My brain was already overloaded with new information. As I set foot inside the Main Assembly Hall, however, I understood that a lot more was coming my way. Thankful that I’d yet to get the urge to turn around and just run away as fast as I could, I stayed close to Tobe and Alton as the gathering crowd parted before us.

The Hall was huge and rectangular, with more of the coven’s signature dragon statues cast in bronze stretching between the marble floor and the high ceiling, flickering chandelier lights reflecting off their wings.

Flames burned bright in wall-mounted torches as a couple hundred witches and warlocks moved to the center, in front of a wide, circular podium. All eyes were on me, for some reason. I wasn’t comfortable with all that attention, and it was becoming more and more difficult to shut out the flood of emotions chipping away at my self-control. All those people were looking at me, wondering what my presence there meant. I recognized the wariness, the suspicion, and, in some cases, the disdain. It was as if they didn’t need another magical on the premises, an idea further cemented by an overall air of competition between them.

I recognized the looks they gave each other, the confident half-smiles and arrogant smirks. The athletes back in my high school did the same whenever a competition was about to begin.

Seven tall mirrors with frilly bronze frames were mounted on the floor at the back of the podium, their surfaces rippling as if liquid. Something told me those weren’t regular mirrors.

Large paintings of various witches and warlocks—or so I thought, at first glance—were hung on the wall behind the podium. Judging by the clothing styles and brush strokes, they belonged to different periods, some going as far back as the 1100s and even earlier. Their eyes seemed to peer into my very soul, and I really didn’t like that vibe, given what I was already experiencing as an Empath in a room full of people.

“Harley, I need you to stay by Wade’s side for now, while I make some announcements,” Alton told me, pointing at Wade, who was among the first people to reach the podium.

“We’ll get to speak more afterward,” Tobe said, giving me a soft smile. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.”

There was something so sweet and heartwarming in the way he said that, it almost smothered my growing anxiety. That state of mind quickly dissipated, unfortunately, once I moved to stand next to Wade, whose forced wariness and struggled reserve were quick to get on my nerves.

I watched as Alton and Tobe went up the podium stairs, where a microphone mounted on a tall stand awaited, before looking at Wade, who gave me a rushed sideways glance and a brief nod. He was trying so hard not to pay attention to me, while his emotions screamed at me. I found it ironic, though—the more he tried to hide, the better I could read him, and the more noise it made in my head.

“You know, you can’t really hide your emotions from me,” I said, gritting my teeth, as I felt a migraine coming on. Wade’s head snapped around, and he looked at me with raised eyebrows.

He’s going to try and play it cool, just wait for it.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied.

There it is.

“Are you serious?” I shot back. “Listen, the more you try to hide, the louder it gets in here,” I explained, pointing at my head.

“How good is your… radar, anyway?” he murmured, his brow furrowed.

“Right now, it’s off the charts because of all the people.” I sighed. “I’m not good with crowds. They make me hypersensitive. And for some reason, the more you try to keep me out, the better I feel what you feel. And, Wade, it’s okay to be wary of me. I totally get it. I’m still getting used to this ability, and I’ve never had to deal with people knowing that I can feel them. But you should just let it go. Whatever you’re feeling, just feel it. I’m not going to pay attention, anyway. There are so many feelings going through me right now, I can barely focus.”

He seemed to relax a little, and, as suspected, the avalanche of emotions coming from him seemed to fizzle down a bit. There were about two hundred souls left around me, each feeling something different, and not all of it was aimed at me. As I lost my spot at the center of their attention, other emotions came through.

They were all eager to find out what Alton had to say. Some were worried. At least forty of them were in love, half of their crushes currently in the room and just one third reciprocating. Ten were extremely tired, and two were confused and in desperate need of their families. I had a feeling the latter were new arrivals in the coven, too. The overall picture was exhausting, like hundreds of paint tubes simultaneously stepped on, the colors blobbing out in a tiresome mish-mash, spread across the canvas of my already-worn-out brain.

“They’re exhausting, aren’t they?” Wade said slowly, watching me as I took a few deep breaths.

“For lack of a better word, yeah,” I said. “But it’s a little better when they’re not paying attention to me. They’re like bullhorns, in a way. When they’re pointed elsewhere, they’re still loud, but tolerable. But when they’re pointed at me, it’s just… excruciating. Not sure that makes sense.”

Wade shrugged. “It kind of does. I have to deal with them on a daily basis, so I can relate, sort of. Let’s just say I understand what it’s like when they don’t pay attention to you.”

I stifled a chuckle as Alton took center stage, tapping the microphone twice.

“Hi, hello, everyone!” He smiled, his voice echoing loud and clear throughout the assembly hall.

My gaze wandered around the place, and I was able to recognize some of the faces I’d already seen, including the chocolate-eyed girl and the platinum-haired guy, farther to my right. O’Halloran and other uniformed instructors were in the front row to my left, along with Adley de la Barthe and the preceptors, as well as a few other elder magicals I didn’t recognize. Adley’s gaze wandered across the room and settled on the platinum-haired guy for a second, enough for my heart to pound with something strong, akin to love. I’d felt it in others plenty of times; I could easily recognize the butterflies and the ache of longing. Whether the platinum-haired guy reciprocated those feelings or not was a mystery. Either way, not my business.

Tobe stood quietly behind Alton, his broad back reflected in three of the rippling mirrors.

The murmurs in the crowd died down as we all listened to what the director of the San Diego Coven had to say. I was still processing the fact that I was inside a freaking coven, surrounded by witches, warlocks, mythical monsters, and a ton of… well, a ton of magic.

“As mentioned in my message request to have you gather here at this hour, there have been some new and unexpected developments with the Bestiary,” Alton said. “For the purpose of avoiding panic and unnecessary concern, however, we’ve held off on telling you all about what happened. Now that the problem is contained, it’s time for you to know that seven days ago, one of the gargoyles in the Bestiary escaped.”

He paused, allowing the collective gasp to rise from the crowd, and nodded at Wade, who straightened his back with beaming pride in response.

“Wade Crowley, one of our exceptional warlocks, was quick to go after the beast and return it safely to its glass box.” Alton smiled, then looked at me, and I froze, almost hearing heads turn as people suddenly paid attention to me. “He had help from a new, yet unexpected member of our coven, whom you will all be introduced to shortly.”

Oh, God.

In hindsight, I was thankful I didn’t have any telepathic abilities—like hearing thoughts. Dealing with a tidal wave of emotions was one thing, but having my brain bombarded with a flurry of random words and thoughts? Ugh, I would’ve ended up hospitalized and heavily medicated for sure.

“I want you all to be more vigilant, going forward,” Alton continued, drawing the audience’s focus back to him.

Only as I let out the nervous breath I’d been holding did I realize that I’d gripped Wade’s hand, squeezing tight for some kind of comfort. I looked down, getting visual confirmation of our unexpected physical contact, then up at him. Though his expression remained stoic, he was shocked. I could feel it.

When did I take his hand, though? Did I just black out when they all looked at me, or something?

“Sorry,” I murmured, instantly letting go. My palms were clammy. I rubbed them against my jeans and focused on Alton once more.

“We’ve added a security detail to the Bestiary in order to assist Tobe,” Alton said, “but we have yet to identify how the gargoyle got out in the first place. Tobe’s magical abilities are raw, and, frankly, it is up to all of us to ensure that further incidents do not occur. If they do, I trust you all know what to do, as you’ve all been given your full Bestiary induction.”

The magicals in the crowd nodded in response, prompting Alton to smile and bring his hands together in an enthusiastic clap.

“Now! I know we’re all still getting used to the idea of a Bestiary in our coven, but it is for the greater good. Given the high percentage of Mediocrity in this place, we can at least excel at looking after the Bestiary that fuels our entire society,” he added.

“Yeah, it’s a bang-up job we’re doing so far,” a young warlock said, somewhere behind me.

I looked over my shoulder and identified him quickly, based on the smirk which accompanied his statement. He was about as tall as me, and quite handsome, too, with short black hair and piercing blue eyes. He had the cutest dimples, and that triggered a warning inside me—the good-looking ones were usually jerks. Case in point: Wade Crowley.

“That’s Garrett Kyteler, pompous jerk extraordinaire,” Wade muttered, following my gaze. “If ever you need a contrarian to paint the coven in an ugly light, he’s the guy you want to talk to.”

“I don’t know, you seem to be doing a pretty good job yourself, if you ask me,” I shot back with a smirk. He took it seriously, and I felt he was genuinely offended. For some reason, I didn’t like making him feel that way, so I quickly brushed over it, shifting the focus back to cutie-pie Garrett. “If he hates this place so much, why doesn’t he just leave, then?”

Wade shrugged. “He doesn’t hate it. He just doesn’t like it.”

“Is there a difference?”

“There is when you’re part of a coven,” he replied. “He’s been in two other covens before this. I don’t know how he ended up here, but it wasn’t because of his exemplary track record. He’s an excellent warlock, highly skilled in his craft, but his demeanor can be difficult to handle. He messed up something at some point. You don’t get sent to the San Diego Coven for high points.”

“What points? And how come this coven is like detention to magicals?” I asked, getting more confused the more Wade talked.

“I’m guessing Alton hasn’t told you about the point system. You’ll find out soon enough, but, in short, your performance and actions create points, which go into the coven. At the end of the year, a line is drawn, and the top five performing covens in the States get substantial prizes, mostly in cash and artifacts. As for the ‘detention’ part… I don’t know, it’s always been like this. Alton is trying to change that, but with the characters we’ve got in-house right now, it doesn’t look like he’ll succeed.”

Alton was still going on about their efforts to improve the coven when Garrett spoke up again.

“With all the Mediocres in this joint, I must say, you’re quite the dreamer, Director Waterhouse.”

Alton responded to Garrett’s remark with a dry smile and a shrug. “Well, then, Mr. Kyteler, perhaps if you spent more time actively involved in actual coven work instead of bragging to your parents over Skype about how good a job you’re doing here, we might get ahead a little faster.” Alton’s sting was deep and painful.

Chuckles erupted from the crowd. I got a quick look at Garrett—he was fuming, but there was nothing he could do, other than cross his arms and scowl at Alton. I had mixed feelings about Garrett at that point. On one hand, the more I looked at him, the more handsome he got. Given how little socializing I’d done in my lifetime, and now that I was suddenly faced with people with whom I could be myself, my hormones were starting to loosen up a little. On the other hand, he seemed obnoxiously arrogant, although the animosity that Wade displayed toward him made Garrett even more interesting. I was officially intrigued and abstaining from a final verdict—other than the fact that he was really cute—for the time being.

“Don’t sulk, Mr. Kyteler,” Alton continued. “I wouldn’t pick on you if I didn’t think you have what it takes to be a top performer in this coven. You just have to put in the effort, that’s all. Anyway, moving on. Like I said, we’re hoping to get a higher score by the end of this year. Last year was quite… dismal, to say the least.”

“We only got 203 points,” Wade whispered.

“How bad is that?” I replied.

“The San Francisco Coven took the fifth spot with 9,789 points.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Clearly, the San Diego Coven had its work cut out for it. But was it worth it? How much money were we talking about? What artifacts were handed out as prizes? I made more mental notes to ask Alton later. My skull was becoming a pile of index cards and sticky notes.

“The Bestiary has been checked from top to bottom, and there was nothing on the cameras,” Alton said. “So, please, all of you, be careful. Unauthorized access to the Bestiary will be severely punished.”

“I do apologize,” Tobe said, staring at the marble floor beneath him, his head bowed in what felt like shame. “This has never happened before. The Bestiary has always been fully secured. I’ve never even needed additional security.”

“Tobe, please,” Alton said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Do not blame yourself in any way. We don’t know how the gargoyle made it out of its glass box, but we will find out, sooner or later. In the meantime, we just need to be more vigilant. We’ll be deploying a few patrols through the city, as well, particularly where the gargoyle was captured. The creature is likely to have left energy residue in the area. Other monsters still running loose might be drawn to it, which would bode well for our Bestiary. The more creatures we capture, the more energy is provided to our covens, and, of course, the more points for us.”

“I’ll post a list of names for patrol rotations by midnight, tonight, outside the dining hall,” O’Halloran interjected. “There will be short, three-hour shifts, in pairs, in allocated districts of the city. Nothing too difficult. Just make sure you stock up on glass jars.”

“That being said, I will let you know of any future developments,” Alton said, then smiled at me. “Now, I want you all to meet Harley Smith, who was quick-witted and brave enough to assist Wade in capturing the gargoyle.”

Oh, crap, no!

As soon as he mentioned my name, my body was nearly crushed under the landslide of emotions pummeling me from all sides. I instinctively grabbed Wade’s forearm and immediately chastised myself for it, but it was the only thing I could think of. The harder I squeezed, the less intense the emotions of two hundred magicals felt. This was all so new and… heavy.

“Ouch,” Wade issued a low-voiced warning.

“Sorry,” I murmured, but didn’t let go. Instead, I squeezed harder, overwhelmed by so many feelings at once.

“Harley will be with us for the next month, and she’ll be attending classes with the juniors,” Alton added. “Given her late discovery, Harley is quite far behind, but I trust she will—”

The mirrors behind him and Tobe all started to hum, their surfaces rippling more visibly and their bronze frames squeaking at the joints. The crowd forgot about me as they all looked at the mirrors, along with Alton and Tobe, who moved farther to the side.

I gasped, finally able to properly breathe again.

“Oh, man, I need to tell Alton not to mention me to people anymore—or ever again—especially in a crowd,” I muttered, then wiped the sweat off my forehead, letting go of Wade’s arm. I got a peculiar whiff of disappointment from him, before the hum got louder, reminding me that something weird was going on with those mirrors.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Someone is coming through,” Wade replied.

“Is that normal?”

“Normal, yes. But it’s usually expected. This wasn’t scheduled.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Because Alton clearly wasn’t expecting it, as evidenced by the look on his face,” Wade grumbled, prompting me to get a better look at Alton.

He was right. Alton was stunned, and not in a good way.