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The tour had officially ended. Professor Suarez had shown the group the clinic earlier, explaining that Mr. Harrison-a teacher at the school-also doubled as a nurse. He also explained the schedule; get ready by eight, then eat until nine, and when you're finished, go to Miss Hendrix's class. Then, eat a small snack and then go to Professor Suarez's class. Then, go to lunch, and lastly, head to Mr. Harrison's before the classes end. After that, they had the freedom to study, go to some of the extra rooms Professor Suarez showed them, go to their dorm, basically anything they wanted.

"Just don't go into any locked rooms," He ordered. "Or any of our studies, if they happen to be unlocked, basements, the nurse's office-if you're not sick-or outside. Besides that, feel free to make yourself at home."

"How about the kitchen?" Oliver asked.

"Of course you can go there. We're not going to starve you."

Besides the fact that our lunch is at three, Eli thought, crossing his arms to make himself more comfortable.

"I suppose you all remember where Miss Hendrix's class is?" He asked. Most of the students looked at each other, biting their lips, until Avalon raised her hand.

"I-I think I remember," She said.

"Perfect. Lead the way. I have some business to attend to, anyways," Professor Suarez said, turning around. But before he left, he added, "And don't even think about skipping."

Once he was gone, everyone looked at Avalon. She cleared her throat, and pivoted towards the right. "This way."

After a little walking, the eleven students walked into the room Avalon had directed them to, looking around. It was a rather large room compared to most classrooms. Articles were hung up all over the walls, some of which included newspaper sections on asylums for victims of dark magic possession, and others photographs of murders that occurred under the influence of the madness. Twelve desks were arranged in the room, four rows of three from the back to the front. 

A woman stood up at the front of the classroom towering above everyone that entered, her long, dark brown hair tucked away into a ponytail, her bangs stopping right above her eyebrows. Her piercing grey eyes scanned the kids, examining each one. She definitely didn't look young, but not very old either.

"Take a seat anywhere," The woman said. Nervously, everyone headed towards the back, Emery and Cameron-being the last two to enter-having the pleasure of sitting up front. 

"Welcome to your first class of the year." Sure, the words sounded genuine, but her tone sounded neither enthusiastic or welcoming. "As you all should know, I'm Miss Hendrix, and I will be your History of Dark Magic teacher."

Caleb rolled his eyes. Way to start the day off with a bang.

"We actually didn't know that," Mira pointed out. Eli sighed. Did she have to tell her that?

Miss Hendrix raised her eyebrow. "I thought that Professor Suarez would tell you about me, but I guess I was mistaken."

"Well, he mentioned a Miss Hendrix..." Mira started, but trailed off.

"Miss Hendrix?" Nikita raised her hand. Miss Hendrix rolled her eyes, then reluctantly nodded at her. "Are we actually going to... do stuff in this class? Or just read textbooks?"

Miss Hendrix sighed. "It's History Class, Ms. Irving, not Hands-On Magic Spells and Protection Class. You'll be doing that in your other two classes." Most of the class sighed in disappointment.

"Look, kids," Miss Hendrix started, annoyance in her voice. "I get that History is the most boring class, but it is just as important. If you want to be able to handle dark magic, you have to know how others did it as well. As the flyer promised, you will learn the secrets to mankind. Here. In this very classroom. So I suggest you be quiet, pay attention, and learn."

The class fell silent.

"Thank you. Now, turn to page 20."

×××

Professor Suarez stood at the front of the classroom, looking upon his students. They were all standing in the center of the room-for there were no desks-some rather close to the front while others were near the back. Mira kept whispering to Oliver about how excited she was, who smiled and nodded along but couldn't understand a word of it because of how fast she was speaking.

"And now, my students, your second class of the day," Professor Suarez said blankly. "Protection Against Dark Magic. In this class I will be teaching you how to build immunity to the magic that hurts so many, along with how to tell if someone is under its influence. But that won't be until the end. First things first, does anyone here have any experience with dark magic?"

Eli slumped down. Nobody answered.

"Well then, I guess we have a lot of work to do, now don't we?" He gave a sort of grin that actually looked a little frightening.

"Now, for the first demonstration in this class, I need a volunteer." Mira raised her hand energetically, but Professor Suarez ignored it. "Let's see. How about..." He looked around the room, and pointed at Emery. "Mr. Holland. Help us out, will you?"

Emery glanced nervously at everyone else. He wasn't asking. Emery started walking, trying to look confident. When Emery reached the front, Professor Suarez turned around and grabbed a large book, handing it to Emery.

"Sir? What do I do with this?"

Professor Suarez shushed him. "Now for a partner..." The professor squinted, running his finger at all the possible options. "Mr. Alaska, you've been offly quiet."

Eli's eyes went wide. Why him? Out of all ten choices, why him?

All heads turned around to him. Too intimidated to disobey the professor, Eli slowly walked to where Professor Suarez told him to, holding his breath. He looked at Emery and saw his nervous expression. Emery quickly directed his attention down at his book, and Eli could tell he was trying-but not exactly succeeding-to hide his worry.

"Alright. Mr. Holland, flip to page 337."

Ignoring why the professor had him flip so far back in the book, Emery complied.

"Now, Mr. Alaska," Professor Suarez started. He walked over to Eli and leaned towards him, whispering into his ear. Eli gave him a confused look, but Professor Suarez waved him to go on and Eli sighed, going back to his still position.

Professor Suarez turned to Emery. "Do you see the text in italics in that circle near the center?"

"Yes, sir."

"Read it aloud. Make sure to look at Mr. Alaska and only Mr. Alaska and pronounce everything perfectly."

"I-Is it going to hurt him?"

"No questions. Read it."

Emery bit his lip. No pressure there. He then looked back at the page and started to read the incantation to the best of his ability.

As he spoke, Professor Suarez turned to the students and put his finger to his lips. Everybody besides Emery was silent.

Then, when he finished reading, something happened that nobody was expecting. A black cloud of smoke rose from the ground, Avalon and Devin stepping away to make room for it, trying to hide their fright. Cameron's mouth fell open, and he would have shrieked if it weren't for Lukas putting a hand over it. Eli pressed his eyes together and clenched his fists, standing completely still. The dark mist charged towards him, and Mira gripped Oliver's arm in fear. However, it didn't enter Eli's body. No, instead it bounced back, disappearing as soon as it stopped flying.

The silence was broken by Professor Suarez's clapping. He was... smiling. Actually smiling. And not just grinning a little. Like, a full on smile.

"Well done, Mr. Alaska! Well done indeed!" He said cheerfully.

Eli opened his eyes, his hands relaxing and face softening. He looked at the students' shocked faces with a confused expression.

"W-What did I do?" He asked. However, Professor Suarez didn't answer him, and instead turned to the group.

"What you just experienced was dark magic trying to enter Mr. Alaska's body."

Eli's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Don't worry, young man, you repelled it! It wasn't a very strong piece of magic, of course, but still rather good for a beginner!"

"What did you tell him to do?" Devin asked curiously. "When you whispered something to him. What was it?"

Professor Suarez nodded at her. "I simply told him to think of something that makes him strong, focus on it, and stay completely still."

"What would have happened if Eli hadn't repelled it?" Emery asked nervously. If anything had happened to Eli, he would have blamed himself. He was the one who said the curse, after all.

"Nothing very serious," Professor Suarez said. "He possibly would have gotten possessed for a minute, but the spirit was too weak for anything too bad to happen. I know the counter-curse, anyways."

Eli gaped. "Possessed?!"

"Possibly," Professor Suarez said, but Eli didn't exactly believe him.

"Are we all going to try it out?" Avalon asked. She was quite sure she could repel it; she had a lot of strong memories.

"Soon, I promise. But for now, I have other things to discuss with you."

Both Eli and Emery walked back to the floor, Emery standing next to Devin and Eli going to the back of the room again. Mira ran towards him and started pestering him with questions.

"What did you think about? Your friends? Your family? Your dreams?!" Mira asked excitedly, shaking his shoulders.

Eli shrugged. "Rock music."

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