Page 30 of Fortune Academy: Year One
Follow the Smell of Roses and Blood
Emotions had me frazzled and I didn’t want to face Olivia just yet, so I wandered around campus for a few hours until something that resembled dusk settled over the grounds and my legs began to complain from my endless wandering.
Word must have gotten out that I was a pariah because everyone steered clear of me as I walked by, which was just as well. Less hassle for me to deal with.
I knew that I still had to deal with Hendrik, and he hadn’t exactly specified a time I had to meet him so I’d make him wait long enough to get pissed off, but I’d still show up before midnight, or whatever passed as midnight around here.
By the time I made it back to the Freshman Dorms I bypassed the worst of Melinda’s Mindfreaks without incident. I paused at my door and let out a deep breath. I wondered if Logan would be in there or if Hendrik’s spell would break his habit of sleeping in what had been an abandoned bedroom. My heart did a jump at the thought of seeing Logan again.
Did that mean he was a Virtue... too?
Only one way to find out.
I waved my hand over the panel and the door unlatched. I ventured inside and then stopped, stunned at its transformation.
Was this even the same room?
All the dusty drapes were removed and the room had been cleaned within an inch of its life. The chandeliers gleamed, no cobwebs in sight, and dancing purple lights gave the room a mystical glow.
Olivia popped her head out of the bedroom doorway. She had a scarf wrapped around her hair and sweat beaded her brow. “You’re back!” she shrieked, and jumped into the living room, waving her arms at the work she’d done. “Ta-da! Isn’t this place awesome? It just needed a bit of sprucing up?”
“A bit?” I said, marveling at how beautiful everything was. I ran my fingers over one of the couches and was surprised at the soft fabric that no longer had any must or grime embedded into it. “How did you do all of this?”
She bounced on her toes and I noticed that her purple eyes had taken on a deeper pitch like the other dark mages. “Well, I was practicing some of my magic, it’s kind of coming back to me now, and it worked!” She giggled. “It was pretty fun, actually.”
I sank into a couch, grateful to have a place I could sit without worrying. “That’s cool, Olivia. I’m glad you’re coming into your powers.” I forced myself to give her a smile. “Does that mean some of your memories are coming back?”
She flinched as if I’d struck her, then she shook off the reaction and sat next to me, curling her legs underneath her. “Yes and no. I’ve started to remember basic things, like how to use my magic, where it comes from, and what I am, but I can’t remember my family or how I found myself on Earth in the first place.” She shrugged. “I think that’ll come on its own. I’m starting to remember things, so it’s a start.”
I rested a hand on hers. “You can’t expect everything to come back in one day. You’ve made a lot of progress already.”
She smiled. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be too hard on myself.” She let out a long sigh. “It’s not so much that, though, that’s bothering me… my memories I mean. It’s the fact that I know what it means to be a dark mage now... like what itreallymeans.”
I leaned in. “Oh? Is it bad?” I wouldn’t think Fortune Academy would have accepted any supernaturals that were inherently evil, yet, Hendrik had a lot of wrongness to him that I could taste on his magic.
She shivered. “So, you know witches and warlocks, right? They’re very similar to dark mages.”
I nodded. “Yeah, okay. Both are magic-users. What about it?”
“Well,” she said, biting her lip, “they branched off by themeansof how they get their powers. The original witches and warlocks made deals with immortal spirits a long time ago and the race was invented. Nowadays some trade their souls to demons to get even more power. But dark mages? They’re a step beyond that. Dark mages use their own souls as a source of power, in effect devouring it...” She leaned in, her eyes taking on a gleaming pitch that had a depth to it that made my skin crawl. “What I’m saying is… that I don’t have a soul… Lily. It was sacrificed at my birth to give me immortality and a finite source of magic.”
I let out a long breath. “Whoa.”
“Yeah,” she agreed and slumped into the sofa. “Whoa.”
“So, all the dark mages, Hendrik and the rest, they don’t have any souls?”
She nodded and began braiding a few strands of her hair. “Correct, which is why their magic is so strong, but it’s notinfinite. That’s where blood duty comes in. They—we?… need to feed off of sacrifice in order to fuel spells that cost more than our natural reserves can handle. When multiple dark mages are in close proximity, like here at the Academy, it’s possible to pool magic together. When I awakened, I didn’t know what I was doing and I might have… stolen a bit of Hendrik’s clan magic.”
I gripped the side of the sofa, anger building up in me. “So, now you owe a debt,” I concluded. Great. Then I straightened. “So in order to fuel the Awakening Arena and the other spells I’ve seen Hendrik use, people have to suffer?”
“Sacrifice,” she agreed, “the shedding of blood.”
Well, hopefully that meant that places like the Awakening Arena might be self-sustaining, to an extent.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better about having to see him tonight,” I admitted, “much less donate to his blood duty.” I looked around the room again warily. “How much magic did you expend cleaning this place? I mean, you said you have a finite source and you might be drawing on the clan resources without even realizing it. Should you really be wasting it on frivolous things?”If she was using her own magic, it might be magic she needed to survive. If she was using Hendrik’s magic… I was sure he was keeping a close tally.
Not that I didn’t appreciate a clean room to come home to, but all of this could have been done by some good old fashioned elbow grease. I didn’t want Olivia to expend magic she didn’t have, especially not to make my life more comfortable.
