The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1 (56 page)

Eric was waiting for them on the other side. Lucy didn’t know if he had somehow communicated with Taran earlier and knew they were coming or if there was a warning that went off every time someone used a doorway to enter the school, or if he simply knew everything.

“Hello,” he said demurely with smiling eyes.

“Hello,” they greeted him back.

“I take it you were successful,” said Eric.

“Yes,” replied Justin.

“Wonderful. I think you should take that to Quinn directly. You have all done well. I think you should clean up, rest, and relax for today. Get more clothes if you need them. It happens to be right before a weekend so you can enjoy that as well. Quinn and I will discuss possible options for what we might like you to do next if you are still willing to participate.”

They nodded their willingness to continue to track down objects for the school.

“Good. However, you must remember, this is a school and while here you are students. On Monday, we expect to see you back in class and at your jobs. I’m sure after some time away from here you have found where some of your education is lacking. Now, you have the chance to correct that. Here are your schedules. Please see me if you have any questions.”

With that he motioned to Justin to follow him, and they walked off. Lucy stood there for a moment unsure of what to do. Besides, after all they went through, that somehow seemed…abrupt? Callous? Too normal? Anticlimactic? She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but perhaps not that. She thought she would at least finally be able to meet this Quinn person. She shrugged, and the others shrugged with her. They had been thinking similar things.

“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I have plans,” said Maya, and she walked away with purpose.

Lucy had no idea how she could have arranged plans but didn’t care to ask. She shrugged again, and Gavin returned the shrug. She walked back to her room. It was exactly as she had left it. Not that she was expecting it to change, but it seemed odd because she felt that she had changed. For the first time since her arrival, it also seemed very small. First thing she did was send all her clothing to the laundry. Then, she took a long hot shower, using plenty of conditioner. She put on one of the few outfits she had left behind because the skirt and top seemed impractical for traveling and sat barefoot on her bed brushing out her hair. She needed to get some more clothing, she mentally noted.

She wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Most of her time had essentially been planned for her since she arrived. She didn’t even feel like glancing at the schedule Eric had given her. There would be time for that later. Besides, she was sure that he somehow knew precisely where her education was lacking. She wasn’t sure she was ready to go back to classes on Monday, but she wasn’t sure what she would do with herself if she didn’t go back to classes. At least it was something to do. She had gotten used to being busy.

She wasn’t tired enough to sleep. She felt oddly alone. She debated going to visit Ash, but she thought that might be a better idea to do tomorrow. Besides, she couldn’t go riding in what she was wearing. Well, she could if she wanted to try riding sidesaddle, but that was a ridiculous idea. She could put in some extra hours, or make up hours, depending on how you looked at it with Ted. She decided against that as well. She was going to need things like that to help fill her weekend. Right now, she only needed to fill the time before dinner. She didn’t feel like shopping for things she needed. She could do that tomorrow.

Briefly she thought about her family. Had any time passed there yet? She decided she would talk to Eric about that as soon as possible. She was sure he would want to talk to everyone in their group after that adventure. She missed her family. However, she still had no idea what she would tell them about what she had been doing. She was sure Eric would have some ideas about that so there wasn’t much more she could do until she had a conversation with him.

Since she was also going to have to find a way to fill her weekend as well, she decided to see if there was anything interesting to read in the library. She left her hair down and loose, something she hadn’t done for weeks, slipped into some soft slippers, and took the long way down to the library.

Lucy enjoyed hearing the sounds coming from classrooms. Most of the classes were hands on rather than lecture. There were small explosions coming from the potions room, the general hustle and bustle of students moving around to do various tasks, and laughter coming from an Intro to Magic course so anything could have happened there. It was probably something similar to Lucy’s pumpkin fiasco. That felt like a long time ago.

Eventually, her feet led her to the library, and she began to peruse the shelves. She was looking for something that was either interesting and educational or purely for escapist pleasure reading. She decided against
100 Ways to Kill a Man Without Ever Being Suspected
. She felt she already knew enough ways to kill a person, and if she was going to have to kill again, she would rather it be in self-defense than cold-blooded murder.
The Top Ten Reasons Why I Never Want to Be King
was about three inches thick. In Lucy’s opinion, anyone who needed thousands of pages to sum up ten reasons was overly wordy and thus unlikely to be enjoyable.
Millions of Plants and Things to Do With Them
sounded somewhere between too vague, too tedious, and too much information she was likely to forget. She did a better job learning about plants from Maya.

Lucy could have wandered around reading every title, but it started to feel too much like their search in Kennemt. Lucy decided to limit herself to books in Kinowenn languages. She needed practice, and it would be educational. She left the library with
Fairy Tales and Furry Tails
, it was always a good idea to know local fairy tales,
Erdettes and How to Kill Them
, which looked necessary if not recreational, and
The Long Lamented Romance of the King Who Was a Very Foolish King and the Unfortunate Fairer than Fair Lady he Courted
. Lucy hoped that the author of the last had the sense of humor his title implied. If nothing else, she hoped to gain insights to a land and a culture she planned to be spending a lot of time in. She went back to her room and sat on her bed to read until dinner.

Dinner, as always at school, came sooner than Lucy expected. She put down her book of fairy tales which was entertaining and disturbing. If they were anything to go by, there was a definite dark and superstitious undertone to some of the Kinowenn regions that she would have to keep in mind. Also, if any of the creatures described were based at all on fact at one time or another, Lucy had more to watch out for than being tracked by an erdette.

Lucy made her way down to the Dining Hall and was suddenly at a loss of what to do. It was like her first day all over again. It felt odd to stand in line for food and to have so many choices. She had gotten used to simple travel fare or eating whatever was being served. She filled her plate with hot food and made sure to grab some chocolate cake for dessert. Then, the question became, where to sit. She thought the others might have friends to sit with and catch up with, but most of her time had been spent with Justin, Gavin, and Maya. She would feel weird sitting with someone else. The only other people she knew well enough to sit with were Darren, Grant, Chloe, and Phillip. She was sure they would welcome her company, but she wasn’t sure she felt like dealing with Darren, especially after her archway experience. So, she made her way to their usual table and decided she could always eat alone.

She hadn’t been sitting their long when the catcalls started. How mature, she thought and continued to eat. They were probably teasing a new student. The calls didn’t subside and in fact increased to the point where Lucy was curious enough to see what or who was attracting such attention. The guys were all catcalling Maya who grinned openly at the attention. It was then that Maya’s plans for the afternoon became clear. Her long blond hair was all gone. Instead, her hair was short and sassy. The longest sections were about an inch. The cut accentuated her bone structure, and she looked fabulous. She walked over to Lucy and winked.

“You look wonderful,” said Lucy.

“Thanks. I decided that if we were going to make a habit of trouncing around the wilderness with the nearest decent bath days away, I was not going to deal with long hair,” replied Maya.

“I can understand the sentiment,” said Lucy, fingering her own hair. “Couldn’t you have done that at any time during the journey?”

“I could have done a decent job, but it was monumentally relaxing after all that travel to go to the salon here and be pampered for the afternoon. Besides letting someone else wash my hair and massage my scalp, I also got a pedicure. Well, I’m starved. I’m going to go find some gorgeous guy and give him the pleasure of staring at me during dinner. You’re ok here on your own?”

“Certainly,” said Lucy with a smile. “Enjoy.”

Maya walked off with a smile, and Lucy shook her head. Whatever her feelings for Joss, Maya would always enjoy being worshiped by men. She continued to eat and scanned the Dining Hall. She saw Gavin deep in conversation with Gina, the girl he had taken to the formal dinner and dance. Or, he was as deep in conversation as a person can be with a chicken leg in one hand and a spoonful of potatoes in the other. Lucy was so lost in thought that she jumped when Justin set down his tray.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.

“No worries,” said Lucy with a shrug.

“Maya looks great.”

“She certainly does. Why do I get the feeling that with someone who likes to turn heads along, incognito is out of the question for future adventures?”

“Don’t worry about Maya. She can blend in when she has to. When she is free to do her own thing, she flaunts what she wants to. Then, you only have to worry if you are a guy.”

Lucy laughed. “Don’t you have other friends you want to catch up with?”

Justin shrugged, “I’m not sure what I would say to some of them. Parts of our trip were too personal, too painful, or too boring.”

“Yeah, I understand. Want to hear about how I burnt some men that attacked us to a crisp? Not the best conversation starter. Nor is it the best dinner topic,” said Lucy.

“Would you like me to tell you about an erdette?” suggested Justin continuing with the joke.

“I have a fabulous story about going through an archway.”

They both got quiet after that. As close as they were and even sharing many of the same experiences, they weren’t ready to talk about that one, even though each was curious about what the other had been through. Lucy wasn’t sure she’d ever want to talk about it. She fingered her tattooed left wrist. How could she talk about it when the worst parts were how she felt? She didn’t think she could talk about it without feeling that sense of fear, foreboding, frustration, helplessness, pain, and anger.

“Everything go well with Quinn?” asked Lucy changing the subject.

“Yes. Quinn has the Eye.”

“What’s to be done with it?”

“Currently it’s in Quinn’s office for safekeeping. It may later be destroyed, I’m not sure.”

“Do you know what we are doing next or when?” asked Lucy.

“I’m not sure of that either. I would guess they’ll have us here long enough to take a couple of classes and let us rest up. Observe us a little to make sure we haven’t gone completely insane. Even people who enjoy traveling can get burnt out, and I get the impression they don’t want to do that to us. Also, they thought Gavin looked a little thin so they want to make sure he’s getting enough food.”

Lucy laughed again. “I somehow thought that things would feel more finished after we did all that.”

“Obviously you’ve read too many books.” Justin said with a smile. “Very few things finish, and even though part of our task is done, the overall task could last for years yet.”

“Job security. An interesting concept,” joked Lucy.

“As long as you live long enough to enjoy it,” said Justin half joking half very serious.

They continued to eat and discussed plans for the weekend. After dinner they took a walk outside. Even after all the time spent outside, rather than get sick of it, Lucy was beginning to feel suffocated indoors. They had spent a lot of time together over the last couple of months, but not very much of it had been alone. There were always other people around. Lucy felt both strange and comfortable. They talked about little things; Lucy needing new boots, things they wanted to learn before they went on the next quest, going back to their jobs at the school. Lucy wondered if Ted had even felt her absence. He seemed the type to be too preoccupied to notice the comings and goings of others. She would show up, and he would assume that she was there for her normal shift not even commenting that she had missed multiple weeks’ worth of shifts. When it got late, Justin let her back to her room.

“Thanks for the walk,” said Lucy.

“Didn’t you get enough walking over the last few weeks?” joked Justin.

“We did more riding that walking. None of it was comfortable strolling on familiar and safe ground. I have to admit, I like feeling safe.”

“I agree. I could never be comfortable in Kennemt with all those open windows and walls. I understand why they do that, but I don’t feel safe without doors.”

“I enjoyed meeting your brother,” commented Lucy.

“I’m glad. I was pretty sure you two would get along.” Thinking about Taran made Justin pause.

“I suppose I should go to bed,” said Lucy.

“Think you can sleep?”

“No, but I think I should give it a try. It would be a good idea to get back on the school’s schedule since we are starting classes again soon.”

Justin nodded, and Lucy turned to go into her room. Justin reached out a hand to grab her hand to stop her. Lucy turned back towards him, a questioning look on her face.

“Before you go, I think there is something we need to clear up,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“This.”

Justin pulled Lucy closer to him with the hand holding her hand, reached his other hand up to cradle her head, and gently kissed her lips. After a delightful and confusing moment, he pulled away, smiled, and winked.