The next morning, she was more prepared for Deen’s wake up call. “Good morning, Deen. Be back in a minute. She jumped up and went to the bathroom and got ready for school, she was back in a few minutes. Deen held a few packages.
“Katy, your watch and clock came, and our candies!” Deen said as he opened the package from Kandi’s Sweets took out a sugar wand.
Katy took her packages and set her watch and clock, she also set the alarm, though she knew she may never need it with Deen around. “Hey, this watch is really a good choice.” She said as she put it on.
“Brilliant, look it is breakfast time!” Deen said as he jumped up and headed to the door, he jumped over Starlight, who had jumped down to block the door.
Katy was about to follow when Starlight jumped in her way. Katy picked her up and put her on the bed, but Starlight just jumped in her way again. “What is going on with you?” Starlight meowed at her. “Deen wait!”
But it was too late, Katy heard a crash and ran out the door this time unhindered by Starlight. Katy looked down the stairs and saw Deen laid out at the end of the stairs, she ran down to him. “Deen! What happened?”
He moved but was in pain, one could see his leg was broken. “I don’t know I was hit with something and I fell down the steps. Brilliant, this sucks, I am going to miss breakfast.” He said with a weak laugh.
Katy rolled her eyes “leave it to you to worry about breakfast.” But Katy did relax a bit she knew he would to be okay.
Deen laughed weakly. “It is the most important meal of the day.”
Katy knew she still had to get him to the hospital wing. Just as Katy was trying to figure out if she could maybe use the lifting spell to help him to the hospital wing, Tony walked into the dorm. “Tony!” Katy yelled. “We need help over here!”
Tony turned and rushed over to the scene. “What happened?” He said as he started to heal Deen’s leg.
“I don’t know! We were leaving to go to breakfast, Starlight stepped in front of us, Deen stepped over her, and when I was making sure she stayed put, as she was making a fuss, and then she told me ‘DANGER’, I tried to stop Deen but I heard the crash!” Katy said in a rush.
“And all I remember was I was hit by something then I fell down the stairs!” Deen added as Tony helped him up, his break mended.
“That is strange…” Tony said deep in thought. “Why don’t you two go to breakfast and Deen take it easy on the leg for a few days, I am going to go tell my father.” Tony said as he walked right back out the door he just came in.
“Well that will teach me to jump over Starlight! Brilliant,” he rubbed his leg, as the feeling of healing magic let a little strange. Always did when it was Not your own magic, or a family member’s magic. “I wonder what happened? Deen asked as they walked into the dining hall.
“Don’t know, but Tony is right it was kind of strange.”
“I don’t know maybe someone was practicing and it was an accident, either way I wasn’t hurt too bad. And Tony fixed me up easily enough.”
They sat down for breakfast; Katy hoped Deen was right, if not that meant someone wanted to hurt him. And that did not sit well with Katy.
They went off to transfiguration where they were introduced to Professor Evan O’Conaill, he too was tanned, and had black eyes tinted with yellow, his nails were also long. He said “first term is going to be on the laws governing the study of transfiguration, and then you will start changing small things. After your fifth year if you continue you can focus on changing your own appearance, and in your tenth learn to transform into an animal. Very few students continue into their sixth year let alone tenth. But I shall give you enough understanding so that what you want to do after school shall be possible.” He gave homework, due at the end of term; he wanted them to write a ten-page essay on why the rules taught in the term were necessary.
“Brilliant, another paper, I am up to three now.” Deen complained as they went to their magical defense class. And again, they choose the back row to sit in, “I hope we don’t get anything in this class, we are being bombarded with papers.” Just as Deen said that the doors opened and in came the professor.
“I am Professor Lua Notte-Preto” she was pale white, her long black hair made her look ghost white, her red lips stood out against her face, as did her eyes which were colored like the silver tip of Katy’s athame, but there was a familiar look to her, Katy just couldn’t figure out why. Katy let it go to the back of her mind. But Katy could not help but to feel that the professor watched her more closely than any other student in the class.
“This is your magical defense class. In here, not only will you learn counter spells and defensive spells, you will also learn about our more deadly creatures and how to protect yourself against them.” She went on to describe how, now that they had a set syllabus, they would change it only if needed, but generally on Wednesdays they would study things like vampires, werewolves and other creatures that are considered dark, and on Mondays defensive spells. Professor Notte-Preto lectured on vampires for the rest of the class and set a two page paper on how to identify a vampire, how they become vampires and the defense against them in two weeks.
Katy listened to Deen complain all though break while she started on the paper, at the end of break, they went to Pyrokinesis. They did not have a chance to continue as soon as they sat down the professor walked in.
“I am Sara Kenna.” She had glowing golden tawny skin, with bright red hair and eyes the color of green jades. She was tall, quite taller than they had ever seen a woman, except their language teacher, and they wondered if they were related to each other as she had to be at least seven and half feet tall. “You can call me professor or Sara, I do not mind, as I will have you in this class for ten years. The first year is about learning how to create your inner fire and controlling it once you have learned to create it.” This class again was a safety lecture class. However, at the end of class they were allowed to try to create a flame in their hands.
“Concentrate young witches and warlocks.” Sara said, as she passed by. Near the end of the class Katy and Deen were the only ones who had managed to create a flame.
Deen’s was small and fit in the center of his hand. Katy had created a flame that covered her whole hand, and they both got bonus points.
“Brilliant, that was cool!” Deen said as they walked to the greenhouses over by the Earth tower. “Yours was cooler but, I can’t wait until we start doing things with our fire.”
“How long do you think it will take?”
“Well we spend ten years learning to use and control it so what we did was probably the most we will do this year. That and lighting candles.” When they entered the Herbology green house, they were the only two there. “Look we are the only two that took this class.” Deen said as they waited for the professor to walk in.
Katy would have replied, but right then the professor waked in. She was about five foot maybe a few inches taller, she had dirty blond hair, with bluish yellowish eyes, her nose was on the large size, but it fit her oval face. “I am Professor LaVonne de Merci, I expect you two to work hard and excel at Herbology. In fact, since there are only two of you, we shall skip the minor herbs section of the book and work hands on. We will start with basil. There are many properties of this small but powerful herb. In fact, it is one of the main ingredients in the antidote for a basilisk bite.” Professor de Merci continued to lecture on basil, and then helped Deen and Katy plant a basic herb garden.
The incident of the morning seemed to be forgotten as Deen and Katy sat down for lunch talking about how at least they didn’t have a paper due in Herbology, but they would have to go down on Fridays to check on their herb gardens. But Katy did not mind so much and just let Deen’s ranting go in one ear and out the other as she continued to work on her vampire essay.
“Brilliant, I wish I hadn’t chosen Art.” Deen said as he headed down to the lake and Katy to one of the towers in the main building.
“Why do you always say brilliant?”
Deen smiled, I used to say man, but I decided thatnit was a little gender identifying and not everyone will like it, like the word dude. Mature for my age? Nah, just my brother having a talk with me when he was 12. So, I started saying brilliant instead. Now, it is a habit.”
Katy nodded her head, “makes sense.”
“I don’t wanna go to class.” Deen whined as Katy rolled her eyes.
When Katy reached the Mythology tower, Oscar had sat in the front and waited for the professor to show up. Katy, out of habit sat in the back at first, and then thought about moving to the front but did not. Katy did not know why she didn’t move to the front to sit next to Oscar, but she felt she should not, so she stayed where she was. Katy was quickly learning to trust her instincts, even more now than when she lived on the streets. Those instincts were being enhanced as she was exposed to magic, and she was never going to ignore them.
The professor walked in, she was tall and lean, she seemed to have an air about her that would make anybody sit up and take notice, her short blonde hair, her skin was a cool fawn color with blue undertones, and grey eyes seemed to read not only the mind of the person they were fixed upon but see into their very soul. “Hello, my name is Professor Shantel Ryann. In this class during the next five years we will study the mythology of different civilizations. This year we will cover Greek and Roman Mythology focusing on their gods and goddesses. If we have time, we will begin Egyptian mythology.”
When Katy left the class, she had yet another long paper on the Titians, and their rule before they were overthrown, it was to be ten pages and due at the end of the term.
Katy met up with Deen as they walked into their Elements class and took their customary seats in the back of the class. They however did not get a chance to talk before the professor walked in.
“Welcome first year Fires! My name is Tara Nadir, and since I will be teaching you for a minimum of five years you may call me Tara. Some of you may continue with Elements for your sixth thru ninth years. In this class we shall learn about the other four elements and their powers. Some of you may even discover that you have some minor control over the other four elements! You will want to develop those as the years go on. Also, as a side note if any of you want to be a Guardian you will want to, as well as need to, discover these powers in you.” The first class was a lecture over the Water element, and their history.
“We are going to learn the basics this year, one per term. I wonder if we will be able to test whether or not we have control over other elements.” Katy wondered out loud to Deen as they walked from class.
“I don’t know but I hear that Spirit and Water are the hardest to learn. And we are going to have to learn to control them all if we want to become Guardians one day!” Deen stated as he grabbed a cup of pineapple juice.
“Well, we will just have to study hard and not procrastinate.” Katy said as she read over her vampire essay making sure she covered everything. It was two pages longer than required but she had felt it was important information that needed to be included in the essay.
“Yeah, I guess I should start on some of this homework we have.” Deen stated as they walked to the Divination classroom. When they walked in, they were reminded instantly of the store back in North Dakota. “Brilliant, she sure does like pink.” Deen stated as they took their seats.
“Good afternoon class! Most of you have met me, for those who have not my name is Professor Erin O’Conaill. And this class is about divining the present and the future. This first term we will be learning to read tarot cards.” The professor spent the hour discussing the cards and showed the class how to cleanse the cards before and after each reading.
There was not much said as they moved across the hall for their Necromancy class. When the professor walked in, they were not prepared for what they saw. The professor was pale, her skin almost translucent, but instead of blue veins, they were reddish. Her eyes were as white, pure white, except for a reddish tint that seemed to outline where her pupil should be, her hair was even a shiny white. But where her sister loved the bright colors of pink, she was dressed in the darkest deepest browns they had ever seen.
“Good afternoon class my name is Professor Arima Libithina. This is the study of Necromancy. I will not be teaching you how to use this study for the black arts, so thus I will not be teaching you how to raise the dead or to make a zombie army. This is the study of talking to the spirits of the ancestors that have gone before us.” Again, it was a lecture of safety and the do’s and don’ts of the study. There were only four of them in the class and they were all glad to leave and rush off to dinner when the bell rang.
“Brilliant, that class is going to very hard, I think.” Deen said as they sat down and filled their plates.
“Well, they wouldn’t teach us for at least five years if it was easy, Deen.” Katy said as she munched on her dinner. She had her Mythology book out and had started her essay on the Titians.
“Yeah but… Never mind, I guess it could be worse. At least I didn’t get homework in Art. Just History, Transfiguration, and Symbols. Oh, and Magical Defense and Language.” Deen stated as he helped himself to more chicken.
After dinner they both walked to Archeology. “I think this will be a fun class, Sandra said she had a lot of fun and we get to go on trips during the summer!”
“Yep, my mom took this class for nine years it is going to be fun!” Deen said as they took the seats in the back, it was becoming their go to seats in all classes, of the classroom, which was filled with many different artifacts. They were the only two in the class.
The professor walked, in he was a shorter man, but had a power that could be felt in the air. He had a reddish tan, the kind you get when you spend most of your life out in the sun, one could bet it was a farmer’s tan, and win. He had brown hair with a lot of grey, but he was still unmistakably young, his youth could be seen in his crystal clear blue eyes.
“Hello class my name is Professor Lee Adair. These first two terms are going to be about a lot of basic safety techniques and a lot of information about Egypt, we will be working out of the book to prepare you for your first summer expedition. This year we are going to Egypt.” The first class was about safety once again, but there was an air of excitement.
“Brilliant, there is a lot to learn before we can go on our first adventure. All that stuff on Egypt before we go.” Deen complained, but it was not anything new.
Katy was used to it and welcomed it; it meant she really did have a friend. So, Katy just sat and listened as they waited for the Astronomy professor to show up. The class went silent as she walked in, she had long black hair that went to the floor, and her eyes were an icy blue. She would have said to be beautiful if she did not have this coldness about her.
“My name is Professor Amanda Plato. I am your Astronomy professor. This year you will be learning all the symbols used in Astronomy.” There was no homework given but there were a lot of notes to take.
“Brilliant, more symbols!” This sucks!” Deen said as they walked to the dining hall and grabbed something to drink and a snack before they went to the library to work on some homework.
“Deen, you really should start some of your assignments.” Katy stated as she pulled out her History work.
“Yeah, yeah…” Deen continued to grumble as he started his Magical Defense paper. Katy paid only enough attention to help him with his paper, which to his surprise was half done when they went to up to the dorms at eleven.
“That wasn’t so bad.” Deen said when they walked into the dorm. “How did you do on the History assignment?” Deen asked as he sat on her bed with Monkey and Starlight.
“I have gotten the terms done. The outline will be harder, and I haven’t started our Transfiguration essay yet, and I still have so much to learn and do on my Mythology essay, at least Languages was just a reading assignment.” Katy stated as she sat down at her desk. Monkey jumped to her shoulder and curled into her neck and fell asleep. “But at least I got our Magical Defense essay is done.”
“Brilliant, I am beat; see ya in the morning Katy.” Deen said and moved Starlight to the bed and walked out of the girls’ dorm.
It was only when she had gotten into bed a half hour later that she remembered the incident that happened. There was still something off about it she just did not know what, but she knew she would soon find out.
Kris Charles - Author 