Their first class wasn't a practical one, however.
Their first afternoon class, held right when everyone was full from lunch and too tired for thinking, took place in a large classroom that looked much like a normal school's science classroom, except that the scientific instruments in it all looked a little odd. The teacher wasn't there when Mercury and Raoul entered, but the classroom was far from empty. About a dozen people were already sitting behind their desks, talking, dozing or unpacking their bags, and Raoul quickly steered past them to sit down behind a desk at the back of the room.
"You can't sleep in front," he said, stretching out and smiling up at Mercury from below. "I'm probably gonna nap though this class, I mean, what do we even need magic theory for?" He made a face. "Bad enough that we still got normal classes when we're all gonna do some stuff with magic anyway."
Mercury laughed softly. "Well, I'm curious. I don't really know how magic works, you know? I'd love to find out..." She paused, blinking down at Raoul who had slightly straightened up from his desk-slump, and quickly raised her hands. "Ah, but you can sleep if you want to! I mean, don't get in trouble or anything...I mean, should I wake you up if...?"
"If it's important," Raoul said around a yawn. "I don't get all that theory stuff anyway."
He was just about to take off his glasses and rest his head on the desk when something caught his eye, and he stopped mid-yawn. His eyes widened, then narrowed, then his face turned into a grimace of disgust. "Yikes."
"What's wrong?"
Raoul pointed to the front of the class. "We're in the same class as the Dragon Lady."
Mercury followed his gaze and swallowed. Sitting in the very front row, closest to the teacher's desk, was none other than Georgiana DeVille.
"Oh no," she muttered, opening her book and hiding behind it, peering over the edge to make sure Georgiana wouldn't turn around and spot her. "That's bad, that's really bad..."
"Don't panic," Raoul answered. "If she tries something stupid I'm gonna throw a paper plane in her mouth. I'm pretty good at that kinda stuff."
Mercury nodded, but her eyes stayed fixed on Georgiana's back. Georgiana didn't seem to notice; she was immersed in some book again, oblivious to her surroundings. Mercury was just ready to relax a little when the class fell silent, and she perked up to listen to the only sound that cut through the quiet, the hard, military clacking of heels on tile floor.
Then the door opened, and in came a figure that sent shudders down her back.
At first glance this woman looked like a tall, striking, lean shadow. She was dressed in black, her long hair as pitch-black as her clothes, whipping through the air even though there was no wind. Her height could rival any man, made only taller by her high-heeled black boots, her body rail-thin and wiry and consisting solely of sharp angles. Burning from a grim, hardened, ghostly pale face, drawn with years of cold bitterness, lay a pair of merciless, glowing, fluorescent green eyes.
"Good afternoon, class," she said coolly, her voice as deep and icy and unforgiving as her appearance.
No one said anything. They all shrank in their seats as she let her eyes roam over every single student in the classroom.
Then her gaze passed over the back row, and for a brief moment her eyes met with Mercury's.
Something crossed over her face, almost too quick to recognize. A flash of emotion. She blinked, her eyes widened, then they narrowed dangerously, glowing almost yellow. Her face turned more grim than ever. Then the moment was over, and her gaze moved on to Raoul as if nothing had happened.
"It's good to see you're all quiet," she remarked with a raise of her eyebrow. "That's more than I can say about some other classes. Don't disappoint me."
Still nobody said a word. Her presence was still so large, so furiously threatening and inhuman that no one had the courage to catch her attention and risk facing her wrath.
The woman scanned over the class one more time, her hair tossing wildly in the nonexistent wind, looking at all the faces staring up at her in wonder and fear, then her scowl deepened. "What are you all staring at?" she snapped. "Is there anything on my face?"
Everyone seemed reluctant to say a word. They all just continued to stare at her as her hair kept whipping and floating as if it had a life of its own.
"How do you do that thing with your hair?" Raoul said into the silence.
Everyone spun around to gape at him in horror. Mercury blinked in amazement. She had already known Raoul was confident, but this...
He was so cool.
The teacher seemed caught off guard, then she frowned, clicked her tongue, and grabbed her hair in her hands to give it a rough wrench. The dark strands stopped tossing and fell calmly down her back.
"Don't mind it," she said in a tone of irritation. Turning to Raoul, she added, "You, what's your name?"
"Raoul."
"Last name?"
"Warden."
"All right, Mr. Warden," she said impatiently, "thank you for actually being the only one in this bunch to tell me what's going on, but next time you say something, you raise your hand. Anybody who doesn't raise their hand will be ignored. Understood?"
Everyone swallowed and nodded.
"Now that we got that out of the way," the teacher continued, pacing the front of the class, "shall we finally begin with this class before we waste any more time. My name is Hecate Solstice. This class is called magical theory, in case some of you missed that. It's the base for learning any kind of advanced magic, so I suggest you pay attention." There was something military about the way she pronounced the word. "I also suggest you show up on time, because you cannot count on me being late. And don't even think of using magic to sneak in under my nose. This classroom is equipped with a magic filter. You can't use a spell unless I permit it."
"Sweet," Raoul muttered under his breath.
Ms. Solstice shot him a glare across the classroom. Raoul made a face.
"If there is anything you don't understand," she said after a pause, ignoring the grimace Raoul made at her, "ask your classmates first, and if you still don't get it, ask me. But do keep it relevant. I'm a teacher, not Wikipedia."
"They're not the same thing?" Raoul asked in mock surprise. Mercury covered her mouth to hide her laughter. A few people giggled.
Ms. Solstice ignored him and marched down the aisle between the desks, then back to the front of the classroom. "Getting to the actual subject," she declared, "let's start out simple. Does everyone here know why some people can use magic and other people cannot?"
Two dozen hands rose up into the air. Raoul made a vague gesture and grinned stupidly. Mercury looked back and forth between everyone around her. She had no idea, she realized. She had always just assumed it was a genetic ability and that was it.
Don't pick me, she thought desperately as Ms. Solstice paced down the aisle again, letting her sharp eyes scan over the class. There's enough people who know it. No need to pick me.
"Then how about..." Ms. Solstice's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How about that young lady in the back row who's so confident she won't even bother raising her hand?"
Mercury looked up and down the row. There was no one who fit that description. No one but herself.
Her body froze. Her face heated up. Her palms started sweating. She didn't need to look around to be painfully aware of the stares all around her.
"Um..." she stuttered out, shaking all over. "I...uh..."
Ms. Solstice narrowed her eyes to yellowish slits. "First of all, how about a name, young lady?"
"M-Mercury!" She shrank lower and lower behind her desk, her face burning and glowing. "I mean...Mercury Day..."
Another flash of emotion crossed Ms. Solstice's face, as if she had just seen her suspicions confirmed, and when she spoke again, her voice was frozen over. "Miss Day, are you telling me you don't know something this basic?"
So what if I don't? Mercury wanted to yell. I've only known I can do magic for a handful of months! But her throat was too tight, her tongue dry and heavier than lead in her mouth. Tears of shame and frustration shot into her eyes. What was this woman's problem? Couldn't she just pick someone who was raising their hand instead of humiliating her in front of the entire class?
"I do," Raoul piped up next to her. "It all started in the old kingdom of Abracadabra–"
Ms. Solstice shot him a murderous glare. "Mr. Warden, I'm talking to Miss Day at the moment. Well, Miss Day? Feel like admitting you don't know the answer yet?" She crossed her arms. "Ready when you are."
A few voices snickered. Mercury's hands shook, but not with dread. Not anymore. The only thing on her mind was boiling, furious anger.
"I don't know!" she burst out, blinking back the hot tears stinging at her eyes, threatening to spill. "I'm sorry! Ask someone else!"
Raoul's eyes went wide behind his glasses. Ms. Solstice looked at her for a very long moment, a venomous green gaze staring right into her soul, then she clicked her tongue and stepped back. "Why not say so from the start," she remarked. "Miss Day, I'll let this slide for today because you're new to the community–" more snickers from the class– "but I'll tell you something. The excuse that you're a Twilit Mage will only count for so long. If you want to stay here, fit in. I expect your knowledge to be on par with the rest of the class by the end of next week."
She walked back to the front of the classroom, her eyes roaming over the rows of students. "Now back to the question. Why can some people use magic when others can't? How about you, Miss–?"
"DeVille," Georgiana replied from the first row. "What magic users have that normal people lack is the genetic ability to sense, use and respond to emotional energy, also known as raw magical energy. This ability is commonly known as the seventh sense."
"Exactly. Just like snakes that see in infrared or pigeons that detect the Earth's magnetic field, we have one more sense. This is important for everything that you'll learn in this class." Ms. Solstice let her eyes stray to the back row once more. "Better write that down, Miss Day. You can't afford to forget anything."
More laughter from the class. Mercury was shaking behind her desk. Her hands were balled up at her sides, nails digging into her palms, knuckles bony white. Her vision was blinded with tears and fury.
What was this woman's problem? Why hadn't she just accepted that Mercury didn't know the answer and moved on? And why did she keep on humiliating her in front of everyone, again and again and again? Was she enjoying this? Did she already hate Mercury after less than ten minutes?
She hated this woman. She hated her. She hated her. She hated her!
"Mercy," Raoul whispered next to her, a warm hand resting on her arm, keeping her rooted in reality. "Don't listen to her. She's just a demon. I heard that's what everybody calls her."
A demon, huh. Mercury gazed numbly at Ms. Solstice, watching her glowing eyes and whipping hair, and couldn't help feeling like that was oddly accurate.
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