CHAPTER 3

KATHERINE. Dinnertime at Blackwood started at six pm and ended by eight-thirty pm, and it was currently seven. Lenore and I had spent at least an hour talking and during that time, I had learned a couple of things about her: She was eighteen, she was the daughter of the Alpha of Dark Moon pack, she was also studying biomedical science so we were in the same faculty and department – this had made me so relieved – and she hadn’t found her mate yet. I was a bit jealous of her regarding the last part because unlike me, she was in no rush to find her mate. “You have to pick two between The History of Werewolves, Elemental Science, and Blackwood History for cultural credits,” Lenore said over my shoulder and my mouth fell open as I glanced at her, earning a laugh from her. I was sitting at her desk, using her laptop because I had yet to go get mine, and she was standing behind me, advising me on the classes to sign up for. So far, I had signed up for the courses a student studying biomedical science in a normal university would take and they were five. Now I have to add two to that for cultural credits?! “You’re also required to maintain an active membership in at least two clubs,” she added and I heaved a sigh, returning my attention to the laptop. The History of Werewolves was vast and covered a wide range of topics, and I wasn’t willing to take on that amount of work for cultural credits. Elemental Science was about werewolves that used elements – water, fire, lightning, wind and so on – and both elemental and non-elemental werewolves could take the course. I had never met a werewolf that used elements before but since the university offered this course, I could safely assume I’d be meeting some. And lastly, Blackwood History was the history of well, Blackwood. It only took a couple of seconds of thinking for me to settle on the last two. “Those are the same things I picked. Easy A,” Lenore said and the corner of my mouth turned up before I got to my feet. “Thanks.” “You’re welcome. You’ll get your class schedule in your student email in a minute.” “I already have the class schedule,” I replied, referring to the one that was in my packet. “That’s the one for all new students. The one you’ll get only contains the courses you signed up for.” “Oh.” A loud knock suddenly came on the door, drawing our attention, before the person on the other side of it announced, “FBI! Open up!” I glanced at Lenore while she rolled her eyes and walked over to the door. “It’s Priya and Josie.” Those were the names of her friends who she said would give me a tour with her when I told her I hadn’t gotten a tour of Blackwood. We would be going to the dining hall together right after the tour. I walked over to my shoe rack to change out of my fluffy slippers and as I heard them greet Lenore excitedly, I couldn’t help but think of the friends I had back home. I missed them… I missed home, but most of all, I missed Kit. “Where’s our roommate?” one of the girls asked. “She’s here and it’s ‘my’, not ‘our’,” Lenore replied. “Potato potato.” Lenore finally let the two girls into the room as I finished lacing up my shoes and I gave them my signature ‘I’m weird when I meet new people, have mercy on me’ smile. “Wow, you have silver eyes,” the brunette said while Lenore also changed out of her slippers. “Uh, thanks?” I didn’t know if it was a compliment. She grinned at me before holding out a hand and when I took it, she shook mine firmly. “Nice to meet you. I’m Josie.” “I’m Priyanka,” the black-haired girl added. “Nice to meet you guys too. I’m Katherine.” “We’re the best tour guides in Blackwood.” “Said no one ever,” Lenore snorted and Josie pouted. “Come along now. We have a schedule to keep to.” **** I had to admit, if I was going to stay at a university I hadn’t wanted to attend in the first place… there had to be worse places to be sent to. Blackwood was gorgeous. Old-fashioned street lamps lined the walkways, casting a haze of light, and we passed by several fountains and statues of wolves during the tour. According to Josie, there were fourteen actively used dorms on campus – seven for girls and seven for boys. After the dorms, I was shown the auditorium, the several buildings devoted to different areas of study, the general library where Lenore said I’d get my textbooks from, one of the recreation centers, and some club houses. I wasn’t given a full tour because we had to get to the dining hall but everything I’d seen about the academy tonight was beautiful and seemed to be steeped in pride and culture. “There are ten clubs and all new students have to pick one to join during the club fair,” Josie said as we passed by a bulletin board with general announcements and info for the semester in the quad. “The club fair starts on Wednesday and ends next week on Friday.” “Do you know the clubs you’re joining?” I asked. “We know the clubs we’re signing up for. We don’t know the ones we’ll end up joining,” Priyanka replied. “We fill forms and the club leaders will decide if we’ll get to join or not.” “I’ll be applying to join the C-M-E-S,” Josie said. “What’s that?” “Campus Mysterious Event Society. They investigate unexplained happenings on campus,” she answered and I raised my brows slightly, tipping my head to the side. “Unexplained happenings? …Like ghost stuff?” “That’s one. Yes.” ‘That sounds cool.’ Before I could say anything else, Josie walked ahead of us and turned to face us, walking backward, as she continued, “Now there are three things you should know about Blackwood–” “Just three?” Lenore cut in monotonously, her eyes fixed on her phone as she walked next to me, and Josie shushed her. “Three things. One - never be out alone past midnight. It’s insanely creepy and my roommate swears she saw the lady of the lake on Friday midnight.” I drew my brows together. 'Lady of the lake?' "Two - Try your best to not be late for class. Some of the professors are unhappy with their lives and they will take it out on you.” ‘Damn.’ “And finally, Blackwood is filled with beautiful people. Exhibit A being me.” I grinned at that while she did a little twirl for us and Priyanka booed her loudly. Josie then flipped her off. “And the top three famous beautiful boys are Blake, Theodore and Hunter. They’re second years and ‘seriously’ gorgeous but if you appear to be too close to any of them, there’s a high chance you’ll get bullied by Poppy Dawson.” I froze, frowning. "Poppy Dawson? Like Alpha Dawson of Silver Bow?" "Yeah." "You know her?" Lenore asked, also coming to a stop. I hadn’t told her the name of my pack yet. If I had, she’d understand why I reacted like that. "Unfortunately." Silver Bow pack was right next to River Ash pack which was my pack and for decades, Silver Bow had been terrorizing my pack because they wanted our land. They were the reason the council sent me here because in five months, Silver Bow and the other pack next to my pack were going to push for the dissolution of my pack at the Administration meeting – the Administration was the body that governed all werewolves – so they could split our land. I had to find my mate before then. I made a mental note to keep my distance from the three boys Josie had mentioned because I did 'not' want Poppy Dawson's attention on me. Lenore tilted her head at my response but didn’t say anything else and after glancing at her phone, she looped her arm through mine and Priyanka and resumed walking. “Now who’s this lady of the lake?” I asked, changing the topic. “You’ll find out all about her at the bonfire. Let’s hurry to the dining hall.”