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“It’s okay. I know why she’s here. We’re going dress shopping,” I explained to my friends. “I’ll see you all next class,” I told them.
“Are you sure, Percy? She’s Coactus,” Ana bent to whisper in my ear.
“I’m sure Ana.” I smiled reassuringly and pulled my arm away from her.
“I can wait with you until the Princess joins,” Edward said.
“No, Edward, I’ll be fine,” I told him firmly. He looked like he was about to argue with me for a moment before Harris patted him on the back.
“C’mon, Percy will be fine. She said so,” he told Edward and guided him away.
“Stay safe, Percy,” Ana told me, before she followed the boys.
“You’d think I was a monster,” Heidi huffed.
“Maybe you are,” I replied. She smiled brightly.
“I could be,” she said, taking a step towards me. “But I only torture people I don’t like, and I think I like you.”
“I don’t like you,” I told her. She laughed, taking another step forward.
“I think that will change,” she said.
“Why are you here now? The Princess is still in class for another half hour,” I asked. I didn’t know we would be shopping so soon.
“I was free with nothing better to do. You’re free too,” she answered.
“But I could be eating lunch. Aren’t you hungry?” I asked her.
“I ate a large breakfast,” she replied. Ugh. “We could always pass the time while we wait on your mistress by grabbing some lunch. Have you been to the canteen in the Science building? I much prefer it to the café here, far less crowded.”
“I need to meet the Princess in the café. I can’t just decide to go elsewhere; she’s expecting me,” I explained.
“So well behaved. Do you never break the rules?” she asked mockingly.
“I guess not,” I told her.
“That’s interesting. I always thought your kind were rebellious. Don’t you live like animals?”
“Don’t speak about us like that.”
“Like what? Is it not the truth? Your little villages are cut off from the rest of the world, with no amenities; you grow and hunt and build everything you need,” she said.
“Just because we provide for ourselves most of what we need doesn’t make us less than you. We aren’t animals,” I told her angrily.
“You’re rather stunning when bristling in defence of your people,” she told me, and I realised how close she was to me. It was uncomfortable. I stepped backwards.
“Can we just get lunch and wait on the Princess?” I asked.
“Sure, maybe you’ll be more fun after you eat.”
It was uncomfortable entering the café with Heidi by my side. I felt like more students turned to look than they did when I was with the Princess. She led me to a small two-person table near the back corner of the café.
“Everyone is wondering what you are doing with me,” she said as we waited on a server.
“What do you mean?” I asked her. Was she in their thoughts?
“It’s almost like a buzzing when many people share a similar thought. It doesn’t happen often, but you seem to be an object of attention to many around here. I can flit from thought to thought like riding the surface of a wave. I’m just at the edges of a person’s consciousness,” she explained, and the power of her magic scared me.
