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I rolled my shoulders and pushed up my sleeves, chewing on my bottom lip so hard I figured I must be leaving little bite marks on the skin. “I got this.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I focused in on the carafe, feeling the tingles run down my arms into my fingertips. I tried to ignore the whispers from the peanut gallery watching as my magic came swirling out, wrapping itself around my wrists and covering my hands.
Let it out slowly. Slooowly.
I instructed my magic to hang back, and for some dumb reason, I thought that might actually work. Apparently, it had other ideas. When I brought my hand up, it shot out of me, surging through the air and smashing into the carafe.
And when I say smashing, I don’t mean just knocking it off the stand. I mean smashing into it and blowing it outward into hundreds of pieces. I watched it happen in what felt like slow motion, anger and frustration fizzing through me.
“Godsdammit!” I curled my lips in a snarl, clenching my hands into fists.
“It’s alright, Aria.” Professor Howes had the patience of a damn saint, and she just shook her head with a smile, using her magic to replace the shattered carafe. “Just try again. And don’t let your magic get away from you this time.”
“Yeah, thanks, prof,” I muttered.
Classes had started a week ago, and I’d figured out quickly that I was very powerful, but I had almost no idea how to control my magic. There were moments when I was in charge, but the majority of the time, magic just flew out of me, attacking anybody close by and generally causing chaos. I worried if it continued like this, I’d get kicked out of school, and although part of me relished the idea of an easy out, I knew if I flunked out of magic academy, Oberon and his magical law enforcement team wouldn’t just let me go back to my old life.
When I’d been told I was going to attend a magical academy, I had half expected to spend my days trimming singing plants or riding unicorns across the sky. Of course, the reality wasn’t quite like that. First of all, the students were all a bunch of adults. Well, most of us—there were several people who acted like children, and some who were just barely of legal age. But this definitely wasn’t a school for kids, and it was almost like there was an assumption that we’d all had basic schooling already.
There were no math or English classes. No history either, not even a history of magic, which seemed like it would’ve been useful. In fact, pretty much all of our classes were practical application. Everything was very hands-on.
One of my personal favorites was magical combat. I kicked ass at magical combat. My magic always seemed to work just a little better when I got into the groove—when I was doing something physical or was even slightly irritated or angry. I tended to be a pretty irritable person to begin with, so it didn’t really surprise me that I had more control when I was in that state.
My other favorite subject, not surprisingly, was Magic Manipulation. That class was pretty cool because I realized my power didn’t just manifest in thin streams that flew everywhere and punched holes in walls. When I concentrated hard and imagined what I wanted, the magic could turn into just about anything. I could feel it like an extension of my arms, and when it really surged, it pushed out of my whole body.
Merrick, the too-handsome-for-my-own-good fuckwad, hadn’t been satisfied with just forcing me to walk through the school practically naked. From the very first day of classes, he’d gone out of his way to embarrass me or taunt me in front of other students, clearly intent on living up to his promise of making me miserable here.
Dammit, focus up, Aria! This is not helping.
I hadn’t been wrong in thinking that my magic responded to my emotions. It was highly attuned to my emotional state, and when I got agitated… well, that’s when holes started appearing in walls.
Drawing my attention back to the exercise Professor Howes had assigned us, I focused on clearing my mind and reaching out with my magic. When I had shown up to Combat class and seen a bunch of water carafes arranged around the room, I hadn’t understood what the hell we were supposed to do with them until Howes had explained that we’d be working on fine tuning our control.
Technically, this part of our lesson was supposed to be about defense, but I was ready to get some of my irritation out. I wanted to fight.
Professor Howes moved away from me, making her way through the room to instruct other students. A small, bubbly girl sidled up as soon as the teacher’s back was turned.
“Hey!” Her voice was as bright as the golden highlights in her brown hair. “I’m Eden.”
My eyes shifted toward her and then back as I continued to try to send my magic out in a controlled way. I figured my non-answer would give her a clear enough message, but she stayed where she was and watched me.
Maybe it was the added pressure of having another set of eyes watching my work, but a few seconds later, my second carafe exploded in an even more spectacular fashion than the first one had.
“Holy cow! You’re so powerful!” She whistled and shook her head ruefully. “Not like me. I’m still struggling to let loose all of my power. According to my mom, I’ve always been a really happy person, even when I was a baby, so my magic tends to come out almost fluffy. If that makes any sense.”
I let my arms drop and turned to her, hiding a grimace. The truth was, even though I didn’t really like people all that much, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have somebody here I could talk to. Merrick had been doing his level best to turn the entire school against me in the short time we’d been here so far, and although not everyone had gotten on board yet, I got enough dirty looks in the hallways to make me feel like a fucking outcast.
This Eden girl seemed a bit too excited, but what was I gonna do? Beggars couldn’t be choosers. She was pretty, and she looked to be about my age, with long, light brown hair that curled at the ends, gray eyes, and a button nose. She was so petite I felt like I could pick her up and put her in my pocket.
I thrust out my hand, not really sure how the ins and outs of these kinds of social niceties worked. In my old life, I would’ve honestly been as likely to aim a punch at someone as to shake their hand.
Eden jumped slightly at the sudden movement, then giggled, grabbing my hand and shaking it. “What’s your name?”
Oh, right. Man, I really do suck at this.
“Aria. My name is Aria.”
The girl’s smile grew wider. “It’s pretty impressive what you did with those water carafes. I don’t think I could even make something explode like that even if I threw it against a wall.”
