Chapter One

Not breathing underwater was the key to surviving at the present. However, the burn in my eyes had started to get unbearable several minutes ago and instinct was now telling me to inhale. The only thing keeping me down without getting any water into my lungs was muscle memory. Three more minutes, I told myself. I can do this.

Beside me, Dee trashed against her chains and broke free. She was the only other girl still down here. She turned to me and held a finger up, gesturing to the surface. I shook my head fractionally, trying not to spend too much energy. Energy requires oxygen, which was scarce in the moment. Fortunately, I had undone my own chains in the beginning, so I didn't have to spare more energy for it when I needed my oxygen most.

Closing her eyes, Dee pushed against the water and broke to the surface.

I looked to my right. One last person down with me. He had his eyes closed, seeming so peaceful content underwater like he could actually manage to breathe without inhaling water into his lungs. He didn't even have any earplugs on. His dark hair floated all around him, luminescent and beautiful—a word I would never use to his face. No one knew what kind of spell he used to stay underwater this long. I never managed to beat him before, and I probably wouldn't now.

When the pressure began to choke me, I swam up to the surface.

Crowd cheered loudly to greet me the moment I pulled off my earplugs. I went over to the edge of the pool and muttered a basic drying spell, more because of how ghastly I looked with damp hair rather than because of the chill. Dee was already safely tucked into the front bench with a thick towel robe. She gave me a little wave as if she was too tired to do anything else.

"And for this year's Underwater Challenge, ladies and gentlemen," the loud voice of Principal Edgerton filled the stadium, "on the second place, Riley Williams!"

The crowd went louder. I felt a satisfied grin stretch my lips. My roommate, Amy, always said that the only times in the year I ever smiled was when I was winning competitions. I spot her on the east side of the hexagonal stadium, holding up a giant sign over her head that said: RILEY SUCKS. HEART LUKE 4EVER.

What? My smile fell further when a dark head surfaced to the water while my coach Ms. Greene was throwing me my towel. On the mic, Principal Edgerton announced in a booming voice, "And our standing champion for Underwater Challenge, Lucas Island!"

Luke swam—or, as he liked to call it, glided across the water and tipped up the corner of his mouth when he met my eyes. "Loser," he mouthed. The crowd that had screamed my name earlier was nothing to the loud shrieking female voices now. I gritted my teeth and stalked off to the bench, where Dee looked up at me with a shrug.

"No one can beat him," she said. "You know that."

Hours later, I was still fuming. My trophy was encased in the shelf along with the others I had won—all on the second place, except for the small contest where I had slipped to the third place last year, and the only first place I ever got, before Lucas Island came to the academy and destroyed all my winning chances.

Amy sighed when she came out of the bathroom and saw me still glaring at my trophy case. "Second place is still winning, you know."

"We're not talking. Our two-year-long friendship shall be diminished forever after the betrayal you committed against me today."

She rolled her eyes, knowing I wasn't serious. "Your head is already big enough as it is. Besides, it's illegal not to fangirl over Luke. Back in my old school, guys like him would have gotten a fan page and a roaring tumblr fandom, at the very least."

Amy used to go to a normal school for normal humans before she came to our academy. Half of the students here did. They experienced all the normal things I had seen in movies and TV shows: prom night, cheerleaders, hot football players, prom night again, huge gestures of love in the cafeteria where someone stands on top of the table and holds a radio over their head—well, maybe not the last part. But since I, like the rest of the students here had grown up in the academy almost all our lives, I knew nothing about that.

Actually, I hadn't been here in the academy all my life. Before I was brought in to the academy when I was seven years old, I actually lived among 'normal humans'. The memory wasn't a good one and I'd like to pretend that part of my life never actually happened.

"...and they're like celebrities but—Riley? Riley, are you even listening to me?"

I snapped my head up. "Um, no. What were you saying?"

Amy sighed heavily. "Forget it." She looked at the clock. "I'm going to the dinner hall. Want me to fetch you a muffin?"

I always loved muffins, but my bones were screaming at me after the exhaustion from today, even though it was still seven. "Thanks, but I think I'm going to bed early today."

"Suit yourself." She flicked her wrist and waved her forefinger. The overhead lights went out. I crawled to the bed and drew the covers up to my chin, trying not to think about the competition, or the memories that threatened to surface. I was good at keeping them down, just like how I was good at staying underwater for a long time—it was a talent that had nothing to do with magic, unlike Lucas Island. "Good night, Riley."

"Good night, Amy."

The academy was unbearable for the next whole week. Everyone kept talking about how amazing Luke was and how hot he looked today, blah blah. Thirty-four minutes underwater was definitely impressive, but the girls were exaggerating it. Rumors circulated that he might be the first Elemental Warlock anyone had ever seen in centuries, or that he might actually be the son of a water god, and that made sense because of how ethereal his looks were.

"Yeah, right," I jabbed in as I drew my chair and flopped down on it. "He's freaking Aquaman."

The girls who had been gossiping scattered away when the moment they heard my voice. Despite my winning the second places in all the underwater contests, I was known more as Queen Bitch around here. Amy said it was because I never smiled, but really, people must just be getting the vibes that I wasn't into socializing with them. That, and the 'viper tongue' that almost made Principal Edgerton turn me into a spider once.

I didn't know if such spell actually existed, but I didn't want to take my chances and had been trying to tone down my rudeness ever since.

History was a class I didn't have with Amy and it made me crankier there. The girls were still whispering about Luke's hotness because our teacher Mr. Ortiz hadn't come in. He was always late to classes and he always got away with it because he had a seat in the Council of Magical Order and Supernatural Beings—or, as we shortly call it: The Council. The seats were predominantly resided by warlocks and witches, but recently, some creatures like werewolves and vampires had risen into power, too.

Anyway, being on the Council made Mr. Ortiz a supposedly very busy man and while sometimes he sent in a substitute teacher for us, sometimes there was no class at all and we'd have sat for two hours in the classroom doing nothing. Most students sat down and used the time to play their phones or tell loud jokes, or gossip with their friends. Some others, like me, preferred to be away from the flocks and spend my time wandering around the hallways instead. I mean, the academy was really a beautiful place—it'd be a shame not to explore it, even though I'd been here for ten years now.

However, when I passed the classroom's doorway, I saw a stranger standing beside it, looking around the hall like he was lost.

"Are you the sub today?"

The stranger turned to look at me as if he hadn't noticed me standing there the whole time. At a closer look, I realized he wasn't old enough to be teacher or even a junior teaching staff. He looked to be twenty, more or less. Or maybe he just had a baby face. "Sorry?" he said.

"I asked, are you the sub? Because it's total chaos inside."

Mr. Baby Face frowned. "I am not the substitute teacher," he carefully said.

"Oh. So you're a student? Lost?" A bit old to be a senior, but maybe he just looked old.

He shook his head and his eyes focused. "Haven't you been informed about the heightened security for the academy this month?"

"What? Why? Wait, so you're a guard—you're a mage!" A mage was the profession of a warlock/witch who used combative spells in defense and offense. They were usually hired by the Council to guard important people or run errands, mostly to break the feud between supernatural creatures like werewolves and vampires, who were always killing each other in groups.

Baby Face was a mage. Wow. I'd read about mages, but had never actually seen one in real life. I was about to ask him how much the Council paid him to the job, when a low mocking voice said my name from behind me. Except of course, he said 'Williams' instead of 'Riley'. So I knew who it was.

I turned and crossed my arms. "Isla." The nickname had first emerged when I was trying to insult him by giving him a girly name, but he was so unaffected by it, I knew I failed epically. Still, the name stuck.

"Talking to walls now, are we?"

"What? Can't you—" For a second, a memory of someone saying the same words to me a long time ago threatened to break to surface. And then I remembered that this was Luke, and he took pleasure in pulling pranks on me. "You're just threatened by how hot he looks."

When I saw Lucas looking befuddled for the first time since I ever saw him, I began to worry. "Riley," he said slowly, and the fact that he never said my first name before meant that he was very serious. "There is no one there."

Breathing hard, I felt like I was drowning even though there was no water around me. I looked at Baby Face, who gave me an unreadable look. "Low prank," I murmured. "Low."

Luke took a step forward and reached out—I clearly saw his arm going through Baby Face. Flinching, I stepped back. "Riley, are you alri—"

It's happening again.

Fighting tears, I ran.