Spells of a Supreme

Chapter 3: Cassandra

I woke to the sun still overhead and the smell of the surrounding flowers that had grown back over night. Aeden disappeared sometime after I fell asleep, leaving me behind in his magical reality. Things were still perfect inside the place he had created. Why leave? Why deal with what awaited me outside in the real world? Because people were counting on me.

Using an Earth element spell Aeden had taught me the day before, I raised my hands and pressed them against the ground, creating a smooth path to the pillars. I backed away from the path and then ran forward, sliding toward the pillars as if on a sheet of ice.

I bounded between the pillars, passing through the entrance to the other side where my feet hit dirt, and I tumbled head over heels. Pushing to my elbows, I looked around to see if anyone had seen me fall. Unless the trees had eyes, which was a possibility, no one had seen a thing. I laughed at myself and then pushed to my feet.

The trees that had blocked the path had gone back to their original spots, leaving a clear way back to an academy I knew nothing about. I glanced back at the pillars and the wasteland beyond. Everything on the other side had been perfect and peaceful. My magic had been exact and without flaw. On the outside of the pillars, I was sure my magic would not be as perfect and would most certainly be flawed.

After spending three years surrounded by the guys, or other students, I found myself walking alone toward a place I would never fit in. Though I saw no other students at the academy, I felt their presence. Maybe I wasn't supposed to see them. Maybe being alone with Aeden was a mental test. If I could endure being without the guys, maybe I could endure anything. But I had felt something at the academy. A presence. Aeden's magic, perhaps?

I passed a tree and then stopped, backing up to look at the creature eating flowers. It stopped munching and stared. Its little nose twitched as it ate. The eyes almost looked human.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer!"

I took a step back and then went to one knee. "You can talk?"

The creature blinked several times, its body no larger than a rabbit's. "We have something in common. So can you!" He went back to munching on flowers but stopped when I didn't walk away. "You're that witch everyone's been talking about. Cassidy?"

"Cassandra. Cassandra Clarke." I reached out to touch it, and it snapped at me. "Hey!"

"Don't touch a Crowley."

"A Crowley?"

It nodded. "I'm a cross between a fox and a rabbit." He held out a paw for me to shush. "Don't ask. I try not to imagine it."

I couldn't help but imagine it. I smiled and decided not to ask. "You know where I am?"

It nodded and then went back to eating. It looked up again when I still didn't move. "You're at the same place as me."

"You've been a lot of help," I said. "Thanks." I stood and started toward the academy, noticing from the corner of my eye the Crowley following along. I continued another few steps and then stopped. "Why're you following me?"

"I want to know if you really are the Chosen One."

"How're you going to know that?" I crossed my arms and stared down my nose at him. I assumed it to be a him based off his voice.

"You saw no one when you arrived?"

"That's right, but I felt people around me. Even felt them brush against my skin."

He chuckled. "Aeden did that to you. He seems serious all the time, but he also enjoys a good trick every now and again."

"He made people disappear?" I looked back in the direction I had come. He had the kind of magical power I needed in order to be a Supreme. Make people disappear? I laughed and continued my way, the Crowley following.

"Aeden has the power to control everything we see and do here. It's why Edius has yet to attack us."

"If he's powerful enough to stop Edius, why hasn't he stopped the archmage from hurting others?"

"Because he would have to leave this academy to save another. He's afraid that's when Edius would attack us." The Crowley continued following me until we hit the break in the trees. From where I stood, I could see a bustling, active campus. Several of the students glanced my way, letting me know I could finally be seen.

"Cassandra?" a man asked as he approached. His ears and nose were much too big for his face. His beard stretched to his belt. But it was his eyes that gave me pause. They were old, and I imagined they'd seen a lot of both good and bad in his lifetime. He wore a polyester suit that, oddly enough, fit his persona. A set of bifocals sat atop the lower part of his nose.

"Yes. Can I help you?" I noticed several students staring. A couple of adults, possibly faculty, stared as well. I had become the monkey in the zoo everyone wanted to see.

He removed a small device from his back pocket that looked a lot like Oliver's computer. He stabbed the screen several times with his fingers, and a piece of paper came out of the top. "This is your class schedule. If you hurry, you can make your first class in time."

I glanced at the ground for the Crowley and saw him hopping away, it's large tail swinging side to side through the dirt.

"Advanced Magic," I said, reading the first class. "What's the class about?"

The man walked away without saying another word or pointing toward the building I needed to find. I continued toward the campus, noticing more stares and more snickering. A group of three students stopped me. The biggest of the two guys snarled the corner of his mouth.

"You're that girl from the Enchanted Academy. The one who's caused all the trouble." He looked at the other two students and nodded at me. "We don't want you here. Edius has stayed away so far, and everywhere you go trouble follows. Why don't you go back to your own academy and destroy something there?"

Shocked, I had nothing to say, choosing instead to push through the students. I glanced at the class list again and read the name of the building. I followed the circle in the center of campus and read the signs outside each building until I found the building I needed.

"You're not welcome here," a young girl said. "We know all about you and that group of guys. We don't do that here." The second girl whispered in the first girl's ear. "We have higher standards than the Enchanted Academy."

The girl wore an academy skirt, sweater, and shoes, her hair in a tight ponytail. I considered punching her in the throat, but getting tossed from the academy on the first day would prove their point I created chaos wherever I went. Sometimes, you had to kill them with kindness.

"I hope we can be friends," I said and brushed past the girls. I glanced at my hands, satisfied I'd managed to keep my cool. Any other time I would have fired off spells and destroyed something in the process. I was evolving as a witch as I made my way toward being a Supreme. I wouldn't allow the pettiness of others determine what I thought of myself.

Inside the classroom building, I ran into more stares and snickers. I needed the guys. I needed familiarity. Most of all, I needed to control my emotions. The new place was going to test more than my magic.

"Ignore all the snooty assholes." She stood next to the classroom I was about to enter. Her attire was much different than everyone else. She wore pants and old shoes. Her sweater had seen better days, and her hair looked as if she'd stuck her finger in a light socket.

"Thank you. They don't bother me. I'm kinda used to it all." I stuck my hand out. "Cassandra."

"I'm a germaphobe." She hid her hands behind her back. "My friends call me Meg. That's if I had any friends." She sneered at another student passing by. "Mind your own business, asshole."

I laughed and leaned against the wall. "I like you. You in this class?"

"Yeah, I always wait outside and go in last. That way I can sit next to someone. It pisses them off."

I ducked my head inside the room. "There's an empty table. Want to share?" She nodded, and we went inside.

I immediately understood her frustration. The other students sneered at her the same way they had sneered at me. People could be assholes sometimes. Some of them all the time.

Meg and I sat at an empty table alone. The other students continued talking to each other, their eyes wandering our way before darting away when we noticed.

"It's like this all over campus?" I asked.