Charlotte's Law

"Time is a Rather Funny Idea, Indeed."

The next two weeks, Camden spent about a third of his time on classes, a quarter of his time with Landyn, and the rest with Kenn. They grew closer, and Kenn treated Camden like a son. Kenn helped him with homework he didn't quite understand, and taught him some new games, specifically with a strange deck of cards. Kenn called them card games, and they had varying names, such as poker, crazy eights, and spades. Camden was intrigued by the games, and assumed them to be rich folk forms of entertainment.

Kenn told him stories of travels he'd been on to far off lands. Kenn had even been to China before, when he worked for a traveling merchant one summer when his brother was still alive. Kenn showered Camden in a fatherly love that Camden had never been exposed to before.

It was Monday afternoon when Kenn seemed particularly off. Some days, he was like that. He seemed distant, but Camden's presence always seemed to bring him back to Earth. Today, his focus was unreachable, though.

"Kenn," Camden coughed awkwardly. Kenn looked up as if startled.

"Yes, Camden?" he acknowledged the boy.

"It's your turn," Camden pointed out. "We're still playin' BS. You're twos."

"BS?" Kenn trailed off, staring at the cards in his hand. "Oh, yes, of course. Err, two twos. There."

"BS," Camden called. "I 'ave three."

Kenn stared toward the window like he'd been doing all afternoon. Camden sighed in exasperation and gently pulled the cards from Kenn's hand. He cleaned up the cards and put them away.

"Ahem," Camden cleared his throat, startling Kenn. "You're elsewhere, ri'now, Kenn. I think I'll be goin' back to me dorm now."

Kenn sighed and nodded in resignation. "Sorry, Camden. I just feel like something great is near."

Camden didn't know what that meant, but he nodded anyways and said good bye before walking out of Kenn's office.

Camden found himself sitting in his creative writing class two days later, when his photography professor peaked his head in the door. It was a strange occurrence for a class to be interrupted, and Professor Rancewurst seemed so fretful and concerned that the entire mood in the room changed at once.

"Could I borrow Mr. Saunders?" the professor, who preferred to be called by his first name, Dean, spoke so softly and nervously that it took a minute for anyone to properly understand.

"Oh, err, of course," Mrs. Hodgins replied, glancing at Camden and gesturing for him to leave. He nodded, gathering his bag and following his favorite professor from the room.

"So, what ails ya, pr'fessor?" Camden asked, practically jogging to keep up with the tall man beside him.

Dean Rancewurst ran a hand through his dry, fluffy hair and sighed. His hands shook and his tanned skin seemed pale. His grey eyes had bags under them. He seemed to have aged twenty years in the last minute, in contrast to his usually young demeanor and cheerful attitude.

"It's about the photograph you turned in," he bit his lip. "I developed it late last night, and knew it was too late to rouse you, but it does ever so worry me. I came to collect you as quickly as I could."

"What was in the photograph, sir?" Camden asked in confusion. He remembered taking the picture. It should have been only a tree, with a cloudy sky in the background. No people or animals, or anything to make it particularly stand out. It had been a perfectly plain scene, and Camden had fallen in love with the old oak tree instantly. It was right on the edge of the forest, so it wasn't quite out of bounds, and he had spent a good deal of time laying under it and daydreaming or reading just yesterday. In fact, he'd planned to take Landyn there later on today.