The Arcanum Manor

11: Lucky Girl

Mr. Santos divided us into two teams, and I found myself standing between Danny and Josephine, the latter exuding an unusual cheerfulness for a defense class.

"Welcome to your first Defense Against Magic class!" Mr. Santos exclaimed, scanning the room before his gaze settled on me with a smile like he wanted to tell me something but was holding back.

Danny nudged me gently. "Told you my dad would be here."

I smirked and gave him a side eye. "Should I be scared?"

"Not at all," Danny replied, winking at me.

Mr. Santos whispered towards us, "Danny, can you give me the thing?"

"Sure," Danny said, moving around me to hand a large blue crystal to his dad. After the exchange he stepped back and brushed his shoulder against mine a little with a quiet chuckle.

I wanted — I really wanted — to pay attention to the class, but the recent kiss with Danny was still leaving my brain in complete fog. Instead, my gaze was glued to the hazel eyes that were scanning me slowly, softly. His subtle smile made me melt.

At least I wasn't alone it this, but it still made me think if it was real. If...

"Kids, this crystal will help us with the atmosphere. Sophomores, today will be your first time training attacks, and as you remember from last year, freshmen will be training protection charms."

His words left me feeling confused and my attention snapped back to Danny's father. Would teachers really leave us to get hurt or did I misunderstand the situation? To be fair it was just few sentences and it might not be about real defense, right?

Patrick made a step next to Josephine to look at me and his concerned eyes screamed, that this class would be interesting.

My breath hitched. We had been, in fact, told that the first year would focus on learning how to protect ourselves, but this was not what I had expected. No combat. Nothing physical.

Mr. Santos glanced all over the room and spoke again, "The best thing how to learn protection bubble is to be attacked—"

The class buzzed with eager chatter of younger students, because after the announcement, some of us were visibly nervous.

"Shh! Shh! Nothing can happen to you, don't worry," our teacher reassured us, gesturing to the crystal in his hand. "This will enhance the aura around us that protects us from harm."

His mention of aura made me wince. Linda had once mentioned having something like this around her. Did it mean that the crystal was responsible? Was my talisman similar? Natasha had said something similar, and all I could have thought of was practically disputing her for intruding in my thoughts.

"The crystal is not the same; your stone is beyond every power here—" a voice echoed in my mind, but the thought wasn't mine.

I snapped my attention to Natasha, which was standing a few meters away, and mouthed to her quickly before anyone could notice, "Leave me alone."

I didn't appreciate any intruders. Especially in my headspace.

Though her lips pursed, Natasha didn't relent, causing me to sigh and turn back to my friends, who were listening intently to the description of today's lesson. The talking before the real training was important and I made sure to listen intensely...

"Just don't show your talisman to anyone. Promise me that, and I will stop," Natasha's voice intruded again.

Damn, it wasn't comfortable to hear someone else in my mind.