Chapter 3 Classes Start
The next few days passed rather quickly, and before I had a chance to prepare for it mentally, the first day of lessons arrived.
Over breakfast, Amber and I pored over our schedules for the day and realized we had different classes in the morning.
She was going to start the day with religious studies, and I was going to start with history.
I had religious studies second period when she went off to social studies.
Lucent Academy wasn't only a school for magic but an institute of higher learning, so we would be getting a well-rounded education for the next three years.
"Looks like the first class we'll be having together is magical training later this afternoon in the Great Colosseum," I said, feeling rather dejected.
I had hoped Amber and I would stick together throughout the day, as she was my only real friend.
Vivian, Natalie, and Kristin were nice, but I didn't have as close a relationship with any of them.
"We'll be in weapons training together the rest of the week, and there's always the horse riding classes on Saturday."
That was true, and it cheered me up a bit. Outside in the hallway, we waved goodbye as I set off for Lord Vechi's class.
A surprise awaited me when I arrived. Seraphina Ashworth, whom I hadn't really seen around since she had fled from the Principal's office, stood outside the class and was about to go in.
She looked startled when I approached, as she realized we were sharing this class.
She wasn't alone. Beside her stood a man with a mess of unruly black hair and eyes that sparkled amber.
On his nose was a smattering of freckles.
It took me a moment to realize who he was, and it only clicked when I looked more closely at his sharp features and pointed ears, and the mischief on his face.
He wasn't the handsomest man I had ever seen, and something of the Imp's sharp features remained.
He was quite dashing if one appreciated the bookish type.
I knew that magically weaker mates could stick around for longer, depending on how powerful the summoner who had bonded with them was.
Seraphina was a relatively powerful summoner who had bonded with a magically weak mate, an Imp.
So she could have him with her for most of the day if she chose to.
I wanted to say something, perhaps along the lines of how I hoped she was doing okay or how I hadn't mentioned our brief encounter the other day to anyone, but it was obvious that she was feeling embarrassed about it.
Her face turned an alarming shade of spruce, even more noticeable against her light complexion and platinum-blonde curls.
She looked away from me and sighed as if she were picking up something heavy.
"Come on, Brambles," she said before I had a chance to speak, and she pushed open the door to the classroom. Her mate gave me a curious look but followed Seraphina inside.
Lord Vechi wasn't there yet, so the students were chatting, laughing, and joking around, clearly in high spirits. There were a few open desks left in the back of the classroom, and Seraphina bowed her head as she made a beeline for them. Her body language was strange and very un-Seraphina-like.
She passed a group of girls who were sitting on top of their desks.
One of them looked up as she noticed Seraphina.
It was Ines DeMocca, a girl with dark, curly hair that hung down her shoulders and gleamed lustrously in the sunlight spilling in from the open windows.
She had a pointy nose that was perpetually turned upward as she looked down on everyone else.
She was one of the noblewomen whom Seraphina had made friends with just before the summoning ceremony.
I expected them to greet each other and for Seraphina to sit with Ines and her friends.
Instead, Ines's eyes glimmered with a sort of cruel mischief that I recognized.
It was the look a bully got when they were about to be mean to someone.
"Oh gods, it stinks!" Ines said, waving dramatically with one hand. With the other, she was pinching her nose. "Dawn, open another window, would you? It smells like Imp in here!"
I didn't think Seraphina's ears could go any redder, but they did. To her credit, she didn't rise to the bait and ignored the tittering Ines's quip, which was met with a few of the other students. Not all of them laughed, but a few.
I felt my stomach turn as if it were me they were laughing at.
I watched as Seraphina and Brambles sat down beside each other.
The Imp didn't say anything either, but a pencil on one of the desks next to Ines suddenly rose into the air, flew down, and poked her in the butt.
She gave a loud yelp and almost fell off the desk.
Now, the students really were laughing, including me.
I looked over at Brambles. Our eyes met, and he winked at me. I knew then that the Imp had made the pencil move, a little trick to get revenge for his mate. I decided I quite liked him.
"Settle down, settle down, class." Lord Vechi said as he entered the room in a swirl of wine-red robes.
The pencil clattered down to the floor, and Ines dove under the desk to retrieve it as the rest of the students hurriedly took their places.
Before Ines returned to her seat, she looked daggers at the Imp.
Her own mate was nowhere in sight, so I guessed she had a much stronger mate and couldn't have him around to protect her all the time.
Lord Vechi noticed me still standing in front of the classroom.
"Miss Wood, are you going to find a desk today, by any chance?
We have a lot of work to get through. Unless you were planning on giving this lecture yourself?
" He was in his mid-40s with steel-gray eyes and looked quite intimidating as he scowled at me.
"Hey, Leah. You can sit here next to me, if you want?
" It was Ines, of course. And I knew why she was suddenly being friendly to me, why she knew my name when we hadn't even exchanged two words with each other.
It was because, as far as Ines was concerned, I was one of two first-year students with a Diamond-Tier mate.
Magical ability, it seemed, trumped social status.
Seraphina was now a persona non grata. She was out.
And Ines wanted me in, part of their little clique.
I had a few seconds to make a decision. Being friends with someone like Ines, who seemed to have a lot of pull among the noble first-year women, could be beneficial in the long run.
I just couldn't see myself ever being friends with someone like her, so there was no decision about it, really.
I ignored her and went to sit in the back of the class, leaving a desk open between Seraphina and me.
There was an awkward bit of coughing and throat clearing as the other students took note of my very public snubbing of Ines DeMocca.
I took out a notebook and pen as Lord Vechi launched into a lecture about the history of the Invicto Empire and the lands they had conquered.
By the time the bell rang to mark the end of the first period, I was relieved.
It wasn't that history was boring. Even if it were, Lord Vechi was intensely passionate about his subject.
Maybe a bit too intense, as I was of the opinion that only a monster would set three pages of homework on the very first day of lessons.
Amber and I passed each other in the hallway as we went to our next classes. There wasn't time for chit-chat, but I did wish her good luck with Lord Vechi, whom she had later. "Oh shit," she laughed, "Is it that bad?"
"You'll see," I said as ominously as I could and then grinned to show her I was at least kidding a little bit.
"Well, you're going to love the religious studies teacher."
I was glad to note that Ines and her troupe of cackling hags had another class.
Seraphina was gone as well, and I found myself wondering if she would be okay.
The other women sure seemed to have it in for her.
I wasn't too worried about myself. The other students still seemed afraid of me, and they tended to keep their distance.
It was unlikely that Ines would try to do anything to me, but she was the type to take out her frustration on someone else, and Seraphina seemed like the most obvious target.
As I entered the religious studies classroom, I decided there was nothing I could do for Seraphina. If I'd been the one to have ended up being bonded to an Imp for a mate, she wouldn't have had any trouble treating me with the same amount of cruelty the other women were treating her with.
My attention was diverted as the smell of sandalwood incense and burning candles assaulted my nostrils.
The classroom interior was bright and colorful enough to make my eyes water.
Yoga mats, bean bag chairs, and soft recliners were scattered about instead of desks.
Standing among these was a familiar tall figure clad in all pink.
"Miss Jenny," I said as I walked up to her, and she gave me a delighted hug. "I didn't know you were the religious studies teacher!"
She giggled with the sound of twinkling bells. "Thought I was just a yoga teacher, did you? Oh no, my dear. I have a very close relationship with the three gods and hope to impart my knowledge unto you."
She made us sit in a half-moon circle in front of her, and for the next hour, she told us of the three gods and their bond to the Pacted Realms.
"Mithra, Sun Goddess of the Hestawyn Realm, Asterius, the God of Darkness who reigns supreme over the Evernight Realm, and Elinle, Nature Goddess of the Fae Realm Verenestra.
Together, the three of them created the Human Realm to protect them from the Void Monarchs as they rest in slumber.
Even in sleep, they can communicate with their followers. "
We listened in rapt attention as Miss Jenny explained how every being from one of the three Pacted Realms was connected to one of the three Gods. Each of my mates was from a different realm, and it was important for me to learn all I could about the realms they called their homes.
Miss Jenny told us in detail what the different realms were like, and I found it strange to realize that the dreams I'd been having, where my three mates often fought for my attention, were eerily accurate in their depiction of the realms my three mates were from.
One of the students had his hand in the air.
"Yes, Mister Orivali?"
"Is it true that sometimes the Gods choose their Blessed among the most devout believers, giving them supernatural powers that are different from those of the Manaborn? Powers that are close to those of the magical beings from the Pacted Realms?"
Miss Jenny smiled as we turned back to her, very intrigued. "That's true, though the Blessed is even more rare than the Manaborn."
We were still discussing the nature of the three Gods when the bell rang. I felt my heart leap with excitement. Just one more subject, social studies, then it was off to the training grounds for my first magical lesson.
"All of you get started on an essay describing your mate's realm and the relationship they have with their Patron God.
This will require you to interview your mates.
The essays must be handed in the first week of the second term, so you'll have plenty of time, even during the holidays.
See how generous I am?" Then she looked at me, "Miss Wood, stay a moment, please. "
I already thought I knew what this was about, but I waited until all the other students had left for their next classes.
Miss Jenny closed her classroom door before turning to me.
"Since you have three mates, I thought I should specify that you need only hand in the essay about the mate whose magical affinity you are currently focusing on. "
It was strange to hear anyone refer to my status as the Trinity. Amber and I had avoided discussing it since my conversation with Principal Lucius. We didn't want to risk anyone overhearing us. I had almost forgotten that being a member of staff meant that Miss Whips would know all about it.
She regarded me for a moment, then said, "Though it may be interesting to interview the rest of them as well. Knowledge is power, Miss Wood, and the more you know..."
I nodded, understanding that she meant I'd need to learn about all three realms anyway.
Besides, I really was curious to learn more about my mates, and it might be rude to just ask Vaerath about his, since I was focusing on fire magic this term.
It made my stomach turn to realize that the other two might be jealous that I was spending so much time with Vaerath.
I'd have to wait for a day when we didn't have magical training, so I could summon all three of them and explain.
"You'd better get going. What is your next class?"
I pulled out my schedule. "Uhm, social studies with Miss Blyburg."
"Ooh, you don't want to keep her waiting, that's for sure."
She was right, Miss Blyburg gave me a long, irritated stare when I entered her classroom and sat down. Her mate, who was an Ogre, looked daggers at me from his corner in the classroom. It made for a very intense disciplinary tactic.
I couldn't believe the amount of homework we already had when the bell rang again, and it was time to go to the training grounds for our first magical lesson.
I was already tired, and the day wasn't even halfway over.
It wasn't just that it felt like so much had been crammed into such a short amount of time, or that the classes I was taking were so much harder and more complex than anything I had learned at school.
It was also that I felt I hadn't been properly prepared to come here.
School back in Hartwick had consisted of learning about the town, learning to read and write, and gaining some skills in mathematics and science.
The rest were learned at home, hands-on experiences that meant many young people would just follow in one of their parents' footsteps because that was what they knew and were exposed to.
Right now, it feels like I am being introduced to a whole new world and a different way of thinking within it. It was more than a little overwhelming for a girl from a backwater town who had just been the gardener's daughter only a few weeks ago.
I wondered uneasily if everyone felt this frazzled or if it was just me.