Tales of Elderbrooke

Boys Night In

To his surprise and delight, Oliver had been invited by the Stags to stay the night at the Academy while the girls were doing their own thing. He walked away from his sister and gave her one last encouraging smile before following the teens to their dormitory. He made a note to himself that he needed to let his mother know he wouldn't be coming home after all.

"So what's the move for tonight? My sister said they're doing some sort of Full Moon ritual. Are we doing one too?" Oliver asked once they got downstairs. He hadn't been in the Stag's room yet. Upon entry, he noticed magical magazines littered the floor with pictures of scantily clad women dancing on the covers. Felix hopped onto his bed and lounged back casually. Tobias kicked the magazines under his bed and eyed Oliver, who pretended not to notice.

"We, my friend, are not participating in a moon ritual tonight. That's a girl thing they do every year on the Full Harvest Moon. Tobias and I were thinking up places to go." Felix answered. "It's another uneventful weekend and I'm itchin' to do something fun. Whadda think Tobias? Should we hunt for drunken garden faeries? Or maybe we see if Atticus will show us his cool dragon egg? Eh? It should be ready to hatch soon."

Dragon? Atticus? Oliver struggled to recall who Atticus was. Professor Josephine had told them about the other professors at the Academy, but he couldn't remember if she said their first names or not. Plus so much has happened since the introduction it was difficult to keep track of it all.

"Let's see the dragon. I don't think Oliver here has had the pleasure of meeting good ol' Atticus." Tobias responded while flipping through one of his magazines, this one not quite as promiscuous. The one he currently held looked like some sort of catalog. One page had a variety of quills, each with a different style or made from a different feather. Another page had all types of cauldrons– some gold, some brass, others copper; large, small, you name it. Tobias glanced up feeling Oliver's stare. "This is how we order our school supplies and stuff. Elderbrooke is a small village if you couldn't already tell, and this is how we get the stuff we need."

Oliver nodded in comprehension. "Are there other magical cities? Bigger than Elderbrooke?" He asked.

Felix answered quickly, "Well of course there are other cities. There are whole other realms, my friend. You common people are pretty blind to those living in more populated cities. They've learned to blend in with the non-magic society and we have secrecy laws and all that. But some places are pretty much unknown to Noners that are chock-full of magic right here in the United States."

This information left Oliver speechless. As he pondered this, he wondered how many times he blindly missed magic back in Baltimore. How many of the people had he encountered in his lifetime could actually have been wizards undercover? Maybe all those psychics and hippie shop owners weren't as crazy as they once thought.

While he pondered, he also surveyed the rest of the space. Felix and Tobias were the only two staying in the room which was fit for four. There was a bed in each corner with Tobias and Felix occupying the two beds on the furthest right side. The remaining two beds on the left side were bare and looked like they hadn't been slept in for quite a while.

"Why don't ya show us some of your skills, Oliver? We could've made up the bed for you, but we didn't know what you liked and figured you could just conjure it up yourself." Felix shouted from his bed. Oliver looked nervously between Felix and the empty bed in front of him. He had never done magic in front of his peers, besides Alice. His worst fear was to fail miserably and make a fool of himself. After looking back once more, he saw Tobias peering over his magazine and Felix's eyes trained on him waiting. After several long seconds, Oliver still didn't know what to do and began to get more embarrassed as the silent seconds passed.