Radiance - The Alight Archives Book #1

37. Goldbloods and Lowborns

The sun had already set, leaving behind a serene evening sky, painted in hues of orange and purple as Elaine finally exited the School Library. The day had been long and arduous, but they had accomplished what they set out to do—organizing the Archives. Elaine had been skeptical about finishing the task in a day, especially after the incident with Custas, but she was pleasantly surprised. Once he had recovered, they were able to work together smoothly, making the process much easier. 

As they stepped out into the cool evening air, Elaine couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction and relief. Without any diversions, curses, or deranged professors to fret over, they could concentrate fully on completing their tasks, which she had done with renewed haste. Elaine only assumed that the same applied to Kliff and Fearne as within the next four hours or so, the two groups had merged together again, both halves of the Archive room returning to some semblance of uniformity.

But Elaine couldn't guarantee that everything was up to the standards of the School Council; that would be for Micah to decide, and the Vice President had yet to exit library doors after he'd announced that he'd assess their progress himself. Elaine nervously bit her thumb as she leaned against the fencing, eagerly awaiting Micah's report with beads of sweat spotting her forehead.

She had no idea what he would say to them. After a while or so, it was as if Elaine's brain went on autopilot. During the first hour, she'd been fully committed to not making any mistakes and that every folder and document was in its designated spot. Unfortunately, one hour before her last, Elaine definitely could attest that she'd not been the most vigilant organizer, and she worried that while her attention to detail began to wane, she'd made a glaring mistake. That certainly would be...tiresome, if not a little annoying.

Custas had been by her side, that much was true. However, she couldn't be certain that he was completely dedicated to their assignment, not after his encounter with Professor Marsh. It was understandable that anyone would be shaken up after staring into the hollow eyes of one of the most powerful professional sorcerers in the country. They all knew that he could easily extract their Essence with his unbound shadows should he choose to do so, and they'd be utterly powerless to stop him. As mere novices, what could they possibly do against a master like him?

Elaine cast a quick glance at Custas standing on the opposite side of the pathway. He had his arms folded and was staring at the clouds with a pensive look in his dark eyes. The afternoon breeze was playing with the sash he wore around his waist as well as his already bushy hair. Elaine was relatively new to his acquaintance, but she had learned enough about him to be able to sense when he was distressed. He was usually quite talkative, but today he had been uncharacteristically quiet, which made Elaine feel uneasy. She kept hoping for a witty comment or a dry joke from him to lighten the mood, but there had been only silence between them as they worked.

"Argh, what's taking him so long?" Fearne complained, and she sounded as nervous as Elaine felt. A common mannerism of hers, Elaine had noticed, was that her roommate would stroke her braided ponytail as she was doing at the moment. It served as an instant indicator that something was wrong. "What if we messed up in there? What will happen to the Aire Club?"

"Let's stay positive," Elaine consoled her with a half-baked smile. "We all did the best we could, didn't we? And if the Student Council nevertheless wants to get rid of us, well, then..."

"We'll just have to show them how strong our conviction is," Kliff continued for her. He stood beside Fearne with his arms folded, dark blonde hair interfering with his firm expression because of the wind. "Master Micah has already displayed his contempt for the club's very existence so I doubt he won't assess our work through biased lenses. If worse comes to worst, then we'll have to regroup with Casey and strategize countermeasures. For now, we wait and see."