard of to be so tall, but it certainly drew attention. They were meant to be lying low. What the hell was he doing?
“Students, please welcome the transfer students,” Councilor Delis announced. “I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Professor Bran. If you need anything, you know where to go.”
She was the nicest of all the councilors; her demeanor was always warm and inviting. Avery often went to her rather than her mother when she needed anything.
The transfers found their seats, including Felix, who took the empty seat a few away from Maya and her. He pointedly didn’t look at them, preferring to smirk at the girls sitting in the front row.
Jealousy festered in the pit of her stomach before she starved it of its oxygen and shoved it down to the deepest parts of her. She would not be jealous of a shifter. Maya looked over her shoulder, giving him a look.
Felix looked back at them, giving them a polite smile, before looking back to the front and settling comfortably in his chair. He was far too good at playing pretend. He played a familiar and a student. There wasn’t a single hair on his stupid head that she could trust.
“Stop staring, little witch. You’ll start drooling.”
She rolled her eyes, ignoring the little comment. The man was designed to get under her skin. More than that, he was getting bolder. The question still played on her mind, though. Why the hell had he shown up looking like a witch, in uniform and all?
She sent that thought down the bond.
A small smile tugged at his lips. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he replied. She didn’t jump at the sound of his voice in her mind this time. It almost felt like it was meant to be there.
“I would actually.”
“What are you going to give me for telling you?”
“I have nothing to offer you.”
“I could think of many things you could have to offer.” He looked down at her chest. “I’m looking at two of them right now.”
“You’re disgusting.”
The professor interrupted their chain of thought sparring.
“Today, we will be going over the basics of pulling magic from your bond.” Some students groaned before the professor only raised a hand to silence them.
“This year will demand greater precision in your magic, and you will need to pull from your familiar faster and better than before. Everyone, please follow me to the lab.”
Pale autumn light filtered through the stained-glass windows of the laboratory. Wooden tables were strewn with open textbooks and medical tools while the hum of students chattering in the background continued.
Felix was several paces behind her, his eyes boring into the back of her head.
Since they had become bonded, she was acutely aware of him at all times, something that was necessary for a witch and a familiar pair—with Felix, it was a giant pain in the ass.
She wanted nothing more than to be oblivious to his presence.
Students filed in next to tables, and Avery took her usual spot, waiting for Maya to fill in next to her as she normally did.
But of course, of fucking course.
“Is this spot taken?” Felix said. The sound of hearing his voice out loud in public was far more disturbing than she thought it would be.
Avery turned to the shifter, cocked her hip, crossed her arms, and looked up at him with a scowl on her face. “It is actually.”
He gave a polite smile; on the outside, it would look like he was nothing more than a gentlemanly student. But the words that came out of his mouth were anything but. “Move the fuck over before I make you.”
A traitorous blush crept along her neck. She wouldn’t risk making a scene, not when she was already so scrutinized for her performance. Begrudgingly, she took a step back.
“Good girl.”
She bit her tongue; there were so many things she wanted to say out loud that would not go over well with the professor, the first being cockhead.
Maya raised an eyebrow at her as she passed, to which Avery only shrugged as her friend went and found a place with one of the girls from the swim team.
The fake familiar Felix had conjured, a black ferret, played with a pen on the table, while Avery’s fake familiar, who should have been Felix, slapped at it like a mouse. Even their shadow collars made noises.
“Why are you doing this?” she said into his mind.
“God forbid a man want a little independence.”
Huffing, she gave up. Nothing serious ever came out of that man’s mouth. Everything was a goddess damn joke. How they were ever going to unbind each other was a mystery only the goddess knew.
Speaking of the goddess, the tree played on her mind. The more she reflected on it, the more she thought it was almost impossible that it was truly Cerituen. It seemed too convenient. The golden key Felix had retrieved, and its engraving was another riddle that she hadn’t yet figured out.
Felix’s voice slithered through her. “You seem unfocused. Are you thinking about me again?”
“You fucking wish,” she said, out loud.
Shit.
She looked up, her mouth slightly agape. Every single person had turned around to stare at her.
The professor stopped mid-chalk, turning slowly to look down at her through his glasses. If looks could kill, she would have smashed into a fine enough powder that one could snort like cocaine.
“Miss Alarch? Something to share?”
She dropped her shoulders, making herself as small as possible, fervently wishing that she could materialize in another plane of existence. The sound of Felix’s laughter filled her mind.