Troy yawned and stretched. We were both tired. This was the fourth day of orientation and they kept us busy from early morning until late afternoon. In the evenings we still had house socials and meetings until late. At least it was Friday; orientation only started after lunch, and we had a whole weekend to recover before classes started the following week.

  “It still looks quiet,” I said as we walked into The Zone. It was a big hall with numerous booths and benches in the center, surrounded by food and drink stations along the side walls. Each of the station’s names related to the weather, like the ‘Blustery Bagel’, ‘Frosty Fries’, and the ‘Nippy Nachos’. My favorite was the coffee stall called ‘Muggy.’

  The area was filled with the sound of utensils against bowls and plates, a small group of fae chatting at one of the tables, and the most delicious smells of freshly baked breakfast biscuits, fried egg, bacon, and brewed coffee. My stomach growled and Troy laughed. I elbowed him in the side, making him flinch. We got breakfast and coffee, sat, and ate in silence.

  Troy leaned over, covering the side of his face with his coffee cup. “Don’t look now, but THEY just walked in.”

  “They?” I said, confused at first, but the uncomfortable look in his eyes told me exactly who They were. “Oh. Please let them not see us.”

  “Impossible with your red hair.”

  “Shit Troy, it’s not like I can help that.”

  “You can at least tie it up, make the target a little smaller.”

  “Now you’re being an asshole.”

  “Too late anyway, they are coming this way.”

  I sighed, getting ready to face three of my childhood friends, if they could be called that. Alya’s voice was the first I heard.

  “Hi everyone!”

  We stood to greet them. Alya’s blue cosmic irises with smokey purple flecks of her air fae eyes contrasted with her chocolate skin, and her loose curls fell over her shoulders down her back. Ziya was almost the exact opposite, with her silvery hair and pale skin. Behind them was Ash, a tall skinny guy, with short purple hair and a long side-swept bang. Both Ziya and Ash’s irises had a mixture of red, pink, and purple, Psionic fae.

  I gave each air kisses as I greeted them. “Hey, how are you?”

  “We are fab, girlfriend. Just tired, ye know how busy they’re keeping us with the orientation and all.”

  I glared at Troy hoping he would take the lead in the conversation, but he sat sipping away at his coffee staring into the distance.

  “Yes, they’re keeping us busy. What do you have planned for today?” I asked.

  “Temple, Tranquil Garden and some lesson about safety. This is a total waste of time.” Ash rolled his eyes and threw his head back. “I want to go home.”

  “Ye such a baby Ash,” Alya said, the two of them starting a back and forth on how big a baby he really was. With Troy still consumed by his coffee sipping, it left me and Ziya glaring at each other with gritted teeth. Our mutual dislike for one another was purely based on jealousy. My family had more money while we grew up. I always got what she wanted and couldn’t have, while she had the one thing I wanted the most in the world – a happy close-knit family. She had a loving father who spent more time at home than at the office, a mom that baked cookies and handmade decorations for parties, an older overprotective brother, and a younger sister who painted her toenails.

  “I like your shoes,” I tried.

  “Thank you. I like” – her eyes scanned me from head to toe – “your shoes too, they seem comfortable.”

  “Er, thanks.”

  Alya huffed and turned her attention to our conversation. “And I love the way you’ve done your makeup Oriel, although you know me, I prefer things a bit more natural.”

  I gave her a tight-lipped smile. But before I could say anything Troy stepped in.

  “Come on Ors, we are going to be late for our meeting.”

  I smiled fakely at Ziya. “Bye Ziya, bye Alya, Ash.” I stomped off growling and mumbled to Troy when we walked out of the Zone, “They still don’t like me, all that fake friendliness is going to kill me.”

  “I know, forget about them, besides we have so much to look forward to today. A whole afternoon of listening to the orientation leader’s riveting Trigon Academy history and fun facts.”

  A whimper escaped my mouth. “I don’t know how much more of that I can handle. You want to go hang out in the library until then?”

  Troy frowned. “Why would you want to hang out in the library?”

  “I like reading.”

  He cocked his head. “Sure, you do.”

  I fluttered my eyes at him. “Please?”

  “Not like I’ll ever say no to the library.”

  We strolled to the Vivlìo Library, walking through the reception to the main stacks. My eyes roamed over the rows and rows of books, as I took in the serene stillness and woody scent.

  Troy nudged me with his elbow. “Are you looking for something specific?”

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  “Yeah, I want to read a little about ascensions.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me, but a male voice interrupted just as he opened his mouth to speak.

  “Troy, hey, wait up.” A guy with caramel skin and dark brown hair waved at Troy.

  “Oh, hey Garion.”

  “You remember Odo, right? And this is Lucian.” He stepped to the side to reveal his friends. Odo was short with white, side-swept hair, and Lucian tall, his silver hair hanging loosely, barely touching his shoulders. They were both energy fae, but the difference between the two was immediately obvious; Odo couldn’t stand still, he was happily bobbing around, while Lucian was slouching slightly, looking utterly relaxed.

  “Yeah, nice seeing you again Odo.” Troy leaned forward and shook their hands. “Nice to meet you, Lucian.”

  Troy cleared his throat and gestured in my direction. “This is Oriel.”

  I raised my hand and opened my fingers in a halfhearted wave. “Hey.”

  Without any shame, Lucian’s eyes traveled up and down my body before he gave me a seductive smile and a wink. I rolled my eyes internally. What a satyr.

  Garion bumped Troy’s shoulder playfully. “You have to come to check this out, they have all the classics.”

  “Oh, movies?” I asked excitedly.

  He frowned at me like I was a total idiot. “No, games.”

  Troy’s eyes lit up.

  I shrugged. “I’ll meet up with you later, Troy.” I turned, leaving the boys alone, and headed towards the spatial shift station. When I got close to the screen, it adjusted to my eye level.

  I tugged on the floating keyboard and typed, “Ascension”.

  The screen flashed, and a list of books appeared, “A-Z of Ascension”,” Fae that couldn’t Ascend.”, “The theory behind an Ascension”, “What to expect during your Ascension.”

  I tapped on the first title with my finger. “Shift to title?” the screen prompted. I selected the “Accept” option on the screen. The floor glowed blue.

  “Shift commencing.”

  I blinked and found myself in front of a large bookshelf deep in the library. I took the first book, selected the next book on the list “What to expect during your Ascension” on the mini screen floating to my right, and flashed away to another section of the library. When I was done and back at the shift station. I walked to an empty table and started scanning the books for any mention of goddesses appearing and talking to someone during an ascension, or any other oddities.

  The chair across from mine moved and someone took a seat. Lost in my research, I ignored the new addition to my table. It was strange that every fae went through ascension, but there was hardly any information on the process itself. The words on my page started to blur and shift around, I blinked rubbing my eyes. I hadn’t been reading long enough for my eyes to start playing tricks on me. I blinked again; the page was back to normal. Relieved, I continued reading, turning the page, and groaned as the words started swirling again. I closed the book and threw it on the table.

  A chuckle drew my attention and looked up into Lucian’s mischievous blue swirling eyes.

  Raising my eyebrows, I leaned forward and whispered. “Was that you?”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “Were the games boring you?”

  “I found something more interesting.” He grinned at me.

  “It’s all yours then,” I said as I glanced up through my lashes.

  The seductive smile was back. “Really?”

  I stood and pushed the book over to his side of the table. “Yeah, I’m done with that one.”

  I grinned and strolled to another open table. He picked the book up and followed me.

  “Did your ascension fail?”

  “No.”

  “Why read about it?

  “I’m not, because you keep on interrupting me.”

  “Fine, let me rephrase, why do you want to read about it?”

  When we got to the table, he politely pulled out the chair for me and took the seat next to me. I met his blue eyes.

  “Lucian, why does your name sound so familiar?”

  He smirked. I couldn’t recall where I’d heard the name before, but it rang a bell. My brain sifted through a few hazy memories, then I remembered.

  “Evillian, Lucian Evillian, right?”

  He nodded. Grimcroft was the only area in Leukós not under the control of the D’Arco’s, it was controlled by a very powerful family that never left the cove. The Evillians.

  “That explains a lot,” I teased. “I didn’t think you’d come to Trigon.”

  “And miss out on leaving my prison for four years? I don’t think so.”

  There was a movement to my right; it was Troy coming down the aisle towards me. “Hey Ors, you done?”

  “Yeah, we can go.” I stood and walked towards Troy, glancing over my shoulder at Lucian. “See you around Mr. Evillian.”

  “See you around, Oriel.” He gave me another smile, one that screamed trouble.

  Troy leaned closer. “What did he want?”

  “I have no idea.”

  After dinner, we had our social at house Aestas. All the students in house Ver made their way across campus and I felt a stab of jealousy when Aestas came into view. Unlike house Ver, which was one big tree that housed all the students, house Aestas was a group of around Fifty tree houses connected by wooden walkways. Lanterns swayed in the wind and staircases curled around the tree trunks. On the other side of the beautiful houses was a white beach and crisp clear blue water. They were setting up bonfires on the beach and the smell of wood burning made me feel a little homesick. Since I lived close to the volcanoes on Mount Allerrane, we often had to deal with burning woods and smoke drifting down to our estate.

  I had a lot of fun dancing and mingling, and when Troy and I finally sat down for a drink we were joined by Alya, Ash, and Ziya. Ziya was quiet, staring into the fire, but Alya and Ash were actually pleasant company for once.

  “I love your house, I’m so jealous,” I said honestly.

  “Thanks, Oriel. Ye don’t like house Ver?” Alya asked

  “It is beautiful, but we don’t have a beach like you.”

  “Well, as I understand, the beach might be next to our house, but it’s open for all students.”

  Ziya giggled still in a trance. “The best part is that Lucian apparently loves surfing. He’ll be coming around often.”

  Ash and Alya laughed, Alya turned towards us so she could fill us in. “Ziya met Lucian Evillian two days ago at the Aestas-Autumnus social, and she is head over heels in love with him.”

  Ziya went all red and shy, which made me smile. Troy gave a deep sigh and his head dropped. Leaning close to him I whispered, “What’s wrong?”

  He peaked through his hands. “Here we go again.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Every guy Ziya ever liked, ended up liking you.”

  “That is not true, Troy.”

  “Wark, Elmar, Zarf… Do I need to continue?”

  My eyes widened as I remembered all the fights that broke out because of Ziya and her crushes. “Troy, it wasn’t my fault, she fell in love with everyone. Besides why is that important now?”

  “Because I saw Lucian with you today in the library, he was definitely flirting.”

  “He was not.”

  He glared at me, I thought back to the events at the library. A whimper escaped my mouth and my head fell to my knees. Not again.