THE APPLE OF SNAKES

xxii. flights of stairs

Three flights of stairs. Every morning when he came down for breakfast and every evening when he came up after dinner: three flights of stairs.

Nerluce figured he should be happier about it.

He wasn't. 

What he was happy about was that he had managed to come as far as he had in such a short time. One year ago on this very day, Nerluce had moved into the dorms. He had carried nothing with him and as he walked up the stairs, his palms were still empty. All he had to his name were two changes of clothes and a pair of boots. He didn't count Eden because he didn't think Eden really belonged to him. Eden was his sister's horse and would eventually be returned to her.

But for now, Eden stayed in the stables and Nerluce carried his two sets of clothes and boots up the stairs into another dorm room, this one slightly less overcrowded than the prior. There had initially been almost fifty students in the fire dorms and now only twenty-four of them remained. And among them was Nerluce.

Nerluce, who wasn't smart and didn't have any natural talent when it came to magick. Nerluce, who had to work harder than anyone else to keep up. Nerluce, who was worthless, was moving to the third floor.

The sleeping arrangements had pretty much stayed the same for Nerluce's dorm. Boys and girls sharing the same space was untraditional but what else was the temple meant to do? The next batch of disciples was coming in and they were almost double the number they'd been the prior year. Word of the Chosen Light's birth had spread to people all across the continent and many had come, all wanting different things from a child who couldn't even talk properly.

It was stupid.

But Nerluce supposed he ought to be grateful to little Kierli. If it hadn't been for her birth, Lord Father never would have sent him and if Nerluce had never been sent, he never would have been able to do magick as he did now. It still wasn't particularly good or powerful but it was actual magick. Nerluce was an actual magickian. And yet... Nerluce's eyes still remained darkened, refusing to go crimson, the mark of a true Hebikoti magickian.

"Nerluce," Lyana said, draping her body over his shoulders. "You'd think you were the daughter of the King with how often you're looking in that mirror."

"Sorry," Nerluce muttered.

His eyes weren't going to turn red overnight. Or... maybe they would? Nerluce wasn't sure. Sometimes it happened slowly and other times it was in the blink of an eye. Lyana's hair had been changing colors, going from a natural red to something that looked more akin to the product of dyes. 

Nerluce had noticed it happening in his other classmates too. Eko had the most noticeable change happen to them. Whenever they spoke, breaths of smoke would escape their lungs. Jurine always smelled like a campfire - though maybe it was just all the time she spent with Eko. Hamelin had started to go red at his fingertips and Corbett's yellow hair seemed just a bit too much like candlelight sometimes.  

Even Aristide's gold-rimmed eyes seemed to fill in, bit by bit with every class. Not that Nerluce spent any significant amount of time staring into Aristide's eyes. Not... intentionally at least.

"You're still staring," Lyana said in a sing-song voice as she threw open the windows. 

They had kept the windows open most of the summer and Lyana had gotten used to opening them. Nerluce wondered if she would open them all the way until winter. It was already getting cold again and nobody else bothered to open their windows. Someone would probably complain. Either Corbett or Eko if Nerluce were to place a bet.

"It's a nice day," Jurine said, stretching. She'd spent her morning reading a book. For fun. 

Nerluce would never understand people who were smart enough to read for fun. Who had that kind of time and mental energy? He shook his head and went to stretch his own muscles. He supposed he shouldn't spend all morning looking into a mirror. It would drive him crazy. It was already driving him crazy.