Help from an Unexpected Quarter 2

"Of course. As a member of the student council, I will take care of this for you," he said. A look of relief swept across Madam Pritchard's face as she nodded and processed the books. Sky waited. Why she did though was a mystery.

Finished, Madam Pritchard slid the books across the smooth wood of the counter and whispered, "get her out of here." Then, she said, "oh, look at that. My communicator is going off. If you will excuse me, I have to take this." She walked off. The male grabbed the books and gestured for Sky to follow him. She did, reluctantly.

"Where are we going?" Sky asked in a small voice as she fisted her trembling hands.

"Somewhere private," the male replied coolly. Sky paled, and her eyes widened. She swallowed hard as she lowered her gaze to the floor and followed him with shuffling steps.

The male led her down the hallway that opened on the left wall of the library, directly opposite the counter. Doors opened onto small, sandy rooms on both sides. Through the windows in the doors, Sky saw creatures practicing fantastic spells. She longed to stay and to watch, but the male didn't stop. Coming to an open room, the male threw the door wide open and unceremoniously dumped the books onto a three-foot by three-foot, metal table. They landed with soft thumps.

"Close the door," he ordered, picking up one of the books. Sky obeyed. "Do you know who I am?" She mutely shook her head no. "My name is Vaeryn Sani. I am the head of the Magical Oversight Committee." Sky blinked. His name was familiar to her. He was the Drake, the heir to the current Battlelord of Vaekrix. Vaekrix was one of the ten major kingdoms on Gothe, and the vampire homeland. She would have introduced herself to be polite, but he never gave her the chance. "I thought you might want to know that a body was found in the forest on Clayden. Our best guess is that the unbounded familiar that was summoned the day before is responsible. You got very lucky that Char Rexwing confessed. If Chancellor Draekon had heard that you tried to confess, you would have been executed as punishment." Sky swallowed nervously.

Vaeryn turned the book in his hand so that the spine faced up. An inch long, pale-gold glowing, knife-like tip extended from the index finger of his other hand. He slowly ran his fingertip down the book's spine just under the surface. A thin sheet of it came off, but the book appeared to be unmolested. He repeated this on all four books. Then, he gathered the strips into his hand and stepped back.

"Now, I have removed the tracers from these books. The library can no longer identify them as their books or track them. I am going to leave them here, and I suggest you take them. Madam Pritchard may seem soft, but she does not break the rules. This will be your only chance to acquire them for a while." Sky gawked at him. With her oversized, reflective glasses and shaggy wig, she looked very much like a catfish. She fully had expected this conversation to have gone another way. Maybe, this really wasn't the male she'd seen. He paused in his speech and looked at her. The outer corners of his lips twitched up ever so slightly. "If you do take them, you have to be very careful of your pronunciation of the Spoken Magic spells. With the Elemental Magic books start from the beginning. Master those exercises first because everything builds on the previous exercises. I'm going to go now. If you need more books, come to me, not Madam Pritchard. See you around," he said. Then, he headed to the door. When he reached it, he paused and turned back to gaze at Sky. She didn't see this. She was too busy cramming the books into her bag.

Over and over, she tried to gently shove the last book in her bag, but no matter how she turned it or where she tried to place it, it would not go. Finally, she gave up and decided just to carry it. Leaving the library, she looked for a place to study.

Eventually, her feet brought her back to her empty classroom. She investigated the hallway on the left wall and found four practice rooms like the ones in the library. Using one of these, she eagerly opened her new book on Elemental Magic, one of the additional two Vaeryn had picked out, and began reading. It actually explained what meditation was and offered several suggestions on how to do it. Sky lost track of time as she practiced these.

***

Week 2 day 2 Loren

Sky jolted awake as a very loud, very angry sounding growl ripped through her dreams. Blinking to clear the sleep from her eyes, she looked around and tried to figure out where she was. Dark grey stone walls greeted her eyes. She was in a small room ten-foot by twelve-foot. The floor was made of sand and small pebbles. A drain sat in the center of the room. A water basin ran along the wall to her left while a straw dummy lay against the far wall. A small, metal table with some books on it stood next to her.

Those were her books! She jumped up and began to shove them back into her bag. She had to hide them because there in the open doorway to the room stood Instructor Drakkon. With a dark flush to skin, vibrantly glowing red eyes, and lips pulled back over dangerously sharp teeth, he looked furious.

Sky's hand just picked up the third book when a bronze hand slammed it back down onto the table with a resounding thoom.

"Do you have any idea how stupid you are?" Instructor Drakkon snarled.