The Vale

C17

"Now, now, now, Penelope." Nate steps in and saves me from her deathly glare. She rolls her eyes and follow the direction Roman went.

Nate furrows his brows and leads me to the bookshelves at the hallway after the living room. We stop in front a shelf and begin to take out the book. I'm not sure what we're looking for in the books but I follow his lead. Some moments later, he decides to comment on Penelope's warning. “It wasn't a torture. Far from it actually, it was fun, and we had access to the whole place. I don’t know why he made today a living room party.” He says as he grabs and opens an enormous book.

I nod. “Why are you here? I know what I did, but I don’t know why any of you are here.”

“Penelope and Roman were caught sneaking in past curfew, and yes, we do party outside school. I was caught doing drugs.” he answers.

I frown. "Why would Penelope and Roman be together?" I ask curiously, I don't even know they're friends.

Nate pauses what he's doing to look at me. "You don't know?" I shake my head. "Roman is my roommate."

And then I just remember the conversation we heard about how much he hates Penelope because she's loud and he's roommate's girlfriend. Wow, I never saw that one coming. Roman and Penelope are dating. They have nothing in common except if asshole is equivalent to bitch and then they have everything in common. Damn. Roman is like a fucking onion, he has so many layers to him. Peel one off and realize there's like a thousand more. The guy is a fucking mystery.

"Oh..."

He closes the book and returns it to it's place. "Yes oh and somehow I know you guys are involved."

"What? Are you crazy? Roman and I are not involved. Why would you think that?"

He shrugs. "I don't know, probably because he snuck out of your room this morning,”

My mouth drops open. “How did you even-” He interrupts me.

“Know? He is my roommate. I always smell you on him, and I’m not stupid. You guys clearly have something going on, which brings me to my request.” He slams a book shut, making me flinch, I didn't even see him take it. “Your friend, Jessica. Can I have her number?”

I raise my eyebrow in question. It's not like I wasn't expecting it. It's obvious that he has some kind of feelings for her. “Because...?” I don't bother to address his assumption about Roman and I, I'll save it for another time.

He shrugs. “She asked me to collect her number from you.”

“You are lying, aren’t you? And I’ll ask her if I can give it to you." I assure him.

He smiles. “Thanks, you are a lifesaver and I just found your totem, the raven.”

I collect the raven statue from him and stare at it. Ravens, what is it with me and ravens?

"So what's the deal with the totems and us?" I ask Nate.

"Hell if I know. Let's just find my cat and we'll be out of here."

He's not even curious. I know I have loads of questions to ask the headmaster when we get back to school.

Sighing, I close my eyes and raise my head. Opening my them, it connects with something strange and interesting. Somehow the sign I see on my hand and my necklace is hanging as a painting on the wall of the Headmaster's living room. Both signs. Something really freaky is going on and he knows more than he is letting on. Why did he lie to me? I mean, I never told him about the sign but I asked him about the spell repeatedly and he gave me nothing. Roman said the guidance counselor went to him after I showed her the sign, which can only means he knows something.