Spoilers Ahead! This story follows the Luca Plotline, LOOSELY, and will contain spoilers.

Dragon's Touch Series Book 1

The Tower of Sorrow.

Chapter 2.

Katarina made her way to the library where she intended to study for her upcoming exam in Practical Magic. Schuyler's tests were the most difficult of all the classes and she wanted to be fully prepared. Finding an empty table, Kat spread her books out and began to take notes. A group of three giggling girls entered and sat at the table behind her.

"He's sooo cute!" One whispered loudly.

"I know! I can't believe he's a teacher!" the next said.

"Don't these humans know you're supposed to be quiet in a library?" Raine protested from Kat's shoulder.

Katarina wasn't trying to listen in, but the girls weren't exactly quiet and it was hard not to. By the sound of it, it seemed they were talking about Professor Merkulova. He was the hot topic of the day, after all.

"What did he say to you? You two talked for like, ten minutes."

"He introduced himself and remarked on my familiar," the third girl said. "He seemed really interested in her and wanted to know how we communicated."

"Maybe he wants a familiar of his own."

Katarina sighed, knowing that as long as those girls were gossiping she wouldn't get any work done. Packing up her books, Katarina left the library. She walked around aimlessly while she decided on where to study. Going back to the dorm wouldn't work because her roommate would be there. She considered Amelia a friend, but she was never really able to study with the other girl around. They spent too much time talking and goofing around to study. The cafeteria was no good because other students would be too loud and she couldn't go into any of the classrooms after class time without permission from a Professor. Where could she go that was quiet?

"Oh!" The perfect place popped into her head. She headed down to the bottom floor of the Academy and through the hallways, before finally stopping in front of a door that read 'Archives.' She went inside and searched for a table. The Archives held everything from books to old scrolls and even old furniture. It was more like a storage closet than anything else, but nobody was ever down there. The layer of dust told her that. Katarina found a table that was almost clear and sat down. That was when she noticed there was no dust on this table.

"What are you doing?"

Katarina whirled around at the question, "Luca? What are you doing in the archives?"

Smirking, Luca leaned against the table right next to Kat and began petting Raine who hopped off her shoulder and towards him. "I asked first."

"Oh," Katarina looked at her books, "I needed a quiet place to study."

Luca sighed, "You're such a nerd."

Katarina's face went beet red and she protested quietly, "I-I am not."

Frowning at the fact that she wouldn't even look at him, Luca reached out and took the elastic from the end of her braid. She grabbed her hair at the tug and looked at Luca. Smiling, he said, "You'd be a lot cuter if you wore your hair down. Then again," he drew closer to her, "you look really cute when you blush, too."

Going impossibly redder, Katarina stammered out, "P-please give me back m-my elastic."

"I don't want to," Luca reached for her braid and began to undo the dark brown hair.

"L-luca!" Katarina gasped and clenched her eyes shut, but didn't stop him. She actually liked the feel of his fingers sliding through her hair. Suddenly that hair was falling around her face and she opened her eyes to see Luca practically in her face smiling.

"See? Cute," he told her matter-of-factly.

"Um… thanks… I think," she turned her face away and saw Luca frown at her. She was near very sure he was about to do something else to tease her, but instead he moved off the table and over to the cushioned bench seat at the window.

Luca made himself comfortable and closed his eyes.

"L-luca?"

He always thought it was immensely cute how she stuttered his name when she was embarrassed, but suddenly it annoyed him, "Just study. I wont bother you." He snapped the words out a little more forcefully than he meant to.

"How rude," Raine muttered. "Just for that I am not going over there to allow him to pet me."

"Um… Thank you, Luca." She wasn't sure if he was still awake, but he didn't answer her. Katarina turned back to her books and began taking notes.

Some time later, Luca woke up to find Katarina hunched over her books. She'd left her hair down and it covered her face as she focused on whatever she was reading. The little owl seemed fast asleep on the table. Luca climbed down from his perch, without alarming Katarina, and moved up behind her. He leaned down and spoke into her ear, "Such a nerd."

"Eek!" Luca stepped back as Katarina nearly fell out of her chair. One of her books got knocked off the table and Raine jumped awake, fluttering her wings angrily. "L-Luca! You can't just sneak up on people like that!"

Luca was laughing as she picked up her book, "You're just too easy to tease, Kitty." Katarina blushed at the pet name he liked to call her and buried her face into her book. Luca frowned at her and said, "Why'd you come down here to study anyway?" He snatched the book from her hands and skimmed through the pages, not bothering to read them. "Wouldn't the library have been a better place?"

"I tried there first, but a group of girls wouldn't be quiet. Going on and on about a professor," she said taking the book back and setting it on the table.

Luca faked a gasp, "Were you listening in on their conversation? You little eavesdropper, you."

"I wasn't!" She just barely stopped herself from yelling as she turned to look at Luca.

"So which professor were they talking about?" he prompted with one eyebrow raised.

Katarina half groaned, "The new one. Okay? I only heard because they were being noisy, not because I was listening."

"Merkulova?" Luca asked seriously. "What did they say?"

"I don't really know. Just that they talked with him. Wait, why are you so interested?"

Luca grinned at her and Katarina's heart skipped a beat, "I make it my business to know everything in this school, my dear Kitty. Information is the best form of currency." Luca reached out and gently took some of her hair in his hand.

Katarina reacted exactly as he'd thought she would. She blushed and pulled away from him. "Well, I think I've studied enough for today." She began hurriedly shoving her books into her bag. "Well...um… bye, Luca." Raine flapped up on to her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek.

"Feel free to study down here more often. I'm usually around," Luca smiled and disappeared in the rows of shelves.

Katarina made a beeline for the door and exited quickly. She still had some time before dinner was served so she headed back to the dorms to relax. Her heart was pounding heavily in her chest and she needed to calm down.

Amelia was in the room painting her nails, "Hey, Kat."

"Hi, Amelia," Katarina threw her bag on the floor by her desk and plopped face first onto her bed. Raine settled down on the pillow.

"Oh, boy. What's up?" Katarina mumbled into her pillow. "Can't hear you."

Turning her face over she said, "Why do I have to like such a jerk?"

"Ah, we're talking about Luca, then?" Amelia asked still focused on her nails. Katarina mumbled a 'yes.' Amelia pursed her lips together before asking what happened. Katarina told her the story of the Archives and Amelia nodded along. "Okay, so he played with your hair and teased you a bit. I'm not saying Luca isn't a jerk, he kinda is, but he's cute, at least. And he wasn't mean or cruel, right? Try taking it as a compliment, I mean, he likes you enough to tease and stuff. And he called you cute, what, like two times?" Katarina nodded, still face down on her bed. "I'd be giddy if my crush said that to me."

Katarina sat up in her bed, "Wait, crush? You didn't tell me you had a crush. When did this happen, who is it?"

Amelia blushed, "I'm not ready to tell you just yet. I'm not really sure if I like him like him, or if it's just an 'oh he's cute' kind of thing."

Katarina narrowed her eyes at her friend, "I'll get it out of you eventually."

The two continued to chat until it was close to dinner time, then headed back to the Academy cafeteria.

"Are you sitting with your siblings today?" Amelia asked just before entering.

"Yeah, we try to have dinner together as much as possible." It was something her eldest sister had decided when she attended. Sienna graduated last year and now her oldest brothers continued the tradition.

"Mind if I sit with you today?"

"Not at all," Kat smiled as they got into line for food. There wasn't many people, yet, so they were able to get in and out of line quick enough. Briella, Katarina's older sister by a year, was already sitting at a table and waving frantically at the pair. Bri was excitement in human form. She was always smiling and chipper. Her short brown hair bounced around her face as she waved. "Hey, Bri," Kat greeted.

"Hey, you two! Joining us today, Amelia?" Bri asked in a high pitch.

"Yeah, if you guys don't mind," she smiled.

"Of course we don't," Vinny came up behind them and smiled gently. The oldest son, Vinny would graduate next year. Unlike his twin, Tony, Vinny was the clear-headed one. He never got mad or upset, but took the time to think things through. His black hair was long, going past his shoulders now, and he wore it down.

"Where's Tony?" Bri asked.

Just then the youngest siblings at the academy showed up and sat down. Lucia and Lucio were the other set of twins in their family. Lucia rolled her eyes as she put her plate down, "He's out in the hall with another girl." Lucia removed her glasses and cleaned them with her cloak before putting them back on.

"Yeah, she's gotta be the third one this week," Lucio was smiling like an idiot, as if that were something to be proud of. His twin shot him a dirty look. "What?" Lucia released a disgusted sigh.

"Well I'm not waiting for him, I'm hungry!" Bri laughed and dug into her meatloaf.

A few minutes later, Tony did join them. Lucio high-fived him while the sisters gave him nasty looks and called him a playboy. He shrugged them off, claiming it was fine. When he sat down next to Vinny, it was like looking into a fun house mirror. They had the exact same face and features, but their hair was different lengths. Tony's was much shorter, kept close to his head.

Katarina couldn't help but notice how often Amelia glanced at Vinny and wondered if it was because he was right across from her at the table, or something else entirely.