3
Tonya’s parole officer, Miranda, had sketched her a map to class and even sympathized with her plight. Every member of the Old Families knew the conditions of her parole—remedial magic lessons.
They taught magic in University College, a relic of the 1800s assembled from red sandstone blocks. Leaded windows bubbled with age across the front of the rectangular building that was book-ended by two towers. Gargoyles peered over the eves in a cloudless sky, waterspouts empty but willing to douse passersby when it rained.
Tonya entered through a stone archway. The hallways ran across the front and along two sides of a manicured lawn surrounded by covered arcades. If she wasn’t late, she might have grabbed a coffee from the café sheltered by the covered walkway and sunned herself in the green space. It would be nice to pretend she was there to get a normal degree like the Mundane students from non-magical families.
Instead, she took the right-hand hallway and hurried past oak-paneled walls and stone stairs worn by centuries of student feet. To find her special class, she’d have to go farther.
Tucked behind the impressive oak panels of the hallway, she knew the lecture rooms to be small and shabbily renovated. The plastic seats were uncomfortably modern, with fold-down arms instead of desks. Tonya had started a suffocating first-year English class in one of them. She hoped the magic lecture room was larger.
Ashton Security would have approved the tiny rooms with leaded windows and cramped chairs to restrain Tonya’s movement. Add the ankle monitor and constant surveillance of strangers, and Loon Lake University felt like another prison. The City Council had tasked Professor Kirkdene with taming Tonya’s powers. He would surely report her tardiness to Ashton Security.
With her shoulders back and chest out, she strode like she had plenty of time and knew exactly where she was going. Never let them see you sweat.
Wait.
She had followed the directions perfectly, right down to the room number, so why was she facing a dead end?
“Tonya? I barely recognized you with white hair.” Arjun caught up on lanky legs, his shiny black locks flowing past his shoulders.
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“What are you doing here?”
“Summer school. You?” A smile crossed his lips like he was in on a joke.
Arjun was a Digital Ninja like Drake. He had witnessed the same food-crazy carnage as her boyfriend, so why hadn’t Ashton Security wiped his memory?
“I think you already know. What are you taking?”
“Guess.” He held up paper directions similar to hers. His grin explained everything. He was from Toronto, but out-of-towners sometimes absorbed enough Loon Lake magic to develop powers.
“Looks like we’re both lost.” She pointed to the dead end dominated by a glass case crowded with tarnished plaques and silver trophies.
“And late.”
He was hiding secrets behind those deep brown eyes. “Why do you need summer school?” she asked.
“I’m a keener. What year are you in?”
“I’m starting first year for the second time. You know that.” It felt like everyone did.
Arjun looked from the display case to his hand-drawn map. “This is the right spot.”
“Can I see your map?”
Before he could hand it over, the surrounding air shimmered, the display case disappeared, and Marta Ashton appeared in a darkened entrance. Small and pretty, like a viper, Marta had singled out Tonya for punishment in her first year. What nasty twist of fate threw them together in summer school? No professor would dare fail Donna Ashton’s daughter, so she should be on vacation.
“Hey, dummies! Don’t stand there till the end of Tonya’s parole. Get in here!”