I Wish Upon a Dark Star

"Right about here," I said as the guy's jalopy lurched to a stop. "I can walk the rest of it."

"Out here, miss?" The guy shifted his toolbox and a set of road flares so I could grab my suitcase, luggage battered nearly as badly as his truck. "Nothin' up there but poison ivy and that abandoned asylum. And it's dark out."

"I'll fit right in then."

"You don't understand. That place is evil. People disappear every year only to show up in town with no memories at all, just pointing at the clouds and mumbling about the stars."

"Silly them. You don't go stargazing on a cloudy night."

"Not just stars. They mumble about toads and horses and snakes."

"My kind of place then." I hopped out, pulling my strapped case with all its stickers from around the world, and handed him a gold half-eagle as thanks. "It's real. And you never saw me." I skittered into the brush and crouched down, waiting for the truck to rattle away. It did, though I had to wait longer than I expected. Push too hard and that could happen. At least I gave him real gold. Pass a fake and someday your mark will come back looking for you.

I found a deer trail with little trouble in the moonlight. It corkscrewed up the ridge, the woodland critters pausing to stare at me as I passed.

"Ever see a Moroi before?" I asked a squirrel. "I'm running from the Strigoi but don't tell, will you?"

The squirrel watched me as I passed over a ridge and there, before me, I saw Iris Academy. At least, according to rumor. The façade appeared so dilapidated it looked as if the moonlight could push it over. At least, until I broke through a perimeter of thistles and the illusion broke.

"Now that's more like it." I ran across the green to a driveway with two parked staff cars. The pavement looped through a garden in front of a multi-winged manor. I could have had jalopy guy drop me off here but my GPS led me astray. Even now, the phone readout spun in a multicolored spiral rather than give directions. I paused under a sugar maple to check my messages, finding a worried note from my older sister, though she had suggested Iris Academy as a hiding place. Without a protector I could fall prey to Strigoi or, more likely, ordinary witch hunters.

I texted, "Sis, arrived safe and sound. But you wouldn't believe - "

"Yikes!" I plowed into someone so hard my suitcase strap slipped off my shoulder. "Sorry. So sorry!"

"Ahem." The gentleman managed to clear his throat with a British accent. A teacher? I would have blushed if I could. "In a hurry, are we?"

"No sir. I only - "

"What is your name?"

"Maria. Susanna." I fumbled through the alias my sister had suggested.

"Maria . . . Susanna." He ran his finger down a clipboard. "There you are. A wildseed. Figures."

"Wildseed? What do you mean - " I cut off with a cringe. Sis had suggested the cover story. "Oh. You mean wild seed. Not - "

"You have been given a valuable opportunity here. See that you don't lose it. Perhaps ten demerits will instill the value of paying attention. And no phones!"

"Hey!"

The teacher, or perhaps polymorphed demon, flung my Nokia to the walkway and fried it with a bolt from his left hand. The device flamed out like a spent firework. Wow, I thought. A literal burner phone.

"Who do you think you are?" I thrust my hands on my hips.

"Five more demerits for cheek." He pointed toward the end of the building. "I suggest you get yourself to Horse Hall before lights out."

"Horse Hall? Yes sir. Right away sir." I stomped off but with my Moroi head held high, not looking back to see who tittered with laughter behind the rose bushes.

"This can't be the right room."

"You in Horse Hall?"

"I believe so. But, three girls, two beds?" I shrugged.

"We're supposed to think our way past obstacles." The athletic, black girl extended her hand. "I'm Virginia. And this shrinking bookworm is Ellen."

The smaller, blonde girl cringed. Her pale skin, like my own, hadn't seen much sun. "Much obliged to meet you," she said.

"Maria Susanna." The name felt more natural the more I used it. "I guess I'll, uh, hang upside down in the closet or something."

"You're a weird one. You play sports?" Virginia asked.

"Just kickball."

"Definitely a weird one."

Ellen said, "Are you a wildseed too?"

"Uhm, yea. I think so. That angry professor called me one before frying my phone and handing me a stack of demerits."

"You brought a phone on campus?" Virginia looked up. "Girl, my opinion of you just doubled. And Grabby flamed it? Too bad I missed that."

"On the sidewalk. It was a burner phone, but I hoped not so literally."

"I can't believe you did that."

"You called him Grabby? He looked more like a Severus Snape to me."

"Hieronymous Grabiner. He is a lot like Snape, isn't he? Anyway, you want to meet my brothers?"

"I think, for now, I will unpack." Thanks to Grabby, I couldn't call my sister. She had agreed to smuggle in supplies and - I thought I had lost my metal flask but found it, still half full of liquid. "Hey. You mind if I grab this footlocker? I could curl up on it. Or in it."

"That doesn't sound fair for you," Ellen said. "I'm sure Professor Potsdam can find you another bed."

I lifted the lid. "I'm a small girl. I'll fit. I just need a pillow. Don't lock me in though. I get claustrophobia."

"And you sleep in a - oh, I get it. A joke."

"Sort of. I don't like being locked in a small box any more than you do, I wager."

For now, I stashed my flask and my case and shut the lid. "Ellen, I think I'll look around a bit. I'll try not to wake you or Virginia when I come to bed." I kicked the locker. "Or crate." I grinned.

"I hope I didn't offend you in any way."

"Not a chance." I offered her a high-five. She looked confused. "Sorry."

"No worries." Ellen took a book off the shelf.

I wandered the halls of Iris Academy, hoping not to bump into any more teachers. I avoided the boys' halls; no sense getting wolf-whistled, even in Wolf Hall. I detoured through the gardens, as the outdoors always felt more friendly to me. I waved away a whiny bug and smelled a cluster of white roses. Farther down the wooded path, I heard a giggle and the running of feet.

"Hey, who's there?"

More giggles. More footsteps. I gave pursuit. Around several turns I followed the path, ignoring swarms of gnats that seemed to materialize out of the mist, and speaking of mist, I hadn't seen any just moments ago.

"Ha. There you are." Having taken a wrong left turn, I cut the fleeing girl off at a crossroads. "Gotcha."

"Oh. You're the new girl." Her hair flowed in purple tinted, black ripples with the breeze, breaking the camouflage of her goth outfit.

"We're all new girls, silly. Unless you are older than you look."

"You say you caught me? Careful what you wish for, new girl."

"Why do you say that?" I glanced around. At least the bugs had abated.

"I'm a vampire." She smiled, showing her perfectly aligned teeth.

I sniffed. She didn't smell of Strigoi. "That act works better with actual fangs."

"Shows what you know. These fangs only appear when I feed. So you better run, new girl. Wait. Are you, sniffing me?"

"Just checking out the competition."

"Oh moon child, you'll never measure up to a true creature of the night."

"Moon child? And what do you call yourself?"

"Raven Darkstar. And you'd best not forget it."

I relaxed. "Did you summon those bugs?"

Raven smiled. "A creature of the night never tells."

"I'll keep that in mind. For now, though, I'll just leave you to your, bugs." I spied the Snake Hall emblem. "Fitting for a snake, no?"

I felt her glare on my back as I made my way back to the building. Swarms of gnats buzzed at my ears. I didn't give her the pleasure of my batting them away.

"You'll regret turning your back on me!" said the creature of the night. I suppressed a snort as I continued my walk.

"Hello my little buttercup chasers!"

I jerked awake. Green magic class? No wait. A creepy guy with blue skin and bat wings had advised me to study blue magic, so clearly, I had signed up for the opposite, say black?

"We are about to embark on a discovery of white magic, the magic of the spirit world."

Professor Petunia Potsdam. Not stern like Grabiner, but she scared me twice as much.

"Excuse me," a familiar voice said. "If black magic can't animate a skeleton on its own, can white magic do it?"

"Oh my, you are an ambitious one. Miss Darkstar, is it?"

"Raven. Yes."

"It would take a high-level spell indeed to bind such a spirit, and you should never attempt such a binding without the spirit's permission."

"A spirit would give permission?"

"That's the rub, isn't it? Finding such a spirit is half the challenge. Then you have to figure out how to ask it."

Raven yawned. "That'll take ages."

"Not a task for a fresh buttercup to chase."

"No," I said when Raven glanced my way. "You cannot bind me to your skeleton."

At the class's giggles, she said, "It's not like I'm looking for a whiny skeleton, you know?"

"Now now, my quarreling tadpoles," Potsdam said. "We're all here to learn and the spirit world has a lot to teach us."

"Sorry," I said, pushing my desk into a triangle of shade. "I'd like to see Raven's skeleton, when she gets one."

"Come by my place any time."

The class giggled again. I tried to sink into my chair but it only awakened a hunger in me. I needed to get back to my room, to my metal flask. How much remained in it? I bet I would sound like a drunk if anyone overheard my thoughts.

"Maria?" Potsdam said. "Is there something you wish to share with the class? We are all ears."

"I, need to use the restroom?"

My ears buzzed too hard for me to hear the giggles now. I raced through the halls, nearly slipping on a few corners until I burst through my dorm door and threw my chest lid open. I found the flask and took a long drink, strength returning along with the coppery taste.

"Are you drunk?" Virginia nearly startled me into dropping the flask.

"Hmm mmh!" (When did you get back here? What happened to gym?)

"You know, if they catch you with booze here, they'll pile on the demerits. Even my dork brother Donald wouldn't dare."

"Mmm hmm." I tapped my flask as it ran dry, the last drop promising dry days ahead.

"What did you smuggle in? Jack Daniels? Night Train? Street hooch?"

"Do you know, perchance, if they slaughter beef onsite? Just kidding. They probably make everything vegan, with magic."

"You're weird. Even too weird for Snake Hall. But I like you."

"Thank you. And thanks for finding this cot." I tapped my fabric bed. "I have to get back to class before they get worried."

I hurried through the halls, raising a few eyebrows on the way until I burst into class, feeling a bit flushed.

"Well, my wayward wildflower," Potsdam said, "Your color has improved."

"My what?"

"Purging will do that to you," Raven said.

"Excuse me?"

"Perhaps you call it a 'cleanse'?"

Professor Potsdam shushed the tittering class with a wave. "So, Maria Susanna, suppose you show us the theory of spirit magic, as you were recently spirited away?"

I groaned inside. Red magic singed my fingernails; blue magic twisted my hair into knots, while black magic settled in my stomach like a stone weight. I hadn't tried green yet but didn't hold out hope. As for white . . .

"As I request the right to see

Reveal the spirit plane to me."

The air blinked, as with a far-off lightning strike. A few clear shapes swam in my periphery, but I paid them no mind, focusing instead on the floating eye just above Ms. Potsdam's head.

"The, eye?"

"You see my servant eye? I haven't taught you that spell yet."

I grinned, the class not laughing now. I aimed my gaze at Raven, who still looked smug.

"Hey! You're a - "

I cut off when her hand clapped over my mouth.

"We don't give away our secrets in class, do we?"

How had she moved so fast? I pried her hand loose and said, "If I knew any secrets, I wouldn't tell, but you're being obvious here."

The class giggled again.

"Miss Darkstar," Potsdam said. "We at Iris Academy leave plenty of free time for canoodling. Now is the time to concentrate in class."

More giggles, but Potsdam cut them off with a snap of her fingers. I gulped, hunching back to my wedge of shade. I never knew real fear until I met that woman.

"If we may continue?"

I concentrated on her white magic lesson like a racecar driver on the track, though I did catch the odd glance from Raven. But spell casting went so smoothly I not only mastered Spirit Sight but also Empathy. "Let's see them giggle now," I muttered.

At the end of the week, I sat in the cafeteria frowning at my food. Ellen also picked at hers, while Virginia shoveled hers away as if clearing snow. I had an appetite, of course, but not for chicken pasta salad.

"How go the magic studies?" Ellen said.

"Like a beef slaughterhouse. Sorry." I covered my mouth. "Red, blue, black? No good. White went so well I caused a scene. As for green, I guess normal is the word to describe it."

"You need to eat more," Virginia said. "I'll need you in the sports club."

"I could probably kick around the beef - I mean, the soccer ball."

"What's with you and beef? I'm sure they'll serve it one of these days."

"I used to live near one of those - " I paused as my stomach clenched up. Ellen gave me a concerned look. "They hang the beef up and, sorry. Not a dinnertime conversation." Still, if only I could slide a bucket underneath and collect -

"Maria."

"Sorry?" Reality came back into focus.

"You don't look so good. Those circles under your eyes."

"I, ah." I toyed my food some more. "Maybe it's the weather."

"Weather's fine," Ellen said. "Why not go back to the room and rest?"

"I'll take your advice." I stood with a smile. "Good luck with the weekend planning."

I flopped onto the cot, my recent green magic class replaying in my head. A wild-eyed girl named Suki couldn't stop talking about dragons and Raven had given this class a skip. Probably out playing with her bugs. As for my green magic, the spells worked, except I kept spraying a swirl of leaves in my wake.

"You're an odd one, Maria Susanna," Professor Potsdam had said.

That night, I awoke with a nagging headache. Too long without sustenance did that at times. I donned a robe and made to leave the room, but I caught myself staring at Ellen's graceful neck. Just a taste, I thought, and all my problems - no. Even if Virginia didn't pound me into submission, I refused to feed without permission. To do otherwise would start me down the path of the Strigoi. Grabbing my empty flask, I stepped into the hall, hearing Virginia give a snort and roll over.

The floor tiles soothed my bare feet, making my headache recede. All those rooms with sleeping prey, a voice inside said before I could squelch it. I headed for the dark cafeteria, unsure of what I might find. Perhaps a stray rat raiding the trash. I scanned the shelves, the locked freezer, the food prep implements, finding nothing to satisfy the grinding hunger. I kept looking behind me, as if something stealthy tracked my moves. I could see decently in low light and saw no one. And yet.

Back in the hall. I passed a couple classrooms. Maybe I could try my luck outside? If I could get off campus, I might find a wild animal or better yet, a nearby farm - wait. The classroom labs. I could find something in there. Not an animal, but those jars, with their colorful liquids. One of them might contain what I needed.

I slipped the lock with an old ID card. One more glance down the hall, finding no one spying on me, and I stepped inside. I swept my gaze over the shelves, not finding anything until I jimmied the lock to the back storeroom. Up there! I could sense something, way up on one of those shelves. Stoppered vials and flasks sat out like a welcoming committee, the light too dim to discern colors. I moved a couple retorts aside, reaching for a tall beaker behind, when the overhead lights popped on.

I froze, a growl hissing through clenched teeth.

"Miss Maria Susanna, I presume?" Grabiner's clipped voice spat out my name like a wad of chewing gum.

I nodded, otherwise unmoving. My fingertips could just brush against the jar of red liquid.

"And I also presume you have a valid excuse for rummaging through the upper-class labs at midnight?"

I nodded again. It felt bloody valid to me. Grabiner stepped over, removed my arm from the shelf and retrieved the beaker, two-thirds full of delicious -

"Oh no! You mustn't!" I rushed over when he stepped to the sink.

"This is old goat's blood. Drink this and you will want to chew on an old wool coat."

"But I need - no!" I covered my eyes to suppress the tears. With my luck, he would give out demerits for crying.

He paused, liquid about to pour. "You're a Moroi, aren't you?"

"I -" I nodded, too shocked to deny it.

"And as such, you require blood to survive?"

"To, keep from going crazy. Yes." My stomach did a twist at my phrasing.

"And casting magic makes it worse?"

"Yes. It does."

"What is your element?"

"Of, magic? White is easiest, followed by green. The other colors seem to hate me."

"Spirit then." He set the beaker on the counter. The blood inside sloshed. I grabbed a lab bench to keep from swooning.

"You did not attempt to feed off any of the students?"

"No sir. Wouldn't be right, sir."

Grabiner nodded. "Nor did you attempt to leave the campus in search of feeding opportunities?"

"Not yet sir."

"I like your honesty." He waved his hand over the beaker and I felt a pulse of power. The liquid glowed a brighter red. My stomach growled all the louder. "You need black magic to do this type of transformation. I will make a deal with you."

I cringed as my fangs descended but nodded.

"You will continue not to feed on your fellow students or anyone off campus. In exchange you will come to me for your feeding needs."

"I'd be a fool to refuse that deal sir."

"I have to give you detention for breaking into the lab. But I admire your self-control, so no demerits."

My hand shook as I unscrewed my flask. "May I, now?"

Grabiner retrieved a glass tumbler and filled it from the beaker. I steadied myself and took a sip. In a rush I felt the strength return but I forced myself to drink slowly, lest the tingling in my fingers made me drop the cup.

"Remember to practice all your colors of magic, even those that don't agree with you. Magic rewards effort."

I filled my empty flask from the beaker and tipped the remainder into my glass. "I appreciate this. Really."

"I need to close up the lab. Who knows what else may lurk in here if you got in."

"Don't turn your back on me, freshman!"

I spun around to put my back against the hallway wall. Then glared. "Raven, you're no senior."

"By the pricking of my thumb, something pathetic this way comes."

"Knock it off. I've been kowtowing to seniors doing that silly initiation thing all day."

"Why don't you stand up for yourself then? Who is your special senior, anyway?"

"The blue guy with wings. Damien Ramsey. He's been nice to me, though I don't trust him."

"You're in so much trouble, new girl."

"I keep telling you - "

"All that glitters is not aluminum."

"What the - "

"You resemble each other, as much as an apple doth an oyster."

"Who is your senior then, smarty-pants?"

"Isobel." Raven smiled. "She's nicer than Damien."

"Damien wants me to recite a poem in the middle of Grabiner's class."

"Oh! You should so totally do that."

"I already have detention, you imp."

"What for? Dissolving in a puddle on Grabby's carpet?"

I leaned in to whisper in her ear. "You're only half of me."

"What?"

My turn to look pleased. "I know what you are."

Raven blinked. "Of, course. I'm a witch. At Iris Academy."

We paused while a couple of seniors passed us by, harassing us until they grew bored. (I did my best to look bored right back at them.)

Raven said, "The miserable have no other medicine but only hope."

"You're a dhampir," I said. "Half Moroi, I take it? I hope?"

Raven grabbed my arm and yanked me into the nearest bathroom. "Don't ever. Don't ever, mention that. To anyone. Do you understand?"

"Why? Are you ashamed?"

"I am not - Look. You have no right to tell my secrets."

"You would tell mine."

"What secrets do you have?"

I stepped back, visualized my flask filled with blood, and opened my mouth.

"Egad!" Raven recovered in under a second. Point to her. "You're - "

"Moroi," I said.

"But you're up in daylight!"

"So are you."

"But I'm only - "

"Half? Of me?"

"Don't say that. It sounds demeaning."

"Well. You don't have to drink blood at least. Even if you do play the part."

"I'm just - I always - Urrgh. You're so infuriating!"

"I didn't make you who you are. So why be ashamed?"

"Because you don't have to hide who you are!"

I paused. "You can't be serious. I have to go to Grabiner to have him magic me some goat's blood, or whatever he does."

"Did you bite him?"

"Pardon?"

"Tell me you bit him. You should so bite him."

"Raven. Do I look like I have a death wish?"

"Well, I have to admit, you are kind of cool with those fangs. But you're still a weak wimp."

"I, ah . . . " I glanced around, noting the empty stalls.

She gripped my collar. "So tell me, little vampire. Who have you bitten so far? Or do you let others do the biting?"

"I, don't bite other students. Wouldn't be, don't want, path of Strigoi."

"A Strigoi can't get on this campus. Pretty Petunia Potsdam would flash fry them so hard we'd hear the pop from our bedrooms."

"What do you want from me, Raven?"

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet . . . "

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"This, you moof." She tightened her grip and jerked me forward, clamping her lips over mine.

My eyes popped wide. "Mmm!" But still, I didn't push her away. "Mmm?" She backed me against a sink. I hesitated, but with my free arm I reached out and encircled her.

She pulled back to speak. "I knew it."

I caught my breath. "You have a weird way of courting - "

"Are you going to tell Damien about this?"

"Are you kidding? I'd never - Ow!" My cheek stung from where she slapped it. "What the - " Then I noticed the open restroom door. "Isobel?"

"She thinks Damien likes her," Raven said.

"I do not! I mean, he's my senior for the initiation, but I don't like him or anything. Ha." Raven tried to pull away but I held on. "Doesn't mean you get to slap me."

"You shouldn't be fighting," Isobel said. "Least of all, over someone like him."

"Yea." I shoved Raven away. "He's not worth it. Is he?"

"Don't shove me, you wimp!" She came back in but Isobel separated us.

"Let's not get any demerits for fighting, shall we?"

"No ma'am."

Raven looked more demure than I had ever seen her. Then again, she had just received an order from her senior. I nodded and raised two fingers.

"Peace."

"In a pig's eye," Raven said, though with a half a grin.

"Be nice," said Isobel. I nodded and slipped out of the bathroom, careful not to turn my back on either of them. Not that Isobel would have called me out - but Raven certainly would have.

"Wow," I said, walking down the hall toward my shared room. I needed time to sort out my feelings, and a place to hide from pesky seniors, and of course, from a certain "creature of the night." At least for now.

"So," Virginia said as I sat on my cot, "you look like the cat who swallowed the goldfish."

"Yea, except who's the cat and who is the goldfish?"

"You're a weird one. But I still like you."

I lay back on my cot as she gathered her gym equipment.

"You still joining the sports club next week?"

"Absolutely," I said, closing my eyes. "As sure as I wish upon a star."