Chapter Eight - Library
CHAPTER EIGHT
Library
THE NEXT TWO days went similarly to the first, except luckily, I didn’t run into the Basic Magic professor outside of class. In class, he completely avoided me, not even looking my way during Aura Reading, making me feel my first day thoughts were just nerves.
Professor Scarlette still didn’t have us practice magic in Herbology, the one class I knew I could actually do something. Rumors were already going around that I was only let in because my family was one of those in the tragedy. One of my least favorite rumors was that my magic had disappeared and that was the real reason I was in the Unenchanted.
Realm History was a bit of a blur, and I struggled to make any sense of it. It was hard to tell if Professor Miriam was describing old stories of the Realm or real history. Not having any history classes here before, it was definitely my hardest class. Blythe said she was something like 130 years old, and her incredible magic kept her alive, which was why the academy wanted her in the first place.
I grabbed a quick dinner from the dining hall with Blythe before rushing to meet Caleb in the library for our Wednesday study date.
Caleb’s messy, dirty-blond hair and bulky shoulders were unmistakable as he leaned against the library wall beside the door. My dumb, cheesy heart skipped a beat when I saw him there waiting for me. I knew he had to have heard the rumors going around.
“Hey, Harper.” His deep blue eyes were crisp, dangerous, as he peered up from his phone. A dome of air slipped over me as I got close to him, blocking the few drops of rain that had started again this evening. “Here I was, thinking I might get stood up.”
I laughed. “What are you talking about? I’m right on time.”
He answered with a low chuckle, brushing his hands through his hair. “I must have been here early. I cut dinner when I got a call.”
For a moment, his face flashed. The breezing-through-life look he normally wore faltered and it was like I was getting a glimpse of the real him. He looked angered for a split second. It was only a moment before his face changed again, going back to the Caleb I was used to. It was then I realized while I had seen him a handful of times, I didn’t really know him, it had only been three days.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, knowing he couldn’t be smiling all the time. It was honestly a little relieving to see some emotion on someone who appeared like they just floated through life. It was also concerning, making me wonder what happened to get through that carefree exterior he wore. “Do you want to reschedule?”
He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Actually, a study night sounds great. It’s nothing really. My parents are setting up extra lessons for me on top of scheduling dinners and meetings that I’m not looking forward to. It’s just pressure and all. They have these dreams for me. My life can feel completely planned sometimes. It didn’t help when they found out Trevor was taking extra classes and I wasn’t.” He cut off. “I’m sorry, I won’t let it ruin our night.”
“That sounds really stressful.”
He shrugged. “We’ve all got something, right? Today was just one of those days.”
Before I could respond, he took my hand in his and started leading me through the library. Before long, I could see the weight leaving his shoulders and his smile returning.
“I want to show you something.” He walked with such sudden determination, my steps almost faltered.
We moved around tall bookshelves that reached to the ceiling, quickly passing the long tables in the center until we reached the back wall of the library. A door beside us read “Staff Housing” in painted white ink over it.
Beside the door, lining the wall, were frames displaying what appeared to be old graduation photos from years prior. A couple of tables pressed against the wall beneath them held assorted polished awards.
“What—” Then my eye caught onto the large center photo, protected in a bronze filigree frame .
My lips fell open, my boots pressed together awkwardly and I suddenly felt like I didn’t know how to stand properly. My parents stared back at me, suspended in time, just how I remembered them. They stood in pristine outfits in a large group of people. They looked back at me, standing here in the academy that they had dreams about me attending. Seeing them displayed, it felt like I might have had a place here in the Realm.
Caleb cleared his throat. “I remembered seeing this my first year, my parents are to the left there. This was the current council a year before the fire.”
My eyes scanned over the photo, knowing nearly half of them perished that night during a late meeting in a tragic accident. Staring in their eyes, knowing what fate they had before them, gave me shivers. I wrapped my arms around myself before finding who Caleb said were his parents. He looked like his mom, with similar blue eyes and blond hair. According to the names below, Camille and Graham Thorne, his father was the stern-looking man beside her.
The plate below the photo was engraved with “Forever Etched in the Stars.”
“I thought you might have wanted—” he started saying.
Spinning around, my arms reached up and pulled him into a hug. “Thank you.” It was all I could choke out at that second.
My eyes pulled back to my parents. While I knew the photo was here because they were important council members, it was nice to see them displayed here at the academy they attended. The feeling was surreal that I got to stand here and see them, looking proud and happy together. I snapped a photo on my phone.
My gaze fell on two of the names listed below. “Ares? As in Nickolas Ares?”
“Yeah, his parents died that night, too. A lot of powerful families were lost,” Caleb said quietly.
I wondered if that was why he seemed to hate me so much, if I reminded him of what happened. My uncle did warn me over and over to be careful when coming here, but I was so young and asking about it always seemed to hurt him.
I thought about all those families affected, some who had children. Was that what made Mr. Ares so cold? How hardened he was to the world wasn’t something I saw often.
“So, what do you want to study?” Caleb said, interrupting my thoughts after a long, quiet moment.
I plastered a small smile as I looked up at him. “Maybe Basic Magic, I’m not great at it.”
“I might have heard something about that. It’s probably just first week nerves. Your mental state can really affect your magic. Last year, in my first week, I nearly flooded the training field.”
There he was again, taking away my worries and pulling me to the present. “Oh wow,” I laughed.
He bumped my shoulder, leading me past a couple of bookshelves, staying in the back of the library.
He went on a bit about his parents, how he needed perfect grades here because they had plans for him to take their place on the council someday. I learned Trevor was the same. That was mostly the cause of the chip on his shoulder, having a lot of pressure placed on him from his father .
I didn’t miss how he casually brushed his hand against mine while walking so close. I didn’t mind. I enjoyed his company and was definitely bumping him back.
The warmth within the library, hushed distant whispers of studying students and the smell of leather-bound books felt beyond cozy. It was easy to stop my mind from whirling and just be here. Just as that thought crossed my mind, my hand finally caught Caleb’s. He beamed down at me.
“You know there are beginner books on Basic Magic that the tutors use on these shelves here,” Caleb said. He took me around a tall bookshelf near the back wall.
I glanced up, finding rows of prep books for academy classes. There were too many to catch up on tonight with the homework I was given, so I made a mental note to come back here. Before I could glance at many more, the hand that held mine spun me around.
Caleb peered down at me, a gleam in his eyes, locking with mine. My lip pulled into my mouth and at that second, his lips came down to mine. First, a featherlight kiss, like a question. My hands wrapped around his neck and pulled him close, deepening the kiss, like within it was the key to melting off all the stress I’d been holding. His arms wrapped around my lower back as he pressed me against the tall bookshelves.
I kissed that cocky, cheesy grin that had been smiling at me all night, letting myself completely get lost in him. His hands roamed my body, turning us toward the back corner of the library, backing up so my thighs pressed into a side table. He lifted me onto it and stepped between my legs. His firm touch on my chin tipped it up, his tongue caressing mine, frantically and hot, seeking this type of stress relief the same way I was. We were careful to be quiet in the already very silent library.
I didn’t care that we had just met, this was fun and easy with him. He knew I didn’t want to be tied down, and it felt like he thought the same.
A sharp breath pulled into my mouth as his warm touch skimmed under my shirt, his thumb slowly stroking under my ribs. I relaxed after tensing when he didn’t touch the side that was heavily scarred.
He stepped closer. I could feel the erection starting under his pants as he pressed against me. At that same time, I gripped his side, my hand tracing over the front of his stomach, feeling his muscles tighten under my fingertips. He was breathing heavily, his mouth trailed from my swollen lips to my jaw, chasing a line down my neck where his hot breath teased.
I pulled his shirt to bring his mouth back to mine, nipping his lip and feeling that smile curve up in response as he let out a low groan.
I couldn’t explain why, but my magic pulled at me, taking me out of the moment and making me very aware of my surroundings. There wasn’t time to think about it as the staff door, further down the same wall from us, abruptly opened.
Nickolas Ares locked eyes with me the moment he walked in. Even though I was in a dark corner and he was far down the library, past the bookshelves and tables, we stared at each other .
He dressed in a dark knit sweater, his stark white hair brushed back like he had just been in the rain. I knew this wouldn’t help his opinion of me, being found with Caleb standing between my knees and my lips so obviously puffy. His gaze roamed over me quickly, not seeming to care at all about finding two students making out in the library, before landing on Caleb.
The way his eyes narrowed on Caleb, I noticed it was so similar to the way he stared at him in Aura Reading. It didn’t sit well with me. It was like he didn’t trust Caleb, or perhaps there was something between them in their history. Except that Caleb always looked completely oblivious to how much Mr. Ares was watching him.
Mr. Ares acted like he didn’t see us a moment later. Instead, he peered back out of the door leading to the staff housing like he was watching for something. He scanned over the library, quickly stepping out of view, heading toward the classrooms.
Caleb kissed me once more, and I pulled back, glancing up at the clock.
I stepped down and turned until he was between me and the table. “Oh, I didn’t realize how late it was. I should probably start heading back, but I left some notes I wanted to grab before curfew.” Such a lie, he didn’t seem to mind.
The curiosity of the way Mr. Ares had been studying Caleb in Aura Reading and how suspicious he was being tonight got under my skin in a way I couldn’t ignore. Something was pulling at me and not settling right, like maybe he was up to something.
“Can I walk you to your room?” Caleb asked, his hair brushed across his half-lidded eyes, his lips looking sexy so reddened.
I lifted to my toes to whisper in his ear. “Definitely next time.”
The way he bit his lip nearly made me want to take him up on his offer.
I smiled and turned to head from the library to the classrooms.
Curiosity, or this odd nagging feeling, had me deciding to take the long way back to the dorms. If I followed Mr. Ares through the classrooms, it would lead back out to the courtyard, not too far from student services.
His steps echoed off the tiles with his hands casually in his pockets. His pace slowed for a moment, and I ducked into a hall, only to see him continue into his classroom.
As I passed, I caught a glimpse of his brow furrowed, looking at papers on his desk. Maybe he was just a boring professor.