Astro Academy: Artifact Reconnaissance (Book 1)

Chapter 2 - Astro Room

"Hi, Paul," I greeted, but Dahlia just walked right passed him. "Hi, Aria, nice seeing you again," he replied. 

Dahlia shot me a look. "Ah, sorry, gotta...go. See ya' around!" I said and followed after Dahila. 

"What?" I asked her. 

"What?" she asked back. 

"I know you're unsocial and all-"

"I'm not unsocial."

"Yeah but why not talk to Paul?" I asked, making sure my voice was lower in case we weren't out of earshot. "Don't you think it's weird that he's in the girls' dorms?" she whispered in a lower voice. "You have a point."

Dahlia nodded. "But I'm not one to figure out. Besides, we only have thirty minutes."

I scrunched up my face. "No, we have fifteen."

"Aria, we're also not standing around for fifteen minutes," Dahlia argued. "Maybe at least ten?" I pleaded and Dahlia rolled her eyes. "Seven. Full stop. No debate."

Well there was no arguing with that. Seven's still okay I guess.

I had no idea how Dahlia knew her way around the school so well. Like me, it was her first time here, and from my experience, Dahlia was never really the best with directions. I brought up the question, but Dahlia just said something along the lines of 'holographic map' which was pretty vague in my opinion. The school didn't have an indoor map, right? And Dahlia didn't memorize the map of the whole school.

Right?

Soon enough, after a series of more pastel colored hallways filled with eccentric teachers and students. I couldn't help but guess what they were all doing. There was one group who was getting scolded by a brunette teacher who looked like a superior, perhaps has been teaching for a few years. 

I made a mental note of that brunette teacher as Dahlia thrust open a door. 

Inside was a dark room with only one light source inside. Though, it was quite strange in my opinion. It felt like a holographic room of stars, but none of it was blue and I recognized none of the constellations. 

"What is this place?" I asked. "It's called the Astro Room," Dahlia said, her voice and expression showing enthusiasm.

"I didn't know you liked exploring."

"I don't," Dahlia said, "But this place is...an exception."

That pause is terrifying. 

I watched as Dahlia walked towards the center of the room which was after a few set of stairs. The whole place felt like a circular auditorium with seats-slash-stairs lining the sides. My guess is that they're made of stone, though I'm not entirely sure myself. 

Dahlia extended a hand to the light source. It looked like a star, seems like a star, but you can't contain a star, so is it really a star? 

"Uh, Dahlia, what are you doing?" I asked as she touched the light. Her hand hovered on the glowing orb like it was a hologram. And from her touch, lights came out and started to dance across the room. 

"Woah," was all I could say. The lights had different colors in them, yellow, blue, pink, purple, green. All pastel as well. 

I held up my hand as a stream of light passed by. A surge of energy flowed through my fingertips and into my body, making me feel quite strange actually. Honestly, I've never been able to describe what magic feels like. Usually because the sensation is different than my friends. They described it as a tingly feeling, though to me it's more like...