Millennium Academy - The Fractured Shadow - Novel I

Chapter 6 - Emila Serpens

Emila was bored. Sure, the rush from knowing Vera liked her back was, well - exhilarating. But class with Dr. Oddity was never that interesting. Dr Oddity rambled on and on and on about Shulkmushrooms.

She always had this class with Vera, though, so she spent half of the period daydreaming about the dance.

"Emila. Psst. Emila!"

"What?" she hissed, leaning over to talk to Selene, a werewolf who'd recently been kicked out of Charlene's posse, just because she had become good friends with an outsider. Emila, to be exact.

And Selene (who Emila'd trade Charlene for any day) always paid attention in class, which Emila found helpful when she couldn't help thinking about Vera. And when Dr. Oddity had focused on a particularly boring subject. This time Selene had decided to make Emila do her own work. Bummer. But as soon as she laid her eyes on the board, her heart stopped.

Not literally, though the image was enough to make her stomach drop. It was a fragment of the complete image, though the entire thing was on the blackboard.

A silhouetted tentacle, snake, something. The thing she'd seen take Charlene. Ooh, that rhymed. But she couldn't focus on rhyming words just yet.

"What. Is. That." she whispered nervously to Selene, who in turn pointed out a lab on the board.

The Cephalo-shadow. A shadow demon created using Death magic. The first of which was created by Jezeb Ruby, a vicious - but dead - Death-Witch. Beware, as it is more deadly and destructive than anything to walk the Multiverse. A cephalopod shaped creature, this demon is liable to do its master's bidding if summoned right. Sentient, it should be treated as such, and has been known to turn upon its summoner if mistreated.

"Alright eyeballs!" Dr. Oddity announced. "Irises! Pupils! I want you to examine this top-op-opic." He pulled out a jar from his desk. A tentacle, black, and made of shadows. He snapped his fingers, and, with a sickening squch, it slid apart, creating, 2, 4, 8, until there was just enough for everybody in the class.

"This is a genuine specimen, straight from the Museum of Magical Artifacts. Grab a tray, gloves and tools from the front. Your table partner will be your lab partner for today."

Emila looked over. The desks were arranged in groups of two, so Vera, to Emila's dismay, was paired with Peter Griffin, a werewolf who thought every girl was straight. Selene was paired with Ellie Haraen, who was busy tapping her long, green fingers on the jar in front of them.

So that left Emila with Aaron Geranium, a centaur - who was nice but so clumsy he couldn't make 2 steps before tripping over something or falling flat on his face.

"Oh, boy." Emila sighed and tried to look friendly.

He made his way over to the desk, but not before tripping over his own feet and dropping the materials. The tray- with the tentacle in it, flew across the room and landed with a, "SPLURT," on Mr Oddity's desk.

Dr Oddity whirled around, clapping quite distantly, like at a show. He flicked the tentacle off his desk, leaving a gooey smear trailing in its wake.

Emila closed her eyes slowly and groaned. But stopped - something about the smashed tentacle intrigued her for a moment. A shadow, thin, wispy, and - dare I say it? - magical. It dissipated into the air, but not before reasing a weak cackle, ominous, yet faraway, like a distant echo.

Emila scrabbled furiously on the piece of paper in front of her. Even were this not an assignment, she needed this information in order to puzzle out the great debacle that was Charlene's abduction. Even though they didn't exactly agree on most things, it would bring justice back to Millennium Academy- and...her family.

But she didn't say that out loud, for it would cause suspicion among her peers. ANYWAY!

Walking silently past Aaron, still struggling on the floor, Selene, who was whispering excitedly with lie, and Vera, who was being harassed by Peter. She willed hersf not to intervene, though, as she, silently as wl, handed the now-filled paper to Dr. Oddity.

"Presumptuous! Everlasting!"

Emila was sure he meant 'preeminent' and 'excellent', but she said nothing.

"Your understanding about the magnificent powder that resumes outside the tackle ball is instanding! dooG boj, alimE, doog boj. An A plus for you and your team!"

For Aaron, too? Even though the social loafer (it could be argued that he couldn't hp it) did none of the work? Unfair.

Emila turned her thoughts to Dr. Oddity. She hated his use of malapropism, seeing as his sentence was supposed to be 'Your understanding about the malevolent power that resides inside the tentacle is outstanding,'.

"Okay, irises! Pupils! Retinae! Hand in your finished assignments! If they are not done now I ex-pec-pec-pect them done with your partner by next class!"

The ruckus was soon driven away from Dr. Oddity and into the hall, where the students congregated on their way to their other classes. Selene waved goodbye to Emila and headed over to Peter, whom she punched on the arm repeatedly. Vera looked shaken.

"Are you okay?" Emila asked, draping an arm around Vera's stiffened shoulders.

"Yeah, just..." she gave a small shudder, "I really hate that guy. I mean, when is he going to learn that not all girls are straight like in stupid goddamn fairy tales!"

"I hear you. People like Peter see the world in one way and one way only and they expect everyone else to be the same. " Emila nodded sympathetically.

"When my brother - you wouldn't know him, he's working at the StoneMason's Institute - found out, he got so mad and surprised I thought that even his snakes would explode. He accepts it now, though, but I wonder how I would have become if he hadn't."

Vera gave a weak chuckle at this, not much unlike the usual demented, throaty laugh she usually came out with.

They walked silently for a few minutes, occasionally bearing a smile and a "Hlo." to a flow student or professor.

"You going to the trip to the HoneyDew Institute?" Vera broke the awkward, dead silence between them.

Their world was governed by Institutes, and the Institutes in each region were responsible for separate things. For example, the HoneyDew Institute was in charge of the region and the honey and sweets of the continent.

It was run by enormous bees and their riders. Razz had befriended Jasper Flynn, a male bee who had a great sense of humor. She was hoping to become his rider someday, as he was still young and unable to work.

"Naw. It's not my thing. I'm going to try to get an internship for the StoneMason's Institute, like my brother and sisters." Emila had six sisters, Stheno, Euryale, Medusa, Vianguisa, Taia, Boa, and a brother, Cobra.

"Is Razz going?" Emila asked.

She tried not to be jealous of Razz - come to think of it, she didn't know if Razz ever liked anybody - but since she was best friends with Vera, it was hard not to think of her as competition.

It made Emila feel guilty though. Razz was a good friend, better than Emila could ever be, at least, and she didn't seem like the type to steal her girl. Or even remotely have a tiny crush on someone. Razz just didn't dig that stuff. Emila was still cautious.

"Definitely. She went there once, just to visit, and she's roped me into coming along."

A day without Vera! The bitter, jealous thoughts for Razz bubbled up to the surface again, but she kept outwardly calm, watching Vera twirl a strand of hair on her finger. It was deep auburn normally, but shone coppery brown in sunlight, which on Vera looked mesmerizing.

Vera looked at her watch nonchalantly and almost fl over from shock. "Oh, shoot! I'm late for Herbology! Darn, darn, darn!"

She shoved her book into her bag and gave Emila a quick hug. "Gotta go, I'll see you in two days! I'll bring you back a pint!"

Emila watched as Vera ran down the hall and disappeared round the corner, her crimson plait swinging teasingly in her wake. She sighed and walked to her next class alone, jealous of Razz with Vera on the trip.