To No One in Particular

Knuckle Down

Caspian

Caspian rubbed his head and looked up to see Roman-whose face was completely red with blush and embarrassment- helping his roommate Edmund off the ground. Edmund was tall and strong with muscles that rippled his arms and a firm base. From what Caspian was able to gather, Edmund was what he would guess was a faun. His legs curved slightly at the knee and his head had light brown ridgid horns that curled in a circular motion once and reached back around to his ear. He was covered in freckles from his nose to his neck with hair so thick it looked like it would swirl into a mesmerizing circle of endless memories. He was hauntingly beautiful.

Edmund reached out his hand to Caspian and he grasped, it allowing Edmund to pull him up. Edmund did so easily.

"My apologies," Edmund chuckled softly in an accent Caspian couldn't quite recognize. "I forgot to help you up. I was too busy trying not to get a concussion." He nodded his head pointedly towards Roman and giggled some more. When he saw the self-conscious look on Roman's face, he immediately stopped and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry miss. I'm just teasing. I mean no offense."

Roman looked much more relieved. She seemed to forget Caspian was there until her eyes shifted noticeably in his direction and away from Edmund. "Caspian!" She exclaimed, and threw her arms around him briefly before unfolding a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket. The course sheet. He had gotten one too. He had been meaning to ask Roman for help before he was almost knocked unconscious.

Caspian had decided on pig latin, self defense classes, and swordsmanship. He wasn't sure what to pick for a fourth one though. Edmund had suggested the illusion classes, but Caspian felt he would have a better hand at taking a psychic class. Or maybe he could try 'Fire Control and Manipulation.'

He had spent the past three hours being dragged around to meet his dorm mates and unpacking his suitcase into the oak drawers in his dresser. His room smelled perfectly of bark and the moonlight. He was starting to think maybe it wasn't so odd here.

He had convinced himself it was a normal boarding school and the freakish displays he had observed were pranks. 'I mean, come on. Everyone pranks the newbies.'

That was when Edmund threw his theory completely out the window by handing him a course sheet and showing off his horns all the while. Caspian wasn't sure what he thought about the guy yet.

Roman had scribbled her courses into a mess. He had never seen her so unorganized. She hadn't even scolded him for how bird's nest styled mane. They swapped papers without a word and nodded in sync.

Caspian hated to sound basic, but when he said they could practically read each other's minds, he wasn't joking. They had been this way since they were kids.

Roman handed his paper back to him and nodded. "Witchcraft for your final class."

Caspian nodded and wrote it down neatly on the final line.

"I'll be taking witchcraft, pig latin, illusion manipulation, and swordsmanship. That way we'll be together in three of them but have our own classes for space." Roman stated, then borrowed Caspian's pen and started jotting it down on the opposite side of the paper. The front was beyond illiterate.

"Do you know where we're supposed to turn these in?" Roman mumbled, still bent over the paper in concentration.

"I'm not sure. No one said anything about turning it in." Caspian flipped the card over in his hands searching for directions when he came across a line he had forgotten to answer.

'Are you absolutely satisfied with your course selection?' It inquired in gold lettering. He took the pen from Roman and signed his name on the line that asked for a signature and placed the pen behind his ear just in time to hear Roman muffle a yelp. He looked at her in alarm to see her pointing in amazement at his hands.

"It-it disappeared?" She stuttered.

Caspian looked over in shock to find that the paper had-in fact-disappeared from his hand.

"I don't know what happened! All I did was sign my signature on the line and it-" he paused to make a poofing motion with hands- "disappeared!"

Roman examined her slip but shrugged at Caspian and said, "I don't have a line."

"I'm pretty sure you have to fill out the rest of it." Caspian pulled his pen out of his hair and filled out the last box with 'Witchcraft.' Sure enough, a line appeared on the paper in the same golden print.

'Are you absolutely satisfied with your course selection?'

Roman signed her name on the dotted line and the moment she lifted the pen, her paper started to disintegrate into specs. Soon, the Blankards could no longer see it.

Roman's eyes widened with incredulity as she grabbed at the air the paper once was.

Her words blurred together. "How is that possible? How can something simply be there one second and then be gone how did it manage to-"

"Children," A voice Caspian recognized interrupted her."Shouldn't you be at quiet time?"

Mrs. Hopper.