Bloodrage - Helen Harper Page 0,12

with them.”

“Are they not a bit scary? I mean, we hear stories that they, like, eat their young and that kind of thing.”

I gazed at Mary in astonishment. Surely she had to be pulling my leg. The sincerity in her eyes suggested differently, however. “Fuck, no. Where on earth did you hear that? All mages can’t think that, can they?” I thought of Alex. He hadn’t seemed to ever think that the shifters were cannibalistic. Why on earth would any mage agree to work with them if they believed that tripe?

“Well, I don’t know. The trainers say it’s not true, but you kind of hear some stories now and then, you know?”

“No, Mary, I don’t know. Shifters are the most trustworthy, loyal and friendly people you could ever meet. They would never do anything as awful as that.” A little voice poked inside me, suggesting that I’d thought some pretty terrible things about the Brethren, who were technically the Shifters, with a capital ‘s’, of the shapeshifter world.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I’ve never met one, so it’s difficult to know these things.”

“Yeah, but mages work with shifters all the time,” I protested.

“Only when the Arch-Mage makes them and so that there can be some kind of peace between us. Not because we like them.”

I was absolutely horrified. “Is that what you really think?” I had no idea what Corrigan and the Brethren’s opinion of mages was, but I was certain that the local shifters, such as my old pack in Cornwall, had never held any animosity towards the mages. Some wariness, sure – who wouldn’t be wary of someone who holds a range of magical powers that they can wield at their disposal? But to be so hostile as to suggest something like they ate their young and that we didn’t like them? I shook my head. The world was a much more complicated place than I’d ever realised when I lived in my quiet little pocket of Cornwall.

Mary shrugged. “I’d never really thought about it much.” She peered at me anxiously. “You’re not, like, angry, are you?”

I guessed I deserved that little note of worry. “No, Mary, I’m not angry. Just a bit sad is all, I think.”

She was clearly relieved. “Oh, okay, cool. Listen, I think we can smooth things over with the others if we can show that you can be a good sport. You know, let bygones be bygones, that kind of thing?”

I didn’t really think I cared that much what a bunch of adolescent pre-mages thought of me, but I thought it’d probably be best to play along. “Sure, how do we do that?”

“We come up with a nickname for you, you know now that you’re bald. We could call you, um, baldy? Or maybe egghead? That would fit with you being so keen to go to the library and all.”

I kept my face carefully expressionless. “A nickname. Yeah. What a great idea. Or we could, you know, just not do that.”

Mary missed by lack of enthusiasm. “Awesome! I’ll start thinking of some names and then you can pick the one you’d like the best.” She beamed at me. “This is really going to help you, like, fit in more.” She glanced down at her watch and her faced paled suddenly. “Oh, I’ve got to go. Are you okay from here? Can you make it back to your own room and to the dining hall without any problems?”

“Sure,” I reassured her.

“Okay. Lunch is at 1pm and then you’ve got Illusion, Divination and then dinner at 7pm. The librarian inside who’s called Slim will tell you what to do.” She gave me a big wave and then ran off.

I watched her go and then reached out to touch the wooden dragon just one more time. “Hey little guy,” I whispered to it.

Then I pulled my hand away and opened the door.

Chapter Four

An inadvertent gasp left me. I hadn’t expected anything on this scale, even after seeing the ornate library doors.

The entire room was massive. Vast stained glass windows surrounded two sides, letting in bolts of coloured light that danced over the towering teak bookshelves housing stacks and stacks of books. I took a step forward and looked up in awe. There must have been at least three storeys housed inside that one cavernous space, and every inch was filled with space, light and knowledge. There was a curving wrought iron staircase to the left of the room, leading upwards to a mezzanine level that contained even more