The sweet scent of jasmine traveled to me when the wind suddenly changed direction. Mathias took a deep breath. The smell of the flowers must have been far more pleasant than the smell of Aquantiens. Opal sniffed the air a couple of times but failed to find delight in the floral fragrance that surrounded us.
"I have a question," she said. For a moment I thought she'd be interested at werewolf's sense of smell, but I was wrong. "Does Professor Cyan know that you figured out which race she was?"
"She knows," I replied and glanced at Mathias. His face was serious again and the fact that he was cracking the knuckles of his fingers did not put my mind at ease.
"There you go, the mystery is solved!" she stated and sent us a wide smile. "She's acting strange because now you know that she's an," once more she lowered her voice, "Aquantien."
"That's not it," Mathias said in a gruff voice.
"Oh, really? Does your nose make you an expert?" she said condescendingly.
"Watch it, little one," he glared at her. "If you got one laugh out of me, it doesn't mean we're friends. I still don't like you. And speaking of noses, you don't have to stick yours into everything."
"Don't call me little! No one calls me little! Well, maybe Nia sometimes, but I always make sure I'm not in debt with her." He managed to annoy her again. She walked over to me and stood right beside me. "I might be right, you know."
"You're wrong," he said. His voice was as cold as a winter morning.
Opal looked at me. She hadn't said a word, but I knew she was waiting to hear what I had to say about the matter.
"He's right," I answered her silent question. "That's not the reason."
"How can you be so sure?" she asked as she stared deep into my eyes.
"I know the reason," I replied and went silent.
I was looking at Opal but still I was able to feel Mathias' piercing eyes on me. He deserved to know. After what he had said earlier, he deserved the truth. And Opal? Well, I knew she wouldn't back down now.
I looked into her eyes for a while longer in a silent plea that she would keep it all to herself. As if my thoughts reached her, she said, "I won't tell anyone. I swear."
I nodded. My eyes searched Mathias' before I gave them the reason they were looking for. "As you know, during the spring break I went with my parents to our beach house. She came to the same town. It was pure coincidence." I paused allowing myself to take a deep breath. "We took her diving."
Opal's forehead furrowed at that statement. "You took her diving? What's the big deal about that? If she is what she is, diving is nothing special to her."
"She hadn't been in the water for decades," I replied in a hushed tone.
Opal released a long breath accompanied by the word wow. I wasn't able to guess what Mathias was thinking. His face was expressionless. A minute had passed in silence after which he shifted his piercing eyes to Opal and warned her, "You are not allowed to talk about this. Look at me!" he commanded when she failed to give him the attention he was hoping for. "I'm serious. This conversation stays between us. I don't know you well enough to even remotely trust you, but judging by today, I'd say you have a big mouth."
She kept her gaze on him and bit her inner cheek. "Okay, maybe I've been warned about talking too much once or twice before, but let me tell you one thing, dwarves are the champions at keeping secrets."
"I hope that's the truth. For your sake," he told her before turning to me. "What do we do now?"
"Nothing," I said calmly, remembering the conversation I had with her on that stormy night. "I think the best thing we can do is give her some time. Let her process it all. She'll be fine. I know she will."
With that said, we headed back to the school building. Opal and I walked together, while Mathias took the longer path and left us with another warning targeted at my friend.
She mumbled something in response. I could not make out what exactly she said but I could swear the words neurotic werewolf were somewhere in the mixture.
"Please, don't tell anyone," I said to her as we slowly walked past the border of blooming irises. "Not because you're afraid of Mathias, but because of Professor Cyan.''
Opal stopped walking and turned to me. She shielded her eyes with the palm of her hand as she looked at me. The sun on its way to the west shone directly at them. "I meant what I said. Dwarves know how to keep a secret. And I bet I can even do it without raising suspicions. You'll see, you'll be taking notes from me soon enough."
As we returned to our room, we found Ardea there. We hadn't talked much that day; she spent most of her time with the elven girls.
"Oh, there you are," Opal said instead of greeting her. "I have so much to tell you."
At that moment my intestines tied into a knot and my legs felt like they were made of a mixture of sand, water and cement. It wasn't until Opal spoke again that I regained the capability to move.
"I have to tell you all about my brother's wedding. Have you ever been to a dwarf's wedding?" Opal asked Ardea and when she said no, Opal devoted herself to extensive description of the event that had such a big importance to her whole family.
She kept the secret from Ardea. Still, during that week, I felt cramps in my stomach every time my eyes spotted Ms. Cyan.
Coming to her class on Friday filled me with a sense of unease. I sat in my place, quietly. I took out my books, quietly. I glanced at all my friends, quietly.
Over the past week I kept my ears alert to everything Opal said, afraid that something unwanted might slip out. It hadn't. It was as if she'd forgotten about Monday all together, but the look she gave me when Professor Cyan walked into the room let me know she was very much aware that another Aquantien entered the classroom.
I'd cast secretive looks in Professor Cyan's direction during her class. She did seem absent-minded. She gave us a passage to read and analyze. In the meantime, she walked up and down the classroom. Her cerulean scarf hugged her neck and every now and then, one of her hands dressed in black gloves would reach into the pocket of her wide legged pants and pull out a rectangular piece of paper. I recognized it. My father gave it to her just before our departure with instructions to dial the number on the card if she ever wanted to go swimming again.
Noticing me looking at her, she put the card back into the pocket, crossed her arms and gave me a look that said Keep it to yourself.
As much as I wanted to talk to her after class, I forced myself to follow my friends into the bright hallway, illuminated by the sunrays that shone through a large stained-glass window.
"Anyone up for an afternoon of gardening?" Lissa asked all of us before we went our separate ways.
"What do you say?" Ardea nudged me with her shoulder. I smiled in response.
It wasn't long before we found ourselves kneeling in front of the flower beds, helping the tulips win the fight against the weeds. Someone started singing. I recognized the voice. Nia. She seemed to have the ability to transform her voice just like she could change her appearance. This time it seemed soft and fragile, but she had no trouble hitting the high notes.
Time to say goodbye, the words of the song she chose seemed like they were written especially for the little plants that will never get the chance to reach their full size just because someone once labeled them as weeds.
Another voice joined her. That time, we all lifted our heads to see who it belonged to. Nathan stopped clipping hedges and let himself get sucked into the song. Our daemon had a voice of an angel. Until then, none of us heard him sing.
With their song, all my worries dissipated. Goosebumps covered my skin as it flowed through me.
Nia and Nathan hadn't stopped at that one song. Their duets continued and in a matter of minutes, the garden was full of audience. Even the teachers couldn't resist the magic their voices released. They came to enjoy the private concert on a stage of gravel, with blooming flowers as a backdrop.
Ms. Cyan exited the school building accompanied by the headmaster. As they walked down the path, they seemed to be in the middle of a discussion. She included her hands into the conversation, gesturing as she was speaking. Mr. August walked next to her with his hands behind his back, nodding.
They stopped in the shade of the cherry tree, where the tiny green fruits hung from the branches embellished by the vibrant green leaves.
Mr. August's gaze fell upon the preforming students. I saw his lips forming the words We'll talk later and their conversation came to an end, allowing them to direct all their attention to Nia and Nathan.
An honest smile appeared on Ms. Cyan's face. There were no indications that by the end of next week she'd be gone.
Thank you for reading, my lovely book worms.
Feel free to let me know what you think about this chapter and which aspects of it I should improve.
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