The Elucaen Curse

Ch. 12

"You know me?" he asked, confused.

I scoffed. "You're kidding, right? I'm Erin, the girl you helped with directions like not even three hours ago?"

His face broke into a grin. "Yeah I remember, I was just kidding. My sense of directions may be utterly terrible, but my memory's not that bad."

He continued, "So, what is your pretty self doing in this part of the school? Don't tell me you're lost again."

"Excuse you, I wasn't even lost the first time, you got us lost. And for your information, Veralyn is giving me a tour."

He gave me a bewildered look. "Veralyn Saxon? She's your roommate? How di-oh, speak of the devil."

"Erin! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Veralyn asked, concerned etched over her delicate features.

I gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm completely fine, I just didn't watch where I was going and accidentally bumped into Luka here, that's all."

"But still, you should be more careful. You could have gotten a concussion, for all I know."

"I'm fine, really. It wasn't even that hard of a fall," I half-lied.

She gave me one last worried look before turning to 'my offender' and scowled. "Morlington."

He gave a curt nod in response. "Saxon."

"Wait, do you guys know each other?" I asked.

They both seemed really cold all of a sudden.

Veralyn shrugged. "More or less. Hey, do you still want to go see the library?"

Before I could response, the bell chimed in the distance, signaling the commencement of dinner.

"Well, that's my cue to leave. See you, Erin," he quickly muttered, ignoring Veralyn.

Once he turned and disappeared behind the pillars, she turned to me and crossed her arms over her chest. "Please don't tell me you're friends with that...that arse."

"What do you mean? Why can't I be friends with him?"

She sighed. "Well, I can't really make you be friends with someone or not be friends with them, it's completely up to you. But just watch out, okay? Come on, let's go to dinner; we can visit the library another time."

As we walked in silence, she suddenly spoke up. "Wait...how did you know Luka, anyways?"

"How I knew him? Well, I didn't know how to get to the headmaster's office when I first got here, so he offered me his assistance at the gate."

She eyed me suspiciously. "You're saying he just coincidentally appeared out of nowhere and then offered to help you?

"I guess so. Though he was quite a bad guide since we did get lost on some occasions, to be honest."

She stopped walking completely and stared at me. "What do you mean, bad guide? He knows this school inside out, especially since his father is on the school board."

"What? He told me he just moved here last year."

"Are you serious? That wanker has been here since our freshman year, and his sister too."

"Okay, something obviously doesn't add up here..." I mumbled to myself.

"Whatever, we can talk about this later. We have to hurry or else we'll miss the welcoming speech!"

A few minutes later, we finally arrived at the entrance to the caeno, panting like our life depended on it.

Once we caught our breath, Veralyn and I looked around until we saw Maia waving enthusiastically, beckoning us over.

"Hey, why are there so many long tables?" I inquired.

The tables were extremely clustered, filled to the tip with people I've never seen my entire life. Chatters  suffused throughout the vicinity, giving it an edge of mirth and joy. Everyone was wearing their circelets, and I sighed in relief when a lot of my dorm mates seemed to have a blue stone engraved on theirs. I then decided to position myself between Veralyn and Maia, with Paige facing me and Lily next to her.

"Oh right, we forgot to tell you. So the caeno, as you can see, is an enormous room. Each table represents each dorm, so that's why there are nine in total. Two for each grade, and three for us," Maia whispered.

"So, I'm guessing the professors sit in that room over there?" I asked, pointing to the room in the far left corner.

"Yeah, but a teacher is usually selected each week to patrol, to make sure we don't get in 'trouble'," she responded, rolling her eyes.

I quickly scanned the caeno and my eyes finally landed on the back of a familiar platinum blond head. And he was sitting at the Aurentia table.

"You have to be kidding me...Veralyn, Luka is in that bully dorm?" I nudged my friend anxiously.

She smirked. "Now do you know why we hate each other?"

"But like, not everyone in that dorm is bad, right?"

"Well, I guess it's not just the dorm thing...we kind of used to date..." she muttered incoherenty.

"What?" I yelped. Before I could say anything else, Mr. Millengarf voice echoed loudly, demanding immediate silence.

"Welcome to another year at Clarines High!" he boomed.

"Wait...why is he giving the welcoming speech now, if school starts in like three days?" I asked.

"Hush, just listen."

He continued, "I hope you all had a wonderful summer, but now we're back to business. For those who does not know, we have restricted the curfew times; from now on, no one is allowed out of the castle grounds after five p.m, and then after eight p.m once again. Many of you wonder as to why that is, and I'm afraid I cannot tell you much, except its for your own safety."

Voices started to break out, raising higher and higher until he uttered a forceful 'silence!'

"Yes, as some of you had already suspected, a darkness is brewing at the heart of the Elucae world, so I hope you all take this into consideration before thinking about breaking curfew," he announced, glaring at one of the third years' tables on the left.

"In addition, no one is allowed to venture inside of the west forest, and if anyone caught doing so, will result in a month worth of detention...with Professor Castra."

Numerous groans were heard once the name left his lips, so I turned to my right and asked Paige, "Who's Professor Castra? Is she a bad teacher or something?"

Paige snickered. "Oh boy, I hope you don't have her this year. She teaches one of the Elucaen history classes, and she is unconditionally brutal; no mercy, whatsoever. I also heard she gave out five hundred and sixty nine detentions last year."

I gulped. "You're joking...I think she's going to be my private tutor this year."

My roommates all gave me a sympathetic look, which of course, made me feel even worse.

"...and I would like to introduce a new senior student this year, Ms. Erin Mesineux of Aqua! Please give her a round of applause."

Oh no. Everyone started clapping thunderously, well not much from Aurentia I noticed, but many even looked around to see who the newcomer was, so of course, Veralyn being Veralyn, pulled me up from my chair, therefore giving everyone a direct view.

After the applause died down, I sat down, my cheek tinted with embarassment. "Veralyn, I'm going to murder you someday,' I whispered furiously.

"I know you all are famished by now, so before I let you go, remember fourth year students, you all have to stay behind for the senior ritual. That is all, have a happy dinner!" he said, his eyes twinkling.

I gave Maia a confused look. "What's the senior ritual? That sounds intimidating."

She gave me a wink in response. "No silly, it just means we'll be getting our Alespar."

"Ales- what?" I asked, even more confused.

"Familiars, Erin. Well, familiars with wings."