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Morgan felt something give way in her already brittle self-control. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Professor,” she said through gritted teeth. “Something’s changed? Sure. Everything changes, all the time, every second of every minute of every day. You’re going to have to be more specific, or I won’t be able to help you.”
The silence that fell was utterly terrifying. Morgan hardly dared to take her eyes off the water, half convinced that if she moved, the dragon sitting quietly beside her was going to tear her apart with her bare talons. That had beenbeyondinappropriate. She should apologize, she thought, heart pounding. Why wasn’t she apologizing? Professor Reine was going to kill her—or worse, report her rudeness to the Dean. What if she got kicked out for this?
“That was very rude, Morgan.”
Professor Reine’s voice was like a sheet of ice. Morgan swallowed hard. But somehow, for some reason, she was staying quiet. She just couldn’t bring herself to apologize for what she’d said. It had come from a place of truth… and to take it back just felt too much like a betrayal, right now. And after everything that had happened with Archer, she wasn’t in the mood for any more betrayal. Especially not from the one person who should be looking out for her—herself.
The silence seemed to stretch on forever. Then she felt a sudden impact on her upper back. For a moment, in her mind’s eye, she saw razor-sharp talons slicing through her body, braced herself for pain—but it was only the professor’s hand landing on her shoulder with a thump. Her shock was compounded by the bright, brilliant smile on the professor’s face.
“Finally!” She shook Morgan a little by the shoulder, shaking her head in a comic display of relief. Morgan sat frozen, this time by confusion more than fear.
“Finally—what?”
“Finally, you’ve stopped caring what I think.” Had she ever seen the professor grin so widely? Her whole face was transformed by the expression—it was like she was meeting a whole new person. “Now we can actuallystart. Whew,” she added, shaking her head as she climbed to her feet. “I was starting to worry about you. Most students crack in the first few weeks once the rest of the homework starts piling up, but not you, oh no. Scorpios.” She rolled her eyes theatrically. “No wonder they all think we’re monsters. Stubborn as mules.”
“You—wantedme to be disrespectful.”
“Disrespectful? You call that disrespectful?” Professor Reine snorted. “I’ve seen more disrespectful military padres, girl. No. I wanted you to be honest.” Her eyes glinted. “I want you to be here to learn how to use your own magic, not to impress me or get good grades or whatever half of these sniveling sycophants are looking for these days.” Morgan lifted a hand to her mouth to suppress a laugh, but the professor lashed out with surprising speed to pull her hand away. “No! Absolutely not! If you’re going to laugh, you laugh, girl. If you think I’m a doddering old fool, I want you to say so.”
“I don’t!” Morgan was torn between horror and delight. The professor cackled.
“Good, because I’m not, but I’d like to know if you’re getting that impression. How else are we to understand each other? And more importantly, how are you going to be honest with yourself if you can’t be honest with the people around you?”
“Doesn’t that work the other way around?”
Professor Reine shrugged, then made an elaborate gesture with her hands that Morgan took to indicate that there was debate on the matter. “Now,” she said, pinning Morgan with a beady-eyed stare. “With that in mind… tell me what you’ve seen.”
“What I’ve seen?”
“You’ve been looking.” The professor didn’t seem like she was going to accept any disagreements on the matter. “Only a little, but you’ve been looking. What have you seen?”
“Do you mean—” She hesitated, feeling suddenly thrown. She’d expected to talk about all of this on their first day… it felt a little silly to only be reaching the topic of her magic towards the end of the term. “The colors I see when I look at people? The—are they called auras?”
“You tell me.” Professor Reine shrugged. “It’s your magic. You can call them whatever you like.”
“But other people must call them something—”
“Morgan, as far as your magic is concerned, there are no other people. I simply cannot stress that enough. Nobody in all of creation has access to the same magic that you do. You are a world-leading expert on this subject.”
Morgan’s head was spinning. “Then why—”
“—why am I your teacher? Excellent question!” She clapped her hands together and performed a strange little caper in the sand, her bare feet kicking up dust. “Because I’m a con artist. Because the Dean is a soft touch. And because I can do this,” she added. Her eyes didn’t leave Morgan’s face, and the gesture of her hand was so casual that for a moment it was hard to connect to what happened behind her. But Morgan caught her breath and held it as she watched a huge, towering pillar of water begin to grow behind professor Reine, the water sucking back from the shore as more and more was diverted into the impossible, unnatural structure. She lowered her hand. Morgan flinched… but the pillar stayed exactly where it was.
“How—”
“Think fast,” the professor said, eyes bright. The pillar fell, and Morgan shrieked as the two of them were knocked over by the small tidal wave that resulted. Soaking wet and spluttering, she rocketed to her feet. The professor was howling with laughter, her own clothes dripping and her neatly groomed hair hanging in wet strands around her face. Morgan could feel herself grinning despite her shock. The professor was grinning back.
“See? Isn’t this more fun than sitting at my feet like some disciple?”
“Can you teach me to do that?” Morgan asked. Reine scoffed.
“And have you come for my job? I don’t think so. I think you can aim a little higher than that.”
“Higher than controlling the ocean?”
“Higher than copying,” the professor corrected her. “Let’s find out whatyoucan do, shall we?”
All Morgan could do was nod. What else was there to say to a madwoman who could control the ocean?
