Chapter 007
Of Gaps And Pretending
At first, Zorian hadn't even noticed him. That was noteworthy by itself, as Zach wasn't an easy person to overlook. The boy loved attention and seemed to have trouble staying still and quiet, something that remained consistent even after Zach suddenly turned into some kind of a weirdo time traveler. Today, however, the normally loud and exuberant boy remained eerily silent. He also eschewed his typical tactic of sitting in the back of the classroom to occupy a seat near the front. If his out of character behavior hadn't caused people to glance at him a bit too often, Zorian would have probably overlooked him.
He was so shocked to see the boy finally present in class that he momentarily halted in his tracks, standing like an idiot in the middle of the classroom. Then, after a moment's thought, he set off towards the likely cause of his predicament.
His first instinct was to immediately march up to the boy and drag him away into some forgotten corner to clear everything up, but Zach's subdued appearance gave him pause. Zach's skin was pale and bloodless, and he was breathing a little too quickly and shallowly for a healthy person. He looked sick. Thinking about it a little more carefully, approaching the boy so directly would be a reckless and possibly dangerous course of action. His loss to the lich aside, Zach was vastly more powerful than Zorian, and Zorian had no idea how the other boy would react if he knew there was another person tagging along in his time traveling adventure. He'd need to confront him sooner or later, though, so he fully intended to make at least tentative contact with the boy. He scanned the front of the classroom, looking for a free seat near Zach that would allow him to study the boy during the lecture.
He didn't have to look hard - Zach was sitting very close to Briam, and every seat around Briam was empty. The cause was easy to divine: people were reluctant to get close to the angry-looking fire drake he was holding. As someone with future knowledge, Zorian knew their fears were well founded. While the young fire drake didn't torch anyone (and sometimes Zorian wondered how much of that was thanks to the drake's youth and lack of ability, as opposed to having self-restraint) it didn't hesitate to bite and scratch, and it was hard to tell what would set it off. Fortunately, it seemed to tolerate Zorian better than most people, so he simply plopped down into the seat next to Briam, silencing the lizard's hissing with an annoyed glare. He stared at the fire drake's slitted yellow eyes until the reptile turned its head and left him alone.
"Wow, you shut him down in an instant," remarked Briam. "I wish I could control him that easily."
The fire drake snapped its jaws at the air in front of Briam's face, causing the boy to flinch back. Briam huffed in annoyance and apparently let the matter drop. Not for the first time, Zorian wondered just how smart that creature really was.
Then, doing his best to appear natural, Zorian turned to Zach sitting a bit further away from him.
"You look like hell," Zorian remarked.
Zach groaned and buried his face into his hands. "I feel like hell," he moaned. "What did that pile of bones do to me?"
Zorian's heart quickened. Zach no doubt expected his comment to be disregarded as a weird metaphor, but to Zorian it was definite confirmation that Zach was also a time traveler. No points for guessing who or what the mysterious 'pile of bones' was.
Now... how could he get Zach to talk more without revealing that he knew more than he should?
"Pile of bones?" Zorian asked, his voice curious.
Zach opened his mouth to respond but Ilsa chose that exact moment to walk into the classroom and Zach dropped the issue.
Zorian had to restrain himself from glaring at Ilsa as she smiled at him. Couldn't she have waited a few more minutes?
