Nymphix

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven 

Katerina leaned forward finding herself unable to drag her eyes away; intrigued by him – he was the first teleporter she had seen up close. Immediately the first thing that went through her mind was that he must have had some sort of air magic and spirit magic somewhere in his bloodline to give him teleporting. After she pushed that away from her mind she realised that she had been staring straight at him for a while.

“I know” He drawled, leaning back to run his fingers through his tawny brown hair.

“I’m a sight for sore eyes.” He was tall – as most Nymphan were and managed to look both slim and muscular at the same time. His high cheekbones and lilted amber eyes suggested a hint of Asian heritage.

“You know I was beginning to think that you could make it a whole week without baring your fangs at Felix,” the boy reached towards Otis’ tray to grab a sandwich but Otis quickly slapped his hand away.

“But I guess I was mistaken” The sarcasm dripped from his voice as he rubbed his hand and faked a pout. Katerina silently rolled an apple across the table to the boy and didn’t respond when he shot her a teasing grin before biting aggressively into it.

“I’m Fox, like the animal” he leaned forward and fixed her with a strangely intense gaze, his golden eyes burning holes into her own.

“As opposed to the fruit?” Katerina couldn’t help but let slip out and he chuckled in response.

“That’s real cute.” He tugged at his lip ring with his teeth absentmindedly as his gaze flickered over to Otis, and for a second the grin faded to a worried frown. Otis had finished eating, his tray a mess of empty plates and napkins and he now sat looking out the window with a blank look on his face.

Sensing that Fox wanted to talk to Otis, Katerina cleared her throat and stood up, mumbling an excuse about having to be somewhere.

“Wait” Otis called out, snapping out of his daydream, but he seemed to shake himself and his out stretched hand faltered.

“I mean, if you have somewhere to be...” His voice faded off in a mumble and Katerina frowned confusedly. Did he want her to stay?

“I’ll see you around” Katerina said, making sure her voice didn’t shake before walking outside through the opened wall. From there she circled around the building and returned to the courtyard where her tree stood tall and proud. Barely containing a grin, Katerina walked as fast and her legs would carry her and launched herself up onto the first branch before climbing with ease until she reached her familiar perch outside the window of Mire’s classroom. There was something about the strong sturdy branches and rough bark that calmed all thoughts from Katerina’s mind, and in no time she was nestled into the inward curve of the trunk, listening to the faint voices drifting from open windows. From here Katerina could hear Mire’s magic class, the history class above that, an English class next to that and finally what Katerina guessed was another history class on the final level of the building. Letting her head rest back, Katerina couldn’t help but close her eyes and let the day’s events wash over her.

The steady rhythmic dripping should have been indistinguishable, but in the deathly silence that surrounded her, the noise pounded into her skull. After a while it began to sound like the ticking of a clock, counting down the seconds until she didn't have to endure this torture any longer. It was so dark that there was no difference between having her eyes opened or closed, but she preferred to have them closed. That way she could at least pretend that she wasn't in a dark cellar coated in a thick layer of blood and grime. She had gotten past the point of pain or hunger, simply sitting in the dark feeling nothing. Empty. Dead...