My luck just never ran out, did it?
“We were discussing an art piece done by a student in one of Brynn's classes, that's all.” He stepped through the door and into the classroom, leaving me outside with the dean herself. Her eyes flicked over my shoulder, to the cluster of other ghosts straining against the eighty foot limit we were metaphysically restricted to. She knew they were there; the queen had probably had the entire staff briefed somewhat on who I was and what I was up to.
But Tiukka—at least I knew her name was pronounced tee-OO-kuh—didn't seem particularly happy to see me.
“I'm looking into this nonsense with Professor Cross.” She zeroed in on me and raised one perfectly arched brow. “I'd like you to stop by my office sometime this week and discuss what, exactly, happened to bind him to you. If I find any instance of misconduct, he'll be terminated and exorcised.” Pretty sure my mouth dropped open at that one. I mean, he was bound to me, right? That meant he was sort of my spirit. I should get to decide whether or not he was exorcised.
“I'll stop by as soon as I can,” I choked out as the woman looked me over, straightened her purple academy jacket with the epaulettes, and let herself into the classroom without even bothering to hold the door for me and Jas. Professors were able to choose their own color from the six years of college uniforms: white, red, purple, silver, gold, and black, respectively. “This doesn't bode well for my future grade in this class, does it?” I asked Jasinda as she opened the door and let us into a cold, creepy old building. It used to be a temple, this place, back when worship was still a big thing.
This wasn't a Haversey temple though … it was one of Hellim's.
Spiritual signatures were splashed all over the walls and ceiling, and shadows skittered across the rafters. As soon as the door swung shut behind me, I thought I might puke.
“Are you alright?” Jas asked as I stumbled against the wall and put my palm up to the cold stone. As soon as I touched it though, I regretted it.
“As promised, I've made a seating chart. Each seat has a name on it. Please find yours and sit down. This isn't a secondary classroom.” Tiukka was yelling at the relatively small class, but to me, her words were merely a whisper.
I could hear so many other things though … pleas and screams and whimpers. Something was growling nearby while up above us, another shadow wailed. The cacophony swirled around me, pressing in on my eardrums until I felt like they might burst. Nobody else seemed to notice or be bothered by all of the activity.
“Brynn, are you okay?” Elijah was asking, putting his hands on either side of my face and trying to get me to look at him.
“I'm going to be sick,” I said, tearing myself from his grip and stumbling back outside. I collapsed on the cobblestones and threw up, my head spinning, magic sparking from my skin like an electrical storm.
“She's Double Blessed, is why,” Professor Cross was saying as he came outside with Professor Tiukka on his heels. “She can't handle the overload of spirits and shadows.”
“Brynn,” she said, kneeling down next to me. “Do you need to see a flesh whisperer?” I shook my head, but my stomach was still turning over and I wasn't sure how many more times I'd have to throw up before I'd stop feeling so damn nauseous.
As I leaned down, the pair of necklaces hanging from my throat swung down and caught the light. There was no way in Hellim's Hell that Professor Tiukka didn't know about my double blessing, but maybe it hadn't hit her until just now because she reached out and touched them both with reverent fingers.
“We haven't had a Double Blessed on campus in … years, and certainly never a child of both Haversey and Hellim.” She released the silver stars and on impulse, I felt myself reach up to grab them. Somehow, it felt like a violation, having her touch them like that. I hadn't felt that way when either Air or Vex had done it. “But no matter. That classroom has been used to train spirit and shadow whisperers for centuries. We can't make any exceptions, not even if you happen to be both.”
“You can't be serious?” Elijah said with a scowl, appearing directly in front of me. He seemed to have zero qualms about back talking an associate dean. “That classroom is intended to stretch a spirit whisperer's or a shadow whisperer's limits. It's supposed to be uncomfortable. For Brynn, it's probably unbearable.”
“You, Elijah of Haversey, are still a sixth year student as far as I'm concerned.” Tiukka rose to her feet and brushed off the knees of her black breeches, her long hair hanging in thick curls on either side of her face. The rest of it was piled in a bun atop her head, an interesting contrast against wings the color of the sky above us, a frigid blue-gray speckled with clouds. The sun came and went, but it looked like it might actually snow one last time before winter finally quit. “And I don't take orders from students. Brynn of Haversey, you either need to visit a flesh whisperer or you're well enough for class.”
Jasinda was kneeling beside me, her jaw clenched in frustration. I gritted my teeth, but I pushed up to a standing position and shifted my ebony wings behind me. I might be clumsy as well, and a mediocre spirit whisperer at best, but I wasn't about to stand here and be insulted by some … some … bleeding motherflubbing blatherer son of a blitz.
Whew.
I swiped my palms down the black pleats of my skirt and lifted my chin.
“This is ridiculous,” Eli said. Usually, he had this sort of lazy, languid cockiness to him. But apparently, when he got angry, he got pissed. “A double blessed student has completely different needs, needs that the Royal College should do everything in its power to nurture and bring to fruitful fucking maturity. This is clearly harassment.”
“I have to agree with Elijah of Haversey,” Professor Cross said, his mouth pulled down in a tight frown, the living ink on his skin shifting between the unbuttoned halves of his shirt.
“This is my class,” Tiukka said, looking straight at me and nobody else. “And my rules. Either come in and take your seat or take it up with the dean.” She turned and started back for the classroom door before pausing. “Or the queen, perhaps?”
She went inside and let the heavy wood slam shut behind her.
“Tiukka always had it out for me, too,” Elijah said, casting a sympathetic look my way, his white wings curling forward and giving me what the angels call a seraphic embrace. It was an intimate little gesture, and it made my cheeks flame. Still, I curled my own wings up and brushed them lightly against his.
“She never much liked me either,” Professor Cross said with a sigh, slicking his fingers up his poor, messy spiked hair again. “Alive or dead. I'm afraid the odds are stacked against you.”
“I can do this,” I said as Jas made a small sound in her throat.
“Brynn, you've been through a lot lately. You heard what she said. We'll just talk to the queen and—” Without waiting for my handler to finish, I stormed up to the classroom door and let myself in, my boots loud on the stone as the room went silent and I stalked up to one of only two empty chairs in the room.
Jas' name was on the first, while mine was up close to the front, right next to where Professor Tiukka was standing. Our eyes met just before I slid into my seat … and found Felixa glaring at me from across the surface of the table.
Shi—p. Ship, ship, ship.
Sounds and sensations pressed down on my shoulders, making me shiver and shake. My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides as Elijah boldly stalked up the aisle and gave me a hug from behind before disappearing.
“Are you settled now, Brynn of Haversey? Or shall I hold up the rest of the class until you're ready?”