So apparently my mom was a witch. And not just a witch, but a witch who turned bad. My poor, sweet, normal dad wanted me to have a good college experience. Instead I get a magical offer I literally can’t refuse, from the world’s most elite school for warlocks.

WARLOCKS. As in GUY WITCHES.

Even though I definitely have lady parts, somehow I ended up at a warlock school to learn the gentlemanly arts (which are a lot more badass than, ahem, lady magic). Did I mention the witch world is stuck in the 19th century? Unmarried witches and warlocks barely see each other outside of society balls, which are still a thing.

No one knows how I ended up here. I’m thrown into a whole new world where I am outcast and friendless, except for:

—Firian, the enigmatic fox shifter who has been watching over me since I was born.

—Alec, my new roommate, a sexy-as-sin incubus enchanted not to lay a hand on me. For safety. Or cruel and unusual punishment.

—Montague, the black sheep of the school since he got turned into a vampire on spring break.

—Harris, an arrogant ass from the most elite of all magical families. Okay, he’s not my friend but he’s Montague’s. I’ll work on him.

My existence here breaks all the rules. Am I here for the right reasons? Or am I the pawn meant to destroy the very world I’m starting to love? When my magic proves stronger than anyone expects, and the school is attacked by a demon, I’ll need help from the four gorgeous magical men who are willing to break a few rules with me. They’re each forbidden to me in their own way, and the greatest danger of all might not be demons, but falling for them. All of them.

“Charlotte!” Dad screamed my name from downstairs, interrupting a pretty important fight with a dragon in my favorite MMORPG.

“Just a sec!” I screamed back.

“Charlotte! I need an explanation right now!” He was getting that high-pitched voice he gets when the raccoons are in our trash.

I had absolutely no clue what he could need an explanation about, seeing as I had no life and had not done anything out of the ordinary, but it sounded important.

“Charlotte!”

omg, I hastily wrote. i have to go. i’m so sorry. emergency unfolding in-house. brb.

The rest of my fellow adventures freaked out on me, but my sexy elf warrior girlfriend/boyfriend Firia said, You’d better talk to him. The rest of us can handle it.

uhh…how did you know it was ‘him’?

I just assumed it was your dad.

oh yeah well you’re right. thx.

It was a weird moment because I was pretty sure I’d never told Firia that my Mom was gone, but I didn’t have time to fully ponder it. I had to check on Dad. Anyway, Firia was awesome for not getting upset at me for ditching on the dragon fight, seeing as my brooding mage character had the pivotal dark spells for defeating said dragon. Firia was also the closest thing I had to a boyfriend. We’d been playing this game for years. I met him/her early on in my adventures in the game, and we’d stuck together through a lot of fights. Before long, we were flirting. A couple months in we figured out that we had each chosen avatars of the opposite gender, but we were having fun anyway, so I called him “my girlfriend” in the game.

Of course, I was fully aware Firia could be lying and was not really a nineteen year old guy but was actually like…a fifty year old guy, or whatever. We’d never taken it off the game.

I padded down the stairs. Dad was standing at the dining room table, staring at an envelope that sat in the middle of the wooden surface, looking at it like it was poisoned.

“Dad? What’s wrong?” I stood on the first step, shoving my hands in my pockets. “Something came in the mail?”

“Is there something you aren’t telling me about?” he cried.

“Um…no? I don’t think so. I’m eighteen. I guess there might be something.” I laughed, but then I realized this was going beyond my dad’s usual level of overreaction. “Hey, what’s up? Just tell me.”

My dad and I had a thing going. I was the chill one, and he was the one who made fun stuff happen. He also had a tendency to overreact. We were opposite in a lot of ways. He liked loud rock music, barbecuing, tattoos. I liked wearing pajamas, baking bread, and camping. He freaked out and I was unflappable. I went to look at the letter. Maybe the bill from our flu shots was more than he expected or something.

“I don’t know how to explain all of this,” he said. “Shit. I wish—”

I shot him a look. It seemed like, for all the world, he was going to say that he wished my mom was here. I could hear the ghost of the “your” when he cut himself off.

I saw the return address on the envelope.

Merlin College

P. O. Box 332

Small Hollow, NC

“You’re freaking out about ‘Merlin College’? What is that? Sounds like spam.” I started opening it.

He grabbed it from my hand and slammed it on the table. “No. It’s not spam. It’s a reckoning, that’s what it is. I thought you were safe from all this. I thought your mom—like—sealed that stuff up before she left. Were you talking to your elf friend online?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Maybe I should make him explain it. Nah, you’re my daughter.”

“Dad, I abandoned a dragon for this. Just tell me! What does Firia have to do with it?”

He took a deep breath. “Your mother had magical blood. I believe this letter is from a witch’s college. That’s why it’s so nondescript.”

“Well, I’m already going to college, so…” I’m not sure why I said that first. “Magical blood? What do you mean?”

“Her mother was an Ethereal witch from a very old witch family. Her father was a Sinistral demon who could turn into a wolf; a werewolf, basically. I mean—let me back up. Magic is real.”

“Did the neighbors sell you drugs or something?”

“I wish. Your mother was supposed to protect you from this shit!” He grabbed a stuffed cat that I had seated at the dining room table because I was a dork, and threw it on the floor.

My heart was beating pretty fast, by my standards. “Be nice to Momo! Calm down!” I grabbed the letter and ripped it open.

Dear Mr. Char Byrne,

Your application has been accepted. You will attend Merlin College, the elite school for warlocks, with a starting date of September 12th. We were stunned by your test results and are thrilled to have you with us. Please be packed and prepared on that day, as we will send a vehicle for you. Please refer to the attached list of items that are not acceptable at Arthur College and familiarize yourself with the rules of conduct.

We look forward to meeting you,

Ignatius Blair

Dean of Merlin College

“God, the list of stuff I can’t take to Merlin College is ten times longer than the acceptance letter. What the hell? Warlocks? Why do they think I’m a boy? They think my name is ‘Char Byrne’.” I laughed. “I mean, whatever, I just won’t go.”

“Warlocks?” He looked at the letter. “Oh—okay. This must be a mistake. They got you mixed up with someone else. We’ll write and tell them you’re a girl and that you’re not going to any magic schools.”

“Wait. I mean, you have a lot to tell me. Let’s start with, why did you not tell me this sooner and why am I not going to magic school? Magic school sounds awesome.”

“It isn’t. At least, that’s what they tell me. But I don’t want you having anything to do with that. It can get you killed. There are all these other planes, and magical creatures in conflict with each other, and…it’s bad news. It didn’t do my relationship with your mom any favors, that’s for sure. When we were growing up, she was never interested in magic. But then…when you were a baby…she got sucked in. Like a cult. Power is addictive and she’d never known what it was like. That was what we fought over. But she bound your magic, so you wouldn’t suffer the same fate.”

“She bound my magic so I wouldn’t be powerful?”

“So you would be a normal girl,” he said. “Who doesn’t get killed by some demon or something.”

“And you just figured you’d lie to me about all of this?”

“Yeah—see—she could explain it better.”

“I don’t know about that. This is ridiculous.”

“It’s not ridiculous. It’s to protect you. The magical life is bad fucking news, Charlotte. Remember how you used to be afraid there was a shadow monster in the closet? And you’d scream in the middle of the night? ‘Daddy! Check the closet!’ I spent hours telling you there was no monster. But if I let you become a witch, there might really be a monster in there. And I wouldn’t be able to protect you. Witches and warlocks and all the other magical creatures in this world are battling for power, and you do not need to be in the middle of that. I want you to sleep soundly at night.”

“Oh…”

“So, you’re right, we’ll just write them back and tell them they’ve got you confused with someone else. It just shook me up. Sometimes I get scared that they’re going to try to suck you in, like they did to your mom.” He grabbed an envelope and some stamps from the desk, and then a legal pad with a grocery list on it.

“Maybe you should use stationery?” I asked. “Just a thought?”

“Like I have stationery. Who writes letters anymore?”

“I have some! i’ve never used it! Wait right here.” I ran upstairs. My computer was still on but I’d been logged out of the game.

I wonder why Dad mentioned Miria? That was weird.

I logged back in while I dug around for some decorative paper I’d had since I was a kid. I was pretty sure it had like, a Sanrio dog on it or something, but that was still better than a legal pad.

When I logged back in, I was back in the town. I’d missed out on the whole dragon thing. It looked like Miria was still on.

I sent a private message.

hey, Miria, have you ever spoken to my dad?

There was a pause and then she/he said, So…did he reveal my secret identity or something?

Hard to say if he was joking or not. no…what is it?

Did he reveal all the secrets of the universe?

a few…do you believe that like, magic is real?

I’m coming over.

wait, what?

He didn’t say anything else. I dug out the stationery and then I heard the doorbell ring.

“Charlotte!” Dad yelled. “I thought you were just grabbing paper! You went and talked to him.”

“Who the hell is ‘him’? You’re not serious? My online gaming friend?”

“Just come downstairs. I guess it’s time you met.”

Sure enough…there was a guy at the door.

But I had never seen him before. Ever.

Well, I didn’t think I’d seen him anyway. Admittedly, I didn’t look at the neighbors much, so if he was wearing a hat, maybe I wouldn’t notice if one of them was attractive.

Stupid me.

“Well, well,” he said. “You finally get to lay eyes on me. What a day. Something must have happened.”

“Yes,” Dad said. “Come in. It was a letter from a magic school. I think it’s all a big mistake, though.”

This unfamiliar guy, whom my dad seemed to know suspiciously well, walked in and gave me a brief smile like he knew me. I was trying very hard not to stare.

He was tall, slender, and somewhat ethereal looking, with pale blonde hair faintly tinged with red. I guess that was what you call ‘strawberry blonde’ but that just didn’t sound right. His skin was pale, too, but not in a sickly way, or even a “too much time playing video games” way. It had an inner glow, like he had an intense and expensive skincare regimen imported from South Korea.

Pretty sure he didn’t, though. He was just naturally gorgeous.

He also had really good posture. So…like, no way was this the guy that spent hours playing MMORPGs with me.

His eyes and smile had sort of a sly twinkle. He exuded confidence, even wearing a rumpled t-shirt and sweatpants. It’s like when you see mega celebrities caught by the paparazzi like, being normal, but even then you’re like, nuh-uh, no one is that hot in real life.

“I’m Miria,” he said, offering a hand. “Or, properly, Firian. I am your familiar.”

“Muh wut?” I asked. I mean, that was how it came out. His beauty was distracting. “I mean…I thought you’d be more of a…”

“Female elf in armor?” he asked. “Well, then I wonder why you don’t have long white hair and an eyepatch.”

: Coming soon!