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A chill runs through me and I move closer to the wall so I can read the names easier. I recognize a few. Both twins are on there. Places eight and nine. Remember is on there in place twelve.
As I’m staring, the names change. Liam drops to number two and someone named Cain Miller moves to the first place spot. “What just happened?”
“It updates based on whatever system the headmaster developed,” she says. “You do well in class, you get a bump. You screw something up, you drop.”
“So this is where I need to be to get out of here,” I say.
“Harper, you should know, everyone wants that pass,” she says. “Even the kids who don’t need it, like Liam.”
“Right,” I say. “Like valedictorian?”
“I don’t know what that is,” she says.
“It’s the top student where I come from,” I explain.
“Does the frontrunner ever have mysterious accidents or suddenly vanish in the middle of the night?” she asks.
“Um, no,” I say.
“Then it’s not the same thing,” she says. “Nobody will challenge someone like Liam. But I can guarantee Cain won’t keep that spot long.”
I glance at the list again. Damon and Corbin have each moved up a place. Remember moved down a place. “It changes a lot.”
“There’s always something in play at this school,” she warns. “Even outside of class time. It’ll come down to the wire to see who wins.”
“How much time is left?” I ask, realizing I didn’t even know how the calendar here worked.
“Winter Solstice. That’s the end of the semester,” she says. “And anything could happen in the next three months. You’re safe if you keep your name out of the top ten. If you’re really going to make a run for this, you have to be prepared that it could cost you your life.”
I straighten as I stare at the wall. “It’s that or a life of servitude.”
“Being a servant is still living, though,” she says.
“No, it’s not,” I say. “I have to try.”
“Just be careful,” she says. “Come on, we better get to class.”
I glare at the names one more time, noting that a few have already switched places again. The first place spot is the same, though. Still claimed by a student I haven’t met. I wonder who he is and secretly hope he can remain there just to keep Liam out. That asshole doesn’t need anything else to inflate his ego.
Sadie and I walk toward class and I’m grateful that we have this one together.Magic for non-demons. It’s an interesting premise for a class and I’m curious to see the other kinds of supernaturals that attend school here. So far, I’ve come in contact with mostly demons from what I can tell.
Sadie leads us to a small door with a narrow staircase going straight down into a sea of darkness.
“You have to be kidding me.” I look at her. “Our class is down there?”
“Yep,” she says. “Throw the non-demons in the old dungeon. There aren’t as many of us and this is exactly how they feel about us.”
“Wonderful,” I say.
“Hey, good news is we have the hottest professor.” She grins. “I heard there were even a few higher level demons who tried to get into this class just for him.”
“Oh? This is the professor you have a thing for.” Gossiping about something so normal helps relieve some of the tension remaining from last night. “I can’t wait to finally see him.”
“Hands off, though,” she says. “If anyone is going to break the no dating teachers rule, it’s going to be me.”
I laugh and she joins in. It makes the descent down the narrow, damp stairway less intimidating. I’m glad that I was put in the same room as Sadie. I have a feeling that without her, I wouldn’t have made it to day two at this place.
We pass a few closed doors. Torches flicker along the walls, lighting our path. It’s surreal to be walking through the basement of a castle. A basement lined with torches. Nothing should surprise me anymore after my short time here.
