Eternity (5 page)

“Actually, I
have no idea.”

“It’s energy
that emanates from within you and surrounds you. Not very many
people have the ability to see it. Those of us who do see it in
colors. Those colors vary based on your emotions, though everyone
has a predominate color that is the basis of their personality.
It’s like seeing a part of someone’s soul. The reason I never told
you is not because I don’t trust you. It’s because I didn’t think
you would be comfortable knowing the fact that I can see so much
about you that you think is hidden.”

“Yeah, I guess
that is a scary thought. Just how much do you know, anyway?” Jack
shifted, and I lifted my head from his shoulder so I could see his
face. He was frowning.

“Don’t worry
about it,” I said. “It doesn’t really change a thing.”

“Sure,
nothing’s changed for you; you’ve known all along. It kind of
changes things for me though. Really, I want to know how much you
know.” Jack was getting anxious.

“How much I
know about what?” I asked.

Jack paused,
and I thought he wouldn’t answer. I could tell that this was hard
for him. “I want to know how much you know about how I feel about
you,” he finally answered, turning pink.

“Probably best
if you don’t ask.”

“It’s that bad,
huh?”

“Jack, it’s not
bad. It really isn’t good, either. You’re my best friend, and I’d
like it to stay that way.”

“I see.”

“Jack -”

“Jules, don’t
worry about me,” he said, smiling. The expression didn’t quite meet
his eyes. “Our friendship is important to me too. I don’t want to
do anything that would jeopardize it.”

We fell silent.
I could hear the birds waking up in the forest, singing their
morning songs. It did nothing to keep the sadness from my heart.
Hurting Jack was the last thing I wanted to do, but he needed to
know I didn’t feel the same way, especially because I could
eventually meet someone I did love. I hoped it wouldn’t break his
heart if that happened. I hoped that some other girl would come
along and win his affection.

Eventually we
got up and went to breakfast together. It was wonderful to be able
to spend time with him again, and I was struck by how much I needed
him to keep me happy. He could always make me laugh. By the end of
the meal I felt much better than I had when I woke up that
morning.

Chapter 6

After breakfast
we went back to the north wing, and we were surprised to find that
the common room was now filled with racks of clothing. Upon closer
inspection I realized that it wasn’t just ordinary clothing. Some
of the racks were full of sparkling ball gowns of all shapes and
sizes, and others were full of pieces of elegant suits. A short
middle-aged woman with frizzy hair was directing people around the
racks. I could see a few girls who were trying on dresses, coming
out into the common room to get opinions from their friends. There
were a few guys trying on suits as well. A tall vampire stood in
the corner looking quite elegant in a black tuxedo, and he was
talking to the girl who had looked at me the day before. She looked
at me again, but I was distracted when the woman with frizzy hair
came up to me and Jack.

“Ah, you two
must be new students. Come, try on some evening wear. You can
borrow whatever you’d like for the opening ball. Dresses are on the
right and suits are on the left. Shoes are on the shelves.” She
pointed them out to us, and then hurried off to answer a girl’s
question about the length of a gown. She looked a little frazzled,
but she was clearly enjoying herself.

“Well, this
should be interesting,” Jack said.

“At least we no
longer have to worry about what we’re going to wear,” I said
cheerfully. I couldn’t help but be a little excited since I had
never really dressed up before.

“I wasn’t
worried in the first place,” Jack said, shrugging. I rolled my
eyes.

We split up and
went to opposite sides of the room to browse through the clothes. I
quickly found a few dresses to try on and hurried off to the
bathroom attached to the room I was sleeping in. The other girls
were already in there trying on dresses themselves, except for one
who looked like she had just gotten out of bed.

The first dress
I tried on was pale pink. It had a simple sequined bodice, but the
skirt was full and made of countless layers of a very light fabric
that almost seemed to float. When I stood in front of the mirror I
could see the other girls looking at me with envy, but I didn’t
really like the dress. It was too tight in the chest, and I thought
it made me look like a fairy. All it needed was some glittery
wings.

The second
dress I tried on was much different. It was made of dark green
velvet, with a square neckline and long sleeves. It fit well, but I
thought it would look better on someone with red hair. I certainly
had the fair complexion of someone with red hair, but my hair was a
shade of blond so pale that it almost looked white. The dark color
didn’t suit me well.

I tried on yet
another dress. It was a gold and sparkly ball gown. I looked in the
mirror and immediately decided against it. I looked like a gold
disco ball.

Feeling
dejected, I walked back to the common room and returned the dresses
to their racks. The woman with the frizzy hair came up to me.

“Any luck? No?
That’s surprising. You would look marvellous in a canvas sack, but
I can understand the need to find the perfect dress. In fact, I
think I know what would be perfect for you.” She rummaged around
for a minute before pulling out a mass of black lace and shoving it
into my arms. “Go try it on,” she ordered, giving me a slight push
toward my room. She followed after me, apparently quite excited to
see the dress on me.

She was right,
it was perfect. It was mermaid style, hugging my body at the top
and flowing out at the bottom. It was completely covered in black
lace, and had a sweetheart neckline and sleeves that covered little
more than my shoulders. The black contrasted my fair skin and hair
quite perfectly and made my blue eyes stand out more than usual. I
had always thought that my eyes were rather peculiar, since the
irises were a bright but pale blue surrounded by a ring of dark
blue. Of course, the color of my hair was somewhat unusual as
well.

The woman
surveyed me with satisfaction. “That is definitely the dress for
you, darling. We just need to get you some shoes. Stay here a
minute and I’ll go find some. What size do you wear?”

I told her and
she hurried off, only to return a minute later with a pair of black
heels. They went perfectly with the dress, and I found I could walk
in them without too much trouble. Her job complete, the lady left
to help someone else. I changed back into my old jeans and t-shirt,
and I put the dress away, careful not to wrinkle it.

When I went
back to the common room to find Jack, there was a burly-looking man
there who was calling out names and handing out large packages to
everyone. He called my name, and I went over to accept my
package.

“What is it?” I
asked the man.

“School
uniforms,” he told me.

I found Jack
and saw that he also had a package. We opened them together and saw
that they were, indeed, school uniforms. They were the same as what
I had seen Michael wearing the day before. There were several pairs
of black pants and, for me at least, black skirts. I also had a few
black sweaters with patterns on them in green, purple, or both, and
I figured they were the school colors. There were also a couple of
blouses which were purple or green. The packages also included
black shoes and a few other things. Overall the clothes were rather
stylish, and certainly nicer than anything I owned. There was a
note that came in the package that explained that uniforms were to
be worn during class hours, but we could wear what we wanted after
classes and on weekends.

“I was talking
to someone yesterday about uniforms,” Jack told me. “He said that
the school isn’t too strict about them. I think you can wear
whatever shoes you want. They just give us shoes in case we don’t
have any that would go with the uniform.”

“I’m kind of
glad that we get uniforms. It’s not like we have anything nice to
wear anyway,” I commented. Jack nodded in agreement. “I wonder how
they knew our sizes.”

“Magic, I
suppose,” Jack said, and we both grinned.

Having all of
that over with, we decided to explore the grounds. The weather was
calm and still fairly warm, so we were comfortable. We learned from
Sydney, who we met on our walk, that there was a small lake to the
south through the woods that we were allowed to go to and swim in,
but she cautioned us about the woods to the north.

“There’s a
cliff about a kilometre in,” she explained to us. “We’re not really
supposed to go out there because it’s really dangerous and kind of
sudden. I heard it’s like at least two hundred feet high, but I’ve
never been there myself.”

“Is the water
warm in the lake this time of year?” Jack asked.

“I don’t think
it’s ever particularly warm, but it should be tolerable. Most
people prefer to swim in the pool anyway. That’s where I’m heading
now, actually. You guys want to come?”

“Nah,” I said,
taking in a deep breath of fresh air. “I’d rather stay outside for
a while. Maybe later.” Jack nodded in agreement and we said goodbye
to Sydney and continued our walk. The grounds were quite nice, and
the air smelled different than it did in Washington. It was
refreshing.

We ended up
eating lunch with Michael, since he sat down with us. I could tell
that Jack didn’t like him much at first, and he kept giving him
dirty looks, though Michael didn’t notice. After a few minutes
Michael’s charm won him over. At least, I thought that was it. It
might have had something do with the fact that he seemed to realize
I had no interest in Michael. By the time we finished lunch they
were talking and laughing like old friends.

We spent most
of the afternoon in the library, which contained an astounding
number of books about magic. I couldn’t wait to read as many as I
could. I even managed to find a book about auras, which pretty much
confirmed everything I already knew. It didn’t say what having a
white aura meant, but I hoped I would find a book that would.

While I went
around the shelves with a silly excited smile on my face, Jack sat
in a comfy chair and looked through a book about wildlife, which
contained more pictures than text. Occasionally he would look up at
me and shake his head in amusement, and that would only make me
smile more as I grabbed book after book off the shelves to add to
my growing pile of reading material.

I already knew
I was going to love this school.

Chapter 7

We had to be at
the cafeteria before five o’clock that evening for orientation. We
all changed into our new school uniforms before we headed there. A
woman met us in the foyer who introduced herself as Georgia Hughes,
and told us to call her Georgia. She was a witch, and I figured she
was probably a teacher, though she didn’t say. She directed the
returning students to go in and sit down, and the new students to
wait out in the foyer with her.

“I feel like I
have to go in there and sit under the sorting hat,” Jack whispered
to me. I smiled.

When we were
finally ushered in I realized that he wasn’t too far from the
truth. We were all led up to the far end of the room, in front of
the platform. There were a few older looking people standing there
staring down at us.

“Silence,
please,” called a severe-looking older woman who stood in front of
the podium. I realized that she was the headmaster. Everyone in the
room obeyed her almost instantly. “Thank you, and welcome to
another year at Winterwood Academy. My name is Virginia Bainbridge.
Those of you who are returning should know how this night works,
but I must explain it to the new students.

“You will first
be sorted into your respective groups by Mr. Wilcox and Mrs.
Espenas. We will then eat. After dessert has been finished, the new
students will receive their room assignments, and everyone will get
a sheet of paper with a list of courses on it. The ones that are
required will be in bold, and there will be a description beside
each course name. You will all choose your courses, with a minimum
of three and a maximum of seven. It is most often recommended to
take five. After we have finished with that matter of business, a
few speeches will be made and then the night will be over. Don’t
forget that there will be a ball tomorrow night starting at seven
o’clock in the ballroom. Classes will not start for another four
days as we organize everyone’s schedules and wait for last minute
arrivals.

“And now, I
have held your attention for long enough. Mr. Wilcox will now
address you.”

Mr. Wilcox
happened to be an ancient-looking man dressed in a grey wool suit
that hung off his skeletal frame. He moved very slowly but with
surprising grace up to the podium. A younger woman stood close
behind him, who I assumed to be Mrs. Espenas. She had very dark
curly hair that was poorly tamed, and she was wearing a dress that
reminded me of Easter.

Mr. Wilcox
called out all our names, one by one, in alphabetical order. Once
the student was up on the platform, he would proclaim that they
were either a vampire, werewolf, witch/wizard, or hero, and what
wing they would live in. The vampires lived in the north wing, the
witches and wizards in the east wing, the heroes in the south wing,
and the werewolves in the west wing. The process only took a few
seconds for each person, and I wasn’t paying much attention because
I was nervous. The only name I paid attention to was Jack’s, and he
was put in werewolf class, as expected. I almost wished that I was
a werewolf so that we could be in the same wing as him, but when I
remembered the temper that seemed to come with being one I quickly
changed my mind.