Diana was never one to run away from a scary situation. She proved that by joining me on the bed. When she placed her arm around me, I began to suspect this was more about restraint than comfort.
“You know she’s the same age as Kai, don’t you?” Diana said. “She goes to Pantheon Academy.”
I just sat there for a while, letting the information stew.
“Lex?” Diana said.
I shot up out of my bed. “I’m going to see Jacqueline. Alone.”
Yanking the door open, I stomped towards Jacqueline’s office. Out past the front of the dorms, it was absolute chaos. Thanks to all the Unity Games excitement, the entire Academy had come back from vacation early to witness the grounds being transformed. I thought I knew the layout of this place like the back of my hand. But where there should have been a path that veered left past the newly planted Japanese maple, there was now a massive crater.
“What the hell,” I said.
When I finally found Jacqueline’s office, I was greeted by one frantic assistant. “She’s hectic today!” Alex warned. “We’re running behind on construction on account of resources being diverted elsewhere.”
“Where?” I asked without thinking.
Alex wore round spectacles for the fashion statement. And so that when he looked you up and down, it made you feel like you were two feet tall. “Where do you think, Miss Hedge Witch? They had half the First Order out looking for you. We’ve lost weeks of time.”
I couldn’t really believe it. “Why?”
Alex sniffed. He resumed his manic paper stamping. “I believe Malachi’s orders were ‘If you don’t find her, your lives won’t be worth living.’ So now here we are. One day away from the start of semester and there’s a gigantic hole in the ground!”
“Alex,” Jacqueline called from behind her office door. “I can hear you shouting from in here. Send her in.”
Alex made a sweeping gesture at me without looking up from his papers. “Take a seat, Lex,” Jacqueline said, after I closed the door behind me. “How can I help you?” I almost had to cover my eyes at the brightness of her fire-engine-red suit jacket.
“I just found out Chanelle goes to Pantheon.”
The statement hung in the air between us. “I see.” She clasped her hands in front of her. The gold bangles clinked together. “I know it’s difficult, but she’s only a few months younger than Kai. It’s a Unity semester. There’s not much I can do to keep her out this time.”
“This time?” The implication of those words rolled over me.
“Of course. Did you think she chose to attend Pantheon rather than Bloodline Academy? It took a lot of manoeuvring on my part to exclude her. Kai needed to be somewhere away from her. So did Cassie. I still owe a great many favours to some powerful people. Including Orin Harcourt. In fact, you can thank Brigid for the final vote that kept Chanelle out. But there’s no arguing with her being here now.”
I really wanted to punch something at the moment. Exhaling loudly, I deflated all over the armchair.
After she allowed me a few seconds of self-pity, Jacqueline pushed a sheet of paper in front of me. “I’m sorry that you didn’t get more time to think about the subjects you’d like to take this semester. This list was sent out to all students last week but...well, you know. I’m afraid I’ll have to get you to pick now so we can arrange it for tomorrow.”
I glanced down the list of choices. My core classes were already in my timetable. The rest of the empty spots were for electives. Because it was a Unity semester, the four Academies were opening up their curriculum to students from the other Academies. Call me distrustful but I surveyed my core classes just to be sure there wasn’t anything surprising in there. Potions: tick. Weaponry and combat: tick. Dead Languages: groan but tick. Herbology: tick.
It was all pretty stock standard until I got to the end of the week. My voice died in my throat. I looked up from the timetable to find Jacqueline watching me. Her hands were locked together in front of her. “Magic Resistance,” I read out. “Fourth year: Dominion Academy.”
“Professor Mortimer and I thought, given the circumstances, it might be best if you learned how to protect yourself,” she explained. “The Dominion mages have the most experience in resisting demonic energy.”
“Right.” That made sense. But sometimes sense wasn’t all that comforting. Despite their assurances, they were clearly taking precautions.
“Okay.” I rubbed my sweaty palms against my thighs. My eyes scrolled down the very long list of electives. Some of them went right over my head. There was a subject on chariot racing offered by Pantheon Academy. And another on conversing with water sprites.
“I hope Kai’s taking this magical contracts subject,” I said.
Jacqueline let out a strangled laugh. I thought of Trey and Roland. For a second, I almost wanted to choose something easy so I could cruise. But then my attention fell on the subjects offered by Nightblood Academy. They were infamous for churning out your run-of-the-mill terrifying vampires. And they were the only Academy to embrace necromancy. It was heavily regulated, but it was the one place that cultivated summoning magic. After my recent run-in with a necromancer, I was severely deficient in that department.
I circled Undead Magic. I thought I heard Jacqueline sigh but kept going until I hit Demon Exorcism. It was a subject taught by Bloodline Academy for third- and fourth-year students. “May I?”
Jacqueline’s lips puckered. I waited for her to come up with an excuse for why I could take some advanced classes and not others. To my surprise, she relented. I circled that too. And then I saw who was teaching the class: Professor Mortimer with assistance from Professor Suleiman, my Dead Languages professor.
“Exorcism requires words of light,” Jacqueline said. Oh brother. Last time I’d tried to use a word of light
