September in Salus

September 2nd

"Good morning, Gray."

Caelum looked up at the boy standing over their cafeteria table. "Go away, Montgomery."

Eli Montgomery did the exact opposite, sitting down across from Caelum. Coffee sloshed out of his cup as he set it down on the table. Caelum gave him a pointed glare. Dom, on Caelum's left, seemed intrigued by the newcomer. Victoria, sitting to Caelum's right, suddenly became very deliberate about eating her cereal.

Eli swept his blond hair out of his eyes. "You're going to tell me to go away without even introducing me to Dominic?" He cocked his head. "Where are your manners?"

Caelum gritted his teeth. "Eli, this is Dominic. Dom, this is Eli."

"Nice to meet you," Dom said, avoiding Eli's eyes. He had a vaguely distant look on his face, as though he were trying to figure something out.

Eli took a sip of coffee, staunchly ignoring the painfully awkward silence that had fallen. "Ready for the Latin quiz today, Gray?"

Caelum almost choked on his cereal. "The what?"

"Mr. Leonard announced it yesterday while you were at the interrogation."

"No, he didn't," Victoria interrupted. "Eli, don't do that to him."

Eli shrugged. "He would've known I was joking if he'd been in class yesterday."

Caelum resisted the urge to dump his cereal on Eli. "I would've been there if I wasn't, oh, doing really important work with the Council. What have you been doing with your life?"

Eli stood up. "Not putting it in danger. See you later, Dominic." He left without another word.

Caelum was seething, but he took a few deep breaths to calm himself and turned to Dom, forcing a smile. "Just ignore him. He's had magic for years- he's actually an excellent Manipulator- but he refuses to go on quests."

"What's a Manipulator?"

"Right." Caelum bit his lip, trying to think of the best way to explain it. "There are sort of different magical concentrations. I'm what's called a Traveler. I can summon fire, and I can make objects move- that's a Manipulator specialty- but my specialty is relocation. I'm good at magically transporting myself different places. There are a few other types, but the rarest is Healer. Healers are really only able to, well, heal, and their magic typically manifests later. We haven't had a healer in years." Noting Dom's unmasked look of confusion, he waved a hand. "You'll find your specialty eventually. For now, ready for your first magic lesson?"

They walked out of the Osbourn building and into the Saarinen Center, where they followed a long hall to a staircase. "After you," Caelum said.

The stairwell was sparsely lit, and Dom walked down nervously. After a few floors, the staircase turned to stone and started to feel colder. "This is part of one of the original buildings," Caelum said. "It's really old. Supposedly it dates back to the time of Merlin. They haven't changed it at all except to add lights."

"Wow." Dom seemed to tread more lightly on the steps, as if he was afraid he could damage them just by walking. "That's amazing."

Caelum couldn't help but grin. "Isn't it?" They reached the bottom of the staircase. "We can go in the first classroom on the left."

The classroom was a completely empty stone room. There was no furniture or decoration whatsoever. "Why is it so empty?" Dominic asked.

"This is the classroom for absolute beginners," Caelum said. "It's easier to concentrate on learning when you don't have to worry about, like, setting a rug on fire or something. And it's just safer. I mean, you're going to be fine- there's no danger- but for beginners, it's good to have an empty room."