After a moment, she looked up to see Mal eyeing her down. “What’s the matter with you today, Sinclair?”
She lowered her book and gave him a pity smile.
“Mr. Peur, I don’t think you even realize the summer that you are in for.” She leaned towards him. “The parties, the duels, the dinners. The people, the hours spent in my father’s study discussing magic, his prized library literally at your fingertips.” Her grin widened. “You’re going to love it.”
The weather on Vaukore Island finally allowed for a nice sit by the lake. On her final weekend before their journey to Ragsling Village and then home, Maeve took full advantage of the mild temperatures and sprawled out in the warm sun, reading. Maeve was not the only student who chose to spend their Saturday outdoors.
Her peaceful afternoon was interrupted by McKenzie Barlett shoving his fellow Draconem Tyler Drume into Mirror lake. Which consequently brought a few of the merfolk that lived in the lake to the surface in curiosity. Both boys screamed upon seeing the captivating creatures, scaring the sirens away. They were the only Magical creature still inhabiting Vaukore’s Realm. Though, there were parts of the mountains sealed off. And Maeve often wondered if there were other creatures deep behind those walls of stone.
Maeve wrote McKenzie a detention. When she turned her back, Tyler punched him in the face.
Maeve whipped around. “Did you just punch him?”
McKenzie’s nose was bleeding heavily. The boys around were covering their mouths to keep from laughing.
“He deserved it for pushing me,” said Tyler, trying to wring out his soaked sweater.
Maeve was astonished. “Yes, he did.”
The group grew silent as McKenzie’s mouth fell open at a Paragon saying he deserved to be sucker-punched.
“What’s in your hand, Mr. Drume?”
“Nothing. I swear!” Tyler yelled.
“Yes, there is.”
Tyler Drume looked confused. “There’s really nothing-”
“Nothing,” said Maeve. “So if I ask you to cast a spell for me, can you?”
Tyler nodded.
“Show me,” said Maeve.
Tyler looked sideways at McKenzie, who was equally confused as blood dripped from his nose. He did as Maeve said and performed a shield charm perfectly.
“Wonderful,” said Maeve. “Do you truly still believe there is nothing in your hand?”
Tyler looked down at his fingers.
“You’re a wizard. You shouldn’t resort to human fighting with all the power you could possibly need quite literally at your fingertips. Next time you feel the need to break someone’s nose, ‘confrontus’ will do the job the right way.”
Tyler and McKenzie looked both embarrassed and confused.
“To the hospital wing, Mr. Barlett.”
The boys rushed down the hill towards the castle immediately.
Maeve returned to her reading spot, laying back into the grass. The sun kissed her arms, her neck, her legs. It pressed into the small bit of her stomach that was exposed when she laid back.
It wasn’t long before she spotted Mal strolling across the valley towards her.
“Afternoon,” his velvety calm voice greeted her.
Maeve looked up at him, squinting in the sunlight. “Hi.”
He took a seat on the grass. “What are you reading?”
