Eliora

Confusion and Familiarity.

"I always knew letting you go out to that place on your own was dangerous." I rolled my eyes, maybe telling Caspain about my vision hadn't been a very good idea.

"I'm fine Cas. made it out alive, didn't I?"

"This time. What happens when you go back next and that bastard's there with a group?" I gave my best friend a blank look.

"The telly's rotting your brain, Cas." I scoffed. "It was just a vision."

He shook his head. "So you say, mate. you'll never listen to me anyway." I nodded, because he was right. "Just be careful, yeah?"

I shrugged. "Can't promise anything." Cas raised his brow at me and I sighed. "Fine, big brother, I'll be careful"

"That's all I ask." He grinned and went back to stuffing himself full of chips.  I looked down at my own plate. My chips had gone cold, but I didn't mind.

Caspain was the only person at Kingston who knew about me and my...problems. He was a year above me and one of the most popular boys in school and somehow, in the mess that is my life, he ended up being my best friend. 

Weirdly enough, he and I had more in common than I had first thought. Though, as much as we had similarities, we couldn't have been more different, starting with obvious fact being that my best friend is statistically and classically handsome. He had blonde hair that shone gold in the sun, blue eyes and the most pouty lips I'd ever seen. He was also tall-I mean, I wasn't short, not in the least, but Caspain could reach for mangos on a tree without having to stand on his tip toes.

Cas finished off his plate before me and since he had a monster appetite to compensate for his freakish height, I gave him mine to finish off. Then it was off to the courtyard for Tuesday assembly.

Kingston institution for the gifted was located in a small town in south east London. As stated in the name, it was a school for the incredibly academically gifted children, and also anyone who could afford to pay the school's outrageous fees. 

The school was an old castle in Surrey. It was secluded and had thick wood surrounding the area. Cas, said the reason for the school being so goddamned far from the city was because rich people didn't like the idea of their children fraternizing with common people and I believed that.

I was sure the old castle should've been a national monument or something, but I guess when you're rich, you could afford to buy a castle and turn it into a school for bratty and snobby teenagers. It was a waste of an investment if you asked me.

We walked the high ceilinged Victorian corridors. I admit, I could see the appeal of the school. It was a gloomy, Hogwarts type of castle, with stone walls, a west wing, a tower and an actual dungeon, The place was so big, it would've been able to house over a thousand plus more students, but the school was exclusive and you were lucky enough to get a place and even luckier to get a job here.

By the time we reached the west courtyard, a crowd of students had  already gathered together. The prefects were on duty, keeping everyone in line and getting a head count. We were  two hundred students in total, minus thirty prefects, so assemblies were never really hard to control.

Cas and I stood at the back of the crowd, taking a seat on a bench as we waited for the assembly to begin. Tuesday assemblies were never anything special, just routine. It was usually the same announcements every week. 

"So," Caspain began. "You spoke to your dad yesterday." He spoke casually, like it wasn't a big deal. Like my dad calling me was normal, like he called me all the time.

I rolled my eyes, leaning back in my seat. "How'd you find out?" I asked, even thought I knew the answer already.

"Who else?" He snorted, then leaned in and bumped his shoulder with mine. "How'd it go?" I shrugged. It went about as well as it could've gone. My mother was in rehab again, and brother got kicked out of school, and my father was a broke deadbeat that couldn't have cared less for his family. 

"It was alright." 

Caspain stared at the side of my face, his thick eyebrows pinched on his forehead. I was afraid he'd get wrinkles there before he reached twenty. Then he huffed and faced the front again. "Luca said you didn't look so hot after the call." Yeah because I always felt nauseous after talking to either one of my parents.   

"I'm alright. Feel better now."

"You sure?" He pressed and I shot him a look.

"Jesus Christ, Cas. I said I was fine." I huffed, he still looked worried. I nudged his shoulder. "I'm alright, mate."

"Sometimes I can't trust you with yourself." He mumbled with a sigh and I bit my lip. "You're not very good at taking care of yourself, Rave."

"Is that the whole reason were friends? So you have someone to baby?" He cracked a smile.

"No." he said, shaking his head. "We're friends because you're a freak of nature and I'm you bard. Just so happens that you need someone to care for you too." Fucking hell. what I was supposed to respond to that only he knew. Sometimes Caspain was such a fucking twat, that he forgot how much I hate sentimental talk.

I rolled my eyes. "Such wise words, Shakespeare." Caspain laughed, and opened his mouth to reply, but the second entrance door to the courtyard opened and our teachers stepped out. They lined up on the front steps. Luca walked out last and stood in the middle of the group.  Caspain sat straight and faced the front.

"Afternoon students. Welcome to today's assembly. We have a lot to discuss, but first I would like one of our teachers to pray for us." Cas rolled his eyes but still bowed his head. when we all said amen, the assembly began.

"Finally," Luca said an our later. Cas groaned, his head was on my shoulder, and his feet up on the bench. I jerked my arm and he groaned again, lifting his head. "We have new students joining  us this term." Luca grinned, knowing he'd effectively gotten everyone's attention. Caspain raised a brow.

New students coming to Kingston was always a big deal. With such a small population of students, you didn't get much surprises and new students were like a new exhibit at the zoo. Everyone wanted to know everything about the knew students, bonus points if they were good looking.

The second entrance door opened again and this time a tall, broad shouldered guy stepped out, I raised a brow as the other students began to whisper among themselves. This bloke was even taller than Caspain, he held the door open and stood aside as four people slid past him. 

The sight of fire red was a shock to the eyes. All five of them had fire for hair. Three boys and two girls. The girls were tall, their red hair flowing down to the middle of their backs. They all wore the school uniform as was custom. School uniforms were supposed to be worn at all times until school let out.

The tallest out of the boys had long hair as well. He'd styled it in a mess of plaits and waves and it reached his chest, he was broad shouldered and had pale olive skin that they all shared, from how far I was that was all I was able to see. The other boy was about my height, with hair cropped close to his head, shave down in the sides and longer in the middle, he looked familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd seen him.

My gaze shifted to the bloke on his left, and I almost choked on my spit. I'd seen him alright. In fact, I'd met him face to face.

"Caspain." I murmured.

He whistled under his breath. "Its not everyday you see direct descendants of  leprechauns." He joked.

"Cas." I pressed again. "That's him."

he looked at me, my gaze hadn't shifted  from the familiar guy at the front. He still had that same hauntingly , empty smile on his face. "Who?"

"The bloke from my vision, that's him." He followed my line of site and then made a soft humming sound. 

"What do you want to do?" 

I shook my head. "Nothing." he snorted. "Right now." 

"That's more like you." He said, then furrowed his brows. "You'll be careful?"

I grinned up at him. "I'm always careful." He gave me a look and I sighed. "I don't make promises like that and you know it, but fine, I'll...try to be more careful." There wasn't anything I could right now anyway but I'd seen this bloke in my vision and that usually meant something.

either he's done something or something was about to happen and he knows what it is.