It was halfway through my study session when Mrs. Terwilliger decided that she should send me away to get coffee. I couldn't be anymore overjoyed.
The things she had me doing were involving a lot more practicality this time round. It was as if my extra studying outside of our private sessions were encouraging her to pester me more and more about my 'magical capabilities'.
To be honest, that 'outside studying' wasn't helping at all.
It was only a couple weeks ago that I had asked Mrs. Terwilliger if she had anything that would be able to tell me about the negative side effects of magic. This, of course, was purely for Adrian's sake. And although I was still bitter over his attitude from the last time I saw him, something about the way he acted didn't seem normal at all. He wasn't being crazy, like before, but his sudden inflation of temper wasn't like him. Which only motivated me further.
So I read through the masses of research Mrs. Terwilliger had collected over her years to find out the cause of all of the hysterics. But that was easier said than done. I hadn't even scanned through all of her files yet. Most of it was pointless ramble about spells and practicing, and I couldn't find any case studies of any sort, nor anything that could be related to Moroi magic.
I was so frustrated on my lack of success with the Adrian case that when I exited the school building, I bumped into an oncoming stranger.
"Oof," I said when I fell to the ground on my bottom. The stranger placed his books on the ground ever-so-calmly and leant out a hand. I groggily took it and dusted dirt off my pants, then squirmed as I peeked up at him, curious.
The first thing I noticed was that he was tall. Really tall. He had medium-length black hair with a fringe that fell heavily on one side of his face, and he looked as if he had some Asian orientation in him. He removed his hand and looked down on me before bending over to pick up his books once again. And while he did that, I was like a brain-dead fish, staring at him with glazed eyes.
He wore a black linen suit with a clear white tie that matched his white dress shirt, black long tailored pants (or so I assume as he was at least a head taller than me) and dress leather shoes. When he glanced up at me scornfully, I reflexively took a step back and flinched. His skin was smooth like a baby's bottom and his eyes were a light shade of greyish-blue. He was truly stunning till the point of which I could safely assume Lia would ditch Jill just to get her hands on him.
But he wasn't as charming as Adrian.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer."
His tone implied that he did not like being looked at. Although something about him struck me as familiar, I fell into a series of blushing and quickly glanced away.
"I-I'm sorry," I said after collecting myself. "I just don't see a lot of ..." A lot of what?
The boy looked beyond me.
"Are you going to move out of the way?" he asked impatiently. I didn't realize I was standing in the middle of the threshold until he gave me a flick of a long finger.
As I was moving for him to pass through, I noticed something by his feet that looked like a paper sheet and impulsively kneeled down to pick it up. When I tugged at it under his shoe, it wouldn't budge, so I glanced up at him expectantly. He sighed and lifted his left foot slightly, and I took it from under. Then I gave it to him.
"You seem in a rush," I stated friendly. To be honest, I was just curious to find out whom he was, and why the fancy get up. The stranger raised his brow and gave me a once over. Then his eyes settled on my cheek.
"Sydney Sage I take it?"
Now I was the one to frown.
"How do you know that?"
The boy wistfully twirled his finger in the air with a sneaking grin. He said: "You're the only Alchemist in this school. How wouldn't anyone know that?" Then without elaborating on his comment, he pushed pass me and disappeared down the hallway. I was so astonished that I didn't get to ask him how he knew. All that really concerned me was that he did.
And that could serve problems in the future.
"Wait, he knows you're an Alchemist?" Jill said. Without any luck on finding the guy (I searched the building for him but lost track by the fourth corridor) I sauntered to Jill and Angeline's dorm with no idea on what to do.
I wasn't scared as much as I was just dreading what this would mean.
Angeline, who was lying on her bed while playing on a mobile phone I assumed Eddie had required her to keep in touch with, scoffed.
"Did he seem like he had ill intent?" she asked.
And I thought. I floated onto the dresser chair and shook my head. He just seemed ... mocking. He certainly didn't seem like the gossip type, I thought as I remembered to his condescending nature. I crossed my legs and sighed.
"I'll probably get a call from Dimitri or Sonya soon to explain it. He's probably just some foreign guardian they sent here."
"Foreign?" Jill questioned. I ran a hand through my layered hair thoughtfully.
"He didn't seem American. Maybe British ..." I thought back to his odd accent. "He did seem like he had a bit of Japanese in him."
"Japanese and English? That's hot," Angeline noted. I saw the distaste on Jill's face. So they hadn't quite made up over the Trey-and-Angeline misunderstanding. I kicked myself out of the chair and sighed.
"Well, I've got some coffee overdue. Mrs. Terwilliger is probably wondering where I am right now."
"The great Sydney Sage, late for once in her life. How does it feel?" Jill joked, and I cringed.
"I can be late. It's just I chose not to be."
Ha. Where was the logic in that?
I left Jill and Angeline to their awkward hours spent in their dorm. As I was walking to the school's car park, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Three bells followed, and I noticed it was a phone call. I didn't like having a fancy ringtone, so since I bought my cell, I had left the tone to default.
"Hello?" I said hesitantly after reading the caller ID. It was the one person I really didn't want to talk to.
"Sage, get down here now," Adrian said urgently. He hung up before I could get in another word and I stared into the blue empty screen.
Mrs. Terwilliger would just have to wait for that coffee a little longer, I groaned.
Author's Notes
It's a school day. So unfortunately, the chapters are going to be shorter and possibly more vague when I have tons of homework. Apologies! But I do want to upload daily.
So a British/Japanese stranger. It was kind of on a whim. But imagining it and the character himself, it's overwhelmingly adorable. Tomorrow's update will pick up after this!
Please comment or review on what you think (also share this if you could! that'd be so great!). Also thank you for the comments so far. They were really helpful and lovely. I actually don't like the AngelinexEddie pairing that much, but it seems a lot of people do. Thats certainly shifted the way I've planned things out in this novella, so thanks!
