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She nodded, took her gift, and went to sit at a table in a corner of the room. She opened the book, looked at the pictures, then went back to page one and started coloring.
“That went well,” Lorna said.
I needed some air. I left the mage with the children and stepped out for a minute. It smelled like winter. In Bulgaria, snow came late in the year, right before Christmas, if they were lucky. Now that I’d talked to Yoli, now that I knew who she was, where she was, and that she was real, there was one thing left to do. It didn’t even matter that I had yet to figure out if she was a dream jumper or not. I couldn’t leave her here. She was family. Distant family, but still.
In the next few weeks, Lorna and I visited Yoli at the orphanage a couple more times. Once, we forgot we were wearing our uniforms, and Yoli asked about the strange color combination – red and black. I couldn’t tell her about the Academy, about what we were actually studying, and that the world was full of supernaturals. That time would come, but not yet, not when she was so far from me, and I couldn’t watch and protect her.
One the one hand, I couldn’t wait any longer. Morningstar was out there, doing God knew what, and my mom was waiting for me. On the other hand, how was I going to break it to my adoptive parents? Would they take Yoli in? Maybe if they got something in exchange… The truth.
* * *
“Detention!”
“What?” I tried to catch up with Lorna, who was storming down the corridor toward the last class of the day.
“Detention, Mila! I got detention!”
“I don’t understand. No one gets detention at Grim Reaper Academy. It’s not even a thing.”
She turned on her heels, and I almost bumped into her.
“Apparently, my parents check in with Headmaster Colin every few weeks. They ask about my grades and worth score. They found out I’ve been skipping with you, so of course I get detention and you don’t, because you’re Mila fucking Morningstar, and you’re on a quest to save the world. Rules don’t apply to you.”
I was stunned.
“So, thank you! I’m the first student in the history of the Academy to get detention!”
She stomped away, her long black hair whipping behind her angrily. She had Geography, I had Introduction to Dream Traveling. Professor Ivanov was listing the telling signs of an impending OBE, but I couldn’t pay attention. Stealing glances around me, I noticed everyone was whispering about Lorna Chiaramonte and laughing at her expense.
“How stupid can you be to get detention at Grim Reaper Academy?”
“No one ever skips classes. Except for Mila and Lorna.”
“Do you think they’re hot for each other?”
Snickers and filthy remarks.
“Oh, I wanna see that,” Merrit said, probably already imagining us kissing.
“No,” said Raziel. “Lorna is fucking Mila because it’s the closest she’ll ever get to Sariel.”
Since Sariel had lost his wings, all the other angels and archangels at the Academy saw him as a pariah.
“Maybe if she fucks her good, Mila will let her have a go at Sariel.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Paz stood up, his eyes throwing red flames at Raziel and Merrit. Merrit, who was a mage and very confident in his powers, grinned at him defiantly. “I will come over there, cut out your tongue, and…”
“And what? Feed it to the dogs? That’s how the threat goes.” Merrit laughed. “I see no dogs around.”
Paz threw his chair out of the way and took a couple of steps toward the mage. Professor Ivanov stepped between them, her tiny, shaking frame not even registering as an obstacle in Paz’s mind. He could only see two things: red, and Merrit’s moronic face. I stood up, too, and so did GC. Francis sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, watching the whole scene with very little interest. Corri flappity-flapped on his shoulder, away from the danger.
“Paz, he’s not worth it.” I touched his arm, but he shrugged me off.
I thought GC would help, but what he did was to gently approach Mrs. Ivanov and convince her to get out of Paz’s way.
“Professor, you can’t just step between a demon and a mage. I hope you don’t feel like calling a Grim Reaper for your soul.”
She looked at him with fearful eyes. “This is my class. I have to…”
