The Aldean Chronicles: Spotlight (Part 2)
Chapter 12

I smile when I see the Big Sliver gate with the Brimstone insignia.

Finally, after a long and arduous summer, I’m back in school.

I’m in the same building and room as last year, so I quickly get my keys and sign all my forms at the front table while my driver carries all my stuff.

Once I have all the documents I need for the school year, I go up the stairs to my dorm room.

“Couldn’t even carry her own bags.” Sara makes a disapproving sound when I walk in.

“Sara!” I tackle her and she temporarily loses her footing.

“You’re injuring me on the first day.” She laughs.

“How are you? How have you been?” I bend my head back. “It has been forever.”

“I know.” She bends her head back as well. “This felt like my longest summer.”

I release myself from the hug and start unpacking my things.

“So, how do we feel about second year?” Sara asks as she hangs fairy lights on her wall.

“Excited, actually. How different do you think it’d be from first year?”

“I know we stop Chemistry and start the Potions class.”

“I’ve never made a potion before,” I say. “I wonder what it’s like.”

“I’m sure we’ll do simple things like medicines, transformation potions, stuff like that.” She’s smiling. “It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “Wow, everything will go back to normal so quickly.” My chest feels tight so I open the window and warm air flows in. “I feel like today’s my first day.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know. Being scared about meeting new people or being by yourself or worrying about what to say.” I go back to my wardrobe.

“You’re joking?” She arches a brow. “Cassandra, you met the Royal Family of Ferona this summer. You took the pledge. You lived at the palace for a week. You can’t still be scared of all this stuff.”

“Yes, well I am.” I roll my eyes. “And I was scared of all that stuff as well.”

“But you still did it. Because at the end of the day, what is life if not doing things you’re deathly afraid of?” She says over my shoulder.

“I guess.” I rub my arms. “Who told you that?”

“My grandmother. She gave me a ton of strange motivational quotes while I was growing up.” She turns back to me. “Oh, I saw you visited your grandparents’ grave. How was that?”

I chuckle. “Did you stalk me all summer?”

“I swear I didn’t. You just came up everywhere I looked.” She hops on her bed and examines her wall. “Good?”

“Nice,” I respond. “But I think I’m gonna skip dinner and breakfast tomorrow. I’m not ready to be thrown back in. I don’t think I can stand everybody staring at me just yet.”

She nods. “Do you want me to stay with you?”

“No, join the others. I have some stuff I need to do anyway.”

“Okay.”

We both keep getting our stuff ready. I’m done in an hour.

At four, I sit at my desk and finish off the things I was supposed to do this week.

It’s mainly writing thank you letters to guests that attended one of my Aunt’s or Seb’s events in August. I am really behind on all that.

At around five, I get a call. A smile forms on my face when I see who it is.

“Arin, hey.”

“Hey, princess.”

The few remaining butterflies in my stomach flutter. “It’s been a while. How have you been?” I ask.

“Good.” He sighs. “Not really. But who cares?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m at school now.”

“That’s good. You love Grovehills.”

He sighs again. It’s deeper this time. “Yeah, I do. But my parents don’t want me here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They’ve been riding me hard all summer to go to Brimstone. They think I’m wasting my talents by focusing on science.”

“That is ridiculous.”

He chuckles softly. “Yeah. It was alright for a while. Then the thing at The Commemoration Ceremony happened. Also, how are you with that? After what happened earlier this year.”

“I’m fine. I got out unhurt.” My throat is thick.

“That’s good. I’m really happy you’re okay.”

“Me too.” I clear my throat. “So what changed last week?”

“Oh, it’s my mom’s opponent for Governor. It’s so stupid. He’s saying that by letting me study science, my mum is being unpatriotic.”

I don’t stop the laugh that follows that. “I’m sorry?”

He laughs as well. “Like I said, it’s so stupid. Basically, he’s saying I should be focused on sword-fighting and joining the military, and instead, I’m focusing on ways that won’t benefit my country. And he’s blaming my mum. He says if she can’t stop me from ruining Aldean, how can she even lead?”

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. There is zero logic to that.”

“That’s politics. You just say whatever will get the biggest reaction out of people.”

I raise my feet so it’s on my chair. “Do you think you’d ever do it?”

“Politics?” He snorts. “I’ll hate it more than I would the Military.”

“I think you’d be very good at it.”

There’s a long silence after that. “I should go. I have dinner now and my friends are waiting.”

I nod even though he can’t see me. “Of course. I won’t keep you. Say hi to them for me. Oh, and are Val and Headon still a thing?”

He hisses. “I regret to inform you that they are not.”

“True love just died.” I joke.

His voice is low when he says, “yeah.”

“Bye, Arin.”

“Bye.” And he ends the call.

***

I sit next to Michelle and Axel at assembly.

“Ah, Director Lilian.” Axel is shaking his head. “I did not miss her.”

“At least you didn’t have her the whole summer.” I lament quietly.

Lilian takes the stage and gives her usual speech. Don’t be happy you’re first years, you’re easily replaceable, you won’t be here next semester. All of that.

Then she reads some guidelines we have to follow.

“As part of the combatants’ training, they are now required to pick a secondary weapon.”

There are murmurs all over the auditorium.

“Is she being serious?” Paisley whispers. “I can barely handle my double swords.”

Lilian rolls her eyes. “Yes, yes, it’s hard and it’s awful. But I believe you all have the strength to do it. You have till the end of the month to pick one and will be training with it once a week.

“Also, unauthorized people, that is people who do no work or go to school here are not allowed on the school premises till further notice. Also, your weekend day trips are cancelled.”

Everyone is angry now. I swear Lilian is smiling. It’s like she feeds on the discontent of her students. “If you have problems with these laws, I suggest you write to the school board or the state government.”

She reads out the rest of them, wishes us all a good year, and sends us on our way.

I walk to my Fire 201 class by myself. It’s not dissimilar to the class we had last year. The only difference is the giant board behind the teacher’s desk.

I take a seat at the back and Derek slides in beside me.

“Look who’s back with the peasants.” He laughs. “How was your Harrington summer?”

“Fun.” Is my answer.

“I bet. With all those functions, you didn’t have time to train, did you? I am kicking your ass this year.”

I roll my eyes, but inside, I’m worried. My magic isn’t getting better. It’s still flickering out.

“In your dreams, Derek,” I whisper.

When the class is full, our teacher walks in.

“Hello, everyone.” She has flowers in her brown hair and is wearing a long, billowy, green dress. “I am Cara, and I will be your teacher this year.”

Derek frowns. “I thought we were getting Professor Stevens this year.”

The woman smiles wistfully. “Didn’t you hear? He retired to spend more time with his family. Your old professor was meant to replace him, but he too retired a few months ago. Don’t worry, you were left in my very capable hands.” She sits on her desk and assumes a relaxed position. I can’t tell her exact age. But I know she’s somewhere between early to mid-thirties. “You see, I believe that fire is free, wild, can’t be tamed. And that is why this year, I won’t be obsessed with arbitrary things like grades.” She rolls her eyes at grades.

Derek gasps. “No.”

I can’t contain my smile. “Oh, yes. To think, at the end of the year, you and sleepy Jerry might have the same score.”

Derek looks like he’s about to have a heartache.

“You see,” our teacher continues. “You have been taught that fire is meant to destroy, meant to burn, meant to hurt.” She reaches into her tote bag and pulls out a plant. “This is a rare Darea Morjan plant. It doesn’t look like much now.” It looks like a cactus without the pricks. “But when exposed to heat.”

She uses her powers on it. Slowly, the green gives way to a flower with all the colours of the rainbow on its petals. “It becomes the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.” She leaves the plant on her desk. “This will be here all year. Let it be a reminder that you have the ability to destroy, and the ability to make something beautiful.”

Everyone except Derek claps.

“This school has gone to absolute chaos.” He says.

I gesture for him to shut up and listen to my teacher talk about the time she went on a safari in Varron.

After that class, I head to Geography. I have it with Michelle. Then Illyrian Languages. Then History. I don’t have any of those classes with my friends.

I’m really hungry when it’s time for lunch. The vending machine protein bars I had for breakfast this morning was not food.

I get food from the tables as quickly as possible and search for my friends.

I replace them seating in the middle of the cafeteria with someone I don’t know. Great, more new people.

“I am so hungry.” I moan when I sit down. “I might actually eat anything right now.”

“Then it’s a good thing you have three burgers in front of you.” Michelle laughs. “Also, should you be eating all of that?”

“Who are you? My dietician, nutritionist, personal trainer, or publicist?” I bite into the first burger.

She backs off.

“Um,” The guy sitting beside Paisley points at me. “Does anyone else see Princess Cassandra talking to us, or am I hallucinating?”

“Excuse me?” I ask with a mouthful of burger.

“This is Cass, she’s our friend,” Paisley says. “Cass, this is Ryan. He’s a combatant, he’s in our year but this is his first day.”

I wait till I’m done chewing. “Hi, Ryan.”

“Hi, Princess Cassandra.”

I wipe my mouth with a napkin. “Cass, please.”

He offers me a tiny smile. He then whispers to Paisley, “you didn’t tell me you were friends with a princess.”

Paisley gently hits his arm and laughs. “Didn’t I?” Michelle rolls her eyes. “It must have slipped my mind.”

I try not to laugh. Good for Paisley for flirting with a guy. And he’s really cute. He has pale skin, jet-black hair, and black eyes that are angled downwards.

Ryan just smiles and picks at his chips.

A group enters the dining hall and brings a lot of noise with them.

I catch Mika’s eye and wave. She waves back excitedly.

With them are Jamie, Tristan, Carlos, Dan, and Marty. In the middle of the group is Kat. Her blonde hair is straight and nestled on it is a dark blue headband with little designs. She’s dressed casually in blue jeans and a light pink cardigan.

Tristan catches my eye and smiles at me. He says something to his friends and walks over.

“Hey.” He stares at my plate. “Nicole’s not here to shame them out of you.”

I smile. “I love not having her around.” She’s the family Dietician. It’s her job to make sure we’re always eating healthy.

“I have to go.” Tristan points at his friends. “I’ll call you later?”

“Sure.”

He waves at my friends then walks off.

Michelle is beaming. “I see you two are still together.”

“We hung out all summer.” I dr I smile when I see the Big Sliver gate with the Brimstone insignia.