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  “Yeah, I have.”

  “What is it, exactly?” I asked.

  He took a long breath. “It’s a test from Mother Miriam. It’s different for everyone, but you’re going to have to prepare for it.”

  “Prepare how? If I can’t even do magic yet?”

  “Mentally and spiritually.”

  Wow. Less than four months to prepare for the biggest mental test of my life. That didn’t sound like enough time.

  I swallowed. “What happens if I don’t pass this test?”

  “If Mother Miriam doesn’t find you fit…” He paused. I couldn’t stand the suspense. “You’ll be banished from the coven.”

  My blood ran cold at his words. Grammy was the last family I had left, and I couldn’t be separated from her. Which meant I had to do everything in my power to pass.

  Come hell or high water, I was joining this coven.

  Chapter 5

  Lucas

  The look Nadine gave me when I showed her the orbs stuck with me over the next few days. She had such wonder in her eyes that I’d never seen before. To her, magic wasn’t an everyday thing like I’d grown up with. It was this beautiful new journey she had yet to discover—and I got to introduce her to that. It was like, for the first time in my life, someone actually appreciated that part of me.

  Move-in day arrived on Saturday, and it was the first time in months that I woke up feeling positive.

  “Rise and shine.” I burst into Grant’s room that morning and pulled open the shades. I had to be careful where I stepped, since his room was a complete disaster.

  He shielded his eyes as sunlight streamed onto his face. “Dude, can’t a guy get a little privacy?”

  He pulled the blanket up over himself, since he was sleeping in nothing but his boxers.

  “Not today,” I told him.

  He dropped his arm from his face and eyed me curiously. “You seem in an unusually happy mood.”

  I shrugged. “I get to sleep in a real bed tonight.”

  Grant suddenly seemed more alert. He propped himself up on his elbows and wiggled his eyebrows. “And you get to see that girl again, huh?”

  “Shut up.” I threw a pile of clothes at him from the foot of his bed and turned away so he couldn’t see my face.

  Yeah, I was excited. So sue me. If Nadine thought my light display was something, she was going to freak when she saw the mansion, and I wanted to be there when she did.

  “I just want to move in before the rush,” I told him.

  I threw his clothes into a pile and waved my hands over them. “Eye of frog and witch’s brew, make these clothes as good as new.”

  My magic glowed a dark purple as it intermingled with the threads. I lifted the shirt on top and smelled it. It had a fresh, clean linen scent to it, and all the dirt had disappeared. I tossed the shirt to Grant. “Your clothes are clean. Time to pack.”

  Grant sniffed the shirt. “Thanks, but seriously? Eye of frog? In what universe is that a cleansing spell?”

  I shrugged. “Worked, didn’t it?”

  Grant rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Okay, then let’s go.”

  Grant groaned as he rolled out of bed. “Give me a few minutes to wake up, dude. I need some breakfast before we leave.”

  Unlike me, who often forgot to eat, Grant needed to eat every two to three hours.

  “Right,” I said. “Well, let me know how I can help.”

  After a shower, breakfast, and three hours of packing—since Grant was that slow—we made it to campus. Miriam College of Witchcraft was situated on the edge of town in a mansion that, from the outside, looked ten times the size of the house I grew up in. It had sharp peaks, pointed roofs, and the gothic architecture shared with the rest of the town. Miriam Mansion was easily the coolest building in town.

  Stepping inside was like coming home. It wasn’t just the magic inside—like how it’d been enchanted to be bigger on the inside than the outside so it could house more dorms, a fitness center, and an Olympic-sized pool. It was the entire feel, like it was the one place I could be myself without fear of backlash.

  At the same time, entering the foyer didn’t bring the thrill and excitement as my first semester. Things were darker and more sinister. I was supposed to be here to learn about my gift, and so far, I was struggling with it. These wide, expansive halls were just a reminder of the endless nights I’d spent roaming them, trying to walk away my insomnia. The classrooms held memories of the magic I had yet to embrace.

  Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe this wasn’t home. But it sure as hell was the closest I’d come, and I was going to have to live with that.

  The school was already buzzing with activity. The foyer was crowded with students and parents. All around us, people were chatting away. One sophomore girl bragged to her friends about the Mentalist powers she’d gotten over summer break. She showed off by making her luggage float behind her up the grand staircase. The three other girls, who all bore the mark of an Alchemist, looked intrigued. At the top of the stairs, the Mentalist girl nearly bumped into a guy who looked to be in a heated conversation with someone I couldn’t see. I caught a glimpse of an eye tattoo on his arm and knew he must’ve been a medium. Some ghost must’ve been asking for his help.

  In the corner at a seating area, a group of freshman sat in a circle reading tarot cards. Beside them, two junior girls were changing their makeup at will and giving each other their opinions.

  Grant and I walked across the foyer to the registration table, where we picked up our dorm keys and our class schedules. We climbed the stairs and took a left. There were so many people that we had to weave in and out of them, even though the hall was a good eight feet wide.

  Our room was the same one as last semester, and not much had changed when we stepped inside. It was bigger than a normal college dorm, more like the size of a hotel room. There were two beds, two dressers, and two desks, with a couch between them facing a TV. Like the rest of the mansion, everything was decorated in dark tones.

  Grant plopped onto the bed farthest from the door. “Dibs.”

  I shrugged. “Fine by me.”

  I conjured my bag and set it next to my bed, then turned around.

  “Where are you going?” Grant asked. “Aren’t you going to unpack?”

  “Later,” I told him. “I’m going to explore and find out where my classes are.”

  “Okay. I’ll text you when I’m ready to hit the pool.” In his next life, Grant was coming back as a fish, considering how much time he spent at the pool.

  I stepped out of the room, glad he hadn’t questioned me further. I hadn’t exactly lied to him, but the truth was that I was only going to explore in hopes of running into Nadine.

  I headed back down to the Main Foyer, but I didn’t see her at registration, so I continued down the hall. I passed by endless classrooms, until I reached the Lounge. It was a huge room separated into different areas, with everything a student could ask for when they weren’t in class—couches to sit on, big-screen TVs to watch, and games like pool and darts. There was even an arcade section and four bowling lanes, along with a restaurant. It was like the entertainment district all crammed into one room. Everything was cast in dim lighting, like a club but without the booze and pounding music.

  I walked straight past the restaurant to the sitting area, then stopped dead in my tracks when I spotted a group of five guys in leather jackets gathered around the pool table. I tried to step away slowly before they noticed me, but Prime Asshole lifted his head and caught sight of me before I could make my exit.

  “Well, if it isn’t Lucas Taylor,” he practically sang in the most condescending manner he could.

  “Ryan.” I nodded my head toward him.

  The five of them stepped closer to me. Ryan came in close and wrapped an arm tightly around my shoulder so that even if I wanted to run, I’d have to put up a fight to do it.

  "How you doing, old pal?" His hand tightened on my should
er until it hurt.

  I didn't let the pain show. These guys might have had the rest of the school fooled, but I wasn't scared of them. They were a gang of Mentalists, and despite their sophomore status, they had everyone else convinced they ruled the school. They called themselves the Treacherous Tarantulas, like they were some badass gang—and had a tarantula emblem on the back of their jackets like it proved something. It was a dumb name, and I was allowed to say that, since I was the one who came up with it.

  "We're back to old pal now?" I asked casually. "Last time we talked, you called me a traitor."

  "That's because you are," Ryan snarled.

  He came in so close to me that I could smell the stench of his breath. I seriously didn't get why girls swooned over him. Sure, he had that tall, muscular, star-quarterback look going on, but underneath all that was garbage. My only guess was they liked him for his dick, but it couldn't be that big. I didn't care if it was two feet long; nothing could make up for his rotten personality.

  "First, you leave the Tarantulas—"

  "You stole Grant's insulin," I snapped.

  The Tarantulas had never been a great group of guys. I should know. I used to be one of them.

  I’d been thinking about leaving them for a long time, after some shit went down the summer before college. The final straw was when they decided to sneak into my dorm without my consent and take Grant's entire insulin supply in what they called a "harmless prank." I lost it. I traded in my leather jacket for this hoodie a year ago next week, and it'd been one of the best decisions of my life.

  “And then you started fooling around with my girlfriend,” Ryan continued, like he hadn’t even heard me.

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Seriously? We’re back to that? How many times do I have to tell you that nothing ever happened between Chloe and me?”

  I didn’t find out until months later that the only reason Chloe asked to attend my Evoking Ceremony was to make Ryan jealous and get him to pay more attention to her. It worked for a while, I guess, but not before I was dragged into the middle of their relationship.

  “You can tell me that all you want,” Ryan sneered. “I’m still not going to believe you.”

  “What do you care, anyway?” I demanded. “You and Chloe broke up.”

  “Doesn’t change the fact that you betrayed us.” Ryan narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t want to see you coming around the Lounge anymore, you hear?”

  “I pay my tuition, same as you,” I said. It wasn’t exactly true, since I was here on scholarship due to my parents’ lack of funds. But Ryan didn’t have to know that. “I’m free to use the Lounge as I please.”

  Ryan finally dropped his hand from my shoulder. “Do as you please, Lucas, but there will be consequences.”

  “Oh? Like what?” I knew Ryan was all talk and no action. He thrived on fear, and as long as I didn’t give in to that, he couldn’t touch me.

  “Like this.” Ryan flicked his wrist, and the cue ball flew off the table at full-speed toward my nose.

  I flinched and ducked, but Ryan shot his hand out and caught the ball before it reached me. His posse laughed. I wasn’t amused.

  “Funny,” I said flatly, straightening up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment to get to.”

  I didn’t give them a chance to respond. I turned and hurried out of the Lounge, the sound of their laughter echoing behind me. The truth was, I didn’t want to get into it with those guys. As much as Ryan didn’t scare me, if I swung, he’d swing back.

  I did have an appointment, but it wasn’t official. Professor Warren told me to stop into his office whenever I got settled in my room. It was on the way back to the foyer, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to swing by now.

  Professor Warren’s office was through his classroom. The door was open when I arrived. He sat behind his desk, his hand hovering over a dead mouse that lay in front of him. The mouse twitched, but it didn’t get up and move like I’d seen Professor Warren do to creatures before.

  I cleared my throat.

  He jumped a little, then relaxed when he saw it was just me. “Lucas. Good to see you. Come in.”

  I stepped inside his office. It wasn’t a very big room, but it was comfortable. One wall was made up completely of bookcases, while the other was decorated with various things that didn’t seem to fit together at all—empty potion vials, an oil lamp, and several ships in a bottle. He even had a skeleton of a cat, which I found kind of creepy.

  “Everything okay?” I asked, gesturing to the rodent corpse.

  “Fine,” he said quickly. “Just a little weak today is all. Take a seat.”

  I furrowed my brow, but I sat anyway.

  Professor Warren stood to close the door, then returned to his chair. He was in his forties, with dark hair and a bit of stubble I guess the ladies liked or something. He was a widower and never had kids. He told me once his students were enough, though I wasn’t sure I believed him. He seemed like a lonely guy.

  “How was your summer?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Good, I guess.”

  Total lie. Honestly, I couldn’t remember half the summer. I’d slept through most of it. The only parts I really remembered were disc golfing at Octavia Falls Park with Grant.

  “And the task I gave you?” He gave me a curious look.

  Professor Warren was a necromancer who taught Mortana studies. As my mentor, it was his job to help me understand my gift. The only problem? I was his first Reaper’s Apprentice student. The last Apprentice in the coven died just days before my Evoking Ceremony. Rumor had it, he’d lived to be over a hundred. Professor Warren didn’t exactly have a lot of experience in this area, and as much as I respected him, I wasn’t sure he could really help me.

  “I’m trying to find the good in my gift,” I assured him. “But…”

  “But what, Lucas?” he pressed.

  I turned my gaze away from him and looked out the window, which was lined in red drapes. Not far from the window was a dark forest.

  “I can’t help you unless you talk to me,” Professor Warren said.

  I shook my head. “I tried to help Old Man Keller cross over, but it was a total bust.”

  “Oh?” He straightened in his chair. “I’d very much like to hear about that. What happened?”

  I summarized the best I could. “By the end of it, the new girl got a concussion, and I’m not any closer to helping Old Man Keller,” I concluded with.

  Professor Warren didn’t respond right away. He leaned back in his chair with his lips pressed together, like he was deep in thought.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You say your gift is nothing but a curse, but this girl…”

  “Nadine,” I said quickly.

  He nodded. “Nadine. You sound fond of her.”

  “What?” I scoffed, my cheeks heating. Where’d he get that idea? “I don’t even know her.”

  “Nonetheless, your gift brought you two together, correct?” Professor Warren raised a curious eyebrow.

  “Um, I mean, not really.”

  If we were going to stretch it that far, I guess I could say my anxiety led me to Nadine, since I wouldn’t have met her if I hadn’t been picking her grandmother’s matus shrub leaves. But we would’ve met at college anyway, so I couldn’t say this was exactly a perk of my gift.

  “If that’s what you choose to believe, Lucas, that’s up to you,” Professor Warren said. “But I see no harm in taking this experience as a positive. Perhaps it’s worth adding to your journal.”

  Professor Warren had given me a journal after my Evoking Ceremony when he started mentoring me. So far, I hadn’t added anything to it. He only wanted me to add the positive about my gift. I told him it would be faster if I filled it with the negatives. He didn’t like that.

  “Yeah, I guess it’d be nice to finally add something to the journal,” I stated flatly. “But what good is meeting a girl? She could become the Reaper’s Shadow. I can’t put that ki
nd of burden on her.”

  He raised a curious eyebrow. “You realize you have complete control over the Reaper’s Shadow situation, don’t you?”

  I sank further in my chair. “Things could get out of hand.”

  He frowned at my tone. “Lucas, I can’t help you if you don’t want to be helped.”

  A lump rose to my throat at the accusation. The bright mood I’d woken up in that morning suddenly seemed to darken. My lips tightened. “I do want help.”

  Professor Warren sighed. “I don’t have a magic bullet. I can guide you, but you’re the only one who can change your attitude.”

  “This isn’t an attitude problem,” I snapped. “This is a matter of circumstance. A fact. My gift sucks.”

  “That’s your perspective,” Professor Warren tried to convince me. I wasn’t buying it.

  “Would you think that if you were put in my place?” I challenged.

  He shook his head and dropped his gaze. “Lucas, I can’t say what I would feel in your situation. The only thing I can do is offer my support. If we don’t sort this thing out, your powers are going to consume you.”

  He didn’t say it explicitly, but I knew what he meant. If things kept going the way they were, Professor Warren worried I’d throw in the towel and off myself like Eric did. I wouldn’t lie and say I hadn’t thought about it more than once, but if he really thought I was going to do it, he didn’t know me at all.

  I crossed my arms. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “It is happening, though,” he pointed out. “You’ve cut yourself off from people. You’ve stopped doing the things you used to love.”

  I was quick to retort. “I cut myself off from people who are toxic. That has nothing to do with my gift. And the things I used to love? It’s because my brother and I used to do them together.”

  Rock climbing, paintballing, kayaking—those were all mine and Eric’s things, our means of escape when Dad got in one of his moods. The only reason I stuck with disc golfing was because it was the only thing I was comfortable doing on my own.