Page 37 of Lost and Bound

He’s right, but I don’t tell him, because screw him. Admittedly, he also doesn’t give me the chance to reply; stalking off as soon as he finishes snarling in my direction. His friends walk alongside him, the three of them falling into a deep conversation, leaving me as the last person on the field.

They take their noise and aggression with them, and I crash out. I slump down onto the ground and imitate a starfish baking in the sun. I watch the clouds, forcing myself not to think about what happened until I’m ready to face the next round of bullshit. It takes a while because Seraphina’s trick has left me with a headache, while the weird threads keep messing with my vision. Or it might be a lingering effect of the professor’s friend, Emrys’ presence, but either way, I focus on not thinking about how I’m feeling.

Visiting Rodderick is the only thing I can come up with that will be a good and hopefully safe distraction. Using the dining hall as a compass point, I only have to backtrack a couple of times until I find the maintenance shed. But the large doors to the service area are pulled down, and the maintenance vehicles are parked behind a locked gate, showing nobody is here.

The sense of achievement from finding his work area outweighs my headache. When I walk away from the maintenance area, I’m feeling more like myself. And the plus side is, next time I have a few spare minutes, I’ll be able to get here quicker.

After stopping in at the dining hall and picking up a collection of offerings from the Nom station, I think about this shielding everyone keeps talking about. The books I’ve found on the subject talk about the reasons a person should work on theirs, but so far, none of them describe the actual process.

I take a couple of detours to avoid the pockets of students enjoying the sunshine. Professor Cane was right; these guys wouldn’t last half a day in the real world. They’re so absorbed in what they’re doing and so trusting in their surroundings, anyone could have snuck right up behind them before they even realized.

My awareness as I walk the rest of the way to Nom House stays heightened, probably ramped up by their ignorance. Yet as I get to the front door, I don’t think for a second I’m safe.

I pull the front door shut, the lock clicking into place echoing as I race up the stairs. The hazmat tape blocking Orion’s floor stops me from going further, but I shoot off a quick message asking if he wants me to sneak in anyway. When my message stays unread, I walk down the corridor to my room, feeling less anxious with every step.

Inside, I take a loud sigh of relief before spending an ungodly amount of time on the floor of the shower. As I let the barely lukewarm water wash away today’s humiliations, I also make a promise that I’ll teach myself how to shield, since no one else will. If nothing else, the motivation of not being drawn into, or hurt by, the stupid supe dominance games at play is a good reason.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I SAID WHAT I SAID. SADLY

I wake up with perfect vision and happy thoughts. It might be because I slept ten hours, or because it’s Sunday, my favorite day of the week. I plan my morning while still snuggling under the covers, though knowing I have detention at nine makes me want to cram as much as I can into my limited time.

Checking in on Orion is high on my list until I read the latest email advising the lockdown has been extended and claimed more residents of Nom House. I wonder if I should email back to ask if I’m included until I realize that, if I was, I wouldn’t be able to get out and do the things I want today. It’s an easy decision to leave things as is.

I know Orion is okay. He messaged me last night, and we chatted for a bit until he said he was going back to sleep. I made him promise to reach out if he needed anything before I let him leave our chat, though.

Even though it’s super early and on the chilly side, I hop out of bed and change into my sports gear, deciding a run will be a great start to my day off. It will give me the opportunity to try a shielding exercise I found in one of the tomes last night before I have to face Magikster Ballin.

The fact I haven’t been able to find a single reference to shielding in any Thales reference materials or their online library aligns with what I’ve seen so far—in this world at any sign of weakness, the vultures will swoop in to destroy you. Perhaps it’s a gross exaggeration, but the lack of compassion I’ve seen and experienced makes me think a lot of the beings here are clueless dumbasses.

Not that I’d say that out loud. Though they wouldn’t listen if I did.

I tie my hair up into a high ponytail before brushing my teeth, then rush through making my bed and putting everything away, so when I get back, I can take a shower, study, and hopefully chill out.

Locking up my room, I lean against the balustrade to do a quick quad stretch. I was still sore from gym where we had to run the obstacle course before going into yesterday’s shenanigans. Now I ache all over. A run is definitely the best thing I can do for my body.

Clear, sunny days followed by cooler nights, so typical of fall are the reason this is my favorite time of year. Given how early it is, I’m the only one outside. The peace of the morning doesn’t mean I get lazy and stop scanning my surroundings, though.

It’s because I don’t trust these beings that I stick to the main path, jogging toward the dining hall. Keeping my pace steady, I take my time to warm up properly and wait until the aches and pains have dulled before even thinking of going faster. But the speed is good; it gives me the chance to see the Thales gardens and buildings.

Usually when I’m walking to or from classes, my head is down, and I don’t get the chance to take in the age and beauty of my surroundings. Everywhere I look oozes history, and wealth. The gardens are immaculate with trees so tall, you’d be hard-pressed to circle your arms around them. Each of the gray stone buildings features opulence along with intricacy. I stop in front of one drawn by the sheer number of carved stone gargoyles sitting along the roofline, until I realize they’re on top of a demon building. My legs move a little faster without much effort after that discovery.

At the same time as my Thales tour takes place, I also try my hand at visualizing a strong barrier around myself. The tome said what you build your shield with is as important as the intention of protecting yourself. The ancient drawings surrounding the text spoke of using something impenetrable, like limestone or basalt, which helps explain the concept and also dates the book.

Of course, knowing I was reading from a tome written maybe a thousand years ago made me spiral in awe for a while, because of its history but also how they wrote things simply clicked. The suggestion of visualizing giant slabs of limestone as the material for my internal wall was easy to conceptualize. My parents had photo albums full of ancient temples and walls in Greece.

By the time I’m running past the maintenance area, I’ve made progress on my internal shields, laying half the wall. Once I’ve got the hang of the metaphysical process, each row happens faster and faster.

Then, since it is my visualization, I get creative and make the shield my own. In between the limestone, I add the glittering gold threads I see when I look inside myself. I squish them between the cracks, using the fibers like mortar. I also use the strands of neon purple that linger even now after my run-in with a certain magikal. The two meld together effortlessly, and strength radiates from them.

I feel like a bit of a badass for figuring this out myself. By the time I’m at the sports fields, my wall surrounds me, letting me focus on my run.

The ovals are empty, and I’m half tempted to take advantage of no one else using them to run some laps, but ultimately exploring more of Thales wins out. After a drink from the water fountain, I take the path at the back of the fields, running at full speed. I’ve studied the map of the campus enough to know I’m a safe distance from the angelic, shifter, and vampire side. The magik’s section is close but not enough to alter my course or change my workout.

At a fork in the path, I decide to explore the right trail. I know what drew me; it’s the ancient spruce and fir trees, the fresh, sharp smell so synonymous with these trees fills my lungs and brings clarity. I used to love trekking through the forest for this reason.

Setting my sights on the biggest tree as my turnaround point, I get close enough to touch it when a twig snaps. It takes everything in me not to scream or spin around. I use every bit of self-control to keep moving as I first intended. I reach out for the tree, then stop, drawing in big breaths, appearing as relaxed as I can. Movement from the corner of my eye confirms I’m not alone, but also that the threat isn’t only behind me, something I already figured.