Chapter 4
“I thought I heard voices in here. Is everything okay Dee?” a very attractive woman who looks to be in her thirties says as she walks into the room with a beaming smile. Her hair is jet black and shines as the sunlight hits it. It's the sort of hair that should be in shampoo ads and just enhances her stunning blue eyes and flawless skin. She wears a skin-tight black dress that shows off her hourglass figure and black stilettos, with her finger and toenails painted bright red. She is the kind of woman that makes you feel insecure as soon as you see her. “Yes. Clarrisa, this is Josie Banks, a new student I've just picked up from the human realm. Could you please assign her one of the single dorm rooms in Ruby,” Mr Collins says, whilst he takes out the file from his briefcase that the police officer had given him earlier and holds it out to Clarrisa. “Are you sure? There's plenty of space for her in Amber or Saphire,” Clarrisa says, giving me an assessing look up and down before scrunching her nose a little. “Put her in Ruby please and make sure she has everything she needs,” he says dismissively. Then he sits at his desk and opens up a laptop. I stand there unsure of what I’m supposed to do now. Mr Collins glances up at Clarrisa and then me. “That will be all,” he grunts. “Of course Deacon, Josie follow me please,” Clarrisa smiles tightly. “But…” I start. “That will be all Miss Banks, Clarrisa will get you everything you need and someone will be along to your dorm shortly to answer all your questions and get you settled. Welcome to Greys Academy. I hope there will be no need for any more visits to my office,” Mr Collins says flatly and then turns his attention back to his laptop. With a sigh, I follow perfect Clarrisa. We exit the office into a glass-lined corridor, Clarrisas heels click loudly on the cream marble floor. Everything feels too bright and shiny. I'd hate to be the cleaner here, there must be a whole army of cleaners to keep all the glass and marble clean. Clarrisa leads me to an elevator and I let an audible breath as I remember my last elevator ride before I was kidnapped by a sexy, rude, jerk of a… wizard? Then I snort laugh as I think about what is happening. I'm in freaking Hogwarts, and that makes Mr Collins Professor Dumbledore. Clarrisa gives me a disapproving side-eye. “Sorry, it's been a wild day,” I explain. “I can imagine. Don't worry about Deacon, he was taking his morning shower when the call came in about you, he had to rush off without his morning coffee, he's grumpy without his coffee,” she laughs, a little too much for it to be real. My mind is suddenly filled with thoughts of Mr Collins in the shower, then I realise what she said. If she was there when he got the call, that means she was there when he was showering. She's his girlfriend… or wife. Of course, she is, she is beautiful and he is hot as hell, they are a perfect match. That explains why he jumped away from me like I was on fire, he didn't want his girlfriend to get the wrong idea. My heart sinks a little. I thought I'd felt some chemistry in our short encounter, but I guess it was a stupid thought anyway. I'm his student now, and I don't know how things work here but I'm sure it's the same as it is in the human world. Students and teachers dating is a huge no. Why am I wasting time thinking about this when my life has just been completely obliterated? “Wait!” I blurt. “I need to go back… my mum,” I manage to say through panicked breaths. How could I forget about my mum? Guilt floods me. “Don't worry about any of that for now, time works differently here so no one will be missing you yet. Deacon will take care of everything, your mum will be just fine. I'm sure he will keep you updated on personal matters like that,” she smiles. “Okay,” I nod. “What about my stuff? Can I go back for it?” I ask. “Deacon will arrange for your belongings to get to you, try not to worry and just focus on making your new life here. I know this is a difficult time but I'm sure you will be happy here, we will work everything out to make this transition as easy as possible for you,” she says as we walk through a maze of glass and marble corridors. We exit the building into a courtyard with a huge fountain in the middle. The water comes out through four spouts. Above each spout is a large crystal. Clarrisa stops walking for a moment to let me look at it. “Each crystal represents a house at our Academy. You have been assigned to Ruby for the time being,” she motions to the red stone. “You can easily identify your fellow house students by the colour of their tie. Red for Ruby, green for Emerald, blue for Sapphire and yellow for Amber,” she explains as we walk on. I mentally roll my eyes at the thought of wearing a uniform again. I'm almost 19 years old and I feel like I'm going back to secondary school. “Where are the other students?” I ask, taking note of how quiet it is. “They are all in classes, they'll be finishing soon. We have just over 300 students here, it can get quite busy between classes,” she grimaces. Movement in the distance catches my eye and I can just make out a group of about thirty people. They're moving fast around each other as if dancing. As we get closer I realise they're fighting. “Combat training,” Clarrisa comments, “they're our next squad of soldiers,” she adds proudly. I want to get a closer look but Clarrisa ushers me on and towards an old-looking stone building that's embellished with Rubies. “This is your building,” she says as we enter through the door. I look around in awe. It's stunning. It's like an old castle inside but with everything you'd expect in a modern house. The large space has stone walls with thick red curtains around the huge windows. Then there are couches scattered around a large rug with a stone fireplace and real fire. There is a big flatscreen TV mounted to one of the walls with game consoles on the shelves underneath it. On each side of the room is a grand staircase that meets at the top. I follow Clarrisa up the stairs and down a hall, we pass two doors before she stops and hands me a key. “This one is yours, I'll give you some time to settle in and someone will be along shortly to show you around,” she smiles and walks away before I can even mutter a thank-you or get the door open.Chapter 5I stand in the doorway of my new room open-mouthed. This must be a mistake. This is nothing you'd expect of a dorm. This is more like a hotel suite. The bed is huge, king-size at least, and the pillows are like plush clouds that I just want to jump into. There is a dressing table with a mirror and a walk-in wardrobe that's almost as big as my entire dorm room at Mount University. The large window is framed by bookshelves, stacked with books of every genre you could wish for, and there's a cosy window seat with cushions and a blanket. I almost squeal in excitement. There's a small countertop with tea and coffee-making facilities and a mini fridge. In the bathroom, there's not only a shower but a full-size bathtub. The whole place is a luxury that I've only ever seen on TV and I have no idea how I am going to pay for it because I don't think a part-time job around my studies is going to cut it. I catch a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror and cringe. My hair is a mess, a
Chapter 6My vision returns as fast as it left. Theo is on the floor at my feet groaning.“What was that?” I demand, stepping back from Theo and clutching my hand. “The spark,” Theo groans out, and then he starts laughing. “What does…” I start, but I'm cut off by my door shattering into pieces. Making me shriek and jump back further. A very angry-looking man stands in my doorway, breathing heavily. He takes in the scene in front of him. Dark hair hangs over his eyes but it doesn't hide the fury peeking out behind the dark locks. His hand shoots out towards me and his fingers strain as if he is gripping something, then my oxygen is cut off. I scratch at my neck, trying to remove whatever is wrapped around it that's stopping me from breathing but there's nothing there. “Mason stop, I'm fine,” Theo croaks out and pushes himself to his feet before knocking the dark-haired man's arm down. Precious air fills my lungs and I collapse to my knees in relief. “Josie, are you okay?” Theo asks
Chapter 1“Good Morning ladies!” The dorm senior, Jenna, shouts as she makes her way down the corridor of the dorms, banging on each door as she goes. I roll over with a groan and stretch to pick up my phone. I read the time and then rub my eyes before checking the time again because there’s no way I read it right. Glancing around the room I feel confident that my eyes are now working correctly and check the time again.“Mother fluffer!” I curse under my breath. I was right the first time. It’s 5:30 AM! That confirms my suspicions that perfect Jenna with the too-friendly smile is evil. It’s the first day of university and classes start at 9 AM. Why on earth is she waking the whole dorm up at 5:30? I can hear grumbling and cursing from the other girls through the paper-thin walls as Jenna loudly announces that it’s shower time. I grab the pillow and press it over my head to try and block out the noise. I had my alarm set for 8 AM, which would have given me plenty of time to shower and
Chapter 2 For the next few hours, I watch the clock in the small room they have me locked in. I’d drank my small paper cup of water hours ago and I've counted every tiny crack I can find in the plastered walls at least ten times. Just when I'm at the point of driving myself completely insane by mentally replaying what happened with Jenna over and over again, the door opens. The male officer that I'd seen in my dorm room earlier walks in and takes the seat opposite me at the table. “Sorry to keep you waiting Miss Banks,” he says, laying a paper folder out on the table. He opens it and begins to read through it in silence. The seconds tick by and I start to get fidgety in my seat at the uncomfortable silence. Just as I open my mouth to break the silence the door opens again and a tall man wearing an expensive-looking suit walks in holding a briefcase. The man looks down at me in an assessing way. He is extremely good-looking and exudes dominance in a way that makes him hard to look at
Chapter 2“Wake up, Miss Banks,” a smooth voice says, the tone washes over me like a loving caress, and for the first time in a very long time I feel safe and it's not something I want to wake up from just yet. I nuzzle my face into the warmth against my cheek. A sweet, buttery and woodsy kind of scent hits my nose and I give an approving hum at the pleasing smell. A grunt of disapproval ruins my contentment right before I am dropped unceremoniously onto my back. The landing is soft but still unpleasant. “What the hell!” I curse, rushing to sit and take in my surroundings. I'm on a couch in a dimly lit room, bright light suddenly floods the room making me squint against it. I shift my attention to the source of the light, fighting the urge to hiss at it like a feral vampire. A large figure is framed by the beaming sunlight that is flooding the room through a window that spans the entire wall. The figure is fussing with the curtains that he's just opened and I quickly recognise him as