Page 67 of A University of Betrayal

I looked down at my fingers and froze when I spotted the ice crystals trailing across my skin.

No, Julie. Come on... you can do this.

More panic flooded my veins and I felt the temperature drop around me.

I was a disaster.

Then I stopped, just staring at the sign next to the door in front of me.

Professor Quentin Tiberius.

Goddammit,had I even wanted to find his office?

A cold draft swept through the usually empty hallway and I looked around, then, without further hesitation and with regret growing in my chest, I put my hand on the handle and... pushed it down.

Of course,the door was locked. This wasn’t some professor who was probably hiding secret information about his research on supernatural things in there, it was Mr. Suspicious, who had made it clear to me that he could destroy me if he wanted to.

I doubted he expected me not to heed his warning. I was surprised at myself, but I couldn’t just forget everything that had happened last week. Someone had to make sure that the Quatura’s magic remained a secret.

I looked around one last time, then carefully moved my fingers in front of the lock, using my air magic to feel the resistance of the mechanism inside the lock and thereby feel its shape.

It was as if I was reading Braille. Something Vivienna’s mother, Amanda, who was now my aunt, had trained me to do before Vivienna and I had risen in rank from Novices to Discipuli. Although she had never let me and Vivienna use it on locks, it was important for moving objects and having full control over them.

Luckily for me, it worked without my control stone, probably because it was like riding a bike. Once you knew how to do it, you didn’t really unlearn it.

Click.

The sound echoed in the empty corridor.

A soft hiss sounded.

I jerked my head around and discovered something long, white and green, snaking elegantly, albeit hastily, across the floor. From one wall to the next until it disappeared into the side corridor.

What the...

Had an arm-length snake just crawled along there?

In the distance, I heard loud female laughter and footsteps that must have come from the steps.

The nervousness returned and with it my impatient glance to the right and left before I pressed the handle again, pulled the door open and pushed myself through the open gap in the door. I closed it behind me and locked it again. Then I looked around the office.

Hysteresis

Angus MacRae

I paused in amazement. Everything here seemed so... peaceful.

The sun’s rays shone through the glazed Gothic window, which offered a good view of one of the inner courtyards and the largest tower in Vanderwood. An elegant vintage lamp hung from the ceiling and the stone walls were covered with framed pieces of leather or parchment, decorated with script that I couldn’t decipher. There were also stuffed wooden bookshelves that were the same dark color as the chests of drawers containing ancient artifacts: Egyptian figures made of gold, framed papyrus scrolls, stone tablets, colorful albeit badly damaged ceramic vases, a strange-looking amulet made of... crystal fragments?

I resisted the urge to touch anything.

In fact, I already felt like I was invading a stranger’s privacy. As ifIwas the threat and nothim.And somewhere, my gut feeling was right.

My eyes wandered to the massive desk in front of the window, a chair behind it. The desk itself was laden with paperwork, but everything was neatly organized. A small golden globe stood next to a black statue of a three-headed dog, beside it a golden hourglass that was still running.

He must have been here today.

I reminded myself how serious the situation was and that I wasn’t here to get a museum tour ofMr. Suspicious’ collection of antiques.

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