LEXI
The next week is… Quiet. Unnaturally quiet. I only see Blake between classes. He walks me there, waits until I’m seated, then leaves without lingering. Other than that, he stays in his room, just like he promised me. I know he does because I can feel it, the stillness in the hallway outside his door when I pass. The Academy would probably tell me if he wasn’t. Aside from that, everyone basically leaves me alone. No whispering. No ‘accidental‘ collisions. No snide comments disguised as jokes. Just distance. I call my parents a few times, more than usual. I don’t tell them everything, I don’t even know how I would explain it, but I let their voices fill the silence a little. I talk to Layla during my medicinal magic tutoring, and those sessions feel like oxygen. But other than that, I pretty much go through my days without talking to anyone at all. It’s lonely. Not the dramatic kind of lonely. Not sobbing in the dark lonely. Just the steady, hollow kind. The kind where you realise you haven’t said a word out loud for hours. I find myself talking to the Academy a lot. Commenting on things. Asking questions. Complaining about food. Narrating my thoughts. Sometimes it answers with creaking wood or shifting light. Sometimes it doesn’t. I suspect a few people have overheard me and are starting to think I’m losing my mind. Honestly? I don’t particularly care. True to their word, the Academy updated the SCRI app and it has been heavily moderated. When I scroll now, there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of greyed–out markers that simply read, ‘This post has been removed by the moderator.‘ It’s almost satisfying. It also means someone has been VERY busy. I wonder who the moderator is. A teacher? A hired admin? Some magically bound entity? It would almost be funny if it was the Academy itself, but that seems unlikely… I don’t know if the Academy would be able to work out what counts as appropriate or inappropriate on its own. I mean, it worked out that I wouldn’t want to see the posts about my bruises, but that was a pretty obvious one. More subtle posts… Well I think it would probably miss them.
Because I’ve been alone so much, I’ve spent a lot of time people–watching. And I’ve realised two things. The first is kind of fascinating. There are a lot of magical creatures here other than shifters. I’ve mostly interacted with shifters because so many of my basic classes are shifter–specific. It skewed my perspective. But in potions, basic spellcasting, and medicinal magic? A lot of those students aren’t shifters at all. There are witches who never change shape but can manipulate energy with terrifying precision. Dryads who always seem faintly rooted, like they’re more comfortable barefoot and near windows. Djinn with eyes that shimmer oddly when the light hits them just right. And apparently vampires. Actual vampires! The Academy even provided me with a reference book when I started noticing and asking too many questions. It’s thick, categorised, surprisingly academic. It lists species the way a biology textbook lists mammals and reptiles. I spent several nights flipping through entries. Witches. Dryads. Djinn. Elementals. Selkies. Fae. Vampires. I seriously didn’t realise vampires were actually real. I assumed that was one of those exaggerated myths. But apparently not only are there legitimately people who feed on blood, there are entire classifications of vampires that feed on things OTHER than blood, emotional energy, ambient magic, even heat. They’re considered a vampire as long as what they feed on is something that they take from humans or other magical beings. I don’t know much about that yet. I
only noticed when I kept seeing the same guy in the cafeteria not actually eating food. Three days in a row he sat there with what looked like a strange metallic thermos filled with some kind of shimmering liquid. He never touched the buffet. Just drank slowly and left. At first I thought he had weird dietary
restrictions. Now I’m not so sure. The point is, I’ve been so caught up with the shifters, that I never noticed how diverse this place actually is. The Academy isn’t just a shifter school. It’s… Everything. The second thing I’ve noticed is less pleasant. I was definitely not the only student who has been harassed. I was so focused on my own drama that I didn’t see it before. But once I started watching instead of bracing for impact, patterns became obvious. There are other
students who linger at the edges of rooms. Who sit alone even when seats are available elsewhere. Who flinch when certain groups walk by. Who laugh a fraction too late at jokes because they’re not really part of the joke. Outliers. Some are ignored. Some are subtly mocked. Some are just… Avoided. And I’ve already seen how people at this place treat the ones they don’t like.
Friday morning I am sitting in potions and trying very hard to focus. The potion we’re working on today could potentially be dangerous, so I’ve been a little on edge from the moment class started. Sure, everyone has been fine with me since Blake made his point, but that doesn’t mean I trust them. It just means they’re scared. This potion is theoretically harmless as long as you keep it off your skin. A couple of drops might make someone a little nauseous. But getting it all over you? That’s a completely different story. It makes you nauseous, dizzy, maybe even feverish. It isn’t meant to be used on people at all. It’s essentially a highly concentrated fertiliser, pour it on a plant and it grows at about five times the normal speed. The textbook claims it was developed to help gardens in famine–stricken regions. Which is admirable. But I still don’t love the fact that we’re brewing something that can make someone really sick if mishandled. I did some reading last night, and apparently potion making in general is fairly dangerous. Incomplete or poorly balanced mixtures often become toxic. I guess that makes sense. Even most medications and chemicals in the human world are basically poison if you get the dosage wrong. Still, I have my repelling spell in place. Just in case… About halfway through the class, I notice a couple of the guys across the toom are goofing around 1 roll my eyes. They’re so going to spill the potion on themselves and end up bedridden for a week. Honestly? It would serve them tight. We’re wearing gloves, but they’re being reckless. Elbowing each other. Bumping the table. Laughing too loudly. Professor Matthews repeatedly tells them to calm down, but they just lower their voices for about thirty seconds before starting up again. Then something shifts, I don’t know what exactly sparks it, but it turns into an actual fight. One of the guys shoves the other, who is still laughing obnoxiously.
“You ass!” The second one responds, still grinning, and shoves back. The first guy stumbles. He topples backwards. That wouldn’t be that big a deal, except
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Chapter 89 89- Never Lick Anything In The Potions Lab
he slams into the table. Everything on it goes tumbling. For some reason, my mind immediately assumes it’s going to hit me. My stomach drops and my
magic tightens instinctively, bracing. But the table is on the far side of the room. So no. The potion spills all over another girl instead. She gasps sharply.
“Oh shit. My bad.” One of the guys says loudly, already turning back to straighten the table like this is a minor inconvenience. The girl takes a step toward
Professor Matthews, who has already seen the spill and is rushing over. She barely makes it half a step before she crumples. She doesn’t even try to catch
herself. She just… Drops.
“What’s going on?” Professor Matthews sounds genuinely confused as he kneels beside her. He presses a hand to her forehead and his expression changes
immediately.
“She’s burning up, but that makes no sense. This potion isn’t that strong. At worst she should feel ill, not unconscious!” He insists anxiously. The entire
class goes silent. Even the idiot bros. Professor Matthews demands to see what’s left of the potion.
“Why is this brown? It’s supposed to be green. What did you put in it?” He snaps. The guys start listing ingredients frantically, tripping over their own
words. They clearly have no idea what they did wrong. Professor Matthews pushes them aside and sorts through the scattered bottles. He grabs one, checks
the label, and swears.
“This, combined with the fertiliser base, is seriously poisonous.” He says sharply.
“You’ve essentially created a reactive toxin.” His voice hardens.
“Someone go get the nurse. Now. Go!” He orders. Chairs scrape as a few students bolt for the door. But I don’t move. I can’t. I’m frozen in place, staring at the girl on the floor. I don’t know her name. I don’t think we’ve ever spoken. But I recognise her. She’s one of the quiet ones. The kind that sits near the back. Not particularly liked, but not actively targeted either. Just… Overlooked. My feet start moving before I consciously decide to. My skin prickles. Magic. Not the calm, controlled kind I’ve been practicing in medicinal magic. This feels different. Stronger. Hotter. It crawls under my skin like electricity. Professor Matthews says something, maybe my name, but it sounds distant. Muffled. I kneel beside her anyway. I reach out and take her hand. The moment I make contact, the prickling sensation surges. It intensifies so quickly it almost hurts. My heart starts pounding. Not fast, hard. Like it’s trying to break out of my chest. My head throbs. The room tilts. I can’t see straight. The air feels too bright. Too loud. Too sharp. Everything begins to spin. And then… Everything
goes white.
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Lisa McNew
I have a theory that she is a unicorn shifter…it would explain the tendency towards healing and headaches (I imagine a horn sprouting from your head would quite a bit) a… More
7 days ago
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
