Ravenwood Academy

Roe Perry-Crocker was in detention again.

Well, she wasn’t in detention at the moment, but she’d earned it, so to speak. She was waiting outside of Headmistress Farfellow’s office, tapping her foot on the dark stone floor. She had already knocked twice, and after a moment a voice called, “Come in.”

Roe opened the door and stepped inside. The headmistress’s office was elegant and stately, with rich wood-paneled walls and an elaborately carved ceiling.

Farfellow was reading from a stack of papers at her mahogany desk. She looked up at Roe, pasting on her sickening smile. “How can I help you, Miss Perry-Crocker?”

“Professor Kittle sent me to detention,” said Roe, flopping into the chair across from her without invitation.

Farfellow frowned, which was an expression that did not do her any favours, in Roe’s opinion. The headmistress had short straw-coloured hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and an unattractive, sour face. She was a quarter-dryad with minor earth magic, and most of the students at Ravenwood disliked her.

At the moment, Farfellow looked prepared to launch into a lecture. Roe knew that expression well. She was skilled at reading people, which was partly what made her popular among her peers. She could tell what made a person tick, and either use it against them or charm them to her will. The professors were all wary of her, and Kittle had stopped letting her make excuses for why she hadn’t done her work. This time, Roe had forgotten to do a large assignment, and before she could even open her mouth, Kittle had sent her straight to detention.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Roe told Farfellow, making her voice mournful and ashamed. “Professor Kittle was right to give me detention. I was just so preoccupied with my other classes that I completely forgot about the assignment. I know it’s not an excuse and I’m so, so sorry.”

The headmistress’s face cleared slightly. “Oh, well, that’s understandable, of course... you’ll do the assignment for Professor Kittle, along with an essay explaining that you won’t forget to complete work again. One page, to be handed in on Monday along with the assignment. I’ll make sure to let her know.”

“Thank you, headmistress,” Roe sighed, weaving gratefulness into her voice. “I’ll get it done before then.”

Farfellow nodded. “Yes, that’s fine... you may go.”

Roe thanked her again and left the office. She bit back a smirk as she closed the door and started down the hallway, congratulating herself on her victory. Monday was nearly a week away, and one page? That was nothing.

Perhaps what Roe used her charming powers for could be considered improper or unethical... but where would she be without them? In detention right now, for one thing. Charm was how Roe stayed on top. She only had to find out what worked with a person– pity, logic, aggressiveness –say a few careful words, and she could often get exactly what she wanted.

Roe was so distracted by her self-satisfied thoughts that she didn’t see the kid standing in her path. She smacked right into him, then stepped back, giving him a glare. “Watch where you’re going!”

The boy turned, closing his locker. He was tall, with wavy, copper-coloured hair and tan skin. His eyes were like caramel, and they stared right at Roe unflinchingly. Usually when she looked at people like that, they either made a run for it, wet their pants, or both. This boy must have been new.

“I’m pretty sure you’re actually the one who bumped into me,” he told her, raising his eyebrows.

Roe let out the laugh she saved specifically for people who really annoyed her. Her initial comment might not have scared him, but this definitely would. “And I’m pretty sure that you’re in my way,” she told him condescendingly. “So if you could kindly move, then maybe I’ll forgive you for wasting my time.”

“So you’re the queen bee around here?” asked the boy in a slightly mocking way. He gave her an up-and-down look, smirking slightly. “Yeah, you are. Fine, I’ll let you pass.”

“You might not know how things work around here yet,” Roe told him. “I’d stay out of my way, if I were you.”

The boy raised his hands in surrender and stepped aside. Roe gave him a sardonic smile and stalked past him, taking care to flick her long braids into his face. Everyone in the halls was watching her with wide eyes. She waved to a few of them, grinning.

A girl with short, cherry-coloured hair broke away from the crowd and hurried to Roe’s side. It was her closest friend, Cherlettia, but everyone called her Cher. She had black-rimmed glasses, a button nose, and a constellation of freckles covering her cheeks.

“New guy just got smoked!” Cher squealed, pulling a notepad from her pocket and jotting something down rapid-fire. “We have to add this into the next issue. I’m thinking, Hot New Kid Gets Scorched by Ravenwood’s Queen of Slander.”

“I like it,” Roe told her as they entered the Dining Room for lunch. “Except he’s definitely not hot. Take that part out.”

“No way!” Cher exclaimed, shocked. “It’s totally true, and the readers will love it.”

By ‘the readers’, Cher meant the entire population of Ravenwood Academy. Roe and Cher ran the school’s one and only gossip newspaper, Signed, Raven. The story they portrayed was that the paper was run by someone called Raven, and no one but themselves knew that the two of them were actually behind it.

Cher did the investigating. As one of the school’s biggest socialites, she knew everything there was to be known about everybody; and she wrote it all down on her notepad. Roe was the one who wrote the articles. She used Cher’s notes to tell stories in the way she wanted them to be told, even if that meant twisting the truth a bit at times. In a way, Roe was Raven, and she guarded her secret identity very closely.

Which was why she hissed, “Shh, keep your voice down.”

“No one’s listening,” said Cher dismissively, but there was a group of kids sitting right behind them, already eating. As Roe watched, the boy she had met in the hallway joined them, and everyone greeted him enthusiastically.

Roe nudged Cher. “Don’t look behind you, but New Guy is right there. How do you think he managed to get a whole pack of friends already?”

“Well, he’s been here for about a week now,” said Cher as they neared the lunch line. Of course, she would know.

Roe lowered her voice, glancing around her to ensure no one was listening. “Where’s he from? What powers does he have?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s half-dryad, but I don’t know where he’s from,” said Cher, ladling potato salad onto her lunch tray. “No visible powers yet. I can find out more, if you want.”

“Yeah,” said Roe, making her voice vague as she watched the boy talk to his friends. “As background information for the article.”

“Uh-huh,” said Cher, leading the way to their usual table. It was in the very centre of the Dining Room. Luesa, a half-earth Altusine (dryad-like beings with a variety of powers), and her brother Emiss were already sitting there.

“Finally,” complained Luesa, as Cher sat down beside her.

Roe slid onto the bench next to Emiss, who gave her a nod before saying, “Hey, Cher.”

“What?” she looked up, her mouth already stuffed with mushy potatoes. “Oh, hi.”

Luesa rolled her eyes, mouthing “Nice try,” to her brother, before turning to Roe. “Did Farfellow go easy on you again?”

“You know it,” replied Roe through her mouthful of sprouts.

“It’s so unfair,” Luesa grumbled, stirring her soup with her spoon. “The last time Kittle gave me detention, I had to scrub the girls’ toilets for a week.”

“At least it was only the girls’,” said Emiss, immediately glancing at Cher to see if she had found his joke amusing. Based on the way she was still shoving potato salad into her mouth like a starving person, without a single change in her expression, Roe guessed not.

Emiss stabbed at his food moodily. Roe almost told him to give it up, because truthfully, she knew Cher would never be interested. Half of the time it seemed as though she didn’t even know that Emiss existed.

Luesa drummed her fingers on the table. “Speaking of Kittle, did you two finish the new essay for Past Studies?”

“No,” said Cher, swallowing and starting on her mashed carrots. That girl would eat anything as long as it was in the form of a mushy, tasteless paste.

“I’m working on it in Study Period,” Roe told Luesa. “Want to come with me to the library?”

“Yeah, sure,” said Luesa in a bored tone. As soon as the words ’working’, ’study’ or ’library’ were uttered, she lost interest in the conversation. Her efforts were always spent elsewhere.

Luesa knew almost everyone, and while Cher was the go-to for hearing gossip, Luesa was the one who spread it. Two months ago, she’d managed to inform the entire school that a kid in their class had morolites, a kind of contagious disease, the day after Cher had overheard him talking to Farfellow about it. The boy had endured a week of relentless bullying before he left the school, and they hadn’t seen him since.

Cher had expressed guilt over telling people about it, but nothing stirred Luesa’s sympathies. Sharp-eyed and inquisitive, she always knew exactly how to ruin someone’s previously pristine reputation. With a few cruel words said to the right people, she could bring even the most popular and well-liked kids crumbling down from their pedestals. Roe never, ever, wanted to get on her bad side. It was only her own charm and sharp-tongued reputation that kept her safe from Luesa’s target list.

In many ways, Emiss was the opposite of his sister. They were similar in looks, both dark-skinned with sharp, angled features, but they couldn’t have been more different personality-wise. Emiss was quieter and often kept to himself. He aced every class without even having to try. People only knew who he was and respected him because of who he hung around with. If he hadn’t been the brother to one of the most popular girls at the Academy, he’d be dismissed as a nerd. Smart, but not dangerously so. No one to compete with or antagonize.

“Is there a Gathering tonight?” asked Emiss quietly, glancing around the table as though the cutlery might have ears.

“Yes,” said Roe, placing her fork on her tray. “Midnight in the clock tower.”

“I’ve been thinking,” said Luesa, with the glint in her eye she sometimes got when she was about to propose an idea that Roe wouldn’t like. I’ve been thinking from Luesa never resulted in something Roe had found agreeable.

“Spill,” Cher commanded, pointing her spoon at her.

“Well,” began Luesa, looking extremely smug to be asked, “We’ve been losing members recently. Carolai dropped out to focus on her grades– no one knows what happened to Dru, he just stopped showing and hasn’t been in class for weeks, and of course–” her lip curled in a sneer “–Connor left to live with the deity-freaks.”

That insult was one of many that the students of Ravenwood used to refer to Magicborns. Magicborns were the children of the seven ruler deities of Ilemagie, and they lived on their own island, called Rysile. Connor Hearste was a half-darkness dryad who had left Ravenwood Academy to study there instead. The subject was still a sore one for the students of Ravenwood. Most of them couldn’t fathom why a being of darkness– one of their own –would ever choose to live on Rysile instead of at the Academy. It had been the height of gossip for a while, and so naturally, Luesa had been in the middle of it.

“So?” asked Cher, her mouth full.

“So,” said Luesa, her dark eyes glittering, “I think we should have an initiation.” Catching Roe’s expression, she added, “Not a public one, of course. We could invite a few trustworthy people– I have some in mind already –and explain what the Revellers are all about. Why wouldn’t they want to join?”

“I didn’t want to,” Emiss muttered, but Luesa ignored him and turned instead to Cher.

“What do you think?”

Cher swallowed with what looked like great difficulty and shrugged. “Sure, why not? You should invite Hot New Guy.”

“For the last time,” said Roe, annoyed, “He’s not the least bit hot. And we’re definitely not inviting him to join the Revellers.”

“Are you talking about Col Devoe?” asked Luesa.

Cher snapped her fingers. “Yes, that’s his name! I heard someone ask him the other day, but I couldn’t hear exactly what he said.” She pulled her notepad from her pocket and scribbled something down. The others were so used to her doing this by now that they didn’t even react.

“Who’s Col Devoe?” asked Emiss with obvious dislike.

“Some new kid,” Roe answered, picking up her fork. “He bumped into me earlier and I told him off.”

Cher grinned. “You should have seen it. She was great.”

Luesa smirked. “Did he wet himself?”

“No,” Roe frowned, pausing with her fork halfway to her mouth. “To be honest, he didn’t seem that concerned. He called me the ‘queen bee’.”

“At least he got one thing right,” remarked Luesa, amused.

“I don’t like the sounds of this Col kid,” said Emiss darkly, glancing at Cher.

“Nor do I,” replied Roe. “That can’t even be his real name. I mean, who’s name is just... Col?”

Luesa smirked. “Your name is just Roe.”

“You know perfectly well that it’s not,” said Roe shortly.

“Yeah, but no one calls you Roewena,” Cher reminded her. “Just like no one calls me Cherlettia. Maybe his real name is Colbert or something.”

Luesa and Emiss both laughed, and Roe let out a snort. “Then I don’t blame him for shortening it.”

The bell rang to signal the end of lunch. The students packed up and began heading to the doors, chatting with their friends. Roe happened to be looking that way when Col Devoe glanced over at her. He gave her a sarcastic wave, raising his eyebrows, then turned away and walked to the doors with his friends.

Cher let out a squeal. “Did Hot New Guy just wave at you?”

“Yes,” said Roe menacingly, hoisting her bag over her shoulder, “And he’s going to regret it. Soon. Let’s go, Luesa.”

Without waiting for an answer, she stalked out of the Dining Room, glowering at every kid who dared to look at her in the hallways.

Luesa hurried to catch up with her. “What are you going to do?” she asked eagerly.

“We’re going to the library, remember?”

“No, I mean about Col Devoe! You said that he’s going to regret waving at you.”

“Oh,” said Roe as they reached the stairs. What she’d meant was that she was going to make him regret it with her next article by Signed, Raven. She knew just how to start it: Col Devoe: A Fallacious Foe... she realized that Luesa was staring at her, waiting for an answer. “You’ll see. I haven’t fully decided yet, but it’s going to be good.”

Luesa looked satisfied; at any rate, her suspicious expression disappeared. “It always is.”

True, Roe thought to herself.

If there was one thing every student at Ravenwood Academy knew, it was that Roe Perry-Crocker’s revenge was always worth seeing.