Blessed Read Free

magic?”
    She fiddled with her schedule and wondered how many times she was going to have to have this conversation this semester. “Oh, we manage. I guess it's similar to the Amish living without electricity; if you never had it, you don't miss it.”
    She didn't want to mention that she’d grown up in a dry town, a place where gods and magic were taboo. She already felt like a massive freak because her parents were atheists, but when people learned she’d lived without magic for the first eighteen years of her life they often assumed that she hated magic as well. Unfortunately she’d lost more than one friend that way, and though she could understand why she hated being judged for her parent’s decision to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. While the rest of America had embraced ancient gods and goddesses during the Religious Revolution of the 1980s, her parents had gone in the total opposite direction and refused to believe in any religion at all. While her parents belonged to a pacifist atheist community, there were some small groups of atheists that committed hate crimes against magic users, burning witches at the stake and other horrible shit like that.
    Tracy shifted from one foot to another as the uncomfortable silence stretched between them, then she gave Eliana an overly bright smile. “So, you know Professor Klemenson is super hot, right? He just got his doctorate last year, and he's the youngest High Priest of Odin in the country. My roommate has a major crush on him. Young, handsome, famous, and employed. What more could a girl want?”
    Thankful for the change in subject, she shared a grin with Tracy. “It's been a long time since I've found anyone super hot, let alone a professor.”
    “Ain't that the truth? No offense, but you seem to date some of the biggest losers.”
    With a groan Eliana slipped her schedule into her backpack. “I know, I know. They appear so normal. Then I find out they run an Internet sex website devoted to balloon porn or some crazy shit.”
    The foyer was starting to clear out, and a crowd stood waiting for the elevators. She didn't need to be sexually frustrated and late for class.
    “Gotta go, Tracy. Good luck with your class.”
    “Try not to drool all over yourself when you see Professor Klemenson. See if you can sneak some pictures of him on your cell phone for me. I’d rather look at him than crabby old Professor Bherz, that woman’s a bitch and a half.”
    “I’ll see what I can do.”
    She gave Tracy a wave and stood in line for the elevator, making sure she wasn’t standing in direct sunlight. The last thing she wanted to do was blind someone with her backpack. Butterflies started to dance around in her stomach again as she got ready for her first religious class, ever. She just needed to make sure she didn’t mention anything about her parents or her upbringing in case the teachers were prejudice against atheists. Thankfully, with having a witch as a roommate she knew enough about magic that she should be able to fake being normal enough to not draw any attention to herself.
    The bing of the elevator arriving broke her out of examining her reflection, and she shuffled in with the rest of the students. Because of her height, the world around her became a sea of chests and backs as bodies continued to pile into the elevator. The backpack of the guy in front of her had an Eye of Horus patch on it to ward off evil. He was probably a protection magic major. Next to her a girl texting on her phone had an elaborate pentacle tattooed on her wrist marking her as a witch. It seemed like everyone in this elevator had something to do with magic except for her and she felt very out of her element.
    The doors to the elevator opened, and everyone filed out into the hall. Dry erasers and cleaning supplies scented the building with the aromas she had come to associate with school, mixing in with faint hints of fragrant herbs and incense. The marble floors were