Gothicana

That was very oddly specific for a rumor. Although she didn’t know if it had any grain of truth in it at all. People in town could simply have made it up for amusement and to give themselves a reason to stay away from the strange place. It could be an old wives’ tale. Or maybe it wasn’t. She was going to go with an open mind. She knew better than most how false rumors affected lives. Before Corvina could go down the memory lane, they went over another bend, and suddenly, a looming silhouette of a huge iron gate broke through the fog.

Heartbeats quickening, Corvina leaned forward and squinted, trying to see the shape better.

Tall.

The gates were tall, on one side walled by the mountain and on the other side plunging into the valley below. There was no way for anyone to breach it, not without falling to their own deaths. The tight security sent a shiver down her spine. Or maybe it was the chill in the grey sky.

The driver came to a stop and rolled his window down as a guard clad in a brown uniform came from the guard’s room on the side with a clipboard.

“Your name?” he asked Corvina, his tone completely no-nonsense.

“Corvina Clemm,” she answered quietly, taking the man in. He was light-haired and had a wicked-looking mustache curved at the ends and surprisingly kind brown eyes for a man with his tone. He looked tough but she sensed he was a naturally good person. She didn’t know how she always knew it about the people she met – strong instincts, her mother had always called it – but seeing that her first point of contact at the university was a good man made her feel better.

She watched as he perused through the list and came to a halt. “And who will you be meeting, Miss Clemm?”

“Kaylin Cross at the Administration Office,” Corvina said. After she had sent her letter of interest, Kaylin Cross had given her the instructions on how to get to the university and everything she’d need to bring with her. Corvina knew she’d be sharing her room with another girl from her class, she knew she’d be getting all her books delivered by the end of the week, and she knew this was a new begi

The mustached guard nodded, breaking her out of her musings, and raised a hand to someone on the other side of the guard room. The giant gates opened slowly, the noise like a monster groaning awake.

“Welcome to Verenmore, Miss Clemm,” he said to her before looking at the driver. “Five minutes, Larry.”

“You got it, Oak,” the driver nodded before starting the car again.

Corvina looked up at the tall, wrought-iron gates as they passed, and officially entered the university premises. The flutter in her belly became a quake as she put her head out the window to peer up, and finally saw the castle perched on top of the mountain. The closer they got, the larger it became. Calling it a castle was an understatement. It was a monstrosity, a beautiful, stu

The vehicle came to stop before tall wooden doors and Larry jumped out of the car to help get her luggage. Corvina grasped her bag and hurried out as well, taking out some cash for the kind man as Larry put her one suitcase and one carry-on out on the cobblestoned entryway.

“Far as I can go, miss,” Larry told her, pocketing the cash she handed him.

“Thank you,” she nodded and he gave her a little smile, jumping back in the car quickly, and reversed. Corvina watched as the man hurried and disappeared around the bend that would take him to the main gates.

“They think we’ll eat them or something,” a wry feminine voice from behind her made Corvina turn. A beautiful green-eyed girl with a shock of super-short white hair stood gri

“Damn girl, your eyes are freaky,” she whistled, drawing Corvina’s gaze to a metal piercing through her eyebrow. “And I didn’t mean that offensively. Sorry. Hi, I’m Jade.”

Corvina liked her immediately.

“Corvina,” she introduced herself, her voice sounding raspy in contrast to Jade’s feminine lilt.

“Cool name. First-year?” Jade asked, plopping down on her suitcase, her short, pale legs exposed in jeans shorts. Corvina wondered if she felt cold at all.

“Yes. You?” she asked, fiddling with her bracelet, the one she never took off. She knew what the other girl was seeing. A short, slight girl of questionable heritage, with slanted violet eyes, sun-kissed skin even though she rarely spent much time in the sun anymore, a nose ring, long, black hair in a fishtail braid that reached her waist, dressed in loose black pants and a thin purple sweater.

Jade chuckled. “Possibly. I mean I was a first-year last year and then I ran away but then I got some sense knocked into me so I’m back. But I think I’ll probably have to repeat the year. These guys don’t have a lot of rules but the ones they do? Strict doesn’t even cover it.”

Corvina felt herself smile slightly. The girl talked more in one minute than Corvina did in an entire year.

“This castle is so crazy. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. You should see inside, it’s even bigger than it looks from out here. You don’t talk much, do you?” Jade asked, squinting at Corvina.

Corvina shook her head, enjoying the chatter from the other, definitely younger girl. She doubted she’d be able to get a word in anyway.

“Cool,” Jade nodded. “Wa

God, this girl was amazing. Corvina had never met anyone who treated her so... normally. She smiled. “I think I’d like that.”

“Damn, you got a killer smile, Corvina,” Jade gri

Corvina shrugged. She didn’t know how she felt about that. She’d always been Corvina to others. But this was a new chapter. Maybe she could be someone else too, someone more carefree, someone more badass. “I don’t mind.”

Just then the doors opened and a woman almost her mother’s age with short red hair walked out, wearing a nice formal beige dress.

“Ah, Jade,” she greeted her new friend. “Good, you’re here. Corvina,” she turned in the same beat, “I’m Kaylin Cross,” she came forward, her hand extended. Corvina shook her hand, an unpleasant sort of tingle flickering in her palm at the contact.

Kaylin removed her hand and continued without a pause. “Please call me Kaylin. I’m the recruitment specialist here at Verenmore. I’m also your point of contact going forward. If you have any problems, my office is in the Administration Wing.” She indicated a huge building she’d just exited. “You can find me there from 9 to 3 every day. Jade,” she gave the other girl a severe look. “Don’t run off this time. You two are rooming together. Grab your luggage. Let’s walk and talk.”

Kaylin was fast. Her quick words and quick steps left little time for Corvina to do anything but grab the handle of her roll-on suitcase. She saw Jade do the same, and they followed the older woman inside the campus. Jade was right. It was vast.

Well-manicured gardens littered small sections between different wings of the castle, people milling about in a few of those. High burettes graced different towers that Corvina could see. The stone walls were spaced with arched windows and climbing vines, some blooming with roses at the bottom. Gargoyles stuck out high on the walls, masking the water gutters in a grotesque display. The top of each tower was covered with some kind of deep blue stone that contrasted with the light brown of the rest of the buildings.