A skinny, pale hand rose into the air yet again. Exactly three seconds from now, our very own entitled, self-proclaimed princess shall grace us with her words of wisdom…or rather, her insane requests.
“Would it be against the rules if I were to discretely glue her lips together. She would’ve made the most beautiful sound ever.” Nerine whispered in my ear and I couldn’t say I wasn’t imagining something similar.
“You mean, she wouldn’t?” I asked with a barely hidden smile. Ah, to see princess Zoe silent? That would’ve been pure gift from God.
“Exactly. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but ever since they told us that Raphael’s descendant is coming to the Academy for the Awakening, she wouldn’t shut up. I guess she thinks she’s going to fulfill the prophesy.”
I snorted louder than I intended. “Good luck to us all if she is. Or…yeah, maybe Raphael’s descendant should get all the luck. Just sayin’.” I would bet my both arms that Zoe would be all over him. He does, however, have a few more days of undisturbed peace but once he steps foot here, he’d wish he’d appreciated them more.
The Grey Tower, which is this fabulous building we were in, is what we call “lower academy”. Basically, all descendants are just put here until our awakening happen at twenty-one and then, based on the power that manifests inside of us, our, now colorless gemstones turn proper color, which puts us in certain House inside the Crystal Tower, or so called “high academy”.
“I really don’t envy him.” Nerine’s face scrunched up in disgust. “But on the bright side, at least there will be drama. Which I particularly like to watch unfold.”
A clearing of the throat nearby jerked us from our little chat and I caught the narrowed gaze locked on me. Yeah, Mr. Ashleight doesn’t like me so much and I couldn’t blame him since I wouldn’t like me either. I did accidently set his jacket on fire in class after all. “Miss Damiani, is there something more important to talk about right now than my announcement? No? Didn’t think so.”
I almost rolled my eyes. Sure, princess Zoe can talk our ears off about her future love, and her future wedding with said future love, whose name she doesn’t even know. But me? Say three sentences? Now, that would be a disaster.
“As I was saying, it is decided that Raphael’s descendant shall arrive here in two days-time. He wanted to see how things are going along here. He is old and very powerful warrior and I expect you to treat him with respect and to be on your best behavior.”
Did I forget to mention that once you’re awaken you start aging slower than a crawl? Well, according to some, Raphael’s descendant is around three hundred years old and looks like he’s thirty tops, which of course made me curious. And not only that, but in all those years there was no other being of archangel blood that would seal the prophesy along with him. Which is why Zoe’s claims on him were out-straight ridiculous and laugh worthy.
After some more time of sitting in the auditorium listening to Mr. Ashleight talking about the proper etiquette we finally managed to get out in the fresh air. The Grey Tower isn’t all that bad, but as its name suggests - it’s all fucking grey. A person could seriously go crazy in there. The whole building is made in that old, rustic style while the Crystal academy, although old, looks beautiful with all the sparkling gems and glass everywhere.
“Okay, we need to ask the most important question Theia.” Nerine looked at me so seriously that I just knew something stupid would leave her mouth.
“And that is?” my brows rose and smile began to form.
“Can you imagine Zoe having sex with a three hundred year old grandpa, because all I need is to picture her face in my mind and I’m done.”
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. I met Nerine first day of the Academy. The look of annoyance and distaste when she first heard princess Zoe’s voice preaching about how she should be excused from wearing a uniform because her skin was too delicate, sealed our friendship. It just brings so much more joy to dislike her in pair.
“But seriously now. How’s it possible to live that long and yet no one knows how you look or what your name is. It’s just frustrating to call him Raphael’s descendant like he’s some kind of deity.” I huffed. Which really was. Everyone keeps forgetting him after he leaves and it made me want to figure him out even more.
Nerine just shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know. Some archangel mojo, possibly.” She took me by the hand and pulled me to go faster after her. “ Now, we are going to the city for ice cream, because if I spend another minute on the academy grounds amongst all the ruin, I’m gonna lose it.”
The “ruin” wouldn’t be the word I’d use. There were three Towers on the grounds positioned in a triangle. The first two are the Grey and Crystal Towers where the classes are held while the third one, The White Tower, is where the dormitories are. There are also underground tunnels that connect the three Towers and in the middle of them, there is a huge underground arena used only for Awakening ceremonies. I’ve been in it only a few times when I was little, watching my two older brother’s ceremonies. From what I remember, it’s large circular room with lot of detailed architecture. I never gave it much thought, I was too entranced by the ceremonies themselves.
Outside, the Towers were encircled by the deep forest with many trails going through it; some were beaten and visible and others were more wild and trickier to find. I always found the grounds beautiful to be honest, especially in the summer. During those few months there were always magical fairy lights all over the forest which made it look otherworldly.
As opposed to summer, during the winter days snow always had unnatural sparkle and shine to it and it lured you to explore. Which was pretty dangerous. The forest hid many secrets but as long as you stuck to the trails you were fine.
After a few minutes, we finally reached the garage located a little to the left of the academy. We found my bike and helmets in a hurry. I can still remember the surprise and excitement on Nerine’s face when she saw it the first time.
Lucky for us, unlike some other Academies, ours didn’t care if we left the grounds as long as we were back by midnight. It was smart of them to let us go, otherwise I can bet there would be a lot more sneaking out than necessary.
Starting the engine, we flew out the door and down the road through the thick trees and fairy lights. A half an hour later we began to slow down as we neared the town of Whitemore. There are a few towns like this one in different locations, each one run on different kind of magic. This particular one used ice magic which meant everything was beyond beautiful.
The small houses were all covered in sparkling ice; the decoration, the street lamps, benches, fountains, everything had that icy glow and yet it wasn’t cold. Colder than outside of it, sure. But not cold. Every now and then you could see little trails of glitter and shine. Some say those are pixies but no one’s ever seen one. What was known for sure is that it was magic at work.
We proceeded through the streets to our favorite ice cream parlor “Delicious storm”. And it definitely could become a real storm in there when dear old Megi works her temper. She was a short, chubby woman in her sixties who made the most delicious sweets and had no other option than to endure our presence.
Entering, the first thing we noticed was a little boy trying to sneak past Megi and into the fridge while the other one climbed on the top of lemonade machine. I debated telling her, but… yeah, why bother.
“Hey, Megi.” I smiled. “Trouble with little ones again?”
The woman huffed, shouted something at the kids and turned to us. “They are little monsters. My son left them here for a little while and they-“ her head whipped around. “Maximilian Lowe, get your face out of ice cream box.”
Hiding my smile I pointed out. “I see Kai’s learned how to climb? There’s certainly improvement.” Nearing the other kid, I high-fived him and he grinned at me. I took him in my arms and whispered “Nice job, buddy. We’ll have our next lesson in a few days.”
Soon enough, he ran out of my hands and along with Max, they went through the back door laughing maniacally. I found myself smiling but it quickly faded away when I saw Megi’s expression. Ups. “So, you’re the mystery girl who’s been teaching him all kinds of tricks. I should’ve known. You two have trouble written all over you.”
“Ah, Megi, don’t be mad. They would’ve learned it themselves eventually. I just sped it up a little and made sure they did it safely.” An image of Max hanging by one hand from seven feet high branch flashed through my mind. Okay maybe not that safely. I should pay more attention to that next time.
Megi shook her head and pointed at the table near the register. “Sit. I’ll bring you your ice cream.” A moment later she was sitting with us with a strange glint in her eyes but she stayed quiet.
I waited for her to start talking but when she didn’t, I had enough of waiting. “Okay, what?”
She looked from me to Nerine and smiled. “So, I heard someone special is coming to the Academy. Is that true?”
“Depends who you think of as special. We already have many people there who think they’re beyond special.” Nerine answered.
“I agree. We already have our princess Zoe, I don’t think there’s anyone more special than her.” I added. Then as if just remembered I slapped myself lightly on the forehead. “Oh! Oh you mean her future husband? Yeah, sure, he is. In two days.”
Knowing exactly what we were talking about, Magi let out a deep, rich laugh. “That girl talking your ears off again? What is this about her future husband?”
“Princess Zoe is set on fulfilling the prophesy after the ceremony. She’s already planned everything out and filled us all in on details.” Nerine made a grimace. “I wonder how fast will the news of his future fly to the RD when he arrives.”
My brows lifted. “RD? Seriously?” I wasn’t impressed at all. “Let’s call him something not so recognizable at least.”
“Okay, grandpa it is.” Nerine smirked. “And if anyone asks, we’re talking about my grandpa Arnold.”
“You don’t have grandpa Arnold.” I pointed out this very obvious thing.
“But I do have grandpa Barnie.” She said proudly. Wha- …I don’t even want to know what goes on in her head. Moving on.
“Anywaay” I said still keeping my eyes on Nerine like she’s the strangest creature I’ve ever met. “Why’d you asked?”
Her shoulders shrugged lightly. “It’s just been a hot topic in town but no one knows for sure. I figured you’d be my source of intel. And besides” Megi’s cheeks turned soft red which made me smile my knowing grin. “We all want to know what he looks like. I know we’re humans but that doesn’t make us any less interested.”
She was right. Despite town running on magic thanks to the ice pixies, most of the residents were human. They all accepted our world pretty easily which was surprising to some, but their families did live here for centuries. They knew about us from beginning and were used to it. But one thing they weren’t used to was our unusual looks.
To a human eye we’re all just a little bit odd and at the same time a bit too beautiful. Not so much before the awakening, but after, many get some different traits. Nothing too drastic, but we do change. I personally can’t wait to see if my blonde hair and dark eyes would change. My brothers’ hair got a little darker and they’ve got their markings but that was it.
“Don’t worry Megi. We’ll keep an eye on grandpa for you” Nerine added while patting Megi’s hand. “You’ll know every single detail along with the progress of his and Zoe’s relationship.”
We talked for a little while but then Nerine and I decided it was time to leave. Tomorrow would be all hard work for us in preparation for our guest and it was already late after full day of classes and announcement in the auditorium.
We said our goodbyes, kissed the little boys and went back to my bike. The ride back to the Academy grounds felt a lot shorter than it was and by the time we reached the forest surrounding the Towers, I still had the energy to enjoy the beautiful fairy lights that shone in the dark like brightest of the stars.
Nerine and I were just exiting the garage when we heard people rushing in the dark. They were whispering frantically, so much so, I couldn’t understand them. I met Nerine’s confused gaze and without a word we went after them. Obviously, something wasn’t going according to their plan and that, ladies and gentlemen, was something I’ve never, ever seen.
Nearing them, I could only make out some of the whispers but nothing that would indicate what was going on. The two of us moved without making a sound, something we mastered long time ago. First and foremost, so we could sneak out of classes without being noticed.
The footsteps in front of us stopped abruptly and I had to jerk Nerine’s arm back so she wouldn’t go too far. With my finger I pointed in the direction of a tree above us. There, no one would see us and on the plus side, we would see and hear what was going on.
Once again, silently, we climbed high enough to see a clearing where there stood at least a dozen of our professors. They seemed nervous but collected while they waited.
“What do you think is happening?” I whispered to her.
“I don’t know.” Her gaze never strayed away from the people on the clearing. “I think they’re waiting for someone.” Her eyes widened a fraction as she considered something. “Could it be-“
Nerine didn’t manage to finish her question when large, strong figure with big, magnificent wings landed in the center of the clearing. He was covered in shadows but I didn’t need light to know who that was.
It seems like our guest arrived a little bit early.
“Yes, yes it could.”
ns 15.158.61.51da2
