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there was a pit in my
stomach that overshadowed the excitement, because I could tell there was
trouble with his parents. Something told me we didn’t have much time left
together.
     
     

Chapter Six
     
    “Everyone ready?” a gruff voice
called out. I kept my head down. All the students who were going to Golden
Falls had shuffled out at dawn to stand shivering and barely awake in front of
the library. The voice wasn’t addressing us, but one of the professors helping
us get ready to leave. We were all waiting for our ride.
    “I miss that place as a dining hall,”
said Lough forlornly. All around us was an expanse of snow, and Lough looked
like he had gotten up about five minutes ago, which he probably had. “Was it
really necessary for us to get up this early?”
    “It’s just because you woke up
hungry and want to pop in for a muffin,” said Sip, yawning. “And no. It never
is. I dream of the day real adults will understand that.”
    “Nope, it’s not about muffins”
said Lough, pulling a dinner roll from the night before out of his jacket
pocket. “I’m always prepared.” He took a massive bite.
    “This is unnecessarily early,”
Lisabelle agreed for once. She didn’t look tired. In fact, I wondered if she
had slept at all. It was hard to tell, because she basically wore the same
black clothing every day, so there was no way to distinguish one day from
another by what she had on. But unlike the rest of us, she had no dark circles
under her eyes or pillow lines on her face.
    “Let’s get this show on the
road,” said Sip, rubbing her mitten-covered hands together.
    “Oh, we will,” said Dove, who
happened to be standing right in front of us. “And then you’ll regret wishing
for such a thing.” He had been speaking quietly with Dacer, but when my mentor
went off to check with one of the other professors, the vampire sidled closer.
    “Why?” Sip asked. She never
missed the opportunity to ask a question.
    “Because,” said Dove, grinning,
“we’re going into demon territory. There’s no way we’ll make it to Golden Falls
without at least one battle.”
    Sip shrugged. “I like beating the
pulp out of demons, and so does Lisabelle.”
    Dove shrugged. “Big words for a
little werewolf.”
    “She’s small, but you don’t want
to mess with her,” said Lisabelle. “I’d pick her in a fight every time. Little
thing has a temper.”
    “I do not,” said Sip hotly.
    “See what I mean?” said
Lisabelle.
    “Do you think she’d beat you?”
Dove asked, his eyes boring into the darkness mage. Lisabelle looked taken
aback by the question, but she recovered quickly.
    “Yes,” she said finally, “if she
was angry enough I bet she could.”
    “How are we traveling?” Sip
asked. “No way we go by foot.”
    “We go by flying carriage,” said
Dove, but he didn’t look happy about it. “That’s how Golden Falls travels, and
they have sent some of theirs. It’s an antiquated form of travel, but safer for
our purposes than using cars, and we must be respectful to our hosts.”
    “That we must be,” said Zervos in
a clipped voice, striding up to us. I tried and failed not to flinch. He was
the professor who would be chaperoning us, and I couldn’t think of a worse combination
than Zervos and Dove. I desperately wished Dacer were going, but he had
outright refused to leave his beloved museum, or to visit Golden Falls, and he
wouldn’t say why. As it was I would spend the entire semester missing my
mentor, though I knew I would see him via Contact Stone.
    Keller slipped his hand into mine
and squeezed gently. He was wearing a black jacket and jeans, and his wings
poked out from the back of his jacket. As usual, my full attention turned to
focus on the hand holding mine and its pressure against my skin.
    There were several students
milling around campus, and I saw a couple of the girls give Keller appreciative
looks. Lisabelle saw them too and smirked at me.
    After a while I glanced around