The first classes of the day were business studies and double combat arts. Omen didn’t mind combat arts. He’d been through it all before when the best trainers in the world had taught Auger how to hit and Omen how to get hit. Now it was different. Now Omen was no longer the punchbag, and it was quite startling – to his classmates, to his teacher, to Omen himself – how much of that training he had absorbed over the years.
The only thing that prevented Omen from being one of the best in the class was the fact that he appeared to possess absolutely no aggression. At all. In the slightest. Which was a problem when it came to fighting.
These two classes turned out to be more theory than practical, and nobody broke much of a sweat, which meant Omen could skip the weekly torture of showering with the rest of the boys. Instead, he got dressed quicker than usual and found Never in the corridor.
“Hey,” he said.
Never looked up, hesitated, and smiled. His hair was tied back today. “Hey.”
“I was thinking,” Omen said, “about what we were talking about on Friday.”
Never frowned. “Remind me.”
“Y’know … we were talking about the fact that I’m sitting around, waiting for Skulduggery and Valkyrie to call me off on an adventure.”
“That was you?”
“I was thinking, maybe … I mean, obviously you had a point.”
“I am me.”
“And, if I reacted badly to it, then I’m sorry. I just … I don’t want to be boring. I don’t want to be like everyone else and I had a taste of what it’s like to have a life like that, like Auger’s, and I …” He sighed.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Never.
“Well, I am worrying about it,” Omen said. “And you know me better than probably anyone, and you were only trying to make me see sense.”
“Seeing sense is good,” Never said.
“Are we friends again?”
“When did we stop?”
“I mean, we haven’t really chatted in the last few days and I thought you were mad at me or something.”
“I’m not mad at you, monkey. I’ve just been busy. I’m a very busy person, you know. Like, right now? Right now I’m busy.”
Omen laughed. “Right now you’re talking to me.”
“And I’m busy, so, like, wrap it up.”
“Oh,” said Omen. “Oh, right, sorry. Um … well, that’s it, I suppose.”
Never put a hand on Omen’s shoulder. “Good talk. I’m glad we did this. It’s important, I think, to be able to talk about stuff.”
“So who are you waiting for?”
Never took his hand back. “I’m not waiting for anyone.”
“Is it a new boyfriend?”
“How do you know I’m not still with Wilder?”
Omen grinned. “He’s not your type at all. He’s too loud.”
Never shrugged. “Also, he’d never been out with someone as amazing as me, so I think he got intimidated. Ah, well, his loss.”
“So who’s the new guy?”
“There actually isn’t one. I’m off the market at the moment. I feel I need some space to reconnect with myself, to rediscover my own vitality.”
“What kind of books have you been reading?”
“Books with words and no pictures, so they’d be of no interest to you.” He checked his watch. “OK, I’ve got to get going. Omen, you have a good one.”
Omen laughed. “I’ll try my very best, but I will find out what you’re—”
And Never teleported away.
“Omen.”
Omen turned as Aurnia ran up. He blinked, not expecting to see her in the school corridor like this. “Aurnia! Hi! What are you doing here?”
“I’m lost,” she said. Her eyes were watery, like she was about to start crying. “All of the ambassadors are being brought in to discuss our concerns, and I was with the group and then I got distracted. This school is … huge. This is the biggest building I’ve ever been in. Back home our school is a single room in my uncle’s house.”
“So you got lost,” said Omen. “OK, that’s cool. I can help you. Come on.”
They started walking, Aurnia hugging herself and sticking close to his side. He noticed her shrink away from the people they passed, like a mistreated cat.
“Do you remember what room you were supposed to be heading to?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “I wasn’t really listening. I’ve barely heard anything that’s been said since we arrived here. How does anyone get anything done here?”
“I still haven’t figured that out myself, to be honest.”
“You said that mortals have schools here, too – proper schools. Are they as big as this?”
Omen shrugged. “It depends. I mean, I suppose some of them are, the really exclusive ones, but most of them aren’t.”
“What was it like growing up here?” she asked.
“Oh, I didn’t. I grew up near Galway. Do you have Galway in your dimension?”
“Yes.”
“I grew up near there, in a small town, all very normal. My family’s magic, but Roarhaven wasn’t a city back then so we lived among mortals and basically pretended to be like everyone else. We even had mortal names and stuff. I liked it, actually, being just like everyone else. I suppose I fit in better as a mortal than I do as a sorcerer.”
“Why don’t you fit in as a sorcerer?”
“I’m just not very good at it. My brother, Auger, he’s good at it. He’s really good at it. But then he’s so good at everything. I was never much good at anything.”
“But you can do magic?”
“Yes,” he said. “Not much, but I can. Do you want to see?”
Aurnia looked alarmed and shook her head.
“OK,” said Omen quickly. “That’s cool.”
She actually smiled. “You used that word again. Cool. Why is cool a good thing?”
“I don’t really know. I suppose it came from, maybe, America, from back in the 1960s when everything was cool and groovy and stuff.”
“Ah,” said Aurnia, “so that’s why we don’t use the word like you do. We don’t have an America where I’m from.”
“How can you not have a country?” Omen asked, frowning.
“Well, we have it, it’s there, it exists, but no one lives there any more. Mevolent killed everyone in America hundreds of years ago and poisoned it all – the land, the water, the air …”
“Wow.”
“Yes.”
“So you guys don’t have Elvis or Jennifer Lawrence or Spider-Man … or anyone.”
“I don’t know who they are.”
“Elvis was a singer, and Jennifer Lawrence is in movies, and Spider-Man swings from buildings and stops crime.”
“Is he a sorcerer, too?”
“No, he was just bitten by a radioactive spider. It’s so weird that you don’t have those things.”
“Not really,” Aurnia said, shrugging. “From where I stand, it’s normal, and actually having an America with people in it, that’s, like you said, the thing that’s weird.”
He led her up the west staircase. She was no longer hugging herself. With every step she took, she was growing in confidence. He wished he was like that.
She laughed suddenly. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I never thought this would happen.”
He grinned along with her. “What would happen?”
“This,” she said, gesturing to their surroundings. “Sorcerers everywhere and I’m just walking through them all.”
“It’s a different world.”
“Yes, it is.”
Axelia passed, eyes on her phone, and Omen waved to get her attention and said, “Axelia, hey.”
She looked up, smiled automatically. “Hey,” she said.
“Axelia,” said Omen, “this is Aurnia. Aurnia’s part of the volunteer group, from the camp? Do you know where the rest of them are?”
“I was just helping out with them,” Axelia said. “They’re in Meritorious Hall. The meeting hasn’t started yet, so you’ll be fine. It’s very good to meet you, Aurnia.”
“And you,” said Aurnia.
Axelia smiled again and walked on, and Omen took Aurnia right and down a corridor.
“She’s very pretty,” said Aurnia.
“Is she?” said Omen.
“Everyone here has such wonderful hair. Is it because of the shampoo?”
“You don’t have shampoo where you’re from?”
“Maybe the sorcerers do, but mortals use soap. My family received a bottle of shampoo in one of our care packages, though, and last night I washed my hair and … and it’s wonderful.”
“Your hair does look extra shiny today.”
She laughed again. “Thank you.”
The door to Meritorious Hall was open. Inside, sorcerers and mortals were finding their seats.
“Here we are,” Omen said.
Aurnia clasped her hands. “Thank you, Omen. Thank you so much.”
“No probs. Problem. No problem.”
She looked at him for a little bit, and then looked away. “Well, I’d better go.”
“Wait!” he blurted.
“Yes?”
“Um … would you like to do something?”
“I am doing something. I’m walking.”
“No, like, do something.”
“I don’t think I understand.”
“With me,” said Omen. “Would you like to do something with me? Tomorrow, maybe? It’s just that I enjoy talking to you, and spending time with you, and I was wondering if maybe you’d like to, um, do it again?”
Aurnia frowned. “Are you trying to court me?”
“I don’t know. I think so?”
“Huh.”
“So … what do you think?”
“We have strict rules for courting where I’m from,” said Aurnia. “First, you must ask my parents.”
“Yeah, right, that makes sense.”
“And then my brother. He’s very protective of me, though, so that might be difficult.”
“I can do it.”
“And then you have to seek permission from the twelve village leaders.”
“All twelve?”
“And, before they make their ruling, you must do the Love Dance in the streets.”
“Wow. I don’t have much rhythm but, well, I suppose I could get my dancing shoes on.”
“No shoes,” she said. “The Love Dance is performed without clothes. When the dance is over, you must sing the traditional ballads, also naked. Then and only then will we receive the blessing of my people, and we shall be wed. My family will be expecting a child within the first year, so naturally you will have to commit to a lifetime of …” She grinned suddenly, a grin so pretty it made Omen’s heart lurch. “I’m joking. We don’t have strict rules for courting, and we don’t have to get married or have babies. The look on your face, however …”
Omen barked out a laugh and felt the tension rush from his body. “That was mean. That was very mean.”
“I would like to talk to you tomorrow, Omen. So the answer is yes.”
He gave a grin of his own. “Cool,” he said.