CHAPTER ONE
“Nobody told me there would be hellhounds!” I sprinted across the field, trying to focus more on not dying than my annoyance with my roommates. Surely, someone should have felt the need to mention that the hundred-yard dash involved three giant black dogs with burning red eyes and the stench of death. Not exactly the routine exercise I envisioned this morning.
I heard their snarls behind me and pushed myself harder. Forget Jack Frost nipping at my nose. I had the fiery breath of hellhounds at my heels.
“Use magic, Morrow,” the instructor yelled. Theo Armitage was an active Warden of the West, a branch of the Agency of Magical Forces. He doubled as an instructor for trainees at one of the organization’s feeder schools—Spellslingers Academy of Magic. Thanks to Chancellor Tilkin, I was fortunate enough to be offered a permanent place at the academy, although, at this very moment, I was questioning my choices.
“She won’t make it,” Slick McWizard yelled. I couldn’t remember his name, only that he used too much product in his hair.
The goal was to reach the glowing finish line by any means necessary before the hounds caught me. Allegedly, Armitage wanted to see how we’d get ourselves out of a tough situation, although I suspected he took secret joy in putting our feet to the fire—literally. I’d opted for good old-fashioned running. I tended to avoid using my magic and today would be no exception. I had a lifetime of experience stifling my power in the human world to avoid detection by my Lord Voldemort style father. Now that I knew he was dead, I worried that using too much magic would turn me into him.
“Bryn, look out!” Mia called.
My roommate’s warning came too late.
I felt a searing pain on my right heel, so intense that I fell to my knees.
“Down, doggie,” I shouted, flipping onto my butt to face the trio head on. The hounds were bearing down on me. I had no choice.
I yanked my wand from my waistband and took aim. Saliva splattered on my blue cloak, burning tiny holes in the fabric. Before I could act, a ring of fire appeared around me. The hellhounds howled in protest as they skidded to a halt in front of the flames. I glanced over at the responsible party—my roommate, Dani Degraff. The strawberry blond witch tried to look nonchalant, but everyone knew fire was her specialty.
“It’s not your turn, Degraff,” Armitage said, his nostrils flaring in annoyance. “Douse the flames so Morrow can get to the finish line, assuming she’s capable of it.”
Ugh. His obnoxious tone was the worst. Of course, I could make it to the finish line. I just wanted to achieve it without magic. It was impossible now. The hellhounds were pacing the area around me, waiting for their chance to pounce. I rose to my feet and Dani motioned with her wand, extinguishing the ring of fire.
Water was my specialty, but there was no reasonable source to draw from. It was a dry day and we weren’t close enough to Mercer Lake. The closest body of water was the river that flowed through the forest half a mile away. Although I could do it if I really wanted to, I decided to rely on one of my lesser powers.
I called to the air and felt the magic inside me swell in response. If I had to resort to magic, I was going to use the bare minimum—not so much that I’d risk letting the magic suck away my humanity. That had been my father’s downfall and I refused to let it be mine.
I released the magic and a blast of air blew me backwards, toward the finish line. I could’ve used the wind against the hellhounds, of course, but I didn’t want to risk hurting them. It wasn’t their fault our instructor was a complete tool.
I scrambled to my feet as the hounds raced toward me. The finish line was within reach. I dove through the force field just as the lead hound reached me. I barely missed suffering from a scorched bottom. That would’ve made sitting through my classes very painful.
The hounds cried out when they realized I was safely behind the ward that Armitage had created. Mission accomplished.
I jogged over to the rest of the class, relieved to be finished.
“Your technique leaves a lot to be desired,” Armitage said with a scowl. He seemed to sense that I was holding back. I’d never admit it, though, because then I’d have to explain the reason why.
“Sorry, Bryn,” Cerys said. “We should have warned you.” My third roommate appeared genuinely apologetic.
“When I heard him say to release the hounds, I thought it was a joke,” I said, still panting.
Armitage blew a whistle that none of us could hear, and the groundskeeper appeared from out of nowhere to wrangle the hellhounds back to their enclosure—wherever that was. My tour of the academy hadn’t included the hellhound stables. If it had, I might have opted to return to the human world when I was given the choice.
“Thanks, William,” Armitage called, and the groundskeeper grunted in response.
“At least we can have lunch now,” I said, and my stomach rumbled on cue.
My roommates exchanged anxious glances.
“Not quite yet,” Mia said. “There are usually two parts to clinic.”
Fabulous. As though one near-death experience wasn’t enough.
“Let’s make our way to the forest, everyone,” Armitage said, beckoning us forward. We trudged after him, and I could hear the disappointed groans of a few students. At least I wasn’t the only one who wanted this class to be over.
“I’ll need to see if someone can mend my cloak,” I said. The holes were small, but plainly visible.
“That’s easy,” Mia said. She touched each hole with her wand and I watched in awe as they were replaced by tiny bits of fabric.
“Thanks,” I said. “You’ll have to teach me how to do that.”
“My aunt insisted it was one of the more important skills to master for a young witch,” Mia said. “I didn’t understand why until I came here and started destroying clothing on a regular basis. Splashing potions, hellhound saliva, you name it. I thought she was being anti-feminist, but it turns out she was just being practical.”
I heard the rush of the river before we arrived there. Armitage stood on the bank in an authoritative pose, waiting for the students to assemble. I had a feeling that he practiced that pose in front of the mirror at home.
“The next exercise involves making your way across this raging river,” Armitage said. He sounded so gleeful about it that I half expected him to twirl the ends of an imaginary mustache. If he tied us to train tracks next time, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
“But the river isn’t raging at all,” Cerys said.
“Allow me to take care of that for you,” Armitage said. With the flick of his wand, the intensity of the rushing water increased tenfold. It wasn’t simply a matter of jumping across either. The width was easily eight feet.
“The enemy is breathing down your neck,” Armitage said. “Your only chance of escape is to make it safely across the river. How do you do it?” He fixed his gaze on me. “Morrow, you’re meant to be somewhat of a water wench. You first.”
“You mean witch, not wench,” Dani said.
“Technically, she’s a sorceress,” Armitage said. “She hasn’t had any basic magical training. Have you, Morrow?”
“No,” I said curtly. There was no need to make an issue of my background. Everyone knew that I’d been raised in Terrene—the human world—by my human mother. No one except Chancellor Tilkin knew the identity of my father—the infamous Volans Moldark. Jenny Morrow had been a doctor when she met my evil father in the emergency room of a hospital, where he was recovering from one of his many battles. Their affair had been intense but brief. When my mother discovered his true nature, she left without a trace, never revealing that she was pregnant with me. We’d spent my entire life hiding from him, and I only discovered his death when I arrived here at the academy. It had been a horrible shock to learn that we’d been on the run for nothing. My father had died years before my mother, during an attempted coup. She died in a car accident during an ice storm, leaving me alone at sixteen years old.
“Let me help you earn those witch stripes.” Armitage inclined his head toward the river. “What do you say, Morrow? Let’s see some of that water magic in action.”
I straightened my shoulders. The tool wanted action; I’d give him action.
I didn’t bother with my wand. I called the water to me and summoned my magic. The energy sparked inside me, awaiting instructions. Bending water to my will was as easy as breathing to me. I could’ve frozen the river and skated across. That was how Chancellor Tilkin had found me. I’d saved a family from certain death when their car had skidded off a bridge and plunged toward the Delaware River below. I’d turned the river to ice and their car had glided safely to land. That healthy dose of magic, however, had attracted the wrong kind of attention. My options at that point had been paranormal prison or the academy. No surprise which one I chose.
I focused on the center of the river and willed it apart. The water began to separate and I heard the excited chatter of my fellow students.
“She’s parting the water like it’s the Red Sea,” Milo said. The wizard sounded unusually impressed.
I continued to concentrate, creating a gap big enough for me to walk through to the other side. Previously submerged rocks and plants began to appear. Finally, the water receded to the point where we could see the riverbed and I heard gasps behind me. At first, I thought the reaction was due to my talent—until I saw the naked body. A young man, bloated and blue, with a stake driven through his shoulder.
I glanced over at Armitage, nausea threatening to overwhelm me. “Do you still want me to cross?”
Unsurprisingly, the answer was no.
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