Visions (The Daevas #2)

11 | A Vanmour Welcoming

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I am," I responded automatically, looking straight at the stage.

I knew that Gabriel had been observing me for quite a while now, but I did not dare check if I was right. I felt it. Georgie was sitting somewhere behind us, in the rows and rows of dark velvet cushioned seats of the auditorium.

"Sure?" Gabriel asked, leaning back in his seat, his eyes still on me.

I nodded. I had to look at him, and so I did. "I'm sure, Gabe." To make the show a little more reassuring, I smiled.

This was unconvincing since he could read minds very well like Matteo, though. But I once blocked my mind from letting him read it before, even if I didn't do it on purpose.

And yet Alexander had entered my head and was controlling me to my fright and disdain.

I sighed. I didn't want to think of Alexander or my father right now. I knew that Gabriel wouldn't question me anymore because I was already tensing up but I also knew that he had plenty more questions saved inside his head for me to answer soon -- just like me to him. I still have to figure out my other questions for him, because I was still unsure of what was truly going on.

Just then, a man with thinning sandy blond hair, bespectacled eyes of dark brown, stepped out from the curtains of the stage and stopped in front of the auditorium. He looked very friendly and approachable, though I had a feeling that he could also be very scary at times if the time needed him to be. I could also tell that, behind those deep chocolate brown eyes of his, was an intelligence that was to be worth respected.

He was wearing a dark grey suit, and was holding a piece of black paper with gold lettering (I could see very well because of what I was), then he placed it down on the podium. He cleared his throat and the noise in the auditorium quieted, like the noise never started since the beginning of the school year.

"Welcome to Vanmour." His husky voice rang through the whole auditorium. "Most of you have been with us before. Others might have heard of this academy, and others simply saw this. It has been run for five hundred years, and still, it's alive and going grandly despite the centuries that it met through the years."

We all listened and looked at him, our heads slightly tilted up since he was a bit high, and the stage was as well. He looked at each and every student. From the boxes upstairs and down below to where we were sitting at. It felt like I was dreaming because I swore that the man gave me a wink, as if he knew me. He leaned forward on the podium, his hands loosely linked together in a casual manner.

All the students -- even the teachers -- murmured their agreement, but some of the students began to look at me and one guy actually pointed. I felt uneasy that I squeezed myself in my seat.

Reassuringly, Gabriel took my small hand in his large warm one, linking our fingers together like we'd been together romantically the whole summer now. I still felt uncomfortable, yet Gabe's reassurance was calming.

I heard some of the Vanmourian girls snicker in envy at such a handsome guy being all mine. Despite myself, I felt some girlish delight and pride at this.

"Before I continue telling all of you about that," the man boomed, grinning, "I would like to introduce myself, for those who do not know me." He straightened. "I am Mr. William Corsemithe, the headmaster of Vanmour Academy. Now that that's finished, all of you returnees might be wondering who the people who has added up to our Vanmour family. In this paper" - he raised the sheet of black expensive paper slightly in the air for every one to see -- "are the names of the new students that is written by Mr. Dmitri Clyde and Mour Penworth. No one gets in this academy quite easily and so, with great pleasure, let's all give a warm applause to the new Vanmourians!"