Good Witches Don't Lie (Academy of Shadowed Magic Book 1) by S.W. Clarke

Author:S.W. Clarke [Clarke, S.W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

We walked as a procession to the amphitheater, the entire student body and staff in a two-person line. Loki caught up to me then, trotting beside me with his tail upright.

I glanced down at him. “Good of you to make it.”

His green eyes glinted in the lamplight as his face lifted. “It’s my induction too, remember?”

I smirked down at him for a moment before lifting my eyes. Besides our small exchange, no one spoke. Footsteps crunched over the ground behind me, a strange sort of hush surrounding us like I’d never heard before.

They took this seriously. Very seriously.

Umbra led me down the steps toward the central dais, where a large metal brazier sat empty.

“Normally,” she whispered, “we induct a whole class in one evening. Lucky for you—or unlucky, depending on how you see it—you’re the only winter induction.”

Unlucky. Definitely unlucky. “Don’t let them flog me once they know I’m House Spark.”

This elicited a rare smile from her. She squeezed my hand; her fingers were cold. “Once you’re a student here, you’re one of us. You will always be one of us.”

Until I’m corrupted, I thought but didn’t say.

When we’d reached the stage, Umbra nodded me ahead of her up the steps.

I lifted my robes, taking the steps slowly as Loki trotted up beside me. When I reached the brazier, I stopped, turning toward the rest of the amphitheater.

Half the students had already filed in behind the professors, who sat shoulder to shoulder in the front row. They all stared up at me, some with hands clasped at the knee, one with arms folded.

Milquetoast, my Rescue professor. She was the one with folded arms.

I also spotted Quartermistress Farrow, her piercing gaze and that same horsewhip ponytail. She wore a red sash over her shoulders—a member of House Spark.

Umbra came to stand next to me, waiting with hands held before her until the rest of the student body was seated. When all footsteps had stopped, she raised her hands. “Students, teachers—tonight one of your houses will gain a new member. And as many of you know, that member will be a witch. Standing beside me is the world’s last witch, though I expect you to treat her as you would any other mage at the academy, for inside her lies great potential if properly nurtured.”

All at once, I spotted Liara. Those black eyes stared at me from the back of the amphitheater, nearly the same way they’d done just before she had sent me onto my back in Combat class.

A witch had killed her family. That was the mountain of hatred I had to work my way out from under.

Umbra stepped forward, holding her palm over the brazier. “As is tradition, I will supply the seed of magic. The student’s nature will change it to her element.”

Umbra’s fingers closed as though she were gripping something. When they opened, a small white globe sat in her palm, nearly ghostly in appearance. When she removed her hand, it remained hovering above the brazier.

She nodded to me.

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