Maybe I Have Feelings For You

Chapter thirteen: My Familiar

When Elias handed the mirror back to me, I held it face-down in the palm of my hand. Staring transfixed at the mirror, I didn't know why I was so hesitant and nervous for the mirror to reveal my true self.

Is there a side of me that I don't want myself to see, or Elias to see?

I flipped the mirror over and winced when the mirror made a short bright light reflecting my face. The mirror began to babble with heartfelt emotion. "I can't explain this feeling that I have around this certain boy. I should be more focused on passing the trial, but the way he looks at me with his gemstone eyes sends my heart to soar. I'll get the butterflies in my stomach, I'll try way too hard to impress him, I would do almost anything for him... But there's no way I'm in 'love' with him. I don't even know how to love. Even if I did, he definitely hates me. His name rolls off the tongue so smoothly. I think I like-"

I shut the mirror up by flipping it back to face the palm of my hand again. "Who?" Elias blurted out.

"N-nobody..." I stuttered, my lie obvious.

"Is it Luca?"

"What? No!" He seemed to be relieved at my answer. I looked at him, pondering why he seemed to care now. "You know what? I'm gonna go on a walk to clear my head." I announced before stuffing the mirror and grimoire away in my book-bag.

"I'll go with you." Elias spoke with a firm tone.

"You don't have to. I can find out where things are on my own." I replied confidently.

He insisted, "Nice try. As your Buddy, I won't let you get lost."

"You're using the Buddy excuse again?" I joked with a smirk. I saw Elias slightly turn away and blush which made a giddy smile form on my face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"-So then instead of professor Schuyler handling the situation by telling her to stop, she just kept trying to fix everything with more magic. Which only lead to making more of a mess and more objects sprouting out arms and legs! It was great! Let me tell you, Liz Hart is quite interesting. She says she can talk to animals. I always find her trying to talk to Yukiya's wolf but as she quotes, 'he doesn't say anything back,'" We both laughed about the incident with one of the other provisional students that happened in class the other day. "I like her. She's unique."

"That girl sure sounds like something. I wonder how many hours she spent cleaning up the-" He gets cut off by the angry voice of another student. Elias instinctively pulled me with him behind one of the large columns holding up the roof of the school so whoever the person was couldn't spot us. I softly gasped when I realized who the angry voice belonged to; Azusa Kuze.

He is the foreign exchange student from Hinomoto that people like to talk a lot about. Just like a lot of the handsome boys at the academy, all the girls seem to swoon over him. Maybe it was his accent, or his kind and charming appearance, but Luca and I were convinced it was only an act. And from what I witnessed, we may have been right...

"You don't understand! I need that power more than anything. I don't want a relationship with you, I don't want to be your friend. I only want my brother back, you moron." He spat out at the girl standing in front of him, from the pink ribbons in her pigtails I easily recognized her as Liz Hart. I could tell that every insult he threw at her, her heart broke into a hundred more tiny fragments...

"Then I'll help! I'll help you find it and gain your trust, Azusa."

"You can help by leaving me the hell alone! You may be my Buddy, but that's all you'll ever be!" He roared at her, my heart ached for her as she flinched at his harsh words, and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. He stormed off in our direction, but he was so blinded by rage he didn't see us. Liz ran off sobbing in the opposite direction before I could comfort her.

"I thought he only had one brother." I pointed out to Elias.

"He did," My eyes narrowed at him, immediately questioning why he admitted it only in the past tense. "He's dead."

"Then if he is trying to bring back his brother from the dead, the only magic I know that can do that is dark magic."

"I'll report this to Klaus the second we get back. I've been meaning to talk to him anyways."

I sighed as we had to walk back to the academy, wishing the time I had spent with Elias didn't have to end so soon. I learned so much about him today, and I hate to admit it, but I wanted to know more...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The way back was silent. We had nothing to say to each other, our minds were occupied with questions we didn't have the answers to. At last, we stopped towards the long staircase and doors to the academy.

I shrieked when a brown-specked western screech owl flew down and perched on the railing, blocking me from where I needed to be.

"Shoo!" I called out, shooing the winged creature away. I sighed in relief as the owl took off. The sounds of wings flapping got louder and I felt the small weight of the owl right on my head. "Seriously?"

"I think you've just found your familiar." Elias indicated. I stretched my arm out for the owl the crawl down onto, and I gasped looking into its glowing eyes; it looked as if the whole universe was held in this owl. Bits of glistening white flecks were scattered and made it appear to look like a constellation of stars, I was mesmerized by the sight. I could gaze for hours and never be bored.

"I've never seen an owl with eyes like those. What are you gonna name it?" He asked, causing me to quickly check the gender.

"Him," I corrected. I paused in deep thought for a moment thinking of a good name. "Ooh, what about Stargaze?"

"I like it. It suits him." Stargaze squawked in response, almost in agreement to Elias' statement. We both chuckled at the cute moment.

"Stargaze, it is!"

"You're actually quite lucky to have found yours so soon. Usually, people don't find theirs til later in the year. Yukiya has always had his familiar for as long as I've known him. Randy has one, including my brother..."

"Randy March? The other prefect?"

"That's right. Have you met Taffy before?" He inquired, mentioning Randy's walking-talking stuffed bear.

"I have, in the most traumatic way possible. I met them both when Randy used him in an experiment and accidentally caught him on fire. For a little bear, he sure had a lot of stuffing! If I wasn't there, Taffy would've probably burned down the entire academy," I explained with a hearty laugh, the smile on my face went away when I realized he should be going. "This is where we go our separate ways..."

"See you tomorrow." Elias whispered, pulling me into a surprisingly brief but welcoming hug. He pulled away and departed inside the building. My cheeks burned at least fifty shades of red...