The Coven Awakens (Hollow Hill Academy #1)

3. Audrey

Chapter 3

Audrey

I f I thought the events were awful at the hospital, my first night at Hollow Hill was coming in a very close second. Dead parents still trumped the embarrassment of finding out not only was one of my new roommates a guy, but his first impression of me was fresh out of the shower and only wearing a towel. Though it almost seemed a benefit that he was as unhappy about finding me in his apartment as I was about being there.

I had taken my time to breathe after fleeing to my room, as I wanted to give him time to calm down, as well as compose myself. My suitcases were still at the end of my bed, taunting me, but I didn’t want to unpack yet. It would mean I’d need to pack again when I convinced the staff to let me out of this hellhole. I pulled out fresh clothes, as I wanted to make as good of a second impression as I could.

Finally ready to face him again, I tried the door, only to find it locked. At first, I thought perhaps it was jammed, as this entire building looked old. Doors must stick all over the place, but no, it was definitely locked. My mortification quickly turned to anger, had that asshole locked me in my room! Briefly, I considered climbing out my window, but a quick look told me that a four-storey drop was a terrible idea. There was no balcony or ledge, only sheer stone walls. I had spent enough time in hospitals recently to not want to risk another trip so soon.

Banging on the door achieved nothing, either, as the asshole was obviously ignoring me. A quick search of my suitcases turned up my phone and laptop, but there was no signal or Wi-Fi, so I couldn’t even call someone for help. Not that I knew who to call, and all my friends were back in London. Would the police even come here? In the stories, places like this always had some sort of deal with the local law enforcement. And clearly, since I had been dragged into a horror movie, I didn’t want to risk making things worse.

There was nothing I could do except pace and hopefully wear the edge off my anger. But even that grew dull quickly, and I collapsed onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. Without access to the internet, I couldn’t watch anything, find anything to read, or doom-scroll to occupy my time. I played solitaire on my laptop for a while, but gave up after half a dozen games. Finally, I let the exhaustion of the day pull me down into a fitful sleep.

It felt like I’d only been asleep for mere seconds when a knock at the door pulled me back to consciousness. Confusion clouded my mind as I looked blearily around the unfamiliar room. I hadn’t closed the curtains before I fell asleep, and I could see the fog still swirling within the tree line. As much as I hoped it wasn’t a permanent fixture, nothing else was going my way, so I knew it was likely there to stay.

The knock sounded again, followed by the click of the door opening. Guess the unnamed asshole from last night must have let me out before I starved. I sat up, wiped my eyes, and ran a quick hand through my hair; one benefit of my asymmetrical cut was it took minimal effort in the morning. But it wasn’t the asshole who peered around the door, and red hair was followed by blue eyes. Though as startling as his blue eyes were, they weren’t what had me scuttling backward on the bed. It was the serpentine head that was also peering around the doorway, its golden eyes blinking lazily as they took me in.

“Woah now, lass, nothing to be frightened of. We wanted to check you were awake, so you didn’t miss breakfast. Caius is already gone, if that’s what you’re worried about.” As the man stepped into my room, my eyes grew wide. The reptilian head was attached to a small body perched on his shoulder, and it was the wings that drew my attention. The creature—dragon, maybe—ruffled them, before tucking them back against its body and then went back to watching me with curiosity.

Sliding off my bed carefully, I made sure it remained between us. It was way too early for any of this magic nonsense. I’d had nothing to eat, I hadn’t even had a cup of tea yet. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a proper cup of tea, yet now people wanted me to deal with magic, strangers, and tiny dragons. It was all too much. I shook my head, warning him against coming any closer.

The man took a step forward but brought himself up short when I flinched. “Hey now, everything’s fine, lass. I know Caius was probably an asshole last night, but don’t take it personally. He’s like that to everyone. We know there has been some sort of mistake, but you won’t get anything sorted hiding in here. Let’s get some breakfast, then we can go talk to Tati.”

My face immediately flushed with anger at his words. “Hiding in here! I was locked inside!” I didn’t stomp my foot, but it was a close call. If I thought things felt overwhelming the day before, it was nothing on now.

“Yeah … uh, Caius didn’t want you sneaking about. He can be precious about his belongings. I’m Ewan. Why don’t we go get some food, and maybe a spot of tea? Then we can talk about this like adults.” There was a calm tone to his voice, and he held his hands up like I was a frightened animal he wanted to coax into a trap.

“I will make my way to … wherever breakfast can be found, but I don’t need your help.” That was a lie, and it was one I was sticking to. I didn’t know where anything in this place was, or how I would find my room once I left. But this man had known I was locked in here and had left me inside till morning. I didn’t want his help.

For a moment, he looked like he was going to argue, but then thought better of it, finally taking a step back. “All right. The dining hall is on the bottom floor. Take the stairs all the way down and turn left. You’ll hear everyone.” He moved backward until his hand was on the door.

I didn’t answer him as I had nothing to say, and I heard him sigh as he shut the door behind him. My hands came up to rub at my eyes. I wasn’t sure if seeing a small dragon on the man’s shoulder reinforced this was a dream, or that I really was at some sort of school for people who practiced magic. Either way, it wasn’t somewhere I wanted to stay.

My stomach chose that moment to rumble, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since before leaving the hospital the day before. I quickly changed but took fifteen minutes to do my hair and makeup, as if I was to face a hall full of strangers, I needed to look and feel like myself.

The directions I was given were simple, but effective. Once I reached the ground floor, the steady stream of people moved to and from the left hallway, and I followed them through an open doorway which led to a large dining hall. Circular tables filled the room, with a long table down the left side covered in trays and dishes of food. There was a shorter table at the far end of the room, and I could see Tatiana sitting there. She must have been on the lookout for me because she met my eyes and gave me a wave I didn’t return.

Tea was the first thing I needed, so I made my way to the long table and poured myself a cup. I then added some toast and fruit to my plate. I didn’t normally eat too much in the mornings, but I needed something. There was no point looking for people to sit with, but there were a couple of empty tables, so I set my breakfast down at the nearest one. Once I sat, I wrapped my hands around the mug of tea and let the warmth sink into my bones.

I was alone for only a few seconds before three seats scraped against the floor as they were pulled out from under the table. The first one to sit was the redhead who had come into my room this morning. Opposite him was the asshole from last night, who sneered at me like my choice of breakfast offended him. Or maybe I offended him, either way, I didn’t really care. Seated between them was a man who looked like a Viking, with his long blonde hair braided back at the sides. He had his plate piled high with bacon and eggs and didn’t even look at me as he concentrated on eating.

Ewan offered me a smile as he fed small pieces of his sausage to the dragon, who was now laying across his shoulders. “Covens always sit together for meals.”

“She’s not in our coven!” You would think I suggested the asshole eat his own shit, the way he snapped his response. He still glared at me, and the only thing in front of him was a cup of black coffee. He probably didn’t need food and existed solely on spite and sarcasm.

I looked between the two, and though I raised my eyebrows, I decided not to get involved. I only needed to get through breakfast, then find someone willing to get me the hell out of here. To do that, I needed the functioning brain cell granted by finishing this cup of tea. But I must have angered some sort of god, because there would be no peace for me this morning. I’d only taken a small sip of my tea before a girl stood between Ewan and the Viking, and she also glared at me. If my mere existence was enough to cause people at this school to be angry, it was all the more reason to go home.

“Soren, who is she ?” The way she spat the last word made me wonder if maybe she and the asshole were related, though they didn’t look alike. Late-night asshole was all pale skin and dark hair, and his black eyes made him look almost like a ghost. Whereas the newcomer was tall and blonde, with the sort of tanned skin which came from being genetically blessed or was one-hundred percent fake. And hers was too even to be from spending time in the sun. I briefly wondered if she was related to the Viking—who she had directed the question to—but they also didn’t look similar enough.

It wasn’t him who answered her, instead it was Caius. I figured I probably should use his name rather than calling him some variant of an asshole in my thoughts, or I would do it to his face, and I really didn’t have the energy for that fight.

“Who she is, Lydia, is none of your business. You know you’re not welcome at our table anymore. It’s too early, at least let me finish my coffee in peace before I must deal with a harpy. Your voice really is quite grating.” It almost reassured me to hear him be an asshole to someone else. I would have felt sorry for her if she wasn’t looking at me with such pure disdain on her face.

She rolled her eyes and sniffed, before turning to the Viking like she hadn’t heard Caius speak at all. Ewan looked uncomfortable, and his little dragon glared at the girl too. I wasn’t sure how a reptilian face could be so expressive, but it was clear the creature didn’t like her.

“Soren, I am still going to see you in Tools of Divination class, right? I could use your help with reading the runes.” Her tone changed, becoming more saccharine, and it was all I could do to keep a straight face and sip my tea to hide my mouth. It was clear she wanted something from him, and it wouldn’t take me more than one guess to work out what.

Soren, for his part, wasn’t making eye contact. The bacon and eggs he studiously ate could not possibly be so good, but when she huffed in annoyance, he only gave a low grunt and kept eating.

However, Caius leaned forward and set his mug down. “Lydia, we all know you need help, but none of us are equipped to provide the type of help you need. If you are struggling in your classes, perhaps you should try to actually study and leave us alone. I don’t know how we can make it any clearer to you than we already have.”

His tone was so icy I inwardly winced. If anyone spoke to me like that in public, I would hide and never show my face again. However, she simply lifted her nose higher, and with the same sniff from earlier, she glared back at Caius like she was used to him being an asshole.

“No one was talking to you, Thorne. They never do and you really should stop inserting yourself into other people’s business. No one wants you here.” She put her hand onto Soren’s shoulder as she spoke, but even that wasn’t enough to stop the Viking from eating.

“I will see you in class and there we can finally talk about things properly.” She leaned down to kiss his cheek, and though even that drew no reaction from him, she flounced off as though she had won some sort of victory.

With her absence, it was like the air flooded back to the table and the atmosphere cleared. Ewan scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed dramatically, like it wasn’t the first time this had happened. Caius ignored us all as he picked up his coffee again, taking a long sip. No one spoke for a long moment and the only sound came from Soren, who demolished his breakfast at a truly astounding speed. Not wanting to draw their attention back to me, I chewed my toast quietly while observing the dynamic between them, looking for anything which could be useful.

Just when I thought the tension was going to ratchet up again, a throat cleared beside me. My head whipped to the side, and I was surprised to see Tatiana standing there. She was dressed in another gem-encrusted gown—this one green—and it seemed even more out of place among all the eating students. It must have been her style.

Before she could get a word out, Caius’s voice snapped through the air. “Ms. Delvara, we need to discuss the new student you placed with us. She won’t fit with our coven, and it really is in her best interest if she is moved out of our apartment. I am sure there is room for her among the covenless.”

The night of sleep did nothing to warm him up to me, and it was hard not to take it personally, even though I didn’t want to be part of his stupid coven anyway. I looked imploringly at the guidance counselor as I wrinkled my nose, hoping she could save me from having to continue to deal with his vehement hatred. The look on her face didn’t give me any hope.

“Mr. Thorne, we’ve discussed this at length. Audrey deserves the best chance of succeeding at Hollow Hill, and your coven is incomplete.” Caius looked like he wanted to disagree with her, but she raised a hand to cut him off. “Regardless, there is nothing to be done until she goes through her Showing. It will take place this morning, which is why I am here. The student body is understandably curious about the new arrival, and the sooner we find where her strengths lie, the sooner we can place her in classes. Then you will see what a good fit she will be for your coven.”

I had so many questions. I wasn’t sure if they were clear on my face or if she was expecting them, but she turned her attention back to me. “There is nothing to fear, Audrey. Every student attending Hollow Hill has gone through the Showing. It is a simple ritual which draws your magic to the surface and shows us its strengths. It helps to determine which classes you are best suited to, although you can also choose classes of interest. Now please, follow me.”

My teacup was empty, and I’d finished my toast, so I didn’t have any excuse not to follow her, other than I didn’t want to. I stood up, falling into step beside her as she led me out of the dining hall. The sound of the chairs scraping behind us signaled the boys following us, along with Caius muttering to himself, though I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Tatiana took my arm and smoothly guided me along. So why then did it feel like I was walking to my doom?