“The History of Ingeniosus”
Chapter 4
We stepped out of the Professors room slowly, and as soon as the strange door shut, Jai pulled me quickly around a corner and into a dark, empty class room. The lighting was dull and the room was decorated similarly to the entrance; the tiles were in an oddly memorising pattern and the walls were pale and filled with golden framed paintings. I was still somehow amazed to be going to school in this huge building, it was nothing like any school I had ever been too.
“So, I guess I can say that I'm not the only one who thinks your beautiful, am I?” he said laughing, the corners of his mouth pulling up to show perfect white teeth.
“I guess so,” I said, thinking of how the Professor told me that I could use my beauty in covert ops.
“Hmmm...” Jai leaned into me, his breath washing over me in waves, like the ocean was pulling me under. I stared into his chocolate eyes, the browns mixing into each other as a liquid. Slowly Jai’s arm slipped around my waist, warmth spreading over me where his hand touched the bare skin on my back. He clutched his other arm to me and lifted me onto the edge of one of the tables. I moved so that I had my legs were dangling on either side of him; I was sitting right on the edge, as close as I could be to him. Not letting go of our gaze, he moved so that he was closer to me. I wrapped my legs around his hips as his face inched closer to mine. I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest as he lowered his lips onto my neck, teasing me with the kisses he placed on my skin. I tilted my neck to the side and let out a soft sigh as his lips gradually met my cheek and he pulled away just enough to look at me, taking in my expression. I reached my arms up around him and hung them around his neck. My heart pounding in eagerness for his lips...
The door opened.
We didn’t get to close the distance between our lips because we were interrupted by a middle aged women wearing a purple, old fashioned dress, her fading red hair was clipped into a bun and her eyes were as dark as night. She had walked into the room with a loud clear-your-throat noise.
Jai pulled backwards slowly, taking a step away from me and the desk. I turned to face the opposite wall, away from the lady while my cheeks nearly combusted with embarrassment.
I again had one of those feeling like my Mother had walked in on me in the shower, yet this time she has stayed to talk to me for a little while, all my vulnerabilities out in the open for her to see.
“Sir,” the lady bowed her head. “I was asked to escort you to the library. Sir Caleb asked me to pass on a message: Teach Savanna some history; it will help with what is planned for later.” Once again the lady bowed her head, before holding the door wide open for us to exit. Her voice was strangely irritating, it was crackly and she seemed to mutter—Max would have told me that she had a mouth full of toilet paper.
I scooted off the desk and tugged my shirt back into place before rushing past the lady and into the hallway.
“Maybe next time, Jai,” I thought to him, looking up at his expression in time to see a big smirk grow on his features.
“I’ll put it on my schedule,” he leaned towards me and whispered.
We got to the room labelled Library and passed underneath the huge doorframe; decorated with engravings in the wood. The room was filled with bookcases stacked high with leather books similar to the one that Colin was reading in the entrance. I glanced around the giant room to see that the upper floor had gigantic windows which beamed rays of sunlight down at us. Tables and chairs were stacked around the edges of sections of literature and coloured bean bags were thrown in the far corner; brightening up the room.
Jai instructed me to go and sit on a bean bag while he gathered a few books, once they were resting in his arms he came to sit right beside me; all the right side of his body, touching the left side of mine.
Jai handed me a golden covered book with columns of unusual symbols in a black calligraphy, there was a satin tie to keep it closed and it was looped along the spine.
Jai edited what he read so that I could understand.
“Ingeniosus—that’s what they call our kind—means gifted in Latin. Our race started off sometime in the fifth century after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476. We aren’t really too sure on the date but all in all it doesn’t really matter too much.” Jai flipped the page and skimmed over the text—some of it was written in Latin.
“Can you read that?” I asked, pointing to the text.
He grinned wildly. “I got a C plus in Latin, so I'm doing as well as I can...” He seemed like he found what he was looking for. “Here we go—there was a man named Armatus who discovered he had powers that no mortal man possessed. He could do things that others could only dream of and he could cause havoc like in a nightmare. He was unsure of what to do with his powers but had his mind set on doing good. Eventually he grew impatient of waiting for his curiosity to unfold, and took it upon himself to experiment on these powers. What he did to himself was dangerous and stupidly reckless—”
“I doubt it says stupidly reckless...” I laughed.
“I think it really said something about a fault, but fault and vine look so similar in Latin. I'm always confused. So, I improvised.” He looked shy for a second but soon grinned up at me idiotically.
“Ha. Keep going...”
“Uh, what Armatus did to himself was dangerous and caused him to lose nearly all his physical strength, he grew terribly weak and one day out of the blue he was attacked by a powerful demon that showed him no mercy. It was said that he was lying on the ground half dead with blood gushing out of nearly everywhere when a Grigori showed up—”
“And that is..?” I asked puzzled, my eyebrows raising and slightly cocking my head to the side like a dog.
“A Grigori is another name for the Fallen—an Angel which disobeyed their orders and fell to earth. They are still powerful but it’s very uncommon for one to help out another race once they’ve been booted out of Heaven. So when this Angel—Seraphiel—gave Armatus any two things he could wish for in the world, everyone who heard about it was utterly shocked—”
“So, what did he wish for?” I asked, practically bouncing on my knees. This story had me totally fascinated and I wanted to know everything.
“First, he asked for his injuries to be healed, like any sane person would. And secondly, he asked for all of the knowledge on the Ingeniosus race and any others than the Angels felt important. His wishes were granted, of course, which left Armatus with several books filled with centuries of information from Seraphiel.”—Jai cleared his throat—“The Angel was said to have hidden away somewhere where only a worthy person who seeks a good cause should be able to find him. So whenever an Ingeniosus needed help Seraphiel would do whatever was within his power.”
“What happened to him—Armatus I mean?” I asked.
“This very school was named after him— Armatus’s School for the Gifted. But now days, his name kind of gets cut off the title; it’s long enough as it is, without the extra effort of pronouncing his name.” Jai exhaled slowly, flexing his arms out in front of him.
“What happened to the books?”
“Armatus handed them down through generation until they finally came to rest in this school. They are called ‘The History of Ingeniosus’ and have been added to over the years with any knowledge that The Courts find worthy—I will have to show you the books one day.” He grinned, placing his hand on mine and curling his fingers around them. “I guess that’s another thing to add to my schedule,” he laughed faintly, looking at me like I was a glamorous prize that he had won, instead of me being the lucky winner.
“What are The Courts?” I blinked rapidly and pouted my lips, waiting for my answer.
“The Courts are a small town where we can be ourselves, we don’t have to glamour anything, we don’t have to lie or cheat our way into places, and nothing bad can get in. There are charms and symbols all around the area—similar to the ones on the front door, I guess. The whole place seems like its set back in time; from the way everyone dresses to the monarchy which everyone lives in. There used to be a king but he died, leaving everything to be passed down to his children when they reach the age. The whole place is like living inside a fairy tale, other than the political moves and business that’s undertaken, it’s so beautiful.
“I grew up there before I had to move, so I came to Professor Alexandrus, but back then he was only known as Alex but he soon became the head of the school.” Jai grinned at that last part, like he found it humorous that his friend Alex had become the Alexandrus.
Jai suddenly stopped grinning and looked straight into my eyes, like he could see past everything and right into my soul.
I drew my eyes away and bit down on my lip as my cheeks flushed red.
I took a deep breath and looked around quizzically at the painting on the walls, trying to draw my attention away from the heat coursing through my body from Jai’s eyes on me.
All of the painting had the most absurd creatures in them; I knew that there were vampires, warlocks, demons and faeries—but that was it. I had grown up without any knowledge; it sure was a surprise when I suddenly had sparks flying from my fingertips.
“Jai,”—I ran my thumb across his hand, trying to get his attention back to the books—“what kind of creatures are out there?”
He pulled another book from the bottom of a stack next to him, flipping the pages until it rested on detailed images of creatures.
“Okay,”—he pointed to a side section of creatures—“those ones there can be both good and bad, it depends on the actual personality of the creature. There are Dwarfs; Elves; Nixies; Faeries; Goblins; Warlocks; Vampires; Werewolves; Banshees; Ogres; Cyclopes; Trolls; Pixies and Griffins.” Jai said, pointing to each one as he named it.
“Geez, there are so many. I never would have realised...”
I trailed off, utterly shocked at the amount of creatures thrown into our world.
“Good creatures,”—he slide his finger onto another section, tapping on the first one—“That one is an Abatwa, we call them Zulu; they are tiny people that ride ants, very civilised and logical creatures, make for good little hunters. There are some over in the West Wing if you ever want to see any. Next we have Adar Liwch Gwin”—sliding his finger over to a bird thing—“they are giant birds that understand all different kinds of Mundie languages and you can have better conversations with them than some people I know. But sometimes they have a habit of making you look up words in a dictionary just to know what they are saying. There aren’t many left of their kind but the one that we all know is called Bolla.”—he tapped the next picture—“This is an Alicanto, they are gold eating birds, who are extremely irritating. Don’t go near one if you have and gold jewellery on or you won’t be seeing it again, but other than that they’re pretty good.”
“Seriously?” I asked. There was a bird that only has a paranormal gift to eat gold? Wasn’t that a tad pointless?
“Ha. I thought it was useless too until it ate its way through a gold plated wall, then it was just pure awesomeness,” he grinned.
He slid his finger onto the next image. “That is Aloja, she is a female water spirit, she lives in the East Wing pond and loves to cause dramas. Seriously, be careful not to upset her because she can cause a lot of damage. Last time, she created a tsunami big enough to flood the school and knock down a few of the walls, all because she couldn’t find the fish food to feed her friends.” He laughed softly at the memory before tapping the next picture. “Kikimoia is the schools household spirit. She tries to be everyone’s mother figure, which is nice but she also tries to ground you and take away things... ill introduce you to her soon enough, otherwise ill have hell to pay.” He looked around the room and made a faint clicking noise with his tongue; a black cat with white patched eyes and socks walked through the door and settled in his lap.
I reached my hand over and ran my fingers through the soft black fur of the cat.
“Justice is a Cat Sidhe that roams the school whenever she pleases, if you ever get lost in the hallways be sure to follow this cat—she can understand you, but she can’t actually speak back.” Jai whispered, then made baby noises at Justice and she screwed up her nose in response. “Some of the creatures with good personalities roam the school so don’t freak out if you see any, most likely it will be the element Faeries—Liliana is earth, Rhoslyn is fire, Titania is water and Suzette is air.”
“So no badass creatures can get into the school?” I asked. “What about my house?” I suddenly thought, raising my eyebrows in shock.
“Badass creatures..?” Jai laughed, shaking his head. “Ha. No, no badass monsters or creatures or even the boogie man can get inside this building, but houses are different. Bad things can get inside anyone’s house if they are invited inside. So you will be fine as long as you don’t invite strange men or weirdoes with candy into your home.”
“Why the hell would I actually let a demon or a critter with an evil personality inside my home?”—I crossed my arms over my chest dramatically—“on second thoughts, why would I let a weirdo with candy inside my house, or even strange men?” I huffed out, faking hurt into my voice.
“I just thought, that with the crowd of men you attracted at Hades you never know which one will show up at your doorstep...but I'm hoping that you know not to take candy from strangers.” He grinned, uncrossing my arms and sliding his hand back into mine.
“I know the rule about not taking candy from strangers, the only exception is if they offer you a ride in there mysterious black van.” I whispered sarcastically, bitting down on my lip to stop from smiling at my own punch line.
“Is that so..?” Jai asked, his grin becoming seductive; making it hard for me to tear my eyes away from his lips. My breath hitched in anticipation, and my pulse raced...
Justice jumped from Jai’s lap and pranced out the door
That was when he tore his eyes away and cleared his throat.
“Uh,”—he grinned, putting a small level of personal space between us, just enough for me to long for his touch—“How about we start on the bad creature..?”
“I guess the badass creatures might be useful to know about... just in case, right?” I let out a long breath and waited for my heart to slowly decide that I wasn’t having a major heart attack.
“Right,” he grinned, circling an image in the creature book with his finger. “Akka is an evil spirit that normally likes to place the role of a trickster, she can make you into her own personal game—controlling others around her and the settings that you walk into, things that you pick up appear different and she can even trick your memories into things that you would never have believe if you had control.”—he tapped the next image.—“Abdia is a magical eel that can be found in the Southern Ocean. I think he glamour’s himself into looking like tonnes of fish, and once the fishermen pick them up... lets just say that they are pretty much screwed.”—he tapped his fingers underneath two separate pictures and made it sound much like a drum role.—“Akuma and Alal the famous demon brothers, they attack anyone and everyone. Most of the time they disguise themselves as Mundane’s or sometimes in inhuman forms that leak grey fluids. They mostly keep away from our race but when they don’t, it normally ends up a mess for both parties.” He screwed up his nose in disgust.
“I'm taking that you have had the pleasure of meeting one of them?” I asked, leaning back in the beanbag and kicking my feet up over his lap.
He moved the book out from underneath my legs and placed it on my knees. It was surprisingly heavy, especially as it pushed my kneecaps back into bone.
“God damnit, what is in that?” I yelped rhetorically and pushed the book across onto my shins. “So which one did you meet?” I asked, settling back into the beanbag.
“Both,” he nodded and gave a simple shrug. “Caleb and I were cornered in an alley and we had to shoot our way out, lets just say that the elders at The Courts didn’t have fun trying to convince the police that we were innocent.”
I laughed.
“So, you’re saying that the police arrested you? All powerful Jai Payne with his boyish charm and his stunning good looks? You?” I couldn’t keep back my grin.
“Me and Caleb, yes. Now can you honestly tell me that you have never been put into a lockup overnight?” an amused-yet-self-satisfied smirk spread over his face.
I didn’t answer.
“Tell me, what got you in there?” he asked, curiosity now displayed over his features. “Bad attitude? Underage driving? Drinking? –No—shoplifting? Fighting?” He ran his hand along his jaw.
“Fighting,” I answered honestly. “My life has always been complicated, Dad’s in prison, and as far as I'm concerned I don’t have a father. I picked up a few tricks after Max married Mum, because things were never too great at home between us all. We are always arguing and then sometimes I just storm out and find myself wandering the streets until some pissed guy thinks its a fun game to mess with a girl on her own. There were fights at school too but mostly I kept to myself, occasionally a boy would depart from his herd and talk to me, but as always the same—just to get into my pants.” I looked up at Jai now, wondering if he is yet to be another guy that tries and fails to get into my pants. No one has ever succeeded with that goal and I'm planning to keep it that way for a while longer.
“Tell me one thing...” I said nervously. “This,”—I held up our joined hands—“means something to you. Just tell me that I'm not just a girl that you want to write on your list on conquests? I'm not going to have to kick your ass later?” I could feel my eyes brimming with tears.
I needed Jai.
“Ann...” he pushed my legs and the book off his lap and crawled closer to me, grasping both of my hands in his and pulling me into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me protectively and just sat there holding me. “You worry too much, not all guys are indecent. I promise you that I will not get into your pants. I promise.” He let go of me and clasped both hands on the sides of my face.
For some reason I frowned at his words.
“Isn’t that what you wanted?” he asked confused.
I was just as confused as him at why I had frowned.
He grinned. “How about I change my wording—I promise you that I will never get into your pants if you don’t want me too...” his thumbs ran circles on my flaming cheeks.
“Thats not what I meant,” I giggled and looked away embarrassed. “I don’t know why, but I need you to be different to those other guys... please?” I asked.
“Savanna Ryder,” he cupped my chin in his hand. “I have always been different to other guys, I mean seriously who else looks as stunning as me? That and the fact that I can shoot sparks from my hands... but I think its my good looks that are the biggest difference from other guys.” His grin was set onto the melt-girls-hearts-all-over-the-world look.
“Oh, you are so funny..” I laughed sarcastically, nudging the book back over to us. “Continue with the evil monsters... I'm pretty sure that was the weirdest thing I have ever said.”
“Ha. Fine, I guess we can talk about how good looking I am another time.” He literally pulled me in front of him and swung his arms around my waist, snuggling me back into his chest.
It was like I could breathe again. His scent enveloped me and I relaxed into his mold.
“Amemasu—the big baddy up the top right hand corner of the page—is the lake monster that the Mundie’s confused with the mythical Loch Ness Monster. In my opinion it is so pathetic that Mundie’s are clueless enough to think that she is harmless, what do they think happens to all the missing people around there...?” he shrugged and continued with the list of badass monsters. “Anakim is a giant that lives in different forests all over the world. He is a nasty creature, will most definitely rip your limbs off one by one if you get too close.”—he tapped an image that resembled a giant and then tapped the next image.—“This one here is a death spirit, we call her Cyhyraeth, and she is a slave to anyone who captures her. The master to her is always on the upper hand, always lucky... but once she is freed from you or someone else has captured her, your life is cursed—she will hunt you down and kill you for the things that you made her do.”—he slide his finger over to the next image.—“Odei is a storm spirit; he has major anger issues and once you mix that with the amount of power that he has you can land yourself in a no survivors kind of situation.”
I gasped as Jai tapped the next image.
“What’s wrong?” Jai asked, quickly tightening his grip around my waist and scanning the room. He was trying to protect me from something that he couldn’t even see...
“Cwn Annwn,” I read from underneath the detailed picture. Picking up the heavy book and shoving it underneath my nose, looking at the creature before my eyes.
“Another name from them is Downworlder Hunting Dog or Hell Hounds.” Jai spoke, eyebrows raised in momentary confusion.
This was the creature from my dream.
“Remember how I told you about the dream that I had... how in the distance there was a distorted silhouette, twisted by the darkness? An enormous black dog, more savage and definitely not human? Covered in glamour?” I asked, easing the weight of the book onto my lap before fiddling with my fingers.
“Holy shit! You saw a Hound in the shrubbery around the school?” he panicked, twisting so that he could look me in the eyes. “They prowl the streets on occasions looking for something to kill or to take back to Hell with them to feast on. Most of the time we get to them in time before they kill the Mundane’s.” His eyes were wide. “Did you really see one in your dream?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I saw, right down to the stance.” I shrugged before leaning back into Jai some more.
“I can’t believe that you have to dream of those awful things, I'm so sorry Ann.” He kissed my cheek suddenly, sending warm ripples through my body.
“Well, I can’t believe that you go on missions or hunting trips—whatever they call them—in search of the badass creatures,” I said.
“They are for the Covert Operations class, but most of the time Caleb, Sage, myself and a few other are sent out on other trips because we’ve got to keep everyone safe—”
“So basically, you guys think its your job to save the world?” I cut in smugly.
“Nah, just a few of the states. We’ve got to stop the spread of evil somehow, so thats why there are schools like this one all over the globe.”
“How many schools are there?” I asked twisting in his lap to face him.
“Not too sure,”—he paused, thinking.—“somewhere just over a hundred and twenty, I think.”
“Why so many?”
“Because there is a lot of bad shit going on in the world, and that list of all the creatures I read you is the common ones—there are still heaps and heaps of the same species and probably hundreds that are unknown.” He answered, grinning wickedly.
“Okay, thats about as much of the good the bad and the ugly that I can take for the time being... I'm not even sure I can remember everything that you have told me.” I sighed.
“Just ask if you ever want to know something. I'm here to help you Savanna... otherwise Alex will put you into a class with the other kids—not fun, trust me.” Jai wriggled beneath me until his head rested on my shoulder.
“The Professor wants to help me, just like you do—though I can’t say that he believes I'm as much of a freak as I make out to be.” I grinned and Jai let out a faint laugh, his warm breath tingling the skin of my neck.
I liked him holding me, I like the feeling of his skin and the smell that enveloped me.
What if he can read my thoughts right now? I panicked.
“Jai, can you teach me how to keep other people out of my head—like how you blocked me out of your mind at Hades?” I said quickly, bitting down on my lip.
“Sure—okay, when someone enters your mind you will get the slightest glitch in your vision. It’s not much, so you have to be paying attention when in a crowded area. Most of the time, the person has to be looking you in the eyes, but there are some cases where their ability is strong and your only clue is that tiny little glitch... to stop them getting in, all you have to do is visualise blocking them out,” He said smiling, happy to be teaching me.
“You visualise a concrete fence with barbed wire wrapped around it, don’t you?” I asked, recalling the image that had blocked me from Jai’s head that night at the club.
“Yeah—it’s the wall that surrounds the school, it’s the toughest wall I can think of,” he grinned. “Okay, how about we see if you can do this...”
A smile lit up Jai’s face and his eyes locked with mine, the colours churning, mixing together.
Suddenly, there was a glitch in my vision. It was only a sensation like I had blinked, but knew that my eyelids hadn’t moved.
Before I could stop myself, my mind flooded with images of Jai, of the moments were our lips had nearly met and flashes of him holding me, or caressing my cheek. It was like all these images had emotions attached and each image that flooded my head pounded me with how I felt when they had happened.
My heart was accelerating with anticipation for a kiss and my cheeks were flaming red with desire.
This was just getting embarrassing, I thought.
I visualised a solid door with a lock and forced my mind to slam it. It was much harder than I thought it would be, and I felt as if I was literally leaning against the door with all my strength.
Then it slammed, sending an echoing thud through my mind.
I couldn’t gain the courage to look up at Jai, for he knew how much I actually liked him, how much I stared and what I felt when his lips teased my skin.
I took a deep breath in and looked up nervously, fiddling with my hands as I felt the colour re-burn my cheeks a crimson colour.
“Uh, I—I can explain...” I trailed off, because I knew I couldn’t explain anything without dyeing from humility.
“Princess, you don’t have to explain anything. I'm so glad that you feel that for me; it’s a relief that we both feel the same way.” He smiled and looked down at his hands as if shy.
I stared at him as I processed his words, a huge grin spreading across my face before I hugged his chest and lay still, listening to his heart beat at an accelerated pass.
This time the butterflies were doing looped-e-loops in his stomach.
Jai twirled me in his arms as we walked along the cobblestone and rubble filled street, pulling my tight against him and entwining our fingers. I looked up at him to see him smiling down at me with no care in the world, like everything important lay before him. I couldn’t help but flush red with colour.
“Jai!” Caleb yelled, coming around the corner at lightning speed. There was no way a human would have seen him, but my eyes adjusted to his speed as he came to a stop in front of us.
I slid my hand from Jai’s nervously, but he completely ignored Caleb until he had my small hand comfortably in his again.
“Earth to Jai...” Caleb said, jumping on the spot.
“Sorry,” he said. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Sage, she’s in the Greenhouse balling her eyes out—she got in the way of a Wood Woad when we were packing up after biology. She was only knocked around a bit but, god that girl can scream—she scared the bejeebers out of me, I thought she was dying. Uh, she is probably just in shock, but she won’t talk to me. Will you come? Pretty, pretty please?” Caleb begged, pulling at Jai’s arm. His face was set with anxiety, and it looked like it hurt him to say that she wouldn’t talk to him. I wondered momentarily if he had a thing for Sage, but my mind was too distracted to keep my brain waves focused.
“Whats a Wood Woad?” I asked curiously.
“It’s a plant. They kind of look like big, beastly men made out of wood—they don’t grow foliage and they always carry part of their trunk as a shield or a club. Most of the time they don’t actually attack anyone unless they feel threatened, but if they do... it hurts like a son of a bitch.” Caleb said, pulling at Jai’s shirt to try to move him.
Caleb is an exceptionally smart kid, but he always has a way of making you think he is a total doosh by the odd words or references he adds into his brainy sentences.
It’s especially weird when he starts humming a song that has nothing to do with the situation on hand.
Like he is now.
“Damnit Sage,” Jai huffed under his breath. “There can’t be a problem now, my schedule is already full,” Jai laughed, looking deep into my eyes and waggling his eyebrows until I understood his meaning.
We had an overdue kiss on that schedule.
“I’ll go back and get Sage now. Princess, ill meet you at your place later, and Caleb you can have the pleasure of walking our lovely Savanna home—”
“Our?” Caleb raised his eyebrows.
“Mine,” he kissed my cheek and ran off fast towards the school again.
I was left flushing red, standing next to Caleb in a bad looking part of town.
“So, you’ve got a little thing for Jai, aye?” Caleb said with pleasure, nudging me in the side with his elbow and letting out a faint laugh. “You are just a-dork-able,” he said in his Caleb-way-of-his.
All I could go was grin up at him like an idiot.
“Big thing,” I admitted in a quiet voice before panicking. “But I swear if you tell anyone that I will make sure that my right hook gives you a stunning black eye.” I beamed an innocent expression towards him.
“Ha. I heard that you can handle yourself in a fight—”
“What?” I asked. “How did you know that? I only told Jai a few hours ago...”
“Alexandrus asked me to look you up; he wanted records for the data base—don’t worry about it, I’ve got the gossip on everyone. Alex gets me to make the school transfers legal, and in doing so I have to get your public and criminal records.” He shrugged like it meant nothing to him.
“So basically, you’re the Professors bitch?” I giggled and pushed at his shoulder, my panic from before completely gone.
“I prefer very appreciative apprentice,” he shook his head amused. “You’re a strange one, you know that right?” he asked, letting out a small laugh of his own.
“Definitely,” I smirked.
A question I was dying to ask popped into my head.
“Caleb...? Are you and Sage together?”
His eyes went wide and he stopped for a moment before he resumed walking next to me.
“No,” he answered, looking at the ground.
“But you’ve got a major crush on her, right?” I smiled and looked to see his expression.
His face went blank before his features turned into a grin. “Bada-bing-bada-boom. You know, you’re the only one that has actually picked up on it—it’s not that obvious is it?” he grinned.
“Ha. Just tone down the staring,” I nudged him.
“Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top... don’t tell anyone. It can be our secret—aye, doll face...”
I was right, Caleb did have a thing for Sage, but she was totally and utterly clueless of that fact. I was happy for him, they seemed like they would be cute together—plus they saw each other every day and she was only a year younger than me.
I wonder what Jai would think of his baby sister dating his best mate? I thought.
“I won’t tell anyone Caleb, but only because I think a girl should find out someone has a crush on them when they actually have made it obvious, not through other people,” I smiled. “Plus, what does Jai think?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t imagine he’s going to be over the moon with joy, that’s for sure.” He shrugged, looking slightly disappointed.
“You should tell her,” I smiled, hopeful that things would work out for them.
He huffed, shrugging his shoulders in a gesture that practically shouted ‘no hope of that happening’.
I laughed at his response, which lead to me tripping over a rugged slab of rubble beneath my feet—that clumsy part of me had come out to play.
Caleb caught my arm at the last second, saving me from face planting into rubble as we turned the last corner—back onto our street.
“Doll face, this is my stop—but I’ll see you tomorrow...” he bowed like a gentlemen and then walked up a path towards a large wooden house. The garden was beautiful; there were red blossoming roses and delicate looking shrubs that had the look of a woman’s touch. “Don’t bug Jai about the all almighty secret tonight, give him until tomorrow, please doll face?” he called from the doorframe of the house.
“Fine,” I huffed regrettably. “Caleb, are you going to keep calling me doll face?” I called toward the closing door.
“Correct-a-mundo!” he chuckled from the house, before raising his hand and giving me a goofy wave goodbye.
I passed two more cute little houses before reaching mine, slowly walking up the nonexistent path towards the bench that had recently been placed on the porch. The bench was made of dark oak and had three cream coloured cushions sprawled over it, tassels dangling towards the ground.
I layed down on the bench, snuggling into the soft cushions watching as cars drove past. My eye lids became suddenly heavy and I realised how tired I really was as I drifted off to sleep.
The room was quite large and there was a bulky glass enclosure placed in the centre of the room. The enclosure was filled with different miniature plants and an odd golden flower ever now and again.
As I stepped closer I could make out more detail; there were tiny creatures that looked reasonably similar to human except their eyes were too big in proportion to their face and they were about five centimetres tall. They rode black ants like horses and chatted amongst each other as if they were highly educated.
Zulu. The tiny little creatures that Jai had named Abatwa, but instead called Zulu.
I remember that Jai had said that there were some inside the West Wing of the school... we must visit one day soon.
I gasped as I was pulled from my dream.
“Ann, Ann..? Wake up, princess!” Jai whispered, his hand stroking my cheek. He was knelt over me and his head was inches from my face, letting his breath wash over me.
I recognised the alluring smell of Jai, there was no name for the scent that would live up to actually taking a whiff of it, but the closest I could think of was the smell of spring, when the flowers start to bloom.
I opened my eyes and his gaze locked on mine—I could get lost in those eyes.
I was lying perfectly still as Jai stood up and climbed over me, pulling me close as he snuggled into my back. I rolled over to face him, resting my head on his outstretched arm and allowing his palm to rest on my waist.
“Nice to see that your awake, sleeping beauty,” he said, smiling a crooked smile.
“It was quite nice walking up and seeing your face, you know. I actually missed you,” I said, bitting down on my bottom lip.
“I definitely missed holding you.” He pulled me closer and I burrowed my face into his chest.
Our relationship was odd, we had known each other only a short time and I had already fallen for him.
Literally fallen head over heels for him, or fallen at his feet at the very least.
My breathing was relaxed as I nestled into Jai, until I felt myself completely stop.
The door creaked open.
“Savanna Maree Ryder! You will stand up right now if you know what’s good for you!” Max bellowed, allowing me to picture the smoke coming from his ears.
I scampered to my feet at once, holding my breath and squeezing my eyes shut as I focused towards the ground, barely keeping my anger in check.
Slowly I heard Jai stand and come to stand next to me, keeping a respectful distance in our company.
“I am disappointed in you young lady. You should know more about personal space, and definitely think twice about the company of testosterone filled boys!” Max glared down at me.
“Okay—I mean—yes sir,” I gulped down a deep breath before glancing sideways at Jai.
“What do you have to say for yourself boy?” Max huffed.
I cut in before Jai could even open his mouth. “I apologise Max, it won’t happen again,” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.
What I really wanted to say is: to go screw himself and never speak to me or my Mother again. But if anything like that ever slipped from between my teeth Mum would be the one paying for it.
I held my tongue before I kept speaking. “I want to speak with Mum. Now,” I said firmly, not daring to meet his eye contact.
“I don’t think that is a good idea,” he smirked.
“MUM!” I screamed towards the door, hoping the neighbours weren’t too nosey.
