Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 4

"You're going to like it here," Tessa assures me, chattering nonstop as we walk up a narrow sidewalk to the dorms. "I already have a room so you can bunk with me. Each room has three bunks, so I don't know who our other roommate is going to be, the other two girls I had last year already have a different room so neither of them."

"Hmm? I'm sure we'll get someone who we'll get along with," I counter and she grins. 

"Look at you being optimistic, I like it!" she teases me. 

I smile at her voice, letting her words wash over me. We had only managed to get together over the summer a handful of times because she was doing extra studying for cryptozoology. I didn't mind. I still had Luke to play Forever Expedition with on our PCs, a fantasy game of all things being played by witches. 

But online chat rooms weren't quite the same and my chest aches from missing him.

You'll get to see him soon. 

The dorm building looms over us as we approach, the outside being made up of the same, crème colored bricks as the other buildings. It's maybe half the size of the lecture hall, but it's six floors tall instead of five. Several windows are open and varying genres of music are pouring out from them. One girl sitting in a window looks down at us as we walk into the building beneath her.

A set of double, black doors stand open as we pass through them into a tiled lobby that reminds me of what I would likely see in an apartment complex. There is a common area filled with couches and a few TVs that a few people are clustered at. There are four doorways in the lobby, one in each corner that probably leads into a hall for the rooms on the ground floor. Staircases spider up the walls, extending up to the other five floors that rise above us as a few other people either ascend or descend them.

A large chandelier dripping in crystals hangs in the center of the lobby, golden light pouring from it as it bathes the high ceilings in its light. 

"Come on, we'll take the elevator," Tessa says as she grabs me by the arm and leads me over to an elevator hub.

Indigo follows us and my bags rattle along behind me as we step into the elevator. Tessa pushes the button for the third floor and the elevator shudders to life as the doors roll shut. Stickers and sigils cover the interior walls, along with a few tips and tricks for creating a love potion. No music plays as the elevator glides upwards before it pauses on the third floor.

As soon as the doors open, a shadowy wolf leaps at us. I tense as it clambers into the elevator and wags its tail that slaps against my leg. A dog of some species, its fur also shimmering like a familiar's barks as it chases after the wolf and joins it on the elevator before they run back out and head down another hallway.

"Hey! Someone put a leash on your familiar, yeah?" Tessa calls as she steps into the hallway and motions for me to follow her.

I glance back to see that Indigo hasn't moved from her place in the elevator as my bags refuse to follow.

"I'm going to head up to my own room, I'm supposed to be getting a new dorm-mate soon," Indigo tells me when she sees that I'm puzzled.

"Oh," I murmur as I step forward and give her a brief hug. "What floor are you on?"

"The fifth, sometimes the service is a little spotty so I might not always get your texts, I'm in room 583," she says as she returns the hug. "I'll meet you in the dining hall for dinner tonight. You can get your schedule from the front office, classes start tomorrow, so have as much fun as you can today."