Algernon Black

(Chapter 17) Old Friends, Old Places

Jared had one more stop before he moved on from Attwood. A visit with an old friend. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he walked these stone hallways, but he still remembered every turn and crevice no matter how endless and similar they appeared. His hand reached out to touch one thick petrified dark wood door. Behind it was the first classroom he ever sat in. He kept walking as he recalled the memories of his time there. The friends he made, the magic he had learned, the heartbreak and horrors. He could see in the hallways now, a younger version of himself, with the younger version of his only two guy friends and the one poor girl they forced into their circle. He still laughed now at that pained look she got whenever Aloysius made a loud show of himself, and the faint smile she would try to hide which was the only sign she enjoyed their company. Poor Yosephine already had a very hard time adjusting to the school coming from a foreign country, and Jared never knew if his eccentric group of friends just added to her problems. He thought about her from time to time and hoped for her best. She was such a meek girl with a great heart that he wished got her as much adoration as she deserved in her time at Attwood, but most of their fellow schoolmates didn't value a foreigner in their presence, just as they didn't value a royalless name like Jared Lahue. But when it came to his true friends that didn't matter, they didn't see him for his lacking in society but just as himself.

Jared took almost four flights of stairs before he finally turned the corner to the familiar office that had once belonged to his favorite teacher and was now hosting his most cherished friends.

"Jared." A man greeted him, smiling a brilliant smile as he stood from his wide oak desk.

"Solace," Jared replied with a smile of his own. "Has Attwood really lowered its standards so low?"

Solace pursed his lips, but his eyes were happy. "You should know how low the standards are, they let you in."

Jared laughed and Solace mimicked it. His friend had always had such an incredible character, matched by his intelligence, and outdone only by his flawless appearance. If there was ever a pinnacle of perfection for a man, Jared knew it existed in his friend, and his friend solely.

Jared looked around to see the room nearly unchanged with a wall of books behind him stacked so high they reached the ceiling and partially blocked the stained-glass window. One wide leather chair and couch rested to the right of him near a fireplace that had no wood but burning candles. Solace never liked the smell of firewood, and it was his only modificaion since taking over the position from the former teacher of dark magic. Jared could almost see his old professor still sitting in his favorite chair with his long legs crossed with a book hiding half his face.

"It's good to see you," Jared said, looking to where his professor's spirit still rested in the chair before he looked back up to his friend. "Truly."

"You too," Solace replied. "Although I had hoped it would be under better circumstances."

All of Jared's bitter-sweet reminiscing fell to his sudden anxiety, and it reflected harshly on his face.

"There's no more hiding her from the world," Solace said reassuringly as he crossed the room to be beside him. "So let her stand before it and prove to everyone that she is not what they think of her." He spoke carefully but meaningfully, just as he had learned from his predecessor. "Just like you did."

Jared's hands dragged through his hair. "I know. What the world wants from her worries me, but not half as much as what that boy might."

"I can handle him," Brickwood replied. "Trust me."

Jared sighed. He knew this plan was playing with fire, but any other solution had been smothered out. Now, all he could hope for was time didn't burn away as easily.

"I'll only need a few months." He thought about his next adventure with high hopes. He knew he was on the very edge of finally finding the king's diary, and the secret lost to humanity a thousand years ago. The secret that could either save his sister's life or damn her fate for good. "I'm closer now than ever to finding it, I can feel it."

Solace set a hand on Jared's shoulder. "I know." His gaze was deep and comforting mixed into his green eyes, and a small shade of red worked its way up Jared's neck. "And I swear to you, I will keep her safe until she is back in your care." Solace vowed, his eyes steady and unbroken by even one blink as they stared into Jared's.

Jared nodded but glanced away as the blush crept up his cheeks. He hoped Solace didn't notice, but he never seemed to, not even after years of friendship and a one-sided love that Jared had kept so painfully hidden. His friend had done so much for him and his sister over the years, Jared could never burden him with these feelings as well, so he tethered them close to his heart where he never let them travel too close to his hopes, no matter how much he wanted too.

Solace smiled down at Jared. A glint behind his eyes, that had suddenly grown a brighter green.