1
Raven
The beads clicked togetheron the pendulum on the desk.Click. Click. Click.It was an odd choice of desk decoration in a place that supposedly had magic. I looked away from the toy and back at the headmaster sitting behind the desk.
The monster sitting in front of me should appease my disbelief. Dr. Green, the headmaster of the Academy of the Elites, was a demon. I think. He was huge. A hulking form squeezed into a suit and tie. His skin was a blushing shade of pink and his hands were covered in what could only be described as fur. Don’t even get me started on his eyebrows. Or should I sayeyebrow.One massive, bushy brow over both of his yellow eyes.
He frowned, his upper fangs hanging over his lower lip as he shuffled through a pile of papers on his desk.
“Like I said, you really can just call me an Uber. I’ll find my way home on my own. None of this is necessary.” I’d been saying it for hours but it was worth trying again.
He lifted an eyebrow and glanced up at me, then went back to the paperwork.
I let out a heavy sigh, clearly demonstrating my annoyance. All they’d told me was that I was in trouble and I had to come to this stupid school. I’d asked for a phone call, but to be honest, I didn’t have anyone to call. That’s what happened when you made sure you never stayed in one place for too long and never let anyone get close.
A grandfather clock chimed. Two times. It was already morning. Very fucking early in the morning. How the hell had the whole night gone by so quickly? I glared at the clock as if it were somehow responsible for my being here.
It was an odd creation. The clock itself was tall with branches that came off of it, making it look like a creepy Halloween decoration of a tree. It didn’t help that it was painted black. The clock face had a pair of gold eyes on it, resembling an owl. I wasn’t sure if it was the coolest clock in the world or if it was an ominous sign of things to come in this place.
The rest of the office was relatively unimpressive. Red carpet. Bookshelves lining the back wall. A bar to my right with glass decanters full of brown liquor. At least they didn’t outlaw alcohol in this place.
“Ms. Winters,” Dr. Green said.
I turned back to him, trying to make eye contact. You know, show that I wasn’t afraid or some shit. It was nearly impossible to avoid my eyes lifting to the horns on top of his head. He looked likeHellboy.It was very distracting.
“Your little stunt is going to take days to clean up, you do realize that?” Dr. Green growled.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I said, exasperation evident in my tone. Hadn’t we been through this already? The people who brought me here drilled me on this. He drilled me on this. We’ve already covered this.
“You roasted two human men alive,” he said.
My stomach flipped. “In my defense, they did try to kill me.”
He shook his head. “You’re lucky you’re under age or they’d toss you in a cell and throw away the key. You can’t do magic in front of humans. And you certainly can’t burn them alive in public.”
I frowned. “I didn’t even know I had magic.” How many times was I going to have to tell him it was an accident? And it really was self defense. They were trying to kill me. Or worse. Who knows what they would have done to me if I hadn’t defended myself. “So they’re allowed to come at me with a gun and I do nothing?”
“No. You can and should defend yourself but you have to be smart about it. That’s why you’re here.”
Here. At some magic school I didn’t ask to attend. I sighed. My choices were clear. Attend this school, or go to magical juvie. Cause apparently, at twenty-one, I was still a minor according to magic law or some bullshit.
“I still don’t understand why I’m here,” I said.
He lifted an eyebrow. “You have to learn how to control your magic. Untamed magic is a danger to everyone. Magical and Human.”
He wrote something down on a piece of paper, then slid it into a manila folder on his desk.
“Is that my file?” I asked. The idea that he was keeping notes on me made me uncomfortable.
He held up the folder and I saw my name, Raven Winters, written on the tab. My mouth twisted to the side at the sight of it.
“We keep a file on all of our students. It stays with you through your term here at the Academy of the Elites. When you graduate, you can take it with you. It’s helpful when applying to jobs within the supernatural community.”
I scrubbed my face with my hand. This was not how I expected today to go. I was supposed to be on my way to a friend’s house for a party. “What about my life?”
I’d worked so hard to afford my tiny, run down apartment. Sure, my job was shit, but it was mine. And I was good at it.
“When you graduate, you can go back to getting humans drunk if you choose.”