Birthright (The Technomage Archive, Book 1) - Complete Novel

Chapter Four

Ceril opened his eyes. It was dark. He rolled over, pulled the blanket over his shoulder, and tucked it beneath his chin. Dark was good. It meant there was still time for sleep. Ceril rolled over and tried to clear his mind. He wasn't surprised at being unable to sleep; he was irritated by it. He stared out the window and looked at the stars. The constellations at Ennd's were different from the ones in Ternia, and he never got used to the change. He watched them slowly drift across the window and eventually felt himself doze off.

When he opened his eyes again, it was still dark. The constellations had moved, but not much. He must not have made it all the way to sleep. He felt himself doze off again, and once again, he woke up with it still dark outside. Time seemed to crawl for Ceril that night, and his body ached from the tossing and turning he had been doing.

By the time his alarm sounded just past dawn, he was already fully awake. He had been for hours. Ceril grabbed the clothes he had worn for Presentation yesterday—Nephil had not given him instructions on how to dress, but he figured he couldn't go wrong with his dress uniform—and ran to the shower with high hopes that the hot water would ease the ache in his neck and back.

As he left the dormitory, Ceril looked at Swarley's side of the room. He hadn't been at home when Ceril had finally made it back, and with his insomnia, Ceril was sure to have noticed him coming in late. There was a curfew for students, and Ceril was worried that Swarley was going to be in trouble for breaking it. More than that, though, he hoped to have a chance to say goodbye to his friend before being ushered off into whatever Phase the Charon recruits got into. Neither the headmaster nor Professor Nephil had given him any solid answer on what was coming next. For all he knew, he would be staying here with Swarley after his orientation period. But he wanted to say goodbye if that wasn't the case.

After a long shower that did surprisingly ease his muscle aches, Ceril returned to his dorm and found Swarley asleep in his bed, face down and fully clothed. He must have been up all night, too.

"Swarley?" he said. His roommate didn't stir. If he had been up all night, Ceril thought he should just leave him alone and let him rest. There were still three hours before normal Phase II classes started, and he figured that Swarley would appreciate every unconscious minute of them. Ceril gave his side of the room a last once over and gently placed the one picture that he had of himself and Gramps in the middle of the largest bag so it would be protected. He zipped up the bag.

Nephil had told Ceril that his belongings would be taken care of as long as he had them packed away, so Ceril closed the closet door as quietly as he could and headed to meet everyone in front of the Library.

"Bye, Swarley," he said. "I'll see you...sometime, man. I hope I get a chance to tell you about all of this soon. I doubt you'll believe me anyway." He waited for a response, for any kind of signal that would start a conversation, but the most he got was a muffled snore. He smiled and left the room.

Professor Nephil had given him three specific orders regarding this morning. The first was to shower and make sure he was clean. He didn't mention clothing, but he had mentioned a shower specifically. The second was to meet at the Library door as soon as possible after his shower. He indicated to Ceril that he must be there two hours earlier than he had been to Presentation.

The third order was the oddest. "Do not, Ceril," Professor Nephil had said, "eat any breakfast in the morning. Eat what you want before you go to bed, but please, eat nothing in the morning once you wake up. It just makes things easier for us all." Ceril wasn't hungry, so he had no trouble fasting. However, he did wonder why he had been asked to.

The halls of Phase II were empty as he made his way to the Library. He had expected as much. No students in their right minds would be out and about this early unless they had to be.