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They walked the wide corridors, narrowly dodging three seniors who were racing to meet their friends. They had sun-kissed tans that told Kat and Angie that they had just got back from a vacation that was somewhere hot.
“Sebastian!” Kat exclaimed as her cat jumped out of her bag and ran down the corridor. “Sebastian!”
“Calm down,” Angie said. “He always finds you. He’s just excited to look around.”
Kat sucked in a deep breath. “You’re right. If I don’t see him by tonight though...”
“We will stage a huge man-hunt—well, cat-hunt.”
Kat smiled.
Angie eyed one of the senior’s white suede bags. Cat’s Eye was written in silver writing across the back. “That’s such an expensive brand,” Angie exclaimed.
Kat shrugged, knowing little about the brands of the magick world. “So?”
“Everyone here seems pretty rich.”
Kat smiled. “Well, it is a private academy.”
“Yeah.” Angie’s thoughts drifted to her mom who would get a hefty bill from the school for her enrolment soon. “Thank God my dad got a pay raise recently. Yours won’t have a problem paying for yours,” Angie said, referring to Kat’s family’s extraordinary wealth.
“I’m more worried about how our parents will react when they find out we’re here.”
“True,” Angie said and stopped by a bathroom. “Coming?”
Kat nodded. They pushed open the door and wandered into the tiled room. “That’s so cool!” Kat said when she saw a huge statue of a mermaid in the center with one sink in each of its hands. “It’s...”
“Magical?” Angie finished with a grin. “Welcome to a whole new world! I can’t believe you didn’t know about this until two years ago!”
“Come to think of it,” Kat said with a frown. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me when we were kids? Your mom told you years ago.”
Angie shrugged. “I didn’t know you were a witch until you told me. Then my mom confirmed.”
“Still...”
“It’s a secret,” Angie said, giving her the look. “Anyway, here’s to make up for it.”
Angie handed Kat a green hair pin. She examined the crystals covering the butterfly shape. “Pretty. Thank you.”
“It’ll match your eyes, plus...” Angie said, digging into her black bag. “I have tons of hair stuff with me. I got it from Mystic May’s shop when me and my mom went to New Orleans.”
“No fair. I want to go to magick shops.”
“Next summer we can go together? They’re hidden everywhere, like, on normal roads and stuff. You just have to know where to go.”
“Cool.” Kat reveled in the idea of all things she could do now that she was a witch. She pinned her black locks back with the pin and turned and posed for Angie.
“Looks great, Miss Ash,” Angie said.
“Ugh,” a voice said from behind them. “Another Ash.”
Kat turned and faced a woman with long, dark braided hair, dark skin, brown eyes, and she was carrying one of the Cat’s-Eye bags that Angie had pointed out earlier. “What?”
“I’m just saying...” the girl said, who looked no older than Kat and Angie, “that you entitled ones are the worst. My family actually earned their money instead of inheriting it.”
“Come on, Dana,” another girl said.
“Coming.” Dana turned back to Kat. “See you around.”
They heard the door shut, and Angie looked at Kat with big eyes. “What the hell was that about?”
Kat shrugged. “Great, I already have enemies here.”
“Let’s go see the hall,” Angie said, trying to cheer Kat up. “Let’s meet some people too.”
They walked toward the hall, and a senior with wild blonde hair that cascaded in tangled waves down her chest smiled broadly at the pair. She looked down at her clipboard. “Welcome to the academy. I’m Layla Star.” She pushed her circular glasses back up her nose and brushed down her robe which was covered with drops of red wax.
“Hi, I’m Kat. This is Angie.”
“Katarina Ash and Angelina Dupree?”
They both nodded.
“Okay,” she said, getting out a pack. “These are your basic schedules and maps—”
Angie held up the ones Headmistress Krauss gave her. “Already got them.”
Layla smiled. “I see. Well, if you need anything, feel free to ask me—ouch!”
Two seniors nudged into her as they passed, muttering, “Nut job Layla.”
Angie glanced sideways at Kat with a concerned look. “Thanks, Layla. We actually have to go right now, so...”
“No, we don’t,” Kat said with a smile, to the dismay of Angie. “So what do you all do around here for fun?”
Layla looked around at her peers and leaned into the pair and whispered, “Tarot readings.”
Angie started pulling Kat away. “I don’t th—”
“That sounds so fun!” Kat interrupted. “Where do you do them?”
“My room,” Layla said. She walked away, and Kat followed.
Angie hurried behind. “What the hell, Kat?”
Kat shrugged. “Oh, come on, Ang. It could be fun.”
Angie huffed, which Kat knew meant she had given in. They walked up the spiral staircase and entered Layla’s room.
“She has a room of her own,” Kat said enviously. “I was told we’re sharing.”
“It’s probably because no one wanted to share with her,” Angie said under her breath as she looked around at the collection of small animal bones, amulets, and jars of herbs.
“What witch are you?” asked Kat, curious to know which of the four elements she had.
“Air,” Layla said. “I’m a proud Ventae.”
Angie leaned in and whispered, “To think, I half expected her to be a water hippy.”
“What’s that?”
Angie grinned. “My mom told me that water witches are called water hippies in the magick world. Like, they’re skills are worthless.”
“Oh.”
Layla pulled out a tarot deck and placed it on her queen-size bed. “Shall we?”
They sat down and took each other’s hands, inhaling deeply for effect.
“Let us begin.”
Angie wanted to giggle but stopped on Kat’s stern stare.
“What is in our future?” Layla asked.
Angie giggled but passed it off as a cough. Thankfully, no one took any notice.
The candles on the side flickered, and Kat looked down at the stacked deck, wondering why no one was taking a card. One candle went out, and Kat’s eyes widened.
“She’s a Ventae; she can make it go out,” Angie said.
Kat nodded but felt uneasy.
The cards suddenly moved of their own accord, shuffling themselves, and spitting out three cards from the deck.
The first card was the devil. “Some of us have been holding onto material things, jealousy, perhaps running away,” Layla said and looked at the next card.
Kat looked down and bit her lip. Could that have referred to her?
“The hanged man. I mean, it could mean many things, but sometimes it can be transparent. Someone hanged.”
Angie gulped, but Layla took no notice and looked at the third card.
“The five of cups.”
Kat broke the circle. “What does that mean?”
Layla looked at with her wild brown eyes. “It means loss, even death...”
“Enough,” Angie said and stood up. “It’s just a pretend reading. It doesn’t really mean any of that.”
Layla ignored her and said what seemed like a silent prayer before returning the cards to a box next to a quartz stone.
“Come on, Kat,” Angie said. She took Kat’s hand and pulled her up.
Kat looked back at the deck with a strange curiosity as she was dragged from the room. “Is this real?” she asked Layla, pulling away from the persistent pulls from Angie.
Layla nodded. “Yes, but paths can always change. Not to worry—you won’t end up with the same fate of your sister.”
Kat froze. “What?”
Angie pulled Kat’s hand again. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She’s a nut,” Angie said rudely and pulled Kat out the door.
Kat rubbed her arm and felt the goose bumps under her fingers. “She’s not the first person to say I had a sister.”