Sous

A dozen bats swarmed the entrance of Hacate. They came together revealing to be Mara. She bowed her head to the door's men, entering while taking off her hood attached to her black cloak. Her heels echoed on the school's marble floor and she looked around, taking advantage of the quietness of the school. In just two months, it will be filling with laughter and chatter of those between the age of twelve and eighteen. She smiled to herself, thinking of when Shadow attended and the mischievous activities he got into, especially with those witch sisters.

She walked up the stairs, looking up at the paintings that were on the ceiling. The paintings consisted of unicorns galloping across the fields, mermaids swimming in the lakes and oceans, centaurs hunting game.

When she had first started teaching, she came to Hacate, a school that was forever hiring. Walking up the steps way back then, she became dizzy, rarely ever go too high about the ground. Most vampires lived a large potion of their lives in the air. But Mara had married a wolf and had a son that was half, so she had spent many of her years on the ground.

As she continued to walk the stair case to the administration floor, she shook her head, thinking of how she had forgotten to fly.

She took a deep breathe when she reached the floor, turning right and going toward the headmaster's room.

Knock, knock!

"Come in!" Called Headmaster Fanu. He was around sixty years old, having seen numerous generations of students within the last decades. He placed his pen to the side and looked up to see Mara walking through his door.

The wizard stood up, rushing to hug is old colleague.

"How are you? Whats it like being the head of the alchemy department?"

She chuckled and hugged Fanu tightly. "Hectic," she said pulling away from him.

Fanu gestured for Mara to take a seat, his magic pulling the seat out for her. So good in his spell casting, there was no need for a wand.

"The faculty and staff are excited to have Sous. We heard great things about her. Her reputation already proceeds her, barely even twelve."

"She had to grow up fast," Mara explained. Her eyes drifted toward the window, showing the sun was setting. They should be arriving soon. "She didn't have the privilege to have a normal childhood."

Fanu nodded his head at that. He leaned back in his seat, twitching a bit when he noticed a black raven sitting outside the window on a branch. He lifted his finger to cast a spell but Mara stood up.

"I should have offered you some tea," he said.

Mara laughed and pushed her chair in. "I was never one for tea. I much prefer cookies. If you like, I can bake you some."

Mara walked toward the entrance thinking of maybe making her own baking business once she retired. There was nothing wrong with a different career path.

Outside, she caught sight of her guest and the newest living resident of Hacate. Sous stood next to Shadow who stood next to Monica, and on the other side of Sous was Clarence, and the three sisters.

Clarence stepped forward to Monica. Opening his cape, he pulled out a small box and handed it to Mara. She opened it to reveal two raisin cookies. When she looked up at the patriarch, he was blushing slightly. The blushing didn't last long, for Clarence found himself on the ground after Shadow pushed him to the side. Scowling at him that Clarence would dare flirt with his mother in his presence.

Shadow turned to his mother who giggled at the two mens' interaction.

"Hello, Shadow."

Shadow threw his arms around out. "MOMMY!" He squealed putting his mother in a bear hug. He took her hand into his and walked toward the women, leaving Clarence having to pick himself up off the ground. "Mommy, this is Sous. Sous, Mommy but she's not your mommy so you have to call her Mara."

Mara looked down at the girl, analyzing her. She lifted Sous' chin and saw the seal upon her neck. Instantly, Mara's eyes went to the three witches. The witches simply looked back at the older woman with such a smugness, Mara was glad she no longer had them has students.

From Sous to Monica, Mara nodded her head at Monica, Monica did the same back. "I never expected you to marry that Alpha."

"I never expected to fall in love with her," Monica responded.

"You have three children who are part witch and wizards. You didn't allow the admissions officer to allow them admission." Mara chose her next words wisely, not wanting to offend the woman. "Are you afraid of the Alpha finding out?"

"...yes..."

Her answered was acknowledged. "I can present a case to the headmaster so as I can sponsor them. If I am unable to sponsor more students then I have cohorts who may be able to assist."

The raven flew past them landing on a lamp post. Mara looked at the raven as it cleaned itself. She turned to the sisters.

"Who is that boy?"

"Icarus," Gortrius answered. "A witch in Vania cursed him."

"And you haven't changed him back?" Mara inquired.

"He never told us why the witch cursed him to begin with." Gladian retorted back.

"So you let him suffer?"

"Yes," Glinda admitted.

Mara sighed. "Never change, sisters, never change." She turned her attention back to Sous. "Say your goodbyes, Sous, and meet me in the entrance." She turned on her heels and departed.

"Bye, Mommy!"

After saying her goodbyes, Clarence glared at Shadow just as he disbursed into a dozen bats, taking flight. The sisters amused themselves at not fixing Icarus but happy to have helped Tany become as strong as she was and that maybe Tany can undo the curse. They laughed, using their wands to to bring forth their brooms where they three took flight. Monica held her wand up in the air with Shadow by her side.

Sous was quiet walking next to Mara. Shadow seemed so carefree but this woman seemed more intuitive beyond het love for cookies. Sous held her basilisk in her hand, the water making the egg bob up and down with each walk.

In truth pets weren't allowed on campus but Mara didn't mention that. With what her son told her about Sous, the girl would probably have a fit although she calm at this moment.

"Let me show you around and then I'll introduce you to your house and then take you to your room."

The campus was huge and Sous could only imagine how big the university was if the primary and secondary school was this big.

The school was surrounded by trails going in various directions. Sous could see the snow capped mountains toward the back of the campus when she looked through certain windows. This meant The Valley of Trey was near by. The school stood next to a large forest telling her Vania was within distance.

"This is the cafeteria. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are at specific times so don't be late." Mara informed her. Sous looked and saw there were a few students sitting at benches placed in front of large wooden tables. In the back, there were chairs for round tables. She assumed the children still on campus probably had parents that worked abroad.

"I can't tell you how many floors there are to this school." They were now climbing the stairs to the admissions floor, a place Sous had already visited. She looked down at Sous with a loving smile. "I'm you'll discover many things here."

They stood in the courtyard which Sous was familiar with when she first saw the elves.

"This is the courtyard. See that trail, it leads off campus to a village called Fornik. Its a nice little village for students to buy things they may need or even want. Its one of the few villages students who live on campus are allowed to travel to."

Towards the back of campus, there was a wooden square arena with markers on the floor to divide the teams. They stood in the middle of the arena.

"This is where we have our duels and where the dueling club practices. Shadow mentioned you might want to be apart of it."

Sous nodded her head, a bit nervous around Mara but she wasn't afraid to use her voice. "Yeah, and sparring."

"Sparring will be fun. Its the only course taught my a human," Mara exclaimed.

They continued to walk through the night as Mara showed Sous where the baths were, the observatory, the labyrinth that no student has been able to complete, and even some of the classes she would be attending.

"Since you're a first year, your classes will mostly consist of basic spells." Mara took a look at the seal on Sous' neck. "Although I get the impression your further along than most. Dark magic isn't taught normally until one's fifth year. There was a time it wasn't taught at all."

They entered into the library, huge and never ending with books, the smell engulfed Sous nostrils and she felt such serenity.

Mara led Sous to a section of the library closed off from the general public. She opened a gated door and lead Sous down some stairs that eventually led to a hallway. The hallway had dozens of rooms, the dorms.

"Sous," Mara started. "You're in the house of Philosophy, the ninth house. I think it suits you." The two of them walked down the narrow hall, coming to a door that had the number 112. There was a scanner on the door. Sous was instructed to place her palm on the scanner. When she did, Mara coded in her own hand print, allowing the scanner to register Sous' hand; thereby, opening the door.

Sous stepped inside, an empty room with five beds, five desk, two windows, and a fire place.

Over by one of the beds was Sous belongings, she ran to it happy to see her books and kits.

"Sous!"

Sous turned to look at Mara.

"Welcome to Hacate!" And with that, Mara bowed her head, stepped out the room, and closed the door behind her.