Find Your Fire - The Angulus Chronicles #1

Chapter Three

The next morning, I woke up by a big fat lick from Fletch.

"Blegh. Stop it, you furball." Fletch wagged his tail and bit my hand. Aaargh. I pulled my pillow over my head and muffled. "You can let yourself out. There's the door!" Without looking up, I pointed at my door. Fletch barked excitedly, jumped off the bed and left my room.

I groaned as I stretched my, with sleep-filled, body parts. It's too early. Way way way too early. "Stupid dog!" I yelled after him.

I gathered all my willpower and stepped out of bed. As my feet touched the cold floor, shivers ran all over my body. I quickly grabbed a pair of clothes and a towel and ran through the hallway to the bathroom as fast as possible. The baths were completely deserted and were it not for Fletcher, I'd still be asleep too. Oh well, without all those girls I could take my sweet time under the shower. And boy, did I.

A full hour later, I stood in front of the steamy mirror as a full-on prune and a smug grin plastered on my face. I crunched the excess water out of my curls, threw them over my shoulder and looked in the mirror. Two green eyes stared back at me and my freckled face held a healthy glow. I put on my black hoody, black tight-fitted jeans, and my favorite brown leather boots. Watch out folks, I could definitely kick some booty with these shoes.

As I walked out of the bathroom, a cacophony of sounds greeted me. In the hour I had been soaping and soaking, people had woken up and they were ready to start the day. I walked back to my room and looked around for familiar faces.

The hallway was lit by candles and torches and the shadows of the passing Angulus danced on the cream-colored walls. In between the doors of multiple bedrooms, small side-tables with vases filled with flowers brought some colors in the hallway.

I noticed that everybody was going to their classes so I quickly dumped my towel in my room and hurried to my own morning class. Meditation. Yay. Not. The lively girl I was, I think you understand that this was not one of my favorite classes. I had to sit still and ease my mind and it made me feel more wobbly and hyper than usual. The teacher was an older woman, maybe mid-forties, with short brown hair and a small, skinny build. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Short hair? Aren't those teachers supposed to be all spiritual with long hair and flowers and beaded necklaces? Well, maybe, but she was not. She was a sweet-looking woman and, unfortunately, a lot of people walked right over her because of it. I sometimes really got the urge to scream: GROW A BACKBONE, in her face but that wouldn't change a thing, would it? We were forced to call her by her first name, Nevaeh, because we "needed to create a relaxing and easy-going atmosphere" for this class. Yeah right.

The thought made me roll my eyes, which she couldn't see because they were closed. My legs were folded underneath me and every now and then I glanced at the time. I wasn't the only one who did so. In fact, meditation didn't have a lot of supporters. Most of the Angulus wanted to move and fight instead of passively sitting down. I think it also had to do with something in their blood. As you know by now, this world is separated in four kingdoms. Every kingdom has their own unique abilities in magic but not everybody is gifted with that sort of magic. Some children are born without any of the gifts. A small part will develop theirs in a later age, but the bigger part won't. Hundreds of kids thought to be stupid, unimportant and magic-less for years and years and years but nothing was more untrue. Those kids had a special kind of magic, more important than any of the kingdoms. These children owned the power of speed, strength, and a clever mind. They were called the Angulus, heroes and saviors of the world. The Angulus were the sworn protectors of the Box of Mian, it was their destiny to go to the Teacht Aniar and learn how to kill and protect. For eons, they had protected this box of unlimited wishes against anyone who wanted to steal it.