Chapter 18

Nati

Even though we managed to pull ourselves away from one another and leave the secret room before breakfast ended, I’m still almost late to Divination . I hurry into the room and head straight over to the seat Meic has saved for me, sitting down and letting out a sigh of relief.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hi.” I can’t help but feel a little nervously giddy at talking to him now. Even though we’ve been going to the secret rooms for a couple of weeks, the intensity of last night has made me feel shyer than I expected.

“Glad to see you got here in time,” he says.

“Mmm. Me too, though does my hair look a mess?” I joke, lifting my hand to touch one of the snakes. “I wasn’t able to shower this morning.”

He laughs. “I don’t know if you’re asking that as a serious question.”

“Yes and no. The snakes make it impossible to have a bad hair day. Or they make it so I’m always having a bad hair day, it’s hard to tell. But can you tell that I didn’t shower this morning?”

He looks around and then leans in. “Only because you smell of me.”

My breathing hitches in my throat and I have to cough to clear it. “Hopefully no one else notices.”

He shrugs. “And if they do?”

I open my mouth but realise I don’t actually have a response to that. He’s the only person who is allowed to break my no-touching rule, and I assume he’s the only one who will be able to tell that it’s him I smell like. And even if someone else works it out, I suppose it doesn’t matter. We’ve not been keeping our budding relationship a secret, so it won’t be a surprise to anyone.

“I guess it’s just our secret, then,” I tell him. “You’ll just have to think of me sitting in all of my other lessons for the day thinking about you.”

He groans.

“Let’s guess, I turned you hard as stone again” I joke.

“You’re impossible,” he mutters.

I let out an amused laugh, enjoying myself a little bit too much.

Sadly, my amusement is cut short by Professor Bishop sweeping into the room. I let out a frustrated time. I guess it’s time for me to fail at divining the future from my tea leaves all over again.

“Good morning, class,” he says, and everyone around the room falls silent. “Today we’re going to be moving on from tea leaves.”

Meic chuckles at the relieved expression on my face. “Maybe you’re going to be able to see something today after all.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” I murmur in response. I suspect it’s the art of divination itself that alludes me, not specifically the tea leaves.

“We’re going to be working with crystal balls today,” the professor says, gesturing to the sides of the room where there are large square boxes. “There should be enough for one between two. Before we get started with the theory of scrying in crystal balls, I want you to attempt to see into one yourself. Even if you struggled with some other kinds of divination, you might have an affinity for the crystal ball.”

“He has more positivity than I do about it,” I mutter.

Meic chuckles and gets up from his seat to go and get us one of the crystal balls. I don’t hold much hope that this is going to be any better than any of the other types of seeing the future I’ve tried, but it could succeed. If not, then I think I should probably drop Divination at the end of the year.

There’s a heavy thud as Meic puts the box on the table. “It’s heavier than I thought it would be.”

I raise an eyebrow, well aware of the strength he has.

He ignores me and undoes the clasps on the box, revealing a shining glass orb on a brass base.

“We’re just supposed to look into it?” I ask.

Meic shrugs. “I guess so. No one in my family has ever practised though, so I’m not entirely sure how this one works.”

“Good to know,” I respond.

He moves his stool closer under the guise of being able to see the crystal ball better, but all it really does is mean that his knee can brush against my leg, distracting me from what I’m supposed to be doing.

I stare at the crystal ball, letting out a small squeak as something starts to take shape. It’s too faint to work out and almost looks like one of Meic’s horns with a snake entwined around it.

I frown, moving my hand in front of the snakes on my head to make sure that I’m not just seeing one of them in the reflection.

“What do you see?” Meic asks.

“A long and happy life with my fated mate,” I respond instantly.

“I don’t know if you’re being cute, or if you’re actually seeing that.”

I laugh. “Mostly being cute,” I admit. “Though I can see something. I thought it was a reflection at first, but now I’m not so sure.”

“What is it?”

“It looks like one of your horns and one of my snakes. Together.”

“Really?” He stares at the crystal ball with an intensity greater than I think I’ve seen him do before in class, but I can tell from his expression that he can’t see anything.

I check that no one is paying us any attention before reaching out and taking his hand in mine, giving it a squeeze. “It might not mean anything.”

“It’ll mean good things for us,” he responds. “I’m sure of it.”

I don’t ask him how he knows that. I can sense it myself. I don’t need a crystal ball to tell me what’s going to happen. I have a long future ahead of me with Meic by my side. It turns out that the tea leaves were right about the fact I was going to meet my fated mate, so even if I can’t seem to read them, I’m going to have to believe what they say.

Thank you for reading this installation of the Blackthorn Academy for Supernaturals shared world!