Page 4 of Lucent Academy 2: Trinity Awakens
I glanced around to make sure we were alone. "Do you know how to, Um... please a man?" As soon as the question was out of my mouth, I wanted to swallow it right back in, but it was too late. I already felt my face grow warm with embarrassment. Amber gave me a puzzled look, and I cringed internally. I had no choice but to push forward, though. "I mean, intimately."
Amber blinked, surprised at the sharp turn our conversation had taken. Then she burst out laughing. She wasn't being unkind; I had just surprised her.
"According to the prophecy, the fate of the entire war rests on your shoulders, and here you are, worried about the mechanics of being intimate!"
She snorted, and I pushed her playfully away, relieved that we could joke about it. I told her the truth. "I know all about the birds and the bees, but I'm inexperienced. I only ever kissedone boy when I was a few years younger. I was just wondering how it's supposed to work, with... um, a man who is not a boy anymore."
This set her into a fit of giggles again, and this time I joined in. When she stopped laughing, Amber seemed to consider my question seriously. "If you must know, I briefly had a lover just before I was revealed as a Manaborn. But I'm guessing that rolling around in the hay with a baker's son won't be the same as making love with a being like Pyrrhus."
Now, it was her turn to look embarrassed. She seemed to be considering the mechanics of being intimate with a being like her Phoenix for the first time. "What I can tell you is that it's not just about pleasing your partner. It's about your enjoyment as well. The point is that both parties enjoy it equally. It's supposed to be better with a more experienced partner. I suppose they'll probably be more experienced. I don't know, I haven't asked, but I'm guessing they will be teaching us more than just magic in the end." She seemed to consider her next words carefully. "Our mates are extraordinary, and we are only human. I'm guessing this will be the case in other areas as well, so I see your point. Had there been three of Pyrrhus, I would have been more worried about it, too."
I nodded, feeling glad that she could appreciate my unique predicament.
"I don't think it will be an issue for some time yet. Their human guise is supposed to make that, um... easier, and I think we'll have plenty of time to get to know our mates before the sexual aspect of the relationship becomes something you need to concern yourself with."
We giggled about that, and then Amber shoved my arm playfully. "Come on, you goof. Let's head back to the school. I want to check out the West Wing Library. It's supposed to be extraordinary."
Chapter 2: Called to Greatness
Entering the West Wing Library, we were thrown into a cacophony of sound and movement. The domed, painted ceiling was a masterpiece depicting legends of old: the gods in all their glory, and mortal men and women who had fought valiantly in the Void Wars and died honorably. I had a feeling it was supposed to inspire. Shelves stood against almost every wall, stretching from floor to ceiling and packed with books and more books. I had never been in a library of this magnitude, and I felt my jaw drop to my chest as my eyes tried to drink every detail in all at once. Powder-blue marble pillars held the balconies in place, and the floor was tiled in an array of lighter and darker shades of blue and white. I looked down at the floor tiles and saw specks of gold mixed in with the blue and white swirls. It had a dizzying effect, almost mesmerizing, and I pulled my eyes away to take in the people already filling the library.
Several men and women were milling about or flitting from desk to desk like flower-tasting butterflies bouncing from one group to the next to sample bits of conversation. They spoke in hushed tones as was required in a library.
As people noticed our presence, a strange silence descended over all of them, and they looked up at Amber and me.
Under the eaves to the side of the library stood older, more experienced summoners and a few of the Academy's instructors, some of whom I've seen around shortly before the Summoning Ceremony. They looked like they were in this vast library doing research for important lessons. Now they stood frozen in place by the shock of seeing me among them. Unlike the students who gave me frightful looks before bending to whisper furtivelybehind their hands, the instructors and staff, in most cases, watched me quietly, their expressions inscrutable.
"Um, did I do something weird?" I whispered to Amber, "Why is everyone looking at me like that?"
She cleared her throat. "You bonded with a Vampire Monarch, an Abyssal Dragon, and a Fae Prince. What did you expect?"
Amber and I walked over to a smaller group we recognized. They did their best to ignore our presence and pretended they were too deeply involved in their own conversations to notice us. In a way, I realized they were being kind, trying to act normal in a very abnormal situation. Around us, normal activity within the library resumed as everyone continued with what they had been doing before Amber and I had entered the room.
The whole experience had given me a strange sense of unreality, though, as if I was having one of those dreams where you're in the middle of a regular school day and suddenly realize you've been naked all this time.
Luckily, I was fully dressed, but I looked down at myself to make sure. Yup, just average, everyday clothes. Nothing strange about me at all.
Here and there, a few students returned my smile now, just as uncertainly and tentatively as I was giving it to them. Having barely met during the Summoning Ceremony, most of us were strangers to each other.
A tall, freckly man with a mane of vivid, red hair that fell across his forehead in a swoop came walking up to us. He looked young enough to be a second- or third-year, but I couldn't be sure. He stopped in front of me and looked at us. "Miss Amber Cole? Miss Leah Wood?" We nodded, and then his face broke into a sunnysmile that changed his whole demeanor. "Excellent. My name is Caleb Stone. I'll be one of your instructors this year." I regarded him dubiously. No way was he old enough to be an instructor!
Thankfully, Amber was less of an idiot than I was and didn't make her surprise as obvious. She shook Caleb's hand. "It's good to meet you, Mister Stone."
"Please, call me Caleb." He said as I finally shook his hand, too. "I just came to deliver a message. Principal Lucius is requesting Miss Wood's presence in his office."
"Um, thanks, but please call me Leah."
Caleb nodded but was looking at me strangely, expectantly, just like Amber.
"He's waiting for you in his office. He wants to see you now."
"Oh, right! Yes, thank you." I felt my face heat up all the way to the roots of my hair as I turned around and left the library. Jeez, I must look like such an idiot. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at myself and instead tore open the heavy wooden door and rushed into the hallway.
My lips had suddenly gone very dry.
In the same twisty corridors I had taken more than a week before, I passed many students hurrying along, undoubtedly on their way to class. Only the first-years were starting later this week.
Now that they were preoccupied with their own schedules and responsibilities, the other students seemed to pay me no mind. I felt grateful for the respite from the staring and hushed conversations.
