Ex Nihilo Academy (3 page)

* *

My eyes are barely open before I’m scrambling up the bed to
stare at the headboard. It is made of the same heavy wood as the rest of the bedroom furniture and painted the same antique white. I run my hands along the trees carved into its centre and around the sides. There is no drawer, latch or
handle and I have no idea what I am supposed to be looking for. I knock on it a few times then try prying it open where the carving meets the edge. I feel behind the headboard and I check under the bed, then pull the mattress to the side but I find nothing. I remind myself that it was just a stupid dream, so
why am I tearing up my bedroom like an idiot? I can’t keep having dreams like this. Seeing my parents so vividly is like having a band aid repeatedly ripped off an open wound. I stare at the headboard in frustration then slam my hands
into it as hard as I can. I need to get out of this place and find a way to get home. Even if it means crashing on my best friend Anna’s couch for the rest of my life it would still be better than this insanity. When I lean back I see
that one of the intricately carved trees has popped open and under it is a small bronze key sitting in a dusty lock. I twist the key around and the headboard pulls apart with a groan, revealing a hollow space inside where a book sits. It takes two hands to pull out the huge, leather bound book which is in surprisingly good condition considering the amount of dust on it. I flip through the first few pages which are brown parchment and yellowing around the edges and then I start to read. It is the family history of the Hughes tribe
and it reads like a history textbook on acid. There are pages and pages of photos, family-trees and Gaelic drawings and it takes me most of the night to get through it. There is information about my grandfather, my great-grandfather
and other family members dating back to medieval times. It turns out that my parents didn’t buy this house at all but that it’s been passed down the line dating back years and years. I don’t know what surprises me more; that I have
been here before at this very house and blocked it out or that I’m holding a book in my hands about real, verifiable fairies. After reading through it all I am left with an overview of what being a fairy is about and some idea as to where all of the legends come from. Apparently we used to be small. Not like
Tinkerbelle small but diminutive, which is not really that much of a stretch to believe since a hundred years ago humans were like, barely five feet tall. According to the book we used to be winged but as we evolved wings became
obsolete, mostly because as we grew in size winged flight became impossible as a means of transport. Most of the legends and folklore seem to have come from Celtic history, which says that we are an intelligent and creative species that
were forced into hiding. There are lots of different names for fairies, like the ‘
sidhe’
who are said to be immortal Irish fairies living in caves, or the ‘
kelpie
’ which are supposed to be some kind of fairy seahorses that I don’t want to put too much thought into. There is a section on the
history of the Hughes powers and a letter written by my great-great-great grandfather on elemental manipulation. I think what strikes me most about the book is despite how surreal it is a lot of the history isn’t that different
from what I know of humanity. Take for example a bloody past where we were known for our savagery, moving into a period of mischief and malice, to the kind of work my parents and their ancestors have done over the last few hundred
years supporting the earth and protecting the anonymity of our species. There are pages and pages of articles on my parents and their work with high profile environmental protection organizations. It seems that they were both taking a very active role in governance and environmental stewardship and working
closely with humans, which is of course news to me. How did I not know any of this? When I finally close the book and stuff it back into the headboard I’m thinking that maybe everyone at Ex Nihilo isn’t as crazy as I thought.

Surprisingly, the boatman is waiting for me at the dock the next morning with his arms folded and his head bent in repose. He nods ever so slightly as he helps me up and on to the boat. By the time I make it to school
I’ve missed the first bell and the halls are once again empty, so I make my way back to the headmasters’ office. I must startle her when I throw open the door because she tears off her glasses and looks up from her papers in surprise.

“Lily.” She says cautiously as I flop down in the chair across from her.

“Headmaster. I'm back and I’m ready to listen.”

“Well, to begin with you can call me Professor Winters as headmaster
sounds a little severe, even to me. And I’m glad you came back but I’m afraid we don’t have time to waste. I’ve told you everything you need to know about who you are. I would suggest that you reach out to your peers if you have
questions. My priority is for you to start working on your powers immediately.”

“I don’t have powers.”

“Yes, you do. You may not feel them yet but they are there. Now I suggest you get going before you miss any more class. You have an entire
day to catch up on.” She turns her chair around and starts punching the keys on her laptop, effectively dismissing me. I get up and head toward the door with a thousand different thoughts rattling around in my brain. When I was five years
old my dad bought me silver wings, a wand and a tutu for my Halloween costume. I wore that costume for two straight weeks. I ate in it, slept in it; I even tried to bathe in it. When I told my dad that I wanted to be a fairy this isn’t
really what I had in mind. Professor Winters stops me before I reach the door.

“Oh and another thing, this is a boarding school. I understand that your parents wanted you to have time to live in their home and adjust to the change of scenery but the expectation when you are ready is that
you will move in here. And while you live among the humans in Strangford you must keep our secrets and tell them nothing of Ex Nihilo.” “Why the big secret? This place is hard to miss. Can’t they just come here and see it for
themselves?” I say and she frowns.

“No, Lily. The witches put the school under a very powerful shrouding spell. Humans can’t see it and they couldn’t get here if they wanted to. It is both for their protection and for ours. You’d be wise to remember
that.”

* *

“Sorry, what class are we going to?” I ask Tristan, who at the summoning of Professor Winters is walking me to my next class.

“Demonology.” He says. Oh-kay, I think to myself.

“What do we play with an Ouija board or something?” I joke and he grimaces, which looks odd on his perpetually smiling face.

“Don’t be ridiculous, California. It’s one of the best
classes we have and one of the only ones where the junior and senior classes are combined. You’ll love it, just come with me.” He pushes open the door to a regular old classroom complete with wooden desks and a dusty chalkboard at the
front. The teacher sees us and rushes over the greet me.

“You must be Lily. I’ve so been looking forward to meeting you!” She says warmly as I take in her closely cropped platinum hair and mint colored eyes which look even lighter against her bronze skin. And there is a
lisp to her accent that sounds kind of Spanish. “I’m Lucinda Greene.” She smiles and I catch a flash of white teeth which are slightly crooked in the front in an endearing sort of way. “Welcome to my class, please find yourself a
seat anywhere that’s available.” I slide into an empty desk in the front row and Tristan pats me on the shoulder before heading to his seat at the back.

“Welcome everyone to Level Two Demonology, arguably one of the most important classes you will take this term. As supernatural’s we have a
responsibility to understand the forces we are up against and the temptations we all face. As the school motto says, Nosce Te Ipsum. But what is just as important as knowing oneself? Anyone?” The room is quiet and no one raises
their hand.

“Knowing your enemy.” A voice, like warm butter melting on toast, finally pipes up. It’s deep and smooth, with a trace of an Italian accent and it sends a shiver down my spine. The voice belongs to the boy in the
desk beside me. He is absolutely gorgeous and it’s incredible that I didn’t notice him until he spoke. He has an oval face with full lips, dark eyebrows, and silky dark brown hair that falls just past his ears. His skin has a rich
olive tone to it and the way he is leaning back in his seat shows off a lean, muscular frame draped in expensive black jeans, a black t-shirt and collarless dark brown motorcycle jacket. There is no way that he is sixteen and I think maybe he’s been held back. Can you be held back when you are a supernatural?
Just looking at him makes my heart beat a little faster.

“Luca is correct. As you all know, there are those in the supernatural community that choose to side with evil. They use evil to enhance
their abilities and in turn compromise the safety and anonymity we have all sworn to uphold.” I know what she is saying must be important but I start to tune Lucinda out. I am staring at him and I can’t stop myself. He glances over,
a smirk playing on his lips.

“What?” He mouths and I turn bright red and stare down at my desk.

“So let’s review the basics class. What is a demon? It is formless evil that can be conjured and controlled but it can only possess when
it has been summoned. If you choose to summon a demon you run the risk of letting it take you over permanently. Demon power itself has five influences; coercion, subversion, lust, gluttony, indulgence. These represent the five
points of the pentagram.” Someone at the back of the class raises their hand.

“But isn’t a pentagram a religious symbol?”

“Good, Kyle. Pentagram comes from the Greek word meaning five-lined and was an ancient Babylonian religious symbol. It also is
represented in the Star of David in Judaism and has been used to symbolize the five wounds of Jesus. It is also often seen as a magical symbol, a symbol of free masonry and as a symbol of the Wiccan faith representing spirit, water,
fire, earth and air. Five is considered a mystical number and as a result the pentagram is often considered a potent protection against evil.” Kyle puts his hand up again.

“But if it’s protection from evil why is it associated with
demonology?” Lucinda picks up the chalk and draws the pentagram symbol on the board upside down.

“Good and evil follow each other closely. The demonic ritual uses an inverted pentagram as a symbol of evil. A Grimoire contains a number of
spells that can be used to summon a demon and all spells require the use of the inverted star in addition to a diabolical pact in blood. As you will remember from Level One Demonology that a diabolical pact is a contract written
backwards in Latin and sealed with the blood of a sacrifice which the signor becomes bound to for a hundred years.” Lucinda looks at me with sympathy in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Lily, this must be overwhelming for you for your first class.”

“It all sounds very Faustian to me.” I say and I notice Luca
raise his eyebrows.

“Very good! Is everyone familiar with the legend of Faust? Can you share with us Lily?” I clear my throat and inwardly curse myself for opening my mouth in the first place. “Faust makes a pact with the devil to
exchange his soul for knowledge and pleasure. It’s a theme that’s present in a lot of literature, art and culture. It’s about sacrificing ones moral integrity for power.” Lucinda gives me a thumbs up and I’m suddenly thankful that I had
to do a paper on the subject last year.

“Well summarized, Lily. And here’s an interesting fact. Faust literally translates to fist in German and a fist represents physical force. So the word quite literally describes someone who will resort to any
means to achieve their goals.”

Lucinda finishes her lecture and asks us to separate into pairs to review the chapter on Lesser Demons. I am paired with Luca, who doesn’t make any attempt to move or turn in my direction so I have to half-walk
half-drag my desk over to his. I’m peering over his shoulder at his text book when he finally speaks.

“You’re the new girl?” He doesn’t look at me when he talks
and instead looks past me over my shoulder.

“Yes.”

“You know a lot about Faust.” It is a statement more than it is a question.

“I guess so.” I shrug, keeping my voice as neutral as possible. He is the kind of guy that is so incredibly good-looking that just breathing the same air as him is intimidating. “Can I offer you some advice?” He looks down at my feet. “Invest in some new footwear. Flip flops aren’t exactly appropriate for the Irish weather and I can guarantee you won’t find
anywhere to suntan around here.”

I’m dying of embarrassment and I can feel it creeping up through my body, staining my face crimson. I look down at my outfit; dark gray skinny jeans, a white off-the-shoulder Billabong tee and sandals. Why oh why
didn’t I go with jeans, boots and a jacket. I am totally mortified. I want to shrink down in my seat and disappear but a voice saves me. “Don’t listen to fangs over there. He was born with, how you say, a stick up his backside.” The
girl to my right shoots Luca a death look, then smiles at me. “I am Nissa Duval. And I promise you that I have much nicer manners than ‘Luca-the-Great’ over there, which is saying a lot given that I am a witch." She says with
mock sarcasm and extends a finely manicured hand to me. She has a jet-black bob hairstyle cut at an angle and her wide, expressive eyes are rimmed in coal. Her lipstick is blood red and a diamond stud sparkles in her nose. She is covered head to toe in black; black tights, black sweater dress, black heeled boots. She
is both stunning and frightening all at once. “Nice to meet you.” I say, grateful for the distraction.

“I think you are gorgeous. Like one of those surfing girls
from the American TV. Very casual chic.” She says as I struggle to keep up with her French lilt.

“You mean 90210?”

“Yes, but the new one not the old one.”

“You guys watch TV?” I’ll admit I am surprised.

“But of course, why wouldn’t we?”

“I just thought being supernatural’s with powers and some higher purpose and all…” “Silly girl. Of course we watch television. I especially like that program about the vampires because it’s so much better
than the real thing.” She narrows her eyes at Luca and he slams his textbook shut and levels me with a glare.

“This is the most ridiculous conversation I’ve ever had to listen to. How you managed to go from Faust to ‘The Vampire Diaries’ in the
space of mere minutes I have no idea but you clearly have no interest in demonology so if you’ll excuse me.” He slides his chair out and stalks out of the room, leaving me gawking after him. Nissa leans over and pats my hand apologetically.

“Don’t take offense. He’s always like that, darling. Today was actually a good day for him.”

* *

After class Tristan leads me to the cafeteria which he
promises is the most impressive part of the school, and I see instantly that he’s right. The arched roof is crisscrossed with exposed beams and there is a second floor balcony that runs the length of the room. A stone fireplace with a built in big screen TV sits in the center of the room and stretches all the way
up to the ceiling. There are round dark wood tables and chairs scattered around the room and the floor is a luxurious looking slate. It looks more like a ski lodge or a designer coffee house than a high school cafeteria.

“Pretty mind blowing, huh?” He looks at me.

“What? Oh yeah it’s nice.” I say and he laughs.

“I meant the supernatural stuff. Finding out you’re a fairy?
Must kind of mess with your head.”

“I guess. I don’t really know what to do with that information right now.”

“Right now, California, you don’t have to do anything with that information. Let’s just relax and enjoy lunch.” He takes my hand and leads
me to a table by the fireplace, then takes the chair right next to me.

“How long have you known?” I ask.

“That I’m a fairy? My whole life.”

“That’s right. You’re a fairy too.” I study his face for
some sign and he grins.

“It will make a lot more sense once I explain it to you.” Tristan gestures for me to follow him and he leads me to the food area. It is made up of a line of sleek stainless steel refrigerators, an elaborate looking
salad bar and a takeout window with a menu board posted beside it. “Supies have different tastes when it comes to food. The fridges are for the vamps to store blood for when they’re not chowing on unsuspecting humans. The salad bar is
mostly for us. Ever notice how often you crave fresh food like fresh vegetables, fruit and organic stuff? I’ll bet you’re a vegetarian too.” I nod, surprised by how accurately he’s described me. “Most of us are. It’s a fairy
thing for sure. Just like our appreciation for warm weather and the outdoors.”

“So you are telling me that because I’m an organic-eating-vegetarian in flip flops that I’m a fairy? By that definition than a good majority of people on the West Coast must be fairies.” I wrinkle my
nose and he laughs.

“I’m just telling it like it is, California. Anyway, the witches never seem to have much of an appetite walking around all tortured and sad like they do. The wolves mostly eat at the hot food counter though its
squirrels and rabbits when they shift.” It amazes me how easily he talks about all this but I guess having seventeen years to process it helps.

“What about the trolls?” I add and he winks mischievously.

“Trolls mostly eat live goats and game but they will eat anything. They are like tiny little garbage disposals and you won’t see any around now. They can only come out at night since they, like, literally explode
in the sun. The school has night classes for them. They are total pranksters though so watch out if you do run into one after dark.” We help ourselves to some salad and find our way back to the table. Tristan takes a big bite and pauses for dramatic effect. “Now it’s time for the unofficial introduction to
Ex Nihilo. Over there we have the wolves. They are the skinny ones over there that look like marathon runners, and they have genius-level intellects so they take themselves pretty seriously.” He gestures to a mixed group across the
cafeteria that have their heads buried in their books. “Witches look pretty much like you’d expect. Note the sour grapes expressions and angst-y black eye makeup. I may be a guy but I’m pretty sure Goth went out of style, like, years
ago. I guess they are going for a theme, solidarity and all that.” I look over my shoulder at the table behind me where a group of girls and guys with bored expressions and black nail polish are picking at their lunches. Nissa isn’t
with them; instead she is sitting across the room with an Asian boy with spiky black and orange hair who doesn’t look like a witch at all. “The vamps are the ones with the sallow complexions and expensive clothing who are staring at the walls. Trolls, well, like I said I can’t even really explain that one - you’ll
have to see for yourself. And we are over there.” He points to the back wall where a loud, boisterous group has pushed three of the round tables together. The first thing that strikes me is how attractive they all are. The group is
made up of tall, muscular guys and willowy girls all with hair in varying shades of blond. I notice their eyes too; all in different hues of green. Seeing them all together they have a kind of ethereal quality.