Everything ached.

I couldn't move, even if I'd wanted to. Every inch of my skin was weighed down, like a stack of bricks layered on top of me.

"I should have felt this," a man's voice spoke. It was so familiar, but my thoughts fell through the cracks like water in cupped hands. I couldn't hold onto anything long enough to form tangible thoughts.

"I thought you weren't interested in keeping an eye on her," a woman's voice replied, both amused and tired at the same time.

The man's reply was defensive. "She could have killed someone. Or herself."

There was a non-committal noise from the woman before she replied. "Yes. You would understand how dangerous Emergences can be. And yet you allowed her to suffer alone."

"I don't need your judgment, Inara."

Inara? Was this another of my strange, fever dreams, but without the images? Was I connected to Inara in a way that made me see and hear her conversations?

I needed to open my eyes, to ask a million questions and demand their answers. But every movement, even one as simple as opening my eyes, made pain lance through my very being.

I groaned, and there was a sharp intake of breath.

"She's waking up," Inara said. "Are you staying?"

"No."

There was no more conversation, just the sound of footsteps departing, before a door opened and closed.

Inara sighed, before brushing a hand over my forehead. "Selene? Can you hear me?"

I opened my eyes, which were already leaking with tears from the pain. Inara hovered above me, her ever-present concerned expression on her face. "Selene?"

The room was blurry and my head screamed with pain. "What happened?"

I tried to sit up, but my muscles burned, and I fell back against the pillows, gasping. Inara's soft hands brushed a stray hair off my face. Once again, her cool hands brushed against my skin and I felt myself relax against her touch. "You're in the infirmary."

"But what happened?" Despite her telling me where I was, I still wasn't sure how I'd gotten here. I vaguely recalled the ferocious wind and the lightning storm, both of which had come out of nowhere. I remembered the blinding anger, following my mother's word and Mari's taunting, but nothing else.

Inara sat down in a chair to my right, crossing her ankles. She was quiet for a moment, as if deep in thought.

"Your mother has always been a very careful woman," Inara said. She'd said these words to me before, but I still wasn't sure what she meant by them.

When I said nothing, Inara continued. "As I've told you before, your mother asked me a few months ago to take you in here and I agreed. I've known your mother for a very long time, we were classmates, in the Gifted program."

The memory of seeing my mother's picture in the yearbook flashed through my mind. "I never knew she went to school here."

"There are quite a few things your mother never told you, things that would have been better suited for her to tell you, but I'm afraid that time has passed."

My head ached even more as confusion coursed through me. "I don't understand."

Inara gave me a sympathetic look. "I know. And I wish things were different. Your mother and I were members of the Gifted program here at Whitethorn in our youth. A program that you are now part of."

More confusion coursed through me. "I'm not Gifted."

"You are. I told you on our journey here that you would learn just how special you are. That day has come."

Pain throbbed behind my eyes and pulsed at my temples. "None of this makes any sense."

"I want to start by saying that this will be confusing for you. Your mother should have been the one to tell you of your heritage. And she should have done it a long time ago. But I need you to be patient and openminded with me. And to please save your questions until I'm finished explaining."

I gave a wary nod, though I was apprehensive about what she was about to tell me. Why would I need to be openminded? I waited for Inara to start.

"Whitethorn Academy was created in 1746, by a man named Nathaniel Whitethorn. He created this school for special children, children like himself, who could learn in an environment that was suitable to them. It was crafted for their needs and their needs alone. Hidden away in the mountains, it's nearly impossible to find, unless you know where to look. Some humans have discovered the Academy over the years, though it was easy enough to sway them away again."

"But what about the students already here? The ones that aren't Gifted?" My cheeks immediately flushed with embarrassment, but I couldn't help it. Inara didn't chide me for the interruption, just continued with her story.

Inara smiled at my interruption. "I'll get to that in a minute. But put simply, the Gifted program is a lie."

"It's sometimes a necessary ruse, for students, like yourself, who are unaware of the true nature of this school. Those who attend Whitethorn Academy, or who teach here, are not human. We have never been human."

Inara held out her hand and just above her palm, a small ball of light began to form. It was a sharp, bright blue, that cast an unearthly glow throughout the room. I drew in a sharp breath of shock.

"We are the Varquay, a race of magical beings. While many of us blend in with humans, our abilities, especially when we're young, are hard to hide from humans. Which is why places like Whitethorn are necessary. It's a place of learning for those who cannot yet control their abilities."

My head spun. Was this a crazy dream? Had I hit my head in the quad? "Are you trying to tell me I have magic?"

Inara nodded. "Yes, you have magic. It typically begins to manifest in later teenage years, around the sixteen or seventeen year mark. When magic first manifests, it can be deadly, such as your display in the quad on Parent's Day."

My display? I thought to myself. I don't remember performing any magic.

"When your rage got the best of you, your magic released in a nearly uncontrollable manner. It created a disturbance in the atmospheric pressure, causing the strong winds and lightning storm. The lightning struck several places on campus, though luckily no one was harmed."

Shame crashed over me. I'd done that? I remembered Naomi's terrified face as the lightning had flashed and shuddered in response.

"How can I have magic?" I asked Inara. "That doesn't make any sense."

"While most of the Varquay grow up in the confines of Summit, our homeland. But there are those, like yourself, who grow up as humans. A lot more like you have been popping up lately."

"But why?" I asked Inara. A shaded look crossed her face and I wondered if I'd asked a wrong question.

"Years ago, Summit was attacked. It was mass carnage. A lot of people fled and never came back. Those who stayed away pretended they were human, terrified of those who attacked coming back to harm them. Your mother was one of those people. She fled Summit with your father, and they never spoke of their homeland again. They had you and tried to be as normal as possible."

"But why would she never say anything to me?"

Inara gave me a sympathetic look. "She most likely was afraid of losing you. The people who attacked Summit are still out there. And they won't stop until all of us are dead."

I shuddered at the thought. Was there one of those people at the bonfire? Are they the reason Oliver and Samantha were dead? Had someone tried to kill me at the bonfire? Is that the real reason why my mother sent me here? To learn my truth and be safe from those who wanted to hurt me? If that was the reason, was she safe?

The snippet of the conversation I'd overheard on Parent's Day came back to me. My mother said she'd risked her life, and mine, to get information for Inara. Was she still at risk? Was that why she didn't want to see me again?

"I know that this is a lot to take in right now," Inara told me. "And there's still so much that you don't know about us and about yourself. But I don't want to overwhelm you."

The door to the infirmary opened and a short woman entered, her round face lit up with a smile. "How are we feeling, huh?"

"Selene, this is Nurse Abby."

"Hello," I said, a bit stiffly. The woman bustled around me, checking my temperature and blood pressure. Then she used a strange device, pressed against my temple.

"The levels of magic in her blood have gone down, which means she's stable. And free to go," Nurse Abby told Inara. Then she turned to me. "You will feel extremely tired for the next several days. The first expulsion of magic, especially one that gets out of control like yours did, drains the body of energy."

She reached into the drawer of the table next to me. There was a small bottle of clear fluid. "Take this once a day before bedtime. It will help you sleep better and help to regain your energy."

I took the bottle from her, murmuring my thanks. Nurse Abby grabbed a set of clothes from a closet and handed them to me.

"Your clothes were covered in dirt when you arrived, and you were placed into something more sanitary. These will keep you warmer outside than those scrubs will. Inara and I will step outside so you can change."

The clothes were soft in my hand as I took them from her. Nurse Abby and Inara stepped out of the room, leaving me alone. As I shed the nurse's scrubs I'd been dressed in, my mind raced. All that Inara told me sounded too far-fetched to be true. Magic? A secret Academy where a magical race could hone their abilities in private?

I chewed on my lip nervously, pulling at a piece of dead skin. It sounded entirely untrue, but at the same time, I wanted nothing more than for it to be true. Because if it was, then maybe my mom sending me here was because she loved me, not because she never wanted to see me again, despite her harsh words that said otherwise.

Once I was dressed, I stepped out of the room and into the hallway, where Inara was waiting for me. She gave me a small smile, before leading the way to the dorms.

"What really happened with my window?" I asked her as we walked.

"Your magic was beginning to manifest. Your fear from your nightmare shattered the window. We didn't feel it was safe to tell you then, for fear it would make your magic more out of control than before. Obviously, we were wrong, and the result was nearly catastrophic."

"Is Naomi okay? And her mom?" Alek, Mari, and Mari's witch of a mother had also been present, but I didn't really care about them. Maybe a lightning strike would do Mari some good.

Inara nodded. "She was shaken up, but she is fine. She knows that manifesting magic can be dangerous, and she's trained to deal with those situations. Naomi is not angry with you. Nor is her mother."

That made me feel slightly better. "What will happen to the human students who are here?"

"There are no human students, Selene. You are the only student currently, who was not aware of their magical status."

I felt like a rock was sinking into my stomach. Being part of the 'Gifted' program meant dealing with Mari, and now Celeste, full-time. While Naomi might be able to be by my side now, I wasn't sure that would make my life easier. It would most likely just make her a target as well.

Inara stopped at my room, "I've left some books on your desk that you can read if you so choose. It may help you become more familiar with your new life."

"Thank you," I told Inara.

"I'll leave you to get some sleep. Let me know if you need anything."