Chapter 34: Alone

Odale laid down on the sand. She didn't care for her hair anymore: whatever she did, there would be sand in it anyways. She would have to deal with it when she came home.

Zamir sat up beside her. Septimus and the others were not very far away.

Zamir were staring at the water. Odale wondered what he thought about. She herself felt guilty for talking like she had done to him, about him not contacting her when he was... away. They had never said they were friends before. Maybe they had been, but she had more viewed him as somebody she worked with, rather than something else. She had been sure he thought of her the same way. She hadn't even thought of friends around that time. Odale knew she was being unfair.

She was often aware of that she was unfair, but she couldn't help herself. Or rather, she ignored it.

The sun was setting. Nobody was talking, and it was driving Odale crazy. Why didn't anyone take things up? What Jenna had said to Milo? What had happened under the storm? How was Spit Fyre doing?

Zamir seemed to notice her anxiousness. "Temple schools are great." he said.

"What?" Odale wondered. Where on earth did that come from? Zamir shrugged.

"At least in the Desert." he replied.

"What makes them so good, then?" Odale sighed. Schools seemed so weird to her. She had never been to something even like that. All she had ever had were tutors, but they weren't the same thing. Yet, she had no wish in going to one. She was perfectly happy with what she had.

"It's peaceful." Zamir said. "Everybody sits in a circle on the floor, so that everyone can see each other."

"Okay?"

"Then you discuss stuff."

"Wow, Zamir." Odale said. "You discuss?"

Zamir sighed. "You don't need to be like that." he replied. "I'm just trying to make you feel better."

"I'm only joking around, Zam." Odale said. Zamir rose up.

"Well, you can joke around with someone else." he snapped.

"Zam!" Odale protested, but Zamir was already walking away.

"Well, maybe it's not funny." he snapped.

"Zamir!" Odale protested, "Don't be so boring!"

Zamir sighed and went of. Odale let her hands fall to her sides. What had she done? Nothing, in her point of view. She crossed her arms, and stared at the sunset.

Oh, bother, she thought. Why did boys always have to be so sensitive?

"Here you go." Rodrian said and put the box, wrapped in red paper with a yellow ribbon around it, in his niece's arms. "I hope you like it."

"Thank you." Lorea said and put it down for a few moments in order to hug him.

"You thought I forgot, didn't you?" he asked, with a smile.

"Of course not!" she answered, and let him go. She picked up the box.

"Yes, you did." he replied, and Lorea sighed. He did like that every year. "But I'm not that old yet."

"Oh, hush." said Lorea, "And let me open it."

She sat down on the floor, putting the box infront off her. She wrapped it up and opened the lid. "It's painting-tools." he said. "I know you like to paint."

"Thank you!" she replied, again. "It was so thoughtful of you."

Zamir hadn't meant to lash out on her, but she had been so annoying. Too annoying for him, at the moment. But he couldn't say that he was sorry, at once. It wouldn't sound good. He knew how Odale was. She would view him as weak. At least so he thought.

But even though he didn't think Odale seemed to have changed a lot, she indeed seemed to be at least a little bit more tolerant than before. He thought of Odale that first time they had spied together, and smiled to himself.

"I saw her enter." Laurine hissed, and nodded at the Manuscriptorium.

"What to do now, then?" Zamir wondered lowly, looking at the building that was the Manuscriptorium. Laurine sighed.

"We'll turn invisible, then Transport into it." she said, sounding very degrading. "If you can do that, at least."

He hated the voice she spoke to him. How old was she- six?- but she spoke to him as though he was three, and she was way much older. She made him go mad with annoyance, pretty much. How he hated that smirk! "Of course I can do that." he snapped. "It's easy."

"Well, let's do it then." she snapped back. "Invisibility on three-"

"What if we don't use the same spell?" he wondered, and she rolled her eyes.

"Take this." she said, sighing and handed him an amulet, shaped like a cat's eye. "It will help you see me, and me see you. Now, let's do it so that we don't miss anything important!"

Together, they counted to three, and made themselves invisible. She nodded at him, and they Transported into the Manuscriptorium. When they arrived, Laurine hurried to drag him into the shadows of a bookshelf. He understood why: Laurine would never, ever admit Marcia Overstrand as wizard with natural great Magykal powers, but Laurine was not stupid, even though she was... well, so little. She knew that the amulet around Marcia's neck gave her a great power, and that she easily could spot an invisibility spell, if they were not careful with it.

Zamir saw the Chief Hermetic Scribe, Waldo Watkins, enter the room, and he felt Laurine tense. He could feel her... almost hatred to them.

Suddenly, he understood that she was older than him. At least, mentally. Something had made her grow up at whole lot faster than she should have.

Odale finally decided that she didn't want to be alone any more, and sat down by Jenna, Beetle and Septimus by the bonefyre. It felt as though someone was watching her.

She didn't speak to them, however. She was not in the mood: the situation between them was still tense, and she did not have the energy to argue with anyone. Not even Zamir. Odale sighed. She had never felt this alone since, well, since Marcia was captured and tortured by DomDaniel. Not to mention that she felt powerless.