Page 4 of The Holy Academy of Witches

Three

Adeline

As we stepped out of my mother’s office, I glanced back at the American girl. If all her quirky excitement, pent-up nerves and annoying accent took physical form, it would be her hair. Her blue-grey eyes looked back at me with uncertainty and I wondered what she saw when she looked at me. I was always the picture of cool, calm and composed. I wandered the halls of this academy like royalty, but always under the watchful eye of my mother. I envied this girl’s freedom almost immediately, though I didn’t know her.

I took a left out of the office expecting her to follow me, which she was. She kept silent alongside me, her eyes darting around trying to take everything in. I wasn’t too familiar with the other Academies around the world but I knew ours was the largest in all of Europe. The architecture alone was stunning. I still remember seeing it for the first time as a child when my mother initially took her position as High Headmistress and I felt so insignificant but completely in awe.

“Do you have a map?” I asked her.

“Yes, I was given one in my acceptance letter. I used it when I first got here, should I…” She made a move as if to retrieve it and I waved her off.

“No no, I was just checking. This place is large and it’s easy to get yourself lost at first… although, there will be plenty of students here in an hour or so for you to ask.”

“Oh… can’t I just ask you?” She asked.

“No,” I replied bluntly. Continuing on, I gestured before us to a large wooden door.

“This is the library,” I pressed my palm to the door, my fingers tingling in response as a familiar golden light bloomed from beneath my fingertips; my magical signature accepted. The door swung wide, to reveal a deceptively vast space. Rows and rows of bookshelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling. Balconies ran the length of each floor as the main atrium looked up, right to the tower’s ceiling.

“When was this place built?” The girl asked… Was her name Clove? Clove Wilkinson? Yes that would do… Her eyes were wide with wonder.

I leaned in the doorway as she wandered further into the middle of the ground floor, spinning as she went. Her eyes lifted to the many floors above. Each holding hundreds, if not thousands, of books of each topic and subject. “Ours was built in the early seventeenth century, during the witch trials. Witches needed a safe place to come and hide and it became the perfect place for teaching the younger girls. The second Academy was built around a hundred years later.”

“Second Academy?” She paused her inspection of the carved stone fireplace.

“Yes, the Sanctae Academia Veneficus, the boys school…” I explained.

“Oh… Of course,” she looked nervous at this.

“…It’s located on the other side of the grounds, across the lake.”

She visibly relaxed, presumably on hearing she wouldn’t be sharing the campus with the boys. Huh, I would have thought she’d have wanted to be near her sibling. I watched as she continued her perusal of the sitting area. Eventually, she looked toward me apprehensively. Taking this as my cue, I turned around and led us back out of the library and continued on up the corridor.

I gestured to the dining hall which sat in the heart of the school. Its beautiful tiled floor gleamed in the light, which streamed through the glass ceiling. Rows and rows of circular tables were placed throughout and a team of staff were busy dressing the space for the welcome feast later in the day.

Sage caught up to me as I continued on without her.

“What’s the deal with the dining hall?” She asked, gesturing behind her.

“What do you mean?” I replied, turning to face her. We had paused in a hallway which led us towards the back entrance of the main Academy.

“Like, is it a sit-down formal meal situation? Or like a high-school cafeteria?”

“Ah, both actually. During the day, breakfast and lunch is served buffet style. You can also take it away to eat elsewhere on campus, which most people choose to do. Whereas, dinner is laid out at a set time with a variety of options on your table to choose from, with no option of grabbing something to go.”

“Cool, cool. Okay,” she looked around as she considered my words. Her eyes lit up as she took in our surroundings. “Wow,” she breathed.

“Ah, yes.” I said, following her line of sight, “this is always a well-liked area of the campus.” The corridor stretched on the full length of the building with few doors or windows to break up the view of hundreds of fine oil paintings and delicate tapestries adorning every visible inch of wall space.

She walked over to the nearest painting, “what do they mean?” She asked, as she raised her fingers to touch its surface.

“This area of the Academy sits upon a ley line, a network of interconnecting pathways, much like a web, beneath the earth, which are natural sources of magic.” I explained, “each of the artworks hanging here tells a story of our history, in all its forms. How much do you know of the origins of witchcraft and magic?” I asked. A flush crept up her tanned neck as she fumbled over her words.

“Umm, well… I mean….”

“Not a lot then. Well, perhaps you should think about whether you truly belong here.” I walked a few paces away from her to continue our path to the grounds of the Academy. Ready for this tour to be done with. What had my mother been thinking to bring, essentially, a mortal into our world? And not only that but to also accept her admission. I idly wondered what had taken place in that room to sway my, usually, difficult to please mother.

“Hey!” She shouted. I stopped and turned back to face her, my eyebrows raising at her tone. “I get it. You’re the popular girl on campus, you’ve got that whole dark and mysterious witch vibe down to a tee, but this is all new to me. Just because I didn’t grow up in this world doesn’t mean I’m useless! The headmistress clearly thinks I deserve to be here so… So…”

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