Page 4 of The Witch & the Grizzly

He made his way to Professor Umber’s office. He still remembered the way, having been there for four long years. As he walked, he wondered exactly what kind of job they had in mind for him.

It probably had to do with some grumpy police officer in the village who refused to cooperate in an investigation or something like that.

When he arrived, the office was empty since Umber was still teaching. Nathan studied the wall calendar hanging by a nail. His meeting was circled in red for 2:30. It was only 1 pm now.

With nothing better to do, he wandered around the office, then peeked outside into the hall, where he noticed a couple of students. If he went to the upper floors, there would be fewer students. Maybe he could waste some time exploring the lesser-known sections of the school, especially the heights.

Grinning, he left the office, winding his way up spiraling staircases lined with grim pictures of previous principals and prominent students until the stairs came to an end. He faced four locked doors.

How mysterious, he thought.

Perhaps they led to the tower heights or the battlements outside. Something seemed to tug at him. It was a wild urge, a primal pull, which felt somewhat like when his inner bear wanted to push against his skin and make him transform. He tried each door. Only one opened, and it did so with an ominous creak, sounding as if the hinges that held it in place had come apart.

A mystery! How exciting.

Ahead of him was a narrow, shadowed corridor, only wide enough for one person to walk abreast in. It lured him forward. The primal pull strengthened, and Nathan became vaguely aware that the pull might not be natural.

The long, dark passageway led to a stairwell, a narrow, steep one that, when he climbed it, made the muscles in the backs of his strong legs burn.

Interesting. When he was a student here, they’d explored the academy at night and discovered some of its more intriguing places. Once, he’d even broken into one of the artifact rooms, but everything valuable was locked away so that no artifact could fall into the hands of someone with ill intent.

However, he didn’t remember this corridor. He glanced behind him and saw nothing but blackness. It was not the normal kind of blackness but the kind that seemed thick as tar and had a touch of the supernatural draped over it.

His senses tingled. Something fae about this place, he thought.

It didn’t quite fit in.

At the top of the stairwell, there was a massive, circular room with red and gold carpeting and a wall of bookshelves filled with a chaotic array of books and scrolls. There was also a desk and a chair, and a bed tucked in the corner…

Just then, something materialized from behind the desk.

“You’re not Z’Hana,” the figure said. It had a low, rasping voice, light purple skin, stark white hair, and huge gleaming eyes that were black at the edges.

Every sense in Nathan’s body went haywire.

This is no ordinary fae.

“No.”

The figure cocked its head and examined him. “You smell like one of us, but you don’t look like it. You must be another one of those little hybrid courtbloods running around.”

Nathan had no idea what a courtblood was and was already regretting his little adventure. “I don’t mean to have any quarrel with you, fae,” he said. “I followed a path out of curiosity – I didn’t think it would lead here.”

“Curious,” the figure said, squinting at him and smiling, showing its sharp teeth. “You have the Gift in your voice, along with the smell. You have been richly granted. You could almost belong with us. What is your name?”

Generally, giving a fae your full name isn’t a good idea, but something in the figure’s tone gave Nathan no choice but to answer. “Nathan Artur Griever,” he said.

“Griever…” The fae sighed. “No, you’ve long since lost the components of the court your ancestry hails from. It is not my court; I know this much. You’re not Seelie, either. One of the seasonal courts, most likely.”

Oh no. Nathan’s hackles stood on end.

“You’re Unseelie?”

“Morgryn, at your service.”

Holy shit.

Nathan took a step back, preparing to transform. Members of the Unseelie Court were among the most malevolent fae that existed. Selfish, dangerous. Evil.

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