by Tom Early
That was more like it. I followed her as the path wound even deeper into the garden, which seemed more like a forest at this point. Eventually we came to an even larger clearing, with open sky ringed by trees and ivy. The ground was beaten dirt, and several perfect, occasionally overlapping circles had been drawn into it. If I looked at them just so, they almost seemed to form a pattern… but of what, I didn’t know.
“I wonder what these are for,” Sam mused. She examined them with narrowed eyes, then shrugged. “Eh. I’ll figure it out later.”
We left the garden the same way we came in and then finally saw a glimpse of other people. A heavyset blond boy with a good-looking beard and twinkling blue eyes was leading two other people into Sol House. He was smiling and gesturing a lot with his hands, while one of his companions, a boy with jet-black hair, who looked maybe as tall as Sam, rolled his eyes and the other—a girl who looked closer to my age with fair skin and red hair—looked to be hanging on to every word coming out of his mouth. The blond boy—the guy’s features were still soft in the way that hinted that he was probably barely over twenty, if that—caught sight of us and waved us over quickly.
“Hey, you two,” he said as we approached, “did you enjoy the Garden of Solace?”
“It’s pretty nice, I’ll give it that,” Sam said. I stayed quiet. “I’m Sam, and this is Fay. And you are…?”
“Name’s Percival,” the blond boy said, grinning. “Blame my parents for sticking to tradition there. I’m one of the sophomores doing the transporting. Which House are you two in?”
“Obsidian,” Sam said. “Aiden just dropped us off a little while ago.”
Percival whistled. “You two got paired with that guy? You must be pretty good for an Ombra to take notice. Congrats on surviving his attention. Oh,” he said, smacking his forehead, “these two are Morgan and Catrin.”
“More first-years, huh?” Morgan said, keeping his hands in his pockets. Catrin just nodded at us, but her eyes were sharp as they swept over us, hesitating for a moment on my hair.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking,” Catrin said softly, looking at me. She had a strong Irish accent that I recognized from my time with my mom’s side of the family. “It might be rude to ask, but are you related to any of the Fair Folk? Your hair, I mean, it looks….”
“What?” I said, startled. “Oh, right.” I still wasn’t used to the glances it got now that I no longer dyed it. “No, I’m not, but I have met the sídhe before.”
Catrin’s eyes grew wide. “Really? We’ll have to talk later, then. The sídhe are legendary, and fickle in their attentions. You must be something special indeed to have their notice.”
“They’re something, all right,” Sam grumbled. “Only sometimes homicidal.”
Percival looked at us again, narrowing his eyes a little. His smile was still friendly, but now it also looked a little calculating. Morgan looked like he was about two steps away from open hostility. He might have looked a good half a foot shorter than me, but I edged away almost instinctively.
“Well, I won’t keep you two from whatever you’re up to,” Percival said. “I have to get these two set up. Considering the size of this place, I’m sure I’ll see you two later.”
He gave us a little wave and then led Catrin into Sol, Morgan holding back a moment longer to give both of us a faintly suspicious once-over before ambling in on his own. Sam and I looked at each other.
“He was… friendly,” I said. “Guess we don’t have to worry about everyone being like Aiden.”
Sam looked at the now-closed door of Sol House. “No kidding. Still, something tells me that guy would be just as nasty in a fight, not to mention that friend of his.”
“I’m guessing anyone who managed to get here falls into that category,” I reminded her. “Everyone went through the same Trial to get here.”
“Fair enough.” She looked excited at the prospect. Of course she did. “Library?”
“Please.”
We saw a few other groups crossing the greens, but they didn’t approach us like Percival had. I also caught sight of a familiar face making his way through the green, a good distance to the left. The horns were a dead giveaway.
“Looks like Septimus is in Obsidian,” I said to Sam as I watched him slip quickly inside. “I wonder if he holds a grudge for losing to us.”
Sam shuddered. “I hope not. If I have to fight that imp thing again, I’m tearing its wings off and setting them on fire.”
We kept walking until we reached the Circle again, and then made our way to the most impressive of the buildings, the large marble-columned one. It had runes running atop the pillars that I couldn’t read, but a sign at eye level helpfully told us that yes, this was, in fact, the Library of Seers.
“After you,” Sam said. “You’re the book-crazy one, not me.”
I rolled my eyes and stepped past her, making my way up the stairs. The actual door was glass and steel with a pull handle, but it was also covered in etched runes, many of which appeared to be glowing. A small sign warned that attempting to take books out of the library without proper permission would not be tolerated.
I pulled open the door and headed in, Sam right behind me. There was a circular desk directly inside, and a man sat in what looked like an extremely comfortable chair behind it, typing away on a sleek-looking computer. There was a nameplate on the desk that helpfully identified him as the Librarian. Which honestly wasn’t all that helpful.
“Welcome to the library,” the man said, looking up from his computer, his voice lacking any inflection whatsoever. “May I help you?”
Everything about him was almost painfully average and nondescript. His hair, his body, his expression, all of it. Even the little smile he offered us was perfectly bland.
I realized he was waiting for me to respond. “Oh! Um, we’re new here. I was wondering if we could take a look around?”
“Certainly,” the man said. “Just press your thumb here, please.” He pushed out a small circular stone, on which several runes were inscribed.
I cautiously put my thumb on the rock and watched as my fingerprint was left behind in perfect detail. Sam did the same.
“Basic security measures,” the Librarian explained. “We need to make sure we can keep track of who is currently visiting.”
“Okay.”
“The reading rooms are to your left,” he continued, “checkout happens right here, and the stacks are behind me and continue down to floor 13. You will need a permission slip from a professor to access certain books. Rare titles can be brought to you, but are off-limits for browsing. If you have any questions, feel free to ask any of me you see walking around.” With that, he went back to his computer.
That was enough to make it click. I glanced at Sam, who seemed to have reached the same conclusion, judging from the slightly uneasy expression on her face.
“That guy’s a homunculus, right?” she said. “Those things freak me out.”
“Same,” I said. “I’m just glad this one looks more human now than the ones at the Trials.” A thought occurred to me. “Or do you think that one’s actually male?”
Sam frowned. “They’re magical constructs, right? Pretty sure they can identify as anything they want.”
I tabled that line of curiosity for later and headed into the stacks. For some reason I’d been expecting rows and rows of dusty old books, which would require rickety-looking old ladders to reach. Something that screamed old and magical, I supposed. Instead I found that the bookshelves were all made of some sort of metal, and the contents of each row were carefully labeled. A small screen was at the beginning of each row. It looked like I could enter the name of a book I was looking for, and it would tell me the location.
We took a little time to wander through the shelves, glancing at the titles as we passed by. There were a lot of books on the history of places I’d never heard of, some on what looked like theory of magic, and more than a few titles that looked like they’d
fit in just fine at the libraries back home too. There was also the occasional row of desks or comfy chairs hidden away. It honestly felt like a normal library… right up until we reached the stairs.
A black iron fence kept people from accidentally falling into a massive hole in the floor. A spiral staircase led down, and I saw even more rows of books as I looked. It seemed like the farther down the library went, the older the setup was.
I glanced at Sam, my eyes wide. “We have to go down there. Do you see how many books they have?”
“Apparently a lot. You’re going to have to wait, though. We should head back before Aiden comes looking for us.”
I dropped my shoulders and reluctantly tore my gaze away. Sam rolled her eyes and patted me on the back.
The Librarian nodded at us as we passed, twice. Another body, which looked exactly like him, had seen us from where he was organizing a shelf. We headed out and found that the weather had decided to become sunny in the short time we’d been inside.
The Circle looked amazing in proper light. The stone structures no longer looked intimidating—or, well, not as intimidating, at least—they looked majestic. Every so often the sunlight would glint off a window, and a fountain I hadn’t even noticed when we’d first come through burbled happily.
It looked like a place I wouldn’t mind spending part of my life at.
Sam rushed me along as I stopped to stare, and we cut our way across the green. There were even more groups traversing the campus now. The majority seemed human, but I saw more than a few pointed ears, and even what looked like a centaur trotting across the grass. His equine half was a soft dappled brown, while the top was that of a confident-looking young man wearing a gray shirt that was straining under his apparently massive muscles. Wow.
Sam stopped to gape at the centaur for a moment too, and then continued dragging me. We made it to Obsidian’s door just as Aiden stepped out of it, looking a little harried.
“There you are,” he said. “It’s fine to explore, but we are still on a schedule. We’re going to Prince Hall; the headmaster and the Speakers are going to give the orientation speech. Follow me.”
Not waiting for a response, he started walking right back the way we’d come. We followed him to Prince, and he led us to the auditorium. Inside had to be at least fifty other students, and more were filing in as we arrived. I saw Septimus, and the mage and knight boy who’d made it to the semifinals, and even Kaede, the snake girl Aria had teamed with. Sam scanned the crowd as well and looked crestfallen when she didn’t see Aria.
I gave her a comforting nudge. “I’m sure she’ll show up later, all right?”
“Yeah,” Sam said, still sounding a little worried.
“You two can sit down wherever you please,” Aiden said from behind us. “This is where I depart for the time being. You two will be seeing me more during the week, but now it’s time for the instructors to take over.” He headed out, still looking a little harried. People visibly moved to get out of his way as he went.
Sam and I grabbed seats in the back corner and waited for the speech to begin.
Chapter Five
WE WEREN’T kept waiting long. We had only a few minutes to look at all the new faces around us before a familiar figure stepped onto the stage.
Didas looked like I remembered him: broad shoulders under a crimson robe, bearded face with a square jaw, long gray-blond hair swept away from his face and his cold blue eyes. Even just standing there, the man radiated authority like nobody I’d ever seen. The room fell quiet at his presence without him having to say a word.
“Welcome,” he said, his voice effortlessly stretching across the room. “I am Headmaster Didas, and you are all now officially first-years at Janus University. Congratulations.” His gaze swept over all of us and lingered on me for a moment. I tried not to shrink under his gaze, the memories of phantom knives carving into my skin coming back to the surface. Everyone else—except Sam, who looked like she was figuring out the best way to get away with murdering the guy—was puffed up with pride at the pronouncement.
“There are a total of one hundred and twenty of you,” the headmaster continued, “as is the size of each class that has ever been here. Forty of you belong to Sol House, forty to Verdant, and forty to Obsidian. Get to know each other well, because you will be spending much of the next four years of your life together.” He paused to give us a moment to scan the crowd, and we all did so.
Of the students in the auditorium, I estimated perhaps a hundred of them were at least mostly human. The remaining ones were definitely not. There was the centaur I’d seen earlier, standing next to what looked like a satyr, if the furry legs were anything to go by. I saw Septimus in the back row on the other side from us, his red eyes glowing under his curling horns. Kaede was in a section of the auditorium clearly made for those students who would not be using chairs, along with a boy and a girl whose skin seemed strangely gray and shiny. There was a large, brutish-looking being that reminded me of the troll I’d seen in the Trials, and there were more than a few people whose forms seemed incredibly elegant, and whose ears were long and tapered to a sharp point. Their skin colors ranged from a deep walnut brown to a strange silvery white, and they had eyes that glittered like jewels.
Every last one of the students was also busy looking at everyone else, and my skin prickled from the constant glances. Sam basked in the attention.
“All of you are here to learn,” Didas said, and everyone’s eyes snapped back to him, “so let me explain to you how things work. There are no grades here. Every class you take will test you a number of times—that varies by professor—on practical application of skill, or in some cases, memorization and analysis. If you are able to do what the class is supposed to teach you, then you will remain in good standing. The professor will determine if you have shown the level of mastery the course requires at the end of the semester, and you will either pass or fail.”
He took a moment to let us absorb that and then continued. “You are also required to show a level of capability in combat and self-defense, a tradition that has lasted in this university since its very foundation. I expect that most of you will not pursue a career that requires you to fight, but Janus University will not be responsible for the deaths of anyone who successfully graduates. You will be able to protect yourself, or you will fail.”
There was some nervous shifting at that, but nobody really seemed surprised. Everyone had gone through the Trials, after all.
“And that,” Didas said, “brings me to the last detail I have before I pass you over to the Speakers. You will be expelled from the university if you do one of three things. First, be in violation of any of the rules Janus University has. These include stealing of university property and intentional harm of any other student, or doing anything that puts yourself or others at extreme risk. Second, fail a course more than four times in the time you’re here.” He paused. “I am aware that our courses can seem exceptionally rigorous at times. If a course is too difficult for you, you will have up to one month to drop it, though keep in mind that a certain number of courses are required to graduate depending on your focus. If you wish to try regardless, you have four chances to do so. Third, fail to maintain an adequate level of performance in the Arena. This is not a continuation of the Trials. If you do not top the boards, you are not necessarily in danger of being expelled. You must merely perform to the best of your ability and show improvement over time.”
I’d suspected there would be a rule like that. Honestly, the setup seemed pretty fair to me. As long as I didn’t overestimate my abilities, I was in no danger of failing. I didn’t intend to break any rules, though I did worry a little about Sam on that front. That left the Arena. What little of my power had returned, I had no control over. I would have to rely entirely on what spells I was able to learn. That… made me nervous.
Didas shifted his stance slightly and offered a small smile. “Once again, congratulations on becoming a student at Janus Uni
versity. I will be present at many of the functions and ceremonies the university holds, but for now, I pass you over to the capable hands of the University Speakers.”
With that, he nodded to the side curtain of the stage, and six people slowly made their way out. Leading them was another familiar figure: Speaker Sekhmene, the woman who had overseen our Trial, resplendent in silver robes that contrasted elegantly against her rich black skin and matched her hair and eyes. Behind her was a tall, fair-skinned thin man in robes of shimmering purple, an old, stern-looking woman in robes of sky blue, a gray-haired, pointy-eared man in robes of calming green, a young, brown-skinned man with ancient eyes in robes of jet-black, and an exceedingly attractive individual in robes of white with short-cropped black hair and vivid blue eyes.
They spread out across the stage, and then Speaker Sekhmene stepped forward as Didas took a step back.
“Thank you for the introduction, Headmaster,” she said, her voice smooth. “As many of you are already aware, I am Speaker Sekhmene. The position of Speaker is similar to that of a chair of a department, for those of you hailing from Earth backgrounds. There are six of us, for the six main Forms of magic, not including innate talent. I am the Speaker of Evocation, also known as force magic, and most commonly as war magic. All of you, regardless of your focus, will be seeing a lot of me as your time here progresses.”
She gestured with her hand, and the thin man with the purple robes stepped forward.
“I am Speaker Rosero,” the man said, his gaze sweeping over all of us, “and I represent the Illusion Form.”
The woman in blue stepped forward. “I am Speaker Melynthe, and I represent the Elemental Form.”
The elven man. “I am Speaker Alferon, and I represent the Infusion Form.”
The young man. “I am Speaker Thomas, and I represent the Summoning Form.”
And lastly, the striking one. “I am Speaker Thryn, and I represent the Change Form.”
All of them save Sekhmene stepped back again. “Your aptitude for a form of magic will be tested over the coming week, and your results will determine which form you will spend most of your time working on improving. Let me stress that your form does not determine what you will go on to do with your life. Each form has use in almost every field.”