Ravenrook Chronicles: The Mysterious Student

Chapter 2

 Henry was very extroverted and the first few weeks were incredibly draining for Tim. He had taken to Tim immediately. Henry had odd nocturnal habits, as Tim came to know quickly. He was something of an insomniac and often stayed up reading by candle light. Tim didn't always sleep well and they often stayed up getting to know each other. Tim found out that, although Henry loved garlic bread, he had acquired an allergy to garlic at a young age. Tim was happy to share that he had once proudly declared that he would never play again, before being sent off to a competition.

For Tim, it always felt strange that Henry had taken such an instant liking to him. To be fair, Tim wasn't entirely sure of the odd attraction he felt towards Henry's personality. He'd been intrigued by the boy since he first saw him in the stables, since he felt that weird sensation, when they had met each other's gaze.

Tim wasn't used to the attention. He had always struggled to make friends in the past. He was constantly bullied and felt like an outcast, being away from school for weeks at a time, on occasion. He started to feel anxious when dealing with his peers, further alienating him. Henry was different though, in a way that was difficult to describe. As though he and Tim just clicked.

Henry was eccentric, exactly how Tim had imagined an actor to be, if not slightly over-the-top. He had a love for Romantic era chamber music, probably the reason he had chosen Tim as his roommate. Tim also found out that he had studied French, Latin and German from a young age. He was also terrible with technology, he had a laptop and smartphone but he was about as technologically literate as Tim's grandfather, which was to say, barely literate at all.

Tim found Henry to be intriguing. He was an artist before he was a teenager and it showed. He was very consumed by the art of acting, often acting out comedic, emotional or tragic scenes to the backdrop of Tim's playing. There was something that drew Tim to Henry and he hoped that there was something that drew Henry to him.

Classes were rather standard, with the basic Maths and Sciences being taught. What was interesting is that, despite each student being a prodigy of a certain art, they took the cultural classes together, learning the arts together. Of all of the students, Sam, the andrgynous brunette writer, was by far the most studious. They were a jack of all trades, and a better writer than anyone had a right to be. They had won a few prizes for their short stories, but that was nothing compared to being the youngest to win the McCarthy Literature Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the UK. They were also one of the few nice ones that subverted Tim's expectations. The syllabus seemed to want to foster complete creative thinking, to encourage the students to create, to dream. Although Tim wasn't bullied, the other students did treat him as though he was out of place. Not only did he feel a great disconnect based on social class, he was constantly reminded of where he came from.

By far the worst culprit was Matthew, the blond, brutish dancer,whose chiseled, graceful appearance didn't match his personality, which was like that of a lowly street thug. He would corner Tim, when Henry wasn't around, and belittle him. He tried his best to ignore it, only ever confiding in Henry. Matthew was the kind of person Tim hoped he wouldn't have to deal with here. He reminded Tim of an old rival from the music competitions. He was the same. He would try to get under Tim's skin and unnerve him. It almost made him hate competing in music competitions.

Tim often found himself lost in the lectures about folklore and mythology. There was so much about the world that was interesting, so much that people have begun to forget. He often romanticised the idea that they were part of the few secret keepers of a far more magical world. Most of the theory classes for the arts focused on the artistic representation of folk and fairy tales, the cultures they stemmed from, and, albeit a little out of place, they even discussed interesting strengths and weaknesses of individual creatures. Folktales are a throughline through the arts. Stories, ballads, paintings, movies, ballets, regardless of the artform, folktales make up an integral part of the corpus. One can scarcely consume any art without a cheeky reference to something based on mythology or folklore. Thus it was decided that the students would study together in order to gain holistic knowledge on the subject. Tim longed for some of it to be real, he wished he could meet the fairies that were known for their mischievous dealings with mortals, the dwarves, the master blacksmiths that created mjolnir and gungnir, or the helpful kitsune spirits from Japan, like the one that helped the woman they loved become empress. Tim longed to be a part of such a magical world.

Although life at the academy was surreal, one thing that most of the students found odd was their P.E. classes. The academy taught martial arts. Tim found it a welcomed surprise. It added to the whimsy of such an eccentric academy. Classes varied by term, according to the class schedule. This term, it seemed that the students were to study jiu-jitsu. According to some of the older students, after the first year, you get to specialise in a martial art form. Their instructor was a slender, muscular individual; toned from years of continuous training. They had long black hair bound tightly in a bun. A scar ran down their face, from the bottom of their nose to their chin.Their cold grey eyes ran over the students, observing them.

"Pick your partners, we haven't got all day," their voice called as the day's training began.

Matthew and Jennifer, the athletic film-maker, excelled at the more physical classes. Both of them were mean and had a nasty habit of looking down on people on account of their wealth and social class. While this generally didn't have much of an effect on the other students, Tim felt like he was the subject of their ire. The two of them would deliberately corner Tim, whenever they could, and whenever Henry couldn't do anything about it, P.E. was a good example of this. Henry often didn't attend P.E. classes, his skin burned easily in the sun. Matthew would eagerly pick Tim as a sparring partner and use his superior strength to overpower him in moments.

Things might've been slightly weird at the school. However, classes focusing on folklore and martial training were the least strange thing that happened. Once a month, odd people came to the estate in black vans and suits. Henry was removed from classes for that day to sit in meetings with his father and these agents who seemed to come straight out of a sci-fi novel. Tim chalked this up to Henry being heir to the Ravenrook fortune, and as such, he was to take over the Ravenrook business. It was important for him to learn from his father in these meetings. Their cars bore a crest of a crowned skull, similar to the crest Tim had seen on the back of his textbooks. "The Crown Company," he whispered to himself, each time he saw them.The name seemed intimidating to him. Why would a publishing company need so many armed guards? It all felt very shady to Tim.