Alexis, led by her new roommate Beryl, walked the grounds of the venerable Academy of witchcraft. The buildings, built with yellow stone and slate grey roof tiles, had grown and merged over the years becoming one large sprawling edifice that covered a large portion of the grounds.

Ivy climbed the lower walls, while carved stone railings provided a barrier to the balconies that protruded from the second floor. Well kept lawns with the occasional tree to provide shade surrounded the building with an ornamental garden directly off of the east wing.

There was a large hedge separating the gardens from a pool, and beyond that, the open fields that were used for various sports activities and training. It was at the edge of the field where Alexis stopped and interrupted the near-constant monologue from Beryl about the school’s history.

“What are they doing?” she asked, nodding towards the field upon which a score or more of young men and women were performing acts of athleticism that left her exhausted just from watching.

Beryl used one finger to push her glasses further up her nose, an almost unconscious habit for the young witch and one performed often throughout the day. She followed Alexis’s gaze and pursed her lips as she watched the group of young trainees.

Each of them wore a full-length bodysuit of a thin black material that moulded itself to their trim forms in an almost obscene way. The young men had almost universally short hair, while the women kept it shoulder length at most and usually tied up to keep it out of their face.

An older pair of men stood watch over them on the edge of the group, the taller of the two with huge arms crossed over a barrel chest, watched them with a seeming constant frown of disapproval and a hard-eyed stare.

A shouted command was enough to have the group separate into pairs and a second shout had them grappling, throwing one another around with youthful vigour.

“Wardens,” Beryl said as if that meant anything to Alexis who gave her a side-eyed stare.

“The hell are Wardens?”

“Oh.” Colour flooded Beryl’s cheeks and she ducked her head apologetically. “Sorry, I forgot…”

It had been the same since the two had been introduced. Alexis’s appearance at the academy has already been noted by the students and rumours abounded. Beryl, a polite and friendly, young woman, was more than eager to get to know her new roommate. A sentiment not shared by Alexis.

“Don’t worry about it.” Alexis waved away the awkwardness. “Just try and remember that I haven’t got a bloody clue about anything and go from there, yeah?”

“Sure, ah, well, you see.” Another pause as she nudged her glasses into place. “Wardens are protectors.”

“Like Peter?”

Beryl’s cheeks heated once again, the colour already there deepening. “Gosh, no. Peter’s so much more than that. He’s a witch, for a start.”

“So these aren’t?”

“Oh no, not at all.”

Alexis held back her sigh as her hands clenched into fists and she counted slowly in her head. It would not be a good thing to lose her temper on the first day and get herself into trouble like she had so many times before when last she had attended a school.

Instead, she turned and looked directly at the young witch beside her, arching one brow as she waited for Beryl to realise she needed to provide more detail.

“Ah,” the flustered Beryl began, cheeks positively glowing. “Usually it’s the Covens that employ Wardens as guards or hired muscle. Some places like the Academy here use them too. While they’re not witches, they are supernatural.”

Alexis blinked as she digested that. As with everything else she had learned since waking up, every answer she received just gave rise to more questions.

“Okay, first off, what the hell is a coven? Then what do you mean by the supernatural?”

Beryl’s flame-red hair fell across her face as she shook her head, hands smoothing down the front of her already smooth dress. A nervous habit of hers, one of many.

“There are two types of witches,” she began. “Hedge Witches and Coven Witches.”

“Right, so what’s the difference”

“Coven’s are stronger,” she said and muttered, “and meaner.” She brushed the hair from her face with a hand that glittered with silver and gold rings on every finger. “Hedge’s like us, are witches who work alone.”

“Okay, I think.” Alexis knew that there was likely more to that than it sounded, but her head was already swimming with everything she had been told and there was a limit to what she could take in. “What about supernaturals?”

“That’s just a catch-all name for any race that isn’t entirely human.” She tugged on the skirt of her dress and turned away as though that had answered anything. Alexis’s hand on her arms stopped her. “What?”

“I saw one of the guys with Peter turn into… something.” The image of the beast that had attacked the monster in the subway was clear in her mind but she was loath to give a name to what she thought it was because of just how ludicrous it sounded. “Like, fur and claws and everything.”

“Werewolf,” Beryl said with a slight shrug of her shoulders as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “Most of the Wardens are werewolves, they tend to be loyal.”

Alexis pressed fingers against her temples and began to rub at the skin there. A headache was forming and it had only been an hour or two since she’d woken.

“Come on,” Beryl said, turning her nose up at the trainees. “The best bit is just over here.”

There wasn’t much more Alexis could think to say so she followed in silence, barely listening to the young witch chattering about the history of the building. The few other people walking the grounds looked normal, though they all seemed to have a penchant for jewellery than most people she knew.

Most of them ignored her, though she did garner a few curious looks. No one approached her for which she was grateful. If the age of the building and the antique furniture that filled its floors had been intimidating, it had soon become clear to her that every other person in the academy came from money.

Not so much the sort of wealth that would put small countries to shame, though there were likely a few of those, but each and every one of them would have been from middle-class families who had the money to make sure their loved ones needed for nothing.

Alexis pulled her worn and dirty jacket closer around herself as she felt her own cheeks heat. Even Beryl was wearing well-made clothing that would likely last for years. A glimpse into the open wardrobe in their shared room had revealed it was full to bursting with enough clothing to last for a month of changes without the need of washing anything.

For her, it had been an entirely different story. Clothes from thrift stores or donation bins. Already well worn and few enough in her wardrobe to mean she often wore the same clothes as long as possible before having to wash them.

Since leaving home, it had been harder still, and the clothes that she was wearing were pretty much all she had. A problem that she had not seen coming, but one that was likely to cause her to stand out even more than she already did.

“Through here,” Beryl said, pushing open a stout oak door.

Alexis followed her through and stopped, to stare around in wonder. Wall to ceiling shelves filled every spare bit of space and upon each shelf, stacked full to bursting, were books of all shapes and sizes. A sea of colour spreading out along the walls.

Wooden desks dotted the floor around freestanding stacks of shelves full of even more books. Each desk had a brass lamp which glowed with a soft, golden light. There was a silence in the room that felt respectful to Alexis, almost like she had stepped into a place of worship.

She had the almost instinctive urge to bow her head and apologise for the noise her shoes made on the polished wooden floorboards.

“This is my favourite place,” Beryl said, voice a hushed whisper. “These books contain our history, languages and lore of the world. There are entire volumes dedicated to a single spell. Everything from how to cast it to the history of its creation.”

The young witch beamed as she gestured at the racks of books like a proud mother over her children. “You’ll be spending a lot of time here if you want to catch up to everyone else in our class.”

“I’m sure,” Alexis murmured, staring around in open-mouthed wonder. “I have no idea where to start.”

Beryl smiled to herself as she watched Alexis. She could well remember her own feelings of awe the first time she had entered the library and she had already known something of the real world that had just been revealed to her new roommate.

She idly brushed at the front of her dress and shifted her weight from foot to foot. There were so many things she wanted to ask but couldn’t muster the courage to do so. Part of the reason she had been talking non-stop was to try to work up the courage to do just that.

Rumours were all over the campus and the one thing she knew for sure was that Peter had brought Alexis to the academy through a portal. That was almost unheard of. The portals were for high-level witches only, and even then, only for important business.

The wardens that had come through with them had seen battle and taken wounds. While werewolves could only be killed with silver, they could still be injured and even their rapid healing wasn’t perfect. It was usually enough to get them back on their feet and fighting again, but more than that took time and often the help of a healer.

Beryl, born to a long line of witches stretching back to before the Second Casting, had spent her life surrounded by magic. Her parents, having chosen not to join a coven, had still done well for themselves and had been able to provide a life of plenty.

But, as privileged as she was to have had such a life, it had been ridiculously safe and boring. Normal even. Alexis, on the other hand, was clearly a person for whom normal was a thousand times more exciting than even the time Beryl had translated her first Sumerian scroll.

“You ready for lunch?” Beryl asked, interrupting her roommate’s thoughts. “Don’t worry, it gets more familiar with time.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Alexis looked along the shelves and wondered if that was true. “I’m sure it does.”

With a smile, Beryl led the way through the library and out to the hallway beyond. With a shake of her head, Alexis realised it looked just like every other hallway. Polished wooden floorboard with a colourful strip of carpet running through the centre.

On the walls were oil paintings, portraits of people long dead and landscapes that were of places Alexis couldn’t recognise. The doors that they passed were all solid wood with a simple brass plaque beside each denoting the room number.

The few people in the halls were all headed the same way and in short time they came to the dining hall. It was a cavernous room filled with noise and the rich aromas of food. Long tables filled the floor with benches on either side. There was no assigned seating, it seemed, just a case of find a space and sit down.

Along one wall was the counter that separated the dining room from the kitchens. Uniformed women stood behind it, dishing out food onto plain white plates that were placed on brown plastic trays.

Some of them smiled in greeting, others just stared until she pointed to the food she would like to add to the plate. Much like any other dining hall, Alexis thought, though at least she didn’t need to pay and once her tray was full, she followed Beryl to an open space at the nearest table.

As it happened, they were on the end of a long table, and Beryl seated beside her, nodded to a group of people one table over. There was little difference to them than from any other, but they seemed to be a friendly group, all laughing and telling jokes as they ate primarily vegetables.

“The Green Witches,” Beryl said, keeping her voice low. “Big on plants and nature. They tend to work in the gardens and greenhouses and draw magic from the plants and life there. Nice bunch as long as you don’t call them druids.”

“Druids?”

“Shh,” Beryl hissed, glancing at the Green Witches to see if they’d heard. “Touchy subject, trust me.”

“Okay,” A bemused Alexis said. She looked around and nudged Beryl with an elbow before jerking her chin towards another group. “What about them?”

The group were an almost even mix of male and female. They were bunched close together and while Alexis watched, a girl reached up to grab a boy’s head and pulled him in close for a kiss that lasted several long seconds. Once he pulled away, smiling, she turned and repeated the gesture with the girl beside her.

“Oh.” Her lips twisted as if she had tasted something sour. “Sex Witches.”

“What the hell are Sex Witches?”

“Not their official name, but it’s what they do. All their power comes from sex magic.” Beryl’s cheeks heated as she directed her gaze down at her plate. “Their spells require sex to work.”

“Okay.” Alexis couldn’t help her smile at her roommate’s clear desire to avoid the topic, so she directed her attention to another group. “Them?”

“Crystal Witches,” Beryl said. “They use the properties of crystals to amplify their spells and often just as a focus for it. You were with the healer, did she have some glasses with her?”

Alexis had to think for a minute but then nodded. “Yeah, weird lenses in them.”

“Made by the Crystal Witches. Each lens will have a different ability, related to healing.”

“Weird.”

“Get’s weirder,” Beryl said with a laugh as she nodded towards a mismatched grouping two tables over. “Weather Witches. Predicting the weather and manipulating it. Smaller group than most, since they can’t do too much to the weather before it’s noticed. Pretty useless discipline.”

“So, these are all types of witches,” Alexis mused. “Does that mean I have to join a group?”

“Think of them like, ah, like Fraternities. We all learn about all the different types of magic, but some find an affinity for one group over another and they join together because it’s something they all have in common.”

“Okay, that makes sense.” Alexis pondered that for a minute before the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, a shiver running down her spine. She turned to look behind her and Beryl followed suit. “Who are they?”

The group that had come into the dining hall walked with the bearing of those who believed they were better than everyone else around them. Back straight and head held high so that they were constantly looking down their nose at everyone around them.

People moved out of their way, almost bowing their heads as they allowed the new group to move ahead of them. The staff behind the counter had their plates already filled and carried them over to a table that soon emptied of people to allow the newcomers to sit.

“Coven-Bitches,” Beryl whispered. “Keep out of their way.”

“Why?”

“Each of them already has a place waiting for them in a coven or comes from a coven family. You don’t make enemies with a coven.”

Alexis frowned at that. It sounded to her very much like a group of bullies and if there was one thing she despised, it was a bully. “Why not?”

“Trust me,” Beryl said. “A coven by its very nature has more power than any hedge. We don’t stand in their way and they don’t squash us like bugs.”

As if aware of her stare, the coven witches all turned to look right back at her. For a moment they appraised each other, she looking them over while they assessed her at one glance and clearly found her wanting.

They turned back, laughter rising from their table as someone said something that Alexis knew was mocking her. Hands clenched, she was halfway to her feet before Beryl pulled her back down. She glared at her roommate, anger glittering in her eyes.

“Don’t!” Beryl hissed. “Please.”

Alexis forced her anger down and cracked her neck as she uncurled her fists. Her anger had been the cause of trouble in the past and she knew that much as she knew there was good reason for that anger she carried.

Still, her roommate had a very real sound of fear in her voice and that was enough for Alexis to pull back. While she would throw herself into whatever trouble came by, she had no right to force another to face that same trouble with her.

Besides, she thought as she turned to look at the group of coven witches, she was pretty sure there would be trouble soon enough.