Chapter 0009

A shiver rakes down my spine as we walk past the graveyard's gate and a heady scent of honeysuckle and musk make my mouth go dry. Where have I smelled that before?

Tombstones litter across the green grass. A few are cracked and one is broken in half. Some spiral out in patterns that don't make any sense while others are straight in a line.

"Here we are." Melanie stops in front of a marble statue of a fairy looking down on a gravesite. "Just follow my lead."

She takes one of the statue's hands and I do the same. A tingle leaps up my arm. I cringe, jumping back and rubbing my palm on my uniform skirt.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"Nothing." Did she not feel anything when she touched the statue? I take the marble hand again and let out a breath when nothing happens. "Guess I'm just jumpy."

"Well, hold on to your bootstraps then, cause this will be the ride of your life."

Before I can ask her what she means, she closes her eyes and the graves around us flip upside down. I feel like I'm falling through an endless black hole. Pinpricks jab along every inch of skin. My hair stands on end like I'm touching a Van de Graaff generator.

Then my feet strike the ground and I fall, my hand slipping from the statue. I clutch the grass in my hands, dry-heaving.

"Sorry, the first time is rough." Melanie rubs my back. "Try to breathe deeply."

I struggle to draw in air, my vision going blurry. A flash of grey eyes pierces me. I blink, sitting back on my ass. But the vision is gone.

"Better?" Melanie asks.

It's nighttime now and everything looks different except the marble fairy.

"Where are we?" I lick my lips, noting they are dry and cracked.

"France. Just outside Lyon to be exact. We're at the French Hollowhaven Academy."

She helps me stand. I hold onto her arm as my legs wobble. The world tilts but I swallow back the bile surging into the back of my throat.

"Did you see anything when we crossed over here?" I ask, my voice is hoarse.

"Like what?" She leads me to a two-story brick building. "There's the blackness of the leyline before we land here. Why, what did you see?"

I shake my head, not knowing her well enough to trust her. It was probably my imagination playing tricks on me. Yet even now, those grey eyes haunt me. "Same as you. Didn't know if everyone saw things differently or not."

"No, thankfully."

"Would it be bad if someone did see something that wasn't there or unusual?" I open the door to the building, wanting to get this class and this day over with.

She pauses, frowning. "Yeah, I suppose it's possible but it's not a good sign."

A sick sensation punches me in the stomach. "What do you mean?"

"That the person could be susceptible to spirits. Like a hijinks- spiritual possession."

Is that what nearly happened to me? Or the dream last night? We enter the building, making our way down the hallway to a room stuffed with desks and students pulling out their textbooks.

"How would someone protect themselves if that was the case?" I ask Melanie.

She shrugs. "Protection amulets. No ritualistic magic near a leyline."

We take our seats and I lean over to whisper, "So it could make someone be haunted by a ghost or raise the dead?"

"No." She shakes her head. "Necromancy isn't easy. The moon has to be in the right phase, the time right depending on who you're trying to raise or contact. Blood sacrifice. Lots of stuff."

I must look scared because she reaches over and pats my hand. "Don't worry. Nothing that a human, even trying, would be able to do."

Somehow her words don't comfort me.