The next morning I woke to the odd feeling of someone else sleeping in my bed. It was stranger still to think I had a bed to call my own. Growing up as a street kid you slept where ever you weren’t getting pelted by rain or having your toes gnawed on by rats, but when I had a bed I had never shared it.

When Brandi and I came to my room we were surprised to find the bed had been replaced by one slightly bigger to fit the both of us. I don't know if the change came about from magic, or someone had the foresight to change it, but either way it was a welcomed sight. We did nothing but crash and I slept the best I had in ages, only waking up because of the alarm that sat on the nightstand beside the bed. I hit the button and rolled over to find Brandi still asleep, or at least trying to as her eyes squinted and her lips became a thin line that made her look frustrated. I understood her desire to sleep, I felt drained from the day before as well. Sadly, the world didn’t care and classes would start soon.

“Hey, wake up. We’re gonna be late,” I said and pushed against her shoulder.

She mumbled something and pulled the covers around her. I sighed as I knew she would be like this. She could sleep a bit longer, I decided, and went to the bathroom to shower and dress. When I came out Brandi was sprawled out over the bed, her pink-blonde hair a mess across the sheets. At the rate she moved, we would be late.

Only one option presented itself, and I went to the bed and lifted her from it. Carrying her, I headed for the bathroom. I didn’t want to do it as it seemed mean, but she didn’t leave much of a choice. “Last chance to wake up on your own.”

“Go away… leave me alone… ass…,” she mumbled, and with her last word I turned the handle of the shower on.

Her scream of shock could have woken the dead. She was up and flailing as she tried to escape the icy water, but I closed the door and she ended up slamming her petite frame against the glass which got her no where. When she pressed herself up against the glass opposite of the door, I reached in and turned more hot water on while crying with laughter. She did not find it as funny and cursed me the entire time she showered while mocking anything I said to her. I couldn’t blame her, but I’d have done it again in a heartbeat just for the entertainment.

After she got in a few smacks against my arm and had her say, we headed down to the common room. To my surprise, there were two mages still in the room. Shawn sat near a window with his witch in the chair beside him. They looked to be working on last minute homework, and I was grateful that I spent Saturday doing what little I had.

He looked up with a sour expression on his face, but gave me a quick nod before turning back to his papers. It was the best I could have hoped for.

Victor sat on the couch before the fire with his three witches around him. They were all pretty, but of different sizes and shapes. The only consistent thing about them was the dark brown hair they all sported.

I didn’t want to deal with any of them. Brandi fell into the empty chair by the fire where she warmed her hands in front of the flames. Victor took notice of this and turned around to see me standing a few feet back. He gave me a smirk.

“Ah, so you two decided to leave your bed. That was a hell of a scream, we all nearly came running to offer aide and then we thought, well it might just be the way those from the slums and with saturate blood mate.” The devilish grin on his face annoyed me, but I blanked my face and was glad to see that Brandi had done the same. His smile faded when he got no reaction from us.

“Cold water on a sleeping person will do that more than mating,” Brandi said through a yawn. “Up to three now? That’s impressive.”

Victor beamed, but I knew Brandi had something more for him and I waited. He looked to his girls before turning the smirk to Brandi. “It’s easy when you’re a mage that’s worth something.”

“Or if you have very low standards,” Brandi said in a bored tone. Victor’s shoulders went up and the three girls bristled beside him. Those in the higher tiers seemed very thin skinned.

“You want to find out how high my standards are? Why don’t we du—”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about your standards. I was talking about theirs,” she smiled at the girls and one of them chocked back a laugh. Brandi gave another yawn. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt the shit spewing from your mouth. You were saying?”

I went across the room and grabbed Brandi by her arm and pulled her from the chair just as Victor stood from his.

“Sorry! We’d love to stay and chat, but we’re running late,” I called and headed out the door and down the hall.

Brandi yelled for me to stop when we were about halfway down and tore her arm free of my hand. “What the hell was that all about?”

‘Don’t you remember the conversation we overheard yesterday?” I asked in just above a whisper as I looked up and down the hall. “How we shouldn’t be dueling and stuff?”

“We haven’t been told officially and I know for a fact we’d destroy those witches even if it was three on one,” she said and glared back down the hall.

“Maybe, but after yesterday I’m pretty sure we’re gonna have a lot of duel invites just because people want to see me doing healing magic and see what you can really do.”

She tilted her head a bit, her eyes darting from the wall and back to me in confusion. “I’m not seeing the problem.”

I sighed and walked off. She broke into a run to catch up and slid to a stop in front of me.

“All right, all right. I’ll be good, okay? Just stop moping.”

“I’m not moping, I’m thinking.”

Her brows went up. “That’s dangerous. Aidan’s plans were always the talk of the tavern when they actually worked, which wasn’t often. Consider me curious about what you’re thinking on.”

I pushed past her, ignoring her pleading look, and made my way down to the mess hall. Half the school still sat and chatted, many of them bandaged and bruised. Brandi and I made our way over to an empty table, but I couldn’t take my eyes off those that looked to be injuried. They were the same students we had seen coming up the path the night before.

When I looked back to my plate, Brandi had piled a bunch of food on it. I was about to ask her why when a voice distracted me.

“Hey, you mind if we join you?”

I looked up to see Jorge standing behind the chairs in front of me with his witch. She was a bright blue-eyed girl with platinum blonde colored hair done in a long braid down her back. She reminded me a lot of Kelsie, which explain why Jorge fell head over heels for her. I gestured with my fork at the other side of the table and picked at the eggs that Brandi had put on my plate.

He pulled the chair out for his witch and I raised my eyebrow at him in question. Jorge was many things, but a gentleman was not one of them. He was the guy we went to when we needed a less elegant solution. He could be called a dim man with too much heart, which made us fast friends as we were alike in some ways.

Jorge gave me a grin as he took his seat beside her. “It’s feels like forever since I’ve seen you,” he said as he helped himself to some food. “And now you’re the talk of the school after that show you put on yesterday with your witch.” He turned his attention to Brandi, and I felt her tense beside me. “I’m Jorge, a good friend of your mage.”

“Good friend might be pushing it,” I said, and he feigned hurt. I ignored him. “This is Brandi, I’m sure you remember her from the slums.”

He stared for a moment and Brandi’s discomfort grew to where I could feel it. “No. Sorry, cutie, but I don’t recognize you.”

"That’s too bad,” she said, and a chill came off her. “Because I remember you and your little alley way scheme behind O’Donna’s,” she said, and I looked between the both of them, trying to understand what she was talking about.

We had run a lot of schemes and scams in our time, but every kid knew the risks of work around O’Donnas and most of the time it wasn’t worth it. The owner would chop off a finger for causing trouble around his establishment if he caught on. I knew a lot of kids that only had one or two fingers left. My group was never caught, but we also only did it out of desperation. It was surprising to see the look on Jorge’s face change to recognition for a split second.

“What scheme?” I asked and his eyes darted toward me.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” he said, but his voice croaked a bit at the end, which always meant he was lying.

“Oh, you don’t? You don’t remember charging boys a few cents to peek in the girl’s bathroom? I caught you looking through the hole while I was in the stall, you creep.”

His witch glared at him, her eyes narrowing dangerously. He cleared his throat and pulled at his jacket. “Nope, don’t remember that happening…”

“Sure, I guess I’m just a crazed saturate making shit up, right?”

“Okay, let’s all take a breath,” I said while trying to come up with a change of topic. I didn’t need Brandi to know that I had been guilty of the same. I was the one that had shown Jorge the hole. “Anyway, who’s the witch that looks like she might rip your head off?”

“I’m Keri,” she said flatly while glaring at the side of Jorge’s face. He did his best to ignore her. “Didn’t know what kind of mage I had bonded with.”

“H-hey, I’m not that bad of a guy. That was years and years ago…” he said, and I nearly reached across the table and smacked him.

“So you admit it?” Keri asked. Jorge looked to me for help, but I didn’t have a good out for him and he knew it. Brandi took pity on him and changed the subject.

“You see all those injured students? Strange, ain’t it?” she said, and Keri stopped her glare long enough to survey the room.

She gave a slight shrug as she turned back. “It’s not unusual. I was here last year, and the delvers were always coming up from the abyss all beat up. Glad I never hooked up with a mage that got picked for that. Some of the stories I’ve heard…” she shivered and Jorge put his arm around her shoulders. She let him, but her glare returned.

“What do they do?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of the delvers before coming to the academy. The only people I knew that went into the abyss were the saturate miners and the surveyors. That the academy had its own core to explore the abyss was puzzling.

“Not sure to be honest,” she said as she picked up a piece of bread from the sliced loaf in the middle of the table. “I know they recruit all the time and that sometimes the head mistress goes with them. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.” She took a bite and her gaze darted to Brandi. “Speaking of getting hurt, the school is buzzing about what happened to you.”

Brandi was busy piling scrambled eggs on a triangle of toast and looked annoyed at the interruption. “Wasn’t anything special. This lug here has just fallen in love with me, that’s all.”

“Head over heels for her,” I said and watched her jerk back in surprise.

“You aren’t supposed to agree, you idiot,” she said, her pink eyes wide and searching my face. “You aren’t serious, are you?”

I lifted my glass to take a sip of juice and faced Jorge. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Keri giggled as she bumped Jorge’s shoulder. “I can see why you’re friends, they’re fun.”

“Oh, they’re just a barrel of laughs,” Lorelei said from behind us. I was able to keep my cool, but Brandi nearly fell out of her chair. “You two don’t mind if I borrow your friends here for a few minutes, do you?” She was looking at Jorge and Keri and they shook their heads. “Great. You two, come with me.”

We got up from the table and followed her out of the mess hall and into a classroom. Dread filled me when I realized that there wasn’t anyone else inside, and I wondered what she had planned. Lorelei went to a desk and leaned back against it. She ran a hand through her hair as she looked out the gigantic windows on the right wall.

“Is there something you need?” I asked when it was clear she had no intention of starting.

“Well, I’ve been told to inform you of some recent rules regarding you, but since both of you were in the meeting… I don’t really see the point.”

“I knew she saw us,” Brandi said, and I elbowed her gently in the side. Lorelei stared at us like a cat that had cornered a meal. It was amazing that Brandi and Jorge survived the slums with how easy they were willing to admit to things the didn’t want to.

“Invisibility magic. That’s very impressive, Miss Hasselium, and for it to last long enough for you two to be ghosts in the girls’ bath is even more so.”

“You can stop fishing,” I said and crossed my arms. “What do you want and I mean, really want?”

She smiled. “Well, you turned me down so I can’t get what I want. How is he in bed, Miss Hasselium? Is he as standoffish as he normally is?”

“I had a pleasant time,” Brandi said, and while that made me happy, I nudged her again with my elbow.

“Well good,” Lorelei said and stood. “So, I’m sure you saw the 7th delver team arrive last night while you were on the lawn.”

“Were you spying on us?” I asked.

“A woman has to get her jollies somehow,” she said and stuck her tongue out as she walked around us and checked the door to make sure it was locked. “But that’s besides the point. Rumors are rising and they aren’t all good. Right now most think you're kind of cool with the healing magic and all, but others are spreading information about Miss Hasselium being saturate born and that you both are from the slums. That breeds resentment, which means more duels will come your way.”

“We discussed that already,” I said. “We’re just gonna avoid everything that we can. That’s the only option we really have.”

“Building your coven would be a much better one,” she said as she crossed the room. “And no, my offer was a one-time thing. You need to find more witches and you need to find them fast.”

“Isn’t that the opposite of what Mildred wanted?” Brandi asked.

Lorelei nodded and then turned from the window. “It’s so nice of you both to save me time by not having to explain everything. Yes, she doesn’t think you should bond with anymore witches until we know the extent of your power, but I think that’s dangerous. Your veiled magic makes you a target, one that many will go after in hopes of an easy win. That same veil makes it much harder for you to find those witches you need. That’s why I’m suggesting to Mildred that you be assigned to the 5th delver team.”

I found it hard to form words, but luckily Brandi had no issue. “How the hell would that solve a damn thing?”

“Well, for one those on delver teams cannot be challenged in most duels. The risk of injury delaying a delve into the abyss is too costly. Second, it will put you in a position of showing your skills without anyone able to twist the facts. Delver teams are tight knit by design and so they will defend you if need be.”

“That all sounds well and good, but what do they do?” I asked.

“They look for old tech and explore new areas. They protect our allies that live on the floors of the abyss. They document creatures and they also… keep tabs on any movements Magnus makes.” She went to the board at the front of the room and picked up a piece of chalk. “This will be covered in your classes, but I’ll give you a crash course so you can better understand.”

She made six large circles at the edges of the board. In the middle she drew two vertical lines and then separated them like a layered cake. We stood quietly while doing our best to figure out what she was trying to show with the poor drawing.

“Okay, really quick. Witches destroyed the planet and caused the abyss to appear in the crust of the Earth. The abyss provides not only saturate but many of the means for survival that aren’t found among the wasteland. We are part of the northern cluster, there are five other cities within a reasonable distance and they delve into the same parts of the abyss we do.” She pointed to each of the circles. “These are our allied cities. That’s a term we use very loosely. These are the same cities that will start a conflict over someone like you, Aidan.”

“Why? I mean, sure, I’m pretty powerful, but he can’t even control his magic,” Brandi said.

“Because once he can, then he will swing any battle in our favor,” Lorelei said and then pointed toward the layered cake drawing. “We have already explored seven of the upper tiers of the abyss. I won’t go through their names at the moment as that will all be covered, but just know that being on the 5th team means you will hang out on the fifth floor, a layer of the underground forest and the home of the Wilkits.”

“Wilkits?” I asked. “You mean those animal looking witches?”

“Yes. They’re a species from the abyss that can learn magic. We have befriended a sizeable population of them and so they send their children to us for training. They are also our biggest source of spice.”

I thought back to the fox girl that had splashed into the bath. If they were all like her, then they were a handful.

“When is this thing going through?” I asked as Lorelei wiped down the board. “Because I’m pretty sure Victor will challenge us to a duel in class.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I don’t want you to fight, though. You’ll end up killing someone, even with a dampening field.”

“I’ll protect us if need be,” Brandi said, and I had a feeling that she was hoping he would force our hand.

“I’ll suggest for you two joining the team once I leave here. Should only be a day or two. For now, stay out of trouble, okay? That means no more haunts around the school while invisible. It took us most of yesterday afternoon to convince a bunch of new bloods that the place isn’t haunted. Some peed themselves rather than using the bathroom. Not cool.”

I heard Brandi stifle a laugh, and I kept my composure. “We’ll do what we can. We got class in like five minutes.”

“Go on, get out of here,” she said and waved her her hand toward the door.