Janette Lennox

Chapter 9

The next day, Janette was certain that the forces of witchcraft were everywhere.

She had discovered, to her dismay, that most of her classmates knew nothing about the fairy tales that were part of the history of the magical world and she did. She wondered why their parents chose to ignore their history while her mother refused to let her live her life in ignorance.

Something had to be done here.

After breakfast, Janette decided that if she wasn't going to be able to find the classroom where Magic 101 was being taught, she was going to head to the library and see what she could find. There was no way that she was going to miss any classes just because she couldn't find the classroom.

Janette slipped out of the Grand Hall and headed towards the library. She was determined to avoid Military Alchemy and Professor Waldron at all costs. She ran as far as she could in the direction of the library, ignoring the people who called her name. Janette was on a mission, and nothing was going to stop her from getting there.

Just as she was reaching the hallway that led to the library, she ran smack into someone and fell over. She had almost forgotten about the hard-as-brick shoes that she was wearing when she was running down the halls, and she certainly didn't ask Mr. Cawthorne for a new pair of shoes before she left Gillamoor. She made a mental note to ask Brother Methuselah to send her some new shoes later.

But that wasn't going to help the situation now.

The Elf turned to Janette and said, "We really need to quit meeting like this."

Janette gasped as she met the Elf; he was tall, had light brown skin, light brown eyes, and dark brown hair. She felt red coming in her cheeks as she cried out, "Who are you?"

"I'm Trevin Nartienorad, remember?" Trevin said to her.

"I do," said Janette. "Your friend was rude to us last night."

"You mean Elorshin?" said Trevin. "He's going through a rough patch right now. His family is currently involved in a dispute with the Hawksley family; they want him to marry one of their daughters and take the Hawksley family name. His father, Halamar, is refusing to allow them to take his only son away from him. I don't know what has gotten into that family. Sure, they've lost several sons and daughters to that wasteful war, but it's not like the Hawksley family is going extinct, or is it?"

"I don't have much knowledge of my mother's family, so I wouldn't know about them," Janette said.

"Your mother was Helen Hawksley, wasn't she?" said Trevin.

"She was," said Janette, "but she never talked about her family very much. I don't think that she was happy with being the family alchemist, being forced to keep her name instead of taking the name of her husband's family, not having a choice in who she wanted to marry. I think that's why she married my father. She wanted to get away from her family and live her life in peace."

"Indeed," said Trevin. "Now, we can't be just sitting here, or can we? Let me give you a hand."

Janette was about to protest at this rather chivalrous treatment when Trevin reached out and helped her to her feet. She shuddered, knowing that there was something there between them. She would have to deal with it later.

Janette then continued to the library, were she browsed the shelves, looking for books to help her with Magic 101. Within a few minutes, she had a small pile of books at her table and was going through the, all. She saw such books as The Nitwit's History Of Curses, A Child's Companion To Magical Stones, 66 Tricks To Divination, 448 Tricks To Spellcasting, and 1000 Fantastic Herbs. The books did appear to help her gain insight into the world of magic and she was able to take notes on what she was reading, but it wasn't enough for her. She needed to attend Magic 101 and soon.