Standing, my vision goes in and out and I don’t even have the strength to tense my body. It feels like falling for a moment before there’s a thump and my body hits the floor. This time I allow myself to groan because thathurt. Even though fantom pain from my nightmare still lingers.
Flipping onto my back, I wait for my vision to return and then stare at my window. In the corner I catch a bit of movement. My little guy peaks out for a moment and I watch him begin weaving a white colored web.
I’m so tired.
Groaning again, I sit up and take it slower getting up to stand. My vision still blurs for a minute but I’m at least able to make it to my mini fridge and grab a blood bag. Pulling all twelve of them out, I crash back to the floor and suck them all dry.
Mhmm.
Faerie, wolf shifter, goblin, another wolf shifter, elf, some sort of feline shifter, more faerie. It feels like it barely does anything, but regular food will help along with proper rest. The latter will have to wait though, because I don’t know what day or time it is and I’ve already missed one day of school.
Standing – this time there’s no faintness – I tap my tablet on and read the date. O’seven o’three – Septmust third, and it’s six ten. Meaning I have a little less than an hour and a half until my first class. The dreaded Magic History with a professor I don’t want to see.
All day, actually, I will be seeing people I won’t want to see and –
My notifications pop up and my first one is a message from my section leader for the cleaning crew.
Fuck.
Today is Wednesday meaning I not only missed yesterday as well as Monday for school but I also missed work last night.
Rubbing my hands over my face, I almost feel like raking my nails down my arms. Digging deep enough to leave bloody trails to help both ground me and punish me.
I click on the message and section leader sent that after classes I need to meet with him immediately. Excuses fly through my mind for why I couldn’t come in but I doubt any of them will be sufficient enough. I’m not on probation but I’m sure they’ve been watching for any misstep to fire me. And there’s no way I’d get another job anywhere after this.
Turning off my tablet, I turn away from it and head for my wardrobe. It’s something I’ll have to deal with later – amongother things. Right now, however, I need to get ready for class. And that needs to start with a shower.
Just as I finish tugging a thin long sleeve and pajama pants set there’s a commotion I can hear down the hall and then my door gets thrown open.
“YOU CAN’T JUST WALK IN YOU SHIT-EATING – “
“MS. WATERSTONE IF YOU DO NOT – “
“SHE COULD HAVE BEEN CHANGING YOU BAST – “
“JULLIA!”
There’s another commotion then frost freezes the doorway and spears out along the floor. Ice begins eating the floor and walls where the door is causing the temperature to nosedive as someone rushes into my room. Jullia’s lavender eyes are wide and her hair is actually frizzy as she runs her eyes over me. There’s a sigh of release that leaves her lips but it is quickly replaced by fury.
Turning towards the door she screams out, “SHE IS RIGHT HERE YOU FUCKWADS, I TOLD YOU.”
“MS. WATERSTONE,” a familiar voice shouts back. A voice infused with a power that rumbles through this space and is accompanied by the light disappearing through my little hole above.
Nerves rack up my spine, but I keep control of my heart and blood and the adrenaline that flushes my system quickly disperses. Guards storm into my room and two of them each grab one of Jullia’s arms before pulling her back away from me. She doesn’t fight this time, but her eyes plead with me for a reason I can’t read.
Then a tall devil enters my room with wavy hair that looks black right now. His gold ringed red eyes narrow on me and go up and down before shifting further into my room.
Behind him the Dean enters with his dark suit and scolding eyes, along with two other men.
“Ms. Tsuki,” the Dean sneers. “We need you to come with us.”
I snap my eyes between the four men crowding my room with anxiety curling around my spine. Surely they won’t kick me out for missing two days of school. . . ? Because the two men who entered with the Dean are the same two out of eight people who sentenced me to this school.
I swallow thickly as I nod. The two councilmen watch me with blank expressions and exit first. The Dean gestures for me to next and then he and Professor Asier take places behind me. Along the walls of the hallway are even more guards. All of them pulsing with powerful aura and strapped from head to toe with weapons. Several, I see, are actual guns.
Who needs guns when magic is the deadliest weapon out there?
They lead me down the hall and stairs. Most of the guards strapped in tactile gear exit through the open doors of the dorm building and I follow. My bare foot is about to cross the doorway onto the stone path that’ll lead to the main building when I’m jerked back.