Chapter Eleven: Sophomore

I caught a whiff of a rancid smell and clasped my hand over my nose.  I looked up from my textbook and glared at Hale as he came into the living room, a gym towel draped over his shoulders.

“Hale!  For the sake of our holy Watcher, bathe yourself!” I said, my nose wrinkling.

Hale sighed and slid the towel down from around his shoulders.  He gestured over his shoulder to the open bathroom door.  The tub was full and only Nirina’s black tail hanging off the edge was visible.

“Can’t.  Don’t know if you’ve noticed… but the fish is hogging the bathtub.” Hale grumbled.

Nirina emerged from the water and stuck her elbow up on the edge of the tub.  “I’m not a fish, I’m a marine mammal!”

“Are there no showers at the gym?  Ancients, Hale!  You live in a century with indoor plumbing.  Use it!” I said, snapping my textbook shut and scooting farther away. 

“Public showers!” Hale whined, slumping against the door frame.  “I can’t have everyone’s judgmental eyes staring at me!  You two have it easy.  No one can tell you’re weird.  I can’t hide it!  I’m green!”

Nirina lounged back in the tub, closing her eyes.  “Cry me a river.  I’ll need it.  I’m dehydrated.”

I snickered and opened my book again.  Hale leaned against the door frame and a mischievous smile lit up on his face.  “How about a compromise?  I can join you.” 

Nirina flipped her tail and splashed him, but she smiled while she did it.

I pulled my legs up under my book, and giggled under my breath.  It was different in the dorm with Reece and Daria gone.  Louder, oddly enough.  

Before I had returned to the dorms for the following semester, Reece had given me a cell phone as a gift.

“I do not have the slightest idea how to operate this mystical contraption.” I had murmured, twisted the phone over and over in my hands.

“Sure you do!”  Reece tried to reassure me.  “You see the rest of us use them all the time.  Here, try dialing.”

Reece was patient, even when after weeks of using the cell phone I still had the tendency to accidentally hang up on him.  I was thankful for the gift though, it made keeping in touch with him and Daria so much easier.

Daria was working as a resident physician at Dragon Valley’s local hospital.  Apparently while on the job she had met some tall, dark, and handsome oak by the name of Lief Woods.  I could practically hear her voice glowing when she spoke of him.  It made me smile.

But Lief was not the only thing she spoke of.  She called me up one evening absolutely ecstatic to tell me that the hospital was hiring interns.  She encouraged me to apply.  I was hesitant at first, my workload for university was already high, but I could not ignore the opportunity to finally put the skills I was learning to use.

I applied and was called for an interview.  Recalling the near-disastrous ending of my first job interview, I spent the week before practicing and perfecting my flawless answers in front of the mirror.

“My qualifications?  I am glad you have asked.  My experience dealing with the sick and injured is extensive.”

“I once made a tourniquet for a comrade in arms in the middle of an invasion.  I used a dragon’s talon as a split.”

“Of course, I will tell you none of this when at last we do meet.  Ancients, Sophia!  Focus!”

I returned home to Dragon Valley for the weekend and spent the entire evening I worked reading books on common interview questions.  The next morning, I donned my best clothes and held my head high.  I made no mention of talons or invasions, but somehow I still managed to land the job.

I was elated to have the internship, but it made managing my time a living nightmare.  The internship was, of course, unpaid, and I still had to work as many hours as I could in Tome Traders to keep my funds from draining dry.  I also had my schoolwork to worry about.

More than once, I fell asleep over a textbook in the dorm.  Twice, I left important assignments at the desk in Tome Traders and had to beg my professors to allow me time to go and fetch them.  I would often arrive to class late, disheveled and out of breath. 

But day by day, I managed to make ends meet.  As December dawned and exams approached, things finally seemed to be dwindling down.  I returned home to Dragon Valley for another long weekend of work at the hospital and work at Tomes.

Mr. Peters clucked his tongue at me as I walked into work on Sunday morning.  “There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly white and wan-looking than ever.  Shall I call for Dr. Van Helsing?”

I sighed, shaking my head.  “I am well, Mr. Peters.  I am not transforming into one of the undead.”

“You look so haggard all the time.  I could give you winter break off to recuperate.”  He offered.

I shook my head again.  “No, Mr. Peters.  It is not necessary.  And I still require the funds.”

He smiled.  “You’ve worked here for more than a year, Sophia.  I could give you some paid vacation time.”

“Mr. Peters, I cannot accept-!” I began to protest

“Think about it.”  He interrupted, holding his finger up.

I sighed, and set about my daily tasks.  It was getting close to Christmastime, and a steady stream of customers came in.  Even when the store was empty, I still had a few exams to study for.  The hours seemed to drudge on and on.

Closing time came at last.  I locked the door behind me and clutched the collar of my jacket as I turned down the pathway to head home.

“Working late this evening I see.”  I heard a low voice behind me.

My heart jumped clear into my throat and I whirled around.  Thane emerged from the shadows, stepping into the golden glow of the street lights.  He flashed me a wry grin, and I breathed out.

“My apologies.”  he said, stepping up to my side.  “I did not mean to startle you.”

“It was nothing…”  I said, crossing my arms over my chest and averting my eyes from his.  “I must apologize if you were looking to get more books…”

“No.”  he said.  I could hear the laughter in his voice.  “I was looking for you, Miss Lewis.”

I bit down on my tongue.  A twinge of guilt twisted in my stomach.  I could not go on allowing him to call me by the wrong name, but when I opened my mouth to correct him I found myself paralyzed by some unexplainable fear.

I did not want him to know my real name.

Thane did not wait for my response.  He stepped on in front of me and held out his hand.  His lips curled into a warm, inviting smile.

“There’s a bonfire in town square to celebrate the holiday season.  Come, it will help you to relax.”  

“I…”  I stammered. 

His smile sent warm flutters through my heart, but his eyes…

I took a step back, shaking my head.  Thane’s smile curled even wider, and he reached out and clasped his hand around mine.

“I’m afraid I must insist… Miss Lewis.”  He said, pulling me forward.

“Mr. Stenberg…”  I protested, even as my feet moved underneath me.  “This is most inappropriate…”

He cut me off with a chuckle.  “I love the way you speak.  It’s so proper.  Archaic.”

He flashed me another heart-melting grin and my mouth went dry.  His fingers curled tighter around mine and he turned around to face me.

“Relax.  When was the last time you just let yourself unwind?”  he leaned close to my ear and whispered.

“Some time ago.”  I admitted.

“Then it’s been too long.”  He pulled me forward.

The tension gathering in my shoulders eased.  I let a steady breath out and looked at the path ahead.  I could see the familiar spiraling paths of town square, the glowing silhouettes of people wandering to and fro.    I took a breath in.

The scent of wood smoke tickled in my nose and my feet froze beneath me.

Thane turned back, and tugged me forward again.  “You’re not getting cold feet now, are you?”

I stopped breathing, but I could still feel the scent thickening in the back of my throat.  I clamped my teeth down on the inside of my lip.

It is a bonfire.  I thought to myself, forcing my feet to move forward again.  Of course there is smoke.

I tried not to look at the towering statue of the woman with the wings as we passed beneath her.  The dancing glow of firelight reflected off her golden armor, taunting me from the corner of my eye.

I heard laughter, and voices.  I looked up and saw a crowd of people gathered around the picnic tables.  They milled about, chattering and drinking.

“Thane!”  I heard a deep voice shout.

Thane shouted a greeting in return, and let go of my hand.  I felt a shot of heat pound through the veins of my fingers, and I quickly tucked my hand against my chest.

A low crackle rumbled in the heart of the crowd.  It grew louder and louder until it thundered in my ears.

Someone bumped into me.  I stumbled, clutching my arms tightly against my chest.

“Sorry!”  I heard her murmur.

Her voice was low, and she had a thick Welsh accent.  My head snapped up and I turned.  I caught a flash of dark hair out of the corner of my eye.  I started forward, reaching out my hand and thinking to call out to her.

I did not watch where I was going.  My shoulder hit a tall, broad-shouldered body.

“My apolo-!”  I stammered, breathless.

The word died in my throat as I tilted my head up.

Jaye stared down at me.

Murder!  I thought.

I whirled around and crossed my arms in front of my chest.  What was she doing here?  She had graduated, had she not?  Watcher forbid she be employed in Dragon Valley!  Surely there was some traveling circus who needed a tall, vicious brute like her to come trekking to the other side of the country with them?

A hand clasped down on my shoulder and I gasped.  Thane wound his arm through mine and looked at me with a bemused smile.  “Still on edge, Miss Lewis?” 

I glanced back over my shoulder.  Jaye watched us, her eyes narrowed and her nose wrinkling. 

“Miss Lewis?”  she mouthed at me.

My fingers shook under Thane’s hand and I jerked my head around. 

Thane frowned.  “Are you cold?  Come, sit by the fire.”

Fire.  The word seemed to echo in my ears.  Thane continued speaking, but the crackle of the bonfire was louder than his voice.

I kept my eyes on the pavement beneath our feet.  It flickered with a sickening red light.  Flecks of ash drifted down to the ground.  The crowd before us parted, and I felt as though my face was assaulted with heat.

I lifted my eyes.

The crackling blaze stared back at me, so blistering and bright that it seemed to scorch straight into my soul.  Sizzling tendrils of flame stretched out of the fire pit and reached out towards me.

I lurched backwards, wrenching my arm from Thane’s grasp.

“Sophia?”  Thane asked, raising his eyebrow.  But there was no concern in his voice, only annoyance.

I stepped backwards, shaking my head.  Smoke wormed into my lungs, though I held my breath.  It pressed on me from all sides, suffocating me.

Inside the inferno, crowns of flame turned to dragon’s teeth.  Glowing embers rained down from the sky and covered the ground.  A log collapsed with a snap that sounded like cannon fire, and it was my mother’s broken body disintegrating into oblivion.  Golden eyes opened in the heart of the firestorm.

I was burning to death all over again.

“Sophia.”  Thane snapped, grasping onto my hand.

“No!”  I shouted, wrenching away.

I turned and ran.

Chapter Seven: Encounter

Being employed was an incredible confidence-booster, and the job came just in the nick of time.  My friends would all be returning to university for the spring semester, leaving me alone for much of the week.  Reece had volunteered to take the semester off and continue to help me get settled, but I could not ask that of him.  With my new job, I finally had a handle on some independence.  Even so, Reece promised he would return every weekend that he was able.

I told him that he should concentrate on his studies in order to avoid failing classes again, but in truth...

I would be looking forward to his visits.

Every morning I would get up early, and when I was not scheduled to work I would walk down to the library.  I spent hours poring over all of the books I could find on medicine and science.

With the occasional venture into recreational fiction.

I taught myself to use a computer.  That had been an interesting experience.

At Tome Traders I stocked the shelves with books, assisted customers in finding specific materials, and worked the cash register.   

Mr. Peter's was a wondrous employer.  He was all-too eager to talk about books, and even encouraged me to read when there were no customers to wait on and no tasks to be completed.  

He was also rather forgetful and prone to lose track of where he had put things.  It made my job all the more interesting.

For the first month, I was utterly consumed by my thirst for knowledge and my desire to devour more of it occupied most of my thoughts throughout the week.  However, as the days wore on and I fell into a familiar routine, I began to feel pangs of loneliness.  

Mr. Peters was pleasant company and I considered him a great friend, but I still felt isolated.

I found myself waiting with anxious anticipation for Friday evening when Reece would arrive, smiling and bright-eyed, at my front door.   

Sometimes he would bring one of the others, when their schedules were clear, but typically it was just him.  He almost never missed a weekend, and when he did I would feel downhearted until the following Friday.

“I found Scholarship I would be able to apply for.”  I told him one Friday evening over a meager dinner I had prepared for us.  I was still getting the hang of cooking, but Reece hardly ever complained.  “The only requirement is an essay.  Though... it is on modern medicine.  I may have to do additional research.”  I added, biting my lip.  “But it would cover tuition for the first semester.”

“When's the deadline?”  Reece asked, putting down his fork.

My face fell.  “In one month.  I may not be able to make it.”

Reece shook his head.  “You could!  And if you get accepted, you could even come with us in the fall.”

The fall!  Oh, how I wanted to be well on my way to becoming a healer by the time the fall arrived.  I took his plate and walked over to the sink, turning the idea over in my head.

“Perhaps if I spent every morning in the library... and then had Daria and Mr. Peters help me with proofreading... Oh but what if I am rejected?”  I said, my shoulders falling.

Reece clucked his tongue, shaking his head.  “Always with the negative.  If you get rejected, I'll sell the rest of my elixir collection and you'll join us in the fall anyway.”

I dropped the plates with a clunk and turned around with mouth open and eyes wide.

“No!  You require those to pay for your own education!”  I said, shaking my head.

Reece laughed.  “Alright, alright...”  he said, standing to his feet.  “So what are you reading now?”  Reece tilted his head to the side as he examined the cover of the book sitting on the counter.  A crease appeared on his brow and he smirked.  “Is that a romance novel?”

I snatched the book up from the counter and put it behind my back.

“No!”  I said.  Reece raised his eyebrows and my shoulders slumped.  “Yes.”  I admitted.  “It's... It's Pride and Prejudice.”

“So where's Mr. Darcy's shirt?”

My face flushed and I slid the book back into place on the bookshelf.  Reece laughed, holding up his hands.

“Okay... okay...  You read whatever you want, miss its-improper-to-live-with-a-young-bachelor.”

I smacked him in the face with the nearest pillow.

True to my word, I spent the mornings working on my essay.  I took my research materials to work with me and made notes while managing the register.  Within a week I was able to finish a first draft, but I was displeased with it and I tore it apart with revisions.  The deadline crept closer.

It so happened one afternoon while studying a textbook listing the side-effects of commonly prescribed medications at the register, that I caught a flash of dark raven hair out of the corner of my eye.  I looked up and turned my head.

I only saw her for a moment, but I felt a jolt constricting in my chest.  She turned the corner around the shelf and was out of sight, but I had seen her long black hair and her cream-colored skin.  There was no mistaking the resemblance.

It was impossible.

I slipped out from behind the counter and crept around the bookshelf.  I half-expected her to vanish into thin air, but there she was, tapping her foot to a silent beat with her nose in a book she had pulled from the shelf.  She was the spitting image of Kitsune, prophetess of the valley, in the prime of her youth.

My mouth went dry.  I wanted to say something, to call out to her and get her attention.  But what was there to say?  She could not possibly be the prophetess.  Kitsune had wasted away and died before I did.  Even her children would be long gone.

I had just resolved to try and casually ask if she required help when someone cleared their throat behind me and I whirled around.

The man who had called for my attention was tall with intense blue eyes.  Long gray hair reached down to his broad shoulders, though his face was smooth with youth.  Just a pace behind him, another man stood with his arms crossed over his chest.

“May I help you?”  I said, feeling my shoulders slump.

The woman turned her head for a moment and I caught a glimpse of her face.  Her eyes were wrong, a natural blue instead of Kitsune's inhuman amber.  It was only a glance, in another moment she looked away and slid the book she had been reading back on the shelf, turning to walk further into the psychology section.

“I have a book on hold.”  the man said, his voice deep and rich.  It caught me off-guard.  I blinked, and then tried to smile as I walked back towards the register.

“What is your name?”  I asked.

I turned back to look at him over my shoulder.  His face twisted, his frown deepening and his eyes growing narrow as though he had found my question offensive.  My steps faltered.  

“Stenberg.”  the other man said, turning around and moving up to the counter.  “It's under the name Thane Stenberg.”

I forced a smile again and then ducked my hand down under the counter.  I flipped through the books on hold and found the one with “Stenberg” written on its sticky note.  It was the only book on the shelf wrapped in a protective sleeve of plastic.  I drew it out and could not help glancing at it.  Its cover was leather, and embossed words in a different language were carved into the front.

I swallowed and held the book out to the man who stood at the counter.  He gave me a returning smile, one that was warm and inviting.  He was handsome, and I felt my face flush.

“H-here.”  I stammered.

The handsome stranger reached to take the book from my grasp, but the gray-haired man snatched it out of my fingers first, throwing an icy glare in his direction.  The stranger's eye's narrowed and he let out a breathy snort, but he made no move to take the book back.

“That will be one-thousand, eight hundred, and fifty-four dollars.”  I said, cringing as I read from the note.

The stranger turned his gaze back to me and reached into his coat.  With a smirk, he tossed a large wad of hundreds on the counter.  He leaned back on his heels and crossed his arms, relishing in my wide-eyed bewilderment.

I fumbled as I counted the money, my hands shaking.  I lost count twice and had to start over, apologizing in short, flustered breaths.

“You look familiar.”  the first man said, glancing up from the book.  “Have you worked here long?”

A hundred slipped out of my grasp and fluttered to the floor.  I leaned down to pick it up, shaking my head as I did.

“No... only since... since January.”   I replied, opening the cash drawer and putting the hundreds away.  My hands shook less as I tucked them into the drawer in a neat stack.

His lips pursued together, and he seemed to be studying me.  My throat felt dry and I tried to smile.

“What's your name?” he asked.

“Sophia...”  I said, but I stopped short.

The snide voices of the numerous people who had scoffed at my full name replayed in my mind.  

I swallowed, forcing myself to appear pleasant.  “... Lewis.”

The gray-haired man’s expression remained indifferent.  I swallowed, gesturing down to the book.

“Uhh… please enjoy your book.”  I said, nodding my head.  I lay my hands down on the counter.

The handsome stranger surprised me by reaching over and clasping my hand in his.  My heart skipped a beat as my eyes flickered upward to meet his own.  His expression was warm, enticing.  He gave my hand one firm shake.  His skin was rough, like leather hide.

“It was a pleasure to meet you… Sophia.” he said, an alluring grin on his face.  “I hope we will run into each other again.”

I was speechless.  I could only nod my head, my face heated with a furious blush.  He drew his fingers out from mine and stepped backward.

The gray haired man snapped the book closed, and without another glance towards me, whirled around to the door.  His long dark coat billowed in his wake.

The scent of wood smoke tickled my nose.  I flinched, biting the inside of my lip and holding my breath until both men had retreated out the door.