Page 25 of House of Mages and Raven

“Especially the bad ones,” he said cockily.

“See you around, Barbie,” Rock said, then gave a bow to Cade while Archer pointed a finger at me. “Stay out of trouble.”

I watched the chaos team take off, and my heart ached.

14

Barbie

Itossed around on my new bed, spending the first night away from the House of Chaos, my thoughts dark and my emotions in turmoil. When I closed my eyes, nightmares plagued me as usual—my father coming with his army, Killian laughing with his betrothed as she wounded me, and me draining Mist of Cinder and destroying all those I cared about.

When I finally sank into a dreamless sleep at dawn, a knock on the door jerked me awake. I fluttered open my eyes, groaning in displeasure while taking in my new room. It was a standard dorm with simple, streamlined furniture— a desk, a chair, a chest, and a couch paired with a wooden coffee table.

Cade actually gave me special treatment by assigning me a single. Even Bea, who had leveled up to mage, had two roommates.

“Barbie, we need to go to class!” Bea called outside the door.

The bright side of transferring to the House of Mages was that I was close to Bea. Not many mages or witch students wereallowed on this floor, but Cade had given the guards a list of my friends who had permission to come up.

“You go first,” I said, needing more shuteye. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“That won’t do.” Fred, an aide to Cade, raised his voice outside. “Your tricks won’t work in the House of Mages. You’ll go to your class with Bea right now. Prince Cade has a reputation to maintain. Your being tardy and undisciplined will reflect badly on His Highness.”

“I thought the perk of moving to a new house was that I could skip a few early morning classes,” I said. “I should definitely take a few days’ break due to the trauma from the murder trial. Who would be so insane as to attend class right after being released from a dungeon?”

“You can whine to your friend on the way to class,” Fred said. “But you need to leave within six minutes. I’m unfortunate enough to be on duty to escort you today.”

“We need to hurry, Barbie,” Bea urged.

“Just give me a second,” I called toward the door as I rolled off my bed in my pajamas and rushed to the bathroom.

I blinked at the girl in the mirror. She stared back at me, her golden curls bouncing, her mismatched eyes puffy, her lips pale. I could barely recognize myself these days.

I recognize you,Sy assured me.I recognize you everywhere.

Mages werebig on healthy indoor-outdoor living. Bea and I walked across the common area crammed with exotic plants, stylish benches, and impressive shelves of books of special editions. We jogged out of the building, with Fred trailing after us in a bad mood.

“Are you sure we can’t go grab some breakfast real fast?” I asked Bea for the hundredth time with undying hope in my eyes.

“There’s no time,” Fred answered for her. “You overslept, Barbie. If you want to blame someone, consider yourself.”

Fred and his light-skinned pal, Matt, were Cade’s errand boys instead of being included in his security detail, since they were only mid-level mages.

“Here.” Bea pulled out two peanut bars from her backpack as we traipsed through the pentagon courtyard.

The mages had strengthened their wards since last time I’d visited the House of Mages. Elaborate spells and runes crawled over every brick, piece of glass, and stone. All five houses in Mist of Cinder were paranoid to a shocking decree and put a lot of effort into their defenses with wards, spells, and patrols.

I could rip off any spell, but I was behaving myself.

Magic from the House of Mages followed me out, bouncing at my feet. It wanted me to return to the house. Bea widened her eyes in amazement, but Fred narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously, his wand sticking out of his jacket.

“I’ll have to go to class, but I’ll be back,” I told the magic. “Go back to the house. We live in dangerous times.”

The house magic dashed back into the house. In its wake, my golden curls ruffled and Bea’s long blue hair billowed.

I wolfed down the peanut bars and followed Bea into the first class since my return to Shades Academy.

“Potion class again?” I asked.

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