Drolora Academy

Chapter 3

When I wake up the first thing I hear is people arguing about who I am. 'Well, I'm never telling them that, now am I?" Elara snorts a laugh 'Imaging you wake up and the first thing you say is I'm the princess and I'm leaving.' I laugh to myself and try to open my eyes. The light only makes me close them again and I groan from the pain in my head.

"Whoa, hold on. Don't try to move you went through a lot before I found you." The voice I heard before I thought I died says. "Well, I'm not dead so if you have plans to kill me you have to try harder than the last person." I reply with sarcasm lining my voice. I try to open my eyes slowly this time and I am glad it works with less pain. Once my eyes are open, I slowly take in the people around me. There are three people in what I can only assume is a hospital. The one to my left has the white coat healers usually wear and seems to know what they are doing as they mix up medicine.

She walks over to me and reaches towards me. I stiffen and try to move away without realizing it. "Try not to move around too much until you take this, it will help with the pain from your injuries" she says as she reaches out again. I let her help me this time because somehow during the last week I hurt my leg. 'You did that when you fell and thought I was going to let us die' Elara speaks up. 'Oh, well that explains all the pain there but why am I not healed from the chains and the knife? I thought that would have already been healed' I asked but she didn't answer again. I roll my eyes at myself and focus on drinking the medicine. It tastes exactly as I thought it would, terrible.

There are two other people in here and from what I can see of the older woman she seems like she runs everything here. Her brown hair is in a bun on top of her head with no strand out of place and her blue eyes are staring right at me. She has one of those business suits on that are more casual than anything else. With the pants loose and the dark green blouse flowy but tucked in. She looks like she's taller than me and has a calmness about her that instantly calms me down. "I am glad you're finally awake. You gave us quite a scare there. I am headmistress Darkholme, and you are?" she asks me. 'Straight to the point, I like it' I think to myself. "I'm Lilith, how long have I been here?" I say sitting up straighter now that I feel myself healing. "Two days" I hear from beside me. I jump and turn my head quickly. "Sorry, I didn't see you there" I mumble as I calm down. I look up and see a man about my age sitting in a chair beside my bed. "Oh wow, thank you for letting me stay here for so long. I will be out of your hair as soon as I can" I tell him and see his eyebrows bunch together. "What do you mean? Are you not here to register for classes?" I look at him and have to take a deep breath. Silver hair that looks like it's made of pure moonlight sits on his head. He looks at me and I feel the breath leave me when I see the deepest purple eyes. They make him look mysterious and wise. He has an aura of curiosity and power. I feel trapped in his gaze as I take in his full lips and feel like I'll drown if I look away. I do anyway and shake my head trying to figure out what is wrong with me. I can feel Elara shifting in my mind, curious about him.

"No, I didn't even know I was near an academy" I tell them as I look around the room for my bag. "Where is my bag" I start to get up to go look when I am stopped by the healer again. "I had it put in your room when you arrived" she said while looking back towards the headmistress. "I am not staying here I have to leave" I tell them all as I stand. I immediately regret it as my vision goes dark for a couple seconds. The man beside me reaches out to steady me and I flinch away. He puts his hands up by his face as if to say he means no harm. Once I am steady the headmistress says, "You will need to stay here and complete your classes and find your mate Lilith." I freeze and take in what she says, "I will not be trapped here like a prisoner, and I do not want a mate" I respond. She looks shocked, it is rare someone does not want a mate so I can understand that.

She started to speak but I cut her off. "You will never keep me here; I am not a prisoner." "I never said you were a prisoner; you are free to leave here anytime you like" the headmistress said calmy. "Just know that the law states that every able citizen in this kingdom must attend an academy once they are 18 or they will be killed." She shrugged as if it wasn't that big of a deal and turned back towards her tea. I didn't even see her get it; she must be a witch then. "Great so that means I'm not a prisoner, but I am not free to go until when exactly?" I thew myself into the chair beside her.

"That really depends on you and how you intend to find your mate, Lilith." She looked right into my eyes and said it this time. Now I'm mad. "I already said I will not accept a mate; I do not want one and I will never take one. You may as well get that through your brain now." "We will see" she said cryptically and waved her hand as if to dismiss me. "Take Lilith to her room, maybe a new day will help her change her mind." And just like that my life has officially been set into motion, only its completely backwards and currently on fire.

The man that was sitting beside my bed stands and motions for me to leave. He is tall, like really tall. If I had to bet, I'd say he was about six three. I go through the door, and he starts walking to the left. "I am sorry about all that, I didn't know you weren't here for classes" he says and looks back at me. "It's fine, not like I had anything else planned other than dying when you found me" I shrug as I say it and look around. He doesn't say anything to that and opens the front door.

As I look around, I can see the buildings around me. They are made of stone and are in a circle with a walkway leading from each to the middle of them. In the middle is what looks like a park. It has benches and a huge fountain that looks like the moon goddess Selene. "This is the administration section; it houses the teachers and the elders when they visit. It is also where you will find the healer and the portals for students to travel back to their homes during breaks." He says, taking on the role of tour guide. He stops and points to the set of buildings behind them. "That is where all the first years stay as they learn about their powers and for shifters to learn what form they will take."

There is no way to tell what form a shifter will take, only that if their parents were predators their children had a better chance of being one too. Most people don't like to marry outside of that so it's rare for a predator to marry a prey species shifter. I look towards the first year's building and hope that I can just grab my stuff and leave before they figure out who I am.

As we enter the building my eyes are drawn to the corner beside the staircase that takes up the most part of the floor. It looks like one of the staircases you would see in a castle with the round bottoms and banisters that become the focal point of the room. There are doors on each side of the room, I count eight in total. My guide points to the left side and says "There is a pool, music room, study hall, and ingredient room on this side. There is a library on the right side." I look quickly to the right. Four doors to enter the library. 'I have to see that before I leave' I tell Elara. She laughs in my head 'I was waiting for you to say that. I know you can't pass up a library.'

We go up three flights of stairs and he stops at the last door. This door is in the middle of the wall not on the side like the other rooms and I look at him hoping he sees the question in my eyes. Thankfully he does. "It is the only room left and it is not a room that is shared usually but this was the only place that was big enough to put an extra student on such short notice" he explains. I shrug and he knocks on the door.

The door opens and I see my roommate for the first time. "Hi, I'm Thalia and you must be my roommate" she says and steps back to let me in the room. I step in and turn back to my guide "I didn't get your name" I tell him, and his eyebrows raise. "Wow, I can't believe I forgot that I'm Alaric and I'll see you around" he says as he turns and walks back down the hall.

I looked back at my roommate and shut the door. "So how did you manage to get in here last minute" she asks with an eyebrow raised almost as if she's trying to see if ill lie to her. "Oh, you know, almost dying at the gates is a way to do it" I say as I go to sit on my bed. I don't hear anything, so I look back at her and see her staring at me like I'm insane. She doesn't say anything else as I watch her go into another door to the right and close it after going in. Once the shower turns on, I let out a breath and Elara says, 'so what's the plan are we leaving or trying to blend in?' I say nothing as I fall back on the bed because I really don't know anymore.