Chapter 0004

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.