I proceed to give her a play by play of my day so far and she makes sure to clear up some things for me. Then we go back to making a relationship with the light, which leads nowhere fast. By the time I leave, I am more confused than ever before.
This really is going to take forever to get the hang of.
I walk back to the academic building and into my next class. It's another refresher course. As soon as I walk in the door, I feel queasy and get a headache. My skin crawls and I have that feeling that makes me want to constantly check over my shoulder.
There must be a shadow caster close by.
I scan the class filled with babies again before turning to the front of the room. As soon as I lock eyes with her, I know she's the culprit. She's a Shadow Caster. My professor is a Shadow Caster.
Professor Christy Barnes. She looks pretty young for a professor. I would say she's no older than 25. She's actually wearing a school uniform too, with exception of her shirt which is white with black cufflinks and a black collar. She has a purple sweater vest over it. Her brunet hair is pulled up into a sloppy bun.
When we lock eyes she sighs. I can tell this wasn't her idea.
"Take a seat," She says to me.
I find a seat in the back of the classroom. The distance does help a little but it's almost overbearing. It makes it hard to focus on anything she says. I'm going to have to talk to Cyrene about this. I'll never be able to learn anything in this class.
I hardly notice when class is over because I'm too busy rubbing my temples and looking down at my desk.
"Emery," she calls.
I flinch and lookup.
Students are all filing out of the room.
Thank god it's over.
I quickly pack up and bolt for the door.
"Wait," she stops me.
I whimper but turn to her.
"I'm sorry, I know this is difficult for you. Trust me, it wasn't my idea. But I'm the only one who teaches this class in this time slot so we are stuck together. I'm working on learning to conceal my energy but I would advise you to learn how to lower your energy guard. Once you do that it will be much easier for both of us to be around each other. Lowering your guard will allow our energies to intermingle without clashing."
"And how do I do that?" I raise an eyebrow.
"It kind of hard to explain. You have to manipulate your energy to be at ease."
"Great. I'll get right on that right after I figure out how to translate energy and talk to the light." I turn to leave. "Because apparently, that's a thing," I call over my shoulder.
She sighs.
As if responding to me the lights flicker around me.
I eye them before walking to my next class.
One of the classes I've been dreading all day because I know I'll look like a complete fool no matter what I do.
Professor Elisha Wiggins spellcasting class.
I walk in and this classroom layout is completely different from what I've seen so far. It's kind of like a theater. With the main floor at the bottom and rows of seats behind marble countertops ascending up the room.
I try to sit in the back but,
"Emery, front please." Professor Wiggins snaps her fingers at me, not even looking up from her book.
She's tall, and her heels make her look like a giant. Her legs are long and shapely. She has an air about her, the kind of air that says she doesn't take attitude and probably has no sense of humor. She has these big stylish pink glasses on. They complement her ebony skin. Her hair is covered by a head wrap with braids spilling out the bottom and down her back.
"Since you obviously haven't the first clue about spellcasting, I want you front and center every day of my class. I want you to pay as close attention as possible. If I see a phone, I'll take it. I hope you went to the bathroom because there are no breaks in my class. I do not permit talking or horsing around when I am teaching. An absence is not an excuse to miss an assignment. Am I clear?" she moves her book down to look me in the eyes.
I gulp and nod.
"Good, then we will have no issues at all." She resumes reading and pacing the floor as more students file in.
Even though the students are younger than me, I'm pretty sure all of them know at least something about spellcasting. As the room fills up she sets her book down in front of me. I look down at it.
The Basics of SpellCasting by Elisha Wiggins.
"Read this cover to cover and watch everything I do closely. Once you are ready, I'll start letting you participate and help you get started." She says.
At this rate, I can fill a whole library with all the books I have to read.
"Okay," I say.
Her watch goes off and she looks to the doors of the class. A kid dives in just as she snaps her fingers and they slam closed.
"Cutting it close Zach, again." She comments.
He laughs nervously before getting up and taking his seat.
It is indeed the same boy from my first class.
Something about him reminds me of my dufus of a brother.
"Okay, we are moving on to the next chapter of class. I hope you have all been working on your Glyphs on your own time. Don't forget you'll have to show me soon for a test grade. The more elaborate the better. Today we are going to be learning a push and pull glyph. We have already leaned the holding Glyph and the Glyph to map out direction. Now we combine them. It should look something like this."
She clicks on a projector and on it is a circle with two smaller circles inside with various symbols.
Everyone is silent and taking diligent notes.
I quickly do the same.
By the end of class, she went over the basics of it and then showed everyone before letting people try and do it themselves. At that point in the class, I just sat and read that book. I swear it is worse than learning a foreign language.
Finally, it was time for my last class of the day.
Physical education.
Piece of cake.
Right?
Wrong.
"Well, if it isn't the walking doornail," Dariyah says.
She's wearing a gym uniform and stretching.
I make a face.
You've got to be kidding me.
"Aren't you on suspension?" I ask.
"I got it overturned." She says smugly.
Just fantastic.
"Ellison!" The coach calls me to her office.
I flinch at her commanding tone.
Dariyah laughs at me.
I walk into Coach Reagan O'Ryan's office and she hands me a duffle bag full of clothes. It's heavy and it falls out of my hand to the floor.
"In there are your various gym uniforms. That chart right there," she grabs me by the shoulders and whirls me around.
On the wall by the locker room entrance is a chart with dates and names of different uniforms.
"Will tell you what to wear and when. You are responsible for these uniforms and getting them washed. If you come in the wrong uniform you will be forced to still participate no matter what the day. Even if fireballs are being hurled at you or you have to run several laps in the sun. So don't wear the wrong uniform."
"Noted..." I eye the chart.
"Now," she whirls me around again. "Here is your locker number and combination. You are responsible for that locker this semester. If it's damaged or defiled in any way, you will be held accountable."
I grab the paper from her hands.
"Lucky for you, today is just a race. Go get changed into the correct uniform and meet everyone out on the field." She says.
I drag the bag to the locker room and look at the chart before opening it. I see a normal uniform of basketball shorts and a t-shirt. I see something that looks like body armor. I see a tight bodysuit and I see a water suit.
They are trying to kill me.
It's official.
I pull out the regular uniform and drag the bag to my locker before opening it and shoving it in as best as I can. Then I go into a stall to change. I don't want anyone to see my star mark.
When I walk out I see Dariyah crack her knuckles in her spike gloves.
A bunch of other girls linger around on their phone or talking to each other.
"Let's go!" Coach O'Ryan calls.
Everyone heads out onto the field.
"What the fu—"
"Alright!" Coach cuts me off.
Dariyah snorts in amusement at my reaction.
Just a race she said, just a race!
I eye the track which is covered in magic booby traps. All types of glyphs all over the floor. Coach demonstrates that if you step on one, you trigger a trap. The one she showed us shot up a geyser of water.
"The first one to finish gets to skip out of any event they want, with the exception of the final. The pass is good for the whole semester. The last to finish has to go first tomorrow."
Many girls cringe.
"What's tomorrow?" I ask out loud.
"You're so dead." Dariyah shakes her head.
"Can anyone tell Emery what's tomorrow?" coach calls.
"the fear simulation." Someone said.
"The what?" many girls laugh at me as my voice squeaks.
"Alright, line it up."
Everyone lines up for the race.
"Wait," I try.
"On your mark!"
"I don't think—"
"Get set!"
"Dead meat," Dariyah gets ready to take off.
"Go!"
Everyone takes off and I am the left looking like an idiot.
I watch a girl step on a glyph and get blown back by a strong gust of wind. She knocks over several girls who fall on a different glyph which sends them sky-high as another water geyser goes off.
"Come on Ellison! Get a move on!"
Well, it was a good life I guess.
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