Solasta Academy: All Hallows Eve

Chapter Six

The next two days passed in a blur. Calia wandered around Faylinn like a tourist in a new country and had to hide her excitement many times, as other Fae gave her a strange expression every time. Though, she couldn't help it. The magic surrounding her and the drumming in her heart made her almost forget about the darkness and grief. For so long, she felt as if she was lost. A ghost haunting the living, being forced to socialize with those unlike her. It wasn't until the magic in veins was awakened that so did she. So, she ignored the snide remarks of the Fae walking the cobblestone streets and focused on everything this Kingdom had to offer. Many delicious foods and candy. Potent wine, which she decided she would drink under special circumstances because her hangover almost killed her. The pounding in her head still ached, but the cheese she ate now helped a little.

She sat on an old bench in the color of bark as she chewed on the delicious cheese, which she was told by the shop lady was an old family recipe. She said her ancestry put magic in the cheese, and that's why every Fae near and far came to her store to get it specifically. Even the King. Though, from the shop owner's enthusiasm, Calia figured she was telling the truth. She was excited to have a royal-adjacent member buying her cheese; as she ate, she gazed at the boys throwing around a piece of rock like a Lightball game. Arzhel was the leader and ran across the empty field with such determination and focus that she couldn't help but smile. He was the sort of boy who made everyone turn heads—made everyone listen to what he had to say. Even if he didn't like the attention, he still accepted it. Still benefited from it.

Behind her, Lottie Lemes snorted. "He's only playing that hard because he knows you're staring, Calia."

Calia grinned. "Egotistical ass,"

Lottie plopped down next to her on the bench, and so did Jade Monroe two seconds later, carrying a plate full of cream puffs and honey biscuits. "You love his charming ways, though." the Witch smirked as she popped a puff in her mouth.

She nodded because, of course, she did. His teasing and flirtations made her turn red every single time. "Am I the first girl he's liked?" Calia asked her two roommates. She had much to learn about her friends' pasts, especially Arzhel Koen, who kept his secret from her as if he concealed the darkness in his life to protect her from it.

Jade knew him the longest. They came to Solasta around the same time and bonded over their shared dark pasts, though it didn't get past that. "With his past...being his past, I don't think he let anyone in. He didn't want anyone to share the burden of his pain, so he kept everyone at arm's length—even us, his dear friends."

"He sincerely believes he doesn't deserve any sort of happiness," Lottie whispered. "Arzhel's family is more fucked up than the rest of ours, and that is probably why he created the orphan misfit club. He wishes he was an orphan rather than a neglected son."

Calia looked back at Arzhel out in the field, who was now tackling Torin and laughing simultaneously. She wondered how someone would treat him with anything other than kindness. Why did he have to suffer? Why did all of them have to at their young age? "So, no. Other girls might have tried getting his attention, but he ignored them all." Jade replied.

"Until you," Lottie echoed.

"No pressure," Jade chuckled.

She and Lottie laughed, too, and her heart fluttered with happiness. With the love she has for her friends. They brought the darkness out of her, making her forget it for a while. "Well, he is the first boy I've liked." When she glanced at her roommates, they remained quiet as they allowed Calia to confess a little bit more of herself. "Other boys were a little intimidated by me, I suppose. By my intelligence and how I kept to myself at school. They found it weird." She shrugged, then gave her friends a sincere smile. "All of you are my first friends, you know. No pressure or anything."