Earnshaw Heights

Chapter Seven

Normani awoke to an irritation on her arm. She grumbled, hitting the source of the annoyance away, immediately turning over on her other side. The irritation jumped to her other arm, and as she was forced into consciousness, she realized that Lauren was shaking her awake.

"Jesus, you're a heavy sleeper," Lauren stated. Normani peered up at her roommate standing over her bed through blurry eyes. She was a vision with her white sweater and contrastingly dark wavy locks. With much of the same feelings, Lauren studied Normani's sleepy expression with a look of adoration in her eyes, which she quickly shook away before Normani could understand. "It's time for breakfast. I'm not going to be late to the first day, but that's your choice if you'd like to be," Lauren managed to say without much emotion. She turned on her heels, and Normani watched silently as she walked out into the living room, closing the door behind her. Normani let out a long groan, slamming her head into her pillow.

Why, why, why am I in this mess after one freaking day here?

Before she could compose another thought, Niall burst into the room and pounced on top of her. "Good morning, lovely!" He practically shouted in her ear. Normani groaned even louder than before and shoved Niall until he was perched on the edge of her bed.

"Why am I suddenly surrounded by morning people?" Normani asked of no one in particular.

"Because we have been sent here solely to convert you to our ways," Niall coolly joked, bringing a genuine smile to Normani's face. "That's my girl," he smiled back at her.

Niall stood up off the bed, slowly making his way towards the door he had just entered from. "I shall leave you to get ready, and I am going to go stuff my face with a delicious breakfast with Tori," Niall explained, raising an eyebrow. He closed the door quietly to leave Normani alone in her room.

Normani fought with her own body to remain in an upright position. Despite the decent amount of sleep she had gotten last night, she still felt exhausted. She knew the events of yesterday were to blame. She also knew that if she could just get up and start getting ready, she'd wake up a bit - but her bed was just so inviting. After a moment of mental anguish, Normani threw the covers off of herself and forced her day to begin.

She padded barefoot over to her dresser to retrieve skinny black jeans and a flowing white shirt. Walking over to grab her boots, she realized that they remained soggy from the lake water and was forced to sport black ankle boots instead. She went to the bathroom to quickly put her hair in a high bun and to throw on some mascara. With one last look in the mirror and a huge intake of breath, she mentally prepared herself for her first day of the program.

As Normani walked down to the main hall, she was absorbed in her own thoughts and worries for the day. Luckily, her anxiety of the challenges of the actual program outshone the Niall/Lauren dilemma that hadn't left her mind since yesterday. Her mind raced with thoughts of the program. She wondered if the students would be thrown into a challenge straight away, what kinds of magical figures would enter the castle to teach them, and how she would be able to perform in her classes next to her peers. Mostly, her mind continued to wander back to the fact that a resounding twenty one students would not complete the program.

Normani was so stuck in her head that she failed to notice the noises coming from the great hall until she was just outside the room. A giant bang that sounded like wood being splintered jolted Normani into reality, her entire body radiating heat from her magic. She ran around the corner so that she was peering into the hall while remaining protected behind the corner wall.

The stone in the center of the room was projecting various spells in every direction, causing chaos to erupt. A majority of students were hiding behind the wood tables, panicked, while still many were fighting back. Normani evaluated the results from a distance, already subconsciously formulating plans of action. She looked up above the stone to see the levitating boy from yesterday shooting rounds of blue fire towards the stone, sometimes colliding with fire sent out by the stone itself. She witnessed a spark shoot out from the right side of the stone that hit a boy in his leg, turning the leg to stone and leaving him unable to move from his spot.

Without thinking, Normani ran across the room over to the boy. She knelt down, taking his arm across her shoulder, yanking him slowly away from the stone. They made little progress, if any, and Normani glanced back towards the stone. A bright spot on its surface where the last spark had come from was getting brighter and brighter, and Mani knew that it was preparing to fire off another spell. Her efforts grew more panicked, and she began to use her magic to give her added strength in pulling the boy away. However, her nerves were blocking her mind from fully accessing any kind of control over her powers, and they were still moving too slowly to get away from the next round in time. Mani's heart was pounding in her ears so loudly that she could hear nothing else. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of someone grabbing the boys other arm, and together they began moving slowly forward. Normani turned her head and found herself looking into shining emerald eyes, and with that view came her ability to access her magic. Normani let her mental walls down, and as her arms flooded with magic, she began pulling the boy behind a table with ease. The trio leapt behind a table just as a spell whirred past the edge of the table, resulting in a large hole through a painting on the wall that it had hit.

Normani grabbed for Lauren's hand, helping her to her feet. The pair looked around for any other individuals in similar circumstances, but the chaos of the room made it impossible to navigate. Normani saw Lauren bolt off in one direction, and Normani decided to take the other side. She scanned the room, unable to separate who was in need of assistance and who was holding their own. She saw a girl with smooth, green skin pushing against the stone. Normani ran over to her, expertly evading the spells being fired off in her direction.

"What the hell are you doing?" Normani managed to yell out at the girl. She turned in Normani's direction and grabbed her hand, pressing it against the stone just as she was. Normani studied the girl for a moment and realized that she was forcing positive magic into the stone, as it shone bright yellow. Normani breathed deeply, channeling her positivity. She exhaled, forcing her magic to leave her fingertips and enter into the stone.

Normani looked around, seeing that a few other peers were joining them, and with each new addition, the spells being fired lessened in number and intensity until they ceased completely. Pausing in silence for a moment, the entire student body waited for more to happen, yet nothing came. Normani felt the room burst into a mini celebration over their first actual success in the program. She was elated with knowing that she was one of the select few who stepped up and took control. She was one of the top. She succeeded. She couldn't hide the smile that was emerging and the sense of pride that was taking over.

Her chest was rising and bursting with happy feelings until she made eye contact with Lauren across the room. She felt her heart stop, her chest threatening to burst at any instant. Lauren stood far off in the corner. She had not hid like many had. She had been brave and thrown herself into danger to save others, just as Normani did. Yet Normani realized that Lauren had been unable to do what she had. Lauren's magic was dark. There was no positivity that she could offer to help, and Normani felt her heart breaking despite the celebration surrounding her.

"Congratulations," came a voice from the entrance to the hall. Normani peered around the stone to see a tall man dressed in all black standing before the students. A smirk of amusement spread across his lips. "Welcome to the program."