The Coven Awakens (Hollow Hill Academy #1)

5. Audrey

Chapter 5

Audrey

P anic. I’d never felt such a strong sense of panic in my life.

I remember standing in the middle of the crowd while they all stared. Though that hadn’t been when my panic started. I didn’t care they were watching, as it wasn’t like I was going to stick around long enough to hear what any of them thought. I only needed to get through this hazing ritual, and then I could work on escaping this hellhole.

The guidance counselor murmured in my ear as she handed me the knife. She had been reassuring, or as reassuring as someone could be when they told you to cut your hand open. Of course, witches would want some sort of blood sacrifice for their weird magic. Again, I wanted to say this was all a delusion, but I had seen the dragon on Ewan’s shoulder. And one student at the edge of the crowd had small horns, and another furred legs which ended in hooves. I was even pretty sure I saw a girl who looked like she was made of water, held together in a vaguely humanoid shape. Maybe I was still dreaming. Could you sleep in dreams? I thought waking this morning meant this wasn’t a nightmare, but perhaps comas worked differently. All I could do now was hope that I woke up soon, and was back in my hospital bed, with all of this over.

My panic hadn’t started when I cut my hand and nothing happened, no, then I’d felt rather smug. Then the staff murmured and chanted, and many people touched me. One of them—the one closest to my left—squeezed my arm and murmured to me, not at me. His soft French accent soothed me, and I was drawn into his green eyes as the rest of the teachers continued their task. He told me it would be okay, and to focus on my breathing.

Then there had been nothing but white.

I wasn’t sure how long I was in the white space for, but I could hear a soft voice calling my name. It was sweet like my mother’s, but I knew it wasn’t her. I tried moving toward it—wanting to be anywhere other than at this crazy school, with its inhabitants—but it was like I pushed through chest high water. All I could do was stagger blindly while I reached for something—anything.

When the white faded, that was when my panic kicked in.

I was in the air. And I had wings. Why did I have fucking wings? I did the first thing I could think of and flapped those wings, racing for the tree line. In my panic, it took me a few more seconds to realize my wings weren’t the only part of my body which had changed. I no longer possessed arms or fingers, instead, my legs ended in talons.

The world was now too bright and loud. I could hear the rustle of the leaves on the trees as they brushed together. I could hear the wind current as it moved through my feathers. But importantly, I could hear something hurtling toward me from above—I had to turn. Although I didn’t know how, my body somehow worked it out on its own, and I was suddenly flying between buildings, my wings grazing against the stone.

I could pick out the sound of two sets of wings behind me. Why was I being chased? What had the white place been? And why the fuck was I now a bird? All the thoughts ran through my head and distracted me. I didn’t hear the creature gaining again until a plume of fire erupted to my side. As I turned abruptly, my wing hit stone, and I was falling. The panic and pain blended together and overwhelmed my senses.

My regular limbs were back as I rolled down the roof and hit the ground. I knew because I could feel the bones breaking. Everything hurt. A sharp pain, dug into my very soul. I clenched my teeth, trying to establish if any part of my body didn’t hurt, but the pain now moved in waves like the flames had set fire to my body.

The dragon I had seen on Ewan’s shoulder earlier landed on the rooftop gutter and looked down at me. Its identity confirmed by the redhead, who now leaned over me, concern painting his face. He said something, but I couldn’t hear. It was like the world was muffled, now far away, compared to how loud it had been when I was flying.

When his hand pressed to my chest, the maelstrom of pain tearing through me became more than I could bear. I couldn’t hold back my scream, but it wasn’t only sound which left my body. A surge of white light, like a shockwave, came from where his hand was held against my sternum. It was so bright, I instinctively brought my arm up to shield my eyes.

An arm I could now move. Which no longer hurt.

I blinked, trying to clear my vision of the bright lights which danced across my eyesight, it made it difficult to focus on anything for more than a second. They quickly cleared, and I saw Ewan looking at me in shock, rather than concern.

“Fecking hell, lass. I guess we know what those light pulses do now. I was sure you were gonna die on your first day here. You were proper fecking hurt.” He looked relieved, but it did nothing to ease my confusion.

Not wanting him so close to me, I sat up and tried to push him back. He didn’t budge, so instead I turned so my back was against the cool stone of the building. His dragon was still up there, watching me with its beady eyes and waiting to fry me again. I ignored him and his babbling and took a moment to assess how I felt. The all-consuming pain was entirely gone now. I could see blood on my arms and legs, but when I wiped at it to assess for wounds, I saw my skin was pale and perfect, with not even a bruise.

Now I was sure I wasn’t at risk of bleeding out on the grass, I turned my attention back to Ewan, who still kneeled in place. He looked at me like I was made of some sort of precious stone. It took me a couple of seconds to realize he was still talking, and I raised my hand to stop him.

“Look, whatever you have to say, I don’t care. Your little pet tried to kill me, and not even the sincerest apology full of the world’s best begging would make me forgive you. So, can you just fuck off and leave me alone for five minutes? Or better yet—how about forever?” Now my panic and pain had ebbed, it was replaced by anger. He’d been chasing me. Him and his fucking lizard, they’d almost killed me.

Ewan looked at me like I’d slapped him and insulted his mother, but I didn’t care. I was at the end of my rope. There were too many things piling up around me, and I couldn’t take another one, or I was going to scream again, and I wasn’t sure if this time I would be able to stop.

When he reached out with an apologetic look on his face, I slapped his hand away and pushed to my feet. The world spun, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to be here anymore. Bracing myself against the stone wall, I took a couple of deep breaths. Then I ignored Ewan as he kept trying to talk to me, as I set off toward the main building.

Right now, I wasn’t in any state to run. I needed some of my things and some food. And I needed to know what the fuck had happened to me. What had those teachers done that turned me into some sort of fucking bird? And what was that place full of white light? Who was calling my name? There were too many unanswered questions to run off today. They were questions which would keep me up at night, and I wasn’t sure I would get answers anywhere else.

I’d almost reached the main building when someone fell into step beside me. My head whipped sideways, ready to tell whoever it was to fuck off, when my eyes met the same green ones which looked down at me earlier. I was in a bad mood, but yelling at a teacher probably wasn’t a good plan—especially not on my first day. I knew I’d already made a terrible impression, and I didn’t need to compound it.

“You must have a lot of questions, Mademoiselle St. John. I have never seen a Showing quite like yours. But I am sure I could answer some of them. And we could have some tea. You look like you could use some.” His French accent was so charming I couldn’t help but nod at his suggestion. And I could use a few minutes to collect myself.

I said nothing as I followed him into the main building. I still did not know where I was going, but he kept us on the ground floor and headed down a hallway that looked like every other one in this place. There were paintings on these walls, and portraits of people gazed down at me. Some looked stern, others looked friendly, then there were those who looked other-worldly. Fangs, horns, skin, and hair were all in different shades of the rainbow. Just another reinforcement, this place wasn’t a regular school.

I didn’t bother counting the doors, they all looked the same, and I’d accepted I would be lost most of the short time I spent here. I didn’t need to know the inside of the buildings; it was the grounds I needed to become familiar with. Although if I could turn into a bird again, maybe escaping would be easier than I thought. Well, if Ewan and his dragon weren’t around to keep me prisoner.

The teacher opened a door and showed me into an office. At first glance, it didn’t look very different from the guidance counselor’s office. There was a fireplace and a desk, and two of the four walls were taken up with shelves. These weren’t filled with books, though, they were filled with all kinds of curiosities. There were jars full of liquids, crystals which glittered like they held a light inside, bones and boxes. I was sure I could spend hours looking at them all, and still not know half of what was on these shelves. There were some books, but not as many as I expected.

The other big difference was the semicircle of armchairs around the fireplace—four of them—and all looked comfortable. They took up most of the room with the desk pushed back into the corner to make space. Turning from the chairs, I looked at him.

“Do you share this office?” I didn’t want to suddenly be surrounded by a group of teachers, all pretending to be concerned. I simply wanted to have some tea, and to take the chance to regroup before I tried to find where the apartment with my room was located. Surely someone had to know where it was, one occupant had a fucking dragon.

The teacher shook his head as he moved over to what looked like a bar but had a tea and coffee station set up at one end. There were also bottles of alcohol, but they didn’t look like they got as much use as the kettle he was turning on. “Non, but I have guests frequently, and I would rather be comfortable when I am talking. I am not one to sit behind a desk.”

He spoke so casually; I was a little surprised. What kind of teacher enjoyed having people in their office? Most of the professors at my previous college had treated office hours like they were a burden. While he fiddled with teacups, I looked at the closest shelf. All the jars and bottles were labeled, but in a language I didn’t recognize. Judging from his accent, it was probably French, but I couldn’t be certain as I’d taken German as my language course in high school.

“Why don’t you sit? You have had quite an ordeal, Mademoiselle St. John.” I had to keep myself from scoffing, that was putting it mildly. He seemed genuine in his offer to help me though, more so than the guidance counselor, anyway. There was something about her voice which bothered me; it was like honey, dripping through my mind and sticking there.

It was warmer by the fire. I wasn’t cold, but the warmth was comforting. So I took the seat closest to the fire and gave myself some space. He didn’t bother me with idle chatter while he made the tea. There was just the sound of a kettle boiling, and the tinkling of spoons and mugs. Before I knew it, he offered me a steaming mug. I immediately wrapped my hands around it, and my shoulders relaxed a little at the comforting feel and aroma.

He looked at the fire, rather than at me, and I wasn’t sure if he was waiting for me to speak first. If he was, he was going to be waiting a while. I didn’t want to talk about what happened. I still wasn’t sure what had taken place, and talking about it would just make things more confusing. Happy to let the silence stretch out, I took a sip from my mug, and of course, it was then he spoke.

“As I said, I have never seen a Showing quite like yours. But I have seen some that could be described as similar. It is rare a Scion’s nature is suppressed, as yours was, and I fear it was bottled dangerously. Like when you shake a bottle of soda with its lid on.” He looked at me like this should all make some sort of sense.

“What the hell is a Scion? This is the first time I’ve heard that word. I thought this was a school for witches?” My brow furrowed in confusion, and not even the tea was helping to calm my agitation. All these words were being thrown around like they should have meant something to me. Tatiana said she oversaw welcoming new students, well, she was doing a piss-poor job of it.

The teacher’s brows rose in surprise, and he set his mug down on a side table. “Ah, Madame Delvara warned us you were new to all of this, but I didn’t realize just how new. I apologize. What do you know?”

I didn’t want to snap at him, or shout how I didn’t know a damn thing. I knew he was trying to help me when most people had yelled at me, or chased me, or breathed fire at me. Honestly, all this kidnapping was enough to make a girl distrustful of anyone.

“Tatiana said I was the latest in a long line of witches and that the rest would become clear soon enough.” I snorted as I said that last part. Things were now murkier than ever.

“She is right. But you must forgive Madame Delvara, it has been some time since a student like you has walked these halls.” He talked like he had been here for decades, but he looked like he was only a few years older than me, only ten at most.

“You know, you haven’t even told me your name, or what you teach. I am guessing you are a teacher, since you helped with that whole … whatever it was which happened outside.”

His head bowed as his hand came to his chest. “My apologies. I seem to be forgetting myself left and right today. Perhaps I hit my head harder than I thought when I went tumbling.” More confusing words which made little sense. Tumbling? I didn’t ask, not wanting to interrupt him further.

“My name is Henri Beaudelaire. This is my first year teaching here at Hollow Hall, although until last year I was a student. I am teaching glamour magic if you choose to study it. Having seen your Showing, you would have some natural skill I think.”

“You mean because I turned into a bird? Wouldn’t that be shapeshifting?” It was the first time I admitted out loud I turned into a bird, and it made it feel more real somehow, rather than this all being a dream.

“That is shapeshifting, yes, which is a different teacher. Glamour magic is the art of illusions. But I was going to explain to you what a Scion is. You know the myths and legends of the Gods and the various creatures, werewolves, vampires, all of those.” He waited for me to nod before he continued.

“Well, they had children, then those children had children and power is carried down those bloodlines. Power is carried down in your bloodline. I am unsure which lineage you belong to, but I am sure your parents told you about a famous ancestor, non? They told you why you had to hide and couldn’t talk about your powers or abilities?”

There was a ringing in my ears as he spoke about my parents. The mug shook in my hands, and tea sloshed over the side and snapped me out of the spiraling panic. I set the mug down with a hiss, jumped out of the seat and wiped my hands on my skirt.

“My parents never … There must be some sort of mistake. I need to talk to that counselor lady.” I was across to the door before he could stop me, and I ran down the hall, ignoring his calls. Stopping was the last thing on my mind, I needed to get out of here. He wanted me to believe my parents were lying my entire life. That they hid something so crazy from me. I didn’t look where I was going, I just ran; like I could outrun the information he had given me. I didn’t hear Tatiana until she stepped directly into my path, forcing me to slide to a stop.

“Audrey, why don’t you calm down and come with me?” Her voice was thicker than before, and I nodded. It sounded like an excellent idea.