Page 26 of A Dusk Of Stars

She frowns at me. “You know,” she starts hesitantly, “it wouldn’t be such a bad thing, in your situation, to have aprofessor on your side. Do you maybe have any questions for me?”

“Yes, I do.” I might as well getsomethingout of this sudden interest of hers. “Could you grant me access to the Restricted Section for one more day?”

Her eyebrows shoot up. “What would you wantthatfor?”

I let out a scoff. “You’re acting as if that Lexarcanum bookchoseme. Is it really so strange that I’d want to take another look at it?”

“I guess not,” she says pensively. “But you’re in a sort of precarious position right now, so I’d suggest you wait a bit with a request like that.”

“If I’m in such a precarious position,” I start, fighting not to lose my cool, “why don’t you just forget about my being a student here and give me my old job back?”

She looks at me as if I’m being thick. But it’s with softness in her voice that she says, “You know the law won’t allow us to just ‘forget about your being a student here.’” She pauses. “But if you’d be willing to go back to your old job part-time, I’d see what I can do.”

I stay silent for a second, observing her as my eyes narrow in suspicion. “Why would you do that? Why did you come to sit with me in the first place?”

To my surprise, she turns to watch the students buzz around, her voice turning pensive as she says, “I’ve known I was a fae all my life, Anna.” Her lips curl into a sad smile. “I was born into a noble family who’d been part of the House of Ydril for centuries. I had all the resources a person could ever wish for — a governess, a private tutor, my own library. I had the drive as well.”

She turns her eyes back onto me, the smile disappearing. “But I was a sickly child who at the age of twenty one found herself among Originals who were all more powerful than her. Not aswell-meaning as I was naive enough to assume they were. Suffice to say, they made my life miserable.” She pauses for a second. “Is it really that odd for me to see myself in you, to want to help you the way I wanted someone to helpmewhen I was suffering?”

It renders me speechless for a second, her little confession. The intimacy of it makes me squirm a little, but I give my best not to show it. “This is not suffering for me, Professor Naehorn,” I say gently.

“Serra,” she corrects me with a smile.

“Serra,” I say. “It’s just a very frustrating thing, when everyone expects you to do things you simply can’t do.”

She squints at me, this funny little smile dancing on her lips. “And you’re so sure you can’t do them?”

“Well,” I say with determination, “the fact is that I went to a Lycanology class today, and everyone there already has powers except for me.”

“So you’re not feeling your animal awaken inside you?” she asks.

The memory of that strange yet familiar voice flashes through my mind. But I choose not to answer the question. “It’s kind of hard for me to believe that this would be happening to a twenty-nine-year-old,” I reply with a smile.

She shrugs. “Stranger things have happened.”

I let out a laugh and glance around to hide the look of hopelessness in my eyes. “I’ve been told to get special classes. But I don’t think Professor MacArthur has my education in mind, more my further embarrassment.”

“Special classes?” she echoes, still frowning. Then her face lights up. “Sure, as Head of your House, he’ll be the one to set them up, but you won’t be training with ProfessorMacArthur, silly.”

I squint at her. “No?”

“No,” she says with a laugh, making me breathe a sigh of relief and, all of a sudden, feel all my hopelessness disperse. “You’ll be training with Professor Bane.”

Chapter 10

Iwake up all groggy, looking around and wondering where I am. It takes me a moment to realize I’m in the new room, but as soon as I do, a powerful mix of dread and incredulousness pins me in place.

I’m a shifter studying at Grimm Academy.

For one long moment, I just keep staring at the ceiling.

It’s for the first time since it happened — that thing with the Lexarcanum book, that I actually consider the possibility. That the bookchoseme, and that it did that for a reason.

Then this feeling that I’m forgetting something makes me frown and I push myself up, glancing around.

I stumble out of bed, my new room still so unfamiliar to me, it’s as if I’m seeing it for the first time. Despite being slightly cramped, especially thanks to the bed occupying most of the width, it’s actually better than my old room in the Grimm Tower. Right opposite the bed, there’s the large wooden closet, while to my left I have a cute little desk overlooking the castle grounds.Much to my relief, between the bed and the closet, there’s the door into my own private bathroom.

It’s only once I start getting dressed that my eyes land on the schedule lying on the desk.

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