Of Night and Day

Winding Down

The shower was simple to operate, the stocked soaps were similar to those my mother kept at home, and the towels were soft and plush.

I dressed in the clothes lent to me, grateful to put dry socks on my feet. I was right to think I would swim in the borrowed clothing.  I walked into the bathroom dressed to check my appearance and realized this was the first time I had looked at myself since this morning.

My wavy hair had been weighed down straight and was now brown in its wet state. I frowned at it and worked to towel dry it and refresh the spell I used to turn it a sunflower yellow. My hair was still damp, but now it was more goldenrod than brown, meaning the spell took, and I would have another week of yellow hair.

I turned my attention to my face. My eyes looked tired and puffy from crying over the busted pipe, my brown eyes slightly bloodshot. With my magic, I let my fingers freeze and ran them over my eyes. The cool sensation was pleasant against the irritated skin.

After cooling my eyes, I looked back to the baggy clothes. I bunched up the hem of the shirt and tied it a little so that it would be a better fit and stay out of the way. I rolled the waistband of the running pants so that they weren't threatening to fall off my hips. I looked myself over in the mirror and noticed how the clothing now lay; I had an hourglass figure that was a little fuller at the hips. I felt odd for admiring my body for once despite its softer and thicker appearance than I would have liked. But I was going to take this victory in this moment.

As I turned this way and that in the mirror to make sure I liked what I saw than just a fluke, there was a knock at the door.

When I answered, Fennix was there holding a few bags. One I recognized as my book bag that I had left on the desk. "Cynthia stopped by with your things," His face hitched a little as he ended his sentence.

"Was she able to get everything I asked for?" I asked, taking the bags from him.

"Yeah.... and no..." Fennix pursed his lips, golden eyes avoiding me, and his wolf ears had flattened back a little.

My heart dropped as I started to look through the bags. The book... it wasn't here....

"The book you asked for was pretty waterlogged," Fennix's voice dropped slightly.

Tears started to form again. How dumb could I have been to pack that book first, to leave it at the bottom of a box? Would Vivianna be upset that I was that careless with her gift?

I tried blinking back the tears before I looked back at Fennix, "How waterlogged?" I asked with a trembling smile.

"It was pretty unreadable..." Fennix's voice hushed as he spoke. Tears dropped hard from my face like the first drops from the broken pipe.

"Was it... important?" Fennix uneasily crossed his arms, ears and body tense.

"Yeah..." I nodded, "It was a gift from a cousin I don't see often; she sent it to me years ago."

"Oh, man..." Fennix rubbed the back of his head in thought. His long brown hair dusted his shoulders. He pursed his lips in thought and perked up.

"I will talk to Nymph!" He announced to me, "She is good at fixing things like this; she might be able to help!"

"Who... who is Nymph?" I asked; hope was starting to rise.

"Nymph is the Student Leader Counsil President, I'll make sure you get to meet her, she lives here with us too. She majors in magical engineering, so she has to be able to figure out something!"

"If you could talk with her, that would mean the world to me," I smiled weakly. I was taught that magical fixes aren't always long-term, and I wasn't sure how engineering knowledge might fix the book, but he knew her better than I did, so there had to be some hope, right? 

"I will talk with her as soon as I see her tomorrow, but would you like something to eat or anything?" He had another smile grace his face.

"Some tea would be nice," I said.

"A'ight, come with me," Fennix gestured for me to follow and led me back down the stairs and into a vast, open kitchen. There was an island in the center with stools on one side and a burner set on the other. It seemed flashy and more modern than most things I have seen in my city, but it was something my father would try to get installed for my mother in our own home.

As he walked through the kitchen, he gestured to the stools. I took a seat and watched him pull out a bright blue kettle. After filling it with water and setting it over the flame on the burner, he handed me a basket of tea sachets to choose from.

"So, what do you think of your first day?" Fennix asked, "Besides the obvious..." He nervously laughed.

"I enjoyed my first day, besides the obvious," I tried to keep my tone light and joking. I was still worried about my book.

As we waited for the water to boil, he kept asking me questions about myself. I told him about Barick and my family's expectations about being within one of their fields and how I came to Grimsbane University.

"On scholarship, huh? Must be pretty wicked smart then," Fennix complimented, "But I'm not surprised that a pipe burst in your room then; the scholarship kids seem to get the bottom of the barrel around here,"

"You can say that again..." I raised my eyebrows as I sipped the chamomile tea Fennix made me.

"You're moving fast this year, wolf, though I cannot believe that your conquests are starting to include first years..." A familiar commanding voice entered the room; my body flushed at the thought of being considered one of Fennix's "conquests."

I tried turning my attention away from my heat, and I watched Fennix's ears flatten again, and his face goes cold. I turned in my seat to see Aleksander walk into the room.

His white button-down was rolled up to his elbows, he didn't have on the vest anymore, but was still wearing the dark slacks. His hair was tied in a very loose ponytail at the top of his shoulders. He walked gracefully to the sink with a mug.

"You always think the worst of me, vamp. If you helped around here, you would realize that Amalie is in one of our emergency dorms because her room flooded tonight." Fennix's voice was sharp as he spoke to Aleksander. His eyes followed him around the room, but Aleksander never cast another look at him.

Instead, Aleksander turned to look at me. His face was unreadable as he looked me over.

"I am sorry to hear that, Amalie; that is quite unfortunate." Aleksander frowned. He used his first two fingers to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. His eyes gave him away that he was searching for the next thing to say: "Do make sure to get the reading done for class tomorrow, though."

"Heartless," Fennix spat at him. Aleksander silently washed his mug and left the room, bidding me goodnight.

"Don't pay any attention to him; he is just a cold-blooded vampire like the lot of them." Fennix huffed.

"I'm sorry... did you say vampire?" I asked.

"Yeah, he is the worst kind, a rich snob from a noble family." Fennix rolls his eyes heavily.

"Aren't vampires super rare?" I asked.

"Not rare enough," Fennix huffed under his breath. I knitted my eyebrows together in concern about the attitude he was displaying.

"Sorry... He just gets under my skin." Fennix's face melted into worry.

"I can see that," I took another sip of tea, "Why is that?"

Fennix pursed his lips again and shook his head, "That's a story for a different time," He gave me a small, kind smile. I felt a yawn travel up my body. I covered my mouth, and some tears escaped my eyes.

"I think it might be time for me to turn in," I said, finishing the tea in my mug. I started to take it to the sink, but Fennix stopped me.

"Let me take care of that; just get some rest." He took the mug out of my hands and waved me off. We bid our goodnights, and I followed our path back to my room.

Once in the room, I felt heavy from the last few hours of the night. I know I should work on some of the reading for classes, but sleep seemed more important now.

With that in mind, I turned out the lights and made my way into bed, hoping that tomorrow would at least be different than today.