Fire and the Flood - KitTy

Chapter Two - Ty

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Livvy had disappeared again. Ty had been in the library of the Scholomance studying for an exam coming up, and when he left to go back to his room, she was gone. If she just gave him some kind of warning before she left, he would be fine. But he didn't like surprises or the unexpected, and if he doesn't know when Livvy will leave beforehand, it makes him anxious.

Ty turned the volume on his headphones up, drowning the loud colours and thoughts inside his head. Everyone tells him that colours can't be loud, but they are to him. It's the only way to describe the constant pounding in his head when everything is too bright, too loud, too extreme. Kit never told him that colours can't be loud. It was as if Kit knew what it was like for Ty, but he that wasn't the case. Kit just didn't judge him for having different opinions than everyone else.

When Kit had first left him, Ty tried not to think about him; it only added to the commotion going on inside of his head. But his efforts were futile, and Ty discovered that if he allowed himself to think about Kit, it was louder than everything else whirling around in his mind like a Spinning Teacup Ride, and therefore they didn't bother him as much.

It had been two years, seven months and eleven days since Kit had gone to go live with Tessa and Jem. Ty and Kit were both eighteen years old now; Kit's birthday was in January and his own was in March. Ty had never understood why birthdays were a big deal, but he celebrated and tried to do what Julian did when it was someone else's birthday; congratulated them and acted happy, but all he ever wanted was to go listen to his music and read, or work on solving a mystery with Livvy.

Footsteps that weren't Ty's own echoed throughout the empty hallway. Ty couldn't actually hear the footsteps; he felt them in the ground. He took his headphones off of his ears and hung them around his neck to better identify the footsteps. Julian had gotten him Bluetooth headphones for Christmas in 2013—the second Christmas since Ty had moved to the Scholomonce—and they were now one of Ty's most prized possessions. It was much easier to listen to music without the cord getting in the way, especially when he slept while listening. His restless mind was always far more awake when he was trying to fall asleep than when there was nothing that had to get done.

Ty headed in the direction of his assigned room, hoping that Livvy would be waiting for him there. Then the unwelcomed surprise would be over and he could relax.

Suddenly Ty felt a gust of air behind him, and turned around just in time to see someone run past him, a blur of dark colours against the wood of the building. It was hard to make out the person's characteristics, but Ty didn't recognize the dark hair that brushed against his face or the bright hazel eyes that had caught his own before he could avert his gaze.

"Sorry." Ty thought he heard her mumble as she rushed past, her quiet voice resounding through the length of the empty hallway. Where was she going? A small voice in the back of Ty's head urged him to follow her and find out, only to be opposed by a more Julian-like voice reminding him that it wasn't any of his business. Ty knew that they weren't actual voices, just reflections of his consciousness taking the form of words that Ty would understand. He thought about Livvy, possibly back in the room that he couldn't call his, and felt guilty for thinking about trying to solve a maybe-mystery (That's what Livvy and Ty called something mysterious that can't actually be identified as a mystery) without her, which he immediately beat down. There was no guarantee that Livvy was in that room; it was more likely that she would be somewhere in the mountains, exploring. Ty made up his mind and started walking. Livvy could always find him anyways, no matter where he was.

The girl, running as fast as she was, had probably made it fairly far, so Ty picked up his pace and started jogging lightly. Luckily for him, the ground was dusty, and footprints were just barely visible. He followed them to the next hallway intersection and turned left, then another left, and then to the right and out a door into the warm summer air.