School for Good and Evil: The Successors Book One: Anastasia's Tale

Chapter Six: Moonlit Waltz

Chapter Six

Moonlit Waltz

Anastasia felt sick as she replayed the meeting with her teacher again and again in her mind. She saw her exasperated face as she yelled at her professor like she was a spectator watching the situation play out for all of the woods to see. Cringing as the dagger hit the stone floor for the thousandth time. She tried to shake the memory away but it never left her mind haunting her just like the strange dreams she had been having all the nights that followed after. Not all of them were bad but none were good either. Her brother would come to her room every night and knock on her door asking if she was ok. Anastasia never answered. All she did was lay in her bed sullen, and too embarrassed to face the world. Evangeline would occasionally answer his knocks and tell him she was sleeping, but Filip never bought the lie. Some nights he would sit outside of the dorm room waiting for Anastasia to come out and talk to him but she never did. Every morning she would sulk to class. Her peers looked at her appalled, wondering where the beautiful princess they had seen on the first day of school had gone. One day Anastasia saw her reflection in the hall as she was walking to class. She stopped cold. This couldn't be her, this was someone else, this was a monster. She touched her face in the mirror. Her eyes black with bags, skin oily from days without a bath. Anastasia's gaze shifted to Caleb at the other end of the hall staring at her in the mirror. He wore a black cape the hood seemed to be too big for him as it drooped over his blue eyes. He pushed the hood off his head and put a hand on Anastasia's shoulder.

"Don't worry you will always be beautiful to me Anya," he said, removing his hood

Anastasia hung her head and inhaled his scent as he hugged her from behind. He wore a cologne that made her stomach flutter and she didn't know why. She was never interested in Caleb. Why now did she feel this strange connection to him. As he hugged her his warmth filled her body. When he let go the world went cold again.

"Please don't leave, don't leave," Anastasia begged in a whisper.

"I'm not going anywhere," Caleb said.

"Tonight meet me at the top of the school. Dress nice," He smiled, wiping a tear off her face with his thumb.

Anastasia couldn't help but smile a little.

"Thank you, Caleb," Anastasia said.

"For what?" He wondered.

"For caring."

Caleb hugged her one last time and then headed to his classes. She tried to perk up as her classes seemed to zoom by but when forest groups came around Anastasia's mind was somewhere else again. As they sat around a fire in the garden of Good and Evil Anastasia sharpened a rock with her dagger as Yuba explained magic in school grounds and finger glows.

"Today we will be unlocking finger glows and learning how to control them," Yuba said in a gruff voice.

Anastasia looked up.

"Finally we are doing something interesting," she heard Ash say beside her as she leaned on a gravestone.

"Stand up kids and I'll unlock your glows," Yuba said, getting off the stump he was sitting on.

Anastasia stood up and realized she definitely should have been paying attention. She followed her classmates as Yuba went down the line of Evers and  Nevers and unlocked their glows. Students' fingers lit up. Some gold and some blue, but all were unique. Anastasia held her hand out and Yuba stuck the key into her finger. The tip of it glowed scarlet red. Yuba removed the key from her finger and a small cloud came with it in the shape of a skeleton. Yuba's eyes widened and he looked away quickly hoping Anastasia wouldn't see his scared expression.