by L. C. Mawson
Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
I suppressed a sigh. How could Nyssa claim that I suppressed my feelings when Lorelei riled me up so easily?
Especially when she looked so put together in her smart black and white dress and I was in my ratty old hoodie.
Something that was her fault.
Still, I took a deep breath as I sat down next to her. There was no point in making things worse between us.
“Hey,” I said brightly, refusing to let any irritation show through in my tone.
Lorelei turned to me and looked me over. I half expected her to tell me to get lost, but she just nodded curtly. “Good morning.”
Well, her tone was ice cold, but I would take that over her making barbs, or just outright ignoring me.
I sipped my coffee before taking the mini doughnuts from my bag and offering them out to her. “Want one?”
She looked at them as if I’d just offered her poison before shaking her head. “No, thank you.”
Her voice was still ice cold and I wondered if I’d offended her with the offer.
Still, I just shrugged. “Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”
“I won’t.” That was also ice cold, but just as I was about to give up on talking to her, she quietly added, “Mermaids can’t always safely ingest Human food and a lecture is not the best time to start experimenting.”
“Oh. Okay.” I couldn’t help but smile a little at the small crack in her armour, as a woman finally strode to the front of the class.
She wore a long, white sleeveless coat with a thick brown belt around her middle, holding a variety of vials alongside a wand that looked like a twig that had been picked from the ground, rather than the polished wand that Naveen and Elizabeth’s mum had.
She turned to us, her silver hair – that I assumed was artificial, given her otherwise youthful appearance – whipped around slightly as I saw that she had an undercut on the right side. And that while one eye was dark brown, the other was a wild green colour.
“Good morning everyone,” she said brightly. “I’m Professor Maltere, but you can just call me Lia, and I’ll be your Basics of Spellcraft instructor. I’m going to just start off by giving my apologies, I teach this class in between other things, so I’m only ever on campus for this lecture. If you need to talk to me, you’ll have to catch me when we finish up.
“You should have also noticed that I’ve allocated seats for you. This session is somewhat of a mix between a lecture and a workshop, where I’ll explain the spells to you, and then help you try to use them yourselves. I’ve divided you up by which kind of spellcasting you’ve either shown aptitude for in the past, or you’re most likely to get along with. For example, Witches primarily use our wands to cast spells, but Demons usually rely on runes. Different kinds of magic need different kinds of focuses.”
I supposed that explained why I was next to Lorelei, as we were both elemental beings.
And probably the only ones in the class, I realised as I looked around and saw a lot of crimson and purple eyes.
“And if you’re in this class,” Lia continued, “it’s likely because you’re a being that doesn’t find spellcraft as easy as Witches do, so I might need to be a bit hands-on. But don’t worry, I have a rather unusual approach myself, so I should be able to help you all find what works best for you, starting with some fundamentals."
She turned to me and Lorelei. “As we only have two elemental beings in the room, I’ll start with you before moving on to Demons and Slayers. You should both use your elements as focuses if you can.”
“Like the candles in my initiation ritual,” I said, before clamping my mouth shut. I rarely spoke up in class, and I wasn’t sure if Lia wanted me to, but she’d been talking so casually, and I was still slightly foggy from my workshop with Nyssa this morning.
Thankfully, Lia smiled. “Exactly. Dragons tend to mix fire and runes to create spells, though the fire takes the brunt of the magic. The runes are more to enhance control of the spell.”
She moved over to the desk at the front of the room and grabbed a bottle of water and a candle before heading back over to us. “Here, these should help you.”
Lorelei took the bottle, but frowned at it for a moment before asking, “And what about those of us who are part-Witch? Should we still use our element as a focus?”
“That depends. Have you ever wielded a wand before?”
“No. I’ve never tried.”
“Then you should start with your element. If you can master casting spells with water, you’ll have no issue wielding a wand. Now, as you two are the only elemental students, I think you should work together. Dragons and Mermaids can teach each other a thing or two if given the chance to work together, which doesn’t often happen.”
Lorelei frowned, and was clearly about to argue, but Lia spoke up before she could.
“That wasn’t a suggestion. Work together on the spells I give you and I’ll mark you together. As I said, this is a rare opportunity to learn something that you can’t learn elsewhere. Don’t waste it on being anti-social.”
Lorelei continued to frown but didn’t argue.
It seemed that there was only a certain amount she would try her luck with the university staff.
Or maybe she really didn’t mind working with me that much after all.
I tried not to give that thought too much weight as Lia made her way to the front of the class and showed us the rune for a light spell, detailing how each kind of being should try to focus their magic in the same way.
I turned to Lorelei once she was done, only to find the Mermaid glaring at me.
“I expect us to get the top mark in this module,” she said coolly.
I just smiled. “I’ve never gotten anything else.”
Thankfully, that seemed to mollify Lorelei a little and she nodded before twisting the top off her bottle.
“Does this mean you’re going to be civil with me from now on?” I asked, not wanting to rock the boat, but also wanting to know where I stood.
Lorelei hesitated for a moment before answering. “In this class, yes.”
I figured that that was the best I could hope for as she waved her hand and a tendril of water came out of the bottle.
“So,” she said, “if I make the rune with my water, can you fuel it with your fire?”
“I... I can try...”
“You had better be more certain than that.”
I just nodded, figuring that I could either do it or I couldn’t, and that letting Lorelei know how nervous I was about trying so soon after struggling in Nyssa’s workshop would only annoy her further.
She pulled the water from her bottle with her magic and I couldn’t help but watch her, her gaze intently focused on her work as she crafted the water into an intricate design.
She clearly knew what she was doing, and from her earlier comments, I suspected that her skill had come from a rather hefty dose of dedication that it was hard not to admire.
“The candle,” Lorelei said, pulling me from my thoughts as I realised that she had formed the rune with her water, and that it was my turn now.
I placed the candle in the focus point of the rune before focusing on the wick.
A moment later, it sprang to life with fire, and the water surrounding it lit up with bright, white light.
“Very good, girls.”
I turned to see Lia looking over our work with a smile.
A smile that Lorelei mirrored for just a moment before she realised that I was watching her and it immediately disappeared, leaving me with the urge to make it appear again.
Chapter Ten
I was in good spirits as I arrived at the café where Naveen and I had agreed to meet – we’d been texting earlier in the day, though he’d stopped responding, presumably caught up in his work – but my good mood didn’t last long.
I ordered my favourite coffee and sat down at a table outside, but even good coffee and starting to break through Lorel
ei’s shell couldn’t keep my mood up as the clock ticked on and on and I became hyper aware of the fact that Naveen should have been here already.
I bit my lip as I checked my phone for the dozenth time, realising that he was now twenty minutes late.
I decided to text him.
Where are you?
He didn’t answer.
He was twenty minutes late and he wasn’t responding to me.
At what point did I just assume he wasn’t coming?
I took a deep breath as the newly familiar feel of fire simmering just beneath my skin flared up.
I groaned, my magic acting up was the last thing I needed right now...
“Hey,” I looked up from my phone to see James heading into the café. He paused just shy of the door, presumably because he’d seen me at the outside table, a cup of coffee going cold in front of me.
“Hey,” I responded, a little confused. I figured that if I ever saw him outside of class, he would just ignore me.
“Drinking alone?”
I sighed. “I was supposed to be meeting a friend, but it looks like he’s not coming.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
I frowned. Was he being friendly? “It’s all right. I should have known that he wouldn’t come... I guess after so many years of being too Dragon for the Humans and too Human for the Dragons, I was more than willing to put too much faith in one of the few people who didn’t want me gone. But maybe I gave him too much credit...”
Shit, why was I telling him this? He didn’t care about my relationship issues.
“Well, if you want some company...”
I frowned again, looking him over as the fire beneath my skin flared slightly, preparing for this to turn out to be some underhanded way to get under my skin. “Why? I mean, no offence, but you’ve not exactly been friendly before.”
He regarded me carefully before sighing. “In my defence, I did try to be friendly."
“When? Between scowls?”
That brought the scowl right back. “I did offer to help you train, remember?”
“You mean your pity offer?”
“It wasn’t a–” He sighed, shaking his head. “Are you always this antagonistic? High Priestess Nyssa told us to work together. And if anyone knows anything about being too Dragon for Humans and too Human for Dragons, it’s probably me.”
I relaxed, the flames under my skin settling a little, as I realised that he was right. Of course, he was. I’d only briefly thought about the fact that he didn’t have scales – I was more used to my father than any other Wyverns, and he was the same way – but I guessed out of anyone, he would be the most likely to understand.
Maybe I’d misjudged him. I mean, he was definitely prickly, but maybe I’d let that raise my hackles more than I should have.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m not sure what’s going on with me lately.”
He gave me an unexpectedly warm smile. “I mean, you did just go through your initiation ritual a few months ago, right?”
“Yes, so?”
“So, magic is fuelled by emotion. When you break through, it all gets jumbled up.”
I frowned. “So, how did you deal with it?”
“With a lot of hard-learned self-control.”
I bit my lip. I could do that. I’d been doing that for years, I just needed to try harder.
James then finally moved back to the door. “I’m gonna go get some coffee. If you want to talk when I get back... Well, I wouldn’t mind that. Or I can take my coffee elsewhere. It’s up to you.”
I gave him a soft smile, hoping that it communicated that I wasn’t planning on continuing our antagonism if he wasn’t.
I would rather his company than sitting alone, wallowing in annoyance about Naveen.
James smiled back as he went inside.
“Skye?”
I looked up to see Elizabeth walking past, presumably between classes.
“Aren’t you meeting Naveen?”
“I was supposed to be. He never showed and he’s not responding to my texts.”
Elizabeth groaned, closing her eyes for a moment before shaking her head. “He’s focusing,” she said, and I realised that she’d been using their bond to sense him. “He probably just got wrapped in his work. I’m sorry, I told him to set an alarm so that he wouldn’t forget your date and he swore that he would. Something must have come up. I’ll go and talk to him.”
I hesitated for a moment before shaking my head.
I’d just been waiting for the other shoe to drop. For him to reject me like everyone else.
And while I’d been trying to tell myself that him abandoning our plans to go to university together to go to Ember again wasn’t a rejection of me, I was now faced with the fact that I might have been wrong.
Maybe I’d been a fool to think that he’d ever really care about me. After all, if he did, wouldn’t he have said something before now?
No, just like Andrea, it was a fun time between friends. Not something that could ever become something more.
“Don’t bother,” I said. “I thought that him ignoring me yesterday was just a fluke, or because I’d caught him by surprise, but if he can’t even show up for a date that we agreed to... I don’t want to be with someone whose sister has to prompt him into caring.”
“Skye... You know what he’s like. This won’t have been on purpose.”
“I know, Elizabeth, but... Whatever it is, maybe it’s a sign that this just isn’t going to work out between us.”
“You’re really giving up on things between you?”
I nodded, my stomach twisting. “I don’t want to, but... I spent months chasing after Andrea, only to get my heart broken. I’m not looking to make that same mistake again. Better that I just call it now.”
“Skye...”
She didn’t say anything else, and I think we both knew that she had nothing else to say.
I was right, and we both knew it.
I sighed. “I would tell him myself, but you’ll probably see him before me, and I doubt you’ll stay quiet.”
My stomach twisted further. I knew that I should be the one to tell him, but... If he couldn’t even be bothered to show up to our date, why should I bother to tell him that that was too much for me in person?
“Okay,” Elizabeth told me softly. “I’ll tell him.”
At that, she headed off, just as James came back out of the café.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he made my way back over to me, and I realised that I probably looked awful, hunched over my coffee and desperately fighting back tears.
“Not really,” I managed, failing to stop my voice from cracking. “That friend I was supposed to meet... He wasn’t just a friend. This was supposed to be a date. And then he never showed up.”
“I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “It’s okay. But while I thought staying here would be better than being alone... I don’t know, I’m probably just too tired to be good company. And I should probably deal with the clothes problem.” I picked at the edges of my worn hoodie sleeve.
“Well, I can walk back with you. You know, if you want.”
I gave him a small smile. “Yeah, okay. If you don’t mind the glum company.”
He, surprisingly, smiled. “I can think of worse things.”
I just stared at him, unable to tear my gaze from his upturned lips.
“What?” he asked, averting his gaze as a light blush formed over his cheeks.
It was adorable. Who knew James could be adorable?
“Nothing,” I eventually said, forcing myself to lift my gaze to meet his. “Just... I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before.”
He shrugged. “Sorry. I know I can be...”
“Serious? Dour? Grumpy?”
He sighed. “I probably wouldn’t use any of those words, but...”
“I’m not wrong?”
“You... You might have a point. Sorry. I’m not used to people being friendly towards
me. I grew up in Human schools, and they always knew that I was different. Scaring them away, and not being seen as an easy target, became important.”
I cringed, his words more than familiar. But at least there had been other magical beings living nearby. I was never completely alone. “I take it you grew up outside of Guardian territory?”
“Yes. My mother’s Human, and she doesn’t know much about the magical world. She helped me with my magic through trial and error, and she didn’t know how to find other magical tutors. All my father had told her was that Humans weren’t welcome in the Dragons’ city, and as I was born without scales, they assumed I was Human.”
“Didn’t your father help when you came into your magic?”
“No. He left when I was young, and my mother had no way to contact him.”
“I’m sorry,” I said as we headed into one of the halls buildings.
“It’s fine,” he said, but I very much got the impression that it wasn’t.
“So, how did you find out about Ember?”
He shrugged. “It was chance, really. One of my professors at university was a Witch. She realised what I was and told me about Ember Academy and about the city that the Guardians kept as a safe space for us. I came here, hoping to get real instruction on how to use my powers.
“What about you? I mean, your aunt’s a High Priestess. Why didn’t you go to the Dragons’ city for training?”
“I wanted to, but I guess I’m also too Human for them. My parents and Auntie Nyssa pretty firmly pushed me towards Ember and I eventually got the hint. I didn’t want to be somewhere where I wasn’t wanted anyway.” I sighed as we eventually reached my room and I remembered the destruction from before. “But that assumes that I’m wanted here.”
He frowned as I opened the door to reveal that half of the room was soaking wet.
“What the hell happened here?” he asked.
I sighed. “My roommate is a Mermaid who would rather not have a roommate. This was her attempt to force me to change rooms. I’m not giving in to that kind of intimidation.”
“Well, if you want, that Professor I mentioned before taught me a few spells to help focus my elemental abilities. I could show you some to help you clean this up.”
