Page 133 of Raelia

Despite her illness, Alex recovered surprisingly quickly, which meant it was straight back to classes for her. And that, of course, led to her next trip to the Medical Ward, when she was knocked unconscious in Combat later that week. She maintained that Zain concussed her on purpose, since he’d deliberately chosen her to help demonstrate a new fighting technique. He’d apparently overestimated her fighting ability. Either that, or he must have expected her to fight like a Meyarin—which was something she was keeping a tight rein on.

On her fifth trip to the Medical Ward, she wasn’t alone. Everyone in Fitzy’s Gamma Chemistry class was treated after a noxious gas infiltrated their laboratory. That, at least, hadn’t been Alex’s fault.

Nor was it her fault when all fourth year students were quarantined for forty-eight hours after coming in contact with a sick Foofoo in their Species Distinction class.

That’s right. A Foofoo.

As cute as the name was, it didn’t come anywhere close to describing the adorable creatures. Alex’s heart had melted when she first saw the multi-coloured little balls of fluff. Like every other girl in her class—and some of the boys, too—she hadn’t been able to hold back her cooing baby-voice when theFoofoos looked up at them with their big puppy-dog eyes, all but asking to be picked up and cuddled. Which is exactly what Alex and the others had done.

By the time class ended, everyone was sniffling and sneezing—Varin included—and after a quick examination by Fletcher they were sent to his Infectious Diseases isolation room. The illness they’d contracted was the equivalent of a twenty-four hour bug, but the doctor kept them for twice that long to make sure they were no longer contagious.

Despite that particularly miserable experience, Alex couldn’t deny that she wanted a Foofoo of her own.

One of the few classes thatdidn’tland Alex in the Medical Ward was Core Skills. If anything, though, a trip to visit Fletcher could have only helped improve the subject. For Alex, the class was beyond tedious, since her gift was more like an on-off switch than anything else—with it always turned on. She didn’t have to learn control, unlike most of her classmates with their various abilities.

Despite not needing to practise using her gift, Alexwasexperimenting a little to see if her willpower could progress beyond herself. Professor Marmaduke had put the idea in her head at the end of the previous year, and since then Alex had wondered if she could share her gift with others in a similar way to Jordan’s transcendence.

So far, Alex hadn’t been capable of doing anything different. Then again, she had no way of judging if she actually achieved what she was trying. Which led her full-circle back to believing that Core Skills was a waste of her time, even if she did now understand the bigger picture behind what it was teaching, at least according to Doc’s insight into the reasons for the academy’s ancient curriculum.

If nothing else, she could say that her Core Skills classes remained predictable, unlike her SOSAC class—or rather, the teacher.

Ever since Alex had returned from her SAS weekend ‘adventure’, Caspar Lennox had taken an unexpectedly keen interest in her. Whenever she entered his room, his dark eyes found her. If she looked up from taking notes, his gaze was on her. When she left his class, his eyes followed her. The Shadow Walker was already creepy enough without this bizarre, stalkerlike development.

Fortunately, he didn’t approach her outside of his classroom. She never saw him anywhere else, but she often had to resist the urge to wait behind after his lessons to confront him about his disturbing stares. Her friends claimed it was all in her head and, while she didn’t agree with them, she chose to follow their advice and let it go.

But that was easier said than done.

“Miss Jennings, please remain behind after class.”

Alex was startled by the unexpected interruption. One minute Caspar Lennox had been speaking about the lords and ladies of Deveraux House, circa two hundred years ago, and the next he was asking her to stay back after his lesson. At her hesitant nod, he continued his discussion as if there had been no change of topic.

‘Baffled’ didn’t come close to describing how Alex felt. She was so intrigued by the Shadow Walker’s request that she barely paid attention to the rest of his class. Thankfully, there were only a few minutes left before the gong rang and her friends and classmates filed out the door, leaving her alone with the professor.

Caspar Lennox sat on the edge of his desk and did nothing but stare at her for a full minute. It was unnerving to the point where Alex found herself fidgeting under his gaze.

“Sir?” she asked when she couldn’t take the silence any longer. “Have I done something wrong

“Not yet,” he said, his musical voice floating over to her. “But the future isn’t set in stone. I have no way of knowing the choices you’ll make.”

It was now Alex’s turn to stare.

“Never before have I come across a human quite like you,” Caspar Lennox murmured pensively.

Alex thought he might have been complimenting her until he added, “I’ve never known anyone who could find themselves surrounded by so much trouble in such a short amount of time. You truly are a unique individual.”

“Uh, thanks?” Really, how was she supposed to respond to that?

The Shadow Walker continued to stare at her. But then Alex realised he wasn’t staring at her, so much asthroughher. It was like he was looking for something else, something only he could see.

“The Shadow surrounds you,” he said, his bottomless eyes slightly unfocused. “But the Light within you… I’ve never seen anything like it. Even the Dayriders pale in comparison.”

His words left Alex feeling completely lost. She wasn’t sure what question to ask first, so she settled on, “What’s a Dayrider?”

Caspar Lennox blinked a few times until his eyes cleared again, and when he spoke, he acted as if she hadn’t. “Alexandra, we’re all born with Shadow inside us. But, as with anything, it’s up to us to decide what we do with that Shadow. We can succumb to its power, or we can overcome it and use it. Our level of control depends upon our ability to resist the Shadow’s hold on us. It’s a choice we must all make.”

He paused, apparently waiting for Alex to respond.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not sure I understand what you’re telling me. Or why,” Alex admitted. “When you say ‘we’, do you mean your race? And are you talking about Shadow Essence? Like, with your cape and my ring? That sort of thing?”

---