Chapter 7: New Friends

Sara meets her new friend Katye, and a few others

"OhmygoshI'msosososorry." squeaked the figure that had knocked Sara off her feet. "IwastryingtocatchmycatLinxandhejustranoutoftheroom."

"It's alright." Sara muttered from under the figure.

"Ohmygoshareyouok?" the figure squeaked again. She was saying everything in one breath, her voice almost as high pitched as a mouse's. "Hereletmehelpyouup. Doyouneedmetogetanurseorsomething? Nothatsstupidbecausewehealwickedfastnowbecauseofthechangeandwhatnot. ButIsupposeIsoundlikeanerdbecauseI'vealreadygonethroughallmytextbooksandlearned-"

"CALM DOWN!" Sara interrupted, standing up. The girl suddenly stopped talking. "You don't need to be so nervous you know. It's not very attractive. And you're acting like I'm gonna eat you or something." Sara looked at the girl who had run into her. She was even smaller than Sara, about four and a half feet, with long brown hair that framed her freckled face. She had brown eyes, a button nose, and gold rimmed glasses. Her marking was a neon green fig leaf coming off the corner of her eye. Sara thought the girl reminded her of a lost doe; innocent and wide-eyed.

"I-I-sorry." she stammered, her doe eyes traveling from Sara's eyes to her silver swirl. "You're a...a...Silver."

"I'm very much aware Bambi." Sara snapped. If her Majik was gonna cause this kind of scrutiny to the majority of the other Majiks of SAM, she might as well choose the Camps out of sheer irritation.

"But...that's really REALLYYY rare!" the girl said excitedly. "I read about it in History of the Unknown. Only one person has-"

"Bambi, do I look like I care?" Sara said pointedly, picking up her phone. Great she thought as she saw the screen was cracked.

"I have a name you know." she snapped, which Sara appreciated because Bambi didn't look like one to have a backbone. "Hi, I'm Katye Bryer. I'm from Lowell." she extended her hand.

"Sara-Anne Walker of Boston." Sara said, shaking Katye's hand. "Now if you'll excuse me I'd like to make it to breakfast on time." Sara slipper her phone into her sachel.

"Perhaps I could join you?" said Katye eagerly. "Linx will come back eventually, and I'm kinda hungry as well."

Sara rolled her eyes, but thought she might as well use the company. "If you must."

"Yay!" Katye started up excitedly. "Can you believe it here? It's amazing! And did you customize your room yet? I did already! I-"

 

Sara stopped paying attention as they traveled down the spiral staircase. The common room was white and chrome, with a large fireplace and large furry couches placed everywhere. There were a few flatscreen TVs along the walls, and a gold star was mounted on the white brick chimney. Sara stopped for a second to check the cracked screen on her iphone. Great. She though as she saw the large cracks on the screen once again. She could make out the time on the phone, reading 7:10. Sliding her phone into her bag, she pushed through the door and out into the courtyard.

 

The courtyard was still as bright as it ever was, with tables lining the sides of the circle. Sara didn't have time to stop at each table. She pulled out her map and perused it. There were multicolored moving dots, labeled with the names of the professors. Occassionally the hallways of the school would move and lead to different places. She could feel Katye bobbing behind her. "Do you mind?" Sara snapped.

"Well I was just looking for the cafeteria, and I found it too!" Katye said, pointing to a large room labeled Dinning Hall. "All we have to do is follow this path and go through the main enterance, then we can take this hallway and end up there."

Sara folded up the map and put it back in her bag. "Well then let's go."

 

Sara and Katye followed the pebbly path towards the ornate gold doors of the castle, and slipped inside.

 

The castle was lit with torches all along the stone walls, casting a warm glow against the suits of armor and moundted shields. Hanging from the ceiling were banners that flashed with the different colors and symbols of each Majik power. Sara noticed that hers was not one of the colors that flashed. Along the walls there were also moving pictures of powerful Wikkas, and tapestries of great battles. Sara and Katye stopped at a tapestry depicting a feast of a bunch of ancient Wikka's around a round table.

 

"Well," Sara said "Now what?"

"Well, there's supposed to be a passage here according to the map, but all that's here is this tapestry." said Katye, peering through her glasses.

"Thank you! Now that we've gotten the obvious out of the way, I'd like to hear how we are supposed to get through it to get to the cafe." Sara replied sarcastically.

"Well, I think we are supposed to interact with it in some way, but I don't know for sure. what we have to do." Katye said, moving closer to the tapestry. Suddenly a Wikka with a long grey beard and dark blue cloud markings threw a miniature potato at Katye's face. It hit her squarely in the nose, and richochet'd onto the floor. Sara burst out laughing. Katye rounded on her. "Well let me see you try then!"

"I'll pass on that potato-face." Sara cackled.

"Maybe I could help." said a male voice from behind them. They whipped around to find a tall boy with jet-black hair and inky purple eyes staring back at them, holding the potato. His markings were like purple fire, and he had a look that just sucked you in.

"Uhhh...sure." Sara said, oogling the attractive teen as he approached the tapestry. He threw the potato back into the tapestry, causing a foodfight among the Wikkas. The tapestry rolled up and revealed a passageway. "Thanks." Sara said, turning back to the boy with the eyes of ink.

"You're welcome." he said, flashing a porceline smile.

"Come on Sara!" Katye called from halfway down the passage. "Breakfast will be over in ten minutes!"

"You better go." said the boy, his eyes pulling Sara in. "Enjoy your breakfast. My name is Nial Mubarak of Brockton."

"Sara-Anne Walker of Boston." Sara stuttered, leaning closer to Nial. He smelled intoxicating.

"Nice to meet you Sara." She shuddered at how he emphasized her name. "I'll see you around." Nial turned and headed up the nearby stairs. Sara stared after him for a moment, the hair on her neck standing up. There was something about him that was both evil and intoxicating. Sara shook it off and headed down the passage way. As the tapestry rolled down behind her, Nial looked back at where Sara had just been standing. A black shadow passed in front of his face as he smiled a knowing smile, then continued through a door that was supposed to lead to nowhere.