Chapter 7 #2
The main floor reminds me of a cathedral, grand and sacred, with ceilings at least thirty feet high supported by dark wooden beams. Bookshelves stretch in every direction, and tables are spaced evenly throughout, each with small lamps that cast soft, warm light across the aged wood.
Each corner of the room holds a staircase that leads to the upper floors, visible through open balconies that ring the space.
The entire room smells of old paper and leather.
Several students occupy various tables, already studying despite the fact that classes haven’t even begun. Their dedication would be impressive if it weren't slightly intimidating. How difficult are the classes that people are already studying on the Friday evening before they start?
I head upstairs, trying not to stare when I witness a student casually levitate a book from its space on a higher shelf into his hands.
I circle the second level, go up to the next level, then again to reach the top floor.
With each level, there are fewer people, and this one, like the first, has a desk positioned on the wall between two of the staircases.
“Can I help you find something?”
The voice startles me badly enough that I actually jump. I turn to find a man, about my age, emerging from between two bookshelves with a few books stacked in his arms.
“Sorry,” he chuckles, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I shake my head and smile. “No worries. I’m just looking around. Thank you, though.”
“Fair enough.” He grins, a lopsided smile that’s casual yet endearing. “Well, if you change your mind, I’ll be working at the information desk over there all year. My name’s AJ.”
“Good to know. I’m Vivian,” I say. He’s cute in that classically handsome, high school quarterback sort of way.
He must be six feet tall, clearly muscular with his arms straining against his polo sleeves, and his blonde hair falls in careless waves around his temples.
All of that paired with his crooked grin makes him someone who certainly doesn’t have trouble in the dating department.
“Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Vivian. First time in the library?” He tilts his head toward the desk in silent suggestion, and I follow him as he begins to walk in that direction.
“Yeah, is it that obvious?” I joke.
He shrugs as he places the books behind the desk and scribbles something on a sticky note to label the stack.
“I figured you were either new here or confused about where to find a particular book. Most people don’t just stand around in the library.
” He turns briefly to wink at me before returning to digging through a drawer.
Is he flirting with me? If he is, it doesn’t matter.
I’ve known guys like him, men who are handsome and know it and have no qualms about flirting for sport.
“You caught me. I am new, not just to campus, but to… all of this.” I gesture widely.
He raises an eyebrow. “New to magic?”
“Yeah…” my cheeks warm with embarrassment, and I’m not sure why I told him when I made it a point to hide it from the man I spoke to last night. But where Alaric was mysterious and slightly intimidating, AJ is warm and open.
Finishing whatever he was working on, AJ turns his attention toward me fully and, crossing his arms and leaning casually against the wall, regards me with interest. “Hmm, a freshman then?”
I shake my head. “No. I’m doing my master’s degree, but they’re making me take all the magic courses on top of it to catch up and learn my Affinity. I’ll be drowning in credit hours for the foreseeable future.”
“That’s rough,” he agrees. “What’s your major and Affinity, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Botany and Naturalism.”
His face lights up. “No shit! I’m a Naturalist too! Though I’m majoring in Pharmacology with an emphasis on plant medicine and herbalism.”
“That’s actually really cool! Hopefully we’ll have some classes together, then.”
“Got your schedule on you, by chance?”
“Actually, I do.” I dig around in my bag until I find the folded paper that I’ve almost committed to memory by this point and hand it to him.
“Sweet, it looks like we have Plant Physiology and Biochemistry with Dr. Vale together. Oh, and Professor Hagan’s Naturalism Spellwork class. I’ve had her before.”
“Is she tough?”
“Nah. It’s not a blow-off class by any means, but she doesn’t give many assignments outside of class, though that might change for this class. I’ve heard there’s a lot more research involved.”
“What about the other one, Dr. Vale?”
“Never had him before, but I’ve heard of him. He started teaching here last year. Strict, take-no-shit kind of guy. I’m not sure what the workload is like, though.” He hands the schedule back to me.
“Let’s hope I don’t fail miserably at all the magical stuff.” My half-hearted joke falls flat.
“Honestly, don’t worry too much. It’ll probably be hard at first, but you’ll catch up, and most people are pretty understanding.
I didn’t know I had magic until I was seventeen, which is how my brother also discovered he had magic.
We were adopted as babies, so our parents still have no clue.
I assume your family also doesn’t know, given the circumstances? ”
“That would be correct. How did you end up here, then?”
“Same as you, probably. The board has some sort of system that monitors for accidental magic manifestations that are strong enough to be anomalies. One day, my brother and I got into an argument with my dad about him wanting us to stay there in Iowa and work on the farm, while we wanted to go off to college. I ended up storming out of the house, and when my dad tried to follow me, I just got so angry. All I remember thinking was that I wish he’d leave me alone.
Then, before I knew what was happening, rows of corn stalks just popped up from the ground between us like…
well, like magic,” he laughs. “We were both shocked, but somehow I knew I was the one who had made it happen. Got a call that night from the academy, and I probably wouldn’t have believed them except for the fact that they said they’d erased the event from my father’s memory, and sure enough, he had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned it. ”
“That’s so crazy.”
“Yeah, nothing more Iowan than discovering you have magical powers via corn,” he laughs. “How’d it happen for you?”
My stomach twists with the memory, the one I’ve almost been able to forget over the last couple days. “Something similar,” I answer vaguely, “but with tree roots instead of corn.”
“Nice. After I told my brother what had happened, he didn’t believe me, so he and I went outside the next day and tried to make something happen again.
I was able to make the corn grow again—though it was totally screwed up—but it took a while for my brother to do something.
He couldn’t make anything grow, but he was able to move things.
Lifted one of the chickens right off the ground with only his mind. ” AJ chuckles again.
“So your brother attends here too?”
“Yeah. He’s a Materialist, though.”
I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I don’t want to look even more ignorant than I already do, so I don’t ask. I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon enough.
The phone on the desk rings, startling me as it interrupts the moment.
AJ answers it. “Arcadia Academy library, this is AJ.” He’s silent for a moment as he listens to the person on the other end of the line, then pulls out a notebook and pen. “Yeah, I can definitely help with that.” Looking up at me with an apologetic expression, he mouths the word sorry.
Taking that as my cue to leave, I smile and give him a small wave as I head back to the staircase.
I meander through each of the levels for a long while, reading the spines of books and noting what sections are where for the future.
I walk out of the library an hour later feeling considerably more positive than when I’d walked in.
I can already tell that AJ and I will be friends.
His lighthearted attitude, sense of humor, charisma, and openness are exactly what I need to balance out my constant underlying worry and lack of socialization skills.
It’s frustrating that cell phones are useless here, because I would have loved to get his number just to have someone to chat with when I’m stuck in my room with a roommate who hates me. But at least everyone here is in the same boat as me, forced to socialize in person rather than over a screen.
I smile to myself as I meander through campus and replay the interaction with AJ in my head, knowing that now, I’ll at least have one friend to get me through the week.
Maybe even two, if the man from the greenhouse—Alaric—is in any of my classes.
He and AJ couldn’t be more opposite, but I can’t stop thinking about my interactions with either.
And now, with the possibility of actual friendship (as opposed to total ostracization) on the horizon, the thrill of the coming week hits me with full force.
This is a chance at a new life for me, and I’ll be damned if I don’t make the most of it.