Lunch with my sassy witches

"Sure." I shrugged. "I'm game."

The professor snorted before retrieving a large, Venus flytrap from her armoire.

Jesus … I thought she was going to give me a flower, not a fucking carnivorous plant.

"Go on," Yennefer said as she slammed the plant down in front of me.

"In fact, make a new potion as well."

I scowled up at her but did as she asked. I repeated the same steps and said the incantation. Then, when I cut into the plant, it made a long hissing noise before crumbling into ash, dirt, and dust.

The silence in the classroom was deafening.

"Do I pass?" I asked with a smirk.

The classroom was still deadly quiet, and Yennefer turned to look out the small, oval window and then rubbed at the corner of her temples.

"Class dismissed," she muttered. "I'm feeling a headache coming on

… we'll pick up tomorrow. Do not forget about your assignment. Even if you couldn't sacrifice your flower, be sure to collect your blood from a beast for your quiz."

Rin slammed her book shut before storming out of the classroom. The rest of the witches followed, and Faye shot me a dirty look before leaving.

I grabbed my own torn and bloody copy of my textbook, since I was hellbent on learning everything I could about blood magic, but before I could head to the door, Yennefer stepped in front of me.

"No," she said, "stay behind for a moment."

"Fine." I nodded, but then I narrowed my eyes at her. "Look, can I be blunt, here, Professor?"

"Fire away," Yennefer said as she crossed her arms.

"I completed the task, but you didn't seem too thrilled by the turn of events," I said as I stared her directly in the eyes. "Did you want me to fail?"

She said nothing, but her mouth tightened into a thin line.

"Follow me," she said at length and just ignored my question entirely.

I should have expected her to dismiss my assumption, but I was also curious as to what she had to say. So, I sighed as I followed her out of the classroom, and to my surprise, the halls were completely empty.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Banquet hall," Yennefer replied, and her voice was icy and firm.

"Right," I muttered.

It was probably noon. Now that I thought about food, I realized I was pretty famished. Who knew when I last ate?

I tried to ignore the hunger pains that were growing in my gut as I followed Yennefer down the corridor, and I ended up following her all the way back to Merlin's office. Then Yennefer whipped around to face me when we came to the door.

"Wait here," she ordered.

"Fine," I answered, and I tucked my hands into my pockets as she unlocked the door and headed inside.

She made sure to slam it shut on her way in.

I waited patiently for about five minutes, but then I grew bored and curious, so I pressed my ear against the door and tried to listen.

"Mother, he was able to do it on the first try," Yennefer hissed. "I've never seen anything like it."

"You shouldn't have doubted me," Merlin replied. "I told you never to question the devil's intent."

"I didn't doubt it--"

"Yes, you did," Merlin snapped, "and I was severely disappointed in you."

"Apologies, Mother," Yennefer answered.

"Now, please do your duty and guide the young man," Merlin sighed. "I won't be repeating myself in the future."

"Yes, Mother," Yennefer murmured in a respectful tone.

I immediately jerked away from the door before it swung open again. Yennefer shot me a deadly glare, and I wondered if she knew I had been eavesdropping.

"Come along," she demanded.

"I'm not a dog, you know," I drawled, but she ignored me,

As we walked on toward the banquet hall, though, she spoke up.

"Now, since you're not familiar with the way classes operate around here, let me explain it to you," she muttered without looking at me. "As you already figured out, Blood Magic is the first course you must master as a preschooler … followed by premonition, necromancy, shadow, and finally curses."

"Five classes, is that all?" I asked.

"No." She laughed as if I were an idiot. "You will have more classes as a higher tier student, but you do not need to worry about that for now." "But I do have to worry about this final exam," I said.

"Yes," she replied after a long moment. "Each class will end with a quiz, one that ensures you are prepared to move on to the next course, but the final exam will encompass all class skills into one final test."

"You mentioned someone died during their last exam?" I said with a raised brow.

"Failing equals death." Yennefer nodded.

"Seems pretty intense," I replied as my heart skipped a beat.

"It is our way," she answered and shot a glare in my direction. "I do not question it, and neither should you."

"I think I have a right to question what the fuck is happening to me," I countered with a raised eyebrow. "You know, I think you're just pissed because I caught on to blood magic faster than your other little girlfriends."

Yennefer's lip curled into a sneer, but she averted her gaze and marched down the hall ahead of me.

I smirked. Looked like I'd hit the nail on the head there.

A few minutes later, we finally arrived outside the banquet hall, and the room was packed with witches. Long tables stretched the length of the hall, and dozens upon dozens of women sat on the attached wooden pews.

Every witch was dressed in the same black and white checkered skirt, white button up shirt, and matching knee-high socks, but some of the witches looked more human than others. I spotted witches with red, purple, orange, and blue skin, and there were others with wings and horns and all other kinds of unique attributes.

As usual, most eyes turned in my direction, and they all began to mummer amongst themselves. Some of the women, however, took no notice at all, including my own class, which sat in the back of the hall.

"You'll sit with your preschool class." Yennefer smiled tightly beside me.

"I gathered as much," I answered.

She cocked an eyebrow at me before heading to what I could only guess was her own table. I recognized Echidna sitting at the same table, along with another witch with beautiful, vibrant red hair. It was just the three of them at one table, and Yennefer instantly smiled when she was with them.

I sighed, ignored the hundreds of glares that followed my every step, and headed to my table.

All the women from my class were seated and talking amongst themselves, except for Blair, who was leaning against the table with her back turned to me. She was bent down and whispering something to Morgana, and the green-haired witch stood with her ass sticking up in the air. I could see

her white lace panties from a table away, and when I got closer, I caught a bit of what Blair was saying.

"You do have to admit though, he's not bad to look at," she whispered.

"He's rather good looking, don't you think?"

Morgana's dark curls bounced as she nodded in agreement, but then she turned her head in my direction. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of me, and she pulled Blair closer and forced the lavender-skinned witch to sit down.

I stifled a smirk and tried to go for a casual greeting.

"Hey," I muttered with my hands in my pockets, and I pretended like I hadn't heard one word.

None of them said anything as I sat down, and when I glanced at the table top, I had to do a double take. A moment ago, the table was just bare and empty wood, but in the time it took me to blink, a whole five course dinner had suddenly appeared on shining silver platters. There was something that looked like roasted quail, boiled potatoes, stuffing, greens, and some other kind of meat I didn't recognize drizzled in a blood red sauce.

"What's this?" I asked as I lifted a piece of the mystery meat up in the air. It had a greenish tint to it under the red sauce that was unappetizing, to say the least.

"Leprechaun," Morgana replied without meeting my eyes.

I dropped the meat, and the girls started to cackle with laughter.

"It's quite delicious." Blair grinned. "You should try it."

"I know you're fucking with me," I grumbled before I plopped a potato into my mouth. The warm, salty butter melted on my tongue, and it took all my willpower not to moan from the pleasure of finally eating food after God knows how long.

Or, in this case, the devil knows how long.

"So, Neon," Faye cooed in a faux, sugary-sweet voice, and she ran her fingers through her mane of thick red hair, "what will you be hunting down for your blood sacrifice?"

By the sharp glint in her green eyes, I knew she was hoping I would say something they could taunt me for, but I only sat back in my chair and smirked.

"I don't know," I said and played along. "Hopefully, it won't have to be another onikuma."

The witches all dropped their silverware and stared at me, shocked.

Did I say something weird?