Her Silver Eyed Mate

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

― Oscar Wilde

Sienna POV



Stanley and Archie drove with me to the airport to say goodbye before my flight departed for England. Normally, I would have used the SIA’s resources to travel, but as I had to make it seem legit that I was coming from America on my own accord and couldn’t risk being traced to have any involvement in covert operations closely monitoring supernatural activities, we had agreed that I would fly commercial.

Stanley gave me a knowing smile and a brief embrace before I exited the car and walked around to the trunk where Archie was pulling out my luggage. There wasn’t much to say to Stanley. He knew why I was doing this and he trusted me to do it to the best of my abilities. That is all that I needed to know. His son, on the other hand, was a harder goodbye to make.

Archie dug his hands deep into the pockets of his dress pants as I pulled up the handle of the suitcase and peered up at him. I gave him what I hoped would be a reassuring smile but his face was only displaying his sadness. Guilt festered in me once more that I was the cause of this, but I quickly dismissed it. He has known me since I was a lost teenage girl; depressed, hurt and angry at the world. He has known this is all I have wanted and worked towards my entire life, so why he was acting as if this was an impulsive, careless decision on my part was beyond me.

“Well… I guess I should go before I miss check-in,” I muttered, feeling slightly awkward when he didn’t make any attempt to speak. I leaned up and kissed his lips briefly before turning to walk away. I was no good at farewells.

“Sienna, really?” His hurt voice caused me to pause and spin back towards him. He was staring at me as if I had just won the world's most heartless b***h award. I sighed deeply. “You are really going to leave like that?”

“How do you want me to leave Archer?” I couldn’t help the impatience in my voice. We had a nice evening last night. We enjoyed each other’s company, didn't argue and I even let him cuddle me to sleep. So why are we doing this now?

His eyes hardened as he clenched his jaw, the tension once again returning between us. “Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps a goodbye and an I love you is too much to ask,” he gritted and I huffed, looking over my shoulder at the growing queue for the check-in desk.

“I’m sorry. You know I am s**t at this stuff, but I will be back before you know it! You will barely realise I am gone!” I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t seem to have the desired effect. “Arch. Come on. I will call you as soon as I can, alright? And you can always hear updates through Ronnie. I will be fine.”

His face morphed into one of utter fury as I realised whatever I had just said pissed him off even more. I just couldn’t win.

“Right. I’ll check in with Ronnie about whether my fiance is alive or dead while living with her sworn enemy. Sounds great,” he snapped, walking around me towards the car door.

“Archie! That’s not what I-”

“Just… be careful. Please. If any of them grow suspicious at any point, you bail. You hear me?” His tone was stern as he held my gaze, his hand on the car door, ready to join his father again.

I opened my mouth to speak but I didn’t know what to say. Everything that seemed to come out of my mouth just made him more upset, so I just nodded like an i***t before walking through the airport doors.

***

As the black taxi picked up its speed once it left the congested roads of London and headed out towards the middle of nowhere, I relaxed back into the leather seat. I had been to England on a few occasions but only ever on missions where I was flown in and out of the country quickly. I had never actually managed to sit back and take in the rolling greenland or the thick, rich woodlands that seemed to stretch for miles once you were out of the bustling city.

Pulling out the acceptance letter that was handwritten and enclosed in a wax seal of the Academy’s Crest, I unfolded it again to read the contents. It felt odd that it was handwritten by the Headmaster himself. Who even writes letters anymore? He can’t really write personal acceptance letters to every student? Surely not.

Miss Sienna Stone,

I would like to congratulate you on your acceptance to Academy Pro Omnibus. You have been selected to attend at your earliest convenience and we are looking forward to welcoming you into our community with open arms.

I’d scoffed at that bit. These creatures were con artists at their best. Making young children and young adults believe that this was the right future for them. I had every confidence that these elite supernaturals were using this academy to mould and train students to become the deadly and evil creatures that I have always encountered. They send them out into the human world as vultures. Preying on the weak and doing whatever they like to whoever they like.

Please arrive at this address and bring this letter as proof of acceptance. Someone will meet you on arrival and give you a tour of the facilities before bringing you to my office to meet with me in person.

There are only a few rules you must adhere to when accepting your place at our establishment:

You must not leave the premises unless it has been cleared by your head of species.

Magic and violence are not allowed outside of classes, especially towards any other students.

Discrimination of any kind towards species will not be tolerated. Academy Pro Omnibus means ‘Academy for all’. If you didn’t know that, I suggest you start with some Latin classes for beginners ;)

Loss of limbs, finding your mate or getting lost in Wayward Wood will not count as valid excuses for being late to class. You will have to be far more creative than that.

We hope you will find everything you are looking for here and remember, just be yourself. Everyone else is taken.

Kind regards,

Arius Anderson Romano

Headmaster

I don’t know how many times I have read this letter now and traced his handwriting with my fingers, imagining the man who wrote this. The writing of the man who tried to kill my parents and in many ways succeeded. But it wasn’t just having a piece of paper in my hands from him that had me seething. It was the jolly, cocky and humorous tone that ran through it. And that last line. When I first read it, I had to do a double take. It was an Oscar Wilde quote. I would know it anywhere.

When the taxi stopped at the address I had on the back of the letter, I frowned deeply. This couldn’t be right.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked the driver as I stared out the window at the average-sized office block on a small run-down street.

“Yep. This is the one. Cash or card?”

I chucked him the money through the small plastic window separating us and climbed out. I stared up at the grey walls and the sign on the door that simply read APO. Flipping the letter over to check the address again, my eyes widened as I watched the calligraphy fade away, leaving a blank piece of paper in my hands. It was spelled. I must be in the right place.

Pushing open the metal door, I stepped into a drab reception room which could have easily been a bank or standard office for an insurance company with its stripy, dated carpets and minimal furniture. A woman sat behind a desk, lifted her head from her computer screen and eyed me suspiciously. I was about to speak when she nodded her head towards a door at the right of the room. Slowly, making my way towards it, I was about to turn and double check this was where I was supposed to go but the lady had already buried herself back into her screen and was typing away. Clearly she did not want to be disturbed. Inhaling deeply, I turned to the copper door knob and found myself in an empty room.

“Um, excuse me? I am looking for-” I started to ask the receptionist over my shoulder but, without looking up, she dismissively waved her hand, signalling to me to enter the room I was already halfway into. I had to bite my tongue to not make a snarky comment for being so insolent, but I had more pressing matters to deal with. Where the hell was I?

Closing the door behind me, my eyes darted around the barren room for any sign of what I was supposed to do in here. The only thing that caught my attention was a large, floor-to-ceiling mirror hanging on one wall. It was decorated with a gold frame which looked extremely expensive and almost antique. I strolled over to it and stared at my reflection.

“This is a joke!” I chuckled. Was this some kind of test? An initiation to get in or perhaps I really was lost and that taxi driver had taken me to the wrong place. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the sight of me. I might have overdone the whole ‘student vibe’ look today. I was wearing a pair of mom jeans, rolled at the ankles, paired with an oversized grey sweater and white trainers. I decided to straighten my unruly curls and added a touch of bronzer and mascara. I didn’t really know what twenty-year-old supernatural students would be wearing, but I guessed it wouldn’t be much different from what I see university students dressed like in the human world.

I was just about to give up and turn back out of the room to force that rude woman to help me when something shiny caught my eye. A small, gold plaque next to the mirror.

‘Leave your luggage. Say hello. Step on through.’

“What the…?” I wrinkled my nose as I tried to make sense of the words. Say hello to who? I was alone and there were no doors to step through other than the one I used to enter the room.

“The mirror,” a bored tone came from behind me and I turned to see the receptionist leaning against the door frame, looking at her nails.

“Sorry?”

“It is a protective shield. Introduce yourself to the mirror and step through.”

I must have looked at her as if she was mad because she rolled her eyes and dropped her hand, expanding on her instructions. “It’s in a different dimension. The academy. Only supernaturals can pass through the portal.”

I blinked back at my reflection in the glass mirror in shock. She turned and closed the door, leaving me alone once more. This was ridiculous. I bet she was tricking me just so she could catch me attempting to walk through a glass mirror and smack my head like a moron. I checked the room once again for any other logical explanation but there was none.

F*ck it. At least there is no one around to watch me make a complete fool of myself. “Hello,” I said awkwardly to my own reflection. “My name is Sienna Stone and I am here to join the academy.”

I stood still for a few moments and was about to shake my head at falling for that girl’s words when suddenly the mirror warped and rippled as though the glass was now a vertical surface of water. My lips parted as I stepped forward and reached my hand out to touch it. To my surprise, instead of my fingers bracing the cold, hard surface of glass, they vanished through the mirror completely. I gulped, feeling the nerves build as I took the plunge and stepped over the threshold. I felt a flush of air engulf my body and let out a sigh of relief when there was no rejection. I knew they wouldn’t reject my entrance, but still, the reasons I was here were far from pure...