The Currents of Magic

Chapter Nineteen

The next morning Meyer awoke feeling groggy and poorly rested. He stumbled down to the dining hall, ignoring Ander's complaints about his upcoming lesson with Planar Wyther. By the time they sat down for breakfast, Cade had managed to change the topic, but still Meyer paid little attention, poking at his food half-heartedly. The message that had appeared the previous night still plagued his thoughts, and while rationally he felt the warning must have been meaningless, he could not shake a feeling of uneasiness in his stomach.

Damian turned to him. "Everything alright?"

"Just tired..." said Meyer.

"Didn't sleep well?" asked Ander.

"Yeah... I actually was kept up a bit..." Meyer paused, gaging the reactions of his friends. He was hesitant to explain the entire incident lest he seem overly frightful, but he was curious if a little prodding wouldn't prompt his friends (particularly Ander) to reveal any information about a potential prankster.

"I was also up half the night!" said Ander. "It's stupid Tyndle. He's always doing his experiments in the Old Keep, and their aura spreads to the dormitories. I kept on seeing flashing lights."

"I saw some sort of message," said Meyer.

"Probably an Omen," said Damian.

Meyer hardly had to raise an eyebrow before Cade jumped in.

"Planar Tyndle practices prophecy," he explained. "It's an extremely innaccurate branch of magic, mostly used for analyzing upcoming patterns in the Currents—nobody can actually predict the future. Anyway, certain divination procedures create random messages. They're called Omens, and while petty seers might try to pass them off as predictions, they're utter codswallop."

"And yet still Tyndle finds it necessary to meddle around in the Old Keep in the middle of the night," said Ander. "He could use any of the other buildings in the Dale, but he chooses the one that's practically on top of the dormitories... I'd say he's just mindless, but I happen to know he's friends with Wyther, and anyone who associates with that psycho has an evil streak... The two of them are in cahoots, they have it in for the tempests..."

Ander continued to rave, but Meyer stopped listening. He couldn't have been more relevied. Indeed, with the glowing red letters free from his mind, the next few days proved brighter than ever. In the mornings Meyer enjoyed learning new magic, absorbing Adryn's endless stream wisdom, and in the afternoons and evenings he spent time with his friends, basking in the long summer days that lingered even after the sun had set.

On the best of days they would spend hours on the Hillside Green, Damian buzzing around three feet above the ground practicing self levitation, Ander casting geyser enchantments that would send water spraying into the air when an unsuspecting person walked over the blast zone, and Cade reading in the shade, or otherwise trying to keep Ander out of trouble. They played Bolo—which to Damian's amusement Meyer found quite challenging—and Astrix, another magical game, this one played with metal stars and wooden sticks. They even played a few smaller games of capture the flag when they could gather enough Ajah boys. Soon Meyer had forgot about the unexplained message, his attention increasingly focused on his brief encounter with Jaeda, and his hopes of having an interaction with her again.

During the first Ajah practice session following capture the flag, Meyer thought the anticipated moment had arrived when he noticed a bunch of girls sitting next to Jaeda giggling and stealing glances at him. A few minutes later, two of them stood and walked over to his table where he was sitting with Damian, Ander and Cade.

"Hi," the two girls said in unison.

"Hi," said Meyer. His heart had leapt into his throat as he saw them approaching, but by the time they arrived it was clear Jaeda was not coming with them. His disposition dipped into a calm that would have otherwise been uncharacteristic for him around two pretty girls he had never met.