“ItisStevie, right?” he asks. When I nod, he says, “I’m Ani. I’m a friend of Kirin and Baz.”
He’s got red-gold hair and eyes the color of caramels. When he smiles, two dimples wink from beneath a thin beard, and I can’t help but return it.
“Annie? Because of the red hair?”
“No,Ani. Short for Ansel.” He’s still grinning, his bright, happy energy like a warm hug. “Anyway, don’t let Professor Maddox get to you. She’s kind of a stickler sometimes, but she’s not so bad. Really knows her stuff.”
“I could’ve done without the mortification, but it was my fault. I should’ve been paying attention.”
“Yeah, well… Don’t be too hard on yourself. Baz has that effect on most women.” Ani laughs. “Half the guys, too.”
“Are you a first year?”
“Third, actually.”
“Why are you in an intro class?”
“It’s a core class. I tested out of it at first, but then Trello decided I needed a little more foundational work, so here I am.”
“Baz too?”
Ansel flashes a knowing smirk.
“I’m just curious!” I say defensively. “We met yesterday, and I thought he was a few years ahead. I was surprised to see him here, that’s all.”
“Baz repeats a lot of classes. Personally I think he’s a little slow, but don’t tell him I said that. He’s sensitive about—”
“Personally I think you’re an asshole, and you shouldn’t be filling the jailbird’s easily-distractible mind with lies.” The class-repeater himself appears behind us, tossing an arm around each of us as he wedges into our conversation. Then, turning to me, he says, “Miss, is this gingersnap bothering you?”
“No, but you are.”
Baz winks at me again, his smile maddening. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Anyway,” Ani says, “Kirin mentioned you’re pretty new to all this, so if you need help with anything, just ask us. Well, not Baz.” He shoves Baz in the shoulder, but both are laughing, their affection for each other obvious. “But Kirin and I have your back.”
“And I’ve got your front,” Baz says, “so you’re covered all the way around.”
“Seriously?” Now I give him a shove, too. “Do youeverlet an innuendo pass by unsaid?”
“Is that like the whole tree falling in the forest thing?” Baz strokes his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. “If an innuendo passes by unsaid, does anyone ever really get laid? I think not, Little Bird. I think not.”
“Yeah, I’m beginning to sense that about you,” I say. “The whole not-thinking part.”
Ani cracks up. “What’s your next class, Stevie?”
“I’m meeting Kirin, actually. He’s supposed to show me—” I cut myself off abruptly, remembering what Trello told me about the secrecy of our work. Ani is so open and easy-going, I almost can’t help but trust him. I’ll have to be on guard for that, lest I start spilling state secrets about my mother’s research and whip the whole place into a panic.
“He wants to show me around the library,” I say, leaving it at that.
“Cool,” Ani says. “I’ve got a fire potions class in that direction. I’ll walk you.”
“And I’ll just be over here,” Baz says, “playing with myself.”
“Have fun with that,” I say with a smile, deciding Baz isn’t such a bad guy. He’s certainly amusing, anyway.
“Always do, Little Bird.”
After waving goodbye to our hot third wheel, Ani and I fall into an easy conversation, chatting a bit more about classes and campus life. He’s fire-blessed, originally from northern California, but he lives at the Academy year-round. Before I get the chance to ask him more about that, we’ve arrived at the library building.
