Zenith's Academy

Chapter 1 | Chosen

PART 1: The Academy

"Hey, Remigius." He could hear the joy in his smirk. "Enjoying the sky tonight?" 

Around sixteen sour candies had hit the glass before Remigius lifted his window and stuck his head out to glare at the Clarity's attic. He hoped it would be an annoying bird pecking the glass or an irregular rainfall in the middle of the summer but no. His fingers curled around the window frame and then tightened as a sour candy hit his forehead before bouncing to the ground. 

"Yun," he grumbled.

Yun perched on the ledge of the attic window with one of his legs swinging and his chin resting on his palm. An assortment of yellow and green candies intertwined between his slender fingers and glistened in the soft navy light of the four moons in the sky. Mr. Clarity kept a jar of candies in every room of his establishment to the point where Remigius would find the glossy sweets in random corners of Yun's room. Now they would be littered around his yard like ants.

The attic was almost eye-level with the second floor of Remigius's house. They could place a ladder from Remigius's window and have it angled so it created a rocky pathway between the two rooms. A summer back, Yun tested this theory and balanced his way across the two sides before slipping and breaking his arm. Mr. Clarity requested a healing remedy from Everett, and after Yun's arm healed, he was back to tightrope walking. 

One week and Yun couldn't leave him be. If he started to grab that damn ladder, Remigius would be the one to push him off.

"You know I can't," Remigius hissed through his clenched teeth. His words came out louder than he intended. A glance at his door then he was back to glaring at Yun.

"Come on, just one night," Yun said back, tone far more gentle but playful. "They'll never know."

They would. The moment Remigius was gone for more than an hour out of the house they would start alarm blares and a witch hunt. If he ever got kidnapped it'd be reassuring but in every other situation, it was bothersome. 

"I can't," he repeated, and he should have closed the window right there but his hands faltered at the sight of Yun under the moonlight with eyes peering at him like a feline's gaze. A wistful yet alluring energy.

A whine hummed from his throat. "Lame. It's Cosmopic. Let's go to the ceremony!" 

"No, Yun." An explanation for why was written in Remigius's fidgety hands and his constant glances behind him. A proper lock latched the door, but the key holder dozed two rooms from his. 

"Please?" This time, his lips pouted. He popped a sour candy onto his lower pink lip before sucking on it. His nose scrunched up. "We'll be there and back before you know it." 

"We can't go to the City District without Maven." The last time they tried, their carriage trudged along a gravelly pathway into the Plains District. Manure clogged their noses and Yun's allergies filled the rigid silence with sneezes. 

"Who said we're going without her?" 

Below, a burst of ice shot to his window. Its sleek texture didn't have a single ice fractal out of place. The cool breeze whiffed specks of frost onto Remigius's hair, decorating it like sapphires. With a hasty stagger, he brushed the frost off and shook his head once he glanced outside.

Maven's chest heaved as the remaining ice flowed out of her hands with a sharp crackle.  It wasn't the first time he's seen her fingertips icy blue and twitching until the ice she formed solidified. It especially wasn't the first time she's created an ice tower he could slide down. 

"It was Yun's idea," Maven said. She regained her composure and centered her bangs with the bob of her head but then picked at each strand with meticulous care. A bully from their school teased her for her wider forehead resulting in the permanent haircut. The bully received a punch from Yun, an indifferent albeit slightly vicious glare from Remigius for the rest of the year, and an insult about his unibrow from Maven.