Read Online Magic University Book One: The Siren and the Sword by Cecilia Tan - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Cecilia Tan
Tags: Erotic Romance
Ads: Link
drizzled just so, and whipped cream, and jimmies.
When he got back to the table neither of them had moved. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to be so...cranky.” He thought of Master Brandish as he said that.
Maybe he’d feel better after the ice cream.
Jess’s black eyes were fixed on him. “It’s all right,” she finally said. “It’s just...it’s hard for us to get used to how...um...clueless you are.”
“Tactful, Jess, real tactful,” Alex said with an amused air.
“Well, it’s true! It’s not like it’s Kyle’s fault he doesn’t know anything, though. It’s got to be like going to college in another country where you don’t even speak the language or something. Or you only speak the textbook version. We’ll try to explain more and make fewer assumptions, Kyle. Won’t we, Alex?”
Alex shrugged. “I’m not the one he yelled at.”
“Who’s yelling at who?” Randall sat down next to Alex. “Hey, Kyle. Got your text. Are they really getting you down over at Gladius House?”
Kyle groaned. “It’s all formal manners and sitting in the pecking order over there. I can’t believe I ended up there.” He smacked his forehead. “If only I’d cut the cards! I would have gotten something else. But I was nervous, you know? I just kind of fumbled with the cards and took the one on top.”
Jess stole a spoonful of his ice cream. “Well, no cut at all is still a kind of cut,” she said. “And even if you
had
cut the cards, you still had a one in four chance of what you got being a sword, too, Kyle.”
“But I don’t feel like I belong there. I thought the whole point of the choosing was to get put where you belong?”
Alex took up a spoon and started stealing from Kyle’s mountain of ice cream, too. “Well, the choosing doesn’t always put you where you’d be happiest. And it sounds to me like you don’t feel much like you belong anywhere right now.”
“Well, that’s true...”
“And who knows? Maybe fate has a reason for you to be there, Kyle.” Randall looked around as he said this, as if worried about who might overhear. “Sometimes it takes time to see the design.”
Alex ribbed him. “I thought you didn’t believe in Soothsaying.”
Randall drew himself up. “I never said that! I just don’t believe I have any particular ability for it. Which my mother refuses to believe, but, well.” He shrugged and began to placidly salt his food.
Randall had told Kyle during Alchemy last week that he was the first one in his family to attend Veritas. He came from a long line of voodoo practitioners in Trinidad, who all expected him to become the greatest Soothsayer of them all. He still hadn’t told his mother he was planning to major in Alchemy, but he had a feeling she knew anyway, given the scolding tone of her recent letters and the number of luck talismans she had been sending.
A few more Camella folks came to sit with them after that. Kyle recognized Yoshi, a Japanese transfer student who hung around with them a lot and who seemed to have learned English from rap albums, and it looked like Jeanie and Lindy had brought Ciara, the Irish girl from poetry class.
Alex looked down the length of the table and then back at Kyle. “You feeling a little less lonely now, Ace?”
Kyle had to grin. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“All right, so back to my original question. What are we going to wear for the Halloween Ball?”
* * * *
Kyle waited until Saturday night to try to talk to Jess about a lot of the things he had going through his head. Theywent to see a movie being shown on campus, but halfway through she squeezed his hand, they looked at each other, and he just knew they both wanted to go. So they left without saying a word, walking hand in hand past the cathedral-like edifice of Memorial Hall. Alex had taken him inside once just to see where the non-magical freshmen ate. “Like something right out of Oxford and Cambridge, isn’t it?” he’d said.
When he got back to the table neither of them had moved. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to be so...cranky.” He thought of Master Brandish as he said that.
Maybe he’d feel better after the ice cream.
Jess’s black eyes were fixed on him. “It’s all right,” she finally said. “It’s just...it’s hard for us to get used to how...um...clueless you are.”
“Tactful, Jess, real tactful,” Alex said with an amused air.
“Well, it’s true! It’s not like it’s Kyle’s fault he doesn’t know anything, though. It’s got to be like going to college in another country where you don’t even speak the language or something. Or you only speak the textbook version. We’ll try to explain more and make fewer assumptions, Kyle. Won’t we, Alex?”
Alex shrugged. “I’m not the one he yelled at.”
“Who’s yelling at who?” Randall sat down next to Alex. “Hey, Kyle. Got your text. Are they really getting you down over at Gladius House?”
Kyle groaned. “It’s all formal manners and sitting in the pecking order over there. I can’t believe I ended up there.” He smacked his forehead. “If only I’d cut the cards! I would have gotten something else. But I was nervous, you know? I just kind of fumbled with the cards and took the one on top.”
Jess stole a spoonful of his ice cream. “Well, no cut at all is still a kind of cut,” she said. “And even if you
had
cut the cards, you still had a one in four chance of what you got being a sword, too, Kyle.”
“But I don’t feel like I belong there. I thought the whole point of the choosing was to get put where you belong?”
Alex took up a spoon and started stealing from Kyle’s mountain of ice cream, too. “Well, the choosing doesn’t always put you where you’d be happiest. And it sounds to me like you don’t feel much like you belong anywhere right now.”
“Well, that’s true...”
“And who knows? Maybe fate has a reason for you to be there, Kyle.” Randall looked around as he said this, as if worried about who might overhear. “Sometimes it takes time to see the design.”
Alex ribbed him. “I thought you didn’t believe in Soothsaying.”
Randall drew himself up. “I never said that! I just don’t believe I have any particular ability for it. Which my mother refuses to believe, but, well.” He shrugged and began to placidly salt his food.
Randall had told Kyle during Alchemy last week that he was the first one in his family to attend Veritas. He came from a long line of voodoo practitioners in Trinidad, who all expected him to become the greatest Soothsayer of them all. He still hadn’t told his mother he was planning to major in Alchemy, but he had a feeling she knew anyway, given the scolding tone of her recent letters and the number of luck talismans she had been sending.
A few more Camella folks came to sit with them after that. Kyle recognized Yoshi, a Japanese transfer student who hung around with them a lot and who seemed to have learned English from rap albums, and it looked like Jeanie and Lindy had brought Ciara, the Irish girl from poetry class.
Alex looked down the length of the table and then back at Kyle. “You feeling a little less lonely now, Ace?”
Kyle had to grin. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“All right, so back to my original question. What are we going to wear for the Halloween Ball?”
* * * *
Kyle waited until Saturday night to try to talk to Jess about a lot of the things he had going through his head. Theywent to see a movie being shown on campus, but halfway through she squeezed his hand, they looked at each other, and he just knew they both wanted to go. So they left without saying a word, walking hand in hand past the cathedral-like edifice of Memorial Hall. Alex had taken him inside once just to see where the non-magical freshmen ate. “Like something right out of Oxford and Cambridge, isn’t it?” he’d said.
Similar Books
