As The Knight Falls Series BOOK 1(COMPLETED✨)

19: Blown Away

"So bro, you're saying 'proud' means protruding out from something in archi language?" Liam asked, fascinated.

Claire nodded grinning. "Yes. Like, umm, you can say that a nail is 'proud' of the plank if you see it sticking out of the plank. Or something like ... hammer that 'proud' nail. It means you want to hammer it down to level it with the plank and such," she added. Claire could see his blue green eyes sparkling in the sunlight, amused. She could tell he was running the cogs in his mind to refurbish the idea.

"So like, I could say - my fingers are proud of my palm or my head is proud of my torso?"Liam chimed wriggling his fingers and giving a boxy smile which made her chuckle. Claire nodded affirming.

They had been in the forest for a while now. While she intended on putting this chance into good use by getting to know more about what the Phoenix had in mind for them, so far all they talked about was absolute gibberish. She knew that was sipping away the precious opportunity that luck had provided for her but her mouth was revolting against her mind. Fascination and conformal tenacity were a combination that Claire had witnessed very little in people of her field. Most of her fellow architecture majors just chewed on the knowledge and puked them in the exams and this very fact was keeping her rambling. That was her point of engrossment.

Usually, Claire was a hardcore introvert but she felt different with Liam. For some reason, warming up to him took her no time at all, something that she was really worried that she would not be able to do at all and extract any information given the fact that she was an exceptionally sensitive social being. But the conversation felt so natural with him. She could talk with him as casually as she could with Derek and Xen which was another reason she was not even trying much to divert what they were talking about. She went on and on about all the weird quirks of architecture, all the double-edged words that went both ways.

Yeah! Readout those reasons to Satan in the afterlife when you'd be discovered dead here somewhere and sent to hell

"So like is there a magical spell you guys use when making blueprints?" Liam asked excitedly which broke her faze, " like you know, secret code language? cuz that would be so cool! Imagine there's a secret cult of full blast architects, underground, gushing secret words like writing 'Proud nail!' on paper but secretly it meant - today! We shall rise!!!" Liam said putting his both hands up in the air with a smolder to put on a dramatic effect to his childish theory.

Claire laughed. She did not get how did they suddenly enter into a dark underworld conspiracy theory from talking about boring architecture terms. It was like he could talk about anything from anywhere.

"Is there?" Liam narrowed his eyes with a sloppy grin on his face.

" Stob! No," she said with a chuckle.

"Of course, you won't tell me. Otherwise, you gotta sacrifice a virgin goat to a moon god or something to keep the world from falling apart, " he grimaced, motioning throw of fake tears in the air.

" I'm just a freshman in Wilmore High. I don't know! Maybe they do take you in the secret inner circle of crazy architects once you climb up the ladder, " she added trying to mimic his tone.

There goes another one of my info

Claire rebuked herself.

Or they know all of these already. They must. They are the Nix after all

" Shame! Since you got packaged here as a sophomore. We would never get to know anymore," he shrugged shaking his head.

" How did you guys decide on it though? To place us all in the second year that is? I mean, Xen is a third-year really. His sports ladder works differently than ours. He'd be repeating a year then. "