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“No, not really. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Tabitha, Taggart’s twin sister.”
Oh, shit.
Shit.
She burst into laughter at the look on my face. “It’s all good,” she said when she finally got control of herself. “I’m just so happy to meet you. I’ve been warning Taggart for years that one of these days, he was going to try his shit with someone who wouldn’t put up with itand I really hoped I’d be there to witness it. Watching you toss him across the room yesterday was the highlight of my year.”
I could feel myself turning red. “I really want to apologize right now, but it wouldn’t be sincere.”
She giggled. “I should hope not. I don’t even know what he did, but I have no doubt, whatever it was, heearnedthat trip across the room.”
I grinned and was about to reply, but Professor Diaz began class and there was no more time for talking.
I can’t begin to express the amount of horror I felt when I realized our first lesson in Inner Beast Management was learning how to meditate.
Meditate.
As in turning our brainsoff and just living in the moment. Being at peace.
Since any time I did anything close to resembling turning off my brain, like say when I tried to fall asleep at night, nightmares would sneak in, I wasn’t exactly on board with this whole “be at one with the universe” crap, but whatever.
I did my best to make it seem like I was making an effort and was hopeful we’d get more practical advice in future classes.
“Please tell me it’s not all meditation techniques,” I said to Tabitha as we left the classroom.
She snickered. “No, not at all. Well, for year ones, it’s mostly that, at least for the first semester, but by now, we’re expected to have those techniques mastered. Professor Diaz just likes toreview those techniques the first day of class. Trust me, you’ll be grateful for the review next class when she tosses us into some crazy lab and expects us to keep our cool.”
“Lab?”
She nodded. “Last year, we spent about half our time in labs and the other half of our time studying disasters. I think third and fourth years, though, are just all lab, all the time. At least that’s what I hear anyway.”
Great. So I missed all the fundamentals during years one and two and now they were planning to throw me in the deep end.
I scowled as I realized Headmistress Blackthorn had undoubtedly known what she was doing when she’d told me I had to be with myclassmates rather than go into an earlier year.
“Don’t worry,” Tabitha said. “Your leopard may be new, but trust me. She won’t let you down.”
Right.
I was honestly about to panic when I remembered Elliot.
Or more specifically, my tutoring session with him.
I had just enough time to grab a snack and come up with a game plan for how to approach him. After all, if I had to have a tutor, I was going to make it work for me.
After saying goodbye to Tabitha, I grabbed an energy bar from the cafeteria and ate it on the run as I hurried downstairs to the library in the basement. Once I got there, I asked Mr. Brecken, the librarian, for the textbooksthat were used in years one and two of Inner Beast Management.
Apparently, third years didn’t need textbooks because it was all about the practical experience.
Yay me.
“There’s only one textbook,” Mr. Brecken told me. “We do have a copy in the library, but it’s part of the Academy’s special collections and can’t be checked out. You can look at it here, though, and if you wish to purchase your own copy, I’m sure you can buy one from Mrs. Diaz.”
That seemed a strange arrangement, but when I saw the actual book, I realized it wasn’t so strange after all.
The book was massive.
Hardback.
