Between Sun and Shadow Part II
Well... I said I'd get it out by Friday.
Here it is!
(Totally not me forgetting to actually put the gold letters in the last part for the challenge; @slayerres gets a shoutout for trying tho I don't know where he got vampire from)
Fletcher's room at Arcanum Academy was very undecorated. Nobody had roommates at the Academy–it was considered more dangerous for two people to share a room than for one person to have a room to themselves, to avoid attracting unwanted creatures looking for a nice, big easy meal–so he he had the whole thing to himself. The cold, grey stone walls were all bare, and the only things taking up floor space were his dresser, bed, and a beige wool rug that shed way too much.
He sat on his bed, elbows on his knees, chin in his hands. Everyone had 2 hours of free time to “get to know” their teammates better. Virek had stalked right off–but not before Maya had got him to tell them his first name, if begrudgingly. Actually, Silas Virek didn’t stalk off. He was gone in a blink, and Fletcher must have looked as bewildered as he felt since Maya found it necessary to inform him that another ability of the Nycteri was supernatural speed, as well as strength. He may have wanted to pretend it wasn’t, but it actually had been necessary.
Maya left right after him, after not unkindly telling Fletcher “See you at lunch.” Fletcher didn’t really expect to interact with either of his teammates until they were forced to the next day, and he definitely didn’t expect Maya to wave him over to her six-seat table at lunch.
He chose a seat at the end of the table, so he didn’t have to sit directly next to anyone. There were only two other people besides Maya, plus a elementary level student who was leaning over the back of a chair to pitch in on a conversation.
Maya gestured to Fletcher. “This is Fletcher Hawthorne. He’s one of the boys in my mock-apprenticing group.” The girl sitting next to Maya gave him a slightly too-enthusiastic smile. She had hip-length cherry red hair, bright blue and narrow eyes, high cheekbones, and a very pointy nose with a splattering of freckles across it. “Zara Flamecraft here. Nice to meet you! I dare say you’ll be fun at truth or dare.” She turned to Maya. “Get it? Dare say? Truth or dare?” Maya rolled her eyes. “Try harder, Zar.”
Maya pointed to the other boy actually sitting at the table with an almost exasperated look. “That’s Jaxon Phipps. He’s on a sugar rush right now, so be careful.” Jax had bright blonde buzzcut hair, light brown eyes, and a concerningly cheerfully evil look on his face. “I only had one candy bar.”
The elementary girl that was leaning over the seat piped in. “A candy bar plus a whole bag of gummy bears and a grape soda. Your doomed Jax.”
The girl had shoulder-length wavy blonde hair, sweet hazel eyes, fair sun-tanned skin, and lashes that nearly touched her eyebrows. She was wearing an expensive-looking blue sundress with jewels around the neckline–with a dirt stain across the hem.
Zara nodded solemnly. “He’s a lost cause. Anyways, this is Cobalt. Cobalt Synthopia; I guess you’d know her?”
Yes actually, Fletcher did know her. She was the ten-year-old daughter of the king of Synthopia; and heir to the throne. Synthopia was a neighboring kingdom to Elystra, where the Academy was tucked away into the possibly most remote corner. He did not know, however, that she went to Arcanum.
He nodded. “Yea, sort of.” Probably not the right response for a princess, but he could already feel red-hot embarrassment creeping up his neck, and Cobalt didn’t seem to care much anyways.
Before anyone could get another word in, a loud buzzing noise came from under the table. Not like someone’s phone is ringing kind of buzzing. Like vibrating-the-whole-table-until-the-silverware-clatters kind of buzzing.
Zara’s eyebrows shot up. “Shut it off, Jax!” Jax fumbled for something under the table, pulling out a shiny blue orb roughly the size of a softball. He stared at it while it madly buzzed.
Now it was Mayas turn. “Jax. Turn it off!”
Jax looked at it helplessly. “I, uh, didn’t mention something.”
Mayas glare could have melted steel. “What. Is. It.”
He gave them a tight smile. “Remember that A.I. chip I found in the lab?”
Maya dropped her head into her hands. Zara threw her head back in exasperation. Cobalt looked mildly horrified. “No you didn’t.”
”I did,” he answered with a sheepish smile, “And it seems to have a mind of its own now.”
The orb shot into the air above the table, a scanner appearing out of a slot in the bottom of it. “Please stand by. Mood evaluation underway.”
Cobalt shot up, moving back to her table. “Nope. Your guy’s problem, not mine.”
The orb decided to scan Fletcher. Lucky him.
”Current mood: 50% “what kind of table is this”, 30% tired, 10% confused, 5% content, and 5% urge to leave. Mood check complete.”
Zara, horrifyingly, smiled. “Aww, only 5% urge to leave. Usually people are running away crying after the first two minutes with us.”
END PART II
You better have liked it, cuz I wrote this damn thing on my phone.
If you wanna make a character for the book, check out my last blog post!
Cobalt character belongs to @kawaiichocochan54
Comment for part III, it motivates me to get it out sooner.
now i get to go binge read in bed until 3:00 AM (i really should stop doing this.)
part 3: https://www.chess.com/blog/AvaR1008/between-sun-and-shadow-part-iii
