Fan Fiction ❯ Magus Institute ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Very mild cliffhanger on this one. I'll have chapter 3 up as soon as I can, but I'm writing three stories at once so it may take a week or five.

 

~*~Chapter 2~*~

 

Trance was greeted in the admissions office by an energetic red haired boy who looked about her age.

“Good morning! Are you new here?”

She nodded.

“My father said that all of the papers I need are already here.”

“Well, let's see. What's your name?”

“Trance Macalester.”

“And the grade you'll be going in?”

“Eleventh.”

The red head grinned up at her.

“Really? You'll be in my grade then.”

Trance smiled back awkwardly, but the redhead had already returned to digging in the desk drawers.

“I don't mean to be rude, but are you allowed to do that?”

“Do what?”

Trance gestured to the piles of papers.

“Go through all that.”

“Technically, no. But the usual admin officer is off to lunch and told me to take care of her business here. I do it all the time, if that makes you feel better.”

The blonde nodded and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, feeling self-conscious and bored.

“Eureka! I have it!”

The redhead's sudden shout of exhilaration made Trance jump, but once what he had said registered she had to fight back a giggle. He looked up at her quizzically.

“What?”

“Eureka? Who says `eureka'?”

He flashed her a toothy grin.

“I do, of course,” he handed her a few papers, “You need to put your signature on some of these, and then you can sign up for a dorm.”

Trance grabbed a pen off the desk and began flipping through the pages. The redhead continued rummaging through the desk, and the silence between the office's only occupants began to stretch. Trance, twirling the pen with one hand and turning pages with the other, decided to break the quiet interlude.

“Hey, what was your name again?”

She could see his toothy grin appear again, even though he didn't lift his face.

“Alaric. Alaric Le Fae.”

The pen dropped from Trance's hand.

“Really? That is too cool! Is it spelled the same as Morgan Le Fae?”

“Yep. And just because you know that, I think I know what dorm you should move into,” still smiling, Alaric took the papers from Trance, glanced through them to make sure she had signed everything, and pulled out a crisp brochure out of yet another drawer.

“Carolan House. It's the really long, low building at the back of the campus.”

Trance inspected the brightly-colored brochure carefully.

“Is this your dorm?”

“Yes. I think it's the best house, but I may just be biased. You can be who you are when you're there.”

He leaned back in his chair, and the light coming in from the window reflected off something around his neck. Following Trance's gaze, Alaric laughed and unfastened the clasp. He handed the pentagram to her with a smile.

“See? You can be who you are in Carolan, and no one bothers you about it. We have our own coven there, too.”

Trance moved the pentagram back and forth under the light, making the silver pendant flash, then gave it back to Alaric.

“So you're Pagan? Or Wiccan?”

“Pagan. But our coven isn't really a coven, its just sort of a place to meet for anyone who's interested in coming. We even have a few Christians and atheists show up from time to time, and one of the coven's founders is a self-declared Gnostic atheist.”

“A what?”

Alaric laughed again.

“You'll have to ask him yourself. I've known him for ages and he still confuses me.”

“Wait, he's still here? How old is he?”

“He's twenty-one, and he works at the school now. He's also in my band. Well, not really my band, its Angel's.”

“His name is Angel?”

“No. You ask a lot of questions, did you know that? His name is Keremet.”

“So who is Angel?”

“Angel is…well, you'll know when you meet her. She founded our band, she's the lead singer, she's more or less the person who's accepted in our coven as the high priestess, and she has many, many followers but very few friends. I count myself lucky to be among them. And,” he held up one hand in a silencing gesture, “Before you ask your next question, Keremet is the co-founder of the coven, he's the band's drummer, and he works on the school grounds as a security officer. I'm the bassist, and I don't have a job except to drive Keremet and all authority figures insane. Is this more or less making sense to you?”

Trance opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the office door flying open. A tall, black haired young man slouched into the room, his sullen grey eyes shifting from corner to corner as though he were searching for threats. Behind him, the blue eyed girl Trance had seen outside the car window slipped gracefully into the room.

She smiled luminously at Trance and embraced the other girl.

“Welcome to the Magus Institute. I'm Angel,” she pointed at her foul-tempered companion, “He's Keremet, and I believe you've already met Alaric. Have you signed up for a dorm? You need to apply for Carolan. You'd fit right in.”