Chapter 8
Anja
The dining hall is buzzing with chatter, though I don't know how when it's so early in the morning. I rub my eyes, trying not to let the lost sleep of the past few nights get to me too much. At least there hasn't been any more sleepwalking. Or if there has, it's only led me back to my bed.
"I like your hair," Nati says, reminding me that I'm not coming to breakfast alone.
"Thanks." I touch the loose strands of silver-white, trying not to feel the familiar surge of self-consciousness that comes with them.
I know I could use my handheld mirror to message Mum and ask her for another potion to dye it, but I don't see the point if it's just going to turn back to its natural shade every time I have a dream.
Especially as they seem to be happening every single night now.
Which means that it's time to embrace my natural colour.
I catch sight of Cethin across the room, and he looks up, as if he can feel me watching.
My breath catches in my throat and my heart starts to race in response to his attention. Maybe it's a crush, but it feels like so much more than that. Without fully realising what I'm doing, I wave to him. He returns the gesture, making my heart skip a beat.
"Eurgh, could you be more obvious?" Nati mutters. "Come on, I'm starving, and the gluten-free croissants are surprisingly good."
"I don't think I'm going to be swapping my proper versions for them any time soon," I respond without taking my attention off Cethin. A small part of me wants to go over and sit with him, but I don't think Nati will be okay with that.
"You could just ask him on a date," Nati says.
"What?" I look at my friend.
She rolls her eyes. "Cethin. You spend most meals watching him."
"You're making me sound creepy." I sit down on one of the empty benches, purposefully making sure my back is facing Cethin so I can't look at him. I regret it almost instantly.
"It's fine, he's clearly into it." She sits down beside me and grabs one of the croissants from the gluten-free plate.
"And that makes it not creepy?"
She shrugs and ladles an obscene amount of jam onto her plate. She starts tearing the pastry to pieces so she can dip it into it. "I'm just saying. You could save us all the hassle of watching the two of you yearn for each other if you just ask him on a date. I'm surprised he hasn't asked you."
"Maybe he doesn't want that," I say, my mind going back to the other night.
She snorts. "Yeah, and I don't have snakes for hair. I'm so certain that if he says no, I'll cut Frank's head off."
An alarmed hiss comes from the nest of snakes.
I let out an amused chuckle. "She doesn't mean it, Frank."
"Oh, I do." She stuffs a piece of croissant into her mouth.
I take the opportunity to get myself some of the delicious-looking pastries. It's times like this when I'm particularly glad I don't have Nati's dietary restrictions.
"Where would I even go on a date?" I muse.
My friend gives me a look that says she's got me.
"I'm being hypothetical," I murmur, even though it's a bit of a lie.
"Uh-huh. Like you hypothetically came back to the flat wearing his jacket the other night?" Amusement fills her voice. "You gave Sophia a fright when you came in unexpectedly."
I groan. "I told you, I was sleepwalking and he found me."
"Which is an inventive excuse, I'll give you that."
"Nothing happened," I respond. "He made me some tea, we flirted a bit, but then he shut down and ran off. Hardly the behaviour of someone who's interested in me."
"Maybe. Or he might have had a good reason to run away. Did you talk about forever, or anything foolish like that?"
"Of course not."
"Maybe he was just trying to control himself," she responds.
I frown and tear off the outside of my pastry so I can eat it. "I don't know what that would even mean."
"He's a dark warlock, right?"
I nod. "That's what he said."
"I've heard rumours about what happens when they lose control. It's not pretty."
"Oh?" I eat some of my pastry, trying to work out why the ominous statement doesn't fill me with much dread.
"If you want to know more, you probably have to ask him," she says. "I don't really know much more than rumours, but I've heard people around the academy talking about it. Their eyes glow and everything."
"That's just when he does magic," I respond. "The eye-glowing thing. Whenever he does a spell, they glow purple."
"Maybe it's nothing." She grabs another croissant. "But maybe it's not. I mean, you've seen one aspect of my magic, but you haven't been turned into stone." She gestures towards her hair.
"How are you avoiding that, by the way?"
"Gorgon secrets." She taps her nose.
I snort. "Really?"
"Yep. Can't tell you how I avoid turning people into stone. You might decide that the best thing to do is to use me against your enemies."
"That seems like a stretch."
"You haven't told me the secrets of your magic," she points out.
"That's because they're so secret that even I don't know them. The only thing I can guess is that something about it makes me sleepwalk."
"Maybe you're a Nightmare," she muses.
"A what?"
"A Nightmare," she repeats.
"Yes, I heard you. I just don't know what that is."
"Oh, they're supposed to sit on people's chests while they're asleep and bring them bad dreams." The way she says it makes it sound as if it's no big deal.
"That's horrific." But why else would I have been out of bed after hours? I dismiss the train of thought. I'm not giving other people nightmares, I'm having them myself, which is a whole different thing. I hope.
"There'll be ways to control it if you are one," she assures me. "You're not going to go around attacking people who don't deserve it."
"I doubt anyone would deserve it," I point out.
"Maybe your warlock's friend," she mutters, almost rolling her eyes in the process. "I wouldn't mind you making his nights terrible."
I snort. "You could do that yourself if you turned him into stone."
"Don't think I haven't threatened to, he just makes crude jokes about how he's already rock hard."
A laugh bursts from me, and I hastily cover my mouth with my hand. "Sorry, it's just that one is kind of funny."
She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it's funny the first time. But I've been hearing those kinds of comments since before I should even have known what they meant."
"Sorry."
She shrugs. "Not your fault that people are idiots. But if you're going to make jokes about my abilities, just make sure they're better than that."
"I promise I won't make one."
"That's all I ask. And if you do end up dating Cethin, maybe get him to have a word with his friend about that. I'd be much more amenable to flirting if he was at least creative about it."
"I'll make sure to casually drop that into the conversation I'm definitely not going to have."
Nati sighs. "Fair enough. Are you done? We should get going so we're not late." She nods towards my plate.
"Yeah." I push my empty plate back, still feeling a little guilty about just leaving it, even if that's what we're supposed to do.
I get to my feet and look over to where Cethin is sitting, disappointed to realise he's already gone. I guess I'll just be counting down the hours until our Potions class later.