“I could be persuaded not to,” he replied, his mouth hooking up at one corner and making my heart leap in response. I had no idea what he was going to demand of me but I knew exactly what the answer would be. There was no way I was going to start dancing to his tune.
“Just do what you’ve gotta do, dude. I can’t stop you.” I folded my arms and waited him out. I wasn’t going to beg.
“You’re really sucking the fun out of this, you know that, right?” he asked. “How about you give me a fashion show wearing the contents of this box and I’ll let you keep your new wardrobe?”
I rolled my eyes and turned to leave the room, abandoning my new clothes and resigning myself to ordering all of it again. At least our stipend was stupidly generous; I wasn’t in danger of running low on funding any time soon.
Darius caught my wrist before I could make it to the exit, tugging me back to face him again. My skin flared beneath his as my heart leapt in either fear or excitement and I wasn’t entirely sure which. I yanked my arm out of his grip and he smirked at me.
“Keep your shit, Roxy,” he said in a tone that suggested I was boring him. “Ruining your clothes was last week’s fun. I can do better than that next time.”
He tossed the box of lingerie into my hands before sauntering out of the room like he thought he owned the place.
“Pleasure seeing you as always, asshole!” I called loud enough for it to carry to him before heading back to claim my deliveries.
I stacked my arms up with the various bags and boxes before running them all back to my room. I sent Darcy a quick message, urging her to go on ahead rather than waiting for me. Thanks to Darius, I was running late for my first Earth Elemental lesson and I was going to have to run across campus to reach it, following the directions on my Atlas with one eye while making sure I didn’t fall with the other.
I jogged down a path which skirted the edge of The Wailing Wood before swinging a right and heading along the side of a tall rock face covered in vines and moss.
The path finally led me to the mouth of a wide cave which delved beneath the ground and I hesitated a moment before heading inside. Rough steps were hewn into the stone at my feet and I descended quickly, following the tunnel until I reached the bottom. To my right were the locker rooms and I headed on in, finding it full of girls getting changed and a bag of clothes waiting for me again. Irritatingly, it was still labelled Roxanya which instantly made my mind go to Darius’s stupid nickname for me. I made a mental note to email Professor Prestos about changing it when I had the chance.
Darcy was waiting on the bench, already dressed for class and I muttered a quick hello to her as I tried to catch my breath after my run to get here.
The Earth class uniform was deep green and consisted of a pair of skintight shorts and a vest decorated with the symbol for Earth. The thick heat of the cave was the obvious reason for the thin outfit and I moved towards the exit to discover what this class would entail.
“Freshmen, gather around!” a soft voice called and I moved towards the girls at the far end of the locker room, craning my neck to get a look at our Professor. She was a short woman with a brown pixie cut and wide eyes which made her seem almost fragile, like a child. “I’m Professor Rockford and I’ll be instructing you on the use of your Earth Element. For today’s class I’m not going to set you up with any specific work. I just want you to explore the cavern and let your magic do whatever comes most naturally. I’ll be observing and assessing but there’s no right or wrong way to wield the power of Earth. By its very nature, our magic grows like a budding plant, so the best way to learn to wield it is to go with the flow. So head on out when you’re ready and let’s see what you’ve got.” She smiled encouragingly as she opened the door and I fell in at the back of the group of girls as they made their way into the classroom.
A huge cavern opened up above my head as I stepped out and I couldn’t help but stare up at the vaulted ceiling in amazement. Intricate patterns had been carved into every inch of the stone and soft green and yellow orbs of light hung all around the space.
More caverns and tunnels led away from the huge central chamber and I noticed lines of precious metals and gemstones sparkling along the rough walls.
“Wow,” Darcy breathed beside me and I turned to her with a grin of my own.
“These people might all be crazy but they sure do know how to make school interesting,” I said as we started walking towards the other side of the cave beneath the glow of green lights.
“Holy biscuits! Your majesties!” Geraldine’s voice caught my ear and I suppressed a sigh as I turned to face her. She was flanked by six of her A.S.S members who were all giving us that creepy doe-eyed look that they reserved just for us.
As a group they all bowed their heads and I exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Darcy.
“We keep asking you not to do that,” Darcy muttered.
“We only want to show our respect to the two true Heirs,” Geraldine said proudly, puffing out her chest. Her eyes were rimmed with dark eyeliner which looked suspiciously similar to the way I did mine, though she’d gone a little too heavy on it. And she’d coupled it with a pale pink shade of lipstick like the kind Darcy favoured which didn’t really match up.
“Well as your rightful rulers or whatever, we’re asking you to stop it,” I said firmly, glancing about to see how many people had witnessed their little act of devotion.
A few girls were muttering to each other on the far side of the cavern and shooting glances our way but luckily no one else seemed to be paying us much attention.
“I’m so sorry if we’ve displeased you, your maj-”
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped before Geraldine could finish her sentence. I was a foster kid from the rougher part of town. I’d never even had dreams of being a princess like the other little girls who put on Cinderella dresses and plastic tiaras as they pranced around the local mall. My dreams had always contained a lot more grease and oil and an open road leading me to freedom. Even as a little kid I’d been more interested in watching Speedway races than Disney cartoons.
“Right. Sorry your… Tory,” she said, lowering her head like I’d whipped her. I knew she was only trying to be nice but I didn’t want a fan club.
I glanced at Darcy for help; she was always the more diplomatic one. My mouth ran away from me with all the speed of an ill mannered gazelle. I tended to speak first and think later and I was getting the feeling that brash wasn't the best approach for our fan club.
“We just don’t want to be seen any differently to the rest of you,” Darcy explained, saving me. “We aren’t looking for any followers.”
“Oh.” Geraldine’s face dropped and for a moment I was worried she might burst into tears. Darcy caved to that slapped puppy look and hastily offered an olive branch.
“But maybe we could try being friends?” Darcy said with a warm smile.
If a kid woke up on Christmas Day and found out that Santa had brought them their own personal Disney World resort complete with actual real-life talking bunnies, their face wouldn’t have lit up as brightly as Geraldine’s did with that suggestion.