We hurried up a stone footpath to reach our dorm.
We all vaulted up the large staircase once we got through the iron and wood door leading into Grathrock College. Luc veered off on the second landing. Draken left when he reached the sixth. Miranda and I were both huffing and red-faced by the time we got to our floor, just above Draken’s.
“Well, we’re not going to miss out on our daily exercise,” Miranda said, but sounded a little put out. “Why are we in the belfry?” she complained.
I left my new friend at her assigned room, located right by the stairwell.
I appeared to be as far from the front door of the college as I could possibly get, in the very last room on the left.
As soon as I touched the handle, the door swung inward.
I blinked into the face of my new roommate, who held the handle on the other side. Already dressed in her formal robes, she had her braided hair done up in an elegant style that made me conscious of how little sleep I’d gotten the night before, and how wild and completely out of control my own hair must look.
The new witch blinked back at me, then beamed, holding out her hand.
“Jolie Harringbone,” she said brightly. “You must be Leda La Fey? Wow, you’re even prettier than the photos I saw of you in the papers.”
I stammered back at her, a little dazzled.
“It’s Leda Shadow, actually, but yes, that’s me.” I was struck again by my sheer luck that my roommate wasn’t flinching away from my hands. Maybe it was mostly the older generations who were so weird about blood and touching? “You’re gorgeous,” I blurted back, then immediately blushed. “Sorry. I’m running a bit late.”
“No worries!” Jolie said cheerfully. “I’ll wait, so we can walk together.” She motioned to the right side of the room. “I’ve left you that side. Is that alright?”
I smiled back. “It’s perfect.”
“Formal robes are in the closet. They seem to have magicked our sizes right, if mine’s any indication…”
I tossed my leather satchel onto the bed, and yanked open my closet door. It turned out to be a walk-in, and a lot larger than I’d been expecting. All the clothes I’d bought in London already hung neatly on hangers. At the very back, I saw my formal robes, the school’s gold, violet, and forest green colors nearly shimmering.
The Malcroix Cross, drawn in bones, was visible just over the heart.
I didn’t wait, but flung off every article of clothing I wore except my knickers and bra, and began pulling on the pressed black skirt, green and gold tie, violet vest, and white shirt of my uniform, then the outer robes over it. The lining of the black robes was gold with a green, iridescent tint. I tugged on knee-high black socks and stuffed my feet into the uniform shoes I’d bought in London a week earlier.
I’d just have to deal with my hair being all over the place.
I didn’t have time to fix it, as my Dad’s watch told me we had less than seven minutes to be seated inside Worm Hall.
“Get a move on, Shadow!” Jolie called into the closet, laughing. “We’ll look proper foolish walking in late and unable to find anywhere to sit!”
I glanced around quickly, saw no mirror in sight, and decided I didn’t care.
I walked out of the closet and held out my arms.
“Presentable?” I asked. “I know my hair’s a bit of a fright, but do I pass?”
Jolie laughed. “You look just as pretty as you did five minutes ago. Only now you also look Very Serious and Very Studious and Very Much like you’re Absolutely in the Right Place. In other words, you’re in better shape than me…”
I doubted that very much, but my new roommate didn’t give me time to argue.
I’d just noticed the other witch’s astral, a scarlet bird of paradise sitting right on top of her head, when Jolie hooked her arm into the space between my elbow and waist, and began leading me to the door.
“C’mon, new roomie!” she sang. “Time to listen to some boring, pompous old Magicals drone on and on about our responsibility to the Ancient Civilization while we stuff pudding into our bellies and work out a point system to determine if there’s anyone at this bloody school worth shagging…”
I could only laugh.
Maybe it wouldn’t be very much like my Overworld school here, after all.
14
