Magic Academy (A Fantasy New Adult Romance) (19 page)

“It’s a nice time together
with the only other human you know anymore,” he said with a
cheerful smile, gesturing to the blanket. “I figured if I could
share this secret with anyone, it’d be you, Firia.”

“Well, thanks,” she said as
she sat down, crossing her legs beneath her heavy robe. She’d
been fretting about it all morning, about what he knew. About how
much she could admit to him. Everyone kept saying she was so special,
but coming here had made her feel anything but. She was struggling
just to understand things that the other students had been taught
since they were kids.

“I mean, it is really nice here.
How’d you find it?”

Seating himself beside her, he laid out
the offered food. “I knew where to look,” he said with a
wry grin. “Though, might I add, you look lovely today, Firia,”
he remarked with a confident smile as he looked to her.

Unlike those she grew up with, Bran had
a certain air of formality about him, something that seemed to come
from training, or at least practice.

She suppressed a self-disparaging
laugh, pulling her book into her lap and opening it up, even as she
looked to the food with interest. She was surprised how much her
appetite had grown since being surrounded by food. She still couldn’t
eat a lot at once, but she felt like she was constantly chewing
something.

“You really went all out.”
She ignored his complement entirely, seeing it as just another
nicety.

“It’s nothing,” he
remarked without hesitation, beginning to snack. “Fortunately I
had the apprenticeship of a magician before I came to the academy. It
helped prepare me for the trials we face now. And as you know, our
kind need all the help we can get, or else those elvish bastards will
never let us live it down.” He gave her a broad grin.

Her shoulders softened and she nodded
gently. “How’d you manage to get that?” It was so
beyond her reach growing up she’d never even considered it an
option.

“A wizard took interest in me
when I was young, I was told. So tutoring was covered for me, and I
was placed in a magical immersion program. I was surrounded by elves,
but everyone except us children were magicians of a sort. You can
pick up a lot that way.”

“I can only imagine.” It
sounded amazing, and she felt that dark jealousy turn in her stomach.
He tried to act like they were the same, that they had to stick
together, but she had far more in common with Mae’lin in that
regards. Bran was just as pampered as the other elves, and the envy
made her squirm.

They ate in quiet until Bran finally
broke the silence. “You’re still learning the arcane
syllabary I see?” he asked, indicating her book.

“Uh…” she glanced
down and felt her face redden. “Yea. It wasn’t taught to
me. Obviously, or I wouldn’t be learning it now,” she
replied, flustered.

Bran looked a little surprised but then
took her notepad from her and studied it. “Aha, here,” he
said, taking hold of her pen then correcting something. “I know
technically it means ‘consume,’ but in practice it really
means destroy. It’s an important distinction,” he said
with a genuine smile. “I can help you learn this. It’s
like a second language to me now.”

She studied the letter, pursing her
lips to the side. “Well… good, because I’m pretty
sure it needs to be a second language to me, like, last month. Or six
months ago.” It was so frustrating how far behind she was, and
she took a deep breath.

With a laugh he got up then shifted
across to sit beside her, shoulder to shoulder. “Well, I don’t
know if I can be that quick of a teacher, but… with some extra
time and effort, I can get you there soon I think.” With his
strong jaw jutted out, he gave her a confident smile. “Now
let’s run through some practices,” he said.

He was speaking
her
language,
and she nodded eagerly. If there was one thing she excelled at, it
was studying. Still, she had a lot of years to catch up on.

Lunch was too short for her liking, but
as they finished up he smiled to her, handing back her book. “Meet
me again tonight. We’ll have a late dinner, just you and me,”
he stated firmly. “We can squeeze in a nice bit of time
together before curfew kicks in.”

She didn’t argue, just gave him a
nod. She felt like she was making some headway at least, and it was
better than the blind leading the blind. She couldn’t wait to
show Mae’lin what she’d learned, and she smiled broadly
at Bran. “Sure, alright.”

Bran put a hand on her shoulder and
guided her out the exit. Before rounding the corner he smiled and
said, “We’re in this together now. Remember that. I’ll
help you, and together we’ll rise to the top of this place. The
first human pairing to truly make a name for themselves in magic,
that could be our future.” He gave her a broad smile and a wink
as he headed off, “See you tonight.”

He really believed it. She let out a
soft laugh of disbelief. Did his desire to see more humans
represented in the Academy really mean that much to him? Still, it
was quickly forgotten as she ran off to her next class, filled with
excitement that she hadn’t felt in far too long.

The final class of the day always ended
up being so trying. Firia paired off with Ala’nase for the
practice assignment, the immense court giving plenty of room for the
pairs of young magicians to work.

“Be warned, I have some practice
at this,” cautioned her friend as she held up her hands. The
practice for the day was with telekinesis, and using it upon another
sorceress. “It’s kind of like arm wrestling. We practice
our strength against one another, except the goal isn’t to win
here. The goal is to push ourselves as hard as we can without
overpowering the other.”

Of course Ala’nase would have
practice with this. It was getting so discouraging being surrounded
by people who had so much more experience and knowledge than she.
Part of her found it inspiring, the push she needed to keep trying so
hard, but the other half of her was just getting so frustrated by
what a gaping head start the others had.

Even Bran.

“Well… thanks for the
heads up.”

“That’s what friends are
for!” she said with a smile, just a moment before Firia felt
the invisible pressure begin to build and she had to press back with
the spell she had only just learned. And barely.

“Easy now,” cautioned the
elf as she adjusted her own spell. “You’re a powerful
sorceress, for you this’ll be about control, not force.”

Perhaps Firia was better than she
realized at this.

She thought back to the competition
with Mae’lin and felt a small rush of panic. She couldn’t
control that, but now she had developed her skills. Gotten more
training. Surely she could control herself – and the magic –
better now.

Firia felt her own power radiate out in
uneven waves, whereas Ala’nase’s was so controlled,
directed. “I wish I had your talent for this,” explained
the dark-skinned elf, exhaling a bit as they tested themselves
against one another. “We’ll be in for a bruising once
you’re caught up on the basic stuff,” she said with a
playful smile.

Firia felt pride begin to well up
inside her, the warmth flooding through her. Confidence slowly edged
into her consciousness and she stood a bit taller. “Hopefully
it won’t take too long to catch up on a lifetime of learning.”

With a sweet smile – that
happened to twitch a bit at the corner from her struggle to keep up –
Ala’nase said, “I could help, you know. I…
would’ve offered sooner, but…” she laughed a bit
awkwardly. “You’re such a promising sorceress, better
than me, and I didn’t want to embarrass you.” She added
on quickly, “Not that you should be!”

“What are you talking about? You
don’t even need to pay attention in class. You’re always
ahead of everything,” Firia retorted.

Ala’nase gave an awkward laugh,
trying to carry on the conversation as they maintained their delicate
balance. “Well that’s the thing. I know this stuff, but…
that doesn’t mean I have the potential to use it as well as you
do, Firia. There’s more to sorcery than just memorizing
instructions and spell patterns.”

“But without that, then they
could have me reported as being dangerous.” She thought of her
dad for a brief moment, wondering if he was still trapped in some
jail cell. He’d helped her get to this place, and she wasn’t
going to screw it up by being deemed a danger!

“I know,” replied the elf
with a sigh. “That’s why I want to help you if you let
me. I’d hate to lose my best friend, and have to go it alone at
the academy day in, day out from now on. So what do you say? I can
help you study. Heck, our rooms aren’t even far apart so
there’s not much of a commute.”

“I’d like that.” She
paused. “Hey Ala, are you any closer to figuring out how to
break curfew?”

“I wish.” She grimaced.
“That’s something that takes both finesse and power, I’m
afraid. Apparently most students don’t manage to do that until
year three. So it’s a long haul ahead for me I’m afraid,”
she said with a sigh.

Firia’s nose crinkled. “That’s
just cruel.” She didn’t really have that long to wait, so
hopefully Luka would be able to… zoom past three years of
intensive training and study. Varuj had given her such a head start,
and she felt like she could really use another boost.

Though quickly she tried to push away
the thought, for as soon as she was reminded of him, she started to
turn red from the memory of the dream she had. It felt so real…

More than that, her powers had flared
up and Ala’nase looked about to pass out in her effort to
resist. “Firia!” she squeaked out as she wavered beneath
her telekinetic assault.

Firia gasped, staring wide eyed at her
friend. “Sorry, sorry!” She had to get control of her
thoughts, and she took a deep breath before biting in her lip. “Are
you okay?”

“How about we take a break?”
she managed, and she looked about ready to pass out as they both
released their magical tension. “Wow,” she said with a
sigh, her chest heaving. “I need to help you get caught up just
so you’re not a danger to me!” she said with a laugh, not
aware of how close to home that joke struck until it was said.
“S-sorry.”

Firia’s face fell and she looked
towards the ground sheepishly. “I’m really sorry Ala. I
got lost in thought…”

“C’mon,” she said
with a sigh as Firia came and helped her along. “Let’s
duck out. I’ll help you with that some more later. For now I
think we’ve gotten about as much practice as I can handle,”
she remarked.

Firia swept her black bangs from her
face, a nervous habit she’d almost kicked since coming to the
Academy. Now she just felt like she wanted to hide into a hole. Why’d
that dream have to make her so… unstable? She’d barely
been able to look at Mae’lin, but that was only half the
problem.

Was it actually Varuj intruding upon
her dreams?

Despite Ala’nase’s generous
offer, Firia had an appointment to meet with Bran. She stopped at her
room on her way out.

Immediately the light show that was her
familiar spilled out of the room and she had to slip inside and shut
the door. She could feel the magic, its presence and the ongoing
battle rippling out. She immediately noticed one of the wards was no
longer present, and then – with a thunderous crackle –
she witnessed the flash of arcane energy as another gave way to
Luka’s assault.

Excitement flooded her. Maybe this was
really it. Luka was getting closer, and it wouldn’t be long
before they were all taken care of. She wanted to stay, to watch, to
try to help, but she knew that it would still take a torturously long
time if she watched.

“Way to go, Luka.” She
smiled brightly at her familiar.

There was no response from her
embattled familiar, just the undulating lights that threaded about in
a war of sorcery.

As she worked her way through the
student’s lodge, she passed off the smiling Mae’lin. “Hey
Firia,” he said softly, approaching her so enthusiastically. “I
know you said you had to do something else today, but I was thinking
tonight while I study I’ll put together a little exam for you.
I figure that way we’ll both benefit from it even while you’re
away.”

For a moment she tried to shy away, to
go unseen. All she could think of was the way his hands felt against
her, the way his mouth tasted. Her pulse quickened and she had to
stop herself from just running by him.

That was what the old Firia would have
done, but that wasn’t who she was any more.

“An exam?” He’d
proposed in the dream. Or at least said he was going to. She fidgeted
to her other foot. “What kind?”

“Just some questions about the
arcane syllabary,” he said so pleasantly. He didn’t have
the calm composure that Bran did, so he fidgeted a bit with his
hands. The tall, lanky elf glowed positivity however, in a way she
could never quite imagine her fellow human doing. “I’ll
really grill you. So make sure you don’t forget what you’ve
learned, okay?”

She’d never seen Mae’lin
without his shirt on, yet after the dream it was spectacularly easy
to imagine it.

Another rush of excitement teased her
veins and her loins and she nodded a bit too quickly, trying to move
past him as she spoke. “Absolutely! Make it hard…”
She nearly choked on her own words.

As she exited into the night the rush
of cool air was a welcome calmative.

Firia set off to find Bran. She was
barely outside the building when he took hold of her arm and spun her
about to face him. “There you are,” he said with a broad
smile. “Ready for dinner, m’lady?” he asked with
that curious air of charm and grace that seemed so out of place on
another human.

She gasped when he touched her, her
heart nearly stopped from the fright. She’d been so lost in
thought and her face flushed as she nodded. She just hoped he
couldn’t see what she’d been thinking of.