“You’re right, that is a little more serious than tripping you over. That’s active sabotage. I really will have to report that to Augusta. Now, tell me something, are you fucking either of your shifters yet?”
Melody nearly fell off her chair in shock. Mrs Hardinger was such a motherly type at times, that she forgot how down to earth the counsellor could be. Especially when it came to dealing with shifters. “Uh, I um. No. There isn’t time. I’m studying before class, during meals and for four hours every night. Then when the final revision part is done, I collapse into bed, only to start it all the next day.”
“But Dean shares your bed?” the counsellor pressed.
“Well, technically yes. He has to be careful though, he’s huge and my wounds are still pretty liable to break open and start bleeding again. He elbowed me in the shoulder the other night and I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. I had to get him to call Nick to come and change the dressing it bled so much.”
“Ah, yes, I forgot about that. Well, that would make sex a bit more difficult no matter what the position. Except for cowgirl I guess. You could ride him, I bet he’d let you too, anything for the chance to fuck you well and good.”
Melody’s mouth opened and shut several times, but she couldn’t think of what to say.
“Melody, have you fucked a shifter before?” Mrs Hardinger asked.
“No, I’m a um … I’m completely inexperienced. Aside from a few kisses goodnight from the guys, I’ve never even kissed a man.”
“Oh my!” Mrs Hardinger was taken aback. “And you’ve got seven of them panting after you. Well, my dear, you’re certainly in for a treat. I can’t speak for Asher or Trent, but I can tell you that the original Apex boys have fucked their way around this academy once or twice. They’re going to make you see stars!” She threw back her head and laughed.
“I don’t even know what to say to that!” she exclaimed, at once thrilled and terrified at the thought. At the compound, sex was a weapon weilded by the witches with frightening precision. It wasn’t something to look forward to. Not like Mrs Hardinger was suggesting, anyway.
“Oh, Melody! Oh my dear. Well. Yes, you are in quite a pickle, aren’t you. I was going to suggest that you fuck some of that tension away, goodness knows you’ve got enough choice there, but it isn’t something that you should rush into just for the relief. So, we’ll have to look at other ways for you to relax. Oh my!” Mrs Hardinger started chuckling again
Melody wanted to throttle her, but she waited patiently until the older woman had gathered herself a little. It wasn’t that funny.
“Now, have you checked for a disharmony hex?” Mrs Hardinger finally asked her.
“No, I haven’t even heard of that. Where would we look, is it laid upon one person, or all of us?”
“There are many ways to cast it, but I think the most effective way to target you all would be to cast it on the cottage itself. That way it would continue to seep into you, especially when you were asleep. How about we walk back to your place now, and I’ll have a poke around and see what I can find. These small hexes are hard to ward against. Most wards deal with the big stuff, but the little stuff can be quite powerful if it gets a hold.”
The counsellor and her shifter walked with her back to her cottage and took some time to go around the wards laid upon it. She did indeed find a disharmony hex, which had grown quite powerful, as well as another one to disrupt sleep and a third one to disrupt hormones.
“This is really quite advanced work. This isn’t your typical first-year prank. I can’t prove it, but I wouldn’t put it past that girl and her stupid infatuation with your lion. As if she ever stood a chance with a shifter in this school. Why the rune ceremony picked her as a beast witch I’ll never know, and I suspect that she lied about it anyway.”
Mrs Hardinger froze for a second, looking at Melody in horror. “You will not repeat that to anyone. Now I’m going to go looking for a hex that makes you blurt out your thoughts, because I would never have said something like that aloud!”
Sure enough, after examining the cottage and its surroundings again, she found a hex that disrupted inhibitions. This sent her into a bit of a tirade, so then she looked for and found another one that encouraged anger.
“For goddess’ sake! This is getting ridiculous. Go inside, Melody and get some rest. I’m going to go and get Mr Phelps and we’ll see what else we can root out for you. I’ll bring Professor Simmonds too. If anyone knows how to protect you against these shitting things, it’s those two.”
The plump woman turned and trudged off, Toby, her familiar, stepping out from the shadows where he had waited for her. He stalked behind her, his head constantly swiveling to look for danger to his mistress. The epitome of a guardian shifter.
14. Melody
When she walked back inside the cottage, Melody could already feel the difference in the atmosphere. The others looked up at her, but nobody said anything, either returning to their books, or curling up and pretending to sleep. Trent did a mixture of both, curling up on his spot next to the fireplace with a book in his lap and his head and shoulders resting on the brickwork. His eyes were heavy, but he wasn’t quite asleep yet.
The others were
