There was a loudthump,thumpoverhead. My head snapped upward, but I saw nothing except for a black feather twirling in the wind.
The year and the semester ended in blissful peace. I traveled to St. Louis to see my family and had an amazing,normaltime. When the holidays were over, I almost didn’t want to go back to school, but I had developed a fondness for textbooks and straight-A transcripts, so I got on the plane and flew back. My only wish was to be able to erase Drevan, his mission, and the prophecy from the map, but my luck had run out a while back. It was too much to ask for.
To our utter excitement, Jenna, Sage, Benjamin, and I met the requirements to enroll in the new class offered to first-year students. My class load would be bigger than last semester, but I was excited about taking second-year Summoning and Quelling. Everyone was. Few students were able to meet the strict conditions that the director placed to allow enrollment, so only nine out of the 112 first years had been accepted. To say that we were the envy of everyone was an understatement.
On the first day of class in January, Jenna and I were up early, freshly showered, and ready for action before 6 AM. Sage and Benjamin met us for an early breakfast at the cafeteria and couldn’t shut up about finally being able to use a real Queller on real demons.
“I bet none of the others have ever summoned a demon,” Sage said.
I didn’t think it was anything to brag about since Phenog had nearly eaten me alive, but I didn’t say anything, determined not to kill the good mood.
We left the cafeteria and headed for the fifth floor toward the Fray Room and our first Summoning class. Benjamin and Jenna walked ahead of us, the former leaning over and surreptitiously brushing her fingers with his. They exchanged a quick glance, Jenna blushing bright red, same as Benjamin.
Sage rolled his eyes. “God, they make me sick.”
I elbowed him. “They’re cute.”
“If you say so.”
Sage and I were acting as if nothing had happened between us, which I was grateful for.Feelingswere the last thing I wanted to talk about.
When we got to the Fray Room, we found that the other five students were already there. Clearly, we weren’t the only ones excited about getting into the nitty-gritty of demon hunting. The only thing I didn’t like was finding Regina Becker there. She still hated me and seemed to have graduated from Professor Khargon’s Comparative Death Glares course.
Jenna greeted them, but they looked at us as if we were intruders. Regina, especially, made no effort to disguise her animosity toward us. Unfazed, Sage walked over to them and started making small talk. Regina gave me a satisfied grin as her crush sidled up to her.Whatever, she could keep Sage. I was done with men.
Jenna, Benjamin, and I hung back, preferring to stay in good company.
When the clock on the wall struck 7 AM, three claps sounded across the room and the wall of windows flanking the right side of the room went black, leaving us in utter darkness.
“What the hell?!” someone muttered, while everyone else seemed to hold their breath.
My heart pounded as I blinked at the darkness, trying to catch the slightest glimpse of anything, but it was like being blind after the Truesight spell. I saw nothing.
A match was struck, and a flame appeared. It floated in the air as it descended toward the floor. The flame stopped and hovered, illuminating a candle. The wick was lit, then the match moved counterclockwise. West, south, east… the flame lit three more candles, which promptly revealed the pentagram in the middle.
A sigil I recognized was drawn there in perfect chalk lines. Smoke billowed from the floor, rising upward until the figure of a chubby, cute girl appeared there. Her red hair was perfectly curled, and her rosy cheeks flanked a tender smile that would have stolen the most hardened of hearts.
“Salutations,” she said, her voice sweet and melodic. “I am here to introduce to you your new summoning teacher.” She clapped her pudgy hands three times and bright light spilled through the windows again, blinding everyone.
We all covered our faces, wincing and blinking rapidly as we let our vision adjust. A shape materialized on the north side of the pentagram.
Phenog spread her arms wide. “The amazing, the magnificent, Professor Drevan Veneres.”
As the shape solidified and my eyes adapted to the brightness, my heart took a tumble and plummeted like a lead weight to the bottom of my chest.
Standing there, looking as resplendent as the first time I saw him, was Drevan Morningstar.
