Page 7 of The Goddess is Awakened
Mags could talk your ear off once she got going, but she needed that quiet time in the morning. She would definitely drag us both out of bed.
But I wanted to see our dorm. I knew what the fire dorm looked like from the outside, but I’d never been inside. Michael was in Vox, the Air dorm. It was too much on the nose, considering he thought his wings made him superior. I loved my brother but was glad we weren’t in the same dorm. I’d never seen him show the slightest interest in anyone, but if he did, they would have to be good enough for my big brother. I didn’t want to judge all his booty calls if he was having them.
And he was definitely going to judge mine. He certainly did in high school. Michael was a bit of a turd if he thought someone wasn’t good enough for me, and I fully intended to pay him back if he ever gave someone the time of day.
I looked around and saw the students going to their dorms. The Academy of the Profane was tough to get into. I didn’t know most of these people. But that was the whole point of college.
The Sigmis dorm was perfect, and I saw why the ghosts chose it for us. There was a common room on the first floor with a massive fireplace and overstuffed couches in red and gold brocade. We weren’t allowed to light candles and incense with magic in the dorms because it was a fire hazard. There was an adult hedge witch lighting some that must be our dorm mother. The whole place was cozy and smelled like cinnamon and spices.
Our dorm mother introduced herself as Dot. I liked her already. She had a kind face. She told us where to find her and told us to come to her with anything. Dot offered to show us to our rooms if we couldn’t locate them, but we could manage.
The Sigmis dorm was six floors, but the ghosts seemed to have taken our familiars into account. Mags didn’t like taking stairs on four legs. She felt safer doing them with two. Not every witch or warlock got a familiar, but it seemed like the larger familiars were all on the first floor with us.
Our dorm was cozy. It wasn’t huge, but it was just big enough. There were two beds that weren’t quite twin and weren’t quite full. I’d have enough space to sprawl out, and Matilda and Mags could snuggle, provided Mags didn’t sploot in her sleep. She splooted alot.
We each had a closet and a dresser, which was good because even though we’d be wearing uniforms, my sister wasn’t going to be caught dead in one outside of class and packed a lot of clothes.
I checked my dresser and smiled. I was pretty sure Gabriel pulled some strings with the ghosts because there were girl uniforms and boy uniforms here, so I could dress for what I was in the mood for. I asked Gabriel, just in case, before we got in. Technically, they required all their students to wear the uniform because it was an original requirement to keep the wealthy students from bullying the scholarship students over the wardrobes, and they never got rid of it.
The dress code said that you had to wear the uniform, and it had to be neat and clean, but there was no rule that girls couldn’t wear boys’ uniforms and boys couldn’t wear girls’ uniforms. Gabriel wouldn’t have had a problem with it, and I didn’t think any other headmaster would. Lindsay Krauss would, but she’d have to get the board to update the dress code, and I didn’t think they gave a shit either.
There was a knock on the door. It had to be someone with our luggage. We had to pack bedsheets, toiletries, and extra clothes, and I packed just as much as my twin did. I liked my comfy sheets, nice smelling bath stuff, and my makeup.
I opened the door and was shocked at what I saw. A man was holding our luggage, and he was stunning. On the surface, he lookedexactlylike one of the gods. Seven feet tall, muscular, and his eyes were the right shade of silver. As far as I knew, only gods had eyes that color.
He didn’tfeellike a god. He didn’t feel like anything. It wasextremelyrare, and I’d never met one before, but he felt like a null. Sometimes, children of magical parents ended up being born with zero magic, and no one knew why. They were supposed to feel different from humans, too.
I didn’t know what a null was supposed to feel like, but there was like this big gaping hole where his magic was supposed to be. He looked pretty beaten down about it, too. I hadn’t figured out what my main gift was and I hadn’t mastered some of the things all gods could do.
I had healing down pretty well, though. Maybe I could fix being a null. At any rate, I didn’t look down on him because he worked in maintenance and didn’t have any magic.
“Hi. Thank you so much. I’m George. This is my twin Matilda.”
He looked surprised we even acknowledged him. There would be people here who would be terrible to him because he worked in maintenance. The rest would have been unnerved by his presence because of the whole null thing. That wasn’t Matilda or me. Our parents had raised us to fight back if someone was being an asshole but treat everyone with kindness until they gave you a reason not to.
Aannd I made him uncomfortable. He bowed his head and mumbled something I couldn’t hear. He carried our luggage in and set it down.
“I’m Sol. Thank you for not being mean to me,” he said quietly before leaving.
Mags shifted and went to Matilda’s luggage to pull some clothes out.
“I don’t knowwhatthat one is, but you should both stay away from him.”
“Isn’t he a null?” I asked.
“He is definitely not. I had a cousin that was a null the first time I was alive. They don’t feel like that. They don’t feel like a supernatural being that issupposedto have magic, but you can literallyfeelthat it’s missing. It’s not uncomfortable to be around a null. Stop looking interested, George. I’m pulling familiar rank. I’ll bite you if you go near that one again.”
“You’d break a tooth. I’m a god, remember? You aren’t going to break the skin unless I let you.”
“Fine. Matilda? Break out twin code.”
“I mean, twin code is sacred and shouldn’t be abused. Sol looked like every god I’ve met so far. Maybe George is supposed to help him. If she can’t, maybe Azren can.”
“Have I told you two how much I loathe it when you twin up and ignore my advice? Maybe Azren can talk some sense into you. Don’t go near him again until you’ve talked to Azren.”
As a god, I was pretty much immortal and invincible, but never let it be said that I ignored the advice of my familiar. I didn’t think Sol would hurt me even if I weren't invincible. Still, asking the god my mom said was the smartest person she knew was a brilliant idea.
sol
