Page 21 of Fortune Academy: Year One
Logan’s fingers found their place at the small of my back again. “I’ll take you. All the counselors are on the outer skirts in the short buildings.”
That’s where I’d met with Kaito.
I shrugged off his touch. I wasn’t going to make myself a target by forcing Logan to break alliances with some of the most powerful supernaturals in the Academy just because he’d gotten attached to me.
“I know where that is,” I murmured and stuffed the slip of paper into my skirt pocket. “I’ll go by myself. I’m sure you have classes of your own to get to anyway.”
Logan looked like a puppy I’d just kicked and I kind of hated myself for rejecting him, but Hendrik seemed to approve. He rested a hand on the wolf’s shoulder. I flinched as the air snapped and faint purple motes drifted from Logan’s skin and filtered into the dark mage’s pendant he wore around his neck. No one else seemed to notice it, but this dark mage was feeding off of Logan’s suffering.
“The dud is trying to do you a favor,” Hendrik told Logan, digging his fingers into the wolf’s shoulder. “Don’t wolves mate for life? Don’t shackle yourself to a sinking stone.” He flashed me a grin that said he was enjoying this far too much. “Now be a good little dud and scurry on out of here.”
That was my chance to escape, but some irrational part of my brain wasn’t going to let Hendrik talk to me that way or take advantage of Logan’s pain. I stormed up to him and ripped his hand off of Logan’s shoulder. “Only if you’ll be a good little douche and stop feeding on my friend.” At the look of surprise that crossed his face I knew I’d hit the mark. “Isn’t feeding on lifeforce a life-sucking trait? Would you perhaps feel more at home at Monster Academy?”
“Daaaaamn,” Ally drawled, biting into her fist to suppress a laugh. “Dud’s able to see your magic, Hendrik. Even us Demi’s can’t see that.” She gave me a nod of approval. “I say let’s see if Miss Williams can bring out her nature. Maybe she’s actually one of us.”
Hendrik growled and clutched onto his necklace. “I don’t have time for this shit,” he muttered and then his lips moved, but no sound came out.
A tingling filled my chest and I could have sworn his pendant glowed, but then it went dark as if I’d imagined it.
Shaking my head, I decided that I had definitely had enough of alpha supernaturals right about now and some fresh air would do me some good. “Well, off I go,” I announced and turned my back on all of them.
Melinda’s cackles disappeared behind me as I made my way through the crowd. I’d never felt so alone in all my life.
It tookme two tries of meandering around the endless streets of Fortune Academy until I dumbly realized that the paths branched out from the epicenter which was the Central Hall, followed by circular streets that repeated in alternate patterns. Once I found the familiar path that had the Freshman Dormitories followed by the shifter tree forts and finally the dark mage onyx spires, I took the last path in a long arc that took me to a series of small golden buildings.
Bingo.
I placed my hand up to the pad and let myself in. A few other students eyed me nervously and I figured I must be in the right place.
My people... the duds. Dante would be so proud.
I looked at the sign on the wall with names and office numbers. Miss Williams was on the second floor so I found the stairs and made my way up. Half of the lost looking souls in the lobby followed me.
“Dud duty?” a sheepish girl asked.
I gave her a nod. “Yep.”
She let out a sigh of relief and clutched onto the rail as she climbed the steps beside me. “I thought I was the only one at first, but looks like there are quite a few of us.” She glanced back at the crowd of students who seemed engrossed in watching their feet as they followed us.“We’ve been gathering for a few days now. There have been orientation classes all week and I come here, but no one can read the slips.”
I snickered. “Of course.” This place was a shit show. “But hey,” I said and shrugged. “We’ll get it sorted out. Nothing to be ashamed of. It’s not like we can control being duds, right?”
She brightened. “Right.” She bobbed her head. “So, uh, I’m Olivia.”
“Lily,” I responded and gave her a quick smile.
Dante had said that I needed to build alliances. Here was a whole untapped group of potential. Maybe Logan and his hot alliance trio was an obvious choice, but I had a feeling that group came with their own agenda. I needed people I could count on.
So if established groups of supernaturals who thought they were the best thing since sliced bread were bad news, maybe I should go for the opposite. Being a dud didn’t mean I was mortal and neither did it mean anyone else here was weak. I knew I was strong, but my powers were probably affected by whatever Kaito had done to me. What if someone like Olivia also had binds on her? Maybe it was a stretch, but I’d rather look for allies I could count on.
I felt more confident marching around with my army of duds, as ridiculous a notion as that was. Having the small comfort of others counting on me made me feel like I wasn’t so worthless.
I found Miss William’s door and knocked. She opened it and her eyes widened at the crowd behind me. “Are you all duds?” she asked bluntly, holding up a coffee mug and a pastry looking like she was ready to dig in to a late breakfast more than dealing with a bunch of students.
I pulled out my slip of paper and handed it to her, hoping she would know what to do with Merlin’s gibberish.
Olivia did the same, followed by the group behind us as they produced their own scribbled verdicts.
Miss Williams sighed and put down her mug, then collected the slips one at a time and paired us off by numbers between one and three.
