The Witch's Revenge

Chapter 4

The man gives me a nod, and I bring the orb back toward me. Nailed the first part. Time to see how I do in terms of power.

Horribly, as it turns out. I do manage to crack the ball, but that's it. No matter how hard I focus on it afterward, the damage doesn't spread. Damn.

"B-rank"

Oh, Good. I was worried I'd be in the same spot as Maya, which would suck. A single extracurricular class is just not enough for me. I want to master as much magic as possible.

"You will now be taken to your rooms," Lockwood starts, not even waiting for me to reach the end of the staircase. "Each room will have three people inside. You will be sorted randomly. Your rank will not offer you special privileges in terms of comfort only education. A rulebook will be found in each of your rooms, Familiarize with it. At the end of each month's test, you will each also be judged based on your behavior. Step out of line one too many times, and your rank could even plummet, regardless of how much your skill has improved."

"Nice one," Maya telis me once I return. "Guess this is where we part, though, huh?"

"You're leaving?" I can only blink in surprise. What the heck?

"No, dummy. I'm a girl? We can't board together."

"Oh." I feel myself flushing again. "Right." Definitely not my finest moment.

"You will find your room number at the back of your compass," Lockwood explains. "You are all ranked from one to six hundred and sixty-six. Each three consecutive numbers will be roommates. Exchange is not allowed and do not even think of attempting it, We will know I'm betting someone's gonna disregard that little warning right off the bat. Can't wait to see what the punishment will be.

I look at the back of my compass, and see three threes on it. Perfectly down the middle. The two after me will be my roommates then.

Of course, this also means girls and boys will be in rooms together. That's the most surprising part of all of this; Schools usually never allow this sort of thing to happen.

There's another number on my compass, too, smaller than the first three ones. That can only be our room number.

"Use your maps to find your rooms. Be done with unpacking within the hour. That is when dinner will start. You will find the dining hall on your own, too. Best of luck."

He leaves is with that alone. The A ranks immediately take initiative, walking on as they look at their maps. I look at mine, too, and get lost immediately.

Spatial awareness has never been my strong suit. I could get lost on the way to the grocery store. Crap. A month is all. I have to get used to this, too; Can't wait to ask for that to be extended. Hope they don't grade that, too.

With two large suitcases behind me, I'm forced to stop to check the map every few minutes. The other students are all going in the same direction, so I just follow them until we reach the sleeping quarters-the Everyday Area. As 1 pass by each room, I look through the open doors, surprised to find no room with both a boy and a girl inside.

Did they make sure it won't happen? How? What kind of magic would that be? Or have they always known which numbers we'll be, and the compass hand-outs weren't random at all?

The Everyday Area is just a round, five-floored building. The first room in the area is one, and each subsequent odd- numbered room is on the left side of the hallway. I'm not really sure how the rooms themselves are so big, when there's so little space between the doors. Doesn't fit at all. Even I'm able to tell that much.

Once I reach my room, I am all alone. The other two must be taking their sweet time. Fine by me, Gives me the chance to snatch the bed by the window.

The room is plain and boring, with three single beds, three nightstands, and three closets. There's a door leading into the bathroom, but I don't see a shower in there; Just a sink and a toilet. Some other place must be the showering area, then. Or are we gonna be using magic for that?

Each closet is facing one of the beds, the bathroom door right at the start of the room. Other than all this, the room has nothing. It's way too official-looking, and as clinical as a hospital room. It'll take me a bit to feel comfortable here.

Might not happen at all, since I'm bad with roommates, too.

I unpack my stuff quickly, put the two empty suitcases on top of the closet, then sit on my bed and wait for the other two.

I'm finally here. Finally at the AMA. Getting in was hard, and getting here was harder. It'll only be worse from here onout.

But I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get stronger. It's the only way I'li fulfil my goal.

My roommates don't show up anytime before dinner, so I just use the map to find the dining hall, which is also here in the Everyday Area. Certain parts of the castle have their own official names, while some are just blanks. What could those be for? Why leave any part of the map blank at all? It's not like a single map can be faulty over others if they're all part of the same series.

Once I reach the dining hall, I'm immediately a bit overwhelmed. The kids are absolutely everywhere, with many donut shaped tables filling this utterly massive room.

I look down at the map, and see that the room is not supposed to be anywhere close to this size. The parks are supposed to be just outside. If this room is as big as it is, that means there's nothing out there. Then again, the other rooms aren't supposed to be that big, either. A spell? Something to magically make them fit? What would magic like that even be? An illusion, or some sort of spatial distortion?

I did my best to learn as much as possible, but finding correct info is really hard. Most libraries only have fantasy books on magic, with very few translated bits of parchment to describe a spell or two.

Most of the tables are filled to the brim already. One thing I notice right off the bat is that each one only has a single A-ranked student at most, and those sitting closest to them are Bs. We only just got here, but the discrimination has already started. People never change.

It looks like we'll be allowed to keep our own clothes thank god. I loathe the concept of school uniforms. Maybe they just haven't made enough? I never got the option to reply to the acceptance letter, so they might not have known who all would be willing to attend after passing.

On the other side of the room is a round table on a slightly elevated area. I can only assume that will either be for the teachers or the A-ranks. Would they want to separate us that much, though? Getting more options with your studies isn't something that's gonna push most teenagers forward, honestly. It needs to come with something fancy-some sort of perk.

Most of the seats taken are closer to the elevated area, so I instead sit at one of the two in the back. I yelp as something green begins to move out of the ground, calming down once I see it's grass. How's it growing so fast?

You know what, I'll just assume that, should I not understand something, it's the work of magic. Why grass in the dining hall, though? Won't that just attract bugs? Is it fake grass, maybe? Smells real to me.

With most other tables taken, students start sitting down at mine, too. Belladonna Monet's son is one of them, staring at me from across the donut. Uh-oh. Did I do something that made him mad? Must've noticed me looking earlier. Crap.

"Hey," Maya says, sitting beside me. "You can get your tray over there." She inclines her head toward one of the walls, and I am just now noticing there's a rectangular hole just beside me, then another one a few feet away, and so on. Without getting up, I touch the hole, a tray immediately sliding into it from something in the back. A plate falis on top of it, getting filled with some sort of goulash, I think I also get a glass of water with it.

Well, the cuisine could be better.

"Do we just eat?" Everyone else seems to be waiting for something. Guess we're all a pretty nervous. Do they do things the same way as back home? That must be the question on everyone's minds right now.

The guy beside me is not waiting at all. Actually, he's kind of scarfing it down like an animal. That's Tasmanian devil DNA right there. Good ford, what are those sounds he's making? He's even wearing overalls. Oh, boy. He's gonna get shoved into a locker soon.

Well, not really. He's real damn big, and I'm having trouble picturing anyone shoving him anywhere. He's really good- looking, too, Guess people might give him a pass? Well, the girls will, anyway. The guys might just hate him all the more for it.

"Are the teachers not joining us?" asks Maya, standing up to get a better look. "Don't see them anywhere"

"Guess we just eat?" offers another boy sitting at our donut. I wait for a few of them to start, then go for it. The stuff is pretty spicy, but the taste is good enough to eam a passing grade. Thank the heavens. I was worried my pickiness might ruin the experience for me.

Yes, I absolutely would have let it come to that.