Taliesin

The first hour of detention was on Tuesday. Tal was glad to find out that their teacher picked the library as their location. Library duty meant he and a couple others would be alone in the building sorting bookshelves. It was the perfect opportunity to sneak out a book or two without anyone noticing. Tal came up with the plan to skim as many books as possible for useful information. He would skip through all the books about the greater religions and mythologies and focus on the minor gods and myths that are rather uncommon. Maybe he’ll find a legend that mentions a clumsy twenty year old with an unpredictable teleportation ability.

The Academy’s library was a three-story building that looked as if it came straight out of a fantasy novel. It was a picture of white marble, gold and ceiling paintings that could have been drawn by Michelangelo himself (he didn’t of course). The floor was made of ugly tiles, but the rest of the library made up for this eyesore. Tal approached the staircase that led to the first and second floor after making sure that their teacher had already left. Growing up as a foster kid in one too many dangerous households has made his ears really sensitive to sound. The echo of the library made it even worse. Tal flinched nervously at every step he heard and whirled around in panic each time he thought someone would catch him not doing his task.

“Quite jumpy, aren’t we?” Nik’s voice came out of nowhere and Tal almost threw himself down the first floor in a brilliant attempt to escape him. Nik moved as quiet as outer space and as fast as light. He pressed his hand onto Tal’s mouth and pushed him into the pillar next to the shelf. Unable to react in time, Tal groaned helplessly as his back met cold stone once again. It was a cruel reminder of his first teleportation misadventure into Nik’s bedroom. At that time he unwillingly became a witness of his crush’s, now ex-crush’s, violent habits but this time Nik seemed to have sought him out willingly. Was he following him to get rid of the only witness? Sweat formed on Tal’s forehead.

“Why are you here, Taliesin?” “Detention.” Tal replied quickly but due to the hand that was covering his lips only a muffled sound came out. “How does a nerd like you get detention?” Nik scoffed and Tal wasn’t sure if he should feel insulted at his comment or be impressed that he could understand him. Nik’s sass had been one of the reasons why Tal had fallen for him years ago. That and multiple other things like his messy hair when he came out of the shower after PE or his painted nails. Tal couldn’t explain why exactly he’d been drawn to him after one embarrassing encounter in the cafeteria on his first day. Back then he wished for nothing more than to be able to unravel Nik layer by layer. Everything was different now and Tal suddenly wasn’t sure that he was going to like what he would find behind his toothy grin and green eye. He was almost certain that what he had seen already was enough reason to never dig deeper. His crush had become the one person Tal wanted to avoid for the rest of his life and yet they kept running into each other.

“It’s your fault.” Tal mumbled against Nik’s hand and looked to the side. His cheeks have heated up a little when he remembered why he used to have a crush on Nik, and he desperately wanted the colour to go away again. “I’m sorry?” Nik asked and tilted his head. A loose strand of his hair fell right onto his eyepatch. Oh? Nik’s eyepatch covered his right eye and although he had never mentioned to anyone why he needed it, you never saw him without it. Tal had once found him in the changing room before PE with no eyepatch on. As soon as Tal entered Nik had quickly put it back on as if his eye were a secret to be kept from anyone at all cost. “It was your fault.” Tal now repeated. He was making a pause after every word and Nik let out a laugh. “No no, I understood you just fine. I just don’t quite get how this is MY fault?” He slowly withdrew his hand from Tal’s mouth and stemmed it into the pillar behind him to give Tal a chance to explain himself. Nik was looking up into his eyes with a sly grin and Tal tried to ignore the height difference between them. Nik was at least ten centimetres smaller than him. His forehead barely reached Tals’ nose. And yet, despite the height difference Tal knew that Nik could tear him apart within seconds. Just the thought of it made him tremble in fear. Nik noticed.

“Relax, Taliesin.” “Relax?!” He hissed in a quiet voice while trying to control his trembling limbs. “You killed people, Nik! You called me a ‘descendant of the gods’. For all I know you’re a crazy psychopath!” Nik considered his words. “I think that’s a bit misleading.” Tal let out a frustrated groan while Nik’s eye wandered through the library. He scanned the surroundings before he leaned closer and let his gaze settle on Tal’s face with a frown. “When did you become a foster child?” “What?!” “Answer the question, Taliesin.” Nik spoke with so much authority that Tal had no choice but to give a fast reply. He was stuttering, the press of the wall becoming his only support. “I’ve always been one. I was given away as an infant.” It wasn’t the whole truth but close enough.

Tal had been found in an abandoned shed in the middle of a forest. A group of teens stumbled across him when they wanted to use the location to film a horror clip. He can imagine that the sight of a left alone baby must have scared them so he was thankful that they still brought him into the closest village. Nobody there knew him and for a whole year nobody ever came looking for him. He was given into a local orphanage where he grew up. The older he grew the more people became interested in him, but their love never lasted longer than a few months. He couldn’t blame them. Some families were worse than others but not a single one was actually good to him. As soon as the vanishing started, it all went downhill. Teleporting had always been a part of his life and even if he could hide it sometimes, the foster families didn’t want to stay with a runaway. They returned him and the cycle repeated itself. Tal was even forced to start therapy but every conversation was the same waste of time.

“Why do you run away Taliesin?” “I’m not running away.” “Your family said you vanished for several hours.” “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

He couldn’t blame them for not believing him but it still messed him up a lot. By the time he got sixteen Tal decided to run away for real. He left the orphanage and ran directly into the arms of the Academy director. Their meeting was either luck or destiny. When Tal explained his situation, the director, Mr. Hemlock, pitied him and offered to stay with him. All Tal had to promise was to take his chance seriously and not run away. So he did. Tal became one of the best students of the Academy and he was one of the best players in their ice hockey team. He had found a home for the first time in his life. The nickname runaway stuck to him since a few students found out about his past but now after three years everyone was minding their own business and leaving him alone. Everyone but Nik apparently.

“Then you really have no idea?” Tal was torn from his thoughts and dragged into reality by Nik’s voice. He wasn’t expecting an answer from Tal. Nik leaned back and let out a sigh. He scratched the back of his neck. “Good for you.” He mumbled and raised a warning finger at Tal. “If you don’t know, stay out of it. Don’t ever interrupt my work again. Do you understand that, Taliesin?” He wanted to protest that he couldn’t control it but Nik’s gaze was threatening and left him with no other option than to agree. Nik squinted his eyes at Tal’s hesitant nod and after a moment of consideration walked away.