The Seeing (Part One)

Chapter 5

Mirabel wasn't going to shake his hand. She knew better than to trust whoever she met here.

"Let me guess, Shay," she said mockingly. That stupid grin on his face made her heart burn with annoyance. "You're a Belq, right?" The boy nodded. "Plain as day, isn't it?" he said, shaking his own hand because she wouldn't. "I'm guessing that you're one too, right?" Mirabel said nothing.

He chuckled, "Don't strangle me, it's only a joke. Sorry about Owen. Don't mind him, he isn't all that bright. I think I can say with complete certainty that your name is not Um-well. What is it?"

"...Mirabel," she answered in disgust. He was playing along with Owen's fantasy world. What utter nonsense. All this talk about Belqs and magic. Were they playing some sort of joke on her? She wanted no part in their games. She'd been laughed at enough times.

Strangely enough, Shay began laughing. His brown eyes twinkled with whatever joy he found in her name.

"What's so funny?" she asked impatiently. Shay shook his head, "I don't think you like me very much, Mirabel. But I'm also certain you might have a last name too."

"...Mirabel Bromithius."

"There now, that's more like it. I like your eye colours, by the way. Never seen anything like it. That's quite epic if you ask me, two different colours."

Mirabel swore that minute never to repeat aloud the words that went through her mind. She mustered up the face of the most extreme annoyance, hoping that he would shut up.

His goofy smile returned. She retched mentally. Enthusiastic people made her furious, ever since she was small. Life was sad and full of misery. She could never understand how happiness found a person and could stay with them forever, when it had left her so many times.

Shay started walking on a pathway of the same sizzling rocks that curved a wide path around the grassy savannah, and kept on stopping and looking back at her until she followed him. Even more Belqs paused to watch them, and Shay seemed to know them all.

"Agnes, how are you today? Don't forget you owe me silver, Garreth! Millicent, for angel's sake, don't throw that fireball!"

"Are those mermaids in the ceiling?" Mirabel inquired curiously and pointed with a shaky finger. Half-human, half-fish creatures floated gracefully above through the blue.

"Yes, you're quite right, but that isn't a ceiling," he answered. "That's the Lake of Three above us. Under it we are protected by its ancient magic, keeping our entire race safe."

Mirabel glowered at him.

"No, no, I'm serious. The riverbed is enchanted so that it doesn't cave in and drown us."

"So if drowning is a risk, of all the places in this world, why a refuge underwater?" Mirabel asked, the first question that would surface in anyone's mind. Maybe she could stump and silence him.

"It's simple, really," Shay replied almost immediately, "if you were looking for magical beings, would you think about searching under a river?" Mirabel was silent instead. The tables had turned on her.

Shay nodded his head, "See? This Academy was founded with some sort of brains."

"What a nice and lengthy explanation," Mirabel retorted, not knowing why she was being so rude. She didn't mean it, but her temper usually got the better of her. "But logically speaking, Shaymus, how does sunlight from above reach all the way down here? The lake water is deep."

"Magic is the answer to everything down here. The sunrays are enchanted to light up one thousand times more than it should when they normally reach this depth. That is why daylight under here looks just as it does above ground. We all need sunlight, magical or not."