Aeonia

Chapter Eight

Unable to stay still any longer, Aelia pushed her covers back and rubbed her eyes. Looking to her left, she sighed with relief. Nerissa was still asleep, she had time to get ready and get out before she awoke. As she padded across the floor, she noticed that Malcom was awake, empty eyes staring at the bathroom door.

"Hey," she murmured groggily, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Get ready and we can head off to breakfast."

Malcom nodded his head slowly, messy brown hair falling around his face as he sat up. Aelia gave a soft laugh and quickly prepared herself for her full day of classes, Malcom following suit. Exiting the dormitory, Aelia turned to Malcom, a serious expression upon her face.

"I need to explain to you what I told you last night. Then I need your help explaining it to the others." She gave him a moment to comprehend what she was asking, then continued. "I need your help finding my family."

"Your family?" He questioned, stopping dead in his tracks. "I don't mean to offend you, but you're an orphan, Aelia. You don't have any."

Snapping from the certainty in Malcom's voice, Aelia quickly retorted, "Don't be so quick to assume, Malcolm."

Crossing her arms and turning to face him, she frowned. Narrowing her eyes dangerously, Aelia inhaled deeply, trying to gather her emotions.

"You know what? You're probably right. Look, I can't necessarily put it into words until I know they really are alive, but there's a possibility that my parents, my family, whoever they are, are out there. Somewhere. That's why I need your help tonight. We're going to find them."

Once again, Malcom nodded, reaching a hand out towards Aelia. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in for a hug.

"I'll do anything I can to help you." He told her, murmuring it into her ear as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Aelia shivered slightly from the intimate contact and smiled up at Malcom.

"Thank you."

As Aelia waited at her usual table for Jaspa and Leilani to arrive, she bit her fingernails unconsciously. Malcolm was sitting across from her, rambling on about the homework from a few days ago, when his spiel suddenly got cut off.

"It's bad to chew your fingernails," Asher said, reaching around Aelias shoulder as he took a seat next to her.

"And it's bad to steal seats that are being saved for others," She replied tauntingly, pointedly looking at the chair he was sitting on.

Removing his hand from her shoulders and dropping it on the table as though it were dead weight, she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at him, asking an unspoken question.

"Ah, wondering why I'm here? Great," He started, "Well, once I arrived here, noticing that almost every table was empty, except for the lucky few, I caught Malcom's eye and invited myself over."

At that statement, Aelia rolled her eyes. Asher's attempt at joking was really starting to get on her nerves. Especially with all the eyebrow raising and the not-so-subtle winks. Dear God, would it ever end?

Realising that with the almost unoccupied cafeteria (due to the early hour and most students wanting to sleep in until the last possible minute), she had the perfect opportunity to ask for Asher's help. After deciding the night before that it couldn't bring harm to anyone, seeing as he already knew more about her than she did herself due to the prophecy, he would be a great asset to helping her find her family.

"Actually, Asher, I need your help."

"My help? With what?" Taken aback he jerked his head around to look at her, losing his balance and almost toppling off the chair, catching himself just in time.