Heart Glass

Part 2

Dex adjusted his glasses on his nose, his finger swiping across the Coriglass screen.
"This is absolutely, intolerably frustrating."
He heard a sigh behind him. He turned to look at Garic, an older man with strings of gray in his black hair and a thick, furrowed brow, his posture so stiff and perfect that he should have been born of the elite. Garic's drooping expression vanished as soon as Dex saw him.
"Oh, Garic! Do sit down and rest. I did not mean to make you stand all this time."
Garic attempted a small smile and patted Dex's shoulder. "It is nearly four in the morning, Young Master Dexter. Time to go to bed. You have a class tomorrow morning at ten."
Dex sighed. He could feel that it was time to stop work and rest up. But his geneology project was due at that very class Garic spoke of. He looked around at his unfinished project, his eyes drooping and shoulders slumping. His project was a family tree. He'd been working on his hand held eight-by-five Coriglass tablet, but he could see everything in huge, intricate detail across his bedroom wall. Everything was Coriglass in the Shine, made of the shimmery but strong Dia mineral mined not a dozen miles away. Information swiped from his tablet to his wall to his ceiling, whenever he wanted. Sometimes he forgot that—it was so simple to pull up unique wallpapers of all styles to match his mood or please his every whim. It was nothing to look up information for a project, usually.
But this wasn't something he could do a Net search on. He had to ask his mother.
This time she had to answer some questions. Otherwise, he would do poorly on the assignment! Half of his family tree was barren of names and dates and career details. The half where his father's family was supposed to be. All Dex knew was that his last name was Cord, as that was Dexter and his mother's last name. He'd also inferred that due to some tragedy, his mother and Cord's marriage had fallen apart. What tragedy, he had no idea. It wasn't well detailed in his mother's old journals, and Garic would say very little about it.
"Young Master..." Garic cleared his throat and nodded to him. "You will be exhausted in the morning, I must warn you."
Dex realized he'd been fidgeting with his necklace, which was normally hidden under his shirt. He'd had the strange loop for as long as he could remember--according to Garic, it had been custom made by his father.
Dex sighed. He was keeping Garic up. He had to be the worst person in the world.
"I apologize, Garic," He closed his work and the usual wallpaper slid back into place. A fine elegant purple one with silver trim. "Please go to bed. I will rest now."
Garic nodded at him, his brows furrowed as they always did when he was worried.
Dex glanced at the clock before pulling his blanket up to his chin and closing his eyes. 4:30. Tomorrow was going to be simply awful.
Garic patted Dex's head, then left, quiet as a mouse as he closed the door. Dex had not meant to make him worry. He hoped Garic would put it out of mind, or at least let himself sleep in until eight that morning, or go to bed early the next night. The responsible butler was sometimes too responsible.