Liska heard rustling, and then her new suitemate reappeared with a piece of paper. Airin held it up. “I have to take this to the office.”

“I’ll go with you!” said Liska, jumping up. “I want to see if they have our schedules ready.”

Airin nodded once and marched out the door at a fast pace.

Liska followed Airin down the stairs of their quad and across the street. Airin carried the folded paper casually in one hand, but their empty hand was clenched.

“I don’t know why they don’t have an app or something,” Liska said as they passed through the dorm doors.

Airin cast a glance over their shoulder, but not long enough for Liska to see their face. “Not everyone can use them. Ghouls can cause cell phones to break.”

“Oh!” Liska glanced at them sheepishly, but Airin was focused on the hallway ahead. “I think we covered that in basic supernatural studies. Did you go to school or were you homeschooled? I went to clan school,” Liska continued. Many supernatural outsiders would call it skulk school, but “skulk,” the term for a group of foxes, was not considered a polite word by most of her kind.

“I was homeschooled,” responded Airin blandly. Liska figured most banshees were homeschooled, but she thought it better to be polite and ask. There was a lot she didn’t know about other supernaturals. Liska had rarely been allowed out of clan territory until she came to EA and had met few outsiders.

She shaded her eyes at the bright sunlight in the outdoor common area. Did the sun bother banshees? Airin kept walking, their long, straight, white hair glittering iridescent in the sunlight. Guess not.

Even though Liska had seen photos of Eclipse before she came, she had still imagined it as some giant old-fashioned house with gargoyles on the rafters. But instead, it was an ultra-modern building with huge glass windows built in a U-shape around a grass courtyard. The five dorms sat behind the main building in rows like an apartment complex. The school was gated in front and the parking spots along the street all had signs like “Principal” and “Teacher of the Year,” but every car sat motionless and empty.

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Liska pulled at the neck of her t-shirt. It clung to her arms and made them itch. Why does it feel so damp in Georgia? New Mexico only feels this way after a rain shower.

A few ancient trees, hung with moss, surrounded a rectangle of grass to make up a common area. Trees towered around the whole school, which made Liska feel a little claustrophobic. How do people know where they are going if they can’t see anything but trees?

A few wooden benches were placed along the walkway around the grassy square. Students sat on the grass and the benches under large trees.

Liska felt the eyes of a group of students sitting underneath one tree. She glanced at them, trying not to show any fear or emotion. They were older, probably high schoolers. One girl who was translucent, maybe a ghost? She scribbled in a notebook as translucent as she was.

Another boy sneered at her, his curly red hair frizzing in the humidity. What kind of supernatural is he? He didn’t smell like a shifter, but she could smell something cold and icy radiating from him. Maybe a water wizard?

They entered a building on the other side of the common area and found a large entrance hall made of dark wood and decorated with bunting and a sign that read “Welcome Back, Students.” There was a line of students leading to an office labeled “Administration.” They joined the line behind four or five other students.

The front doors opened, and a crowd of students and adults made their way into the entrance hall and moved toward the administration office. The group parted, and Liska saw a tall, muscular blond boy with olive skin and dark eyes that didn’t match his hair.

“Who is that?” asked Liska.

The dark-haired girl in front of them sniffed. “Don’t you know? That’s Xyphon of Astaria. He saved thirty people from a burning building last week in his reality show.” A few students ahead of them left the line to peer through the crowd.

“Probably staged,” said Airin, peering into the office and not at the crowd.

The dark-haired girl sniffed, louder this time, and rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something else, but snapped it shut when a voice called her into the office. Spinning, she left them standing by the door.

“You’re next!” Liska pointed at the office, hoping the students who had left the line wouldn’t demand their spots back.

A red-haired woman with a haughty expression emerged from the crowd, stuck her arm in front of Liska’s nose, and barreled ahead of Airin. “Move, please! They have an appointment!”

Liska clenched her fists. “That’s not fair! We’ve been waiting” she exclaimed.

The blond-haired Xyphon and a woman with platinum blond hair and similar features went into the office. Is he enrolling here? He looks too old to be in school.

The red-haired woman followed them in and shut the door behind them. There was a loud sigh from everyone in line.