The Witch's Revenge

Chapter 5

"Can we go now?" The farmer boy is leaning back in his chair, one armpit plopped op onto it. "Kind'a warine get some shut-eye."

Please don't be my roommate. I hate to discriminate, but he does not seem like he'd be very hygienic. If he does come, I'll be forced to pick a fight, and I'd rather not get the reputation of a clean freak. Not on my first night here, anyway.

Some twenty minutes later, Lockwood walks up on the elevated area. I didn't see him come in, but there are four hallways leading into this place, so one of those must lead toward the Northern Tower. Need to remember that for tomorrow.

"Today's been an uneventful day," he says, his voice immediately drowning out all others. "Tomorrow, you will have a free day to explore the campus. You will each receive your schedules at six P.M. Be in your rooms when that happens, and don't lose them. Your uniforms- Ugh, I knew it. "-will be in your closets by tomorrow morning. Wear them from seven A.M. to three PM. That's when all the classes will be held, aside from a few extracurriculars and lessons that require a different time. For the first month, there will not be any extracurriculars aside from those we saw fit to assign some of you right away"

That would be Maya's Archery class. Guess she'll have a busier start than 1. How does one increase their magic power, anyway? A few students were sent to Archery right off the bat, but none of us who flunked the brute strength portion of the test were told what to do. Does it increase naturally?

Oh, man. Does it not increase at all? That would suck.

"You may retreat to your rooms"

No one moves an inch until he's down from the platform, after which I hear several students calling out the man's name. If he wasn't so good-looking he'd never be popular.

Well, I'm sure as hell not breaking through this crowd over a compass. Better to just get some sleep, then try to get up as early as possible, to make sure I have enough time to check everything out.

When I get there, my roommates are already inside. Farmboy is one of them of course he is and has taken the middle bed, pouting.

"Did ya have to take the one by the window?"

Someone's already testing me.... Me calm. You don't know what he's like. He might be a perfect gentleman about it. "Yep. It's mine."

Looking a bit perplexed at my answer, as people usually do once their initial reads of me get turned on their heads, he nods. "Mind if I put some plants there? They'll need the sun."

I can't think of anything to say against the idea. "Go for it. By the window, though not the bed"

"Course" He grins, shoving he has a slight gap between his front teeth, then pulls five potted plants, each one a different sort of bush, out of one of his three suitcases. Seriously? Who carries plants with them? Does he have a carrot in his pocket?

Ooh, that one sounded wrong. Good thing I didn't say it out loud.

Our other roommate is a boy with pale skin and red hair, who's currently lying on his bed, reading a book. Doesn't say a thing to me, nor even glance my way, as I walk over to my own bed. Are we seriously not gonna be showering? I'm all gross from my fall into the pond. Who knows what sort of bacteria live there. There's no way I'm touching my bed like this.

"By the way, why were you all wet during the welcome ceremony?" Farmboy asks, taking off his overalls with absolutely no worry, letting them drop to the floor. Oh, thank god he has underwear on. "Was it raining where you came from?

"Nope."

"How then?"

"I Moonwalked"

His features contort in absolute confusion, a few of his gears audibly ceasing to spin. "You... danced into water?"

"It's a spell,"

I blurt out, half-muttering. Crap. My nerves are starting to get to me. You can do this. Just relax. Be casual about this. No one's judging you. They're analysing you. No one will think less of you until you give them a reason to.

"You used a spell?" the farmboy exclaims, his eyes glowing with childlike wonder. "What was it like? Did you fly over here? Is that why you were all wet? D'you go through a cloud? Or did you fall into the ocean? You're from the Western States, right? Gotta cross the ocean to get here. Did a wave get you? What does moonwalking have to do with it? How-”

"Breathe, big guy." The redheads slowly gets up from his bed, approaches the farmboy, then rubs his back as the latter pants, out of breath. "He'll explain it all. Just give him a moment."

It speaks, after all. "Does he do that often?" Without a neutral party present, the farmboy would've choked on me. I mean... he would have choked while near me, and it would've been my fault. It would've been on me. He wouldn't literally You get the picture.

"This is John Mackenzie," the redhead says, nodding toward the panting giant. "He gets like this when he's excited. Just cut him off. He won't get mad" So they know each other from before. That seems like a fun advantage to have. Well, even if I could bring someone from home, there's no one I'd choose. Everyone was either a bully of mine or an ex of sorts.

"I'm lan O'Ryan" the redhead adds, offering me his hand. Unlike Maya, he doesn't bat an eye when I don't shake it. "Not one for contact?"

"Yep." Oddly enough, for someone with my past. "Sorry"

"All good. You'll find Mac has some quirks, too. Yep, they've definitely met before. "Any ground rules you'd like to make clear?

John immediately raises his hand, then just... waits to be called on. lan looks at him, puts a hand on his hip, and frowns. This is enough for the form boy to figure out what he just did, tinting his face pink.

"1, uh, don't want anyone but me touching the plants. Don't water 'em or move 'em or anything. You could kill them."

"That's fine," lan responds, looking at me to do the same.

"No complaints."

"Thanks, guys." You really didn't ask for much.

"Keep away from any device you might see in this room, lan states his own rule. "Odds are, it's mine" Must be the geeky sort.

"Don't touch my things," I tell them. "Any of my things. Not my clothes, not my bed, not my books. Both of them nod John then proceeds to get right into my face, until we're mere inches apart. "About the moonwalk..?" Man, he's cute. If I hadn't made that resolution, I'd already be crawling all over him.

"It's a spell," I start. "You carve the right rune into a small piece of wood, then toss it onto the reflection of the moon in a water, and then you're able to stand on it. Close your eyes for ten seconds, then drop the photo of the place where you wanna be into the lake. You'll fall into the water and get wet, but emerge from a water near the place where you wanna go. That last bit isn't how it was supposed to go, but that's what happened with me."

John keeps nodding along, while lan looks deep in thought. "So... all your stuff got wet?"

"Nah, I got lucky. The suitcases didn't let much through." Who even does our laundry here? I didn't notice any washing rooms on the map. Are the people assisting Lockwood also gonna keep the place clean?

Just like with Belladonna's son, these two are making me feel nostalgic. Why? Is it a witch thing? I've definitely never seen them before, yet I'm not as tense as I typically am when talking to strangers.

Noticing a book learning on the wall under the window, I walk over to it and open it up.

The Rules and Regulations of Albion's Magic Academy.

Perfect. Kind of big though. No way I'm gonna bother to memorize all this. I just use common sense to get by, and skim through some of this.

It's even alphabetized. Lucky me. Bs and We are what I need right now... Nope. Nothing. Letss try S then.

Showering! Bingo

There are separate shower rooms for male and female students, the use of which is available at all times of the day. Only one student may occupy a shower stail at a time. Entry into a shower room meant for the opposite sex will be met with a critical warning Students are obligated to get dressed and undressed in the rooms just before the shower rooms.

Bring a pair of new clothes with you, and place the old pair into one of the unfolding boxes designed for it. Write your name down onto the sticky notes next to the boxes, and your clothes will be brought to your room once they are cleaned.

Guess that means there will be maids here after all. Or are they called housekeepers?

What's a critical warning, though? Aren't all warnings critical?

I go to look under both C and W, but find nothing. Turns out these are the first rules written about.