Page 24 of Shattered Illusion

“Woah, woah, wait.” I slice my hand through the air, cutting him off. “Five hundred years ago? How freaking old are you?” He had to have misspoken, right? The man doesn’t look a day over twenty-six. Hell, all the guys I’ve met so far do not look that much older than I do.

“I’m six-hundred and twenty-two years old.” He chuckles as I stare at him dumbfounded. “And I’m not the oldest you’ve met either.” He tosses me a wink but doesn’t elaborate any further. Bastard.

“Ugh. Fine. Don’t tell me. Where are we headed now?”

“This,” he pushes open the double doors in front of us, “is the dining hall.”

“Holy shit.”

The dining hall looks just as the rest of the castle does, but the biggest difference is the massive buffet station along the far wall. A line of students chat and laugh in front of it as they wait for their turn for whatever is on menu. Circular tables take up every empty square inch with six chairs each, most of them already full.

But what’s even more shocking is that the dining hall is teaming with so many different supernaturals that I don’t even know where to look first.

When Axel first brought me out of the human sector, yeah, there were all different supes, but seeing them all congregated in the same space makes me uneasy. Any one of these kids—or are they classed as adults now?—could lose their shit and destroy me. And without knowing how to use my own magical abilities, I wouldn’t be able to fight back to save my own life.

One thing I know for certain is that there’s an obvious divide between them as there is with any school. Human and supe alike. It seems keeping to species is how it goes here. There’s a table surrounded by some massive people who barely fit in the chairs underneath them. My guess is that table is full of shifters.

At another one, instead of food, there are gold goblets sitting in front of each student. They remind of me Axel with the pale skin and red eyes. On either side of the vampires, there are more pointy ears than I’ve ever seen in my life. And that’s saying something because I’ve only seen one. But what sets these two groups apart are the glares and daggers they are tossing in each other’s direction.

“Ahh, I see you’ve spotted the fae tables. Seelie and Unseelie don’t mix. Hence the need for two. But that’s a lesson for another day. Come on, Bailey. Let’s grab some dinner, and then you can head to bed early so you can be well-rested for your first day tomorrow.”

I blow a raspberry at Thaddeus’ words. First day of classes. Not something I’m looking forward to. Especially since all I could do was light myself on fire when I got pissed off and run headfirst into a damn wall. That’s not going to get me any high marks. Only expelled due to setting the whole academy on fire.

Thaddeus weaves his way through the tables, many of the supernaturals calling his name or tossing him a wave inacknowledgment. He seems well-liked by all the students. A few of them eye me curiously, probably wondering what I’m doing with the professor, but thankfully, no one asks, and they go back to their previous conversations.

It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re wondering what a human is doing here. But again, we have a story to cover that. I’m a hybrid. A witch and a shifter. But fuck if I know what kind of shifter I can be. Transmutation class is going to be rough until we figure it out. That doesn’t stop me from being hopeful that whoever this Professor McHale is, they’ll be able to help me figure it out.

A white plate appears in my vision, Thaddeus graciously holding it out for me to take. With a grimace at losing myself to my own thoughts, I take it from him and follow at his back as he starts down the buffet line.

The food options are plentiful and a little surprising. There’s human food, things I recognize easily, like pizza, burgers, and chicken tenders. But then there are also things I’ve never seen before but don’t look any less appetizing.

Little by little, I add the foods I know and start taking small bits here and there of stuff I don’t. I’m always open to broadening my horizons when it comes to the feast for my belly. Right as I go to snag a delicious-looking morsel without a name plaque, a hand circles my wrist, stopping me.

“Are you stupid, little girl? Eating the flesh of the dead will kill you.”

My gag reflex is working overtime as I recoil as far as his hold will go, which isn’t that far at all. He keeps a tight grip, not letting me flee like my instincts are screaming at me to. He shakes my hand back and forth, the movement jarring me further. My gaze stays focused on his meaty paw, not once looking up at the asshole who thinks it’s okay to treat someone like this.

“Well, are you?”

“Let go of me,” I hiss, trying and failing to break his rough treatment. I’d love nothing more than to fight back, hit and kick with everything I’ve got, but the last thing I need to do is get into a fight with another student. Especially one as strong as this asshole is.

“Not until you answer my question.”

“Hudson, let her go. You should know better than to touch a student like that after the first time you were reprimanded for injuring someone.” Thaddeus comes to my rescue like a knight in pale blue armor. Thank fuck.

This Hudson dude releases me like I burnt him, but the angry scowl twisting his—I gulp—handsome face is still firmly in place. Why is it always the assholes that have to be hot? Can’t he be freaking hideous? Fuck a duck with my luck, man.

My accoster is giant, possibly even larger than Jasper’s massive size. Except this guy isn’t made of stone. No, he’s made of flesh and blood and muscles upon muscles. Molten gold eyes stare down at me as a sneer curls a set of plump lips. Chestnut hair covers his head, longer on top and shorter on the sides. A barrel chest, probably five or six times my size, threatens to rip out of the white v-neck t-shirt covering his large frame. If I didn’t know he was a supe—and a complete total asshole—he’d definitely be the kind of man I’d let do dirty things to me.

But nope. Not him. Not after this bullshit. His attitude ruins the entire handsome picture, making him ugly as fuck.

“Keep your student in check, Mr. Winterton,”—he stresses Thaddeus’ title—“and I won’t have to step in before her own stupidity gets her killed.”

It should piss me off that they’re talking about me like I’m not even here, but with the lack of control of my magic and how huge this dick is, I’ll let it go. Just this once. This is an altercation I’d never win. And I’ll be the first to admit it.

“She’s new, Hudson. Leave it alone.” Hudson huffs a disbelieving laugh, then spins on his heel, his plate firmly in hand, and heads to an empty table. The chatter around the room dies out, not because of the altercation but because this Hudson dude throws a hissy fit by slamming his plate to the surface of the table, shattering not only the glass but the wood itself.

“Ignore him, sunshine. He has a stick up his ass. Has ever since he first started here. But he was right when he said consuming the flesh of the dead would kill you. So I’d steer clear of it.”

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