I wasn't sure if it was the daylight slipping through the curtains or the hammering noise that woke me, but I groaned and pulled the duvet up over my head to escape both.

"Erica, get your ass up or you're not getting any breakfast before we have to go to class." Nancy yelled through the door.

"Ok, I'm getting up." I lied, as the idea of breakfast had bile rising in my throat.

"I'm serious. You don't want to be late on your first day." She shouted back.

I huffed and threw off the duvet, wincing at the light which filtered in as the curtains fluttered in the movement. Swinging my legs over the side, I realised I was still in the dress from last night and bits of the evening began to filter back to me.

"Meet you by the showers." Nancy called out again.

Who the hell was that peppy the morning after a night out? I groaned and reached for the caddy I had seen before I fell asleep, almost knocking over a large glass of water, which definitely hadn't been there last night.

That woke me up like nothing else and my eyes shot to the door, which remained shut and the lock was still engaged. A fresh pair of towels and a robe hung from the hook and I felt the panic build in me. Someone had been in my room. So much for safety.

I was usually such a light sleeper too. It was a miracle the intruder hadn't woken me.

Heart pounding in my chest, I reached out for the drink, dipping the tip of my finger in to confirm it was just water. Well, if last night's drink incident had taught me anything, I wasn't touching it until I knew what it was and where it came from.

I needed to speak to Nancy. Mind made up, I pulled on the robe, knotting it at my waist, scooped up the towels and shower caddy, and made my way down the corridor to the showers I had used yesterday.

There was already quite a queue and two people between me and Nancy. I gave her a little wave, and she rolled her eyes, encouraging the two between us to go in front of her so we could chat.

"How are you feeling today?" She asked with the hint of a smile already curling her lips.

I leaned back against the wall. "Like I've been run over by someone who is now trying to drill through my skull." I admitted.

She winced sympathetically. "Yeah, a hex shot will do that to a human."

"If she's even human." A voice nearby interjected.

I span to look at the pretty elfin girl behind us in the queue. Cropped mousy brown hair and pale blue eyes examined me with a fierceness I didn't quite know how to respond to.

"Mina." Nancy replied with an obviously forced smile.

My guard immediately went up. If Nancy didn't seem to like or trust her, neither did I.

"Nancy." Mina replied in an equally frosty tone before sticking her hand out to shake mine, "Nice to meet you, Erica? Isn't it?"

I took her outstretched hand hesitantly and immediately felt her grip tighten on my own. I tried to tug my hand back, but she wouldn't release me.

"Well well well." Mina muttered, her eyes going slightly unfocused, before she smiled and released me.

I rubbed my hand, sure that she must have broken something with her grip. "Well, what?" I asked, utterly lost.

"Mina is a seer. She has visions of the future triggered by touch." Nancy explained, wringing her own hands nervously.

I frowned. "Well, what did you see?"

Mina shook her head slightly, "Absolutely nothing. Well, aren't you an odd one?"

I couldn't work out if that was a good or bad thing until I glanced sideways and caught Nancy's shocked expression. Before I could question either of them further, a few girls emerged in a billowing cloud of steam from the shower rooms and it was our turn to go in.

"I'll be seeing you soon." Mina said with a mysterious smile just before I shut the door to my shower room.

What the hell was wrong with people here? Did I have no future? Or was she really shit at seeing the future?

This was a hell of a lot to think about early in the morning when a hangover was trying to kill me.

Stripping off the robe and last night's dress, I flicked the dial that sent a steaming spray of water jetting from above. I almost had to pinch myself to believe it was real. Most people would never know what it's like to not have this, and honestly, I'm happy for them. But I'll appreciate every drop of this hot shower for those of us who went without.

At least I wasn't crying this time. Surely that counted as some sort of progress?

As I tipped my head back to massage shampoo into my scalp, I realised something odd. My throat didn't hurt. More than that, I hadn't woken up terrified from dreams I couldn't remember. My fingers traced from my jaw down to my collarbone slowly, confused by the absence of pain.

For the first time in as long as I could remember, those nightmares hadn't haunted me. Perhaps the alcohol here had numbed me to my dreams? If that was the case I wanted to take one of those shots every night. For medicinal purposes, of course.

Rinsing my hair as quickly as I could, I switched off the water and wrapped a towel around myself tightly. I wasn't sure how I was going to find out what stopped the nightmares, but if there was something I could do about them, I'd try it. Even though I couldn't remember the contents, they haunted me enough when I first woke up. I needed to be rid of them.

Resolving to bring it up with Nancy, I gathered my things and hurried back to my dorm, head down and not making eye contact with anyone. Still, I felt the stares following me, burning into my back as I walked. A human in a school of supernaturals, I wasn't likely to blend in as much as I did when I was on the streets back home.

Still, the eyes on me were unnerving to say the least.

My room was exactly as I had left it. Nothing out of place or signs of strange toiletry providing visitors. As promised by the staff the day before, the wardrobe was now filled with a uniform that looked like it was much more likely to fit me.

Slim fit grey trousers, a white shirt with small grey plaid tie, and cream jumper over the top. There were skirts as well but with no idea what to expect of the day, trousers felt like a safer bet.

My reflection confirmed I'd never looked less like me. I looked like I'd stepped off the page of some private school brochure and was about to ask someone to buy me another pony. With a frown, I ignored the sensible flat shoes they had provided and slipped on the biker boots I had arrived in. They were worn in and showed the creases in the leather from it too, but I loved them and at least part of my outfit today still looked like me.

Scrapping my damp hair back, I twisted it up into a bun and secured it. The dark circles I was accustomed to seeing under my eyes were not as pronounced, perhaps thanks to the lack of nightmares, but I still dabbed a little of the concealer Nancy had found me over them.

There was nothing I could do about the bloodshot look in my eyes so I moved to open the curtains and finally see the view from my window.

It overlooked the courtyard between two of the buildings with neatly planted flower borders and full of life as people hurried through. Groups of friends chatting and laughing sent a weird pang of longing through me.

For as long as I could remember Angie had been my only friend, and I was under no illusions that we had bonded over mutually shit circumstances rather than actually had anything in common.

It felt... nice... exciting even to think I might find something else here.

A soft knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts, and I turned back to the room. "Coming." I yelled, grabbing the bag from the bottom of the wardrobe.

It was already filled with pens and notepads. I just had to hope that was all I needed as there wasn't exactly a guidebook to the day.

I opened the door with a smile, "Hey Nanc-"

Slouching against the wall opposite, hands shoved down deep in his pockets and a face that was caught somewhere between concern and annoyance, was Enzo.

He straightened at the sound of my voice and looked relieved to see me. "Still alive I see." He said quietly.

"Still think I'm incapable of looking after myself?" I asked, turning to lock the door behind me.

Hopefully he hadn't heard about the hex shot turning me into a drunk mess. When I turned back, Enzo was running a hand through his hair in an unconsciously nervous movement. Somehow the blond waves fell back into place perfectly, like some sort of Disney prince.

"It's not that I don't believe you're capable. There's just a lot in this world you don't understand yet and Mrs Kennedy would kill me if anything happened to you before we found out why the school brought you here."

I felt my heart sink a little, and I wasn't sure why. Of course, it would embarrass him in front of the head teacher if anything happened to me. Made total sense to want to protect his reputation.

Then why did those words sting?

"Oh good, you guys are ready." Nancy bounced up to us, "Have you forgiven her yet?"

Her slim arm looped through mine as she began towing me down the corridor and through huge doors that separated our dorms from the school.

Enzo rolled his eyes as he took long strides to keep up with her pace. "Nothing to forgive. She didn't know what she was doing."

I glared past Nancy at him, resisting the immature urge to stick my tongue out, "And whose fault is that? If you just told me what your problem was with Blake, I wouldn't have spoken to him."

"Really love? I'm hurt."

The silky voice sent goose bumps across my skin, and I skittered away from it automatically.

Blake fell into step beside me, a lazy smile growing on his face. "Sorry love, didn't mean to scare you."

He was dressed in the same uniform as the rest of us, but somehow still stood out. Just rolled out of bed tousled hair and clothes that fitted so tightly I could see the hint of well-defined arms through his shirt.

"I wasn't scared." I snapped back automatically, "Just need you to wear a bell or something and stop jumping out on girls in the corridors."

His smile grew, "There's only one girl I want to jump," his eyes trailed lazily up and down my body and I'd be lying if I said it didn't do something funny to my insides, "out on."

I felt Nancy's arm tighten around mine. Whether she was trying to hold me back to stop me going for him or stop him from taking me, I didn't know, but I was grateful that she cared.

"Well, you should go and bother her then, because we aren't interested." I meant to sound disinterested, but it came out annoyingly breathy.

I put it down to the speed Nancy was forcing me to walk at. Definitely that.

"What she means is fuck off, King." Enzo snapped, suddenly appearing between us.

My eyebrows shot up at the venom in his tone. There was definitely a story about these two and I was going to make one of them tell me soon before I went mad.

"I'm sorry, little witch boy, but I think she's capable of speaking for herself." Blake chuckled.

I wanted to be angry at him, but I felt my lips pull into an answering smile before I could stop myself. God, what the hell was this place doing to me? I wasn't the type of girl who drooled over random guys. Hell, I wasn't even the type of girl who attracted the attention of random guys normally, so all of this was strange.

"Both of you can tone it down." Nancy scolded, ever the voice of reason, "Don't you think you'll look weird talking to a group of first years Blake?"

I cocked my head, suddenly remembering what she had said about him already having been here a year already. At least I wouldn't have to worry about him distracting me in class. Especially as I had apparently turned into the sort of girl who thought about those things.

"So concerned for my reputation, Nancy? I'm flattered." Blake laughed.

What was it with people around here and completely avoiding answering simple questions?

The flow of other students was pulling us towards the main hall and Blake further from us. I glanced at him and he smirked as though he had been waiting for me to look and won a little bet with himself.

"I'll find you later." he mouthed, before vanishing into the sea of students as quickly as he had appeared.

The hall we were pulled into was enormous. With high ceilings and tall stained glass windows along either side, separated by pale yellow brick. Banners hung from the ceilings in an array of colours, depicting what looked like family crests.

My jaw dropped as I took in the raised platform in the centre with a round table of people I assumed were teachers. Was it a requirement to be drop dead gorgeous to work here or had they only hired models?

Mrs Kennedy spoke to an older man with white hair and a beard that made him look like a viking. Her hands were moving animatedly as she explained something and I couldn't help but question her age. Sometimes she seemed in her seventies and others, like now, I could have sworn she was in her thirties.

Nancy didn't seem as impressed by the room as I was and instead towed me towards the table some of her friends were waving from. Every table we passed was piled high with food that looked delicious, even if my stomach protested that I would vomit if I dared to eat any of it.

Enzo slid into the seat opposite and shot me a reassuring smile. But before I could respond or think, Mrs Kennedy cleared her throat and spoke in a booming voice that filled the space.