Chapter Two

Books Laint

I walk quietly down the school hallways, clutching my sketchbook, staring at the floor. My mind is a roiling hurricane of questions, so fierce that I can hardly get my thoughts straight. I’m barely hanging onto the one thing that is anchoring me here. I grip the edges of my sketchbook harder as if I’m afraid it will fly off and leave me here alone like my friends did. Falcon and Dragon. My best friends since as long as I can remember. On their choosing day, only two days ago, they left the Artist’s Guild and joined the Defender’s Guild. One question keeps surfacing in the roiling chaos that is my mind: How could they?

“Hi there,” an unfamiliar voice greets. “I’m a bit lost, do you know where the Advanced Drawing and Painting II classroom is?” The girl has curly dark-brown hair, eyes green as summer leaves, and skin tanned from many days in the sun. I recognize her, actually, she used to be in the Defender’s Guild but switched to the Artist’s Guild when Falcon and Dragon left it.

“Pen, right?” I guess wildly, noticing the red pen tucked behind her ear. That isn’t her only pen, she has two in her notebook, one up her sleeve, and at least seven in her knee-high socks.

“How did you guess?” She says dryly. We both laugh. “Yeah, I’m Pen.”

“The class is this way,” I offer, leading her down the hall. “I’ve got the same class,” I say, showing her my schedule. When she shows me hers, I realize that we have most of the same classes, besides her having Art in Law first period and me having Painting Nature. “What the heck is ‘Art in Law’?” I ask, baffled.

“Oh, it’s basically how you can use art to beat someone’s butt in court.” Pen grins. “Even though judges and all those people are usually Knowledgeables.”

“Cool,” I say absently, though I’m not really listening. I’m trying to manage my hurricane of thoughts, trying to get them to line up, one after another, like the light molecules in a laser beam, marching in one straight line. I zone out for a minute, and when I blink back into reality, we’re standing outside the art classroom. I open the door and we slip inside. Before I close the door, Pen whistles and a raven flies in and settles on her shoulder. My butterflies, a Starry Night named Starla and a Monarch named Mona, flutter in alarm before settling back on my headband. I had almost forgotten that they’re there.

We take our seats, me near the front where I always sit, and Pen in the back corner. I watch her gaze flicker over all of the students, then turn my attention to the blackboard.

“You’re nearly late,” someone says from beside me. I look over to see my twin brother, Singer - we all call him Notes - staring at me. It’s almost like looking into a mirror, except his hair is cropped close to his head, and mine goes down to my shoulders. Not even touching on the obvious fact that we’re opposite genders.

“Sorry,” I apologize. “I was showing Pen where the classroom was.”

“Pen?” He questions. I point with my pencil to where my new friend is sitting.

“Yeah. She just transferred from the Defender’s Guild.” Notes is about to reply, but our wristclocks beep loudly. When we look up at the front, our teacher is tapping her foot and staring at us.

“If you’re done talking, I’d like to begin the lesson,” she hints.

“Sorry,” Notes and I chorus. The teacher sighs, then smiles and begins the lesson. No one can stay mad at Notes and me for long. I open my sketchbook and settle in for the first day of school without the people I thought to be my best friends in the world.

“Books!” Pen races up to me after school ends.

“Hi,” I reply. “What’s the rush?”

“I… I’m lost,” she admits. “Can you show me where the Initiate’s Quarters are?” She holds up a map. “I can’t make sense of this.”

“Oh, sure, it’s this way.” I lead her through the streets, streets I’ve known my whole life, streets I walked many times with Falcon and Dragon by my side. Now I have Pen. She grins when we approach the building.

“Thanks,” she offers when we reach the steps. “See ya tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure,” I agree. She skips off into the Initiate’s Quarters, the temporary quarters for the new Artists. When they’re twenty-one, they’ll be assigned their own quarters, but until they fully pledge for the Artist’s Guild, they live here.

During initiation, the new artists are introduced to various art forms and then assigned to the one they enjoy the most. They then train in this art form (ex. dance, painting, drawing, writing) until they have passed the class. Then they can choose a second art form, and a third, if they wish. They can have almost unlimited art forms, as long as they keep one to be their main. When initiation is complete, they are given their own quarters and supplies for their specific art.

I’m shaken out of my thoughts by a tap on my shoulder. “Hey,” Notes says, “What are you doing here?”

“I was showing Pen where it was,” I reply.

“Right, she’s an Initiate,” he remembers. “Come on, we’d better get home.” At only seventeen, Notes and I still live with our parents in their dwelling. Speaking of which… I can smell dinner cooking. My birthmom’s a good cook, even though her main art form is dance. My birthdad dabbles in cooking as well, though he’s a painter. Notes opens the front door and we step inside. Immediately, the smells of pizza and breadsticks fill our noses. Pizza! Notes and I dash into the kitchen.

“Pizza!!!!” We shout gleefully as our birthmom pulls the beautiful and delicious smelling pizza out of the oven. The smell almost makes me forget the sadness of Dragon and Falcon switching guilds. Almost.

“Not yet,” our birthmom scolds, swiping the pizza out of our reach. “Wait until dinnertime,” she says.

“Aww…..” Notes and I complain. “Fine.” We try to look angry, but I burst into giggles. Soon, Notes and I are laughing, leaning on each other for balance. We scramble up to our rooms to drop off our school supplies. My butterflies flutter around my head as I race back down the stairs. Notes’ dragonfly, Drake, settles on his shoulder as he leaps down the last five stairs just in front of me.

Author's Note

A significantly short chapter...