"Having fun, you two?"

I looked up, startled. She was standing next to our table with a warm smile. I realized, then, that the entire cafeteria was completely cleared. For some reason in my mind I was a very observant person, but that didn't really fit in with the amount of times I missed stuff like this. Holdan, for example, didn't seem surprised.

"Yeah," he said and I smiled.

"Sorry, Sophie. Do you need us to get out of here?"

She waved a hand. "Oh, no, no. I'm just used to being the last one to leave the kitchen. You guys can stay here as long as you like." I smiled then she gestured with the mug in her hand. "Well, I'm off to go pack . . . actually, Evelyn, I wanted to ask a favor of you. I'm going to be gone till late tonight and I was hoping you could set the food out for dinner."

I nodded. "Yeah, sure. . . .What about lunch?" I asked.

She waved a hand again. "No lunch today. I just told the boys to eat outside."

"Oh . . . ," I mumbled. She didn't give me time to figure out why the statement bothered me so much.

"The food is in the pantry, like I said, just set it out. And don't be shy about asking some of these strong, young men to help you out." She ruffled Holdan's hair as she said it then waved and started walking off.

I blinked once at her rapid departure. "Wait, Sophie?" I called. She turned around. "Ah . . . where are you going?"

She grinned. "Just a short trip to one of the towns. Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." With that she vanished through the doorway.

I watched after her, still a bit disoriented by her presence. She was so upbeat, so straightforward. A frown crossed my face. I wish I could disorient people. . . .

Holdan pulled me back to reality. "I guess we have the place to ourselves then."

I smiled, but felt suddenly awkward in the empty room. "Yeah. . . ."

He leaned forward. "And don't worry, I'll help you out tonight if you like."

I nodded, then couldn't hold back a large smile, it seemed I'd gone overboard with the cheer up Holdan plan.

He must have taken the grin as gratefulness for his proposed chivalry, because he brightened even further. "So, what about you?" he asked. "What did you do last night?"

I took a sip of coffee to excuse time to review my answer, then smiled at the simpleness of it. "Slept, actually. I went in my room and just . . . fell over. I guess I was tired."

He looked unnecessarily pleased at this. and though I couldn't think of a reason why, I found myself suddenly irritated at him . . . like I had been two days ago in the woods.

"What's the weather like today?" I asked pleasantly. I wasn't about to let my unfounded emotions overpower my logical reasoning.

Holdan frowned. "Nice, by regular standards." He leaned on one hand. "A sunny, cloudless, clear, blue, sky."

I joined in the frown. "Any wind at least?"

He shook his head back and forth and I sighed.

"Maybe we should just stay inside today," I joked.

He pursed his lips, sat up straight, and looked around. "Hey, that's not such a bad idea. We could use the empty cafeteria."

"No lunch," I added.

We both smiled.

". . . Though, the sparring could get a little messy," I pointed out, taking another sip of coffee.

He laughed. "Hey, good job yesterday, by the way. I never got to tell you, but . . . you did well."

I felt heat rising in my face at the mere mention of the uncomfortable situation. In an attempt to smother it, I put on a wide grin. "Up to your standards then?"

He waved a hand playfully. "Oh yeah, you smoked the standards."

I laughed then a thought crossed my mind. I eyed him. "Speaking of sparring. . ." he raised an eyebrow, ". . . someone promised to show me something after I fought with him."

He grinned flatly. "Oh, that's all. Don't worry, I won't complain about it as much as you do."

There it was again, the slight annoyance. It was easier to ignore it this time though, with the prospect of magic ahead of me.

I smirked excitedly and he held out his hand. We both looked at it. . . .

After a few seconds I glanced up to his face. With Ikovos and . . . even Jaden, it had always happened instantly so I thought he might have changed his mind. His face was concentrated though. I looked back down and sure enough, after a few more seconds, a small flame lit in his hand.

It almost looked more like the magic Ikovos had used than anything, maybe because it started a deep grey. As it grew though, it resembled fire more and more until a cool silver sparkled at its tip.

I smiled and looked up at him. "That's really beautiful, Holdan."

He grinned, eyes on me now.

"Does everyone have a different color then?"

He looked back down, resuming his concentration. "Yes, well, at least here we do." I stared at the silver flames again. "I suppose eventually they'd have to overlap."

I nodded absently. My attention was much more engrossed with the fire. After a while I noticed that it was, once again, a poor substitute for the red flames . . . but I wouldn't let my thoughts rest on that, and eventually, all too quickly, the fire disappeared, leaving only an empty palm.

"Doesn't your hand burn at all?" I asked, looking up at him.

He nodded down. "Feel for yourself."

My throat constricted. Thoran wasn't precisely clear when he mentioned the whole boundaries slash etiquette thing, but I had a feeling this might apply. On the other hand, I didn't want to make things weird between me and Holdan. . . . Besides, he's like five years older than me anyways.

I looked down and touched a finger quickly to and from his palm.

"As long as you're the one conjuring it, it won't burn you."

I nodded. "Mmm." His skin could have been anywhere between zero and five-hundred degrees for all I'd noticed. My physical sensitivities always sort of stop working properly in the midst of emotional distress . . . I wonder if that's gonna cause some problems if I ever get in a battle.

Holdan interrupted my contemplation. "Oh! Blast it. I forgot, I was supposed to go see Master Thoran after breakfast."

He looked at me and I waved a hand. "Go ahead."

He started to get up. "Great, I'll catch up with you later, kay?"

I laughed slightly. He was all over the place sometimes. "Yeah, I'll see ya later."

With one more wide grin, now at maximum intensity, he turned around and walked towards the doorway.

I didn't watch him go. Instead I let out a breath and dropped my head onto the table. I was completely wasted, socially wasted. It was strange because I thought that I'd been handling the morning really well. With Holdan though. . . . I didn't want to have any dissensions with anyone here, but sometimes it really didn't seem like he was twenty-three . . . and he seemed a bit insincere . . . maybe I was just tired still.

Ugh, what time is it anyways? With a moan I looked up to search for a clock. My heart jumped frantically when I saw someone sitting across from me.

"Good, god." I gasped and put a hand to my chest. It was all a sudden reaction that I felt immediately stupid for. . . but at least I hadn't screamed. . .

Jaden smirked across from me. Then there was a moment of silence when he should have been apologizing for frightening me or explaining that he hadn't meant to. . .

He didn't.

"How long have you been sitting there?" I asked, attempting to catch my breath.

His gaze stayed steady, like always -like every blasted time I saw him.

"Long enough to pass Holdan on the way out."

I rolled my eyes excessively. The adrenaline from the scare must have been overpowering my better judgment, but it didn't matter much now either way.

He looked shocked. "What was that for?"

I eyed him. "What was that for?" I mimicked, then shook my head. "I just don't have the patience to deal with your attitude right now, Jaden."

His eyes widened.

There, not steady any more, are they?

"Meaning what?" he asked, his body already leaving its casual, relaxed, posture.

"Meaning, I just spent the entire morning trying to get Holdan to speak to me again because of how you acted yesterday, and I really don't need you giving me a hard time for it."

God, when I get in my right mind, I'm gonna kill myself for this.

He cocked his head haughtily, some trace of a smirk returning to his face. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you two had gotten so close."

I straightened up scoffing. His smile vanished. "Don't you dare. This has nothing to do with that and you know it."

He eyed me incredulously. "Oh really? Then mind informing me what it is about?"

I took a heavy breath, if I spoke loud enough he might not hear the shuddering. "I already told you, it's about how you acted." Nope, shuddering still came through.

We were both staring hard at each other now. I couldn't believe how quickly we had gotten here, evidently neither could he. He shook his head dismally. "You're insane. Yesterday you're all sweet and apologetic, and today I get this?"

My face went hot. "Excuse me for at least trying to be nice! In the future I'll just follow your example and be rude everyday!"

He stood up. "I'm not rude! And I don't have to take this trash."

I threw my hands down on the table and stood up as well. "Neither do I. I live here too now, so you can't just say whatever you want to me."

He waved a hand. "No problem. I'll just stop talking to you."

I nodded quickly. "Good plan, that'll work out great when you have to teach me to use magic."

He crossed his arms and scoffed, looking very much like a stubborn three-year-old. "Like I'm going to teach you."

My body faltered. That one stung. I doubt he knew how much, but it didn't matter now.

My body stilled. "Fine," I said calmly. "I'll just get Holdan to show me."

His return expression was hard and cold. I doubted I even touched a nerve. It only made me angrier.

Then, in perfect unison, we both pushed off from the table. I started walking towards the doorway. To my surprise, and great annoyance, he was next to me in seconds. My brow furrowed when I remembered it was the only exit.

"Couldn't you have waited a few seconds for me to go?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Why should I have to wait? I've been here longer."

I rolled my eyes. "Why doesn't that attitude surprise me."

We hit the doorway at the same time. I managed to slip in ahead of him, but he knew where he was going better and took off immediately towards the right . . . the way I needed to go, in fact the only way I knew to lead anywhere. Still, I marched off just as purposefully to the left. And, without a single glance back, turned into the small passage.

Chapter 9.

Naive AFTER A FEW unfamiliar corridors the anger was still roiling inside of me. At this point about fifty percent of it was directed at Jaden, the other at myself. I knew I should appreciate it while I could, because soon it would be about ninety/ten with me on the faulty side.

I turned down another hall. Really none of it was my fault, as soon as I'd seen him I'd warned him not to push me today. My face flushed freshly hot with a mix of anger and embarrassment. I was squeezing my hand into a tight fist when I realized someone was coming down the hall in the opposite direction. I glanced over once, then cut my eyes downward. Whoever it was had their head buried in a book, walking very slowly. Hopefully too preoccupied to notice me.

Slowing down just enough so he wouldn't be alerted, I spared one more glance as I was about to pass him. This one stopped me.

"Ikovos?" I mumbled.

He looked up, stopping instantly. It was definitely him. The clothes were the same, the hair was the same, the face was the same . . . but the glasses?

He smiled. "Oh, hi, Evelyn."