Chapter 6: The Start of a New Adventure or a Dangerous Trap?

The next morning, I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, then pulled my hair up in a ponytail. Since I had no idea what today's magic testing would entail, it was best to get my hair out of my face.

I hadn't unpacked yet. Something about putting all my belongings in the small dresser in the dorm room made everything feel more real. Besides, I didn't want to jinx myself by believing I could sail through whatever quizzes they had at this academy. If I unpacked, I'd have the added jab of having to stuff everything back into my suitcases when they told me to leave.

A huff escaped me as I opened the heavy door that groaned across the thick carpet. If my mom wouldn't have been in danger if I had decided to stay with her, I'd have given Reed the finger and told him to shove his academy's charms right up his arrogant ass.

I trailed down the hallway. The dorm appeared so different in the daylight. Ancient with stone walls with tapestries of gold, silver, and purple.

Finding no evidence of an elevator, I took the stairs down into the main lobby. They creaked with every other step. The black banisters of carved wood felt like history under my hand as I trailed my fingers down the railing.

Nerves danced inside at having to prove myself with my magic and not knowing if I had enough control to be accepted. I was worried about my mom and if she was truly better off without me there, as well as fitting in with kids who had probably been raised eating, sleeping, and breathing magic where I'd only had a few magic lessons that I had to beg my mom for. Her philosophy had been that too much magical knowledge led to corruption. Most of my spells I'd done on trial and error. Mostly error.

I followed a group of students to the cafeteria and snagged a tray with flimsy bacon and eggs that looked too yellow to be real. A piece of toast smeared with butter completed the ensemble and looked the least revolting of the entire breakfast.

"Ready for test day?" Jasper pulled up next to me, his tray overloaded with nearly burnt bacon.

"Hey, how did you get crispy bacon like that?" I asked, frowning from my floppy piece to his perfect dozen.

His sandy-blond hair needed a haircut, but it swept to the side, accenting his bright hazel eyes. He waggled his eyebrows. "Because I'm so devilishly handsome, I get special treatment from the cook. She puts mine on first and doesn't take it off the burner until I arrive." He picked up a piece, snapping off the end. "I've got the timing down to a science."

Quickly, I swiped a piece of crispy bacon off his plate and popped it into my mouth and moaned, closing my eyes. Cooked to crisp excellence, bringing out the smoky flavor. I opened my eyes to find him staring and my face heated. "What?"

"I can forgive you for stealing my bacon if you keep making sounds like that."

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Ready for today?" Reed dropped his tray in front of us. "Better eat up, don't want to hurl out on the field."

And there went my good mood. "Don't you have something better to do than gawk at me?"

"Nah." He smirked, snatching my limp piece of bacon from my plate.

"Hey, that's mine." I reached across the table and grabbed it back.

"You were already drooling over Jasper's burnt bacon." Reed bit into my food. "I could tell you were going to let this poor guy feel abandoned."

I crossed my arms, leaning back. "It needs to be crispy, not raw."

"And I suppose you cook all your meat until it's blackened?" He arched an eyebrow.

Reed didn't know me. No one here did and for them to pretend they did, irked me. "No, I like my steaks medium with a little pink."

"I like some things pink too." Jasper pushed a piece of his bacon toward me.

My skin heated at his innuendo. Maybe this place wouldn't be as bad as I'd feared.

Reed narrowed his eyes, glancing between us. "What's the cost of burnt bacon these days?"

Rather than answer him, I shrugged a shoulder as I chewed on the scrumptious bacon. Let him think whatever he wanted. Served him right for stealing my food and giving me a hard time.

Kento strolled over to us with a protein shake the color of a fluorescent shamrock. "So this is the popular table today?"

"Which kind of bacon eater are you?" I waved my hand at the two extremes in front and beside me.

He lifted his glass. "Vegetarian, so neither."

Jasper made a gagging sound, then oinked before he stuffed more bacon in his mouth. While Reed poked at his eggs like he was hunting for lost treasure.

"Are there actual veggies in there?" I asked. "It looks like you blended all the green marshmallows from a cereal box."

He shook his head. "No, this is a powdered protein mix, almond milk, and some fruits and spinach. You should do this every morning to cleanse your body and your magic."

I made a face. "Maybe next time."

Did he think there was something wrong with my magic ability? I clenched my hands as my magic itched across my palms. Not here, not here. I'd get expelled if I let loose in the cafeteria.

"See? Your aura is cloudy, and your temper is flaring," Kento lectured me and unease sank in my gut.

He made me feel like I didn't belong here. Like I was fooling myself and maybe I was. Maybe all of this was a mistake and they'd see during the testing that I was way out of my league. That my magic wasn't something I could control most of the time, but a wild beast that bucked and had to be beaten into submission constantly. The magic zapped up my arms and I winced, breathing deeply to try and calm down.

"Get it together," Reed snapped.

"Easier said than done." I pushed aside my tray, suddenly having lost my appetite.

---

Twenty minutes later, a professor dressed in black leather pants and a tight-fitting athletic shirt stood at the front of the cafeteria with a megaphone. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun. "All new students and exchange students from North Haven and Luna Academy meet out on the soccer field."

There were eight other students standing with me.

"Good luck." Jasper swallowed his food.

Even Reed gave me a curt nod. Kento sauntered off and spoke with the headmistress who glanced my way.

Talk about nerves. I squeezed my hands into fists, locking them at my side as I followed the group of testers outside. I hadn't been this worried since I had landed the role of Rapunzel in middle school after the lead vomited all over the tower half an hour before the show started. The entire time, I died under that thick, blond wig with the smell of puke and cleaner wafting in the cardboard cutout.

"The quickest way through the test is to use your instincts," the vampire-slayer-looking teacher said. "Just hope they are the right ones."

"What are the wrong ones?" A guy next to me raised his hand after he asked the question.

"Dark magics. Blood magic - anything of that sort will get you immediately disqualified."

I knew what blood magic was, obviously, but what classified as dark? Not that I thought I did anything opposite of white and pure - there were just some heavily gray areas too - right?

"Each of you will take a turn putting a wraith back into the underworld."

Holy crap! I thought day one testing would be simple, like changing water to wine or making Brussels sprouts taste like cotton candy. Turn our hair blond or something, not put a spirit back into the bellows of hell.

"Zoey?" Reed asked, suddenly at my side.

I hadn't realized I stopped moving as soon as I found out what the test was. Fifty feet from me stood a cluster of eight other students surrounding a creature that resembled a grim reaper minus the scythe and just as menacing.

Gritting my teeth, I faced him. "A wraith? Are you guys nuts?"

"It's what everyone has to pass the firs - "

"How many tests are there?" I straightened my spine, locking my arms at my sides so I didn't punch him or accidentally hurl a ball of magic at him, not that he didn't deserve it. "Wait, Headmistress Olsen said a week's worth of testing? So what's Friday's assignment? We gonna raise an army of zombies and see if we can banish them before they destroy the world?"

He snatched my arm and I ignored the tingles that spread from his touch. "Keep your voice down. Do you know how many students the academy turns away? This is a chance of a lifetime."

I glanced away, unable to look at him right at that moment. Headmistress Olsen watched from a stone balcony. Her face drew down into a scowl and I remembered her congratulating Reed on finding me.

"No." I jerked from his grip. "This isn't about me at all, is it? Or the academy, it's about your pride and winning kudos with Olsen. I'm just a pawn piece that you happened to capture, and it'll tarnish your record if I fail."

The muscle in his jaw twitched and his arctic blue eyes darkened. His magic pulsed in the air between us like thunder about to boom. "It has everything to do with the academy. You're in magic school, Zoey. What did you think you were going to learn? How to weave a cloaking spell or mix a love potion or practice tarot?"

I lifted my chin. "Well, yeah."

"I thought you wanted to learn real magic. How to protect yourself and your mom after graduation."

"And?" I still didn't understand. "What has that got to do with battling a magic spirit creature on the first freaking day? Shouldn't that be like a mid-term assignment?"

One of the guy's in the circle around the wraith screamed as if the creature had ripped off his flesh and fear gnawed at my belly.

"Go home, Zoey. I admit that I was wrong about you."

Anger flared in my chest, white and hot. "Don't you dare walk away from me. I'm here because of you and my mom. Both of you said she'd be in danger if I stayed."

"Exactly." He rolled his shoulders back, the wind tussling his white hair.

"Why are you so pissed off? Hell, I didn't even know this school even existed until yesterday."

"This is a magic guardian school and we can't hold your hand. You'll need to learn to deal with much worse things than a simple wraith."