The Seeker

Chapter 7: The Zone

Auriella arrived at school and stopped before she entered through the school gates. She saw Michelle look down at the ground and she seemed sad, Richard was standing next to her and touched her hair as if he was comforting her. She looked up at him and smiled half-heartedly. Auriella didn’t want to interrupt them, seemed as if they were having an intimate moment but then Michelle saw Auriella and she quickly waved for her friend to join them. Auriella hesitated for a few seconds before she decided to join her two friends. Michelle looked at her and Auriella could see that she was upset about something. She looked at Richard and saw that he was disturbed as well, but didn’t show it as much as Michelle did. At first Auriella thought that one of them had confessed and the other had turned them down, which she thought was ridiculous since they both clearly liked each other, but now that she studied them more closely, it looked as if it was something entirely different that upset them.

“Did you hear about Raven?” Michelle asked as Auriella came into hearing range.

Auriella stopped in her tracks and her mind was racing trying to think what might have happened to Raven.

“I take it from your reaction that you didn’t.” Richard said and both he and Michelle walked to greet her. By the time they reached Auriella she had regained herself and replied, “What was it that I was suppose to have heard?”

“ Well as I was coming out of the school bathroom this morning, I overheard two teachers talking about Raven. They said that his father came to collect him. He said that he received a job transfer and they had to leave immediately.” Michelle said and looked at Auriella. “I just can’t believe that he would leave without saying goodbye.”

“Maybe he didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. You know Raven, he’s not the type of person who likes personal interactions like that.” Richard said and absent-mindedly touched Michelle’s shoulders, comforting her.

“Exactly, you know he’s not the affectionate type. Can you imagine how you’d react if he had come and said goodbye? You’d probably hug his breath out of him.” Auriella said with a lighter note, trying to cheer her friends up. She needed them to feel better because she knew that she wouldn’t be able to stay strong in front of them for any longer if they didn’t stop talking about Raven.

Both Richard and Michelle laughed and Michelle came to hug her. “I suppose you’re right. He would expect us to accept this kind of goodbye.”

“Precisely.” She said back to Michelle and then let go of her friend. They decided to head to class and walked in silence, each thinking about Raven’s sudden departure.

After that day, the three decided not to mention Raven. Whenever he did come up in conversation, it was short but light. Auriella was happy not to talk about him. She decided that she would not think about him until she has finished her training and had regained all of her memories. So she focused on her school Christmas exams and grueling training Dietrich gave her.

Dietrich saw the end of the Christmas exams as a great time to work on her other skills. So far they havd only worked on her physical skills, however, he decided that she was ready to work on her magic skills as well. She didn’t use them a lot, but when she did, it was only when she was in a desperate situation. Seekers were taught from a very young age that they hold great power and their magic was one of the most powerful. They were only allowed to use it when their lives were in danger or when they saw no other way of protecting what needed protection. Dietrich was even stricter with Auriella’s abilities, since she seemed to grow in her skills a lot faster. She also liked to be innovative, so she occasionally came up with new ways of using her magic. However, her abilities do shock them sometimes. Once, in her younger years, she discovered that she could control people by controlling the blood inside them. That particular ability, scared her and made them both wonder where the limits of her abilities were.