The Girl with an Owl

Chapter 21

When they reached the hallway, Ajana tried to approach Kieran, but he turned his back on her and strode off. Shocked by the action, Ajana just stood there looking at his retreating figure.

She couldn't understand why he was so unfriendly towards her when she was the only one who showed any kind of sympathy for him. His behavior was impossible to understand, and that only made Ajana even more curious to learn why he acted that way.

Another thing she couldn't figure out was why the others shunned him. It bugged her that she couldn't understand the reasoning behind it all.

In her own world, she could understand behavior similar to this one. She didn't approve it, however, she could understand the reasons it happened, but in this school, she was out of her depth, which annoyed her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a small flutter in her bag.

"Hey, little guy," she said to Rex, "you've been awfully quiet during this class. What's up?"

"Rex...no... clouds. Clouds.... scare..." he said as he stretched out his pages, reminding Ajana of a cat stretching after a long nap.

"Ah, I understand how you feel, my dear. I feel the same way about it. I wish I had a bag I could hide in," she said.

As she gently stroked his covers, Rex started making purring sounds that were such strange sounds to hear from a book, a book that could talk a bit and fly around, but still...

Soon enough, they were joined by Bluebells, who was even more energetic and excited than Ajana thought possible.

"Ajana, it was awesome! Flying is my LIFE! I love flying!" he said while his eyes shone in excitement.

"You know, since you are a witch, you will have flying lessons at some point, too. They will be basic flying lessons but still... Isn't that exciting?" Bluebells went on without noticing that Ajana's eyes widened in fear and her mouth was wide open.

She thoroughly disliked the idea of flying since that might lead to her falling down and breaking her neck. It looked cool in the books about magic, but she never wanted to try something like that in real life. She often talked about wanting to do something like that, but she didn't actually mean it.

For her, that was just daydreaming, and the great thing about daydreaming was that it was safe. Now that she learned it was all real, she was no longer sure what she really wanted.

Ajana could barely control her legs as she slowly followed Bluebells down the hall to the next class, which they also had together.

Most of the things he babbled about she didn't even register since she was too busy visualizing all the things that could go wrong if she had to try flying.

She could clearly see her dead body sprawled on the ground at an unnatural angle.

"I guess she was HUMAN, after all," people would whisper.

It took her by surprise when she finally realized that the classroom they just entered was actually a laboratory.

"What does this place have to do with magic?" She asked Bluebells while at the same time wondering why Bluebells had to attend that class.

It seemed to her that it could have no benefits for him.

"Such typical human ignorance," the familiar voice of Orla said, "didn't it ever occur to you that science is actually one part of magic. One of the most crucial parts of magic as a matter of fact.

"You honestly thought there was a difference between potions and chemicals?! Really, don't you know ANYTHING!?" She said, flicking her hair and getting to her seat.

"Well, Bluebells, your friends seems to dislike me for no apparent reason," Ajana said.

Then she and Bluebells settled behind a huge white table crowded with vials and chemicals.

"Don't mind her, she is like that with everyone." Bluebells said.

"However, she is actually telling the truth. Science is just one way the humans decided to call magic when their memory of magic disappeared.

"The humans thought that by naming something they could control it, and that's how science was rationalized for human's personal interest.

"You see, people from Mag couldn't take away the physical manifestations of magic from Earth. However, the knowledge of how to use it efficiently was lost a long time ago." Bluebells explained as Rex hovered over him, moving up and down as if nodding in agreement.

"What about the elves? Why does everyone dislike them!" Ajana asked, curious to learn more about the way Mag's society functioned.

"Shh, not so loud. One thing you have to remember is to never, NEVER, talk about the elves in public." Bluebells said quietly.

"By the way, Wallace told me to let you know that he will meet you after school for additional tutoring to help you catch up. All the non-Mag students are getting tutors to help them adjust. You can ask him I am sure he can explain the situation much better than I ever could." Bluebells said.

And just like that, he was back to his chipper, hyperactive self. Momentarily, he proceeded to sniff out all the different vials and curiously check all the different colors the liquids in front of them had.

When the teacher called the class to order, it barely managed to subdue the overly excited Bluebells.

The teacher's appearance surprised Ajana since the woman looked like any strict teacher she had had in the past.

As if reading her thoughts, the teacher snapped her fingers and a piece of chalk started hovering next to the blackboard. It proceeded to write down 'Wickedmartine Grangtthews' on it.

Ajana couldn't help but think that it was the longest name she had ever heard. Also, she felt stupid for thinking that anything was ordinary in the extraordinary world she found herself in.

Soon enough, the teacher started explaining the basics of science, and the lesson turned out much more similar to the science lessons Ajana had than she expected.

Well, except the teacher who moved objects with her mind and the students who ranged from small fairies to giant trolls.

Ajana found it hard to focus surrounded by all those impossible things and creatures, in that familiar-looking setting. Another reason she couldn't concentrate was Bluebells who kept flying around, knocking things over and making a mess of everything he touched.

At one point, he knocked over a vial of green goo and a vial of clear pink liquid, which mixed and caused a small explosion that almost burned off Ajana's eyebrows.

After some time, he did manage to settle down a bit, and Ajana had a strong suspicion that the teacher had cast a spell on him to help contain his enthusiasm.

When the teacher put down the fire that the explosion caused, she seemed very calm. Still, Ajana could hear her mumble under her breath: "I told them having winged horses in class wasn't a good idea."

The rest of the lesson went on without any problems. The negative side of it was that Ajana was painfully reminded of the normalcy of home.

She loved all the beauties and charms of Mag, but she missed the safeties of home and her parents. The feeling that no matter what happened, she could always enjoy the warmth of her home was another thing she missed and knew she couldn't have at the moment.

The rest of the school day was uneventful since they had some classes even Ajana was familiar with, such as Math and Biology.

Ajana utterly disliked Math, so having those classes even in a magical world annoyed her. On the other hand, she loved Biology, especially biology lessons in Mag, and that made things a bit better.

Their Biology lessons were much more interesting since they were about the biology of all the magical creatures.

As she was getting ready to leave and meet up with Wallace, Ajana couldn't help but notice Kieran sitting on a nearby bench lost in his sorrow.

On instinct, she decided to join him.

It turned out to be a terrible idea.