Page 4 of The Goddess is Awakened
“Didn’t Minerva say her father was totally against them and Edith was just like him?” Felix said.
She did. If Minerva’s father had his way, she’d still be scrubbing toilets. Her sister Edith ate up that misogynist crap he spouted about how that was all girls were suitable for. I knew Lindsay Krauss didn’t believe that shit, or she wouldn’t have stolen Minerva’s spell to better her position and insert herself as headmaster, but I guess she decided to take the whole slut shaming to the next level.
“She did, but I don’t think that’s what this is,” Gabriel said. “This isn’t because Lindsay thinks about sex like a human. I don’t think she even cares about the orgies. No one has died or gotten pregnant since I’ve been teaching here, and there haven’t been any fistfights. Lindsay isn’t a strong witch, and she’s not brilliant like Minerva was. She’s never going to have best-selling books or speaking engagements for brilliant spells she wrote.
“Her one claim to fame is the blood lock spell we all know she stole because we got it from Minerva’s diaries first, and she told us not to release it. She got the headmaster job because the name Krauss is associated with one of the Academy’s most famous graduates, and she’s alumni. Lindsay is trying to make her mark on the magical community by making drastic changes to this academy. It’s not just the orgies. She’s keeping something else secret from the faculty. She wouldn’t tell us yet.”
“Yeah, but canceling moon orgies?” Felix said. “That was tradition even the first time I was alive.”
Felix had been alive back when they thought the world was flat and were pissing in pots. He lived a whole life and died before he was given the chance to be born again, as my mom’s familiar. Between Felix and my dad, we all didamazingin our history classes. And Felix was right. Canceling moon orgies wasnotgoing to go over well.
“We all got her to put pause on that idea,” Gabriel said. “But we already know she has a problem with our family. Only the board can fire me, and she knows that, but she does have more power over the students than I do. Since the decision for headmaster came down to her and me, I’m going to look like a sore loser if I go to the board saying she’s being mean to my kids over petty shit. You’re both amazing. I’m not asking either of you to be doormats. I’m just saying when you fight back, do it carefully. They both seem more focused on George than Matilda because of the whole witch thing.”
Gabriel wasn’t wrong, and his warning was noted. Before I could say anything, my ears were assaulted by loud, really fake giggles. When I turned my head, my brother was being mobbed by freshmen girls. Girlslovedmy brother. They had ever since he hit puberty. He was six foot five and had long, blond hair like his dad. Don’t even get me started on it when he chose to walk around with his wings out. A lot of supernaturals were polyamorous, and some of them had been trying to collect the one angel in this realm for ages. My idiot brother loved having his ego stroked and ate it up but was never interested enough to take any of them on dates.
“We can handle the mean girls, but I may vomit if I have to deal with watching people throw themselves at my brother,” Matilda moaned.
Kaylee Krauss with magic and anyone she recruited would probably be mildly annoying. Thirsty supernaturals who thought my twin and I were the key to collecting an angel were an entirely different ballgame.
I still had every intention of graduating from the Academy of the Profane.
george
Beatrix Halliwell wanted this university to be a school for everyone, not just famous supernatural families or people who could afford it. There were several scholarships available, but Beatrix understood how this world worked. She knew after she was dead, there would be people who would take over and try to exclude those they thought were lesser than them, even if they deserved to be at this academy.
Like Gabriel. My dad was brilliant. He had a family grimoire full of spells that could have revolutionized the witching community. One of his ancestors did something stupid, so Gabriel had to pay for it with a supernatural shunning. This was, like, five hundred years before Gabriel was even born.
Necromancy was powerful magic. Not everyone was a candidate to be brought back, and if the wrong witch attempted it, it would create a revenant, which was basically a mindless killing machine that was almost impossible to kill. It usually took an entire squad from the Paranormal Investigation Bureau just to take one down.
If anyone hadbotheredwith the Morningstar family since their shunning, they would have discovered he had a spell for that. He whipped that out on a covert mission with my mom, and Balthazar called his contact at the Paranormal Investigation Bureau to deal with the fallout. Kaine Dragovich washighlyrespected and ensured everyone and their grandmother knew Gabriel Morningstar knew how to take down a revenant by himself.
The Academy of the Profane took notice. Since they taught necromancy, they had a bit of a revenant problem, and shit happened. Sometimes idiots would make one as a prank. Gabriel knew alotabout fighting dark magic. They never apologized for shunning him and not offering him a place when he was eighteen, but they did offer him a teaching job.
There were a lot of stories like Gabriel’s. Even if their family wasn’t being shunned, there were fewer scholarships now than Beatrix intended. She did put several magical protections in place to keep the legacy students from completely excluding the scholarship students.
I was about to experience one now. There were four dormitories here. Beatrix didn’t want a single famous family’s name on them. They were all named after the elements. And you might not end up in the one associated with your star sign. You definitely didn’t get to pick your roommate. It was all decided by the ghosts, who had much more intuition than any living person, and you couldn’t swap, even if youloathedyour roommate. I was told it would eventually make sense when you graduated.
I didn’t know which dorm we’d end up in, but I already knew Matilda would be my roommate. Twins and other multiples always ended up in the same dorm room. It had been that way forever.
We were all seated in the dining hall. There was a large stage toward the front, and all the faculty were placed behind a podium. My eyes immediately landed on someone sitting next to my dad. They were tall. At least seven feet. They weren’t as muscular as my dad and thinner than Loki. They were willowy and graceful.
They were gorgeous, androgynous, had long, black hair, and wore a black skirt. I didn’t need to see their silver eyes from here. That was a god. And I’d been around enough of them to know that was a primordial like my dad. My dad was the only one on Earth as far as I knew. He would have told me if one of them would be teaching at the Academy of the Profane.
So, who was that?
Matilda leaned over and poked me.
“That’s a god up there next to Gabriel, right?”
“Yeah. And they feel like a primordial.”
“They look like your type.”
Yeah, they did. Tall, dark, and a little bit masculine and feminine. It was probably a good thing they were sitting next to Gabriel, but Gabriel would have told me, too.
Headmaster Krauss finally got up to address us.
“Welcome to the Academy of the Profane. This is a life-changing experience for all of you. I’d like to announce a few staff changes. We managed to snag a god to teach history this year. Azren will be teaching all of your history classes,” she said, pointing to the beautiful god behind her.
