Fantasy

Chapter V

     I was jolted to life by a nightmare. I won't even describe it because, trust me, you don't need to wake up earlier than you do.

     As I sat up in my bed, I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock. 4:36 a.m. I knew Caspian said an early start, but I didn't think it would be this early. I fell back down on my pillow but couldn't go to sleep. 1 sheep, 2 sheep, 3 dragons, 4 crab cakes, riding a dragon, class in the morning... Yup, couldn't go to sleep. So, I got up and got ready for my day. Mercy lent me all her clothes until I could get some of my own today. I just wore her red T-shirt, jeans, and gray sweatshirt. She may be a gossip, but she was nice enough to lend a girl clothes. 

     I sat back down on my bed and pulled out a box from underneath. It was delivered to all the students last night during dinner. I was just too lazy to look at it last night. I pried it open and found a bunch of books. Textbooks. Taking one by one out, I saw that, if they corresponded to classes, I'd be taking four. Flora and Fauna 101, Field Training, Magic Awareness, and Healing. Seemed interesting enough, and at least I didn't have to do math. God, I hate math. 

     Anyway, I flipped through the books and decided not to be an over-achiever. Placing them on the foot of my bed, I went out into the hallway. It wasn't pitch black, but definitely close enough. Walking down the hall, I tried to think of where to go. I had a good 1 or 2 hours til' any of my new-found friends would wake up. The Grove wasn't an option, though it was walking distance. If those wraiths didn't kill me, Caspian would. I roamed around the building for about half an hour, just looking at the classrooms, posters, and such. 

     "We Want YOU To Join The Mission Against Black Magic" one poster read. Ya, like I'd ever be joining that. But I did want to join some kind of club. Maybe I'd make some more friends, learn more about this whole Academy thing. I walked to the front doors, because I remembered seeing a big bulletin board thing when we left for Field Training yesterday.

      And, there it was. Looking through all the flyers pinned up, I realized there were way too many clubs at this school. None of them really struck my fancy until I saw a sign up sheet for "Creatures and Care." I did well with the dragon yestrday, so maybe I'd be good at this too. Caspian, the twins, and Bryn's name were on it, so I grabbed a pen that was attached to the wall and signed up. There, now I'd have something to talk about at breakfast.

     "Second day and you're already signing up for something, huh?" a voice said behind me.

     I jumped, dropping the pen and allowing it to hit the wall repeatedly until it came to a halt. Turning around, I sighed with relief when I saw Caspian. 

     "Oh hi, you scared me. And ya, I signed up for 'Creatures and Care.'" I replied plainly.

     "Ya, I joined that too. I also joined a few more, but we can talk about those at breakfast with the others. I'm assuming you couldn't sleep either?" he ran off in one breath.

     "Nope. I've been walking around for the past half hour. I don't suppose you know where I can get some sort of back pack do you? I got my books last night and I'm pretty sure I need something to carry them with." I asked nicely. I wanted everything to be ready so I could just get up and go when it came time for class.

     "Sure, let's head over to the store. Someone's probably there." he said as he started walking down the hallway.

      Sooner than I thought we would, we reached a booth with a girl standing inside. She had really pale skin and strawberry blonde hair with freckles. Caspian asked her for a bookbag and handed her 10 dollars. I had to remember to pay him back somehow. We then left with a nice gray backpack on my shoulder. Caspian looked at his watch and said we should probably get ready to go to class.

     "Wait, where do I go and when?" I asked frantically.

     "Um, meet me at the room you went to first yesterday in a few minutes." he said and then ran off.

     I hurried back to my room, shoved all my books into the backpack and grabbed a pen from Bryn's nightstand (she wouldn't mind because she had over 50) and ran off to meet Caspian. The girls weren't in the room, so I assumed they were getting ready to leave too.

     Luckily, I found my way back to the room from yesterday and saw Caspian waiting outside with the twins. Bryn and Mercy arrived soon after I did, with the explanation that Sierra was taking a healing class. 

     Blah, blah, blah. Let's fast forward through the odd "nice weather we're having" conversations we had until the teacher came. We all filed in the classroom, and the five of us sat near each other. Duh.  

     Apparently this was Flora and Fauna 101, because the I recognized the teacher from yesterday. He was a middle-aged man with streaks of grey in his black hair, and brown eyes. I wasn't acknowledged in any way, so I assumed he forgot already. Don't get me wrong, I was pretty happy about that. 

     Okay, fast-forwarding through class because it was boring and I didn't pay enough attention to re-describe it to you. Sorry, you'll get used to it.

     The next class we had was Field Training, which was ten times more interesting. Trust me.

     It started when the dragon with green eyes attacked the bus.