“You’re dating a hunter?” Tabatha asks, eyes widening with shock. “And he knows you’re a witch?”
“Yeah, he does,” I answer and see Tabatha and Ruby exchange looks. “I know they don’t really trust witches, but I’m sensing there’s more to it?”
“There’s no way you could know, is there?” Tabatha slowly shakes her head. “Typically, hunters won’t date witches. They don’t like us or quite see us as human either. There are exceptions, of course, and there are no official rules from the Grand Coven forbidding it, like vampires, but I would warn any witch to proceed with great caution.”
I swallow hard, suddenly understanding why Ruby warned me to be careful while looking at Ethan. She saw his tattoo and knows who he is, knows what organization he belongs to.
“Oh. I had no idea. Uh, my boyfriend and his family know about the whole witch thing and they’re fine with it,” I say and feel like I’m lying. Because something has felt off since the day I woke up on the couch next to the fireplace at Ethan’s after he pulled me out of the freezing cold pond. Not with him, though he was suspicious of me at first, but with the rest of his family.
His dad insists we don’t let other hunters find out that I’m a witch. Hell, he told me he didn’t think many witches even existed anymore, which was clearly a lie. And Sam still makes not so subtle digs at me because I’m a witch. Stephanie saw me use magic to kill a ghoul. That had to be what she was upset at Ethan about.
But why would they keep it from me like that? It’s not like I wouldn’t find out…unless they never expected me to actually find other witches.
The smell of vegetable pot pie fills the air along with happy chatter from the students of Grim Gate Academy. Ruby is taking me to her office, where she has a few introductory books on magic she says I should read. They’re geared for first year students, below my academic level, but are probably advanced for my magical knowledge. Though, after demonstrating what I’ve been able to do, the High Priestess was impressed.
“Magic comes easier for some than it does for others,” she had told me, and other than being a horse-person, magic is only the second thing that comes easily for me. Magic is the reason I was able to communicate with the dead without even trying. Still, I have a lot to learn, but some common witch knowledge—like how we should be wary to trust a hunter—can’t be read in a textbook.
“Why exactly aren’t witches and vampires allowed to be together?” I ask, peering into the dining hall as we pass it by. It’s full of students and familiars alike with a few professors seated at a table in the front of the room.
“Over a thousand years ago, there was a fight between the two of us. It’s called the War of Light and Dark. The shortened version is that vampires were jealous of witches’ ability to walk in the sun as well as benefit from the powers of the night. They tried turning witches into vampires thinking they’d have magic-vamps, but it doesn’t work like that. Your powers die with you, and you come back as a vampire with no powers. Vampires are able to increase their numbers quickly and basically overnight whereas we can’t. The vampires outnumbered the witches and when night fell, all hope seemed lost until a witch named Marie Lancaster was able to summon pure white light that burned pretty much every vampire in the army.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah. And the grudge has been carried down through the generations. Most vampires still hate us, and I will always say to proceed with the utmost caution when it comes to vampires. Both the Vampire Council and the Grand Coven have deemed it forbidden to have our races intermingle.”
“Wow,” I repeat. “I think I learned more in the last hour than I did in all my years of college.”
Ruby laughs. “What did you study?”
“I’m a vet tech. Was.” I shake my head, still finding it weird to be technically unemployed. “I was a vet tech when I lived in Syracuse.”
“Oh, fun. I think I’ve heard it’s a really hard field.”
“It is. Working with the animals is great, but the owners can be horrible. I saw my boss cry many times after she got screamed at by owners who didn’t like how much stuff cost and said if we really cared about animals, we’d treat them for free. Medication isn’t free to get from the pharmacy. I kinda miss it but really don’t. Because not working is nice, but weird. My aunt left me a, uh, decent amount of money,” I go on, unable to help myself. Unnecessary over-explaining is yet another one of my toxic traits.
“Nice.”
“I’d rather she left my memories,” I chide and watch Hunter bound forward, playing with another familiar who’s taken on the form of a black lab. “This place is incredible. I keep thinking how different my life would have been if I was able to attend school here.”
“It is incredible.” Ruby glances at me as we walk. “It’s why I came back to teach here. It’s safe. It’s home. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a school and we have our fair share of teenage drama, but it’s one of the best academies of its kind in the country.”
“There’s more than one?”
“I’m adding another book to your magical history research.” She smiles. “And yes. There are a handful scattered across the US as well as the world. Europe has a few schools that have been in operation or centuries.”
Dinner just ended and dozens of kids join us in the hall. It’s a bit chaotic and a lot loud. It makes me stupid emotional again. I realize then that I didn’t grow up feeling outcasted because I was a medium. I just thought that was the reason since I didn’t know what else could be the reason.
But it’s this: the sense of belonging. Being among others like me, others who understand and accept that the world is so much more than what we can see.
“This is it,” Ruby says, stopping in front of her office door. She waves her hand over the doorknob, magically unlocking it. As soon as she opens the door, I’m transported back to a time when Harrison and I sat on a velvet couch, watching rain pelt against a stained-glass window. Aunt Estelle is sitting at her desk grading papers, and Harrison is poking me with a stick—no—a wand.
Because Aunt Estelle wants him to try and see if he has any powers.
“Holy shit.” I put my hand on the doorframe and look inside. The same faded red and black wallpaper hangs on the wall, but the desk is in front of the fireplace and a sleek leather couch is pushed up against the wall near the window. The entire wall next to it is lined with very full bookshelves, and an espresso machine sits on a little metal table in the corner across from the window.
“What?”
“I just remembered sitting in here with my aunt and my brother.”
“You have a brother? Is he a warlock?”
“He’s my twin, and no…I don’t think so, at least. He remembers meeting our aunt when I don’t. But he definitely would remember coming here. If he got through the door, does that mean he has powers?”
“Not necessarily. The door is designed to only allow those on the approved list, so to say, in. Your aunt would have been able to bring children if they had even the slightest bit of potential.”