Page 4 of Satanic Shadow
He looks down at me, eyes flashing from green to silver, the way they always do when he stares at me. His teeth are clenched—I can tell from how tense his jaw is.
I’ve still to find out what type of immortal he is. Regardless, he doesn’t scare me.
As if he’s read my mind, he lets out a soft laugh and glances over his shoulder at the incoming professor. The corridor empties as she approaches.
“Seraphine Winters!”
She waves her hand, and invisible fingers wrap tight around my throat, yanking me to my feet as I choke.
“Stop causing trouble and get to your class!” Her voice lowers as she turns to face my bully. “I can only apologize for her clumsiness, Mr. Dalton.”
“No apologies needed,” he says in a deep tone, dragging his gaze up and down my body while I struggle. Dimples dent deep as he smirks. “I think the human likes being on her knees for everyone. Maybe she should stay there. It seems to be the only place she belongs.”
Dane Dalton is his name. He’s the son of the headmistress and the biggest dickhead in the academy, and if I had the chance, I’d kill him with my bare hands. As if being trapped here isn’t bad enough, Dane has some unnecessary rage towards me, like I’ve ruined his entire life just by breathing the same air as him.
He laughs down at me before fixing his crisp white cuffs and vanishing on the spot, taking his friends with him.
The teacher grimaces at me then releases her invisible hold. I drop to the ground once more—painfully. I try not to say a nasty comment as her heels click away from me.
Welcome to Quarrierton Academy, where violence is praised, and the weak and mortal are punished.
3
The mortal studies class is giving me a complex. I’m obviously going to pass this module, but sitting around everyone belittling everything about humans is making me feel small and useless.
Not only have I had zero sleep from the harrowing screams keeping me awake all night, but someone also stole my books, so I needed to borrow paper and a pen, which earned me a scowl from the professor.
She’s green. With scales and eyes too big for her head, to go with the tail that keeps hitting stuff off her desk.
“I thought humans have no magic?” Orsen, Dane’s best friend, interrupts Mel mid-question, making her glare at him. She looks like she wants to stab him with her long nails.
Mel isn’t a fan of him, like I’m not a fan of his far-too-tall-to-be-normal leader.
The professor huffs out a cloud of steam from her large nostrils. “They do not.”
She raises the mobile phone above her head. I wonder if I should tell her that no one uses black-and-white phone bricksanymore? “This gadget is how mortals communicate. If and when you are granted permission to leave the island, students will be required to know how to use one.”
“What does it do?” someone asks. “What are its powers?”
“For the tenth time, it doesn’t have any powers.” Staring at the stapler she just knocked to the ground, she snaps the pencil in her hand. “I’ve already explained the satellites and messaging service. Does anyone need me to explain these again?”
Annoyingly, someone says yes. The professor dives into how the numbers on the keypad also have letters. Some of the students take notes, and others pay no attention, but Dane Dalton mutters under his breath how ridiculous and weak mortals are before leveling his gaze on me.
He’s goading me to react, but instead, I pretend he doesn’t exist.
He flicks his finger, and all my notes fall to the ground.
“Sera Winters!”
I roll my eyes at him as the professor throws her chalk at me. It bounces off my desk and rolls across the ground.
“Dickhead,” I snarl in his direction as I reach for my papers. “Grow up.”
A gust of wind whips at my hair, and she bellows, “Language, Miss Winters!”
After nearly twenty minutes of everyone in denial that there are satellites in the sky and the internet is a thing, the professor sits at her desk. “Any questions before we move on to the next subject?”
A hand raises, and the entire class groans. “To sum it all up,” a student says, “mobile phones are a form of magic.”
