Althea's off to Skyskape, a boarding school for magic users and otherworldly creatures. Here's the problem:
She's a human with no magical abilities, and she's currently the only girl attending the academy.
Following her best friend's...
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"So Althie, this is my friend Leo!" Graysen says, closing the door behind us. Standing outside our room is Leo, the person that was looking at us and waving in the main lobby.
Compared to the giant that is my best friend, Leo is around my height, perhaps even shorter. Height aside, the first thing about them that draws me in is their curly red hair. It's gorgeous and almost too vibrant to be real. Even their eyes are a slightly unnatural amber color. Graysen has an unnatural eye color too, so maybe rare eye colors are a trait common for magical folk.
Graysen tugs at my hand to bring me close again. "And Leo, this is Althie! I mean Althea. Er, she's in our first period too."
"'Suuup Althea! Gray told me a looot about you. Hope you don' mind me taggin' along." I'm taken aback. I wasn't expecting Leo to have such a slow and sleepy voice. Mark that as one more thing we have in common. They glance down at their phone before tacking on, "Y'all ready t'go then?"
Graysen and I nod and keep our hands clasped together while following closely after Leo, as they swipe through their phone and lead us back to the downstairs common room. Once we're back outside, I'm free to take a better look around the plaza.
The fountain is clearly the center piece. It has three tiers and is emitting a low flow of water, making it trickle down in a soft stream that's easy on the ears. Past it, a lot of the buildings I saw before look new, or at least newly remodeled. There are intricate vines and vintage architectural pieces covering them, all of it fake décor with little signs of wear. A few of them also have rooms and wings that jut out of the sides, and appear to have been tacked on well after their initial construction.
"Hey Leo, you said you inherited your magic from your family?" Graysen asks out of nowhere. He must be trying to make small talk while Leo scouts out our location.
"Yup. My dad and his dad and his dad—everyone's dads work with light magic. It's like our thing I guess."
"Oh. That's cool." Graysen waits a bit to give room for talk. "What exactly is light magic?"
"I dunno. Why don' we go find out?" Leo answers cheekily, tossing their head to the side. They seem to be pointing across the yard, towards a veranda with a sign that reads House A. That must be our building. The three of us jog over, blending into the throng of people going through.
Reaching the house's interior after bumping dozens of shoulders feels like a breath of fresh air. Each wall within is painted with vivid details of the sky, the ocean, forests, and even of the solar system. I hardly even realize we're going upstairs, as the paintings flow seamlessly across the floors and onto the ceiling.
On the second floor, my eyes draw instantly to the wall ahead on the right, painted with the sun and its rays. There's a lustrous yellow and gold coat splashed onto it, making it glow even with the limited light falling in through the skylights above. My eyes keep trailing across the mural and soon come upon the doorway to our classroom.
