image
image
image

Chapter Seven

image

Dany found me.

She used her fae magic, hunted my bum down, and dragged me back to the office, refusing to let me out of her sight. Even the prospect of going to Zen did nothing to get her to forget her goal.

She wanted me to do my own work.

“You can handle it just fine,” I said. “You’re an expert about every aspect of this school and its inner workings.”

“I know it so I can support you,” she said with a huff. “Not to be you.”

Trying a different route, I said, “I was working.”

“No, you’re hovering. You’re being that helicopter mom that we used to make fun of. But instead of doing it with your children, you’re doing it with the academy.”

“It’s the first day, I’m making sure there aren’t any issues.”

“Adeelah.” Dany stopped her marching and turned to me. I nearly ran into her with how abrupt she was. Her hands landed on my shoulder with a firm grip. “That’s why you hired people. To do that job for you. If there were any huge issues, Zen would have contacted you about it. The teachers are invested in this academy. They don’t want this to fail. You need to trust that.”

I sighed and slumped my shoulders. “You’re right.”

“I know.” She grabbed my hand and tugged me along as she pulled me back to my office.

There was a small cough behind me, and I turn my head, making sure to shoot daggers out of my eyes at Rophan. Metaphorically of course. That wasn’t something I could do.

I let my thoughts roam through the list of Naturals who would be able to do it, my body going on autopilot as Dany led the way.

Rophan would be able to do it. So would Dany. Any being capable of conjuring could pull it off. It wasn’t so much actually shooting daggers out of eyes, but of conjuring them in front of your eyes and then using magic to propel it at the unfortunate idiot to deserve the look.

The sound of cheering caught my attention and broke me out of my thoughts.

The air zinged with energy. It built up, and when it reached its peak, exploded. I shuddered as remnants of it skittered across my skin.

I glanced in the direction it came from, realizing it was coming from the high school training grounds.

No one should have been in them during this period. I stopped in my tracks, staring in the direction. There was the storage shed in the way, but I knew they were all there.

“Adeelah?” Dany asked, giving up on tugging me along. “What is it?”

I didn’t say anything and marched toward the crowd, anger swelling in me just like the energy did once again, ready to explode.

“Wait, Adeelah,” Rophan called out to me. I ignored him. I knew the signs; I knew exactly what was going on.

And I had no problem crashing it.

The moment I rounded the corner, I came to a sudden stop, taking in the scene. My anger boiled even more, ready to erupt as the full implications of what was going on settled into my mind.

An entire class was outside, standing off to the side as two boys, no older than sixteen, glared at each other. The teacher was on the other side, arms crossed as he watched them.

A boy was on one knee, glaring hard at his opponent, fur stretched along his arm and across his bare chest. His canines were on full display as he growled. He was ready to shift into his other form, the crazed look telling me all his control over his beast was stripped down to one little thread that was pulled taut and ready to snap.

The second boy stood, but his nose was bleeding, and his shirt was shredded along his abdomen, blood seeping through. His eyes glowed green as the air crackled with his energy. His hair ruffled around him, and when I looked close enough, I could see the distorted air as his energy flowed as streams around his body. A defensive barrier to help keep him safe.

The atmosphere was saturated with their intent, dark enough to make all the small hairs on my body stand on end. The onlooking students shook in their spots as the pressure weighed down on them.

I saw all the signs, and if I didn’t stop it soon, there was no stopping it. They were in the middle of a challenge, and challenges like these ended only one way: with someone dead.

Dany gasped behind me. Rophan was dangerously still.

“Athena’s balls, this is not happening,” I said, practically growling if I had the ability to. Moving forward, I had every intention of ending this. If that meant I had to make the two of them submit, I’d do it.

Rophan had other ideas. The asshole grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked. As I stumbled backward, he moved forward.

Shock ran through me as I saw Rophan as he truly was: dangerous. In a flash, he stood between the two students. In another, his magic whipped out, instantly engulfing all the energy in the area and pushing back until the two of them were on their knees, fighting to get to their feet. The teacher was too, that butthole.

Rophan’s magic flashed out of him in a hurricane, eyes bright with fury. There was a small whistling sound as he took control of the situation in seconds, the grass rustling, nearby trees howling.

“What is going on here?” he asked.

No one said anything, everyone pale white as they struggled to gain control of their bodies against his oppression.

I cheered him on.

“Wh-What do y-you think you’re d-doing?” Deyton gritted out, trying to fight against Rophan. The idiot teacher had nothing against my guard. He never trained to fight, only knew theories on it. As another warlock, he never stood a chance against mine. While not feared like witches, people were still wary of warlocks because their magic was inherently darker than the others, specializing in offensive magic. Most of them ended up in similar fields like Rophan, always in the middle of a fight. Deyton was not like that all.

Being a warlock didn’t automatically make you a butt-kicker. For the teacher, he was a mouse, and remained that way throughout his life. I was pretty sure he’d never held a weapon either. I only hired him because his knowledge of history was uncontested. He was the best of the best as a historian, able to read ancient texts with dead languages. He was good at something at least.

“I can ask you the same thing,” I said, finally finding my voice against Rophan’s epicness.

Deyton whipped his head and finally realized he was in deep trouble. I also felt Zen’s approach, and knew a security team was on their way. We were going to have to work on their response time because they would have definitely arrived too late. The moment those two students attacked one another, it would have been over.

“Headmistress,” the idiot teacher said.

I hid my wince. Despite my objections, people still kept calling me that. Even when I corrected them to call me Chairwoman. It hadn’t stuck yet.

“I’m going to ask only one more time, Deyton. What is going on here?” I made sure to feed the air my magic and the teacher flinched, feeling it. He was in deep doo-doo and he needed to realize that. What he had done was not okay by a mile and a half. Not even by a thousand miles.

“A challenge,” he replied, sounding completely unsure now.

“Why?”

That seemed to spark something in the man, and he straightened his posture. Oh, his claws were coming out to play. Maybe it was time to declaw him.

“They come from warring families. They got into a disagreement and challenged each other. Before they tore my classroom apart, I brought them outside.”

“Why didn’t you stop them?” I asked.

He blinked at me as if only considering this now.

“It was a challenge.”

Weakest answer ever. The narrowing of my eyes said as much.

“Challenges were put into place to relieve conflict, to help opposing people work through their issues. We are Naturals. This is how it is.” He tried to put me in my place by putting a condescending tone into his words.

“Not for sixteen-year-olds and not under the advisement of a history teacher with no training whatsoever in combat. You, out of everyone here, is the least qualified in dealing with anything like this.”

Redness crept up his neck, stretching across his face.

“I’ve dealt with challenges before. This is the best way to deal with it.”

“Silence,” Dany spoke. The air grew thick and oppressive as the teacher’s mouth snapped shut. The schmuck was defenseless against Dany’s fae magic. Her fury was almost on par with mine. I didn’t need to look at her to know why the students paled even more. They were white-faced after Rophan’s show of strength, but now they were looking a little gray and wobbling with Dany’s. Dany hid behind a glamor, but if the students looked like they were about to pass out, it meant she was giving them a peek.

As a summer fae, it was nearly impossible for Dany to be scary, but she had a few tricks up her sleeve. She had once met a dragon fae and picked up a few pointers. She used that now to make them cower in fear. No doubt her illusion of fire had their attention.

I stepped forward and glared at the two students still stuck on their knees. “Mr. Oline and Mr. Tredarious. The two of you will be given after school detention for the week. The groundskeeper needs help with mapping out the lines on our game fields. You get to help him.” I made sure to harden my voice. “The old fashion way. He will provide you with bracelets to prevent you from using any of your abilities. Maybe working together will help you cool your heads and learn to appreciate each other. I know the history of your family, do not think I’m oblivious. Now is the time you get over that. Your family feud is not your feud. You have the power to end that silliness in your generation.”

By the way the two glared at each other, I knew it was going to take time for them to get their act together. That was okay. I still had two more years to break them down. My goal was to have them become best friends by the time they graduated.

“Now, Deyton.” My magic slammed into him. He wasn’t expecting the attack, and it forced him onto his back. I stalked toward him and made sure to loom over him. “How dare you! How dare you put my students in danger like this over petty squabbling.”

He coughed and glared back at me, determined to hold onto his claws. “Petty squabbling? They have every right to resolve their issues through a challenge. It’s the safest way.”

“Safest way?” I whispered. “You pitted a shifter against a descendant of a harpy. You allowed them to fight, knowing their history. What kind of idio—”

“Adeelah.” Asriel’s voice rang through the field. “Enough.”

My mouth snapped shut, but I made sure the idiot teacher saw the anger I was holding back. If I had the ability to tear him apart, I would have. He had no right to allow two sixteen-year-old students to fight. None at all.

Everyone turned to the councilman as he stepped through the parted sea of Zen’s men. All of them stood back since no threat was around. The first sign of danger, and they’d wade into the battle, but it was obvious everything was being handled.

Asriel’s hard gaze scanned the space, pausing on the two students before zeroing in on Deyton. “Let’s take this somewhere private, away from the children. The bell has already rung and they need to go to their next class anyway.”

I ground my teeth together before stepping away from the teacher. Rophan and Dany also pulled in their magic. There was a massive exhale of relief from everyone now that all the pressure had disappeared. Students were quick to scatter, including the two challengers.

Grabbing Rophan’s arm, I tugged him with me as I stomped back to my office, leaving the others to drag that good for nothing teacher there.