Andrea landed on her back and groaned. Her eyes closed as if wishing for the day to be over. That was a long-ass day…
After her forearms were bruised from being Aisling's punching bag, they had to dress up to attend classes and act like they hadn't just spent the last fifteen minutes hitting one another. Andrea had hoped that their next professor was not a psychopath in a fourteen-year-old's body, and her prayers had been answered, for now. Their professor was a portly man with arms and legs thicker than a bowl of oatmeal. Valerie, some girl from Northern England who apparently also spoke 'English,' tapped Aisling's shoulder and referred to Professor Nathaniel as a chode. Andrea did not like Valerie, and it was not just because the girl would always look at her with an expression of disgust that earned her ire, but also because she was always trying to stick to Aisling like a lovesick puppy.
Now Andrea did find the chode thing funny, but she was never going to let Valerie know that. When she had laid eyes upon the professor, what had come to mind were those dwarves from that one Hobbit movie that was so long that she took a nap and woke up in the middle of the finale. Her mother had dragged her to watch it, because apparently, she had been a fan of the book. At the time, Andrea thought her mom liking a book from the late 30s was weird, but looking back at things now, turns out she liked the book because it had been the in thing during her childhood. It would take her awhile to get used to that.
Professor Nathaniel Gywendd was short in stature and built like a church, with bushy grey eyebrows and grey hair that looked like a lightning bolt had just got done with him.
He had heavy eyelids and a bulbous nose that hovered above a thick moustache, and thick lips always pulled upwards into a lazy and wry smile.
"Welcome to Magic Society 1A, students," he said in a voice that sounded as gruff and grounded as he looked. "And today, we will just be covering the basics of how magic came to be in our world!"
It was the first, if not one of the very few, lectures she had to take down notes instead of being made to look a fool by having her mouth agape the whole time. She hated to admit it, but this was one of the few instances in which Julian had left her adequately prepared. His foundation helped her answer questions when asked—which was thankfully only two times—and keep up with the other students from magical families. Aisling even noticed and seemed very surprised by her performance. For the first time, Andrea did not feel like a fish in a tree. But of course, it was only day one. Andrea had no doubt that once they left behind the basics; she was going to be just as lost and doomed as with the other lectures. But the lecture had taught her that if she was going to keep up, being ahead of the work was her path to victory. She spent the lunch break searching for the library, instead of sitting on the lawn with Aisling. The Irish girl—bless her heart—genuinely seemed hurt that Andrea would rather chill in a library than hang with her, but she understood once Andrea explained it to her. Aisling pointed her in the direction she needed to go before leaving to go and hang out with Valerie and another girl who allegedly spoke English from a terrible place called York.
Andrea found the library down a hallway she would never have explored otherwise. The walls, like any other part of the castle that was dark and dingy, were lit by sconces that had green and orange flames hovering above their surface.
Relax, Andy, she had to tell herself, they probably have some magic to make sure that they can see every part of this creepy ass place… probably…
At the end of the hallway were two doors from out of her nightmares, with the sort of hoop handles that one had to slam down in order to knock. The rings were linked onto a skull and the sight of it almost had Andrea bailing were it not for the doors opening.
"Out the way," some boy said, his hair gelled into a Mohawk and his neck surrounded by a spiked dog collar. He was a tall and lean youth who wore the same school uniform as Andrea, but with shorts and grey socks and actual black school shoes. Andrea had very little regard for his style—which was undeniably trash—but the boy was very handsome, she could give him that. His jawline was chiseled and his messy blonde hair hovered above the most piercing blue eyes this side of Sweden. The striking aspect of his eyes carried an even heavier punch thanks to his long golden eyelashes and devilish dark eyebrows. His lips were full and pink with a piercing on the lower one, and another on his right eyebrow.
"Sorry," she said as she stepped out of his way. His eyes glanced towards her and she felt her heart begin to quicken as they did a quick up-and-down glance.
What. The. Fuck?
Andrea had to concentrate to stop herself from staring as he continued past her, never once even bothering to speak. Her heart only stopped betraying her once he was out of sight and she continued into the library.
The library was a nice change from the gothic and archaic stonework that dotted the school landscape, instead covered in dark floorboards and walls with cream wallpaper with black vines flowing from where the floor and ceiling met the wall. The book-filled shelves seemed endless, and it took her a moment to realize that this was another instance of space-distortion magic that Aisling had told her about. The reception area was adjacent to the entrance and separated from the wooden floorboards and shelves by black carpet that had a section of couches and tables on top of it. Andrea continued to the front and rang the bell after a moment of hesitation. "Give me a moment, and I will be with you," said a voice came from the office door behind the reception desk.
"No worries," Andrea responded, and she checked her phone to make sure she still had a good amount of time before the bell rang.
The office door opened and out walked a tall woman who was built like a telephone pole. She had a beak nose that left the room a few seconds before she did, and thin dark lips. Her black hair was thick and had more split ends than healthy strands, and was peppered with grey and white strands. Bags that begged for sleep surrounded her brown eyes and her pale honey-colored skin was in desperate need of some sunlight too. And yet still, there was something very noble and respectable in the way the woman carried herself, in spite of the lack of self-care.
"Good day," she said in a tired but kind tone, her dark lips curling upwards. "How may I help you?"
Andrea smiled and pulled out the paper she had kept in her pocket, "Good day, ma'am. I'm Andrea Salem, a first-year student, and I was hoping that you'd help me with some recommendations."
She took the paper and gazed upon it a moment. "Forgive my asking, but you do not seem the sort of person to come from a magical family. Is that indeed the case?"
Andrea nodded. "It is," she said, putting on her smile but wary of how this conversation was going to go. She had been in this school long enough to know just how annoying magicians got with whether or not someone was from a family or not.
"Good," the Librarian smiled. "We're about due for a new wave of blood in this school, I'd say. Half these magical families are inbred and the other half are—somehow—even worse!"
Andrea's smile turned into a grin. "Tell me about it! The moment I say my surname and it's not one that they recognize, they immediately lose interest in me."
The Librarian chuckled, "It is the way of things in this world, child. Between you and me, I think that it is a show of insecurity."
She raised an eyebrow as the Librarian moved towards her from beyond the reception's desk. "You really think that's what it is?"
The Librarian nodded her head. "Indeed. It is because we are here of our own accord. No familial connections brought us to look them eye-to-eye, and they hate us for it."
Oh… yeah about that…
Andrea had gotten so used to the disgust she'd get sent her way whenever she said the name 'Salem' that she actually forgot it was not her real surname. That she was—in truth—one of them.
Welp, I must be part of the worst, seeing as how I'm not inbred… at least, I hope not…
"Now come," the Librarian said, beckoning her to follow. "We new-money types should stick together."
She did as she was told, and the two began with the Magic Society section, which contained a lot of philosophical accounts penned by men and women who were born in the times of great kings and woeful emperors.
"I am Ms Zeynep Demir, Ms Salem. It is not often that I get the pleasure of running into an American."
Anything that has people on my ass, "Yes ma'am. Proudly too, though it isn't getting easier to be."
The Librarian laughed before stretching out a hand and an invisible force pulled a book out from the top shelf. It was only then that Andrea noticed that the other sleeve moved without an arm. "I too know that feeling. One's heart swells with pride and joy whilst the mind is made heavy with regret and doubt. It is my life's biggest regret that I listened to the one and not the other."
Andrea followed after her in silence, her hands outstretched to receive the three books that Ms Demir had pulled out.
"Those will explain to you the makeup of our societies better than most," Ms Demir said. "Josephine Rosalie Eugenie was heavily inspired by Montesquieu and so it focuses heavily on ensuring the power of magical communities and societies are not invested too heavily in one place.'
Another book landed on top of Josephine's second volume. "And Heinrich Ernst Schmidt was a Jefferson fanboy. His pen did much to remove the influence of the Zealots from our leadership. Too bad he died before he saw the consequences of such writings."
Andrea noted how heavy the books were, and worried that she would not be able to finish them all in time.
"Ma'am, I hope you don't mind my asking, but how long before I have to return the books?"
Ms Demir turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "Return? Oh! Yes, I forgot that you might not be aware of such things. There is no need to concern yourself with such things. The books return to their place on the shelves after three weeks in which I cast a return spell upon them. "
She smiled. "That's cool. So I don't have to worry, huh."
They continued into the Physical Magic section when Andrea felt brave enough to ask, "Forgive me, Ms Demir, but which one did you end up choosing…"
The Librarian looked at her with a raised eyebrow before sighing. Another book plopped onto Andrea's growing pile.
"It was 1917. We had just lost our African territories to the Italians and British, and much of the Balkans to the rebels too. A magician, Ahmet Gri Sakal, had personally taken me in to be my mentor. Such used to be the way of things then, you know? Colleges were usually reserved for magicians from families and strays such as myself had to be lucky enough to be found by a mentor willing to train you."
Andrea regretted asking the question—not because it wasn't interesting, but because it seemed to make Ms Demir sad.
"Ahmet was born in the Macedonian provinces, and had grown bitter over time with the Christian interference. That bitterness poisoned me in turn and we… became the worst versions of ourselves."
"It's okay," Andrea said. "You do not have to tell me. I shouldn't have asked, to be honest."
Another book landed on her growing pile as Ms Demir laughed, with all the sweetness of a Brazilian coffee bean. "Kind of you, girl. But do not fault yourself for being curious. There would be some hypocrisy there, for a lover of books and knowledge to be angry at a young mind for being curious."
Zeynep Demir raised the sleeveless part of her blouse. "Suffice to say, I got what I deserved."
They continued on in silence before the bell rang and Andrea thanked her for the books. "No worries my dear," she said, giving her a wink. "And remember not to leave anything in the book. You do not want to lose a marker or a pen."
She continued on her day, remaining in a perpetual state of confusion during her remaining three lectures. The two lectures were Mathematics and English Literature, so Andrea's confusion there was not magic-related, only her usual type of dumbness. Professor Anderson was the only American among her lecturers, but any hope of camaraderie with her fellow American died when she discovered from the whispers of a couple of classmates that he had fought against the Union. Anderson did not look like a Confederate in Andrea's opinion, as the man's jaw was as clean-shaven as a sheep in spring. His beady eyes were a dark brown and his hair was arranged in a bowl-cut; a hairstyle that Andrea believed warranted being placed on an FBI watch list. Slap it down right next to having a manifesto and a search history asking Google how to make a homemade bomb…
Andrea had considered giving him a chance; that perhaps he was like Ms Demir in having lived the sort of life that he now regretted. And then he mentioned that the first book they would be covering was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and her Spidey-senses started tingling. But otherwise, the man knew his stuff.
Professor Schevchenko was their mathematics lecturer and Andrea did not care for mathematics in the slightest. She was a very pretty woman, though, with long golden hair and deep green eyes, and lips that were full and shapely. Her accent was a nice change of pace too, from the uppity Downton Abbey marathon she had to subject herself to. The final lesson of the day was from Professor Kyle Milton, and Andrea had been gifted high expectations of the man from Walter. And he did live up to them. He was the walking definition of mild-mannered, with glasses that brought to mind the goofiness of Clark Kent. But when he got done with the introduction and providing the prelude of the subject, he turned into Superman before their very eyes. His dark brown eyes sparkled with the sort of passion that Andrea could only dream of experiencing one day. His smile, once shy and mild, grew to a genuine admiration for the topic at hand. He was a tall man and lean man, but he seemed otherworldly as he walked among them preaching about Gods of Sumeria and those that followed during the golden age of Bronze. Andrea, a girl from New Orleans who only ever knew a handful of Gods and only ever held to one, was now lying on her side looking at the pictures of Gods like An, Enlil and Enki. These were potentially the first selection of deities to ever have temples built to house them and priests made to apply structure to their veneration. This newfound love for old Gods did not really sit well with her mother when Andrea called her—as she had done at the end of every day since she had left, whenever time allowed for it—but for her, it gave her a pathway to getting to know more about Anansi. Good news was that when she had first had the idea, sat next to Aisling towards the front of the class, she did not feel any cramps acting up. The bad news was that when she had first had the idea when sat next to Aisling towards the front of the class, she did not feel any cramps acting up.
This meant that Anansi was okay with Andrea asking Professor Milton about him and his connection to his family, a random Professor at a school that everyone and their mother was brainwashed into believing in might-makes-right. But he was not okay about Julian answering her questions, a man sworn to protect her. Andrea sighed as she closed the book and went to put it back into her backpack, wondering if she should say goodbye to Helena or not. She did not know why she felt such a compulsion to try to make peace with the girl—to try to make peace with the girl again—but she did.
She knows that I'm a fraud, Andrea thought sadly. She closed her bag and snorted, when did I become such a lame?
She looked at the closed door of her estranged roommate, her luggage bag in her hands, before she nodded and exited the apartment. Andrea took the elevator down and was happy to see that she would be handing the key back to the boy who had given them to her.
"Leaving us already?" Walter asked, and his genuine sadness—despite how minimal it seemed—made her happy to see.
"Yeah," she smiled, "Unfortunately. This is where I leave ya, hopefully you miss me some, huh?"
He grinned and shrugged as she slid the key towards him, "Can't say that we won't, yeah."
She was waved to him goodbye before she went outside to find Mr. Pennyworth waiting for her to take her to the dorms, where she would be staying for the remainder of her time at Camelot College.