Chapter Three

U n s u r p r i s i n g l y, the classes I had chosen this year were unbelievably dull- but with Harlow whispering different facts about magic in every lesson it was more bearable. Harlow sat next to me in every one, including lunch. I swear that girl had no regards for personal space.

"What class do you have next?" Harlow asked innocently, swinging her bag over her shoulder as I stuffed my jumper into mine.

I pulled out my schedule. "Art." I groaned. I wasn't awful at it, but I would have much preferred a music course- I could play the piano if I really wanted to with this new found power, plus people told me I could sing pretty well when I wanted to. "What about you?"

"Theatre." She answered, shaking her head to get the hair out of her eyes, something that I noticed she did continuously. "I'm trying to get into the spring musical, but I freeze up every time I get into stage. Hopefully this class'll help."

"You'll get in." I rested my hand on her shoulder encouragingly. "Besides, you can just use purple and make yourself really confident and amazing?"

She laughed. "Yeah, I guess."

I smiled, my eyes brighter, and followed her through the art wing. I looked around. Student paintings decorated the walls and what sounded like a violin lesson sounded nearby. Harlow stopped by the double doors to the theatre room, and peered at my schedule again. "Your class is upstairs, first door to your right."

I thanked her and we split ways- and like Harlow said, the room was easy to find. Paint pots lined the side wall, pottery wheels were on the other end, and abstract paintings hung from across the back, and the huge windows on the left wall were a big welcome from the stuffy classrooms all my other lessons had been in so far.

My eyes checked over the tables, and they landed on one at the back of the room. Gabriel sat alone, looking down at his phone. As if sensing my gaze, he looked up at me. I blushed hard, my legs shifting.

It seemed as if all of the witches in this school sticked together, so it would make sense for me to sit next to Gabriel, right?

I shook my head to clear the thoughts. Stop making excuses! I'll be fine. I thought, pushing one foot in front of the other and I started walking towards him.

"Hey." I said, pulling out the chair next to him and slipping my bag onto the floor.

"Hi." He didn't look up from his pottery. I sat down next to him, and the smell of his cologne and pine forests washed over me. I closed my eyes to stop myself from doing anything embarrassing like sniffing his hair.

"I'm Aiden." I said even though he probably knew that from how Carlo introduced me today. I decided not to look at him if he wasn't going to look at me. Maybe a little too stubborn, but I wish people wouldn't do that. Manners and proper etiquette are what people severely miss these days. I pulled a piece of clay over and started rolling it into a ball in my hands.

"I'm Gabriel." He said, and I saw him glance at me out of the corner of my eye. My lips twisted up in a smirk in recognition that I had won the battle of wills. I turned my gaze back to his and his silver stare was so intense that I had to blink and look away, a red rash appearing on my neck.

"So, I heard that this' your first time hearing of magic?" He asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

I sighed in silent relief. He had been the one to break the tension, and the one to start conversation. Yes and yes. Double whammy, baby!

"Yeah." I rubbed the back of my neck uncomfortably, before continuing to mould the clay in a replica of Gabriel's. The teacher wasn't here yet, and we were 10 minutes into the lesson so i assumed they weren't coming.

"Did Carlo tell you the reason that we're witches?" He asked, lowering his voice. I glanced around, checking to see if anyone had heard us. A student with red hair cast us a nervous look. I guessed Gabriel had such a commanding presence, or just that he had cast a spell to made them stay away. I looked back at him and I nodded for him to continue. "We have the very diluted blood of Greek Gods."

I jerked my head back, surprised. Like Percy Jackson! Holy frick! "What- like Zeus and Hades and their castle in the sky?"

He nodded, his full lips twisting into a sly grin. "Yep- expect they are called the Olympians and," he used quotation marks. "Their 'castle in the sky' is called Mount Olympus."

"Oh." I said. Then I had a thought. "Are there any other colours that we didn't talk about in class this morning?"

His silver eyes gleamed with knowledge. "Sure." He turned back to his model, and I pressed my lips into a thin line, fingers curling into fists.

"... are you going to tell me?" I demanded, roughly squishing a piece of plastercine against the table under my palm aggressively. God. He's so stubborn. Just like me.

"Yeah." He chuckled at my obvious impatience. "There's black, white and grey energy. White energetic is extremely hard to connect to, though, and no one really knows what it does. Black energy is illegal. There are rumours about what it does, but only the Elders know for sure. Apparently, it tortures the soul, causing a slow and painful death." I shivered at the sound of it. "And grey energy - it confuses people. Makes them forget where they are, disorientate is perhaps a better word."

"Is it illegal? You seem to know a lot about it." I quipped snarkily.

"No... but me and a few others practice sometimes. You know, just so we can defend ourselves from lesser species if they threaten us."

I shut him a startled glance. Lesser species? What the hell? This stuff had really gotten to his head. I pushed a piece of clay into my model, not saying anything. Gabriel noticed my silence, and tensed beside me.

And like that, however painfully so, we remained for the next hour.

***

I pulled my bag over my shoulders and hurried out of that class as soon as possible. I could feel Gabriel's eyes boring into the back of my head, but I didn't give him the satisfaction of turning around.

Maybe he was good looking, but God, that guy was a creep. Humans are the 'lesser species'? I frowned, and took a sharp left turn, pressing myself between two groups of lockers, my heart pounding. Harlow was right to tell me to stay away from him- not that I'd ever give anyone the satisfaction of me saying that. Scarlett could have him for all I cared.

After about 5 minutes of hiding, the ringing in my ears had subsided, and I squeezed from between the lockers, almost running head first into a body.

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, pushing my hands back against his chest and took a step back. "I'm so sorry-"

"It's alright, Aidan." The voice chuckled, and I looked up to see Cassius standing there. His dark black hair surrounded him like an aura, and I was slightly taken aback by his eyes. "That happens to me all the time when woman like yourself throw themselves at me."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Yeah right." I crossed my arms. "What are you doing anyway, Cassius? Shouldn't you be heading home?"

He walked past me, leaving me without an answer, and having to trail after him.

"Call me Ducky." He said when I caught up to him, his long strides taking 2 steps for every one that I took.

"Ducky?" I laughed, cocking my head to the side.

"Yeah." He laughed along with me, then took another right. At this rate, I wouldn't find my way out of this school. "My second name is Mallard. And I hate the name Cassius, so everyone calls me Ducky."

As if on cue, on of the witches in our home room came around a corner towards us.

"Hey Ducky!" She exclaimed, an high-fived him on her way past. Cassius grinned at me triumphantly.

"So what can I call you?" He asked.

"What?" I looked up at him sharply.

"What can I call you? Like a nick name. Like Aid or something."

"Well Aid sounds like AIDS so no thanks." I replied drily. Cassius's face stretched into a grin.

"Okay." He shrugged. "I'll keep thinking."

"Alright." I said, scrambling up a flight of stairs. "'Ducky', where are we going anyway?" He's so annoying.

"Back to our homeroom." He simply said. "I forgot my sketchbook this morning."

"Alright." I said, then blinked. "Why am I here again?"

Cassius opened his mouth to reply, when heavy footsteps echoed against the walls. Cassius and I both turned to see where the sound was coming from, and then Harlow came speeding down the corridor, full pelt at me.

She tackled me onto the floor, and I winced as my tail bone hit the shiny concrete. "Ow." I grumbled, pain booting up my spine.

"Sorry, Aidan." She said breathlessly. "I was looking for you and I took a spike of purple like you said to do for Theatre so I'm a little hyper." She looked up at Ducky. "Oh, Hey Cassius." She smirked.

Cassius face palmed. "Call me Ducky." He whined, pushing open the doors to the library.

Once we made it back to the homeroom, with Harlow and Ducky's arguments kept to whispers.

Cassius knocked on the door, and we opened the door to the classroom. Carlo was in there, hunching over his desk, as he studied a paper. Carlo flinched backward, lifting his head to look at us.

"Aidan." He picked up the paper and slotted it into his briefcase. "I'm glad you're back. I wanted to apologise again for the dramatic way I introduced all of them this to you this morning. I didn't realise you were coming in here knowing nothing."

"It certainly was dramatic." I looked at the board where the writing changed in front of my eyes this morning. "And to be honest, I'm not sure if I believe anything. It seemed very..." I paused, not wanting to say anything he found as insulting.

"Far fetched?" He completed my thought and I nodded. "I wouldn't blame you for thinking that. However, what's your instinct telling you?"

"I mean - I know Connecticut has history in the witch trials, but I think witches are supposed to remain in fairy tales." Hopefully I didn't sound too harsh.

"Give it time." He waved my answer away, and packed up his stuff. "It will make sense, just give it time. After all, you did a fantastic job with harnessing that Yellow Energy today."

"Thanks." I was breathless, gripping the strap of my bag. "How did you know that?"

"I felt it in the room." He said. "It was impossible not to sense it. Well, at least impossible for me. None of the other students are advanced enough to have been able to tell. But that was impressive, especially for a first try. I felt it battling with the other most powerful energy in the room."

I tilted my head. "Who's was that?"

There was a ghost of a smile on his face. "Scarlett. She chose Blue."

I stood there, unsure of what to say I hadn't told anyone what colour I'd chosen that morning, and I doubted Scarlett did too. How did Carlo know?

"We're just here to get Cassius' sketchbook," Harlow spoke up. "And then we'll be out of your hair."

"Right." Carlo picked up the khaki green notepad on his desk and handed it to Cassius.

"Now, I'll see you all tomorrow for homeroom." He politely dismissed is, and I turned tail and walked away with Harlow and Ducky after saying goodbye.

I stepped out of the building, and scratched the back of my neck. "I'll see you guys tomorrow then?"

Cassius nodded by Harlow thrust her hand into the air. "Wait." She said, urgency in her tone. "What's that noise?"

Votes, comments and shares would be great! Thank you!