Moonlight Magic

Chapter 18

My eyelids cracked open. After I was left alone, I had tossed and turned for an hour before finally falling into a fitful sleep. I vaguely remember another blurry dream that left me confused.
Darkness took up residence in the room, suggesting that the sun had long ago disappeared. I suddenly realised that there was someone else in here with me.
"She's so pretty."
"Betcha she's snobby. They all are."
"You don't know that."
Scratch that. Make that at least two strangers. Two female strangers. As the thought came to mind, one of them noticed that I was up.
"She's awake!" said an excited voice. Feet shuffled closer to the bed. "Hello?"
I fully opened my eyes and fixed onto a pair of blue-grey ones. "Who are you?"
"Oh my God! We're so sorry! Hope we didn't scare you. I swear, we're not random stalkers."
Sitting up, I looked at the two girls. The one who spoke to me had wavy, light blonde hair. She had a pleasant face and could be called adorable. She was regarding me with plain curiosity on her face.
The other was the polar opposite. The tall and willowy girl had piercing hazel eyes lined with thick kohl eyeliner. There's a neon green strip through straight, black hair that just reached her shoulders. Neat bangs cover her forehead, slightly overgrown.
"I'm Chloe Ashale and this is Anna Hallenstein, " the blonde said. "We're supposed to help you get settled in. You're going to be rooming with us."
Rooming? "What?!"
"Weren't you told?" Chloe blinked.
"Thanks Ivan," the other girl said sarcastically. "Great, looks like we'll have to explain everything."
"Explain what?"
"We were told that you were going to start attending Cremlim in a few days and that we were your buddies slash roommates, responsible for showing you the reins and the like," Chloe clarified.
"Since when was I going to school here?! What the hell?!" Who decided this? "I want to see Ophilia."
"But-"
"Now!"
"Like Chloe was just about to say, Ophilia's not currently here. She's gone off to some conference. She'd left like an hour ago," Anna said. "Look, we're just here because for some reason they thought it was a good idea to have someone show you around and that someone just had to be us. They somehow managed to forget letting you in on the plan."
"But I never asked to study here." Sure, I might've summoned that ball of light thing before but to stay and learn about magic? "Do I even qualify? I didn't even know about magic until a couple of weeks ago."
"We can feel the power radiating from you. You may think that you're normal but trust me when I say you're far from ordinary. I just can't quite pinpoint what you are," Anna squinted, making her eyes hardly visible due to the dark eyeliner she had on.
"Why not just take a look around for now. I mean, we could all go to Ivan later and get him to tell us what exactly's going on," Chloe suggested. "You might like it here. Plus from what we've heard you're still in some sort of danger right?"
"Where's the guy now?" I asked.
"Ivan? He's out on some errand," Anna replied.
"You two know him?"
"Of course. Who doesn't? He's popular and top of the sorcery class," Chloe explained, "along with Carlisle but..."
"Top of the sorcery cla- Wait a minute, you guys aren't human. What are you?"
They seemed surprised that I knew this. "Um well... I'm a sorceress and Anna here's a witch."
"There are witches?"
"Yes. You got a problem with that?" challenged Anna.
"It's the first time I've heard. To be honest I'm not quite sure what exists and what doesn't."
"You'll learn, seeing as you're gonna be here for a while," Chloe said. "So do you want to take a look around now...?"
"Now? It's dark out."
"Yes, now," Anna replied exasperated.
I glanced down at myself. "I can't go out dressed like this."
"Right. We brought some of our clothes that might fit you." Anna pointed to a heap dumped on the chair and where a pair of brown, sturdy boots stood underneath.
I hopped up off the bed, grabbed the pile along with the boots and padded over to the bathroom. "Will be a sec."
Closing the door behind me, I picked out a maroon dress shirt that fitted nicely. I paired it with a black, pleated miniskirt and added a black vest to the look. The vest must've been Chloe's as it was too snug if I buttoned it up so I left it open. Pulling on the boots, I did up the laces and found them just the right fit. Forcing my fingers through my hair, I assessed myself in the mirror making sure everything was in place. Then I trooped out to have my very own tour of this mysterious place.

*****

"And there's the library." It had been about thirty minutes since we departed from the room I stayed in. After exiting the room, Chloe and Anna had led me down a long hallway and showed me the areas of the different faculties and classrooms. We exited the wizardry and witchcraft faculty and were now outside walking towards the library, along a wide, paved footpath under a roof that bridged the two buildings. So far, Cremlim reminded me of an old castle, except everything was rather polished and there weren't any turrets or flags.
Most of the buildings here were built of stone, up to two or three storeys. On the walls of some, elegant vines clung to the rough surface. Alcoves ran along the outside of almost every building, usually framing a lush green lawn. There was an open square that we had passed by much earlier with a beautiful fountain set in its centre. Black benches sat circling the spouting water. I was transfixed on this scene.
Shining stars were peeping through the night sky. The unlit torches bolted to the walls had came on and illuminated the darkened paths. The columns of the alcoves casted flickering shadows across the ground. It was as if they were dancing to music I couldn't hear. I shuddered.
Chloe and Anna were walking slightly up ahead and I quickened my feet. Looking at their backs, I realised that we had been the only ones here. I supposed the school was big and it was now at night but wouldn't the students still be out and about. It couldn't have been later than eight. I didn't notice any people in the classrooms either earlier on. There should still had been classes going on with this being a boarding school from what I've gathered.
"How come no one's around? We haven't bumped into a single soul."
Anna spun around, "Don't say things like that." Her eyes darted about, "You don't know when or if they are around."
"I don't think that's what she meant An." Although Chloe said this, she seemed a little spooked too.
My eyes widened. "What, you meant there are ghosts around?"
"Shhhhh! Yes. No. I don't know. Some are friendly, some don't care but some are flipping aggressive so try not to offend them!" Anna whispered, tightly. We all looked around for a quiet moment.
"Anyway, the place is so quiet because nearly the entire student body has gone home. It's the weekend so parents came and picked up their kids to spend time with them. It's almost compulsory but there are some exceptions," Chloe explained, breaking the silence. "Let's go inside the library."
We had reached the double doors of the building and I was shocked to my core when we entered. I had always been so proud of the library at home but this. The entire building was actually dedicated to books. Set much in the same style as the library at the manor, this place had books lining walls worth of three storeys. Balconies ran along the four walls, distinguishing the different levels. Polished wooden stairs twisted around each other and bridges crisscrossed across the space from one wall to the other. Looking up from the centre, the starry night was visible through the glass dome roof.
"This is crazy," I breathed.
"It never gets old, watching someone fawn over this place like a little kid," Anna laughed.
"I love this place so much," Chloe sighed. "You know, there are all these tables on each floor for study groups. The only downside is there's no other way to get up and down except the stairs."
"I reckon it's more amazing that way."
"I think you're the first and only one at this school that thinks so." Anna was dumbfounded.
Suddenly remembering where our previous conversation was left off, I continued, "And the exceptions are...?" waiting for one of them to elaborate.
"Huh?"
After a short pause, Anna seemed to have caught on. "Oh, like us. We were asked to stay behind so we could get you organised. Of course, our families were informed."
"Others could be if parents are too busy and are unable to be around then those students stay back. There are a couple and they're somewhere around. Or the last reason would be if a student is here because they have no choice. More specifically, nowhere to go," Chloe added.
"I can think of two." Both of them were staring intently at me.
I rolled my eyes."I know, me. But you said two. Who's the other person?"
They glanced at each other and looked back at me, not before sharing a secret code message."He doesn't matter."
"So it's a boy."
"Forget I said anything. Let's get going. I'm starving," Chloe said, hastily steering me towards the door.
"Yeah, me too," Anna chimed in. "I wonder if the kitchen's still open. Hope Mrs Gilmore hasn't left yet or we'd have to wait another three hours before she opens up again."
"Who's that?" I asked.
"She's the cook. Or the food.. lady." Chloe looked down at her watch. "Gosh, we'll have to hurry. It's already fifteen to eight."
"WHAT!?! You guys will have to keep up." Anna pelted off.
"She hates missing a meal," Chloe said as an excuse for her friend. "Hey! Wait up!" she shouted at the small silhouette already a way ahead. Leaving us no choice, Chloe and I chased after her.