The Dragon Realm (Dark World The Dragon Twins #2) - Michelle Madow Page 0,65

new friend instead of a student. “Welcome to our homeroom. I’m Mr. Faulkner, but please call me Darius.” He turned to the chalkboard, lifted his hand, and waved it from one side to the other. “You probably weren’t expecting everything to look so normal, but we have to be careful. As I’m sure you know, we can’t risk letting anyone else know what goes on in here.”

Then the board shimmered—like sunlight glimmering off the ocean—and the morning announcements changed into different letters right in front of my eyes.

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I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. What I’d just seen couldn’t have been real.

At least the board had stopped shimmering, although instead of the morning announcements, it was full of information about the meanings of different colors. I glanced at the other students, and while a few of them smiled, they were mostly unfazed. They just watched me, waiting for me to say something. Darius also stood calmly, waiting for my reaction.

“How did you do that?” I finally asked.

“It’s easy,” Darius said. “I used magic. Well, a task like that wouldn’t have been easy for you, since you’re only in your second year of studies, but given enough practice you’ll get the hang of it.” He motioned to a seat in the second row, next to a girl with chin-length mousy brown hair. “Please sit down, and we’ll resume class.”

I stared at him, not moving. “You used … magic,” I repeated, the word getting stuck in my throat. I looked around the room again, waiting for someone to laugh. This had to be a joke. After all, an owl hadn’t dropped a letter down my fireplace to let me know I’d been accepted into a special school, and I certainly hadn’t taken an enchanted train to get to Kinsley High. “Funny. Now tell me what you really did.”

“You mean you don’t know?” Darius’s forehead crinkled.

“Is this a special studies homeroom?” I asked. “And I somehow got put into one about … magic tricks?”

“It wasn’t a trick,” said an athletic boy in the center of the room. His sandy hair fell below his ears, and he leaned back in his seat, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows. “Why use tricks when we can do the real thing?”

I stared at him blankly and backed towards the door. He couldn’t be serious. Because magic—real magic—didn’t exist. They must be playing a joke on me. Make fun of the new kid who hadn’t grown up in a town so close to Salem.

I wouldn’t fall for it. So I might as well play along.

“If that was magic, then where are your wands?” I held up a pretend wand, making a swooshing motion with my wrist.

Darius cleaned his glasses with the bottom of his sweater. “I’d assumed you’d already started your lessons at your previous school.” He frowned and placed his glasses back on. “From your reaction, I’m guessing that’s not the case. I apologize for startling you. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to say this now, so I might as well be out with it.” He took a deep breath, and said, “We’re witches. You are, too. And regarding your question, we don’t use wands because real witches don’t need them. That’s an urban legend created by humans who felt safer believing that they couldn’t be harmed if there was no wand in sight.”

“You can’t be serious.” I laughed nervously and pulled at the sleeves of my sweater. “Even if witches did exist—which they don’t—I’m definitely not one of them.”

The only thing “magical” that had ever happened to me was how the ligament I tore in my knee while playing tennis last month had healed right after moving here. The doctor had said it was a medical miracle.

But that didn’t make it magic.

“I am completely serious,” Darius said. “We’re all witches, as are you. And this is a special studies homeroom—it’s for the witches in the school. Although of course the administration doesn’t know that.” He chuckled. “They just think it’s for highly gifted students. Now, please take a seat in the chair next to Kate, and I’ll explain more.”

I looked around the room, waiting for someone to end this joke. But the brown-haired girl who I assumed was Kate tucked her hair behind her ears and studied her hands. The athletic boy next to her watched me expectantly, and smiled when he caught me looking at him. A girl behind him glanced through her notes, and several other students shuffled in