Summoned By Magic by Lexie Scott

Chapter 16

Five nights without a nightmare. I felt more refreshed and energetic than ever. Maybe it was all the reading and studying I was doing. I went to bed each night so exhausted that my mind couldn’t come up with any disasters. I wasn’t positive about what caused the change, but as long as this kept up, I wasn’t going to ask any questions.

“Do you need help?” Malik asked, leaning over and reading my answers to the history homework.

“I don’t think so.” I smiled and read the next question.

My classes weren’t as terrible as I expected. History IV was pretty close to the world history course I took my sophomore year but with a lot more information about the supernatural world. Phenomena humans couldn’t explain were caused by supes. The sudden change of tides in battles? Supes. The mysterious death of a corrupt king or ruler? Supes. Several inventions that helped progress human kind? Supes!

It wasn’t all that surprising once I accepted that the world had more beings and events than humans knew. There was less speculation and assumptions. The historical records kept by the supes were much more detailed, so there wasn’t a need for interpretation. Another thing I noticed was how much less biased the texts were. They were written from the supernatural perspective, sure, but when they made mistakes or shameful decisions, they still recorded them and we learned them. Things weren’t shoved under the rug, forgotten about, or distorted by time.

It was the class I was most confident about since it was all facts. I simply had to learn the supernatural pieces and commit them to memory. I wasn't sure how it would help in the long run, but I dedicated time every night to making progress. I needed to pass all my classes.

For the first time in my life, I was doing well in math, and it was the only class where I wasn’t behind. Conversions and measurements weren't something that changed from the human world to this one. The best part was Mr. Fitz accepted we would almost always have access to tools like conversion charts and calculators in real-life situations, so he let us use them on assignments and the upcoming exams. It wasn’t the most interesting course, but I was grateful to have one worry-free class.

“Did you get to the one about Joan of Arc yet?” Daniel asked, chewing on the end of his pen.

“Yeah, you need to skim the entire Hundred Years’ War section for the answer,” Hannah replied.

This was how most of our study sessions went, and I was glad it wasn’t entirely focused on me like I’d expected. We did our assignments together, and as questions came up, we asked each other. On Tuesday, Malik and Daniel’s friend, Carter joined us. He was a vampire from their rugby team, and he hadn’t said much other than asking how I was liking the academy and letting me know he was willing to help me too.

It was really nice of him. I thought the students might be more competitive or mean like at my last school, but everyone I met was nice. Aside from Niall and my brash roommate. Maybe it was because they were friends with my new friends. I hadn’t talked to enough of my other classmates to know for sure.

I closed my math book and opened my Science IV text with excitement. I was actually going to learn magic for potion making, portal creation, and animating objects. Not that we’d done any of that yet, but I had read through the previous year’s textbook Hannah helped me check out. Since their first two years had been really basic, I was only behind by one. I’d never done so much school work or studying in my life, but things were different now. I cared more. Learning mattered. This wasn’t useless information to cram in minutes before a test only to forget as soon as I turned it in. I needed to know how to create spells, brew potions, and control magic. History gave me a much better understanding of my new world and answered questions I hadn’t even known I had.

Like the supernatural council. It was founded hundreds of years ago before William Drexel established peace. The group led the entire supe world, keeping non-supes unaware of their existence and acting as the governing head of all the people. The council was the judge and jury for crimes, wrote the laws for the supes, and established a welfare system so no supe was left homeless or hungry. With the peace pact in place, the main council was now located in Scotland, but branches oversaw different regions. Ours was in New York City, and once a year, a representative came to the school to check on the students and give a report, like a State of the Union.

“I can’t do it anymore.” Malik fell back on the floor and threw his arm over his eyes. “Can’t we be done?”

Hannah chuckled. “Did you finish everything?”

He sighed. “No.”

“Just get it done, man. You’ll regret it if you have to do it during lunch tomorrow,” Daniel encouraged. “You don’t want to cancel on Travis, do you?”

I looked back and forth between the two guys. “Who’s Travis?”

Daniel smirked at Malik’s groan. “His latest crush. They have a lunch date planned.”

“It’s not a date,” Malik protested while he sat back up.

“You asked him to hang out. He said lunch worked best. Sounds like a date,” Daniel taunted.

“It’s just hanging out.” Malik didn’t sound convincing at all.

I smiled. “It does kind of sound like a date to me.”

He turned and glared at me while Hannah giggled. “It so is.”

If Malik would be busy during lunch, maybe I could find an excuse so Hannah could have some alone time with Daniel. I caught her staring at him at least a dozen times tonight, and I was ready to shake my friend until she spilled the truth because the other thing I noticed was how many times Daniel watched her when she wasn’t looking. How they kept missing each other was a mystery.

Did Malik know? Could I recruit his help? I didn't want to violate Hannah’s trust, so I’d have to find a discrete way to ask before going to him.

“Hey, guys,” a familiar voice greeted from behind me. I twisted around to see Sai. “Mind if I join you?”

My cheeks warmed before I had time to face my books again. I hoped he didn’t notice. I didn’t want to make things weird, but every time I saw him, I couldn’t help but remember the vision I saw of the two of us.

“You’re late,” Malik scolded. “I could have used your backup a minute ago.”

Sai laughed and sat a few feet from me with his back against the wall. “What did I miss?”

“Just teasing him about his crush,” Hannah answered.

“Oh, Travis.” Sai smiled knowingly. “Yeah, I’ve been hearing a lot about him too. Apparently, this summer was very kind to him.”

Malik dropped his hands in his hands. “I hate all of you.”

I reached out and patted his leg. “There will come a time when you can get back at us. I’m sure of it.”

He peeked through his fingers with a wicked gleam in his eye. “Oh, I’m planning on it.”

I laughed and went back to my textbook, trying to ignore the pull I felt toward Sai. He was so handsome and sweet, and it wasn’t much of a surprise I had some sort of daydream about him.

Something hit my foot, and I glanced up to see Hannah grinning at me and darting her eyes toward Sai like she wanted me to do or say something. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite close enough yet to have the silent communication thing down, but I was pretty sure she wanted me to talk to him.

About what? I didn’t know him, other than he was a tiger shifter. I only knew that because they’d told me, but maybe I could ask anyway. Was that a polite conversation starter? I wouldn’t mind if he asked me what kind of witch I was, so maybe it was okay.

“Sai, they told me you’re a shifter. What’s your animal?” The words came out in a rush, but I kept my smile in check, so he couldn’t see how nervous I was waiting for his response.

He pushed his hair up, away from his face, and grinned at me in a way that made my heart race. “I’m a tiger shifter.”

“That’s so cool.” I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth to keep from grinning too wide.

Malik scoffed next to me. “I can still take him in a fight.”

I looked at each of them. “Like at the fight club?”

Sai’s brows furrowed. “No. Just with the vampires and shifters. To practice.”

“On campus? Like rugby?” It didn’t sound all that unusual to me. Shifters wanted to be in their animal forms, and it made sense they’d want to practice fighting in those forms.

All the guys made noncommittal noises, so I turned to Hannah. “It’s not school-sponsored, but there are two dedicated areas out past the sports fields for shifters to stretch their legs so to speak.”

“It’s where we fight and train in our animal forms,” Sai added. “Fights do occur, but not like random brawls. It’s only for training purposes.’”

“That’s so cool. Can I watch sometime?”

Sai and Daniel shared a look, and Sai rubbed the back of his neck. Oh, no. This was one of the lines I shouldn’t cross. “Sorry. Is that not allowed? Ugh, every time I think I’m catching on, I stick my foot in my mouth.”

Daniel laughed. “No, it’s not like that. It’s just sometimes it can get pretty nasty. Most witches and vampires don’t like watching.”

“Oh.” That was surprising. Weren’t they all just used to each other by now?

“You can come, though. If you want,” Sai offered. “Maybe after the rugby game tomorrow night? My tiger is normally dying to get out after.”

Daniel nodded, and Malik agreed. “Sure, we can do that.”

I beamed, excited to see more of their world.

“It’s a date,” Hannah teased, and Malik stretched to knock her ankle with his shoe. We all laughed, but her eyes locked on mine with a slight raise of her brow. I knew what she was hinting at and shook my head.

She bit her lip and looked away. Luckily, Daniel changed the subject to the game, and the guys talked about their plans to beat the other year-four team.

I finished up my assignments and added a few questions I wanted to go over with Mrs. Hedgings during our Saturday tutoring session. She left a note for me in the dorms, stating we would meet each week in her office from eight to ten until she felt I was caught up. Niall told me he was open on Mondays and Wednesdays from seven to eight. Between my three different tutoring groups, I felt pretty good about my progress. As long as I stayed on track and kept my focus, I might have a chance to make it past the holiday break in December. I couldn’t let any visions or daydreams lead me off course, even when the subject of them tempted me from mere feet away.