Supernatural Academy: Year One (Supernatural Academy #1)(35)

She grinned, her hands pressing against her cheeks. “Oh, thank you. I … decided to branch out … take some risks and dress the way I like. I spent so much of last year alone. This year will be different.”

I related. She had no idea how hard I related.

Another chick dropped into the chair across from Ilia, and the three of us stared for a beat at the newcomer.

I chuckled. “Dee,” I said, recognizing her mane of white-blond hair. “Nice to see you again.”

She waved both hands, her crazy enthusiasm not at all dimmed from when she’d entered my room this morning. “I said we’d have dinner together, and you seriously have to tell me everything about humans.”

Ilia and Larissa both shot me a look, silently asking who the heck she was. “Guys, meet Dee. She’s a third-year magic user who has a low-key obsession with humans.”

Larissa screwed her tiny nose up. “Why? I mean, humans are fine and all that, but … why?”

Dee shrugged. “No idea. It’s been this way since I was young and managed to watch One Tree Hill secretly. My parents didn’t like human television, it was banned in our house, but that was my guilty pleasure.”

I shook my head. “Real life is not really like that. Like … way less in the way of hot guys and bikinis and high school drama.”

Dee pouted, and Ilia threw her head back to laugh. “Says the chick who somehow managed to end up at Asher Locke’s table for lunch. In his hands.”

I shot her a warning glare and she shut up, but the damage was already done. Dee had some sort of wide manic eye thing going on and she was frantically opening and closing her mouth. Spotting Simon, my perfect distraction, I jumped to my feet and called his name. His face lit up, curls bouncing as he hurried toward us. He dropped into the seat beside me, and I loved that I almost had enough friends to fill a six-seat table and chairs. That was a first.

“Hey, Maddi,” Simon said, and I quickly introduced him to the rest of the table.

At this moment, Ilia’s and my food arrived, and everyone else got to ordering. I ate slowly, not wanting to be finished long before everyone else was. Ilia had no such qualms, devouring her food with gusto. Just when she was almost done, our sixth and final seat was taken by Josh.

“Want to switch?” I asked him, because he was staring at Ilia like he wanted to eat her for dinner.

He shook his head. “Nah, it’s okay. I’m not going to steal her away from her friends.”

I shot Ilia a swoony face, which hopefully he didn’t see. Dude had some charm. At least on the surface. Ilia certainly seemed to be firmly in lust with him.

Dinner passed by so fast that I was almost certain my watch was broken. We ate and laughed and I answered Dee’s million and one questions about the human world. Unfortunately, my experiences were nothing to make a television show about, but I didn’t seem to deter her enthusiasm.

By the time we were done, I had to hurry to Water Magic. It was not a class any of my new friends had taken, so they had no advice for me, and I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t bring a notepad, figuring I’d be okay for the first class. Most of them so far had been fairly introductory, and if it involved water, paper seemed kind of useless.

Based off Ilia’s directions, I left the commons and turned along a path I hadn’t taken before, heading the opposite way to the classrooms. Before I even saw the water I could smell it—one of those weird oddities of mine. I could tell if water was salty, chlorine, poisoned, or stale. I knew water almost better than I knew anything, which had to be part of my supernatural side.

Maybe I was fey, but outside of the water thing, the rest of the elements meant nothing to me.

As I entered the first hall of the water world, a shiver of excitement trailed along my arms. A bunch of students, dressed casually like me, were on this same path, but I didn’t recognize any of them. The further we walked, the darker and damper it grew. A briny scent filling my nose told me that there was water very close. I could almost feel it lapping against the walls either side of me.

Rounding the corner, I gasped. The hallway walls were no longer solid, transforming into glass or thick Perspex, and surrounding us completely, sides, bottom, and top, was water. It was as if they’d built an enclosed glass walkway right through the middle of the ocean or a large lake.

Some of the students faltered, and I could admit it was a little freaky stepping across the clear panels and not being able to see anything but water below. But it was also the coolest thing I’d ever experienced, and I had to stop for a moment just to take it all in.

Pressing my hands to the chilled walls, I stared out into the expanse of blues and greens. There was nothing else in sight, no creatures or sharks to freak me out. Above us there had to be magical sunlight or artificial light, because the sparkle of color in this water was like that of the Mediterranean on a perfect summer day. Nothing like the weather back in the commons.

When the last of the students ventured past me, I decided I’d better follow. Happiness added a bounce to my step, and I almost skipped to join the large group gathering at the end of the glass walkway.

The moment I caught sight of a familiar face at the head of the class, my smile immediately disappeared. “For fuck’s sake,” I swore under my breath.

Asher straightened from where he’d been leaning casually against one of the glass panels. “Welcome,” he said, projecting his voice. Like Jesse, he had the faintest of accents, which I wanted to call British, but it wasn’t quite right. “I’m Asher, and I’ll be your teacher for Water Magic. If you’re a first year, step to the right.” He held an arm out to indicate where. “If you’re in the advanced classes, head on through. Your teachers are already back there.”