Page 21 of Every Shade of Shadow

“Welcome to your very own six-by-eight. Not much, is it?”

A jail cell is a pretty appropriate analogy, but there’s a utilitarian, steel desk and a similarly minimalist bed, a small sink in the corner and mirror on the wall that looks direct from Ikea.

Lily sees my eyes go to the laptop. “There’s no Wi-Fi,” she says, walking around the room. “But you can Solitaire to your heart’s content.”

I run my finger across the desk. “Joy.”

Lily sits on my bed, bouncing up and down. “It’s softer than mine. I’ve basically got a concrete slab for a mattress.”

She springs upright. “Anywho,” she says, which only reminds me of Sabrina, “how was your trip in? How was the,” she makes the same stabbing motion at her neck the Headmistress did.

I notice my duffel has been placed carefully next to the bed. “Do they really drug everyone?”

Lily nods. “Yup. Thought I was going to wake up ripe for the rape-age, you know?” She spreads her hands. “But here we are. You had Darkwood first?”

I tense at his name. “We’ve met before.”

This seems to pique Lily’s interest. “Outside of the Academy, inanis?”

I open the laptop and close it again.

“Ah, yeah, he’s kind of, ah…” I search for the right word.

“Crazy hot.”

I give a small laugh as is the expected response. “Something like that.”

“Just be careful, okay,” she says, which marks the second time I’ve been warned about the dear professor. “He’s got a bit of a reputation.”

Now I turn, curious. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s just say you don’t get to be a master of the Black Arts by making balloon animals and practicing humility. And there are the rumors.”

I tense further, that spring inside me coiling until it’s trigger tight. “Rumors?”

She does a little flourish with her hand. “That he practices Shadowcraft on young, pretty students in his sex dungeon. The usual.”

I laugh again, and again, as is the expected response. “Practicing Shadowcraft is illegal.” But I see her expression. “Isn’t it?”

“Mmm,” Lily lifts her left and right shoulder in turn, “a lot of things around here aren’t exactly kosher in the larger magical world.”

I lean against the desk with my arms folded, the steel cold against my ass. “And where is here, exactly?”

She shrugs. “No one knows, but the general consensus is Greenland.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Greenland?”

“Yeah, owing to all the, you know, green, and land. Either that or some kind of pocket dimension.”

I want to correct her that Greenland is largely an ice block, but that wouldn’t be conducive to making friends.

“I should be going,” Lily says, making for the door, “but I’m just down the hall, lucky number seven, and dinner’s at six, but don’t be expecting a grand feast. It’s a bit like a casino buffet—no clocks, no way out, and a bunch of dickheads stacking up their plate like it’s their last meal. See you there.”

She whisks away without another word.

I close the door and allow myself a moment to breathe, trying not to let the panic overcome me. I’ve gone from a decent, albeit about to be reclaimed, apartment to this. Just the thought of a communal bathroom makes me want to puke.

But what did you expect? I ask myself. The Hilton? The fucking red carpet? For what? You’re nothing. You don’t have ‘means.’

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