I walked up the stairs that led to the entrance of the sixth form college Cassie attended. With each step, my heart beat faster. It had been almost half a century since I’d last hung out around humans. Would the school be similar to how it was the last time I had masqueraded as a student? It was a good thing I still had my youthful look about me.
I smoothed down my brown messy hair before continuing through the entrance. When I got inside I rubbed the back of my neck as I scanned the area. It was a big spacious hall with stairs in the back and doorways to the sides. A few students stood in groups talking, but they paid no attention to me. My eyes landed on the information desk to my right. I approached it, my stomach tightening. “Hey.” I gave the woman behind it a smile. “I’m new. I have a meeting with the head teacher. Would you mind telling me how to get there?”
The woman stood up and gave me a warm welcoming smile. “No problem. Let me show you. It’s a bit confusing when you don’t know the way.”
I followed her through a few corridors that had rows of blue lockers on both sides, and up some stairs. Eventually we ended up in an area with chairs and a reception desk.
“Please have a seat,” the woman said, walking over to the reception desk to speak to another lady. I sat down in one of the chairs and tried to make myself comfortable. My eyes moved to the window and the sky outside.
Her heels echoed on the floor when she approached me again. “I’ve told them you’re here. They will let you know when the head teacher is ready to see you. Good luck.” She smiled and walked away.
I looked down at the empty papers in my arms and took a deep breath. What would I do if I couldn’t persuade the head teacher to enrol me in the school? The easiest way for me to look over and make sure that Cassie stayed safe, would be to attend her classes.
My thoughts got interrupted when the woman from the reception desk approached me. “The head teacher is ready to see you now.”
I wiped my hand on my trousers before I got up from the chair and followed the woman as she guided me to the head teachers office. I entered the room, and a middle-aged man stood up behind his desk. The door shut as he made his way over to me.
“Hi Jax. Welcome to our school.” He reached out his hand to shake mine. “I’m head teacher Ryder. Please have a seat.” He gestured toward the chair and made his way back behind his desk and sat down.
I handed him the papers I had been holding, and used my ability to plant thoughts and memories in his mind, to make him believe the empty papers were all the paperwork he needed to enrol me into school.
It was a neat ability. I focused on the memories and thoughts I wanted to convey and visualised them being absorbed by the intended target. My mouth became dry. I didn’t like to mess with free will, but the effect would be temporary and wouldn’t leave any permanent scars.
I adjusted my seat and ran my hand through my hair as I watched Mr Ryder go over the papers. The intense look on his face had my pulse pounding in my head. I didn’t know if my ability would work on him.
“Thank you, Jax. I believe this is all I need to enrol you.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding, and my muscles relaxed.
He started typing on the computer in front of him. “Let’s get your timetable sorted so you know which classes to attend.”
With a lightness in my chest, I used my ability again, visualising him pulling up Cassie’s time table and creating an identical one for me. It surprised me how easy it had been to influence him. I had been worried about it as my mind suggestions wouldn’t work if the person was too strong minded.
Mr Ryder got up from the chair and handed me a copy of my timetable along with some other information. “I believe that is everything you need, but if you have any questions please come and see me.” He ushered me towards the door and opened it, gesturing for me to leave.
“Thank you, Head teacher Ryder,” I said before walking out the door.
I inspected the information I had been given and found a map of the school and directions to where my locker would be. I followed the directions and shortly after ended up in a corridor filled with teenagers. They were walking in the opposite direction to me, making it difficult to navigate my way around. Eventually I found my locker and opened it. Someone slammed into me from behind. My arm pounded from the impact.
Annoyed, I turned around and found myself facing a broad, muscular guy with short ginger hair and a stern facial expression. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was part of the rugby team.
“Watch it, new guy,” he yelled as he continued walking down the corridor like nothing had happened.
I clenched my hands to stop them from shaking. Who did he think he was? Despite his build, I could take him. He was only a human. Me, a demon, and if he only knew how effortlessly I could break him, he wouldn’t dare treat me like this. I shook the tensions from my hands. It would draw too much attention to myself. He wasn’t worth it.
The day continued without anything interesting happening. I made it to my new class in the afternoon and slid into a seat in the back. I let out a yawn while inspecting the other people in the classroom, when a girl with long brown hair walked through the door. My body straightened. She scanned the classroom and when her icy blue eyes landed on me, my entire body heated up. The classroom and everyone in it faded away and every part of me was entranced as she made her way towards me. There was something about her that I couldn’t place. A sense of familiarity. I studied her more closely. The energy that radiated from her reminded me of Nick’s. Was this his daughter that he wanted me to look after?
I wiped my hands on my trousers. The scent of spring flowers reached my nose as she sat down on the empty seat next to me. I mustered up a nervous smile. Her scent reminded me of the forest, my safe place.
She returned my smile. “Hi, I’m Cassie. You must be new.”
I ran my hand through my hair and met her gaze. “I’m Jax.”
She sorted through her belongings and pulled out a book and a notepad from her bag. I tried to come up with something else to say, but my brain had temporarily stopped working. I had never been good at small talk.
The teacher walked in, closed the door and started the class. I didn’t remember much of what the teacher had been going through as I spent most of the time getting my brain to work again. I needed a plan. I promised Nick I would keep her safe and the best way to do that would be to spend time with her. But how do I get her to spend time with me?
I glanced over at Cassie. I wanted to say something, but I seemed to have become tongue-tied. Luckily Cassie spoke first.
“Did you just move here?”
I nodded. “Yes, I got here a couple of days ago.”
“Cool, where abouts?”
Busted. I hadn’t thought about getting a place to live yet, but I obviously needed one to be able to keep up the facade. I put my hand over my wrist and swallowed. “It’s somewhere towards the outskirts of town. I don’t know the area very well.”
Cassie turned away from me and collected her stuff on the desk. An uncomfortable silence followed. I shifted in my seat and took my timetable out of my bag to see where the next class was.
“What’s your next class? Maybe I can show you how to get there,” Cassie said, leaning over to look at my timetable.
“My next class is maths with Mr Pine.”
“Mine too. Let’s walk together,” Cassie said with a smile.
We walked through the corridor together, neither of us saying anything to each other. When we got to the classroom Cassie excused herself and walked over to sit with some other girls that had saved her a seat. Some of them were glancing towards me and whispering, but it didn’t bother me. Much.
If I wanted, I could figure out what they were talking about, but to be honest it made no difference. My objectives were to keep Cassie safe, and none of the girls had any supernatural energies radiating from them as far as I could tell.
I didn’t get another chance to talk to Cassie that day. When school finished, I went house hunting. After several hours of flying around looking for houses, I saw one that looked promising. The large amount of untouched land that surrounded it, pulled me in. The house would be perfect, the forest providing the privacy I needed to come and go as a crow. I scanned the forest, and sensed that it belonged to a pack of shapeshifters. Having the wolves nearby wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as I stayed out of their territory. I turned back to my human form and approached the house. I passed a sales sign, and a car parked on the driveway. The house looked a bit run down, with a few cracked roof panels, flaking paint by the window sills and it could do with a new door. However, it wouldn’t be hard for me to fix. I rang the doorbell, hoping the owner would be
I woke up to the morning sun shining through my window. The clock on the bedside table showed that I had a couple of hours to spare. Too excited to continue sleeping, I got up and took a shower, humming to myself as I got ready for the day. Hopefully I would be able to talk more to Cassie today. I struggled to contain my excitement and even though there was still plenty of time before school started, I stepped outside. The warm breeze danced on my skin and a wide grin emerged on my face. I turned into a crow and flew around the neighbourhood before slowly making my way to school. I landed at the far end of the car park and transformed back to my human form behind the shelter of some trees. I made my way over to the building and walked over to my first class. A few students had already arrived, but none of them were Cassie. I scanned the classroom before sliding down in a chair with an empty seat next to i
I teleported to the forest where Freya lived. The shield around the area made it impossible to teleport directly to Freya’s cottage. For this reason, I had to make the journey the old fashion way, which involved several hours of flying. I enjoyed flying, so it didn’t bother me. During my childhood I had explored this area extensively, so I knew the ins and outs of the place and which parts allowed teleportation. The bright and colourful landscape gave the forest a magical glow, every shade of colour clearly visible. The seasons didn’t affect this place like they did in the human world. Even though the leaves on the trees changed colour, a warm breeze was always present. When in the mood, I would fly through the trees, enjoying the nature and wildlife. Sometimes I would even check in on the other magical beings th
The days went on and I tried my best to give Cassie space. I watched her from a distance, paying attention to anything suspicious. Nick hadn’t specified what may come after her. Maybe he didn’t know? Either way, I was on high alert, ready to step in and protect her if anything happened. She still hadn’t texted me, and when I saw her in school, she made no attempt to talk to me. Most of the time she sat on the other side of the classroom. Why was she avoiding me? I kept away from Mark as much as I could. The bullying got on my nerves. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? Every time I saw him, he would slag me off or slam me into the lockers. It pissed me off. What did he have against me? When my anger boiled over, I clenched my fists and took a few deep breaths, reminding myself why I couldn’t stoop to his level and retaliate.
An uncomfortable silence arose as I drove Cassie back to the house. My fingers tapped on the steering wheel as I tried to come up with something to say. I glanced over at Cassie. She looked out the window, absentmindedly fidgeting with the necklace. Maybe I should just let her digest everything I told her earlier. It confused me how she had handled everything in a calm manner. Why had she not freaked out? Did she already know about the supernatural world? Turning into Cassie’s driveway. I turned off the engine and got out of the car. Taking a deep breath, I made my way around the car to open the door for Cassie. She glanced up at me, parting her lips as if to say something. When I met her gaze, she looked away and climbed out. I gave her a smile and closed the door behind her, letting my hand rest on the car as I watched her walk up to the porch. “Cassie,” I
After I got back from seeing Cassie, I walked around the house with a wide grin on my face.She seemed comfortable around me today. Maybe this was the first few steps of becoming friends. A strange feeling entered my body when I thought of Cassie. Nothing bad, just a feeling that I used to know her, but I couldn’t figure out why. Cassie had only just turned seventeen, so I would have remembered if I had met her before. I shook my head. It didn’t make sense. I thought about telling Nick how the week had gone. But he had told me to be careful and only get in contact if anything important happened, and he already knew Cassie was getting her powers so I didn’t think that qualified. Besides, he would probably have my head if he realised that I had feelings towards his daughter. Feeling restless, I turned into a crow. N
When Leah’s car disappeared in the distance, I transformed into a crow. Sensing her magic made me uneasy. Why could I feel Leah’s magic this time when I hadn’t been able to notice it before? I followed them. The clear sky improved my visibility, and the black mini was easy to spot from above, so I kept my distance, even though I knew they wouldn’t be able to recognise me. The trees gave way to buildings and eventually I was gliding over the rooftops. I landed in the tree next to the driveway as Leah parked up. Leah’s magical energy was easy to detect until they walked inside. Despite the protective barrier I had put up, I should still be able to detect it. But I couldn’t sense it anymore, only their personal energies. It worried me. In all my years, I had never encountered anything like this. Why did it happen? I
Turning back to my human form, I checked the time. I'd been gone almost all day. Time worked differently in some realms, so it didn’t come as a shock. Cassie had texted me, but class would finish in less than ten minutes, so I didn't bother texting her back. I scanned the car park to make sure it was deserted before conjuring up my car. I leaned against it as I waited for Cassie. A while later she walked out the school entrance next to Leah. She fidgeted with her necklace as she looked around. When I caught her gaze, her shoulders relaxed, and a smile appeared on her face as she gave me a wave. I waved back, mirroring her smile. She left Leah behind and walked towards me. Butterflies fluttered through my stomach as I pushed myself off the car to go and greet her. I wrapped my arms around her, taking in her scent of spring flowers. A bolt of electricity shot t