Chapter 25
That night the Diasomnia dorm was even quieter than usual. Most of the students had returned to Briar Valley. Silver was woken up by Lilia for dinner.
He followed Lilia to the dining room. Sebek had insisted that they use the room despite it only being the four of them. Lilia had agreed since Sebek was the one cooking the meals.
Malleus sat at the head of the table with Lilia to his right and Silver and Sebek to his left.
Sebek began to bring in the roasted chicken and sides once Malleus was seated.
They all sat in silence as they ate until Silver spoke up. "Father there's something I want to bring to your attention."
"What is it Silver?" Lilia asked his eyes settling on him.
"Odette and Grim are still on campus and I thought we should invite them over." Silver said putting his cutlery down.
Silver could feel Sebek staring at him.
"Odette? That's the child of man who has inhabited the Ramshackle dorm correct?" Malleus asked looking between the two of them.
"Yes she is." Lilia answered turning to Malleus.
"Mh, I agree with Silver we should invite them over to the dorm. Isn't this the human celebration of the winter solace? I believe they call it a time of giving for some reason." Malleus said.
"Who knows why they do what they do." Sebek shrugged.
"All that is correct, Malleus. It's a wonderful idea." Lilia grinned.
"Please make sure they receive an invitation tomorrow Lilia." Malleus said as he went back to his chicken.
"Of course." Lilia answered still grinning.
It was even more quiet the next morning, snow had fallen during the night. Odette stepped outside on to the front porch and took in the scenery before her. "Wow." She muttered. She was stunned at the quiet surrounded her. She closed her eyes and tried to hear anything. She heard nothing but remember something. Another holiday with a snow covered field. "A white Christmas?" She wondered as she opened her eyes.
'Where was I living when that happened? It couldn't have been in Florida. That museum I remembered definitely wasn't from Florida neither. ' She thought as Grim curled her neck.
"It's so cold!" He whined into her ear.
"Well it is snow." Odette chuckled.
"No wonder the dorm is so cold. Do we have to go feed these fire fairies? Can't we just bring them all back here and heat up the dorm?" Grim schemed.
Odette just laughed as she took Grim from around her neck. She wrapped a scarf around his neck. "That sounds like a lot more work than just getting more fire wood for our fireplaces. The sooner we feed them the sooner we can come back."
"Fine!" Grim whined.
They gave fire wood to all the fairies, their last stop was the cafeteria. "There we're all done." Odette said dusting the last bit of bark off her gloves. "Let's make some lunch then." She said heading back towards the kitchen.
"It think someone has already beat us to that." Grim drooled as he floated in the air.
There were several students in the kitchen making several dishes. "I didn't think this many people stayed back." Odette said as she watched several students mix, chop and fry.
There was one slightly taller student who was going around checking on everything.
"Hello can I help you?" He asked as walked up to the duo.
"Oh I remember you, you were injured during the Spell Drive Tournament, Jamil right? I was just going to use the kitchen but I can wait." Odette said with a smile.
"Yes Jamil Viper, now I remember you two. Odette Thropp and Grim." Viper said.
"Yes that us. We're famous around this school." Grim boasted.
"But probably not for the right reasons." Odette muttered as she shook her head.
"Famous? I think infamous might be the right word. There's few students who don't know who you are." Jamil informed them.
"We're so famous that even the head master trusts us." Grim continued.
"I wouldn't put it like that." Odette grumbled.
"That might be of use." Jamil muttered to himself.
"Excuse me?" Grim asked.
"I was saying I wasn't excepting anyone else to need the kitchen. You guys didn't go home?" Jamil asked quickly.
"I still can't go home." Odette informed him.
"We'll be done with the kitchen soon but it would go faster with a few extra hands." Jamil said
"Sure if it helps us get to use the kitchen quicker." Odette said grabbing an apron from off the far wall.
Soon the dishes were done. "It sure does smell good." Grim said as he settled on her shoulder.
"They're all traditional dishes from my homeland of the Scalding Sands. Since you helped us out why don't you take some." Jamil said.
"Oh no we couldn't." Odette said shaking her head.
"Why are you still at school?" Grim asked.
"It's a long story." Jamil sighed.
"The dorm leader ordered it." A student informed them.
"What? Why?" Grim asked.
"You can ask him yourself if you want. If you won't take any food then please come to the dorm and eat with us." Jamil said with slick smile.
A strange sensation came over Odette and Grim, they both nodded and said together. "Sure."
They followed the large group back to their dorm.
"I thought we weren't getting involved with any more dorms." Grim whispered.
"I know but I was just saying yes before I knew it." Odette confessed.
The environment on the other side of the mirror was completely different, it was warm and dry.
"These mirrors still amaze me." Odette gasped as she looked around.
"It's a desert." Grim said sounding just as amazed as her.
"Yes this dorm's weather is identical to back home. Most of us are from the desert that is the Scalding Sands." Jamil explained as they entered the dorm.
"Never mind the weather check out the dorm. It's so beautiful." Grim exclaimed as he zipped around in the air.
'Like our dorm needed anymore reasons to look shabby.' Odette thought.
Jamil lead the group to the dorm's lounge. It was was filled was a dozen beautiful short tables and tons of plush colorful seat cushions. The students laid out all the food while others disappeared then reappeared minutes later with plates, cups and pitchers.
"Please seat with me since you're our guests we should have music." Jamil said giving two small claps then a few students began to play a few bongos, flutes and a string instrument.
"Oh you don't have to do that." Odette began but stopped herself. "Oh that's very nice of you. Thank you." 'We don't want to insult him.' She thought.
Within a few minutes a short tan guy with white hair and reddish eyes entered the room. "Guests? I was not told we would have guests. I'm suppose to be informed before we receive guests." The guy snapped as he saw Odette and Grim.
'Oh no, this isn't good.' She thought as dread began to fill her.
"That way we can have better music and food. I'm Kalim Al-Asim the dorm head of Scarabia." Kalim said holding his hand out.
"I'm sorry Kalim it was a last minute thing. You've met them before they were the ones investigating the Spell Drive players for the headmaster." Jamil explained.
"Oh was that you? Sorry I'm bad with name and sometimes faces unlike Jamil here he only has to meet someone once." Kalim explained as he plopped down beside Jamil. "Are you enjoying the food?" He asked as Jamil filled his plate.
"Oh yes it's very good." Odette said grinning just as much as him.
"Jamil makes the best food. I only eat his food. I know I can trust it." Kalim said.
"You only trust his cooking?" Grim asked as he shoved his face.
"Yeah I know Jamil won't poison it." Kalim explained making everyone at the table choke.
"Let me explain I've been Kalim's food taster for years now." Jamil explained.
"It's been over 4 years, last time I was poisoned I was in a coma for over a week." Kalim stated nonchalantly with a shrug.
"A week!" Grim exclaimed.
"That sounds so dangerous for both of you." Odette said looking between the two.
"Let's not dwell on unpleasant things, Grim have you ever tried blue cheese? These crackers taste great with it." Kalim asked as put a few crumbles on a circular cracker and pushing it towards Grim.
"No I want to try it!" Grim shouted as he ate the cracker.
"Kalim please don't feed him, it'll spoil him then he'll want me to do it." Odette chuckled as Kalim shoved a few more crackers at Grim.
After the meal Kalim said. "I think I still have room for ice cream. What about you guys?"
"No thanks I'm full." Odette answered as she shook her head. "We should get going actually. Thank you for the meal."
"Come back any time. We'll be here all break." Kalim said.
"Why is that?" Grim asked which cause Odette to stop from getting up.
"Well we came in last during the Spell Drive Tournament and not a single student here placed on the finals board. So I thought it would be best if we buckle down during the holiday. So we're spending 6 hours a day studying and training." Kalim explained looking a bit sad.
"That's the same as school!" Grim whined.
"I wouldn't be too hard your guys both of those were a little rigged, especially the finals." Odette said muttering the last part. "The holiday is meant to relax, if you keep pushing yourselves you'll burn out and that takes a lot of self care to undo."
"My dad does have a saying about working hard and playing hard." Kalim contemplated.
Jamil was glaring at the girls and was about to say something when Kalim cut him off. "I think I'll tell everyone tonight at dinner. They'll be so happy." He smiled.
"Kalim is that a smart idea?" Jamil asked placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I think it is. We'll just buckle down after the new year but we still have today so let's go get some practice in." Kalim said quickly getting up from the and shouting the last part. "Why don't you guys come join us?" He asked turning towards Grim and Odette.
"We have no magic but we would like to watch if that's okay." She said getting up.
"I'll join in through! I actually have magic!" Grim bragged following the rest of the students outside to the courtyard.
After two hours practice was done. "That was a great workout, hey do you guys want a tour of the dorm before you leave?" Kalim asked jogging up to them.
"Sure that sounds like fun." Odette said as they followed him back inside. "I think your dorm is the most diverse we've seen so far. It's so colorful and bright."
"Well it did get a fresh coat of paint my freshman year. My father made a large donation when I was enrolled here." Kalim explained.
"Oh are you a prince like Leona?" Grim asked.
"No, my family is decedent from a prince but we're not in line for the crown. We do have over a 100 servants but the crown prince has way more than that." Kalim answered.
"A 100 servants! I only have 1!" Grim exclaimed.
"I'm not your servant!" Odette snapped as she pulled him off her shoulders.
"Well I do have over 20 siblings so we need that many for things to run that smoothly." Kalim said with a nonchalant shrug.
"20 siblings! That's crazy." She choked out.
"It could be more I lost count but I do remember all their names and faces." Kalim chuckled. "Jamil's parents are servants and Jamil's been around as long as I can remember. Do you want to see one of my favorite things here?" He asked.
"Sure." Odette said as they followed into a storage room. The storeroom is filled with gold, gems and other valuable things.
"Oh wow!" Grim exclaimed as he floated around the room.
"My dad insisted I bring all this with me to school, just in case." Kalim explained as he began to look for something.
"Do you want help?" She asked. "What are you looking for?"
"It always moves but believe me you'll know it when you see it." Kalim said.
"That's really vague." Grim grumbled as something tapped his shoulder. "What?" He asked turning around to see a flying carpet!
"There it is! It's a replica of the famous sorcerer's flying carpet! It's my favorite thing. Do you want to go on a ride?" Kalim asked as he got on it and held his hand out to Odette.
"Is it safe?" Odette asked as she looked at the carpet skeptically.
"I'll keep you safe." Kalim said.
"Get on Odette." Grim cheered as he hopped on.
"Okay." Odette said taking his hand and getting on.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The beginning chapter was fun to write and maybe I'll write an alternate version where Odette actually gets to spend the break with the Diasomnia boys. We got more of a glimpse of Odette. I hope you don't mind the fun cliff hanger. It feels like a longer chapter but it's fun.