It was our first Cryptozoology class. We were all seated on the ground in a circle just behind the mythical creature enclosure gate. Professor Jesi was sitting in front, giving us a lecture on how important it was to pay attention to the animals’ body language, our instinct, and how we will discuss all the animals in detail before we would be allowed to get close to them. He finally stopped talking and said with a smile, “Now, to get you excited about the class, I thought we could pet one of my favorite creatures, they are pretty tame. However, I ask again, please respect these animals and treat them with care.” He stood up and indicated that we should follow him.

  “Finally, something fun,” I whispered to Troy.

  We walked to the enclosure closest to us, the name plague read: Tree Mawk. We went through the gate that Professor Jesi held open and sat near a big tree. He took a berry out of his pocket.

  “Anyone want to volunteer?” he asked.

  My hand was up before he even finished his sentence. He chuckled at my excitement.

  “Here, take the berry and come sit closer to the tree,” he said in a low voice. I stood up and did as he said. He continued, “put the berry on the ground next to you, then if we can all stay quiet for a while, one or more of the Tree Mawks will come to investigate. We can start to talk again once the creature sees we are not a threat to it. “

  I put the berry down close to me, not sure what to expect. A few seconds passed before I heard the rustle of leaves and a small squirrel-sized creature hopped out from behind a tree root. It was plump, looked like a mouse with its big ears, but had small antlers covered with fine hair on its head. Its nose was sniffing in the air, and it cautiously stepped closer to the berry. The Mawk’s long tail had a feathery tip that whipped from side to side. It approached carefully and when it got close to me it felt like my veins pulsed slightly. The creature finally took the berry, nibbling on it while eyeing us carefully.

  “When he is done, you can slowly reach out and touch it, if it doesn’t run away, try to pet it.” Professor Jesi whispered.

  The creature finished the berry and started cleaning its mouth with its little paws. I slowly reached out to it, but its ears drew back. I paused, turning my hand down, keeping my distance. That usually worked with some of the pets I had back home, they would see you meant no harm and would approach you instead, and that was exactly what the Mawk did. When it came closer, it sniffed at my hand and its ears relaxed. I moved my fingers and carefully stroked its soft belly. It took my fingers in its claws, examining them thoroughly before letting them go for me to continue the belly scratch.

  “So, does anyone know what makes this creature magical?” Professor Jesi asked, looking at me.

  “I think it senses magic? I can feel little pulses running through my veins when it comes close,” I guessed.

  “Correct. Their antlers are not as hard as those of a deer, they use them to sense magic. There are a few reasons for this, but the main reason is because of where they live. There is a plant called a Mirror Vine, which uses magical elements to become invisible, it usually grows around trees and makes for a very good hiding place. As long as the Tree Mawks are in their burrows behind these plants, they are almost undetectable.” He stood up and touched the tree saying an incantation and, for a few seconds, the plant was visible. I could see the shadows of a hole behind the big leaves. The Mawk moved around like a little cat, allowing me to scratch his whole body, and when I stopped it said “Maaawk”. The professor gave other students berries, and we spent the rest of the class with the cute creatures, discussing them and their natural habitats. They were incredible. When we stepped out of the enclosure after class, Professor Jesi stopped me.

  “Ms?”

  “Donahue,” I said with a smile.

  “Ms. Donahue, you were a natural with the little creatures today,” he said approvingly.

  I smiled and replied, “Not a natural, sir, I spend a lot of time with all kinds of creatures back home.”

  “I hope you’ll join the Mythical Creatures Rehabilitation club? I would like to have some good candidates. We will be going on many excursions and working with various creatures here in Equipoise.”

  “Yes sir, I’ll be the first to sign up.”

  “Good, I’ll see you around, Ms. Looking forward to working with you,” he said, leaving me standing there with a huge smile on my face.

  Just as I left the enclosure and walked towards the ‘War Zone’ for Applied Elemental, I received a message on my watch.

  You’ve been added to a new group: Student Council

  Professor Navitas: Welcome Dance will be this Friday. We need to meet up tonight at 8:00 PM in SC Room to start with planning. See you all there.

  A dance this Friday, awesome. I mentally went through my closet, there was this pretty pink dress that I was dying to wear. The weather was a little cold though, but I could push through it. I really wanted to wear that dress. My eyes grew big as I realized I didn’t pack the shoes that went with it. I needed to figure out how online shopping worked here, and fast. Actually, an online shopping spree was just what I needed. The idea put a smile on my face, but the smile quickly faded as I came to a standstill in front of the tall heavy gates of the War Zone. The wall surrounding the War Zone was stone, but the gates were gleaming dark metallic dragon wings. It was slightly ajar. I stepped through, sliding my hand over the cold metal frame. Inside, there was level seating on both sides of the gate, overlooking nine elemental sports field-sized zones in a three-by-three block. Behind the zones was a large thick forest where the house battle games would be held.

  The students were all filing into their elemental blocks, and I spotted the fire block furthest from the gate to my left. I made my way through the other zones; the water zone was in the middle and had the most amazing rock pools and small waterfalls. The students put their hands on a crystal placed at the zone entrance, changing their clothes into dark navy swimwear. I wondered what would happen if I tried to go into one of the other zones, because the water zone looked like the most fun. My gaze swung to the arena on my left – the earth zone – they also had a crystal that changed them into protective gear, but theirs was green military combat gear with a thin layer of armor. The ground was covered in rock, sand, and at the back of the zone were trees, flowers, and shrubs. I heard the students' excited chatter and saw Eros standing at the edge. He was staring towards the water zone. I followed his gaze. Aries stood to one side in the water arena with her back to us, her long legs and toned, tanned body on full display. I smiled and looked back at Eros, whose gaze was still fixated on the water fae. Poor thing, talk about forbidden fruit. Giggling to myself I finally reached the fire zone.

  I placed my hand on the crystal at our zone entrance and felt my clothes change. Looking down, I frowned in disgust. Our gear was just black tights and slim-fit gray t-shirts, probably fireproof, but everyone else’s was amazing in comparison. I made my way to the center where Professor Yuni divided the students into groups. The fire zone was nothing but sand, sand, and more sand. Great, boring clothes, boring zone.

  “First years to my right, take a seat in front of a bowl,” Yuni ordered.

  I moved toward the group of students spotting Senara and Hestia. “Hey ladies,” I said, taking a seat next to them. In front of each of us was a small empty stone fire bowl.

  “Hi Oriel,” they said in unison.

  “How was your ascension?”

  “It was ok,” Hestia replied.

  Senara shifted and glared at her sister, “She fainted after she got back out of the arch, Professor Yuni had to send her to the infirmary and I had to go with her, so we missed the whole celebration.”

  “It was not my fault, Senara.”

  I giggled, “It is fine, you didn’t miss much,” I wondered if it was a good opportunity to ask them about the goddess’s message and the onslaught of other elements I’d experience in my own ascension. I cleared my throat. “So, did the goddess say anything after your ascension?”

  Senara looked at me with a frown, “No, after the chains broke and I got filled with fire I came back to the arc, why? Did she say anything to you?”

  “No, no, I erm.” I didn’t want to tell them what had happened, in case it meant there was something wrong with my magic. “I just thought it was over so quickly, I was hoping for something more personal.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Before anyone could respond, Professor Yuni walked into the circle, “Your attention please first years.”

  Her eyes roamed over us and, when everyone quieted down, she knelt in front of the fire pit in the middle of the circle.

  “Since you only got your powers last week, we are going to play with our element, not conjure it. I’ll light up your pit and then you’ll have to try and move the fire like this.” She held her hands over the pit and a flame jumped to life in the center. She focused on the fire, pulling her hands from one side to the other, making the flames move with her hands. “You must only focus on the fire. Also, as a fire fae, you won’t burn, but everything else still can, so please be careful.”

  She walked around the circle conjuring fire in everyone’s pit. When the flames erupted in front of me, I soaked in their warmth and then took a deep breath. I held my hand close to the flame, a warmth formed inside my palm, pulling on my magic. I focused on that, demanding the fire to move with me as I slowly swayed it to the side, and the fire followed. A cheesy grin formed on my face, and I tried to do the same with both hands, splitting the flame in two. The fire followed every command.

  “Good job, Ms. Donahue. If you find that easy, try to make it flow in a circle and then other shapes.” The professor smiled at me, and I grinned right back.

  I made circles, spheres, and spirals. When the professor said the class was over, I managed to make a little fire fountain and was thoroughly disappointed that my playtime was over.

  I looked up from my fountain to find a few students staring at me. Confused, I looked over at the twins. They were also just staring.

  I slapped my hands together and the fire died. Looking back at the twins, “Did I do something wrong?”

  Hestia giggled, “No, it’s just that,” she looked at her sister and then continued, “everyone only managed to move their fire by the end of the class and you're already doing fancy party tricks.”

  I stood up laughing, “Yeah right, whatever.”

  “That is the truth,” Professor Yuni said, standing a few feet away, “When I told you to try and move the fire in a circle, I thought that would keep you busy for a while.”

  My eyes widened, mouth opening to say something, but Professor Yuni smiled and moved closer to me, touching my arm lightly.

  “Don’t look so worried, Oriel. You come from a very powerful family, and some fae just get the hang of it much easier than others. We can see how it goes; you can always join the second years if you continue at this pace.” She turned, and with a powerful twist of her hand, all the fires went out.

  I left the fire zone walking behind Hestia and Senara, they were whispering but loud enough that I could hear.

  “I saw her do it, it was like this.” Hestia held her hand in a fist, then threw her hand open, palms up.

  “No, Hestia, she kept her arms open and pushed forward with her wrist like this.”

  Senara opened her hand, making a little flick with her wrist.

  Flames erupted from Senara’s hand, she screeched and fell backward. I moved quickly to help her up, but she screamed, her one hand pointing to something in front of her. As my head jerked up to see what she was pointing at, another yell erupted. This time from the earth fae who was walking in front of Senara moments ago. Her clothes and hair were ablaze and she was screaming hysterically. I lunged forward, not sure what to do, but I knew fire couldn’t burn me, so I reached for the swirling flames.

  “Oh, please Pyre, help me!”

  As soon as I touched the flames and felt a connection to them, I slapped my hands urging it to die. The flames flickered but the fire must have been too big, or I must have been too nervous for the flames to douse. I closed my eyes and pulled on the fire’s energy, taking it into myself, heat spreading through my arm and into my core. Unlike the burning sensation, the earth fae had to endure, the warmth of the fire was soothing, rejuvenating me from the inside out. The warmth slowly dissipated, and the yells grew quiet. I dared to open my eyes, finding a plume of smoke instead of fire. The girl dropped to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Relieved, I sank down next to her.

  “It’s ok, you’re ok,” I whispered, carefully touching her hand while looking over the scorch marks. Her hair was damaged beyond repair, so was the back of her jacket and shirt. I found a small burn mark behind her neck, pursing my lips I turned to Senara.

  “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, really…” Senara whimpered behind me.

  I turned to the earth fae who was still crying, cutting out the ridiculous sobs of Senara and her sister’s reassuring squeaks.

  “Hey, look at me.” The girl lifted her chin, staring at me through wet lashes, still sobbing. I gave her an encouraging smile. “Let’s get you to the infirmary, you’re going to be ok.”

  I steadied her so she could rise.

  Professor Yuni’s voice rose above the chatter of the crowd. “What happened?”

  I saw Hestia nervously approaching the Professor and watched as she tried to explain. The Professor’s eyes grew wild. Her nostrils flared, she told Hestia something while pointing at Senara, and rushed forward to me and the earth fae.

  Professor Yuni looked concerned. “How is she doing, Oriel?”

  “She’s ok, except for a small burn mark on the back of her neck, and she’s obviously in shock.”

  Professor Yuni, went to the other side of the student, helping me guide her to the infirmary, glancing at me and mouthing the words thank you. I nodded, still feeling a little rattled myself.

  It was late, we were sitting in the Student Council room. Rectangular dark wood tables and executive chairs were laid out in a U-shape, with three seats to the left, three across from the board, and three on the right, and each desk had a neatly engraved name plaque. Azriel sat between Alya and Eros on the right. Then it was Khai, Lucian, and Mara, and Rafe sat next to me with Ziya at the other end of our row.

  Professor Navitas was sitting with her ass on the edge of the desk, her one leg over the other so that the slit in her dress revealed a little too much. She openly flirted with the guys and almost completely ignored all the girls. Very professional. She was finishing assigning tasks to each of us for the upcoming dance. The day had turned out to be quite exhausting and after this, I still had to go to the house meeting. I just couldn’t focus anymore, and my thoughts kept trailing off in all directions.

  “Good,” Professor Navitas exclaimed and clapped her hand together, snapping me back into the room. “You all know what to do, I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

  I gathered all my stuff and was the last to step out of the room. As I did, I heard Aries’ name. Azriel and Mara were standing around the corner whispering. I stood a little closer, trying to act busy on my smartwatch as I listened to their conversation.

  “I’m not sure about this, it’s the first dance,” Azriel said.

  Mara gave a dark chuckle. “It’s just a little innocent prank. Princess Aries needs to be put in her place,”

  “Her dad is cruel, I agree, and I would never forgive him for insulting my family in front of the whole realm, but I haven’t seen her act like him at all.”

  “Not yet anyway. Don’t worry so much, Azriel. It is just going to be water, it’s her element anyway.”

  Azriel flinched, “Which will be even more humiliating.”

  “And damn funny. So, according to the spell, the water will be conjured as soon as she sits.”

  My eyes narrowed. I couldn’t let that happen, I had to figure out a way to stop these girls from humiliating Aries. But how? I had no idea how to counter that or create a shield, not yet anyway. My watch buzzed with a reminder. I realized I was going to be late for the house meeting and sprinted through the hallways, down the spiral staircases, but just as I stepped out behind one of the pillars, I felt a strong pull of energy dragging me into the trees next to the moat. I struggled against it and just as I thought I could break free, strong hands grabbed me from behind, one hand locking my arms against my body and the other around my mouth. I squirmed.

  He whispered in my ear, “Relax Oriel, it’s just me.” Lucian chuckled and let his hand slip from my mouth.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Shhh,” and he pointed in the direction of the Herbology building. Ziya and Alya were walking in the opposite direction. “Trying to avoid those two, they’ve been very clingy.”

  “But why hide between the trees and kidnap random girls?”

  “You’re not a random girl,” he said softly, his hand slowly slipping from my waist as he stepped around to face me. Then he gently backed me up against a tree and stepped closer so that his body was inches away from mine. His one arm came to rest on the tree next to my head and his other hand started playing with a lock of my hair. I watched his eyes trail over my face.

  “Lucian, I have my house meeting in a few minutes, I have to go,” I whispered.

  “Mmmmm,” he ignored what I said and tilted his head leaning forward into my neck, his lips close to my skin and his breath warm. Shivers ran down my spine and I took another deep breath. Being so close to him made it hard to keep a level head.

  “Lucian,” I tried to get his attention again.

  He gave a deep sigh, and his head came to rest on my shoulder. I raised my hands to cup his face, pushing it up so I could look into his blue swirling eyes. I swallowed hard. His eyes were hypnotic, inviting.

  “I have to go, I’m going to be late,” I said, again in a whisper.

  “Sure,” he said softly, disappointment written all over his face and he stepped back, giving me room to leave. I pushed myself away from the tree, lingered a moment then turned to him.

  “See you tomorrow then, Lucian.”

  “See you, Oriel.”

  I turned to walk away but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back, his other hand finding my chin, pushing it up so that our lips met. The kiss was soft, but the surprise of it left me breathless. I opened my mouth to gasp for air, then he moved his hand behind my neck and pulled me into another kiss, this one was deep and hungry. My heart was racing, my hands found his shirt and scrunched the material between my fingers. He pulled back and smiled, his eyes twinkling. He swung me around, hit my ass hard with the palm of his hand, and said with a hoarse voice.

  “You’re going to be late.”

  I glared back at him over my shoulder, shocked, then the corner of my mouth slowly turned into a smile. I shook my head and took off, running as fast as I could to be in time for the house meeting. I looked at my watch, 4 minutes. Damn Lucian.