The Witch's Revenge

Chapter 9

I would mind immensely, but not for the reasons you think. "Like I said, I barely know her."

"But you like Mac, though, right?"

I try to play it cool, but can't help teising up for a moment. Tragically, that's all fan needs to grin at me.

"I'm not blind. I know what he looks like. Tall, blonde, square-chinned. I'm used to almost everyone checking him out. His charm stat is off the charts."

"Sounds like you've done a lot of ogling yourself"

He shrugs, completely unbothered by the intended jab. "He's just Mac. It'd be like crushing on my brother."

"I don't know what you're into."

That one manages to take him off guard, causing him to sputter for a moment. "Damn. Thought you were the shy type, too."

"I'm not." I'm really, really not. I don't like large crowds or being the centre of attention, but I am absolutely not shy.

"You gonna ask Mac out, then?"

I give him a frown. "Didn't you just say he was interested in Maya?"

"Might've fibbed."

"Bastard"

"Means to an end." He grins, and I notice he isn't bleeding anymore.

"I think you're good"

"I've seen what broken noses can turn people into." Taking the hanky away, he gestures to his face. "I am much too handsome to let such a tragedy befall the world."

"The world? Not you?"

"Ah, but it is the world that would suffer were I to stop looking like this."

Shaking my head at him, I can't help but smile. "Come on, pretty boy. Let's find this nurse."

The nurse, as it turns out, is a young man with barely anything on. He's got some kind of towel or bandage-like quilt around his waist, but that's it. His hair is white, and his eyes are a horrific black-sclerae and everything. I can just faintly see the outlines of his irises. He's obviously young, but with that hair and the bags under his eyes, he could pass for someone much older.

"Uh, are you the nurse?"

The man nods, reaching for lan's nose. We never get a chance to tell him what happened, because a faint green light starts shining around his fingertips. The dried blood covering lan's face and clothes becomes a liquid again, then floats right back up into his nostrils. It only takes a couple of seconds, and then the process is done, the nose as good as new.

"So, a teacher has already allowed a student to get hurt? Would you like to file a complaint against the dean?"

lan blinks rapidly, clearly as unnerved as I am by the man's eyes. "Uh, no thank you?"

"Don't bother me unless it's an actual emergency," the nurse says, slamming the door in our faces.

Well, I'm not about to mess with a guy who looks like that. Seriously, is he a horror movie villain or something? I've never met anyone who looked so insidious.

"Doctor Kol Lockwood," lan says, reading the tag on the door. That's the fourth Lockwood now"

"Fourth? I only counted up to three." They can't possibly all be related. None of them look alike. "Think it's a witch thing?"

"What? Like a coven or something?"

"Yeah." That's actually exactly what I was thinking. Surprised he came to the same conclusion.

A scream comes from within the nurse's shack, and lan ends up rushing inside right away. Well, I was about to run away, but that'd seem lome now, so I might as well follow.

The inside is all sorts of creepy. Bones are hanging everywhere, there's some sort of symbol drawn on the floor, and the nurse is lying on his back in the middle of it, bleeding from his eyes. He lets out another scream, arching his back,

Something happens to me something hard to explain. I suddenly get hit by both a wave of sleepiness and an adrenaline rush at the same time, my vision going blurry lan struggles to stand as well, leaning on the wall as he turns toward me. Slowly, we leave the shack again, slamming the door shut just as the third scream comes.

"W-What the hell was that?" he gasps, leaning on his knees. "Felt like my soul was about to leave me."

Yeah, that's one way to explain it. What the hell is that guy? Is that really the person we're supposed to trust to heal us? "What was he doing? Do we report it?"

"He's got the dean's approval. It's gotta be permitted if it wasn't, he would've locked the door or something" He's got a point there. "Man, he looks awful"

"Yep"

"Like the final boss of a vampire game.”

"Oh, yes."

"Should we just head back?"

"Well, you still need to see if you can fly, but I think I'd rather rest for now."

lan nods once, standing back up. "What class you got after?"

"Duelling."

"Yeah, me too. Wait for me outside the Levitation class? There was a bench there."

"Sure"

Takes more than an hour for the class to wrap up. Once the students start shuffling out, some are happy, others gloomy, and some unfazed, lan is the last of the three, shaking his head as he walks up to me.

"Told ya."

"No flying?"

"Not even one ingredient. Told Mac to rush to the dining hall and save us some seats. Let's go Maya is there as well, the two of them clearly talking about magic.

"Hey, how'd flying go?" the girl asks, the overabundance of energy inside her threatening to burst out. "You won't believe how sick Spirituality was! Professor Lockwood"

"Another Lockwood?" lan cuts in, making her frown. "Did anyone explain to you why they're all Lockwoods?"

Diana, walking past us, happens to overhear the question, and turns to answer. "That is because the staff of this school are all members of the Lockwood Cabal. They are an adoptive family"

She's really looking just at me, completely ignoring all the others.

"You lot had Levitation first. I am curious about it. Could you explain the basics?"

lan crosses his arms, evidently putting up his guard. Is it because she's a girl or because she's an A-rank?

"Can't you ask your brother? He was there with us. Not that he passed squat."

"Neither did you" I whisper, earning a flick to the side of the head.

"My brother is not in the mood to talk right now" Diana continues, not caring one bit about larr's hostile tone. "As of now, I am the best at Duelling out of all the A-ranks. Tell me about Levitation, and I explain how to get ahead as a duellist early on."

lan looks like he's about to refuse her again, but this is not the sort of chance I'm willing to miss out on, so I speak up before he gets the chance to "Not everyone can do it. Either you can or you can't. Those that can't will be dropping the class immediately."

Diana's head bobs once, her eyes cold and calculating. In other words, there's no way to get ahead."

"None. I'll still hold you to your word, though."

Smiling softly, she nods again, grabbing a tray and sitting at our table. This causes quite a few heads to turn our way, some people already glaring at us possessively. She's only been here for two days, and she's already the queen bee.

That might be a work of magic itself. Most girls take years to cultivate a reputation like that. Diana did it with talent and grace alone.