Cruel Magic (Royals of Villain Academy #1)(24)

Footsteps rasped across the floor outside my room. I tensed up.

As I turned around, the girl with the tawny hair and ever-changing silver clips—today’s was a stag—peered into my bedroom from about a foot outside. She waved away the air in front of her nose. “Wow. They really outdid themselves, didn’t they?”

Definitely not just an illusion then. Credit to Physicality for the conjuring.

“Yeah,” I said. “I think I need to get out of here.”

She backed up to make room for me to leave. Her mouth twisted with what looked like sympathy as she considered the putrid space. “I guess you still haven’t got the hang of magically locking the door?”

“I haven’t gotten the hang of magically anything at all,” I admitted.

She twisted a lock of her hair around her finger. “I’d offer to lock it for you, but then you wouldn’t be able to open the door. The smell feels like a pretty powerful spell, so I don’t think I can just… turn it off, but I can encourage a breeze to wash it out the window if you want?”

That was the first help any other student had offered me since Shelby the Nary had shared her cereal with me my first morning. Relief punched me in the sternum, but at the same time, after the barrage of subtle tests I’d faced across the last few days, I found myself eyeing the other girl warily. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

She smiled, simply and genuinely. Her clothes were nice, but she didn’t put on the same airs as the girls like Victory. Maybe she was okay.

“As long as you open the window for me,” she said. “I don’t want to set one foot in there.”

“Fair enough.”

Holding my breath, I dashed across the room to the window, yanked it up, and raced back out again. The other girl laughed at my haste and rolled a few syllables off her tongue.

I’d gathered from Professor Banefield that once a fearmancer had a handle on their abilities, they started coming up with their own private words for the spells they wanted to cast. Eventually you’ll be able to come up with the sounds and connect them to your meaning on the spot, he’d said. If no one can understand what you’re saying, no one can predict how you’re working the magic before it hits them.

The air stirred. A light wind drifted past us into the room. The girl stepped back. “I don’t know how long it’ll take to clear that all out, but the smell will get better, anyway.”

“Thank you so much,” I said.

She ducked her head, a faint flush coloring her freckled cheeks, looking suddenly shy. “I’m Imogen, by the way. I, ah—I really hated how they messed around with you in Persuasion the other day. I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault.” What could she have done even if she’d tried to step in? The professor had been fully aware that someone was harassing me, and he’d given them credit for it, for fuck’s sake. “The whole week has been… Well, it’s been. Let’s leave it at that.” I let out a short laugh. “Getting a little help makes for a definite improvement.”

I expected her to slip away into her own bedroom, but she stayed with me as I walked to one of the sofas. “You really didn’t know anything about this place before you got here, did you?” she said, sitting down at the opposite end. “I can’t even imagine.”

“I didn’t know fearmancy even existed,” I said. “I thought all mages worked with joy, like my—” My throat closed in hesitation after the response I’d gotten to calling Mom and Dad my parents before, but they were, and I wasn’t going to let jerks like Malcolm browbeat me into denying it. “Like my parents.”

“I guess it makes sense they wouldn’t have wanted you to know where you were really supposed to be.”

Here? I was never going to belong here. But saying that would have felt like throwing her kindness back in her face.

I wasn’t going to be like so many of the mages here. They automatically sneered at the mention of joymancers, dismissing people because of the powers they were born with no matter what else they were like. I wouldn’t do the same to fearmancers. Not every one of them was necessarily a villain. And I could use whatever friends I could get around here.

Not to mention, Imogen probably knew things that could be useful for my whole taking down Villain Academy plan. I tugged at the hem of my blouse, deciding on the best way to ask some of the things I’d been wondering about.

Deborah had said the main reason the joymancers hadn’t already shut down this place was that they hadn’t been able to find it. The fearmancers must be using magic to hide it. If I could break those protections somehow or other once I had my own magic under control…

“From what people have said about my birth parents, it sounds like there’s a lot of animosity between the two groups,” I said. “Isn’t anyone worried that joymancers will attack the school?”

Imogen snorted. “They couldn’t even if they wanted to. My dad works here, you know—he’s the head of the maintenance team. He says Blood U is the safest place any fearmancer can be in the whole country, there are so many wards around it.”

That didn’t sound like an easy job. “Does he help keep the wards up as part of maintenance?” I couldn’t help asking.

“No, Ms. Grimsworth handles that in coordination with the blacksuits.” Imogen paused. “They’re basically the bodyguards and defenders for the whole fearmancer community, not just the university. The team that came to rescue you—they’d have been blacksuits.”