Page 26 of The Holy Academy of Witches

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Clover.”

Fourteen

Adeline

My shoes pounded heavily against the cold ground as I cut a path through the woods. My calves burning as I pushed on further and further. Deeper into the forest.

I chanced a look over my shoulder, only darkness greeted me. It wasn’t like the darkness that closed in when you shut your eyes at night, or the dying light when the sun begins to go down and the street lights blink on. No, this was the underneath of your bed as a child, the corners of a room at night. Your eyes straining for any familiarity, any safety. Your nerves firing like anything could happen.

My eyes shot back to the front. Perspiration gathered on my chest, my back, my forehead. A branch snapped behind me and I came to a sudden stop.

A shaky breath that was not my own wrapped around me like a vice. I shook with fear, frozen in place. My limbs frozen, not getting the message that I needed to run, far away. Each rattle grew closer, louder until I woke. Screaming.

* * *

Closing my eyes, I let my fingers move across the keys by instinct alone. Each note filled the space with a swell of emotions I couldn’t ever voice. I paused, the last note ringing out to silence. Leaning forward in my seat, I scribbled through the last couple of bars on my sheet with a huff of frustration.

I felt the presence of someone in the room as my hands settled, poised and ready above the keys.

“Yes?” I asked without looking over my shoulder to the doorway.

“Oh! So sorry, Miss Alva,” the nervous voice of Professor Hershaw called out across the space, “I didn’t mean to intrude, I heard the music and I thought it would be you.”

I turned in my seat to give her my full attention, Lydia Hershaw was one of the only teachers in the Academy that I could actually bear the company of. She stood half in the room, her beautiful ginger hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She always dressed more casually than the other teachers, far more than my mother who always looked like she was about to step into the boardroom of a Fortune 500 Company. So it was no surprise to see her in a pale green cotton jumpsuit with a pencil sticking out from behind her ear.

“Am I that predictable?” I asked.

“Gosh no! I just meant that I was hoping it would be you. I wanted to pick your brain while it was fresh in my mind.”

“Go on…” I said, indicating for her to take a nearby seat. She skipped to the seat in her usual delicate manner, like she was always one step away from dancing. She swivelled the chair to face me, blowing a stray hair away from her face.

“Well…” She crossed her legs, glancing around as though wary of her surroundings suddenly, “your mother mentioned that you were tutoring our lovely new transfer student, Miss Williams,” she said with a warm smile.

“Yes…”

“I was just wondering how you were getting on? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Oh. Well as a matter of fact, it’s your subject that I’m tutoring her in, mainly.” Her face lit up at this and she clapped with delight.

“Marvellous! Not that her struggling is a good thing! But, oh you know how I love to help! How is the poor lamb struggling? I’ll see if there’s anything on the curriculum I can adjust for her, to ease her into the class.” She began rummaging in her bag, presumably for the pencil behind her ear.

“I wouldn’t say she was struggling, quite the contrary actually. She’s rather brilliant… though it pains me to admit it,” I mumbled. “She’s off to a great start with her other classes already. Her knowledge of Divination is quite something.” Lydia perked up at this.

“Divination you say? Interesting. That would explain the struggle with rituals, the two usually being at odds with one another.”

“Yes, my thoughts exactly. I don’t think she warrants any leniency in class. I’ll have her up to speed in no time,” I reassured her.

She nodded absent-mindedly as she tapped her pencil against her chin, “Yes… anyway!” She jumped up, brushing off her legs as she stood, “bloody Barnaby’s got dog hair all over me. You’d think with one less leg than the typical pooch he’d have less hair but he seems to make up for it somehow,” she laughed, “he’s malting like I don’t know what! Anyway, lovely talking to you as always, Miss Alva. Do let me know if ever you need an ear or a shoulder. My door’s always open to you!” She danced from the room, glancing back to wave happily.

I turned in my seat, resuming my position at the piano. I scanned over what I had written so far, humming the melody under my breath and looked down to the keys. Touching them, I took an inward breath, my eyes slipping shut as I let my mind wander. The closest to meditating I usually allowed myself. The dark magic I had abused over the years had ebbed its way under my flesh, marking my soul in a way that I couldn’t even escape in my dreams, let alone in a meditative state. There would never be peace for me. My finger pressed down on the first note as my phone began to vibrate in my pocket.

“Oh forget it!” I said aloud. “What?” I snapped, placing the phone on top of my piano and switching it to loudspeaker.

“Bitch, who you talking to?” Dorcas’ voice screeched out of my phone.

“You. What do you want?” I smoothed my hair back as I worked over the music again in my head.

She clicked her tongue at me, “Fine be like that but I’m currently staring at the finest boys SAV has to offer.”

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