The familiar feeling of stepping into Professor Eva’s office was unavoidable. 

I’d been in that room countless times, hundreds of times, from the age of 10 to now. Cherry had accompanied me in certain cases, but most of the time I managed to get into enough trouble for myself. 

And Professor Eva wasn’t the headmistress because she was simply smart, she was also dangerously sharp, and much like the grandmother I never had. Despite my happiness to be back, I could tell that she was in no way eager to reciprocate my joy, because currently, she was holding both Lewis and I by the collars of our uniforms, hauling us into her office like small, arguing children. 

I fought against her hold to get at him, to grab his arms and make him feel my magic even more. I knew it frustrated him to no end, like someone with a wool sweater constantly hitting you with static. 

Lewis looked completely angry too. It wasn’t the same expression of indifference I’d seen when the ceremony began. Now, it had been replaced with a look of pure dread. 

If I didn’t know how much Lewis Williams despised me before, then I knew at that moment. 

I watched as Professor Eva released us to the marble ground in front of her grand oak desk. The place was remarkable, just as I remembered it, with vaulted rusty ceilings, aged bookshelves nestled in every corner, and a winding metal staircase that led to an outdoor patio where she’d take her bird to send messages. 

I remember one time I’d managed to find myself hanging off of the ledge of that patio. Again, not my fault. I didn’t know how dangerous it was to try and spell a bird twice its size solely to see if I could ride it away into the night. 

The professor walked around and sat in her desk as we rubbed at our aching limbs. Lewis and I were still both on the ground, on our hands and knees looking up at her in uneasiness. 

Lewis, who was now staring at me in fury, lifted a hand in the air to ask her a question, but she shot it down immediately with a disapproving look. 

Lewis had been in her office many times as well. He had made it a point to try and eliminate me as much as possible and by any means. They of course had failed, but that one time when he’d summoned a troll from the wood to attack me had been a rather close one. 

So why did I like him again? 

“You two are far from prepared for this competition,” the professor said sternly, folding her hands in front of her. Her black hat dipped low as she stared at us from our positions on the floor. 

Lewis got up first, dusting himself off and totally disregarding me, “Professor. I am ready. Though I’m not sure if Hallow—”

“I’m ready,” I argued back, raising my voice as I got up after him. “What? Are you afraid I’ll win?” 

He narrowed his eyes at me so severely, I had to take a step back, “Me, afraid of you? That is nonsense. You need a brain for me to actually feel any sort of fear towards you—”

“Boys.” She cut through our bickering like a knife. “This is what I mean. The prophecy has come this year and has chosen you two.” 

“For some unknowable, Gods-awful reason,” Lewis said under his breath. 

I shot him a look of silent anger. 

Professor Eva gazed at us sternly. “The competition is nothing like a written test here at school, and nor is it a test of strength. This will put you in each other’s shoes. It is meant to bring you two closer, even if that is not what you desire, but in the end this purpose is to drive you two apart,” she disclosed, crossing her arms. “Are you prepared for that?” 

I didn’t think anything could bring me closer to Lewis. In fact, the last bit about driving us apart sounded more like our situation currently. Therefore, I had nothing to worry over, because I knew that I’d never be able to become his friend. 

Lewis must’ve thought the same thing, and responded with, “I’ll take anything that’ll help place Hallow far from me.” 

I clenched my teeth, willing myself not to take his glasses and toss them into the fountain below. He would most likely just levitate them back onto his face smugly. It annoyed the Hell out of me. 

Stomping, I strode up to him and grabbed him by the collar instead. He smiled. 

Professor Eva sighed, making us both look up from our heated stare-off. “Am I to leave you two alone in that room only to murder each other?” 

“Room?” I said, the angry tone in my voice subsiding. 

Below my hold, Lewis snickered at me, “Did you not know, Hallow?” He grabbed my hands and surged a rush of electric magic to my skin, making me release him with a yelp. 

I looked to the professor, raising a brow at her, and when she didn’t answer, I turned back to Lewis and his pleased expression. 

“Partners for the competition have to share a room in the Weeping Tower,” Lewis revealed, raising his hands in the air to cast a cleaning charm on them, as if my touch was the dirtiest thing in the world to him. “We’re roommates.” 

“This—” This could not be. I couldn’t be roommates with . . . 

“You cannot pull back from the competition,” Professor Eva reminded me. 

I ran a hand through my unruly hair, thinking a mile a minute. “I know. I know.” 

“And if your ancestors were capable, don’t you think you can be too?” she told me, raising a brow of her own. 

Slowly, I froze where I stood. 

She was right. I’d nearly forgotten that my great, great grandad had been involved in my same situation. I needed to follow in the footsteps of my family if I wanted to uphold the title of being ‘the chosen one’. I could not fail. 

And I most definitely could not fail when I was up against someone like Lewis, my enemy for life. I just couldn’t stand to see him as the victor, with his knowing smile and eyes full of venom. 

There was honestly nothing to do but accept my fate. I, Arturo Hallow, would have to work with my enemy in order to win the game. Only in the end would I finally have the chance to defeat him once and for all. 

Lewis gazed up at me through his lashes, daring me to speak. 

I gulped. 

His tailored uniform fit him very well. 

“Will you two depart now?” Professor Eva disrupted my train of thoughts. 

I shook my head to dispel the image of Lewis in my mind, though it was hard when he was standing right beside me, smug smile now gone. 

“I’ll—I’ll get my things,” I managed to say. 

She clasped her hands, “Good, then let’s get started, shall we?” 

Hesitantly, I peered over at Lewis who was surprisingly still staring at me. When he saw that I was looking, he turned away quickly, face red with what was probably anger. 

I exhaled, knowing that many more of those I-Hate-You-Hallow stares were to come. 

Lewis huffed, excusing himself from the room and brushing past me rather harshly, knocking his shoulder against mine as he departed, closing the door magically, dramatically, with a loud bang. 

The place where he touched me burned. But the room had become cold.