Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Breakfast was always a calm experience. Most of the students were too tired to talk, and those who did, did so quietly.
It was my favorite time of day, this time with my family and friends before we had to go to our classes.
Casey sat in front of me, Harpy next to him.
Nym had sat next to me this morning, apparently no longer angry with me, or so I hoped.
I hated when he got into his hissy fits, as I liked to call them.
His dragon form was often the reason for his anger.
The emotions would slowly take over and turn a small thing into this huge annoyance.
I’d learned that growing up with him. He got better once he hit his teens, funnily enough.
Almost as if he and his dragon had meshed together, sort of becoming one.
“Another failed date, I take it?” Nym drawled while peeling his orange. He’d taken a liking to them recently. I had no idea why, but he had them every morning.
I scoffed. “Why are you so against me finding my mate? I wasn’t this overbearing with you and Harpy.”
“I knew Harpy was mine,” he gloated. “There was no need for you to be overbearing.”
I rolled my eyes, focusing on my oatmeal. It had fresh fruit and honey on it, the perfect morning treat.
“Don’t be so hard on him,” Myve, my cousin said, bumping into Nym’s other side. “Not all of us have superior dragon senses.”
“Thank you, Myve,” I said, shooting her a smile behind Nym’s back.
“I got you, boo,” Myve sang, making us all laugh, even Nym cracked a smile.
“Hi, Casey,” a redheaded guy said, standing awfully close to Casey’s seat.
“I was wondering if you wanted to fly with me later today? Perhaps after classes?” The guy seemed really nervous, like maybe he didn’t enjoy flying?
I had no idea what his shifted form was.
Considering Casey was a raven shifter, he would likely be another bird for them to be able to fly around together.
Harpy looked at me, then hurried to give Nym a look I couldn’t quite decipher. Casey gaped at the redhead, then composed himself and smiled at the guy, making my stomach tie itself into knots. I didn’t like seeing my friend smile at others like that.
“That sounds fun,” Casey said, sounding genuine. I suddenly didn’t like the thought of the two of them spending time together, but I couldn’t very well tell Casey that. He might like whatever-his-name-was and I wouldn’t stand in the way of his happiness. Casey deserved to be happy. Always.
The guy broke into a beaming smile. “Great! I’ll meet you at the bench near the forest.”
“Deal,” Casey grinned back, waving as the guy left us.
“Who’s that?” Myve asked, staring after the redheaded guy as he went back to his friends, all of them patting him on the shoulder and congratulating him. He must really hate flying.
“His name is Riddick,” Casey replied, looking shy. “I hadn’t known he was interested in me like that.”
“Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “Why do you think he’s interested?”
Everyone stared at me in disbelief, but not Casey. No, he looked hurt. “Why wouldn’t he be interested?” Casey asked, his tone a mere whisper.
I hurried to correct myself, not wanting to be the reason Casey looked like a kicked puppy. “He just wanted to fly, right? How do you know he might be interested in more? He didn’t ask for a date.”
“It was implied!” Harpy snapped. For some reason, Harpy looked like he wanted to gut me.
“How?” I asked, staring in disbelief at my friends and family as they all seemed to think I was the slow one in the group.
Myve was the one to answer. “He looked adorably nervous when he asked. It’s all about what’s being said between the lines, Jamie.”
I rubbed at my forehead. “Why can’t people just say the word date?”
“Is that really what got you so confused?” Nym questioned, giving me the same odd look he’s been giving me this past week.
“Egh,” I said, waving him off. “It’s too early for this. I’m going to class.”
I followed the light that always showed me where to go, the one only I could see as I made my way to the first class of the day.
It led me upstairs, then down a hall I’d never ventured to before.
I stopped in front of a big wooden door.
The handle was a blackened metal grip that looked ancient.
That was saying something in a school that seemed to have existed forever.
I turned the handle, knowing full well that I was allowed.
The light had guided me after all, even if it seemed naughty in some way.
The door creaked open and inside sat an elderly man, a glass bowl in front of him with a goldfish in it that shifted between all colors of the rainbow.
It emitted a glow, making the whole room shine in rays of colors.
The glass reflected each pass it made, like pure sunshine shone from its body.
“Um, hello?” I said, noticing that the man had yet to pay me any attention.
I ventured further into the room, noticing as the door closed behind me that no other students were in the hallway.
That had never happened to me before. Normally we were between twenty to fifty in a class, depending on what it was.
A raspy male voice spoke next, the tone calm. “Sit down, Jamie.”
It was an order, a clear one, so I sat in front of the man, the bowl with the fish between us.
“What color do you see?” he asked, still not looking at me.
“All of them,” I answered, looking at the fish with admiration.
“Good, now, think of the last time you were happy.”
I thought back to breakfast, then skipped past that to last night’s swim with Casey. I’d laughed more than I could remember ever doing. I’d felt free too, like I had nothing to worry about, nothing to fear.
“What color do you see now?” he asked.
The goldfish was purple, a dark pure purple. The scales glittered as it swam. It looked black sometimes, the shine was the only thing that proved it wasn’t.
“Purple and maybe black?” I said, watching how the goldfish continued to move around in a practiced glide, seamlessly following the same motion, over and over again.
This time he looked at me. “Fascinating.”
He didn’t say anything else, just stared at me with his grey eyes. It was creepy, not gonna lie.
“I’m Ulysis,” he said then, smiling. “I’m working on mating bonds and how they form. I’m not a teacher, but every student will see me during their time here, letting me pick their brains.”
“Oh,” I said, not really sure what to say in a situation like that. “Did I pass?”
He tilted his head. “Pass?”
I moved my finger in a circle. “You know, did I pass whatever test you made?”
He chuckled low. “Young man, I was merely testing if you’d met your mate already, and you have.”