Children Of The Solstice & Equinox [ Wattys 2016 ]

Chapter Nine • Jack

I didn't know why I was angry, or jealous for that matter, Fawn could look at anyone she liked. Nothing, including myself, was stopping her.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Oliver questioned, waving a hand in front of my face as we walked.

"Hm? Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?" I sighed, looking around. We were walking through a grassy field, perfectly trimmed grass dotted with flowers. I was starting to sweat underneath the sun. Heat was not my thing, at least that made sense now.

"I was saying, that we're currently in Aestas territory." Almost none of that sentence made sense to me.

I laughed nervously. "Um, what?"

Oliver smirked, as if he was waiting for me to ask. "Around here, we usually don't use the English names for seasons. Aestas is Latin for Summer," he explained, that oh so annoying smirk on his face. "There's also the Auctumnitas for Autumn, but we find that much too long, so they're the Aucts. Vers for Spring. And finally Hiems for us, Winters. You can call them by their English names if you want, but I would advise against it in classes and social groups. The teachers really prefer you to use the Latin names."

I nodded along with him, absorbing the information. Fancy Latin names, hm? "Any other social terms and conditions?" When he stared at me blankly, it was my turn to laugh. "Any other things I should know?"

He sneered at me. I knew things he didn't as well. "Avoid other Tempus."

I scowled. "Would you speak English please?" I growled, crossing my arms.

"Avoid the other Seasons, which is Tempus in Latin. My goodness, did you never learn Latin?" He scoffed. I glared at him in distaste. This guy was supposed to be my guide for the next little while, and it's only been a few minutes and I already hated him.

"Believe it or not, Latin is not a regular class on Earth," I said, still observing our surroundings. The breezeway we were walking through was crafted out of a wood, stone and glass. Above me, sun shone through multicolored stained glass, painting the stone beneath me different colors. I was never really a fan of summer. But with the sound of the wind chimes hanging from the archways and the cool breezes coming off of the field to my right, I felt relaxed. This is what summer should truly feel like. Apposed to the sweltering heat of summer back home.

"Hm, how uncultured," Oliver said as if it weren't offensive. I looked more closely at him now. What was someone like him doing with the build of a warrior? He was rather muscled from head to toe. His height and stature oozed power. Would I be put through paces like he has?

The air became cooler as we kept walking, the treeline past the field became multicolored, and the sweet smells of summer changed to smells of dead leaves and apples. A gust of wind ran through the wooden breezeway, as we continued in our circle around the academy. Multi-hued leaves blew up and past us.

I jumped at the sound of a squeal of delight. I looked to the side to see a boy and a girl literally flying through the air. The boy had his arms wrapped around her waist as the girl put her arms out to the sides. It looked with they were surfing on nothing.

"What are those two doing?" I asked, even if he would laugh at me. But he didn't.

"They call it Gust Gliding I believe. An Auct activity. They have races sometimes that are open to all Tempus to watch. There are entire sports modeled around it, not that I know anything about them." He sighed, looking after the couple withe silver eyes. "If I were going to be anything other than an Hiem, I would most definitely be an Auct."

I was startled by his openness. I was about to say something when he shook his head. "If you think this place is cool, wait until you see our home."

§

It took me a moment to take it in. The dark bark of the trees, the white leaves. I didn't know white leaves were possible. There was a comfortable layer of snow for walking in. Snowflakes continuously tumbled from the sky, yet the snow on the ground, branches and everything else didn't grow. I wasn't cold. Even back home, cold could bother me. I wasn't cold. Not in the same way. I would still feel that it was cold out here, but instead of freezing me to the bone and stinging my skin, it now wrapped around me like a blanket.

"Where to?" I inquired, noting that I couldn't see my breath.

"I suppose my cabin. My guess is that the Headmistress paired you with me because you'll be dorming with us," Oliver said, taking a right off the breezeway and into the rain of snow.

I looked down at myself in awe, the snow didn't stick to me at all. It just slid off and I was kept dry. "Who is 'us' exactly?" I asked, looking back up at Oliver. He seemed to know where he was going down this path of snow and trees.

"Myself and two other Hiem boys. They don't allow Tempus of the same gender to dorm together... anymore." I didn't want to ask. Though I'm sure it was a wonderful story.

This winter forest was wonderful though. I felt truly at home here. And then the nearest cabin came into view. Oliver swerved off the path towards the wood cabin. It was made out of the same dark wood as the trees. Smoke puffed out of the stone chimney and there was golden light coming out of the windows. The whole place looked welcoming.

The wood stairs creaked as we came up on the porch, Oliver grinned back at me before swinging the door open, and I was blasted with the heat of the hearth. The main room that acted as the living room, dinning room and kitchen was rather large and glowed with lamp and fire light. A short hallway at the side lead to what I guessed was bedrooms and the bathroom. And a narrow staircase against the left wall lead up to the second floor. From the large windows at the back. I would see only more mountain and forest.

Sitting on the floor at the coffee table were two males. Cards and bets were on the table as they argued over something in loud voices. Oliver cleared his throat after he closed the door. The arguing stopped as they both looked at us.

The older one looked around eighteen, he had shaggy brown hair and warm brown eyes. He was incredibly tall, I could tell even with him sitting down. The second one looked like the spitting image of Oliver, just a tad younger.

The oldest one grinned at me. "Eh! It's the all mighty Hiem King!"