Few eyes turned my way as the name probably didn’t ring any bells. Brandi looked back and forth between me and Shawn, her mouth parted in confusion. I stared out at the crowd, expecting them to laugh. No one laughed. I found Natalie among the others, and I caught her concerned look, but she did nothing.

“This is bad,” Brandi said in a low voice.

“Aidan, please step forward, or do you forfeit? Keep in mind, new blood, forfeiting is twenty-five hundred points. A loss is only what you bet,” the red headed teacher said. Lorelei stayed among the crowd and gave me a satisfied smirk. I considered making a run for it.

With a deep breath, I drew myself up. I wasn’t about to lose all my points before I knew how to use them, even if I got my ass kicked. It was a struggle, but I put one foot in front of the other until I stood free of the crowd and faced Shawn.

“What’s this about?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice even.

“You know what it’s about,” he sneered. “Lorelei told me what you said.”

“You’re taking Lorelei at her word? That seems foolish.” His face turned even more sour. “I didn’t say anything about you, Shawn, and I sure as hell didn’t say anything to Lorelei.”

“Knock it off. You’ve been all high and mighty since we got here. You think you’re the cleverest of all here. Yet look where you are. Still alone, still a slum kid—”

“There is no name calling or insults during a duel,” the red headed teacher said. “If you continue this way, you will both forfeit your points.” She looked around at the crowd behind me, and she frowned. “Where are your witches?”

I cursed. “Do I need one?”

She regarded me and then turned so she could see Lorelei. She tightened her jaw as she slowly turned her gaze to me. “Without a witch you cannot duel and if that is the case you forfeit.”

I looked around at the crowd again, a lingering hope that one of the girls among the many there would take pity on me. They avoided eye contact as if even one glimpse would set them on fire. Even Natalie looked down and toward the guy next to her.

“Well, guess I’m just screw--"

“For the gods’ sake and love, you’re all a bunch of heartless harlots.” I turned to see Brandi stalking over to me. She glared at the crowd as she went, her face a study in anger. “So he’s not the most powerful... big deal. You lot are willing to see him fall farther behind? I know most of you complain about not finding a mage that wants you and yet you ignore this one?” When no one said anything she shook her head, her pony tail hitting both of her shoulders. She faced me, and her face softened. “You need a witch…” she began and took a deep breath as she placed her hands on her hips and gave me a sidelong look. “Well, I’m offering to be yours.”

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I stuttered for words and then swallowed hard. “W—why?”

“Because I decided to,” she said and lowered her voice. “Besides, you’re the only mage that will even get close to me.”

“You realize what you’re agre—”

“Better than you, soft-heart. If you’ll take a saturate as a witch then I’m onboard,” she said, and I fought the grin while I gave a quick node. Her eyes squinted in amusement, and she turned to the teacher. “Then we need to reschedule this stupid thing.”

“Agreed,” the red headed teacher said and looked at the watch on her wrist. “Let’s return here after lunch, say about one-thirty.” She looked to both sides, and neither disagreed. “It’s settled then, I want this gathering gone in the next three minutes or I start handing out detentions.”

The crowd broke apart, voices blending together as the talk of the fight was now Brandi and I. Soon it was just us standing on the red stained grass. A feeling of awkwardness came over me as I glanced at Brandi, unsure what the best move was. I heard the cracking of charred dirt and we both turned on our heels to see who was approaching. Lorelei held up her hands with a grin.

“I come in peace.”

“The hell you do,” I said and resisted the urge to hit her as I knew her magic would stop me before I made more than two steps. “What the hell did you tell Shawn?”

She gave a sheepish shrug. “I may have embellished and… made up some things you said about him and the witch he bonded with.”

“Why would you do that?” Brandi asked as she shoved Lorelei back a step. “You could have cost him all of his mage points.”

“H-hey, I warned him,” Lorelei said and looked flustered for the first time.

“Really? ‘I warned him’? Warned him about what? That you were going to embarrass him in front of the entire school when he didn’t have a witch?” She actually took a swing, but Lorelei threaded out one of her blue strands of magic. It didn’t reach Brandi as it shattered against some invisible force, but it stopped her in her tracks. “Don’t you try to control me with your cheap magic tricks.”

Lorelei took a step back in surprise, but a smile quickly appeared on her face. “Someone has been studying.”

“Not much else to do when you’re a saturate,” Brandi said, and I even felt the coldness in her voice. “Well, you got what you wanted.”

“Drastic measures, as they say. But I haven't succeeded yet.”

“No?” I asked, finding my voice again. “What other tricks do you have to play?”

Pressing her lips together, she dug into the pocket of her skirt. She came up with a key on a chain and tossed it to Brandi, who fumbled to catch it. She held it out in front of her, confused, and then looked at me. I shrugged.

“What’s this for?” she asked.

“A private room on the first floor by the statue of the Earth Witch. You better hurry, you only have a couple of hours and bonding can take a lot out of you.” Lorelei waggled her eyebrows at us before walking off toward the academy again.

Brandi held the key up and looked at it for a moment before heading the same way. She paused when she realized I hadn’t followed. “You coming or what? I can’t do this by myself.”

I jerked out of my stupor and hurried to catch up.