The witch-and-warlock common room buzzed like a beehive of magic and teenage drama. Comfy couches floated three inches above the ground, spellbooks stacked themselves on shelves, and a cauldron in the corner burped purple smoke every couple seconds.
Professor Gale guided Cas and Lia inside, one hand shoved casually into his pocket, the other resting on the strap of his weapons harness like this was all completely normal.
"Rainbow!" he called, scanning the room.
A flash of color zipped into view — and suddenly a girl with rainbow streaks in her hair and bright blue eyes bounced over like she'd been fired out of a confetti cannon.
"Right here, Professor!"
Cas blinked.
Lia grinned.
Professor Gale smirked. "Twins, meet... well. This." He gestured vaguely. "Real name Theodora Alexandria Percival, but nobody here calls her that. Rainbow, this is Cassandra and Ophelia Maxwell."
Rainbow beamed. "Theodora Alexandria Percival," she repeated dramatically, "but yes, everyone calls me Rainbow — you should too!"
Then she threw her arms around Lia like they'd been friends for six seconds and already emotionally bonded.
Lia hugged back instantly, giggling.
Rainbow turned to Cas and moved in for a second hug—
Cas stepped sharply behind Lia like a soldier dodging an incoming projectile.
A flicker — no, a flash — of horror ripped across her face.
And of course, Professor Gale noticed. He always did.
Lia laughed, patting her sister's arm. "Cas doesn't do physical affection," she explained.
"Noted," Rainbow chirped with zero offense.
Professor Gale nodded once. "Rainbow will get you settled in. I'll check on you two tomorrow." His gaze lingered on Cas for half a heartbeat— sharp, assessing, like he was already reading her like a battlefield map — then he turned and strode off.
Rainbow clapped excitedly. "Okay! Dorm time! Follow me!"
⸻
They climbed a spiraling staircase while Rainbow talked fast enough to power a windstorm.
"We've never had new witches in the middle of the year — well except for that one necromancer but she got possessed so she doesn't count — anyway, each dorm room has three beds, one bathroom, and you can decorate however you want! I've been waiting forever to have roommates—"
Lia matched her energy with a thousand questions —
"What are the classes like?"
"Is the headmistress strict?"
"Do demons really set things on fire when they sneeze?"
Cas didn't ask anything.
She watched.
Every group of students they passed.
Every stare.
Every whisper.
By the time they reached the third-floor hallway, the carved wooden doors glowed faintly with enchantments.
Rainbow stopped in front of one door — elegant, old, and etched with glowing names:
Theodora. Ophelia. Cassandra.
"It's charmed," Rainbow said proudly. "Only the three of us can enter... unless someone extremely powerful forces it open. But that never happens! Well... not often."
Lia was still babbling about how beautiful the glow was when Cas suddenly spoke.
"Theodora."
Rainbow paused. "Rainbow," she corrected with a hopeful smile.
Cas didn't return it.
Her voice stayed flat, cold, razor-sharp.
"Yeah. Why does everyone look at you worse than they look at us? And that's... impressive, considering we're the daughters of a 'traitor.' And half bloods."
The corridor went still for a heartbeat.
Rainbow's smile faltered — just enough to crack the paint.
"I'm a hybrid," she whispered. "Witch and fairy. And... that's considered 'tainted' blood here."
Lia's face fell. Pure heartbreak.
Cas's eyes cooled even more, but behind the frost... gears turned.
Rainbow. Selene. The council. Prejudice.
Layers she hadn't been told.
Answers she intended to dig out if she had to claw through stone to get them.
Then Rainbow clapped loudly, forcing brightness back into her voice.
"Anyway! Come on, let's see the room!"
Rainbow pushed the door open and the room inside was a perfect circle.
One corner was...
an explosion of glitter and rainbows — pillows shaped like stars, glowing garlands, sparkly curtains, probably illegal amounts of fairy dust.
The other two corners?
Plain.
Untouched.
Just beds, desks, and empty wardrobes waiting for personality.
Rainbow dove onto her bed like a human rainbow cannonball.
"You guys can decorate your sides however you want!"
Lia lit up at the sight — already planning posters and color schemes.
Cas stood in her empty corner, arms crossed.
Decorate?
Why bother.
They weren't planning on staying long anyway.
Lia didn't waste a second.
The moment Rainbow declared the room officially "theirs," Lia exploded into motion — suitcase open, clothes flying, excitement bubbling so fast she practically vibrated.
Her earlier grief about leaving the human world?
Gone.
Buried under glitter, chatter, and the uncontainable joy of decorating a new space.
"Oh! And this one goes here— no, maybe here— Rainbow, what do you think?" Lia babbled, holding up a huge Heavy Metal poster featuring a screaming skull engulfed in blue flames.
Rainbow blinked.
"...Okay I take everything back. I DEFINITELY didn't expect that."
She looked between Lia's poster and Cas — deadpan, arms crossed, expression carved from stone.
"I would've assumed she was the metal girl," Rainbow whispered, pointing discreetly at Cas.
Cas rolled her eyes so hard she almost sprained a cornea.
Lia cackled. "Just wait till you hear what she listens to."
Rainbow lit up like a sparkler. "Oh my god, WHAT?! Don't tell me it's opera. It's opera, isn't it? Or whale sounds. Actually whale sounds would be very on brand—"
Cas didn't even look up from folding her clothes.
"...K-pop."
Rainbow gasped. "NO."
Lia nodded smugly. "Stray Kids. ATEEZ. Blackpink. Girl's got rhythm."
Rainbow pressed a hand dramatically to her chest. "Okay that... I did NOT have that on my bingo card."
The two burst into laughter again, falling into easy, instant best-friend energy — talking over each other, sharing stories, gasping at the same moments.
Lia told her about Riven —
The great handshake incident.
His self-high-five.
His dramatic friendliness.
Rainbow doubled over giggling. "Oh trust me — Riven collects friends like he collects detentions. And hybrids? We stick together."
Her smile softened. "It's safer that way."
Meanwhile, Cas unpacked in silence.
Stacking her herbology books.
Sorting her potions equipment.
Folding each shirt with surgical precision.
But her eyes kept flicking toward Lia and Rainbow from beneath her lashes.
Rainbow seemed kind.
Genuine.
A little too sunshiney for this cutthroat place... but loyal, maybe.
Still —
Cas's mind stayed sharp, defensive, trained.
Lia likes her. That's fine.
But until I know this girl better, she's never being alone with my sister.
Cas slid her last book onto the shelf, her space still plain, minimalist, untouched.
In the mirror across the room, Rainbow and Lia were laughing, hair brushing as they leaned over a pile of posters.
And Cas watched them like a quiet sentinel — teenage girl on the outside, soldier on the inside.
⸻
The dining hall was alive.
Magic shimmered in the air like heat waves off pavement, carrying scents of a dozen supernatural cuisines. And the layout made it painfully clear which species ruled which corner—vampires clustered at the shadowed tables against the far wall, shifters filled the sunlit area by the glass windows, sorcerers in crisp robes occupied the immaculate white-marble section in the center.
And then... the table near the back.
Big. Round. Slightly crooked.
Rainbow tugged both their hands—Lia allowed it, giggling; Cas immediately pulled her hand back like she'd been burned.
"Sorry! Sorry—no touching!" Rainbow blurted, holding her hands up in surrender. "Forgot for a sec!"
Lia just laughed and looped her arm through Rainbow's instead. Cas followed them silently, bootsteps echoing on the stone floor.
"That's us," Rainbow said, pointing to the round table where Riven was talking at approximately the volume of a rock concert. "The hybrid table."
Despite the noise, almost everyone else in the hall stared as the twins approached.
Whispers buzzed like hornets:
"The Maxwell kids..."
"Their mom's a traitor, you know."
"Half human. Gross."
"Look at the tall one—she looks dangerous."
Cas's shoulders went stiff, fingers tingling at her sides with the urge to cast something sharp.
Lia didn't even notice.
She was too busy smiling.
The moment the twins sat down, Lia launched into conversation with the hybrids like she'd known them her whole life. Human world this, social media that, pizza toppings, TV shows—she was a one-girl welcome party.
Cas, meanwhile, sat with her back straight, expression unreadable, eyes quietly sweeping the table.
Different foods for every species.
Stacks of shimmering fruits for fae.
Plates sizzling with raw meat for shifters.
Bowls of glowing soups for witches.
And the cups filled with thick red liquid for vampires—blood, obviously.
No one explained it.
They just lived it.
Cas took a few careful items—bread, roasted vegetables, one wedge of meat—and ate mechanically.
She could tell what each person at their table was the second she laid eyes on them.
Fae—witch
Shifter—demon
Vampire—fairy
Demon—Warlock
Two witch hybrids. Not sure what the other half was.
Her stare was so cold and sharp that anyone who met it looked away almost instantly.
Almost.
Across the hall, a familiar pair of warm, amused eyes met hers.
Professor Elias Gale.
He didn't look away.
In fact, his mouth twitched—an almost-smile—as if her silent, icy death-stare was somehow entertaining. He lifted his glass in a small toasting gesture before taking a casual sip.
Cas looked down at her plate before her expression could crack.
But when she looked up again, his expression had changed.
Still watching her.
Still watching Lia.
But now his eyes were calculating, studying.
Like he was mapping pressure points and secrets.
Cas didn't like that.
Didn't like it at all.
She tore her gaze away—and froze again.
Because someone new had taken a seat beside professor Gale.
A man with dark hair threaded with soft silver streaks.
Piercing eyes that seemed to glow faintly under the torchlight.
Skin pale in a way that wasn't human.
Sharp features.
A presence that pressed against the room like an old storm.
He looked... 39, maybe 40.
But also ancient.
And when his eyes met Cas's—something flickered.
Recognition?
Curiosity?
A silent, unspoken ...you feel familiar.
Cas's breath stalled for half a heartbeat.
Then Rainbow leaned close, whispering in her ear without daring to look up.
"That's Professor Gabriel. He teaches Supernatural History and helps woth combat class."
Then, even quieter: "...he's a fallen angel."
Cas kept her face perfectly blank.
But her pulse jumped.
Lia did not keep her face blank.
Her jaw dropped so dramatically she looked like a cartoon character.
Rainbow giggled.
Cas didn't move.
But she could feel Gabriel's eyes on her again.
Measuring.
Searching.
Wondering why this teenage witch felt like an echo from a past he'd forgotten.
And at the hybrid table, surrounded by whispers and stares...
...the Maxwell twins had never felt more watched.