“Come with me,” Knightford demands, and, casting me a glance, he marches the boys out of the cafeteria.
I have a feeling my list of troublemakers has just gone up by two. First Hades, and now Loki of Asgard and the Prince of Darkness. This really isn’t how I expected my first day to go.
Chapter Four
“You go first,” Murie whispers, nudging my arm.
“Nu-uh.” I back away from the trapdoor and shake my head at her. “That looks like some serious entrance to Hell bullshit. You’re older therefore I think you should go first.”
The two of us stare at the trapdoor, except it’s far too big to be that. A ladder clings to the edge where nothing but darkness lingers below. I can’t see anything, but I can hear other students whispering and objects being moved around. Why does our first lesson need to be in a creepy dungeon?
“Maybe we came to the wrong place,” I say, rummaging through my satchel for our class schedule. I pull it out and Murie walks around the door to peer over my shoulder at it:
Monday - Reparation One (Magical Arts) with Mrs Morgana in the Oubliette
Tuesday - Reparation Two (Potions) with Mrs Athame in the Greenhouse
Wednesday - Reparation Three (Magical Defense) with Mr Erebus
Thursday - Reparation Four (Theory) with Mr Blackbird in the Main Hall
“Nope.” Murie sighs, tucking her hair behind her ears. “This is most definitely an Oubliette. But I don’t know what Reparation One is really about.”
"Allow me to explain, ladies." Loki slides between us, draping his arms over our shoulders. "Reparation is basically another word for doing the teachers’ dirty work. Down there,”—he nods into the Oubliette—“is where we fix cursed objects as part of our punishment.”
Despite the lurch my heart gives at our close proximity, I shrug him off and stuff my schedule back into my bag. What is it with the guys here and their lack of personal space? It's not that I hate physical contact. But I do dislike when people, especially men, think it's acceptable to touch others they barely know without their consent.
The last guy who did that got his dick turned into stone.
"What do you mean by cursed?" Murie asks, no doubt seeing the annoyance on my face. I've never been good at schooling my expressions. "It says here that Rep One is also Magical Arts with... What was the name again, Zee?"
"Morgana.”
"Right. Mrs Morgana. What kind of cursed things are we going to be fixing?"
Loki steps onto the ladder. "Usually it's ancient artifacts. It's the best Rep class if you ask me. The rest are a total waste of time.” He glances at the watch on his wrist and starts to climb down. For a long moment, Murie and I just stare into the darkness. “Sorry to disappoint you but I’m still alive,” he calls out, and I release a breath I wasn’t aware I was holding. “Are you coming down or what?”
“Of course we are!” I roll my shirt sleeves up and rotate my neck, flexing my arms as though I’m about to enter a fight. “Okay, Murie. I’m goin’ in.”
I step onto the ladder and slowly climb down. Murie follows me, and before I know it, the three of us are standing in a dimly lit passageway. Strange objects and old, tattered luggage line the walls. My breath streams out before me as I follow Loki with Murie close at my heels. Before we reach the open door at the end, Loki places a hand on my arm and I freeze to the spot. The usual smugness is gone from his face as he looks into my eyes.
“Can we talk alone for a moment?”
I look down at his hand on my arm. “If you let go of me, yes.”
Murie enters the classroom but remains lingering by the door, still hesitant to leave me alone with a stranger. I love that she’s so protective of me. We always have been with each other. I guess the irony is that it’s our protectiveness that brought us here.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot,” Loki says, removing his hand.
I arch my brows in mock surprise. "Really? Because I thought we were becoming best friends."
A smirk curls the edge of his lip. "Can we start over? I want to get to know you and I promise I'm not a jerk all the time."
"Is being a jerk just your weekend job?" I shoot back, and his smirk deepens into a smile. "You were such an asshole yesterday. Dracula was minding his own business, and you picked a fight with him. Why?"
The muscles work hard in Loki's face as he clenches his jaw. The bell rings in the background and he glances away briefly, a crease forming between his brows.
"We need to go," he says, and a little part of me is disappointed; I wanted to hear his reply. He trains his gaze back on me and holds out a hand. "What do you say, snake girl? Start fresh?"
Behind him, Murie motions me to say yes. Poor dear looks like she's holding her breath in anticipation. Hesitantly, I shake the demigod's hand and his grin heats up my cheeks. However, when he tries to pull away, I yank him closer and bring my lips to his ear.
"I’ll give you a second chance not to be a dick, but I’m warning you, Loki, if you call me snake girl again—"
"But I like snakes," he cuts in, his own lips brushing my ear. "And who knows? One day I might let you pet my snake.”
“Is that a euphemism?” I ask dryly.
He just winks as he enters the classroom.
“Not even friends for two seconds and he’s knocking out dick jokes,” I grumble to Murie.
She giggles and tugs me into the room. All the while my heart does a stupid little dance against my rib cage. I've never met a boy who likes snakes before.
Usually, I frighten or disgust them.
The fact that I do neither to Loki makes me smile as I claim the empty desk beside my sister. I barely settle down when the scent of burning leaves invades my senses. A beautiful middle-aged woman in a black velvet dress sweeps into the room.
"Please settle down everyone and allow me to introduce myself," she says, and all eyes turn to her as she marches to the front of the classroom. The bookshelves and desks in here are just as dark as her clothes and the burning smell clearly belongs to her, which means she's a sorceress. Even her eyes and hair are dark purple, with a long white streak that frames her bangs. She tucks it behind her ear and smoothes a hand down her dress, spreading her ruby lips into a warm smile.
"Welcome to your first day at the academy." Her gaze sweeps around the room. "As your Rep One teacher, it's my job to help guide you back into the light. But I also believe there is no harm in embracing a little darkness." A black flame materializes above her palm, growing larger until it forms a small fire. She manipulates the flames so that they are bending and cracking into different gyrating patterns. "Take today's lesson, for example."
The fire snakes around the room and evaporates around a tall object hidden under a dust sheet. Just like the fire evaporated, so does the sheet into a cloud of dust, revealing a huge tapestry with a brass frame. I don’t recognize the handsome young man, but Murie seems to as she chokes out a gasp.
“Is that the Picture of Dorian Gray?”
Mrs Morgana smiles at my sister. “Yes, and everyone has been tasked with removing the curse a former acquaintance of Mr Grey has placed on it.” In the blink of an eye, she moves to the painting. “With each day that passes, Mr Grey grows older and the painting younger. It’s your job to reverse that by the next full moon. Does anyone know the correct spell to use?”