Page 9 of The Divines

I cut him off before he could continue on his tangent. They would last hours if no one interrupted him.

“Eli, what did Markell want to speak to you about?”

“Oh right, so like I was saying, we don’t have personal training. Or at least, we never havebefore.”

Most eyes at the table had turned towards Eli and I now. Although he clearly didn’t seem to notice he was not keeping this conversation discreet at all.

“Markell informed me that some of us stronger Divines may need to do some personal tutoring for the new girl.”

“Kalani? Why would a Shifter need personal training?”

Eli smacked me between the eyebrows as if I was dense. And maybe I was. “No dipshit, thefirstnew girl, Halley. The one with the unknown ability?” Eli paused, and I wasn’t sure if it was for me to catch on or for dramatic effect; with him I expected the latter. “Except, Markell informed me it’s not so unknown anymore. Halley isn’t some ordinary Divine, she’s a fucking Enchantress man.An Enchantress Knox, do you know what this means?”

At this point, Eli was one hundred percent yelling, and I was positive the entire cafeteria had heard that last sentence. I would be more focused on hushing Eli if I wasn’t so concentrated on what he said. Halley was an Enchantress. Halley, one of the most powerful Divine to enter the academy grounds, was a part of the long-lost Sector. Then I thought about Eli’s last sentence andwhat the hell did this mean? As I looked around the cafeteria and saw every single head turned towards where Halley and Kalani were sitting with their lunches, the only thing I was certain of, was it meant a whole lot of attention for her. And among the Divines, attention was never a good thing.

Chapter Thirteen

Halley

I made a friend. The first one of my entire life. Except Mom of course, but I think it would be a little embarrassing to admit to anyone that my only friend in life had been my mom that had died ten years prior. Thankfully, besides general questions in class about living in the human realm, no one seemed too interested in my life. Well, that was a lie.Everyoneseemed interested in my life, but no one seemed interested in actually talking to me about it, instead making guesses and assumptions amongst each other. This morning, the hunger finally caught up to me and I realized I needed to brave the cafeteria. I had avoided it up until this point mainly to avoid the stares and whispers that they thought I couldn’t hear. After learning about my ability, I had also decided to continue to avoid it as to not have any questions about what I was. I was used to living off little and the few snacks in my backpack had held me off this long. However, my snacks ran out this morning and after everyone had already gone to lunch, I figured it was time for me. Mom must have been looking out for me though because instead of walking into the large room alone, I spotted a lone figure standing outside the double doors.

A girl around my age had been standing as still as a statue when I had arrived, and I recalled seeing her this morning in my human realm class. At first, I wasn’t sure if I should approach her, but when she turned towards me and gave me a slight smile, I decided it wasn’t time for my bravery to die out just yet. Bravery had gotten me to this point in my life so far, so I figured why the hell not and asked her if she wanted to sit with me. Walking through those doors and having everyone stare and whisper about us was hard, but it was a lot easier to handle with someone by my side.

As we sat together, I learned her name was Kalani, she had grown up in a small Divine community on Michigan farmland, and she was a Shifter with two animals. Still knowing so little about the Divine community, I jumped on the opportunity to ask about her abilities.

“Well, I figured I was going to be a Shifter given that Mom and Dad were both Shifters. And the two siblings before me were also Shifters. If I was a betting girl, I assume my younger siblings will also be Shifters. It runs in the family. However, Mom and Dad will be freaked that I have two animals. I’m the first of my family. Of course, I haven’t actually shifted yet, so I don’t knowwhatanimals, but Helena assured me there was indeed two animals in my blood.”

Kalani had barely shown any emotion except boredom up until this point, but at the topic of shifting into her two animals, I could see the excitement brimming in her eyes. Maybe I couldn’t necessarily understand exactly what she was feeling, but I could understand the excitement of figuring out exactly what your power could do. Since my conversation with the staff yesterday morning, figuring out my power and all I could do was the only thing on my mind. According to my new schedule, in place ofIntroduction To Your Ability, I would be training with a private tutor of each Sector, to bring me up to speed on all things Divine. During these private sessions, I would learn as much history about Enchanters as we had on record and how to access my power. Gunther informed me this morning that I would also no longer be taking Human Realm considering I was much more informed than any other Divine on the humans and their customs. I admittedly was grateful about that one, since more often than not I spent the class fielding questions from Gunther and avoiding Wilder’s angry stare. I definitely wouldn’t miss seeing him on a daily basis. However, I was worried about these private sessions. When Zachariah had explained the schedule to me, it sounded like no Professors could be taken away from their daily teaching of all other students to solely teach me. I understood the concept, but then I wondered who would be teachingme.I assumed it would be other students that were well practiced Divines, but the thought made me squeamish. Did I really want direct attention from some random Divines? No, no I did not.

Focusing back on my table partner, realizing how rude it was to just sit here in silence, I caught her question.

“So, what’s your ability? What community did you grow up in?” And there it was. It seemed that was the only question people were interested in asking. Did Divines really not have anything more interesting to discuss? Taking a deep breath, I figured this would go either one of two ways. First, Kalani would be like every other Divine I had met and freak out that I wasn’t from the Divine community or second, she wouldn’t care and would officially become my best and only friend. I really hoped for option number two, but if I was to go by previous encounters, it would most likely be the former.

“I didn’t grow up in a community. I grew up in the human realm. And I’m an Enchantress.” I rushed through the last part, realizing it was the first time I had acknowledged the truth out loud. I really was an Enchantress, the only of my kind. Waiting with bated breath, I anticipated Kalani’s reaction. Except, she surprised me. Instead of freaking out, she simply nodded and popped more food into her mouth.

“That’s cool. I think humans have it way better than us. Don’t tell anyone I said that though, those are sacrilege words amongst the Divine, but oh well. And an Enchantress? Dude, you know there aren’t any more of those out there, right? That makes you like the divine Divine.” Chuckling at her own joke, she continued eating and I couldn’t help my large grin. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had smiled this big; probably back when Mom was still with me. But she seemed so unfazed by my revelation that I immediately wanted to hug her.

Instead of absolutely freaking out, I continued eating like her and dimmed my smile. “Yeah, I think the human realm is pretty cool. Seems more interesting than your communities, no offense.” Given her previous response, I didn’t think it would offend her at all, but politeness and all. “As for the Enchantress, I’m trying to keep it on the down low. I already have enough attention on me, the last thing I need is more.”

As soon as I finished my sentence, the entire cafeteria quieted down to the level it had been when we walked in. I briefly wondered what was happening this time, when I saw all eyes on our table yet again. Kalani clearly felt the stares as well and we both stopped eating, looking around at the other students. The whispers started up slowly, but soon the whole cafeteria was buzzing. And as the talking got louder, I realized what they were talking about.Me.Except this time it wasn’t about growing up with humans. No, this time, it was about something much more important to a room full of young Divines.

Kalani turned back towards me and smirked. “Guess the cat’s already out of the bag.”

And, fuck, if she wasn’t right. There goes keeping it a secret. I was officially going to be the most talked about student in the school because if the current chatter was anything to go by, the entire student population knew I was Enchantress. And I didn’t think anything was going to be the same after this.

Chapter Fourteen

Eli

Up bright and early, I checked myself out in the mirror. My blue button up was fresh and ironed, my darker hued tie was snug against my neck, and my grey slacks made my ass look amazing. All in all, I was ready for my first day as a professor. Okay,technically,I wasn’t a professor. But, according to Markell and Zachariah, I was the lucky Ethos chosen to privately tutor the one and only, Halley Jameson, for her first private session of the week. Even though it was just one student, I was in charge of a quarter of her education and therefore I considered myself a professor and I wanted to dress the part. Plus, if I could impress Halley a little bit, that was just a bonus. But wait, could professors even be with students? Before I could ponder that thought too long, I reminded myself I wasn’t really a professor. That part kind of sucked, but at least it meant I could flirt with Halley, and that brought a smile to my face. I didn’t just want to get to know the girl because of all the buzz around her or because of how attractive I found her. After sitting in class together for a week, I realized she was really cool too. Not only that, but hearing about how she grew up, I realized she was tough as nails as well. And okay, I’ll admit the mystery surrounding her was intriguing, but that was just a bonus.

Skipping through the halls of West Territory, I found the study room we had been assigned for our lessons. According to Zachariah, one Divine from each Sector was chosen to be Halley’s tutor. I had questioned why the Council hadn’t stepped in since most of them were old geezers and had actual knowledge of Enchanters. But Zachariah said they were occupied with more important issues. I didn’t know what was more important than the first Enchantress in decades but oh well, their loss and my gain.

We were told that our jobs were to educate Halley on as much as we could about Divine history, our personal abilities, as much as we knew about Enchanters, and how to access and use her powers. I was chosen for the Ethos, Knox was the chosen Seer, Madden the Shifter, and Wilder the Drax. It made sense why we were the four chosen, not only were we some of the strongest of our Sectors, but we could also skip a few of our ability classes and not fall behind. I had been ecstatic when I learned Knox would also be one of her tutors. I didn’t talk much to the other two guys, but I figured Knox and I could swap information about our lessons, so Halley wasn’t learning double. Knowing how the other three guys were personality wise, I also assumed that I would be Halley’s favorite instructor and that just made me happier. I may have been a happy go lucky guy, but I still wanted to be the best at everything I did. A smiling face didn’t mean I wouldn’t compete my ass off when the opportunity arose. And what a perfect opportunity this was.

Shuffling around the room, I prepared for our first lesson. I knew I often went off on tangents, so I had drawn up a lesson plan for the day to help keep us on track. I could take important things seriously and I figured training the only Enchantress in existence was definitely at the top of the importance list. I was in the middle of setting up the different textbooks I brought in chronological order when I heard the door open. Turning quickly, a larger grin spread across my face. Halley was here.

Although I still couldn’t get a read on her emotions, which made perfect sense now that I knew she was an Enchantress, it was my nature to still read her body language. Walking slowly through the doorway, her body was the ultimate contradiction of herself. Her steps were confident and sure and yet she treaded slowly, as if warring internally over whether she should be here or not. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was in a new place that made her uncomfortable or another deeper reason, but if it was even slightly the first option, I vowed to do everything in my ability to make her more comfortable during our session.

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