I know, I know, I'm a horrible person for not uploading sooner. Honestly, I feel really guilty about it. But it's my first semester at college and I'm really busy and trying to do well in my courses. The few times I've sat down to get some of this written I met a wall and couldn't get more than a few sentences written. But I'm going to try to write more often, because it's been bothering me that I haven't been writing much. Also, sorry this is kind of a slow chapter.
Anyway, I hope you like it and thanks for reading! Happy Thanksgiving!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9
“I just don’t understand how all this is interesting to you,” Topher commented, his nostrils flared as if he spelled something bad. “They’re all so…mundane.”
My jaw clenched at his supremacist tone. I reminded myself that Topher had been a student at the most prestigious witch academy in the world, well known for his skill—although I still didn’t know what this skill was—and known to be very powerful for someone his age. He most likely thought himself above other witches, like those stereotypical ivy people who bragged about their degree in the face of all others; of course he would think of himself above regular mundane humans.
“They have nothing interesting in their auras,” he continued, oblivious to my reaction. “They’re predictable. Look,” he pointed to a small girl with straight brown hair who was quickly walking along on the sidewalk, “stressed over a chem exam and in obvious need of a relaxant.” He pointed to someone else, “concerned that his girlfriend is cheating on him, and he’s”—pointing to someone else—“worried that he’s finally become an alcoholic, whereas she’s concerned about all the weight she’s gained this year and what she’s going to look like in a bikini this summer. Not that she would have looked good before,” he added rudely.
I looked over at the girl he was talking about. She was average height, with burgundy hair, obviously dyed. She wasn’t fat, but she had a bit of waist. I was sure she still looked good in a bathing suit.
“And he—”
“I get it,” I snapped, interrupting him. “You think they’re boring and predictable and ugly and stupid.”
I didn’t let him know that their open auras was what I liked about them. Humans were so open about their lives, and lived easily. They thought about themselves and individuals within a group, not as a piece of the group. I wished I had been raised like that, with the freedom to do what I wanted. I wish I had the freedom to be open with people I just met; to be open with people I’ve known my whole life. Heck, I just wished I could be open with someone instead of being afraid that if I let my mind fall for one second, it would get invaded and I would lose my own mind.
“I think they’re a waste of your time,” he stated bluntly.
I froze in place and felt air crack against my palm. Topher took two steps forward before realizing I had stopped. He turned, an expectant expression on his face.
“They’re not objects,” I said quietly. “They’re people. They feel, they think. And if they bore you so much, you can leave.”
His blond eyebrow rose. “You mean to tell me you find something interesting about them? If you find their auras so interesting to read, maybe you’re not as good as I was told.”
I felt my cheeks heat at his words, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. “I like being around them.” They’re comforting, I didn’t add. I would never expose that weakness to Topher. He’s the type of person who would use your weakness against you at your lowest point, bringing you even lower, until you, too, felt you were beneath him.
He looked around the college campus, his passing over all the people as if they were lamp posts. “Whatever you say,” he mumbled.
I was about to snap out a reply when I heard my name being called behind me. I turned around and saw my friend Hannah walking over to us. Hannah and I had had our Introduction to Psychology class together first semester freshman year. We had remained good friends, both in the psych major.
“Hi,” she waved as she caught up to where Topher and I were standing in the middle of a path. “What are you up to? Who’s that?” She nodded toward Topher, who was watching our interaction with a disinterested expression.
“This is Topher,” I introduced. “He’s a…family friend.”
I watched as Hannah’s eyes travelled up and down Topher before she turned to be, her eyebrow raised suggestively. I frowned at her and turned to Topher.
“Topher, this is my friend Hannah.”
Topher dipped his head in greeting and smiled. “Nice to meet any friend of Leila’s.”
“You’re British!” Hannah squealed. I watched as her interest in him increased. I felt like rolling my eyes.
He laughed, although I could tell it was just as an act. “You Americans are so clever with picking out accents.”
Hannah giggled, but I was fairly certain Topher was making fun of her and calling her—along with American humans in general—not clever. I glared at him for being rude to my friend, but he ignored me.
“Do you go here?” Hannah asked with a wide smile.
He chuckled humorlessly. “No, I’m here with Leila today, just to…explore.”
Please don’t ask what he thinks please don’t ask what he thinks please don’t—
“And what do you think?” Hannah asked.
I inwardly groaned. Hannah always asked too many questions and Topher had already made the point that he never lies or dims what he really thinks.
“It’s very different from where I studied,” Topher cryptically replied.
Hannah’s aura flashed, and her interest in him spiked more. I had to separate them soon; when Hannah became interested in someone, she never left him alone. She ended up getting used by guys a lot. I didn’t know what Topher would do with Hannah’s clingy puppy-dog affection, but I wasn’t about to find out.
“And what was that like?” She asked, slowly licking her lips.
“I just remembered we need to get home,” I blurted as Topher was opening his mouth to respond. He smirked at me instead.
Hannah looked at me, confused. “Don’t you have another class this afternoon?”
“Uh…Topher and my dad have plans, so I just need to drop him off and then I’m coming back for class,” I lied.
Hannah looked momentarily disappointed, but she turned back to Topher with a wide smile. “I hope you like it here. Maybe I’ll see you around later?” She asked, biting her lip gently.
Topher glanced at me for a second and took in my tense state. With a snide grin, he turned back to Hannah and winked. “Definitely,” he murmured.
Hannah’s aura flickered, as if her heart skipped a beat. I wanted to groan. I knew she was going to pester me about Topher now until she saw him again. This wasn’t a good sign.
“But now we have to go,” I said quickly. “Bye Hannah.”
“Bye,” she said, slightly dazed, her eyes fixed on Topher.
I briskly walked in the direction of my car, away from Hannah. I heard Topher following me.
“Your human friend seemed to like me,” he commented snugly a minute later.
I ignored him and kept my eyes forward and my feet slightly ahead of his so that I could only just barely see him in my peripheral vision.
“She thought I was attractive and interesting,” he added in a suggestive tone. “I’m sure she’s going to want to see me again.”
“Weren’t you just telling me humans were boring?” I snapped.
“Maybe I finally found one that’s interesting.”
I whipped around and he nearly walked into me. “Leave her alone,” I warned in a low voice.
He cocked an eyebrow. “Relax, Leila. I’m just making a joke.”
“Ha.”
Topher’s lips pulled up to the left in a half smile. “She’s not really my type anyway.”
Of course she wasn’t. Topher’s “type” would never be human. His type is probably some exotic and powerful witch who could take down a whole city with just a thought and has people quaking at her feet, ready to pray to her. His type could never be as simple as a human.
I didn’t reply to his comment, and he said nothing more as we walked back to the car. When we were entering the parking lot, Topher broke the silence.
“Where are we going?”
“Home,” I snapped.
“I thought you said we were going to be here until four? That’s still three hours away.”
“I don’t feel like going to my second class today. The lecture is online anyway. I’ll watch it later,” I grumbled, walking ahead of him.
Topher hesitated before quietly replying with “I’m sorry.”
I could see the car and was pulling out my keys. “Sorry for what?”
“I know you like it here. I’m sorry I…attacked a place you like.”
I froze for a second, the key outside the lock on the car door. Then I jammed the key into the lock with more force than was necessary. “Who says I like it so much?” I grumbled. It was true that I liked it here, with normal humans, but I always assumed that was a well hidden fact.
“Why else would you come here?” He challenged. “You could have gone to any witch academy with your potential, and yet you chose to go to a human university, and study a human topic while you learned magic at home. The only reason you would do that is if you liked it here.”
He stared at me over the hood of my small car. I was frozen in place outside the driver’s seat, eyeing him carefully. What he said was true: I probably could have gone to any witch academy. Jacquie was well respected in the world as a witch, and I had skill enough that I probably could have gotten into a middle level. There are so few witches anyway that enrollment in witch academies is encouraged—although I always secretly wondered if that was in hopes that couples would form at the schools and then spawn witch babies.
I broke eye contact with Topher and climbed in the car. I slammed the door and stuck the key in the ignition, hearing the engine grumble to life. Topher opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat. I didn’t look at him as I pulled the car out of the parking lot and away from campus.
He waited until we were at the edge of campus to speak. “What is it about people that you like?”
My eyes flashed to him staring ahead, and I wondered why he was asking. Did he really care about the answer, or was he simply trying to unpack my weakness some more?
“Their expressiveness,” I finally replied, “and their carefree attitudes.”
I saw him turn to be from the corner of my eye. “Do you wish you were like that? Carefree and expressive?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes. But not so much that I would give up magic.”
He was silent. I said no more, and we drove home in silence, lost in our own thoughts. I couldn’t help but wonder why Topher was asking me this, or, as I had been wondering since I first found out, why he came here. If he’s so powerful and skilled, what has he left to learn, especially from anyone in my small coven? And just what was his special skill? And why did he have to follow me around? Why not someone who actually had something to offer him?
It wasn’t until my house was in sight that Topher said anything.
“You can be, you know,” he told me quietly.
“Can be what?” I asked as I pulled into my driveway.
“Expressive. Carefree. You don’t always have to hide that.”
I looked sharply over to him, confused. Of all the people to tell me that, I could not imagine it being Topher. He was a proper witch to the bone—and proper witches didn’t show anything of their thoughts.
He looked at me briefly and shrugged. “I just saying you don’t have to hide from everyone.”
I climbed out of the car, musing over what he said. Topher, the witch of the century, was telling me to act opposite of witch protocol? Why? It didn’t make any sense.
I went straight up the stairs when I entered the house, to my room, where I would have alone time to think and relax. I heard my mom make a surprised comment about how I was back early and a vague reply from Topher about my class being cancelled. I was in my room before anything else was said.