Wiccan Wishes

Chapter Two: Werewolf Wisdom

I had been trained to spot other magical creatures by their aura, but even if the aura had not given him away I would have seen it in the wild look in his eyes and the wolfish grin he gave me when I walked in. He had rust red hair and his copper skin was almost the exact same shade, but he had eyes that were a bright shining yellow.

“Rosalina Morrison, how nice it is to see you once again.” The substitute rumbled from across the classroom. Jacqueline Bier, head cheerleader, managed to pick her jaw up off the desk in front of her long enough to say, “Um, her name is Rose Greene. Alina is her twin sister.”

“Is that so?” He purred as he stalked towards me, “Do you know Rosalina?”

“Yea, I know the old bag.”

“There is an astounding resemblance between the two of you.”

“It’s the red hair,” I droned in a listless tone, “We redheads all look alike.” He seemed to find my response amusing as he chuckled before turning his back on me and the rest of the class.

“I would appreciate it if you would take a seat Miss Greene, so that I may begin the lesson.” I darted past him towards my seat and began reading from the potions book, assuming that this was the end of the class discussion; but it became clear I was mistaken since he began speaking before I could read halfway down the page that explained the history of sleeping potions and the Lady Mary Barnett’s discovery of the brew.

“My name is Mr. Wulf. I am your long-term substitute and will be here until the end of the year now for the attendance… ”

He rattled off the names of my peers skipping mine, knowing I was there and accounted for, before launching into an extraordinarily in depth discussion of avant-garde movements that had popped up in France in the early years of the twentieth century. He then assigned reading and report on Matisse and Cezanne with our interpretation of one of the Fauvism pieces of our choosing. I was getting my potions book put back in my bag, praying I’d be able to find it at lunch as I walked past the desk where Jacqueline and her best friend, Jennifer Peterson, twittered around Mr. Wulf hoping to gain his affection. He looked at them like he was thoroughly sickened which makes sense; werewolves think of themselves as a higher form of evolution: they have human intelligence, animal instinct, and supernatural strength. Werewolves thought of themselves as the perfect human; practically Gods among men. He looked up at me, and without breaking eye contact, Mr. Wulf brushed the other girls off,

“Excuse me Miss Bier, Miss Peterson, I need to talk to Miss Greene alone for a moment.” The other two girls glared at me with a look of both hatred and respect for my ability to trap the attention of our teacher; if they only knew why.

“Well, well, tell me Miss Greene how is Rosalina doing these days?”

“As good as old, grumpy, obnoxious women can be I suppose. Also she goes by Rosemary.”

“That’s nice. So, tell me is she the one assigning you to read potion books during my class?”

“Excuse me?”

“Is Rosalina the one who assigned the book you were reading?” He spoke to me as if I were a child.

“How is that any of your damned business?”

“Watch your language; I would hate to have to give you detention.”

“You’re a substitute, you can’t give out detentions.”

“Oh, yes I can,” He bared his white teeth in a semblance of grin, “Long-term subs are just like regular teachers.”

“Look, put your fangs away wolf boy, I got lunch with my sister alright?”

“Your sister, yes I believe Ms. Bier mentioned her. Is she also under Rosalina’s tutelage?”

“Goodbye Mr. Wolf.”

“Mr. Wulf.”

“Whatever you say Mr. Wolf,” I flipped my hand unceremoniously behind me as I slammed open the door. I decided talking to Alina was not in my best interest so I headed outside to grab a smoke before discussing the old bag’s canine friend. The tip of the cigarette had just begun to burn when the door behind the field house, where all who dared smoke on campus went to perform the crime, swung open to reveal the swim captain, Kai Andreas. He had Clark Kent good looks with black hair and blue eyes that were hidden beneath square rimmed glasses as they took me in.

“What are you lookin’ at?”

“Nothing. Cigarettes kill you know?”

“Yea, and so does irritating me, keep it movin’ four eyes.”

Kai lifted his blue eyes to meet my grey ones before moving along as he was told. Kai had always been the hot and nerdy type, but he was too “by the rules” for my taste. He and Alina would have made a perfect couple both so worried about everyone else, but I had never really prescribed to that way of thinking. I pulled in one last deep drag before putting out the cigarette and walking back towards the cafeteria where my sister was no doubt having a fit about me not being there.