Seven o'clock rolled around before the Darken had even finished giving me the campus tour. I was pretty sure that any time I spent with them would fly by.
I wanted to stay with them even longer, but as the guys walked me to the Dining Hall, they told me they had to sit with the other professors. That left me stuck sitting at the long dining tables with the other students.
It was a little overwhelming, to say the least.
First days at a normal school were hard enough. First days at a werewolf school? Downright nerve-wracking.
I looked out at the sea of students in front of me, scanning the room to find an empty seat. There was one spot open near a bunch of guys, but honestly, the idea of befriending even more werewolf guys sounded almost torturous at the moment. I had been around way too much testosterone over the last few hours. I wanted some girl time.
Finally, I spotted one open seat towards a table near the back of the room where a group of girls were sitting and talking. I walked over to them.
As I approached them, I asked, "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"No, of course not," a girl with long dark hair and brown eyes replied. "I'm Krista."
"And I'm Jackie," the girl next to her, who had chestnut brown hair that fell over her shoulders in loose waves, informed me. "What's your name?"
"Raven," I replied as I slid into the seat.
Jackie's hazel eyes widened. "Are you Raven Gallagher?"
"Yeah, that's my name." I paused, realizing that she had somehow heard of me. "Why?"
"Everyone knows about you, and your parents. I'm so sorry to hear about their deaths," she said sadly.
"Thanks," I replied awkwardly. It was strange that she somehow knew of them, and of me, when I knew nothing about her.
"This must be so hard for you, to be starting at the Academy just weeks after they died," Krista said.
"It hasn't been easy." I swallowed hard, not wanting to discuss my parents any more than that. I could already feel the tears brewing. "So, what Houses do you think you'll be sorted into?"
"Both of my parents were Lupines," Krista answered.
"My mom was a Lupine, and my dad was a Descendant," Jackie said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "So, I guess I have a fifty percent chance of being sorted into either of the two Houses."
Krista glanced over at me. "You'll be a Descendant. Obviously."
"Why is that obvious?" I asked with raised eyebrows.
"You're Raven Gallagher." She said that like it should have meant something to me.
Krista raised an eyebrow. Her chocolate brown eyes searched my face.
Were my parents really that powerful that everyone seemed to know who they were? What had they been capable of? How had they been so strong and I'd never even known it?
At that moment, I heard a clanking sound. I glanced up to find Headmaster Black at the center of the room.
"Good evening. I'd like to officially welcome our incoming freshman to Werewolf Academy. The reason you are all here is because you were either invited or you've gone through our application process and have been accepted. Either way, it has been determined that you would be a good fit for our school. Each year at Werewolf Academy, we break our students into four Houses: the Lupines, the Descendants, the Marked, and the Crescents. Chances are, you probably already have a good idea of which House you will be sorted into. Nonetheless, there are always a few surprises."
Headmaster Black's eyes met mine from across the room for a split second.
"Before we begin, I would like to take a moment to introduce all of our professors." He glanced over at the table where the professors were sitting. "When I call each of your names, you may rise."
He began calling off their names, one by one, and they rose. "Professor Rhys Anderson… Professor Colton James… Professor Aiden Flores… Professor Theo Rossi."
I couldn't help but notice that as each and every single one of them rose to their feet, girls whistled and yelled throughout the room. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was attracted to the Darken pack.
He read the name of the next professor, this time a young woman who didn't look like she was much older than me with long auburn hair. Everything about her was beautiful, from her ivory skin to her curvy body. She looked like she should have been in Hollywood, not at Werewolf Academy.
"Professor Caroline Wickburn." She stood up and gave a small wave to the audience.
"Professor Mindi Lee." A short Asian woman with silky, jet black hair stood up. She looked only a few years older than me, too, but what stood out to me the most was that nothing about her looked even remotely werewolfish. She wasn't muscular like the others; she was slender.
"Professor Javier Rodriguez," Headmaster Black read off, and a tall guy with deeply tanned skin, short black hair, and a muscular body rose to his feet. He waved at the audience, and the girls went crazy over him again, the same way they had with the Darken pack.
"And last, but certainly not least, Professor Kesha Washington." A tall woman with dark skin and chin-length black hair rose to her feet and waved.
"Now that the introductions have been made, let's move on to the Sorting. The process works like this: after your name is called, you will come up here, and our witch, Gloria..." He motioned to a short woman with a long braid she wore to the side, who was standing in front of a cauldron..."will take a piece of your hair and mix it with a potion. One of the four House mascots will appear, letting us know which House you belong in."
"So, we will begin calling the names, in random order," Headmaster Black went on as he moved to the center of the room. "Agatha Daniels."
A short girl with frizzy red hair walked to the front of the room. She stood in front of Gloria, who used a pair of scissors to cut off a single strand of hair. She tossed it into the cauldron, which began to bubble as soon as the hair touched the potion inside.
A moment later, a smoky fog appeared above the cauldron, and a coat of arms with a gray wolf and the letter "L" appeared.
"Lupines!" Headmaster Black said, and everyone in the room began to clap.
Agatha walked back to her seat, as the Headmaster read the next name. "Charles Smith."
"It's Chuck," a strong-looking guy with a buzz cut said as he walked towards the front of the room. He stood before Gloria, who did the same thing: she cut off a single strand of hair and then tossed it into the cauldron.
The fog appeared, this time featuring a coat of arms with a set of fangs and the letter "M."
"Marked!" Headmaster Black announced.
"Brian Lucas." Brian, a tall, gangly guy with short blonde hair, walked to the front of the room.
The witch did her thing, and a coat of arms with a crescent moon appeared in the air. Wow, so he had been sorted into the Crescents. I wasn't going to lie. I was sort of surprised. He wasn't someone who I would have pegged as 'bad' based on his appearance, but as they say, looks can be deceiving.
"Crescents!" The Headmaster glanced down at his clipboard.
"Jackie Watkins." Jackie shot me a nervous look as she stood from our table to be sorted.
After the witch had performed the ritual, a purple "D" on a golden coat of arms appeared.
"Descendant!" Headmaster Black said with a smile. "Congratulations, Jackie."
Okay, so apparently, the Descendants were the superior class, the House that you most wanted to be in. The House that I apparently would be in, according to Jackie, Krista, and Theo.
Not that I had ever really cared all that much about popularity, class, or status, if we were being honest. But being at a new school, a school that was full of werewolves, no less, kind of made me want to be one of the chosen ones. If it meant being treated like first class royalty, why not?
The Headmaster continued to draw students from the crowd, sorting them into their chosen Houses.
Finally, he called out, "Raven Gallagher."
It must have been my parents' allegedly notoriety in the werewolf world that had all eyes on me as I rose to my feet, but I could have sworn that every person, err, wolf, in the room was staring at me, more than they had stared at anyone else who had been called before me.
Nervously, I walked to the front of the room and stood in front of the witch.
I heard the clip of the scissors, even though she had only cut off a single strand of hair. Then I heard the bubbles begin after she dropped my hair into her cauldron.
"Hmm. This has never happened before," Headmaster Black commented.
I glanced over my shoulder to see what had appeared above the cauldron and frowned.
The Descendants' coat of arms was hanging above the cauldron, but that wasn't all. Right below it, there was a second coat of arms, this one belonging to the Crescents.
I glanced over at Headmaster Black. "What does this mean?"
"It seems that you have been sorted into not just one but two Houses."
I swallowed hard, realizing what all of this meant.
I was a bad wolf.