Ever Lost

2

"I cannot believe we're roommates again this year." Mason groaned. He'd been paired with a girl in our year, from what I remembered of him saying, she was messy and loud, unwilling to listen to any kind of criticism and did not ever sleep. I stifled my laugh, taking another bite of my waffles. He continued, "I'm gonna need to request a roommate switch I cannot do this again this year." Mason's description of his roommate was sour to say the least, and made me grateful that, despite our differences my roommate was not a nuisance. She was a blonde-haired girl with dim blue eyes and typically tended to stick to herself. Despite the fact that we'd be forced to walk together to dinner every evening, we could pretend the other didn't exist. Emerson chimed in, her roommate was a girl, dreamy and her description of her, like every girl she ever loved, was most likely rose colored but at least she didn't have any roommate troubles. "Did you know, Nurse Callahan was released over the summer?"

I questioned her, "What for?" She shrugged, "Don't know. They're keeping the details quiet."

Mason sniffed, "Probably something dishonorable."

"Probably?" I snorted. "You're right, definitely." He agreed. The cafeteria quieted as our saints entered the cafeteria, they wore long coat-like dresses, walking through with enough distance between one another so as to not step on the tails of the dresses, with sleeves which had tails of their own. The torso of the dress was bound together with wider, similar tassels to ours. The dresses were white, its embroidery rose gold. They wore headbands of which were laced together with individual pieces of silver, four gems hung off the headbands, running down their hair, it's purpose to mimic a halo. They all moved in a seemingly effortless formation, making their way to the dining halls front stage where we could all see them. They spun to face us and began their welcome speech. From here on out, we would not see them unless we were in the sanctuary, or the event was blessed but Aurora and Luna themselves. Beneath the stain glass depicting the blood war, they appeared elegant. The colors were rather subtle, the white of Luna, and rose gold of Aurora meant to symbolize innocence and trial. They looked as though they fit right in.

I continued eating until the prayer started, and performed a simple spell I created in year seven. It brought an offering to the table, anything I had thought the gods would like in recent time would present itself. One of the nurses was quick to snatch the offering and bring it to the saints. I joined hands with Emerson and the girl beside me, reciting the meals prayer. When the prayer was finished, the saint with dark skin and curly black hair silenced her peers, holding forth my offering. She searched among the crowd, her eyes landing on me. She pursed her lips, "Did you send this?" She asked. I nodded, standing. She gestured toward me, "Speak, child. What's your name?"

"Audrey... Audrey Willow." She cocked her head. "Are you a witch?" I shook my head. "Powerful like a witch." She remarked. "Very rarely do mages deliver their offerings first," she turned her attention to the angels, "you've had ample time. Do not disappoint the gods next year." Turning her focus to me again, she offered a soft smile, "Aurora will be pleased. As the first offering of the school year, you will receive the goddesses blessing and the sanctum's protection until the end of the year." My cheeks turned bright shades of pink as the room filled with low mutters in response. Mason offered me an excited, reassuring smile. "Tüthæsenünkaek yækoyü, Süseaynüntüt August." Thank you, Saint August. I spoke in our native tongue, the language of the goddesses.

"Büblüliskwersüs yækoyu, Küthæsaylüldüd." Bless you, Child. She said. She held up the offering and it faded out of her hands, leaving nothing in its place. I took my seat and the welcoming ceremony continued like usual.

When the saints dispersed, the dining hall filled with commotion, many of the angels voiced their displeasure but none dared to questioned the will of the gods. "Should we send offerings too now?" Mason asked, leaning over his food. I gazed over his pancakes, ignoring the question, "Are you gonna eat those? Cause I will." Mason scowled, "Keep away from my food, Drey."

"I don't suspect the angels will be too pleased about that," Victoria commented, stuffing a bite of pancakes in her mouth. She turned her body halfway to face the tables behind us. Ahead I could see where the mages were occupying tables, many continued with their meals as if the event never happened. Behind us, the angels glared at me, if they weren't glaring, they were complaining. Loudly. I shifted uncomfortably, "is this gonna be my whole year?"

"No. But they will be assholes about it for a few weeks." Mason replied. "That's not disconcerting at all." Emerson grimaced, gripping my hand. I bit my lip, turning my focus back to my meal.

"Sorry did you want me to lie?" I shook my head, ignoring the two's arguing. It felt nice to have that bit of normalcy. Every year like clockwork the arguments started, and they didn't stop until they couldn't see one another. They simply never agreed with each other. Victoria, ever the peace maker interrupted them as the insults started coming.

Breakfast ended as late as it started, and we were off to start our mock classes.
—
I bit down on my tongue hard, for the umpteenth time since taking my seat in the class. These classes were jokes, were treated as jokes by students and taken only slightly seriously by the teachers. That was not the problem. I enjoyed that these classes were more relaxed as the workload was sure to be unbearable when the school year officially started. The problem? A new one. It came with a pair of feathery-silk soft wings attached. The angels had sprung into arguments over the offering the second any of us had an opportunity to be seated, and they hadn't had the opportunity to cease. Nurse Aiden flipped through a book at the front of his class, often meeting my gaze with a sympathetic smile. I grimaced, standing from my seat, I left the room without a word. I was not above skipping class, especially ones that offered no credits, so I made my way around the building with the intention of both wandering and heading to my dorm.

The building was truly like a castle. It was coated in soft shades of cream and nude browns, the floors marble, and stairs curled elegantly. The doors were wooden and tall, lined with columns that curved into themselves, sculptures of goddesses leaned against few, their clay molded into vines and other plants, curving around the columns. Their beauty was plentiful, but soft not overwhelming. Easy on the eyes. No fire was permitted in the building, so the torches that lined the walls were lit with the makeshift spells of mages, anything we felt would light the building best, but it all brought the same soft shades of yellow to the halls.

"Where ya off to?" A voice echoed down the hall. It startled me and I jumped a little, turning around to find the source of the voice. He stood not far behind me, leaning against a wall. Tall, brown skinned with split dyed black and blonde hair, Apollo. A beauty to be sure, like all the other angels, but his adoration for changing his appearance set him apart from all the others. It'd taken me years to put his personality over his appearance. I frowned, "Are you following me?"

"Heavens no. You're too boring to follow."

"And how would you know that unless you were following me?" I asked. He sighed, "Good observation skills, perhaps?"

I shook my head, "you couldn't find a tree in a valley of flowers."  Apollo sucked his teeth, approaching me with his coat in hand, "The goddesses are blessing you for the school year and yet you hold no respect for their children."

"You, especially." I smiled. He scowled, "You should be a little more careful about what you say. You're on their radar now." He walked away from me; the air turned sour. Originally, I would've thought he meant the angels, but a low faint howl filled the hall reminded me that ghosts still roamed these halls.