Chapter 2

The woman glided down the stairs. Her short, black hair was cut to accent the sharp angles of her face. The new students standing next to Caira began to fidget with their hands and Caira had to resist the urge to do the same under the weight of the woman's stare.

Caira turned around as she heard bags hitting the ground and saw the driver of the transport was unloading the bags onto the ground next to the transport. Each one was set down and then tagged with and moved into a different pile by a female who had come out the school after the short-haired woman.

The short-haired woman began to speak, welcoming the students to Silas Ever's School for the Supernatural. "Hello, new students. I trust your journey was uneventful."

They all nodded slowly and kept staring up at her in awe. The woman smiled, her smile a little tense, and then said, "I am Headmistress Blackburn. Please follow me inside so we can get you guys settled and situated." She started back up the stairs and seeing the other students start to follow, started walking up the stairs, too. Headmistress Blackburn pushed open the doors at the top of the stairs and walked in with the new students following her like ducklings, Caira trailing near the end of the line. They walked through a huge open hallway and into an office.

Inside, there were eight students in full uniform. They were wearing different kinds of bottoms, but all were wearing blazers with the school crest and white button downs with striped ties.

"Alright, Caira, Amelia, Sabrina, and Rumrir, two of these students will be your roommates." The headmistress introduced each of them to their roommates and then escorted each of the groups outside to the hallway with directions to the students to give the new ones a tour and then get to their rooms for the night.

Briar Thorne and Rosalyn Juniper reintroduced themselves and then lead the way down the wall.

"Ok, let's start this tour!" Exclaimed Briar.

"We just left the main building, also known as Building A or Alpha. In that building are all the offices and about half of the academic classes." Rosalyn smiled and stepped into the courtyard. She pointed to the building next to the Alpha, "That's Beta, and then Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta."

Briar stepped out into the courtyard, spread her arms and spun around. "This is my one of favorite places on campus. The magic that works with and around the buildings makes the courtyard have a constant temperature and consistent weather. It could be downpouring, and you won't feel a drop of it."

Caira, Briar, and Rosalyn walked toward the path into between Delta and Epsilon. There was a second cluster of buildings down the path. There were four, all painted different colors, colors similar to the Letter buildings.

"Why are all the buildings different colors?" Caira asked.

"The paints all have different materials that absorb magic differently. The high-level classes are in Eta because the violet paint contains foxglove. The younger students can't enter in because the magic in the walls in too strong; you have to be at least a purple level. The wards and protective spells have Rowan in their casting points for similar reasons. The teachers building and the Purple building," Rosalyn pointed to the building in the middle and the one on the end, "are painted violet, too. The other buildings have descending levels of magic absorption."

Briar linked her arms through Caira's and Ros's and said, "Let's pop over to the Cafeteria before we go to the room. They're still serving dinner, so you," she nodded at Caria, "can see some of our teachers and meet some more students."

Briar lead them back up the path and then into Delta. Rosalyn freed her arm from Briar's and then directed Caira to the room at the end of the hallway. When Briar pushed open the doors, a huge, open room was revealed.

There was a massive wall of windows that offered a grand view of the towering forest. Because the room was in the back of the building, there wasn't altered by any shadows cast by the other buildings. The room itself had fifteen long tables set up behind the food counter. Students were lining up to get an assortment of foods, some that were being served, some were just stacked on the counter.

Briar walked up to the counter and grabbed a tray and a small plate of fruit. Rosalyn skipped the tray and just snagged a cookie. Caira walked past all of the food and sat down with them. Briar and Rosalyn ate in silence while Caria stared around the room and looked around at all of the teachers.

A teacher with long flowing robes walked past us, and Briar pointed her out as she passed on her way to the Teacher's table. "That's Ms. Lisse. She teaches most of the elemental classes here." She pointed to another teacher, one Ms. Lisse sat near. "That is Mrs. Borruse. She oversees all the aquatic classes. She's talking to Mr. Signet, who helps out with classes. He uses helps teach bookwork for teachers that teach application classes."

Briar and Rosalyn scanned the room for more important teachers. Rosalyn said," There are lots of other teachers here, but you will see and meet them during orientation for fall classes."

Briar nodded in agreement, "It's in a couple of days, so don't stress about it. Ros if you're done, we can continue our tour?"

Rosalyn nodded and all three stood up to walk out of the cafeteria. Briar set her tray and plate down on a bussing station by the door. They walked out of Delta and past the other colored academic buildings back to the dormitory buildings.