“Hello,” I murmured.
“Oh. It’s you.” Lawliet released his hold and straightened up in his seat. “Could you at least knock when you enter? You are creepily quiet, Eileen.”
“Sorry,” I apologised.
“Don’t worry. It’s fine.” Lawliet yawned, and I stared inside of his mouth and at his shiny white teeth. He seemed to have noticed that I was staring at him. “My teeth don’t point until I am beginning to shift.”
“You can change the type of your iris, though,” I said. I sat in the seat beside him and pointed to my art book. “I finished my rune.”
Lawliet rubbed his eyes and blinked. Those eyes of a snake turned back into regular and round. He then touched my artbook and flicked through the pages until he got to the stick rune. My stomach felt a little sickly as I watched him asses my work. I have been working so hard on that rune for weeks now. As much as I enjoy criticism, sometimes I also cannot take anymore. I even delayed wanting to show Lawliet, but I couldn’t contain my excitement.
“Looks good,” Lawliet said. He then pointed to a symbol I designed and pursed his lips. “I am interested in knowing how strong that tightening symbol is. We should check it out tonight. Meet me up at the tower around ten.”
“Okay. Thank you,” I murmured. I took hold of my art book and placed it back in my bag. “What are you doing today?” I then asked.
“Absolutely nothing,” Lawliet answered. “I am going to sit here until the school has finished.”
“Will you meet me again so that we can walk home?” I asked.
“If you want. I have nothing else to do,” Lawliet said and then shrugged. Then he looked out and at the fallen snow. “Besides, I enjoy your company.”
“That’s good.”
Lawliet breathed a laugh and looked back over to me. White hair fell in front of his face and sharpened his features even more. Through the shadows, golden eyes glowed. “Is it good? I doubt befriending a dragon is good, Eileen.”
“You are different.” I reached up, and Lawliet flinched but didn’t pull back. He is used to my sudden bursts of affection now. My fingers glided across his cheek. My cold fingers tingled at the warmth that resonated off of him. “You are also a mage, as well. Remember that, please.”
Lawliet cupped his hands over mine and squeezed tightly. Golden eyes then lowered down to the table, and he pushed away, leaving my hand to rest back onto my lap. “When I turn eighteen, I will become a Guardian. I am already rejected by the mage world. No one wants a half-breed to be claimed as one of them. But it is okay, I have known that all along… it’s just a little harder now to accept.”
“Why?”
“Since I met you, Eileen,” he breathed.
“I see,” I murmured. “That’s nice.”
Lawliet barked a laugh and leant back in his chair. It wasn’t a laugh of humour, there was darkness hidden as he cackled. “How’s that nice, Eileen? No matter how I look at it, this friendship will end badly. If I don’t grow angry and become a dragon and have no control, I will be torn away from you, unable to see you ever again.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“How?” Lawliet leaned in and shook his head at me. “You have no power. You told me so yourself.”
I moved closer to Lawliet. Our noses touched when Lawliet realised how close we were and went to pull away from me. But sometimes, I surprise myself. Sometimes, I am quicker than I usually am. My arms wrapped around his shoulders and I buried my face into the side of his neck.
He was right. I hate that he was right. I don’t have power anymore. I cannot change the rules, and I doubt my mum would change them before our new ruler becomes of age. If anything, I could apply for the position and hope that I will be accepted. Very unlikely, but could be possible.
“When’s your birthday?” I then asked.
“So random,” he breathed in my ear. “But my birthday is on August 22nd. Why?”
“I’m older than you,” I murmured. My lips brushed against the nape of Lawliet’s neck. He went rigid. I could feel his arms tighten around my waist. His hands that were behind my back pressed into the fabric of my jumper. I knew I was making him uncomfortable, so I decided to release my hold around his neck. I moved away from him, pushed my hair back and looked away from Lawliet. “There’s a chance I can still be a ruler.”
“Is that so?” He asked.
“I would just need the Organisation to approve. If I submit now, I can know by the end of this year if I can be a candidate to become ruler of Organisation. Slim chances, but it will be worth it to keep you, Lawliet.”
Lawliet cupped both my cheeks and made me look up at him. Those sad eyes were steady. “You don’t have to do this? I see how they act now. If you become a likely candidate, they will tear you apart.”
“We can talk about that after I get approved. Right now, I am banking on false hope, okay?”
The bell that ends recess rung in our ears.
Lawliet released his hold on my face and leaned back against the window. “Okay, Eileen. Until then, let’s not worry about any of that. Even me becoming a Guardian. Have a good day in your special rune class.”
“Have a good sleep, Lawliet.”
Family Bonding.
In the rune specialist class, it was a breath of fresh air for the most part. I know how to ignore Rebecca. Her paper tactics don’t work anymore since Spencer threatened to give her a week of afterschool detention. Since then, the class has been my getaway. That and spending time with Lawliet up in the tower whenever I have the chance.
Spencer and I worked today. He has even stated that I was the best partner that he has had ever, and I enjoy those compliments. It means that I was up to par with master-level work. After this term, I may possibly go up a level and into standard. A step in the right direction.
I held an apple within my hands. Drawn on a piece of paper on the table was the teleportation rune. Five years ago, Mr Umar did that rune when we were running away from the dragon and phoenix. It was the first time I have seen a mage do that instead of a crystal. The reason was that drawing a rune in the air with precision takes much longer than having a crystal ready to smash.
“Envision where you want the apple to go,” our teacher said. He paced back and forth at the front of the classroom. “All of the apple. Even the stem and the colour. When you teleport yourself, it will be the exact same. Think of yourself in the third person. All you need is the shell. Don’t worry about hair and eyes and all of those details. You just need to think of your arms, legs head, chest and all of those and you should be fine. It will take a lot of time. I don’t want any of my students to lose an arm and a leg on me. However, if you aren’t ready, I wouldn’t force you to do the teleportation. I would have to mark you down, but not that much. As long as you do the others, that will be fine.”
“What if one of us does lose an arm and a leg?” Rebecca asked. “Can I sue you and the Academy?”
“No. Two weeks before, I will hand out forms for you and your parents to sign in blood and then handed back to me. If I don’t get any forms back, I will assume you will not be doing the work.”
“Then mark me down. I am not losing a body part,” Rebecca scoffed.
“Very well, Rebecca.” The teacher sighed. “Now, back to work. Envision the apple. Now, after you had done that, look where you want the apple to be in the room. After, throw the apple in while still looking at that spot. It will be what you would have to do when you step into the teleporter that you will create.”
I looked ahead and at the windowsill. I envisioned where I would place the apple. All the way to the position that it would be in and how far back or forward, the apple would be placed on the windowsill. After I had done that, my fingertips rolled forward, and the apple went into the teleporter. A loud bang came, and I blinked a few times and looked around. Our teacher stared blankly towards the back of the room and at Victoria. She bent down, almost underneath her table, and had a red face. Our teacher
raised his hands and flicked apple off of his cheek and looked down on his desk. Besides his mug of coffee, there was an exploded apple.
Students laughed and giggled at what happened. I, however, looked at the windowsill. A low chuckle came from beside me.
“I guess we both thought of the same place,” Spencer said, laughing.
I looked back over to the windowsill to see two apples, one atop of the other. Then, I pictured two mages having the same thought as they stepped through the teleporter. Would one mage land atop of another, just like the apples had done?
“Amusing,” I murmured.
After the Rune Specialist Class, all the other classes blurred past… until spots. There was a lot more bite to the wind. Outside and during sport, along Mage Academy, ice glistened against the stone walls. Soon, the Academy is going to look like a crystal castle. That drab and dark colour will be replaced with sleek, jagged ice. Mage Academy would look like a beautiful diamond.
Halfway around the oval, I noticed my brothers. They were in the middle of the oval and were being slightly suspicious. I found it odd because I overhear their tactics all of the time. For them to be pulling a prank now, it would surprise me. And I don’t get easily startled. The closer that I got to them, the more I noticed what they were doing. I stopped walking, and Charlie did the same. It looked like a battlefield. There were a few snow walls and holes in the centre of the oval. Around the smooth, flat, bed of snow were balls of snow.
“I see,” I murmured.
Dark brown eyes shined in the dull white light of day. Grins were plastered on their faces. Their veins then lit and came to life over their bodies. Snowballs floated in the air as both Donte and Nixon raised their arms. Right before snowballs hurled themselves at us, they shouted, “Snowball fight!”
“Oh, hell yeah!” Charlie cheered.
I, on the other hand, wanted an escape. My veins heightened themselves and twisted and swirled around my body. They connected until I felt whole. I then raised my hand, and my tattoo came to life once I spoke those desirable words. Fragments of snow shattered into the wall of diamonds that formed and glistened around me. I then looked away from those brothers of mine and towards Rebecca. She had a smirk on her face and a snowball within the palm of her hands. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were a rock within that snowball.
While my classmates had fun in the snow, hurling frosty balls of snow at each other, I stood on the sidelines and envied them all. I envied the laughter and grins that stretched across their faces. How they ducked and ran from floating snowballs. Everything about the way they moved and looked made me jealous because I cannot do that. I have never expressed myself as they have. And as much as I want to be out there, throwing pathetic snowballs that would drop at my feet, or walk at a timid pace across the oval, I couldn’t do that. No matter how much fun I would have, even if my attempts were pathetic, it was the look on my face that makes me hesitate. I have no emotion. To my classmates I could look bored and ruin everyone’s fun. It was best that I sit any sort of palpitating heart fun out.
How unfortunate.
I turned away from them all and felt my skin crawl. A cold shiver ran up my spine, and I looked back and around. My classmates were too busy in the snow. None of them seemed to be looking my way or have their face towards me. Their backs were, and they raced around, having fun. I then noticed a flock of birds fly upwards and away from the leafless trees.
Crows. That’s odd.
They flew in the windy, snowy sky and around the back of Mage Academy. I followed them, but then stilled at a window. A mage was in the window. When they noticed that I saw them, the green curtain was forced across and the mage was hidden from me.
Away from the window, I walked back towards Mage Academy and into the dressing room. It was quiet, with no one else inside. I could hear the light tap of my boots as I walked. I went past the mirror and towards the locker that I had my uniform in when I heard a crack of a sound. I paused and listened to the echoed laughter that came from back outside, on the field. Then, another cracking sound came from behind me.
I turned to the noise and looked over at the mirror. In the centre, there was a small but very distinctive crack. I went over to the long mirror that went across one side of the wall to the other and raised my hand to the crack. I heard this creak, snapping of a sound, but there was nothing to say that the mirror was breaking further. I was fingertips away from touching the crack when suddenly the mirror shattered outwards and towards me. I raised my arms to defend myself. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain from shards of glass to slice at my skin. When no pain came, I opened a gap between my arms and looked around. Flakes of glass circled around me, and they turned to dust around me. Confused, I searched the ground when I noticed something. I kneeled down and took hold of a black feather before I stood back up on my feet. The feather twirled around my fingertips.
My first thought was a crow, but this feather was much larger than any bird that I have seen. It was also soft to the touch but shined like silver steel in the florescent light above.
“Hey! Eileen…” Charlie trailed off after she stepped into the girls changing room. “Woah, what happened here?” She then asked.
“The mirror broke so I turned it into dust,” I answered.
My veins lit once more, and I raised my arm up to the mirror. I brought energy in from around me, letting it soak into my pores. I twitched my finger, and the glassy dust rose and looked like falling snow. The sand then moved towards the glass mirror and stuck to the wall, clumping together and forming back into a reliable mirror. Within a blink of an eye, I stared back at my own reflection.
“Ah. Be careful, breaking a mirror is bad luck, you know. You could be cursed.” I gave her a deadpan look and hoped my face at least done justice this time. “Oh… well, more cursed than you already are.”
“I doubt that,” I murmured. “Any other curse compared to mine would be a blessing.”
“Well, anyway, I am going to get dressed before the other girls come in… oh, also, lover-boy is waiting for you outside of the dressing rooms. Better get dressed so that you don’t keep him waiting.”
“Okay. Thank you, Charlie.”
“What are best friends for, Frosty,” She called right before she went into the shower area.
I got dressed quickly enough and stepped outside of the changerooms right when Rebecca walked inside. She deliberately moved closer to me so that she could slam her shoulder into mine. Pain throbbed along my arm, and as I walked out to Lawliet, I held my wounded arm until my healing rune began to mend the hurt.
Lawliet leant against the wall of the changerooms. He had his head up towards the ceiling and eyes closed. He looked at peace and content. When he looks like that, sometimes I gawk more than I should. I start at the white hair and drag my sights down to his face and across those sharp and angular cheekbones, and the curve of the jaw. All the way down his throat and the freckle on the right side of his neck. Whenever he breathed inwards, long white vein pulses down his neck. Then I draw my sights to his arms. They are rather muscular. I remember the way they felt when he wrapped them around me. How safe and secure I felt within that warm cage of his. I can vividly remember the harsh, charcoal breath and lips that I believe are firm and rough to the touch.
Warmth flooded to my cheeks until they felt uncomfortably burning. Out of my own imagination, I tore my eyes away from Lawliet’s chest that was before me. Lawliet raised his brow and looked almost curious as he stared down at me.
“You’re embarrassed,” he stated. “Why?”
I shrugged and looked away from Lawliet and walked towards the stairs that lead up to the main floor. Lawliet followed beside me. I kept quiet. I couldn’t think of a logical answer to give him that wouldn’t also make Lawliet grow embarrassed because of my response. At this moment, it was better to keep my mouth shut and try to steer the conversation in another direction entirely. All I needed was for Lawliet to understand my complicated mind. Even I c
annot grasp my mind and imagination sometimes.
“How was the remainder of your day?” I asked him.
“Eh. The Headmage came to see me for the first time this year. I think he just remembered that I existed at this school.” Lawliet shrugged and ruffled his straight white hair. Strands stuck upwards and in various directions. I desperately wanted to pat his head down, but I kept my hands by my side as he spoke. “He wanted to know if I perhaps wanted to be home-schooled instead of being at Mage Academy. I think he knows that there’s no hope for me being here and wants me out.”
My throat closed up, and heartbeat increasingly fast. “What did you say?”
Lawliet smiled mysteriously. That smile of his was making me anxious and nervous about his response. I don’t want my time with Lawliet to come to an abrupt end so soon. There’s so much that I need to learn about him and learn from him as well. For him to tell me that he has decided to be home-schooled would be devastating to hear. If I could cry, I would.
“I denied his offer. I have nowhere to go besides dragon island, and I don’t want to go there yet. I still have time, and I want to spend that time here,” Lawliet answered.
“Why?” I breathed.
“Many reasons, Eileen.” Was his only response.
“Thank you for not leaving me.”
Lawliet laughed. His voice echoed inside of the empty cafeteria. “You could at least act like you’re not desperate, Eileen.”
“Oh… how am I acting desperate?” We were now at the entrance of the stairs to the tower. I stopped in my tracks and forced Lawliet to turn and look at me. “How much do I give away to you but no one else?”
Lawliet smirked and stepped forward until that ashen breath of his was directly inhaled into my mouth. His head then shifted and those lips of his brushed against my ear. “Everything,” he breathed.
I felt lightheaded. Enough to believe that I would pass out on the stone floor that I stood on. Once Lawliet straightened up, I had to take deep breaths inwards to clear that hazy feeling within my mind. He must have noticed what I was doing, considering he notices everything about me. Every detail and emotion I cannot express could be seen easily from someone I have known for not that long. Not even my family know what I am feeling. It should hurt, but it doesn’t when I look up at this golden-eyed dragon.
Emotionless (The Emotionless Book 1) Page 25