On a happier note, Laura's college experience started out well. She managed to get into all her classes which consisted of: Journalism 102: Introduction to Investigative Reporting (Professor Cochrane adored her), English 101: Introduction to Literary Analysis (Danny was the TA, and Laura made sure to sign up for her TA sessions), English 047: Vampires in Literature and Film (which was taught by a novel-loving mermaid so all their classes took place at the edge of Silas's lake), and Chemistry 069: The Chemistry of Love (LaFontaine insisted on Laura taking this course to fulfill her science requirement). Laura thought her classes and professors were super exciting, and she was eager to learn.
The people, or rather beings, at Silas were also fascinating. While monsters weren't officially sanctioned by the university, they outnumbered the students by a good amount. Some of them sat in on classes (Laura's journalism seatmate was a minotaur who wanted to be a news anchor). Others ran lectures (a hag headed the history department and taught most of the upper division history courses). The humans came from various walks of life (criminals, soldiers, presidents, bankers, ballerinas, and more). Many of the students came straight out of high school. A select few attended Silas for their graduate degrees. And a couple of humans ran the administrative buildings. These administrators maintained that prospective human students wouldn't want to attend a school seemingly overpopulated by monsters (some monsters cited this as an example of workplace discrimination and petitioned to change the employment policies; rallies happened every so often and anyone was welcome to join). Laura reveled in the diversity on campus. She found the friendly monsters intriguing to talk to, and spent hours at the campus coffee shop interviewing different students and compiling a register. The only thing possibly more interesting than her classes and the student body was Silas itself.
Magic ran Silas. It permeated every corridor and hallway, seeped through the walls, and bubbled up through the floors. Laura would walk to class and watch the Lustig Theater rearrange itself according to the weather (on sunny days the building looked like any old rectangular prism with windows, but during blizzards it formed a fist with a very long middle finger). She tried studying in the library, only to be chased out by a vortex of paper and pens (Laura returned wearing a suit of armor she borrowed from the armory—no amount of flying stationery would interfere with her grades). The Alchemy Clubhouse, shaped like Merlin's hat, didn't like to sit in one place for long, and frequently disappeared and reappeared in the strangest places, like the women's locker rooms for example.
Laura loved it all. Sometimes, she would go looking for magic. And other times, magic found her.
One day after class, Laura went for a walk. She hadn't fully explored the campus, and wanted to do so before school became hectic. She invited Carmilla, but the other girl burrowed further into her bed and pretended to snore. So, Laura picked up her Polaroid camera and set out alone. She didn't know why she still tried to be friends with her. Carmilla never showed the slightest interest in anything besides girls, books, and messes. Laura shook her head. Earlier, Carmilla walked in wearing a pair of black leggings and a black crop top. Laura's eyes inadvertently followed Carmilla around the room as she put down her bag and stretched. Her shirt climbed up, revealing a sliver of pale skin. Carmilla walked over to the fridge, in that lithe way only she could move, and bent down. Laura's eyes raked up and down Carmilla's legs before she realized what she was doing. Laura tried putting her eyes back in their sockets, but it was futile. She literally could not look away. That's when she decided she needed a walk, before she did something stupid. Like kiss her annoying sexy roommate.
The moment Laura stepped outside of her residential hall, she forgot about Carmilla. Early fall transformed Silas. All the trees looked like they were aflame. Vibrant oranges, bloody reds, and flaming yellows blazed across her vision. The colors stood out from the gray stonework of the giant gothic cathedral directly across from her. To her right, a towering church, compete with flying buttresses and a ribbed arch, rose mightily from the ground. She turned to her left and saw an abbey, flanked by stone lions, standing silently. Laura started taking pictures with wild abandon, clicking away furiously as though afraid the campus might disappear. She wanted to hang a clothesline of photos above her bed for decoration, and these beautiful buildings were picture perfect.
Laura wandered around the campus for several hours. It was large and desolate. Not many people were out and about. That suited Laura just fine. She was used to being alone. Occasionally, she'd take a picture or two, pausing to admire the architecture. Finally, when her growling stomach elicited a horrified stare from some fraternity boy, she started to head back. As she trekked along the cobbled main road, she sorted through her pictures. To her chagrin, none of her pictures developed properly. Except for one. She looked closely at the photograph, confused. She had accidentally clicked the shutter and taken a picture of her foot. Her foot was perfectly in focus, but the flagstones underneath her shoe were blurred. Laura flipped through the pictures again. She raised her camera and took a picture. It printed. Completely blurry. Laura thought for a moment. She stretched out her left hand until it was in line with one of the buildings, and clicked the shutter. Her left hand came out crystal clear. But the building behind it was completely distorted. Maybe the campus is camera-shy. That's so weird. Silas is, like, alive.