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17
Ben
Raven’s scentlingered on me as I walked into the Spellcasting room. I knew the others would know exactly why we were a few minutes late. We had an unusual bond, the five of us. Raven’s other mates wanted her to be happy just as much as I did. And I knew they’d protect her with their lives. So for that reason alone, I did my best to deal with sharing her.
Sharing wasn’t exactly in my nature. But I found that the more time I spent with the others, the easier it got. Our arrangement felt less forced and more natural. Part of me wanted to fight that, but as we spent more time together doing normal things like eating lunch, it was harder to do.
We were getting used to each other. Starting to rely on each other. In a way, we were our own strange little pack.
“Sorry we’re late,” Raven said as she took a seat next to the others. I crossed the room and sat down next to one of the twins, Matt, I think. Surprisingly, I was making the effort to get to know who they were. Though I had no clue when they weren’t next to each other.
A lithe, silver haired fae woman stood in the center of the room. Her shrewd eyes passed over our group. I hadn’t yet met Professor Flora, but I’d heard enough about her to be weary of her. She seemed to make Raven and the twins a little uncomfortable and I could see why.
There wasn’t even a touch of anything friendly in her expression. She looked cold and hard and stern. Like a grandmother who didn’t approve of your life choices.
We just got here and I was already itching to leave.
This was going to be a long session.
“I don’t know what Professor Halifax allowed you to do, but you will be on time from now on,” Professor Flora said.
“Sorry,” Raven said.
“The other faculty informed me about the typical nature of these trials. It is my job to ensure that the five of you are prepared,” she said.
“We’re prepared already,” Luka said. “We’re good to go.”
“Are you?” Professor Flora said.
I wanted to elbow Luka to tell him to shut up but I couldn’t get to him from where I was sitting.
“Your mate here has been without full use of her powers for weeks after her second trip to confinement,” she said. “And none of you have done anything to help her recover.”
“I didn’t ask them to help me,” Raven said. “But they would if I needed them to.”
“You always need to be at full strength,” Professor Flora said. “We can’t even begin our independent study until your magic returns. And that’s just academic. Suppose there was an attack or a situation where Raven needed to defend herself?”
“The school is safe,” Matt said.
“That’s what they said before,” I grumbled. I had been prepared to dislike Professor Flora, but she was speaking my language. If Raven’s magic wasn’t what it was supposed to be, which she hadn’t told me about, it needed fixed. And if we could help her, I was in.
“Alright, I’m guessing you want us to do something to help Raven’s magic,” Luka said. “Are you talking a magic meld or using our bond or what?”
“You’re the smartass of the group, aren’t you?” Professor Flora said.
Normally, I’d agree with her, but Luka was just trying to move us along. Besides, out of the three other mates, I was actually starting to think of Luka as a friend. “Hey, we’re all supposed to be on the same side, right?”
Professor Flora frowned.
“Can we start over?” Raven asked, jumping up from her seat. “Professor Flora, I’d like to introduce you to my other two mates, Ben and Luka. They are both very talented and wonderful people. Ben and Luka, this is Professor Flora, our new Spellcasting teacher. She’ll be helping me learn how to better understand my fae magic.”
“That was unprofessional of me,” Professor Flora said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had to work with a mated group like this. At the academy in Faerie, it’s rare to see. Mating bonds are usually formed when we are much older.”
“It’s okay,” Raven said. “Just let us know what you want us to do. We want to pass the trials and graduate, right?” Raven looked at each of us in turn.
“Sure do,” Matt said.
“Of course,” Zach said.
