Chapter 1
Keaton
Freshman orientation begins in hours. Hours before they contaminated everything with their bright ideas and wrong notions.
As a champion, I had been required to return to campus early. Only securing a 7 week break from the unending embarrassment the professors provided.
“You look delightful today.”
“Go darken someone else’s door. I don’t wish to create time to deal with you.”
“Now now Grayson.” He moved closer, standing directly in front of me. “You should play better with peers. Especially other champions.”
“If you had earned your space I would, what did you say? Play better? Instead Emerald graduated. You took the place because you took the bottom floor. You don’t register as a peer. Which is why we only speak when you approach me.”
“Well today you’ll have to deal with me. The whole of orientation actually.” He turned on his heel. “Longer if the rumors are true. A Claremont at Claremont. And in Silver.”
“Lumivento, make your point or leave. Actually, forget your point and just leave.” He had darkened my office long enough. There was no need to continue his monologue. Gods below how this man had friends.
“You have a Claremont in your tower. I may just have to make a solid first impression.”
“Or you could entertain someone worth your… What were your selling points again? A family without standing. Moderate control of your affinity. Casual claiming of a title and the power that comes with it.” A smile pulled at my lips. His family had fallen from grace because of incompetence. Not even a worthy cause. They just couldn’t contend.
Dante Lumivento was their best.
A senior who wouldn’t compete with a Sophomore.
They clearly hadn’t deserved the rank they held for generations.
“Against a son that refuses to claim his surname. A man unable to acknowledge the feelings of others. Someone who runs a tower on fear instead of duty. Yes I have such competition from someone of power. She clearly has great choices should she want a seat at the top.”
“Emerald doesn’t make the dais. Also there isn’t another seat because one hasn’t been made. To claim a place in Silver, you earn it. And Silver is the only tower worth earning rank in.”
“You’ll soon learn just how wrong you are.”
“We are the placement for the top performers of the top performers. If you can earn a place in Silver, you can earn a place anywhere. Her name doesn’t grant her a thing.”
“So a wager then?”
“If I were interested.”
“You will be.”
“I’m waiting for your failed attempt.”
“I’ll hand over my tower. If you can make her switch. Move Claremont to Emerald and you can have both towers.”
“You do realize this is a death sentence for most of your worthless students? The ones who got in because of their parents.”
“You don’t have that in you.”
“No, they don’t have it in them to survive the required training to be in Silver. It will apply evenly.”
“So be it. I’ll get what I want. You can have the rest.”
“I’m inclined to accept. But why do you want Claremont? What is she to you?”
“I’ve watched her. Learned her. She’s everything I need and most of what I want.”
“We can add obsessed to your list of flaws. Deal accepted. By the end of Freshman year she will reside in Emerald of her own choosing.”
“Beautiful.” He placed his hand on the door, looking back with a grin before disappearing.
Lumivento had motives against the girl that would complicate the year. Technically her safety was my concern. But her idiocy of chosen partners has nothing to do with me.
Pulling a notebook closer, I jotted rules down to present for consideration to administration. The biggest being that Champions were not responsible for harm caused by personal interests. Lumivento could kill her, but with this rule I wouldn’t have to waste the time of settling the debt owed to Silver.
Sirens sounded before I could finish the list. We were to report to Ravenna. Glancing at the clock beside me, it was almost time. We had less than an hour.
The carriage ride through the forest was uneventful at best. Vesperi wouldn’t stop her rambling about how Bronze was getting a slew of new contenders this year. That she had her sights set on overtaking Emerald.
A useless endeavor. She had been unsuccessful in earning a higher tower. A junior and barely able to hold her tower let alone move up. She would be better off making sure her students didn’t die again this year. She had lost over 40 last semester. The end of year trials for freshmen proved to be too much. They had less than 20 sophomores this year.
As the train pulled in, students spilled out. Like they were being released from capture to clean air. Something spooked the new students.
Would any of them actually prove worthy of Claremont if they couldn’t handle the train?
Two dozen freshmen had passed through the Silver line before she appeared. Dark hair and green eyes. Gerald Claremont’s almost exact copy. Just decades younger and a woman.
“A Claremont at Claremont.” Akers laughed to himself. “Grant, you got yourself a namesake.”
“For now.” She would move to Emerald and no longer be my problem.
Freshman all around us had stopped to stare. Wasting time wouldn’t be tolerated. I had things to get back to. A tilt of my head sent a few of the freshmen that decided to gawk flying.
“Leave.” The rest scurried toward the forest. Claremont staggered forward. Clutching her orientation packet to her chest.
“You must be Grayson.” A brunette stepped forward. “I’m Amelia. Amelia Castor.”
“And?”
“A man of few words. How perfect can you get?” Her finger trailed down my arm. I raised a brow at her. Seconds from sending her back onto the train and back to wherever she had come from.
“Touch me again and I will violate the freshman protection clause. You will be sent back to wherever you came from in pieces.”
Her hand withdrew inches from me. “I didn’t mean-”
“No, you didn’t think. You called me Grayson and then touched me. Learn your champions before one of us is the reason your family attends a funeral.”
She took a shaky breath and quickly left. Heading toward the school with the rest of the freshman.
“Damn Keaton. Day one and already cold?”
“Tate, you’re only tolerated because we are related.”
“I didn’t realize you could lie so well.” He grinned at me before turning back toward the list in front of Akers. “Silver is about halfway done.”
“Because this day is just never going to end.” Akers muttered, low enough the words were meant for only him.
It took several hours to clear out the remaining students. The initial rush seemed to be the only ones eager to get to campus. The rest trickled in despite having nowhere else to go.
“In line. Now.” A familiar voice cut through the air. “If you are not in your assigned lines in the next 15 seconds you will be demoted a house. Bronze will go home. You will not have another school choice. You will not continue through your studies.”
Tyson Akers stepped up beside me. Our eyes met for less than a second. He crossed his arms over his chest. His appearance didn’t make him seem as lethal as he really is. Dozens injured, several permanently, from his four years at Claremont. He had held the rank of Silver Champion for three years.
But to look at him? You may never guess. Blond, tall and covered in tattoos. You would never know what the tattoos cover. The meaning behind the hours.
There were several students who didn’t listen. Several students who would become the first lesson of the year.
“You were warned.” Tyson smiled as he took a step toward the train.
A net of shadow grabbed the idiots standing off to the side. Throwing them back into the train. Their cries echoed as the doors slid shut.
The low chatter died instantly as all eyes moved to Tyson. Not a single freshman in Ravenna would stand against him now. Not a single one would attempt to challenge a word he said.
He had effectively killed their desire to stand out. Pity, it would have been interesting to see who managed to stand out.
“Get to campus before dinner. Gates close at the siren and no more will be admitted. That goes for all students. Not just freshman.” Tyson turned on his heel and left. Leaving students to scatter and rush toward lines.
It still took longer than it should have. Now instead of disinterest, they were frantic. Scrambling for ID’s to not be left behind. The Silver students would be remembered. They would be the first to leave. We didn’t have room for anyone unwilling to prove their worth.
Rain beat down on us as the last students cleared the lines. If they hurried they might make campus. But unlike Akers and myself, they didn’t know what was waiting. The trials set up to see if they could make it. Not if they were worthy of Claremont. If they even wanted to be here.
Because there was a special circle of torment for those that made it through the forest on foot. Spelled to produce hallucinations and bring about the worst your imagination can come up with.
“Wonder how many saw the shifter this year.”
“Enough. Just because shifters are extinct doesn’t make her ghost less real.”
“I never took you for a fantasy buff.” Akers shoved at me. His hand missed, almost sending him to the ground.
“I’m not. But I do read. Something you should try.” Throwing a hand out, a thin barrier of shadow worked to stop the rain from soaking me through. “You may realize just how much we’ve lost over the generations.”
“Right. All of the elite families really are insane.” As he righted himself, he walked faster. Putting distance between us.
They could think we were insane. But it wasn’t just the elite families. All of us with archives knew of the lost arts. Affinities had been losing potency for generations. We had once experienced life with shifters and even the rumor of dragons.
There was no way to prove one way or another. Not outside of the written records. The more you read, the more things tied together. The more our new reality made sense. We weren’t simply given our affinities. We were tied to the world.
There’s rumors of other continents with magic. Lands with more brutal people and cultures. Our strongest wouldn’t match their children. The history books proved it over and over. But that’s where it stopped.
No one had ventured off of Taveria in ages.
Even the fishing crews stayed within certain distances.
Careful not to venture too far out.
“Keep thinking this hard and you’re liable to spew smoke from your ears.” Tyson leaned against the gate as I approached. Making the cast iron structure look far more comfortable than it would be.
“What do you need now?”
“You’ve got the girl.”
“Everyone keeps reminding me.”
“Your father will be here today because of her.”
“Then I’ll be sure to attend her emergence.” I looked toward the clock tower in the center of campus. “Are we moving that up like Tanner suggested?”
“Of course. The golden boy gets what he wants. His nickname should be the golden snitch. He can do no wrong in the eyes of your father because he sells everyone out.”
“Then perhaps he should be kept silent.”
“Are you suggesting we kill a professor?”
“Are you saying there aren’t secrets worth killing over to keep from my father?”
“I wouldn’t dare lie to you.” A grin stretched across his face as he pushed away from the gate. “Just shocked to hear you say it.”
“I tried to enroll with a different name. Don’t be shocked when I prove over and over I’m not a Grant by anything other than force.”
Father hadn’t allowed me to enroll as I wanted. Saying the president’s son couldn’t possibly show that much disrespect. Apparently it would weaken his authority.
If an 18 year old can threaten you, maybe you deserve it.
