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23
Raven
Confinement wasn’t exactlywhat I expected after all the threats. I had imagined a dark cell lined with bars and the sound of dripping water.
What I hadn’t imagined was a small white room with a single white upholstered chair. It was more like the waiting room of a hospital than the scary place they warned me about.
I paced the room for a bit, my hair blowing into my face every time I walked past the overly efficient air conditioner. Goosebumps rose on my legs from the chill in the air.
Every time I completed the tiny circle in the room, I passed the white chair. It seemed to call to me. As if it wanted me to sit on it, but something about it also repelled me. Warning me to avoid it. It was just a chair but then again, this place wasn’t just a school. Now that I’d had a taste of magic, on several different levels, I was wary of everything.
Besides, if I didn’t have my instincts, what else did I have?
The door opened, and I turned to see Dr. Green filling the doorframe. His fangs looked even more threatening when he was scowling.
“It was a mistake, I swear, I didn’t even know I could do that let alone that it was illegal, I just didn’t want to get my ass kicked, you know?” I said.
He held up his hand, and I stopped talking. He lingered in the doorway, not leaving the apparent safety of the open door. He looked even more uncomfortable than I felt.
“There’s someone here to see you,” he said. “I’m afraid this is out of my hands.”
“But it was an accident, you have to believe me.” I wasn’t even sure why I was fighting so hard to keep my magic. I’d only had it for a short time and I didn’t even know if I wanted it.
Something had shifted in me in that time. Now that I’d felt it, it was like another limb. The idea of it being cut from me was terrifying. I wasn’t sure when the change happened or why I’d suddenly embraced it as part of me, but it was. It was part of me the same as my legs or arms or heart. Without it, I no longer knew who I was.
Granted, I didn’t know who the hell I was with it, either. I just knew I had to defend it.
“Follow me,” he said.
Without a word, I exited the strange room and as soon as I left, I felt like a weight had been lifted from me and I gasped. It was as if I had been under water and I finally got a breath of fresh air. It didn’t feel that way inside the room, but now that I was out, I knew something had been restraining me.
“It’s the magic in there,” the dean said. “The longer you’re in there, the longer your magic is quelled.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“Ten minutes in there will result in no magic for about an hour after you leave the room. You can do the math from there,” he said, not even turning to look back at me.
I felt for my magic, something I’d grown accustomed to doing over my time here at the academy. He was right, it wasn’t there. Not even a shadow of my magic was there. My stomach twisted into knots as panic welled up inside me. I felt empty, different, fragile.
No wonder I didn’t want my magic removed. It was an odd sensation. As if a hole was cut into you and part of your essence was just gone.
I shuddered. Not wanting to think about the possibility of this being my new normal.
We walked through the institutional hallways that made up the underbelly of the school. More white walls, more white tile, more florescent lights. Metal doors lined the hall not unlike the classrooms above but these maintained the hospital like feeling the rest of the detention area held.
Finally, we stopped in front of one of the doors and Dr. Green opened the door. “I’ll collect you here when you’re finished.”
“You’re not coming in with me?” I asked, feeling small. The imposing demon was the last person I’d expected to latch on to but at least he was somewhat familiar.
“I’ll return for you,” he said.
I nodded, then entered the room to find a square table with a folding chair on either side. It was a mother fucking interrogation room. Why the hell did they have this in a school?
Plain white walls surrounded us and I half expected to see a two-way mirror like in the movies. There wasn’t one, but that didn’t mean nobody was listening. I was sure there was magic that could eliminate the need for a human invention like a two-way mirror.
One chair was occupied by a rather severe look woman. She had black hair pulled up into a sleek bun on top of her head. Her features were pointed and sharp. She didn’t stand when I arrived, but I could tell from her stature in the chair that she was tiny. Probably not even five feet tall. “Sit.”
Despite her small size, she packed an air of authority in her demeanor that made me comply.
