In Abscondito: I

Chapter 2

Aziya waited for the man to say something, she noticed something different about him, something she had never seen before. She was fascinated by it, but her attention drew back to his aging stature.

"Why are all the teachers here so old?" she thought to herself. The man chuckled, gaining a wide-eyed stare from Aziya.

"What do you have there?" Interrogating the man, Aziya outstretched the book in front of her, cautiously looking over his features. "Ah! Within the Unseen.." he began "That's a good read, really does challenge the mind." He looked at Aziya as if expecting her to say something, she didn't. "Would you like to borrow that, Aziya?" she looks at him once more and nods, taking the book and tucking it in her bag. He starts to say something but is interrupted by Professor Ainsworth entering through the doors "Ms. Johnston, here is your schedule and booklist, you have five minutes to get to your first class before you are marked late." She spits out with a bit of urgency. Aziya doesn't wait to hear anything else, she begins her departure "Oh headmaster, I hadn't noticed.." her voice becomes a faint whisper as Aziya moves further and further away from them.

Ten minutes later, after countless turns, she accepts defeat, she was lost in this fortress of misery and not one teacher or student was to be seen, no school prefects, nothing. She sits down in the middle of one of the millions of hallways she took, her back against the wall and she closed her eyes.

After a few seconds of nothingness, the eerie feeling came back, she opened her eyes to see the guy from before, standing in front of her. Aziya rose to her feet, peering up into his cold eyes.

He stood tall, the top of Aziya's head just under his shoulder, he had broad shoulders. The sleeves of his White shirt was rolled up to his elbows and his muscles flexed with every move he made. His brown sugar colored skin glistened with the natural light that shown from the window. He literally appeared to be glowing, it was so....

"Unreal," thought Aziya, she stood trying to understand this guy, she couldn't decipher-

She felt overwhelmed by his presence, her heart was accelerated to an unhealthy speed, but she wasn't going to let it show. She remained neutral.

"Do I know you?" He asked, his words rolling off his tongue like velvet.

"No," replied Aziya, she begins to walk away to escape what she was feeling, but is grabbed by an ice cold hand. She turns to look in his eyes, a white glow overcomes his pupils, he tries to speak but his voice comes out a strained groan. He releases her hand and staggers trying to catch his breath. Aziya watched with wide eyes, before quickly regaining her composure, she takes a step towards him, but he steps back.

Before she could take another step, her head started spinning, her vision distorted, she fell with a thud, the last thing she saw was the glimmer of his eyes fade to the chocolate brown they were before.

Warm arms surround her frame, and distinct whispers of reassurance fell upon her ears before she fully drifted off into darkness.

~

"I told you to stay away Carlyle" a familiar voice said with a hushed whisper, "How do I explain this to the council?" he continued. Aziya was awake but stayed still, wanting to hear the rest of the conversation. Her eyes roamed over what was in front of her "Nurses' Office," She thought to herself.
Another voice started speaking, the guy from before

" I tried-,"

"Hush," interrupted the headmaster, "She's awake."

As if on cue, Aziya turned to face the two males, mentally noting the name of the guy that caused her to be in this state. "What is he?" she blurted out, staring at Carlyle  "What are you?" she zeroed in on the old guy in front of her.

"What do you mean dear?" He asked feigning obliviousness. " I'm Headmaster Hargreaves, you must have hit your head harder than we thought, Carlyle go get the nurse!" he went on.

"No," Aziya started " Don't try to make me look stupid," her voice came out as low threat, holding a lot more power than even herself anticipated, " Speak!" she commanded

And as if compelled, Hargreaves seemed to be battling himself from saying anything further. He stood his ground, deciding to exit the room hurriedly. Carlyle began to follow behind him but was stopped by Aziya's voice.

"Please tell me, what's going on?" she stared into his eyes, her voice held desperation, while he restrained himself from answering her question. "In Abscondito," he met her brown eyes, with the same white glow she saw before.

Ignoring the confused look on Aziya's face, he left her alone.

She hated this, she hated not knowing, not being able to understand. She laid down once more, the words Carlyle said echoing in her mind, In Abscondito, what the hell does that mean?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the chime of the school bell, she turned her attention to the clock resting above a weirdly placed fireplace. It was the end of the day, she hadn't learned anything, besides bad boys eyes glow and they speak latin.

She grabbed her bag and blazer, and walked towards the door. She rushed through the doors to see her mother already waiting for her. Her mother began speaking but Aziya rudely interrupted her.

"What is this place? I know you know something, I saw it on your face this morning," she accused, flustered by the day's events. "Mother, tell me now!" she demanded.

"Aziya-" she began, but seemed to be at a loss for words, her mother knew there is no way she could play this off, Aziya was too smart for her to ignore or just pass it off as just a rather eventful day. "Let's get home and we'll talk," as she ended her sentence, a rush of steps were heard behind them. Coming from the area Aziya had just emerged from moments ago.

"Aziya! Amrin!" called a voice, the headmaster ran towards them. Aziya was surprised by the aging man's agility.

"Arnold?" her mother questioned, "You look well," she stated as he came to a steady stop.

"They know each other, probably Hargreaves taught her," thought Aziya.

Answering her suspicions, Hargreaves began to speak " I haven't seen you since our reunion, 10 years ago," he let out a chuckle.

"No way, this man can't be the same age as my mom.." Aziya looked between the pair of adults in front of her.

Hargreaves glanced at Aziya, his eyes held something, just like Carlyle. They weren't glowing, they were just different.

"Amrin," Hargreaves passed a knowing look to Aziya's mother, to which Amrin's features softened, she glanced to Aziya, smiling softly, almost pitifully.

"Aziya, there is something you should know-"

"Wait! Not here, in my office." Hargreaves stated, before stalking towards the school, to which the ladies followed behind.