Awakened (Unbound, Book 3)

Chapter Forty-Seven

When the bell rang, I got up from the lunch table and said goodbye to Maible, promising to meet her after school in the parking lot. Inwardly, I swore to make helping her my next project if we ever wrapped up the problem that Duvessa continued to be. If I ever managed to figure that one out.

"Want to go for a walk?" Calin asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"What about fourth?"

He shrugged. "I have a spare."

"I don't," I said, biting my lip.

"Are you sure?" He nodded to the side and I looked, laughing when I saw that we were beside Mr. Jenzen's door, which had a sign noting he wasn't there today.

Aside from the fact that it was usually in my favor, I liked that he seemed to miss a lot of sessions.

"So, about that walk?" Calin nudged my shoulder with his and smiled. "Where do you want to go?"

"Coffee?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course, you want coffee."

"Well, since I'm free, I can always go see Luna myself."

"You're funny."

"I try."

"Would you rather drive?" he asked as we detoured towards the front doors.

"Actually..." I stopped in the middle of the hallway. "I have a better idea."

Calin took one step ahead of me before realizing I was no longer at his side, then turned to face me, still smiling. "Better than coffee?" He lifted his eyebrow in amusement. "This I have to hear."

"I want to go to the towers."

His smile faded as he watched me a moment longer than necessary. "Are you sure? I thought, after what had happened, you wanted to avoid Mrs. Hendrey's class at all costs."

"Yeah, but I like walking around up there." I shrugged. "It's... I don't know. Soothing?" I nodded. "Yeah, it is comforting. I like walking around and feeling the different levels of magic as students' practice. Every once in a while, I can even hear what some of the other teachers are lecturing, and I don't think I would hate it as much if I didn't have Mrs. Hendrey as a teacher. She needs to go get her education degree again."

"I think it's more that you don't like her talking about your mom," Calin said.

"Nah, it's all her."

Calin laughed and we walked back down the hallway to the towers, stopping at my locker to grab my bag still filled with the items that I'd previously stashed within. On top of my bag inside, I found a folded piece of paper as though someone had slid it through one of the slots in the metal front of my locker. I grabbed it and zipped it into the front pocket of my bag, promising that I would read it later when I was alone, though I was curious who it'd come from.

As soon as I slammed the locker shut, Calin grabbed my hand and we made our way to the corner of the hallway. When we got there, we went through the process of going through the first round of security, and I realized that if this was that sophisticated, it would be reasonable that the school kept a record of who came and went. Whenever I ditched Mr. Jenzen, they probably knew exactly where I was, though that was a stretch since Grimas didn't even believe in hallway cameras.

"So, if she didn't talk about figureheads, you would still dislike her?"

"We have argued about what she's been teaching since day one."

"Did you ever think that what she teaches is what the community as a whole is being taught?" he asked and went through the first door. As soon as it opened for me, he followed up by asking, "You do realize that not everyone has the opportunity to take private lessons from a High Priestess, as well as the chance to learn from the leader of the High Council."