With my cheeks flaming, I nod and drop my gaze to my notebook. “Sorry,” I mumble.
“Now, then… As I was saying, learning how to spot a harbinger of the veil can play a critical role in not only preparedness for how to deal with it, but also protection. When our gifts are tied to life and death, not everything that finds us will be all rainbows and butterflies, if you know what I mean. Sometimes, things go very, very wrong. When they do, the cost could be your life—or the life of someone you love. Do you understand?” Mrs. Clement’s eyes again fall to me, and I nod, showing her I was paying attention.
Her words rest with me as validation.
“What causes some of these entities to be formed?” Wade asks. Hearing his voice slices right through me.
Mrs. Clement walks around to the front of her desk and leans against it. “Good question, Mr. Hoffman. Some are ancient ones, formed with the early magic summoned out of creation. They’re almost woven into its very fabric. Others are created due to their circumstances.”
Wade leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his body, a telltale sign he’s not impressed with the answer.
“I understand that’s not the most descriptive of answers, but until you know what you’re dealing with, it’s hard to give a straight answer. Do you have something specific in mind?” Mrs. Clement asks, tilting her head to the side.
It takes him a moment to answer, but when he does he shakes his head. “Not exactly. I’m just thinking about the things I’ve come up against already. It seems each thing has its own set of rules and none of them jibe with one another.”
“I think I see where you’re going. This rule separation could be because each entity group is much like a society in and of itself. Just like with people in general, there are no hard and fast rules. We have to work within the confines we’re given,” she says, tapping the edge of her desk. “Does that help?”
“Sort of. Thank you,” Wade says, nodding.
I narrow my gaze, wondering what exactly he was getting at because his tone says something totally different.
“All right, time for the groans to begin,” Mrs. Clement says, rubbing her hands together and grinning broadly. “For this week’s first lesson, each of you will be given a Life and Death Entity to research. However, there’s a caveat. You’ll be paired up with a partner who has a divergent set of magical aptitudes so you can view your entity from different perspectives. Together, you’ll do some digging to uncover not only their origins and why they exist, but also some of the more mysterious aspects of your choosing. After all, these are magical beings by nature, so there should be some interesting tidbits you could unearth. Then, you and your partner will deliver a presentation next Friday on what you discover.”
Then, as expected, the sea of lamentation erupts from the class. Mrs. Clement raises her palms upward, nodding in evident approval.
Leaning back in my chair, I sweep my gaze over the class. Maybe it won’t be so bad. There are plenty of people in here that I’ve never even seen before, let alone spoken to. Maybe this is just the start Wade and I need in order to move on.
“Here’s how this is going to work… I’ve paired you up with a partner. When you have your assignment, I’d like for you to find each other and introduce yourselves, if introductions are necessary,” Mrs. Clement says, grabbing a stack of papers from her desk. “I know this probably seems very old-school in this modern era of texting and Snapchatting, but I can’t help it. I do love me a bit of antiquity.” She winks, clucking her tongue and jabbing her pointer finger out like a gun. “Besides, magical boundaries notwithstanding, I want to look each of you in the eye so you can’t tell me you didn’t receive your assignment.” She turns her gaze directly at me, as if she’s already sussed out I’m the problem child in class.
Wonderful.
I grin back at her, trying to present myself as attentive as humanly possible. The last thing I need is to begin this year with a teacher on my back. Starting at the front of the class and working her way down each aisle with a cheerful grin on her face, she passes a sheet of paper to each student. She even whistles a bit of a tune as she hands them out.
As she passes a sheet to Wade, I hold my breath, waiting to see who he’s partnered with. Half of me hopes it’s a girl, while the other half is screaming that it better not be a damn girl. Placing the paper on the desk in front of him, he sits very still. His right hand covers the sheet of paper, as if he needs to build up the strength to turn it over.
Biting the side of my cheek, I blink away from him as Mrs. Clement thrusts out my sheet of paper.
“It’s a bit like a sorting hat, isn’t it?” she says happily. Then, she moves on, doling out the next batch of torment to the student in front of me.
Suddenly, the burden of knowing who my chosen partner is becomes heavier than I anticipated. My heartbeat thumps awkwardly in my chest, threatening to bring me down if I don’t give in and turn the paper over.
Mrs. Clement settles herself behind her large wooden desk. All around me, people get up, finding their partners and grouping their
