by L.L Hunter
Talent
By the time the main course was being served, Scarlett realised that she really didn’t know what Talent she was going to explore. She had done drama classes in high school but hadn’t been the best actor. She had taken ballet and contemporary dance as a child, but she wasn’t really a dancer—fast reflexes didn’t really stop her awkwardness. She could sing, though. Nothing made her happier than when she was singing, but she refused to sing in front of anyone. It wasn’t just because she was shy, but more because something embarrassing always seemed to happen when she did.
After lunch, Scarlett said goodbye to her new friends and headed back to her room. First year students didn’t have a choice of subjects, but at the end of the year, they were allowed to choose two elective classes. They had to choose wisely as those choices would determine what Talent and Trait they would explore in the future.
When Scarlett reached the third floor, she decided to explore a bit. She climbed the stairs to the fourth and final floor and paused. She heard his voice before she saw him. There was a tone to it that sounded familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. He was singing a song she had never heard before. It was the most extraordinarily beautiful melody she had ever heard. His voice was satin-smooth like chocolate or soft animal, and if it were a solid object, she would want to reach out and stroke it.
She inched closer to the door that it was coming from and listened. His voice was pitch perfect and professional. When the singing stopped, the door’s knob rattled and turned and he stepped out. He was wearing a dark grey Henley shirt, blue jeans, and black motorcycle boots. He also smelled of rain and vanilla. Scarlett was too awestruck and speechless to move so he smacked right into her.
“Ooh! I… Uh, I’m so sorry,” she stuttered. He didn’t step away though. Instead, he moved his hands up to grip her upper arms, not hard though, just gentle enough that she could feel it. His touch felt cool even through her sweater. He looked down at her with a smirk. He stood an entire head higher and his gaze penetrated through her for the second time that day.
“That’s okay, Scarlett,” he replied in a voice as smooth as his singing voice.
His hair was dark brown and his eyes were the most amazing chocolate brown she had ever seen, just a touch lighter than his hair, so edible… wait, did he just say her name?
“How, uh… do you know my name?” she stuttered.
“You have a face that’s hard to forget,” he chuckled. He dropped his hands and stepped out of the doorway, locking it behind him. He then stepped around her, so that she was now standing with her back to his door, and he was standing in the middle of the hall.
“Plus,” he was looking at her again with those eyes. Scarlett wished quietly that he wouldn’t, but at the same time that he would never stop.
“Your hair is the colour of Heavenly Fire. It’s also hard to forget.” He turned and began to walk away.
Scarlett had so many questions. Why did she feel like she knew him? How did he know what Heavenly Fire looked like? You can’t see it unless you unlock the ability to. But she didn’t ask him.
“Wait! You know my name, but I don’t know yours,” she called after him. He froze, pivoted on his boot heel, and looked at her with those eyes again.
“Dyston, my name’s Dyston,” he smiled. Then he turned and disappeared down the hallway. Duh, she knew that.
Something stirred inside Scarlett, she felt drawn to Dyston in a magical way, and she couldn’t explain it. She headed back down to the third floor, hoping she and Dyston would cross paths again soon.
Her first class the next day was Dramatic arts. She loved drama, but even though she felt that this wasn’t her calling, she knew that drama helped you with self-confidence and bravery. Scarlett felt brave but not self-confident. As soon as she stepped inside the classroom, which was more like an auditorium, Joshua and Emer called her over.
“Yoo-Hoo, Scarlett!” sang Emer. Scarlett sauntered over and sat next to her. Emer grinned at Joshua, and he smiled weakly back at her. Poor thing. She was in denial, Scarlett thought.
When their Professor walked in, her Mary Jane’s clicking on the stage, the room fell silent.
“Is that her real hair?” whispered Scarlett.
“I think so,” replied Emer. Scarlett couldn’t help but gawk. Their professor’s hair looked like candy-floss, but with more fuchsia.
“Hello, class,” Their professor began when she reached centre stage. The candy floss-haired Professor wore black slacks, a gold sparkly blouse, and a black blazer with a white lapel. “I am Professor Magenta, but everyone calls me Mag.” There was applause. Scarlett wondered if every time she spoke she got applause.
“Today, you will be learning how to be confident with your peers and with yourself. Now for the first exercise, follow me.”
Mag led them into an adjoining room, which was more like a gym. It had a springy floor and punching bags around the perimeter.
“I’m just finishing up, Mag, so don’t mind me,” said a voice Scarlett had heard before. She hadn’t noticed him at first, but using a punching bag in the far right corner of the room was Lakyn.
“Take your time, Professor Lakyn,” said Meg.
“He’s hot!” Emer whispered into Scarlett’s ear.
“Yeah,” was all she could manage. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. She had to admit he did something to her. She shook her head as if to shake away the thought. What was it with those Blackbell boys?
“This is a trust exercise. I want you to pair up.” Mag told the class. Emer immediately grabbed a hold of Joshua’s arm. He looked like he wanted to be somewhere else.
Scarlett glanced around for a potential partner, but her eyes only found Lakyn, who gave her a wink. She quickly averted her gaze and noticed a girl standing by herself doing the same thing as Scarlett. She walked up and introduced herself.
“Hey, I’m Scarlett. Want to be partners?”
“Sure. I’m Diamond, Di for short,” replied the girl. She was petite, a bit shorter than Scarlett, with silvery hair with a hint of mauve. Diamond also had pale greyish-blue eyes. Mixed with the mauve hair, Scarlett thought it was a very pretty combination.
“Can I ask why you were named Diamond?” she asked, as the whole class lined up in two rows facing each other. They were meant to catch their partner to test if one trusted the other.
“Yeah, it’s because I have a tough skin, physically and emotionally. Nothing can hurt me.”
“Nothing? Come on, everyone has their kryptonite.”
“Nope, nothing.” Scarlett didn’t press any further. She had a feeling Di was hiding something from her. Only time would tell, Scarlett thought. They decided to complete the trust exercise in silence.
After each partner had had a turn catching and falling (Emer and Joshua failed because Joshua hadn’t caught Emer in time, which caused her to land on the floor with only her pride hurt), they went back into the Auditorium to finish the lesson.
“Now with the exception of Emerald and Joshua,” began Professor Mag, her gaze steel cold as it bore into the two of them, “everyone completed the task exceptionally. Do we all feel confident with our classmates yet?”
There were numerous students who said yes, while just a few said no, followed by laughing, Scarlett and the rest of her classmates turned to see who it was. Samson Hunt and Willow Johnson sat a few rows behind the rest of the class. They were becoming known as troublemakers already. Earlier, during lunch, they had gotten a penalty each—one for Samson throwing food at Headmaster Blackbell’s head, and Willow had gotten one for turning up to lunch late.
“Samson, Willow, you two are not off to a good start. Do you take anything seriously around here?” asked Mag.
“Of course we do, Professor,” answered Willow with a smirk.
“Consider this a warning. One more strike and another penalty will be added to both your records.”
There was a sudden very loud tolling that made the students jump, but Scarlett knew what it was.
It was church bells.
“Okay, that’s the end of class. See you tomorrow, and don’t be late!” As she emphasised on the late part, she spun on her heel and exited stage right. The sound of her Mary Jane’s clicking could still be heard long after she had left the auditorium.
“Well, that was exciting, wasn’t it?” sang Emer as she skipped beside Scarlett. “Even though Joshua dropped me!” She glared back at Joshua who was walking behind them looking down at his feet.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”
“Yeah, ‘cause he was day dreaming. Hey, what class have you got next? I have Aerial Ability, whatever that means.”
“I think its flying. I have Combat Training.”
“Why in the heck would I need flying lessons? I’m not a full angel,” complained Emer.
“I think it’s just to get you comfortable with being in the air. I walked past that room before and I saw people on harnesses bouncing around.”
“Cool! Well, I’ll see you at dinner,” said Emer as she drew back to walk beside Joshua.
Scarlett checked her schedule again for the room number and realised she was in the padded gym room she had previously been in. As she began walking back, her stomach flipped when she realised who her Professor might be.
“Crap,” she cursed to herself. She clenched her jaw, took a deep breath, and stepped back inside the padded room. Sure enough, there he stood in the centre of the room.
“Gather round, First Year. I’m Professor Lakyn, but please, call me Lakyn.” She could hear whispers around the room, girls swooning over their handsome Professor. Scarlett rolled her eyes.
“This afternoon, I will be teaching you the basics of Combat Training. That is, learning how to defend oneself in an attack,” he told the class. Thomas raised his hand.
“Yes? Name?” asked Lakyn
“Thomas. And um, will we be fighting each other?”
“Not fighting, sparing. No hands-on contact allowed. Okay? Any student who breaks that the rule will be given an automatic penalty. I cannot make myself any clearer.”
Then Jacob stepped forward, Scarlett didn’t even notice he was in the room. He wore a close fitted white shirt that made his muscles more pronounced. She caught Kat staring at him.
“Okay, guys, everyone form a line from tallest to shortest along the wall, go!” He clapped his hands to hurry the students up. Scarlett considered herself of average height so she placed herself somewhere in the middle next to Kat, who was still watching Jacob.
Jacob and Lakyn walked along the line and swapped students who were taller or shorter than the person next to them. Jacob reached Kat and she froze. He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly.
“There’s no need to be nervous, Kat,” he told her. Scarlett swore that if she hadn’t been standing right there next to Kat, she would have fainted. Lakyn passed and nodded towards her and Scarlett.
“You two, pair up,” he told them, his eyes pausing on Scarlett the longest.
“Now that everyone has their sparring partners, Jacob here is going to run you through the basics. Even though he is only a Fourth Year student, he is the best we have, apart from my father and I,” explained Lakyn.
“Thank you, Lakyn,” said Jacob. “Okay, everyone face his or her partner. I will be walking around and giving each of you a weapon. Do not use these on your partner. I am going to show you how to hold them so that they feel comfortable in your hands. An Angel’s weapon is a part of him or her.”
Lakyn walked to the edge of the room and paused by a large wooden box, almost as big as an adult coffin. Jacob joined him and together, they lifted the box with ease into the centre of the room and opened the lid. Inside were many gold and silver bows and a few swords that, from what Scarlett remembered from The Chronicle, were Archangel blades, and they were a very powerful weapon. There was a collection of oohs and aahs from the class as the weapons were brought out and handed around.
“Now, does anyone know the difference between the gold and silver bows?” asked Lakyn. Scarlett knew, but she didn’t want to seem like a no-it-all, and worst of all, have anyone suspect she was a Legacy. Thankfully, Kat raised her hand.
“Yes, Katherine?”
“It’s Kat, actually. And the difference between them is that the gold bow can kill an Archangel or Nephilim, but can’t kill a Fallen Angel. And a silver bow can kill a Fallen Angel but can’t kill a Nephilim or an Archangel.”
“Correct, I’m impressed. You must have studied the Chronicle before you enrolled here,” stated Jacob, smiling at her.
“A little, actually. I have a pretty good memory,” she blushed.
“As Kat said, yes the gold bow kills Archangels and Nephilim and the silver kills Fallen Angels, etcetera. But what The Chronicle doesn’t say is that you can only load a special type of arrow into the bow,” Lakyn explained.
“What are they?” asked Thomas. Scarlett could tell just by Thomas’ energy that he couldn’t wait to start practising. The boy was practically bursting out of his skin.
“These.” What Lakyn held in his hand looked like small pieces of gunmetal. He held them up high so that everyone could see. “These might look like normal arrow heads to you, but they are not ordinary. They are what we call Tear Tips, because they have been dipped in the tears of an Archangel.”
Excited chatter and whispering ensued. Scarlett raised her hand and Lakyn locked eyes with her. She repressed the urge to turn away.
“Are they hard to come by, the Archangel tears?” she asked
“Not really, if you know where to source them.”
“Do Archangel’s still exist?” she asked. Lakyn shifted his weight and became restless. Scarlett could tell that she had picked a sore subject.
“That is not something I can tell you,” he told her. He averted his gaze and picked up an Archangel blade. “Everyone, grab a weapon.”
After class, Scarlett decided to do a little research. What Lakyn had said, or not said, had intrigued her. Did Archangels really still exist? And if so, were they anyone she knew?
She headed to the library, which was not hard to find. It was the largest part of Blackbell Academy. Scarlett pushed open the heavy oak doors and was amazed by the sight that confronted her. Everywhere, there were books as far as the eye could see. The room was circular in shape and consisted of three levels, each joined the next by a wooden ladder. But that wasn’t the most amazing part—the centrepiece was a ginormous maple tree. It reached from the floor to the ceiling. Scarlett’s eyes followed the trunk up, and she realised that this was the room that the glass-faceted dome covered, and the ancient maple tree just brushed the underside of it. She was so wonderstruck by the sight of the tree that she hadn’t realised she was no longer alone.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He spoke warmly into her left ear, causing Scarlett to almost jump out of her skin. She spun around to face the intruder of her private moment, waiting for an attack, which didn’t come. He put his hands over hers and pushed them back down to her sides.
“I don’t mean you harm. I’m sorry I frightened you.”
“I would’ve hit you.”
“I know,” he chuckled
“Don’t ever sneak up on me like that again!”
“I promise.” He smiled and walked over to the second floor’s banister and jumped up, sitting down and dangling his legs over the side. There was little she knew about Dyston, but she was intrigued. She climbed the ladder to the second floor landing and stood behind him. He still smelled of rain and vanilla.
“So… you sing,” she said. It wasn’t a question, but she didn’t know what else to say.
“You heard me,” Dyston laughed. His laugh was as smooth and musical as his voice.
“I didn’t mean to. I was walking past. It was beautiful, by the way, the song,” she told him. He half turned to face her.
“I wrote it, but it’s not that good. It’s not finished.”
“I would love to hear it when it is,” she told him
. Her eyes met his, and she immediately forgot why she had come.
“I hear you caused a bit of a stir in my brother’s class today,” he said, breaking the connection. Scarlett turned away, blushing.
“I did?”
“Someone needs to challenge my brother once in a while,” he chuckled.
“What did he say about me?”
“He just said that you were asking about Archangels.”
“Yeah, I was curious. He said the arrow heads are dipped in Archangel’s tears. Why is that such a controversy?”
“It’s not. It’s just something we’re not allowed to discuss with lower class men or students.”
“Why not?” She moved closer to him, her abdomen grazing his leg, he inhaled.
“Because if anyone found out how we get the Tear Tips, there would be a war.”
Chapter Four
