The Prophecy of Shadows (3 page)

I pushed the thought away. There had to be another explanation. One that made
sense
.

Kate edged closer to the wall to give me space to walk next to her. “So, about the honors classes,” she said, lowering her voice. “You saw what was written on the board. Each color has a different meaning. Once we learn how to harness energy properly, we can use the different colors to help us … do things.”

“What kind of things?” I asked.

“Let’s take yellow—my personal favorite—as an example,” she said. “Yellow increases focus and helps us remember information. If you channel yellow energy before studying for a test, it won’t take as long to review everything, and you’ll remember more. It’ll make your memory almost photographic. Pretty cool, right?”

“It does sound useful,” I agreed. “Although I’m still not buying all this colors and energy stuff.”

“Give it time.” Kate smiled, as if she knew something I didn’t, and stopped in front of a classroom door. “We’re here. Want to sit with me?” She led the way to a table in the front, and I followed, even though front and center wasn’t my thing. “I’ll help you with the basics after school,” she offered. “You got the hang of channeling energy pretty quickly, so it shouldn’t be hard. Sometimes it takes the freshmen months to gather enough energy to feel anything significant. It was obvious from where I was sitting that you did it on your first try. That was pretty impressive.”

“I’m not sure I actually did anything, but sure, I’ll study with you after school,” I said. Even though this energy stuff sounded crazy, it was nice of Kate to reach out. I didn’t want to miss the chance to make my first friend here. “I could definitely use help getting caught up with my classes.”

“Great.” Kate beamed. “I’m sure you’ll pick it up quickly.”

More students piled in, a few of them people I recognized from homeroom. Then, just as I’d started to think it was stupid to hope he would also be in this class, Blake strolled inside, with Danielle trailing close behind.

His eyes met mine, and my breath caught, taken aback by how he’d noticed me again. But he couldn’t be interested in me like
that
. It was probably just because I was new. And because, as embarrassing as it was to admit, he’d caught me staring at him. So I opened my textbook to the chapter that Kate already had open, focusing on a section on dominant and recessive genes as if it were the most fascinating thing I’d ever read in my life.

“I told you in homeroom that he’s taken, remember?” Kate whispered once Blake and Danielle were far enough away.

My cheeks heated. “Was it that obvious?”

“That you were checking him out?” Kate asked, and I nodded, despite how humiliating it was that she’d noticed. “Yeah.”

“I’m not doing it on purpose,” I said. “I know that he has a girlfriend. I would never try anything, I promise. But … have you seen him? It was hard not to at least
look
.”

“I know you’re not doing it on purpose,” she said. “He’s one of the hottest guys in the school—I get that. But Danielle doesn’t take it too kindly when girls flirt with Blake. Or check out Blake. Or even look like they’re
interested
in Blake. It’s in your best interest to keep your distance from both of them. Trust me.”

I was about to ask why, but before I could, the bell rang and class began.

The other sophomores from homeroom were in most of my classes, and Kate sat with me in each one, including lunch. I was so behind in the honors courses that I seriously needed whatever Kate said she would teach me after school to help.

“What class do you have next?” Kate asked as we packed our bags after advanced Spanish.

I pulled my schedule out of my pocket. “Ceramics.” I groaned. I wasn’t awful at art, but I would have preferred a music elective, since music was always my favorite class. “What about you?”

“Theatre,” she answered, tucking her hair behind her ears. “I want to be in the school play this spring, but I always get nervous on stage. Hopefully the class will help.”

“You’ll get in,” I said. “Besides, can’t you use that witchy energy stuff to convince the teacher to give you the part you want? Or mess up other people during their auditions so they don’t get the leads?”

Her eyes darted around the hall, and she leaned in closer, lowering her voice. “We don’t use our powers to take advantage of others,” she said. “I’ll fill you in on everything later. Okay?”

I nodded and followed her through the art wing, resisting the urge to ask her more right now. Instead, I looked around. Student paintings decorated the walls, and what sounded like a flute solo came from a room close by. Kate stopped in front of the double doors that led to the theatre. “This is me,” she said. “The ceramics room is upstairs—you shouldn’t miss it.”

We split ways, and like Kate had told me, the ceramics room was easy to find. Kilns lined the side wall, pottery wheels were on the other end, bricks of clay were stacked in shelves in the back, and the huge windows were a welcome change from the stuffy classrooms I’d been in so far.

I looked around to see if anyone seemed receptive to having the new girl join them, and my eyes stopped when they reached Blake’s. He sat at the table furthest away, leaning back in his seat with his legs outstretched. The chairs next to him were empty. He nodded at me, as if acknowledging me as a member of a special club, and I noticed that no one else from homeroom was in this class. Could he be inviting me to sit with him?

Since everyone from homeroom seemed to stick together, I took that as a yes and walked toward Blake’s table, my pulse quickening with every step. I remembered what Kate had told me earlier about Danielle—how she was crazy possessive over Blake—but Danielle wasn’t here. And Blake was the only person who wanted me to join him. Refusing would be rude.

He moved his legs to give me room, and I settled in the seat next to him. His deep, liquid eyes had various shades of reddish brown running through them, and he was watching me as if he was waiting for me to say something. I swallowed, not sure how to start, and settled on the obvious.

“Hi.” My heart pounded so hard I feared he could hear it. “You’re in my homeroom, right?”

“Yep,” he said smoothly. “We also have biology, history, and Spanish together.” He counted off each on his fingers. “And given that you’re in Darius’s homeroom, it’s safe to say that you have Greek mythology with me next period as well. I’m Blake.”

“Nicole,” I introduced myself, even though Darius had already done so in front of the class this morning. “I heard that all of the sophomores in our homeroom have to take Greek mythology. Luckily I read
The Odyssey
in English last year, so I shouldn’t be totally lost.”

“There’s a reason we’re required to take Greek mythology.” He scooted closer to me, as if about to tell me a secret, and I leaned forward in anticipation. “Did you know that we—meaning everyone in our homeroom—are descended from the Greek gods?”

I arched an eyebrow. “Like Zeus and all of them living in a castle on the clouds?” I asked.

“Exactly.” He smirked. “Except that they’re referred to as the Olympians, and they call their ‘castle in the clouds’ Mount Olympus.”

“So you’re saying that we’re
gods
?”

“We’re not gods.” He smiled and shook his head. “But we have ‘diluted god blood’ in us. It’s what gives us our powers.”

“Right.” I wasn’t sure how else to respond, and I looked down at the table. Was he playing a joke on me? Trying to see how gullible the new kid could be?

“What’s wrong?” He watched me so intensely—so seriously—that I knew he was truly concerned.

“The truth?” I asked, and he nodded, his gaze locked on mine. So I took a deep breath, and said, “Everything from our homeroom sounds crazy to me. But you’re all so serious about it that I’m starting to think you actually believe it.”

“It’s a lot to take in at once,” he said.

“That’s the understatement of the day.” I flaked a piece of dried clay off the table with my thumbnail. “But Kate offered to teach me some stuff after school, and she’s been really nice by taking me around all day, so I told her I would listen to her.”

“Kate’s a rule follower,” Blake said, crossing his arms. “She’s only going to tell you about a fraction of the stuff we can do. But stay in homeroom with us, and maybe my friends and I will show you how to have
real
fun with our abilities.”

The teacher walked inside before I could respond, and the chattering in the room quieted. As much as I wanted to ask Blake what he meant, I couldn’t right now. We weren’t supposed to talk about our abilities when humans could hear.

Then I realized: I’d thought of other people as “humans,” like I wasn’t one of them anymore.

The scary thing was—I might be starting to believe it.

After Greek mythology, Kate and I walked together to the classroom in the library. Darius was there, hunched over his desk as he studied a paper. Kate knocked on the door, and Darius flinched backward, lifting his head to look at us.

“Nicole.” He picked up the paper and put it into his briefcase. “I’m glad you’re back. I wanted to apologize again for the dramatic way I introduced all of this to you this morning. I didn’t realize that you were coming in here knowing nothing.”

“It was certainly dramatic.” I looked at the board where the writing had changed in front of my eyes that morning. “And to be honest, I’m still not sure if I believe any of it. It seems very…” I paused, not wanting to say anything that he might take as insulting.

“Far-fetched?” he completed my thought, and I nodded. “I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that. However, what’s your instinct telling you?”

“My instinct can’t get over how witches are creatures from fairy tales—or horror stories,” I said. “They don’t exist.”

“Give it time.” He waved my answer away, and packed up his stuff. “I shouldn’t have asked you so soon.”

“Hold on,” I said, since I still wanted answers. “What did you do to the board this morning? When you made the letters move?”

“I didn’t ‘make the letters move.’” He chuckled. “Our powers are mental, not physical. So before you came inside, I created an illusion to hide what was
really
written on the board. Once I determined your identity, I removed the illusion to allow you to see what it actually said.”

“You ‘created an illusion,’” I repeated, shaking my head. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected something that made sense.”

“It
will
make sense,” he said. “Just give it time. After all, you did a fantastic job with harnessing energy this morning during our practice session. You chose green, did you not?”

“I did,” I said, gripping the strap of my bag. “How did you know that?”

“I felt it fill the room,” he said. “It was impossible
not
to sense it. Well, at least impossible for me. None of the other students are advanced enough to have been able to tell. But that was quite impressive, especially for a first try. It would be a shame to waste such natural talent.”

I stood there, unsure what to say. I hadn’t told
anyone
what color I’d chosen that morning. How could Darius have known?

It was either an excellent guess, or he was telling the truth.

“I’m going to go over the basics with Nicole,” Kate spoke up. “I want to help catch her up.”

“Thank you, Kate,” Darius said. “I know you’ll lead her in the right direction. In the meantime, I’m going to get out of your way. I’ll see both of you tomorrow morning.”

“Bye.” I made no promises about being in his homeroom tomorrow, since I was still considering changing my schedule. “Thanks for letting us use the room.”

“This room is yours as much as it is mine,” he said as he walked to the door. “Good luck, and have fun.”

“We will,” Kate said, and he shut the door, leaving us on our own. Once he was gone, Kate clasped her hands together, her eyes shining. “What do you want to learn first?” she asked.

“You’re the expert,” I said. “But the whole ‘making studying take less time than normal’ thing might be a good place to start. I’m way behind in Spanish.”

“Good idea,” she agreed. “How about we do some focus and memorization exercises? It’s one of the first things freshmen do when they learn how to harness energy. Darius should have something to practice with. Hold on a minute while I look.” She walked to the row of cabinets on the side of the room and pulled out a box. “Here it is.”

“Is that Trivial Pursuit?” I chuckled at the sight of the game that I used to love back when my family did weekly game nights.

“It helps with memorization,” she said. “Like flashcards. And you learn a bunch of fun facts as well.” She set the box down and opened it. “So, you really didn’t know about
any
of this before this morning?”

“No…” I said. “I thought that was obvious by now.”

“It is,” she said. “It’s just surprising that your parents didn’t tell you. Even without training, your powers would show themselves eventually. You would think they would have wanted to prepare you.”

“They don’t know about any of this,” I said. “So they couldn’t have known to tell me.”

“That’s not possible.” Kate’s eyes lit up at the opportunity to share her knowledge. “Since we’re all descended from the Greek gods, our powers are passed down from one generation to the next. A witch has to have one parent who’s also a witch.”