Free A Shadow's Tale by Jennifer Hanlon Page A

with a nervous looking boy standing at the front holding a pile of notes, obviously about to give a presentation on something.
    â€˜Mr Carton’s charge has arrived.’ The boy at the front of the class looked relieved, racing to pack up his notes and shoot out of the classroom. I took a good look at him. Floppy brown hair fell into dark eyes as he grinned at me. He looked to be an energetic, playful kind of person, the kind that all the girls fawned after in school. In what was now my previous school, I might have been among those girls that adored the cute guy, but none of them had ever given me the time of day. No one had wanted to be associated with the weird girl from the home.
    â€˜Thanks for the great timing. You saved me from giving a presentation on the relations between unicorn herds,’ he said, flashing a grateful grin at me. I found myself speechless, unable to formulate a reply. I opted to smile and nod. ‘I’ll take you to your room so you can dump your stuff.’
    I turned around to speak to Miss Featherstone, only to find that she had disappeared, the only trace of her left being an open window. I frowned slightly in confusion. The boy laughed at me, shaking his head.
    â€˜You’ll get used to that, trust me. I’m Jamie, by the way.’
    Jamie escorted me to the dining room that evening, making sure I knew how everything worked. I never believed that Earthen food could taste so good! After the frozen, precooked stuff I was used to back at the home, my taste buds felt like they were in heaven. I tugged absent-mindedly at my pendant, feeling the need to take it off, but with eight years of pent up magic lingering under its protection, I was scared of what might happen. Jamie seemed to notice.
    â€˜Do you need to let it out?’ he asked. I looked at him quizzically. ‘I get fidgety when I need to cut loose on my magic. What kind are you? Demon or angel?’ I blinked, trying to figure out how he knew. He sighed. ‘The profs always pair newbies with someone who has similar powers or species. I’m half demon and half angel, so it makes sense that you’re at least one of those.’
    â€˜Demon,’ I murmured, looking down at my plate. ‘Half demon.’ Jamie must have sensed my discomfort at the admittance. He reached out and touched my hand, his expression soft and understanding.
    â€˜It’s okay, you’re not alone here.’
    At his kind words, a wave of unfamiliar emotion washed over me, leaving me feeling weak and a little confused. For the first time in years, I felt accepted for who I was. Here, I was no longer an outsider. Here, there were people here who were just like me.
    The next morning, I looked in the mirror in the tiny bathroom attached to my room in the girl’s wing of the school, the angel pendant lying next to the sink. For the first time in eight years, I was looking into my own purple eyes instead of the blue irises projected by the illusion charm. They seemed a little weird and alien on me now. A second white streak had grown in my hair alongside the first, contrasting with the deep violet. My appearance seemed strange to me now, as if I was staring at a familiar stranger. I had once more donned a cloak like I used to in Synairn, hoping that it wouldn’t be sneered at here. I touched the brooch holding the garment around my neck. An intricate spiral of white metal holding in place a purple gem, upon which was etched the likeness of a dove. It had been Arellan’s. She had used it to hold up her own cloak. Now it was mine. Swallowing hard, I tore my eyes from the strange reflection in the silver glass and grabbed my books, heading for Miss Feather’s office. I was supposed to report to her secretary to get my timetable.
    I was a little put off by the secretary to be honest. She was a sort of humanoid dragon and more than a little scary. I cast an eye over the timetable. At the top, my class and species