“What?”
“Give me your boots.”
“No. You can get out of my room,” he growled.
“No. I like it up here. It’s quiet.”
“Wait… you are the girl that was committing suicide, weren’t you?” He huffed a breath of laughter and looked away. “Decided to change your mind?”
“Boots.” I leant down, took off my shoe and moved towards him and raised them up to him. “Trade.”
“What?”
“Trade boots.”
“Whatever.” He kicked off his boot and flung it across the room and then snatched mine. “I will burn your boot into ash if I don’t get my boot back, alright, Highborn.”
“Okay,” I agreed and picked up his boot.
“This rune is actually pretty good,” he mused. “After you look at my boot, can you then get out of my room?”
“Probably not,” I admitted. I went over to the table with his boot clutched within my hands and stared down at him. “Can I please sit down next to you?”
“No,” he growled. “You get the ground. This is my desk.”
“Possessive isn’t a good trait,” I admitted.
“Says the girl that would have probably torn that boot off of my foot if I didn’t give it to her,” he barked.
Probably.
I bent down and leant in until my face was inches away from his. Through the blurriness, I saw firm gold eyes.
“Please?”
“Far out,” he grunted, hopped over a seat and took the chocolate bar with him. “You can have your boot back. I don’t need it.”
“Okay,” I murmured. I was far too interested in the boot to have any sort of small talk with this mage. However, I had to be polite. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Sure, whatever. I am going to retake a nap. Leave whenever your class starts, but leave my boot here.”
The design work of the rune on his boot was flawless and breathtaking. I have never seen such cursive in my life. Not even my parents were this great. This mage was definitely admirable in the way of perfecting runes.
Eager to design it in my book, I went into my bag, took out my scrapbook and flicked to a blank page to draw the symbols, but not the rune entirely. I don’t like copycatting someone else’s work. If anything, I would love to design my own, but before I could do that, I need to separate every symbol, but I know I don’t have enough time. The reason I know I don’t have enough time was because I decided to eat as well as examine. That took uptime, as well as staring at the mage that was beside me. He literally went to sleep. I found it quite baffling that he could sleep with me beside him, examining his boot.
The bell then rang, and I was saddened that I didn’t have all the elements drawn in my scrapbook. However, I had a deal to uphold, and so I stood, took the bottle of water and apple core, but left the boot. Slipping on my own boot, I went towards the exit.
“What’s your name?” He asked.
Surprised, I turned to see that he straightened up and leaned against the window and glared at me. He did actually look like he didn’t know who I was. This would be the first time that someone didn’t know who I was by looking at me. But I know as soon as I tell him who I am, he would know, and that annoying look of having a bothersome mage in his class would turn into disgust.
“My name is Eileen Frost,” I replied. “Yours?” I asked.
“Lawliet Clarintine,” he responded. There was no hint of disgust. Now I am wondering if this mage has lived underneath a rock his entire life. “Eileen Frost, don’t come back to my room at lunchtime, you are annoying.”
“Okay. I will see you tomorrow morning.”
“Huh?”
Before he could object, I closed the door to the room and as quick as I could, went down the stairs and to the next class that I had.
If he doesn’t want me to disturb him during the day and at lunchtime, that’s fine. I will come back tomorrow morning. Even if he isn’t there, I will wait long enough before my class. Weirdly enough, I do believe that he would be there. I am too excited to leave this mage alone. His rune was also attractive, the style he draws in is captivating to me. I need to know more. I need to learn more.
I have to see this mage’s boot again.
Unlikely Friends.
The next morning, I woke in an unsightly manner.
Hopper left late last night. Strict orders from Mum and Dad. He had to go pick up some stuff for them, and we are unsure of when he will be coming back. That bothers me because I don’t trust Silas making our breakfast. I don’t think he has ever made breakfast, the dial installed on the house did that job for him. Besides, Silas was the first to leave our apartment early in the morning. That left Donte, Nixon, me and the loud banging noise that came from the front door. I didn’t want to get up and open the door. It was more than likely one of Donte and Nixon’s friends that they made yesterday. Everyone loved the slime prank.
The door to my room opened suddenly, and the doorhandle thudded against the wall. I really wish I drew that lock rune now. Irritated, I shuffled up, leaned against the pillows and peered out at Charlie that was at the door. She looked mesmerised by my room. Not entirely sure, it is very dull and untouched. I haven’t even drawn any runes on the wall.
“Wow. Your room is so huge!” She gaped. While she swooned, I tried to adjust to the very early wake-up call. It was even earlier than when the tweet wakes me up. Louder, as well. I am sure that it was at least close to seven in the morning. Earlier than when I was going to leave to meet up with that Highborn once again. “I live in the dorms, so my room is like a shoebox. Yours is so cool and big. Can I live with you?”
“No,” I responded dully.
She laughed. “A joke. I have to remember that you don’t get jokes.”
I get jokes. I simply just found that to be a horrible excuse for a joke. Envisioning her waking me up every morning, and this early, was no joking matter. Sounds worse than the tweet or Hopper’s constant whining for us to get dressed earlier than noon, lately.
The evil bunny.
Loud tweet bird.
A strange mage that considers me her friend that is also loud.
I can’t win.
“How’d you get in?” I asked.
“Oh, that house Guardian of yours told me yesterday afternoon to wake you up early the next morning because he doesn’t think that you would get up on your own.” She grinned.
“But how did you get in?” I asked.
“Ah. The door was unlocked.”
The bunny is evil.
My older brother is forgetful.
“So, get dressed, and we can go down and grab some grub,” she announced.
I nodded, walked out of my room and went straight towards the bathroom. Donte peered out of the gap from his and Nixon’s room, the dark circles under his eyes meant he wasn’t fully awake and comprehending anything. He stared daggers at me until I shut the bathroom door and closed off the connection.
After my shower, I took hold of the spare clothes I left under the bathroom sink. In my school uniform, I brushed my hair and tore knots away from each other. I then brushed my teeth after I brushed my hair. When I was done entirely in the bathroom, I opened the door and stepped to the side when Donte and Nixon went barrelling in, towels over their shoulders. Once I was out of the bathroom, they slammed the door behind them.
Inside my room, Charlie was sprawled on my unmade bed. She rose from the dead with a vibrant gleam in her energised eyes. Charlie has more energy than every mage in this school combined. Her mood made mine deplete drastically.
Charlie hopped off of my bed, linked her arm with mine and dragged me out of my apartment. I only had enough time to grab my school bag at the door and to step into my shoes before she ripped my arm once again.
Outside of the apartment, I looked over to the other door and the lock rune that swirled to life. Then I hobbled down the stairs, following after Charlie. She seems like a rushed mage. Probably an early bi
rd as well.
Or probably not.
There were a lot of mages inside of the cafeteria room.
Charlie took me to the line where the rows and rows of food were. She handed me a plate. Going down the path, once we got to the food, there was an assortment of different types of food: Beans in tomato sauce, toast, scrambled eggs, omelettes, pancakes drizzled in honey, plain pancakes and cereal. I took five pancakes, a handful of berries and placed them atop. Charlie admired that I went healthy until I poured chocolate sauce all over the top until I couldn’t see the berries or pancakes. She then clamped her mouth shut and took hold of a few pieces of buttered toast, beans on top of them and an omelette.
We went to leave to find a table when a disruption broke out at the back of the line.
“Hey, fire-breathing half breed. Do you need some water to quench that burning throat of yours?”
I looked back to see Lawliet with a bottle of water in his hands, the lid popped off and liquid gushed down his tense hand.
“Lawliet.” One of the chefs called his name. Lawliet glared at the chef when the chef pointed to the exit. “Leave, and we will bring you up something to eat later.”
“I just wanted fucking water,” he muttered when he walked past me. A shaking hand dragged through his hair, and he shook his head. “Discriminative bastards.”
“Frosty, what’s wrong?”
Frosty? I assume that’s my nickname to Charlie.
I shook my head, grabbed two bottles of water and followed Charlie to a table that had a boy and girl mage already sitting down. The girl had spikey blond hair, dark blue eyes, a full figure, big-breasted, and a crooked nose. The boy looked like a tank. He must work out. He has a shaved head and dark brown eyes. I think I also see a hint of a tattoo along the side of his neck.
Charlie slumped in her seat beside mine while I modestly sat down and crossed my legs over one another. I then eagerly cut into my pancakes.
The girl with spikey blond hair spoken up first. “My name is Lollie, and this is Kent. We already know who you are – But it’s okay! We don’t judge. We aren’t those types of mages.”
“You mean the entire mage race,” Charlie spoke through a mouth filled with toast.
I couldn’t help but agree with her words.
“I kind of feel bad for the dragon,” Kent spoke. He looked back towards the flight of stairs Lawliet went up. “But he did punch Rokk –”
“Who is Rokk?” Charlie interrupted.
“The one who picked on Lawliet just then.”
“Why do you call him Dragon?” I asked.
“He’s the part mage part Guardian.” Lollie’s words surprised me, and I looked up from my food. That means he is the one that has that exotic lock rune as well. “We don’t know what he is, but we think dragon because he is a hothead.”
“What class does he study in? I didn’t think they would bring a half-half in here,” Charlie asked.
“I think he hangs in the tower by himself. I don’t even think the Headmage knows what to do with him. He could be summoned when he turns eighteen. We don’t know for sure, so he still studies and learns a mages life, but alone.”
“So cool. I want my own schedule.” Charlie jumped up and down in her seat. “You both turn eighteen this year, right? Males up. Kent, are you going to submit into A Mages War? You look built for it.”
“Heck no. I have other plans.”
“Like crushing mages skulls?”
“What are we still doing on the ground?” Lollie asked.
“Because we are waiting for Donte and Nixon – oh, here they come!” Charlie waved to get Donte and Nixon’s attention as they came through the doors to the cafeteria.
“Bye,” I murmured. I pushed my half-eaten pancakes away from me and grabbed the two water bottles.
Charlie called my name a few times, but I just ignored her attempts and went to the exit and up the flight of stairs – and then another flight of stairs that’s darker and filled with spiders and dust. To where the ‘Dragon’ lays.
Apart of me believed that he wouldn’t be in trouble if that Lowborn mage left him alone. Although I can’t be positively sure. He did snap when I entered his classroom. He was very hostile; however not once did it look like he wanted to hurt me. He had that resigned look on his face and kind of tolerated everything that I had done. I was insulting and demanding as well, and he shrugged it off. But if Rokk is persistently tormenting and being rude and mean to him without reason, I can tell as to why Lawliet would stay up in this tower. Who would want to come down if they didn’t have to? I know I would stay up there if I could.
Puffing my cheeks out, I went down the hallway and to the lone door at the end. Inside, Lawliet was slouched on the chair against the window. His head was resting on his arms that were on the table. I was hesitant to wake him up, so I felt that I could at least wait until lunch, after my classes, to ask for his boot back. Silently going over, I placed one of the water bottles on the desk and decided to leave and go to my English class early.
Today was Wednesday, which meant that I had my special rune class. Excited to delve more into runes and rune creating, I thought of that while I went into my English class. Miss Smith was at her desk watching live video clips on her computer. She smiled, tight-lipped at me when I went to my desk.
I don’t expect another prank from Donte and Nixon in this class. When students came through, they ducked and looked under their desks and seats, but my brothers aren’t that stupid to do a prank twice in the same room this early on in the year. They would wait until everyone is comfortable and least expects a prank.
First two classes went by reasonably quickly. I decided to skip the small lunch break and go up to the tower and talk to Lawliet. I can go without food until the more significant lunch break that would be after my rune creating class.
I went up the flight of stairs, down the hallway and to the door. I reached my hand out to push the door, but I hesitated. Fingertips on the wood, I contemplated if I should care or not for disturbing a mage that doesn’t want to be bothered… or a mage that’s sleeping. I could go down the stairs easily as I came up them, but his boots came to mind, and that was more overpowering than the thought that I would wake Lawliet up.
Persistent, I pushed open the door and stepped through. Curtains across the other side of the room were on either side of the window, and dull sunlight covered by thin, white layer of clouds seeped through. There was no one in the room. I was upset that Lawliet was not here so that I could take his boot and scan that rune a little more. Now that he wasn’t here, I looked around, confused on what I should be doing when my eyes settled onto the summoning rune that was on the ground.
Crouched before it once again, I raised my phone, turned it into camera form and took a picture of the design. Fingertips touched the summoning rune, and a tingling sensation ran up my arm. After so many years, the rune felt warm. Burning even.
I wanted to Speggle the picture of the summoning rune, but the door behind me closed, and I turned to see Lawliet at the entrance with a bottle of water, half-empty, in his hands. Melancholy golden eyes narrowed suspiciously towards me. I wonder why. I don’t think I have done anything for him to be suspicious about.
“Hello,” I murmured.
“That rune has been there for years,” Lawliet stated. “Before I arrived, I guess.” He placed the bottle of water on the only desk pressed against the back wall and sat down on the chair and looked at me. “I told you not to come back here.”
“I am aware,” I replied. “But I want your boot.”
“You’re creepy,” he muttered. Using his foot, he kicked the heel of his boot, and it dropped onto the ground at his feet. “Do whatever you want.”
“Do you know what summoning rune this is?” I asked suddenly, pointing back at the ground.
“No.” I looked away and back down at the phone and went to see if I could Speggle it as well. “You won’t find it. Try all you want, but I searched everywhere, ev
en on spam pages. Nothing.”
“Interesting.”
“It’s like no one has seen that rune before. But it does look similar to a Dragon Summoning rune.” Lawliet came towards me. One boot was still off, yet he didn’t walk awkwardly or if it bothered him. Crouched beside me, he touched the marking that I confirmed the first time I saw this on the ground. “If that changed into a flicked curve, not sharper and more angular, that mage would have summoned a Dragon. Instead, they summoned something else entirely, probably.”
“How do you know that a Guardian has been summoned?”
“The ground is burnt and stained. If the summoning rune didn’t work, nothing would be there because nothing was summoned. It does take a lot of magical essences to drag a Guardian from who knows where to this location, the ground is going to burn up from all the magic that has been used.”
That definitely was some useful information. I never knew that – But that can explain that feeling I had when I summoned my Guardian. It was a very overwhelming burning sensation.
When I woke, after that incident, I did feel drained and lightheaded, and my head spun and throbbed. I see now that it would have been me pulling in so much magic that I couldn’t contain and it exploded all around in burning, golden light. Maybe that’s why I cannot see my Guardian as well. I pulled in so much magic when I needed them that this golden aura and burning summer air bursts around them.
I decided to leave the summoning rune for now. Having some time before class starts, I took hold of Lawliet’s boot and sat down beside Lawliet. Lawliet leant up against the window, pressed his head against the glass and glared down at the scrapbook that I placed on the table. I then flicked through until I got the page that had Lawliet’s rune. He grunted, looked away and out the window when I flipped his boot over and drew some more.
I needed elements to make my stick rune to work. Designs that work around the cursive S that would make sense. This rune needs to be flawless, like my jump rune, I think. Haven’t really finished trying that out. Probably need to finish jumping off of a building to figure out how well that jump rune works.
Emotionless (The Emotionless Book 1) Page 15