Chosen (9781742844657) (10 page)

The man following her was a stranger to me, but he drew my attention (and, I realised, the attention of every other person in the library) immediately. His robes were emerald green, a huge contrast to the purple of the White Elm. His complexion was pale and smooth, but not unhealthily white. His hair was silky and jet-black, longish but not untidy. He wasn't old – in his early twenties, I guessed, about the same age as Angela. He was tall and lean, but not lanky. In fact, he looked very comfortable in his body. He was graceful and had a demandingly strong air.

The energy surrounding him was incredible. He was the most powerful sorcerer in the room, easily, and more powerful than anyone I'd ever before encountered or probably ever would again.

This
had
to be Renatus, the owner of the house. The tall, thin door through which he passed seemed built for his frame. After closing the door, the young man turned back to the silent crowd, ignoring us all, and I heard a few girls gasp as he neared the podium.

He was
beautiful
. Staggeringly beautiful. His features were perfect and carefully formed, like artwork. His dark eyebrows were not too heavy – they were of a perfect thickness, and made him more striking, and hung perfectly over a pair of mesmerising violet eyes…

I blinked as Hiroko nudged me. Trying to hide her smile behind one hand, she pointed discreetly towards a girl a few rows in front of us. She had a high, strawberry blonde ponytail, cute features including an upturned nose, and a couple of freckles. Her bright eyes were fixed upon the man in emerald green and her pretty face sported an awestruck, predatory look. I'd never seen anyone look so intense. I smiled at Hiroko, hoping we didn't giggle. I was glad she'd nudged me – I might have looked just as creepy as that strawberry blonde girl.

‘Lady Miranda, my co-leader,' Lord Gawain continued, although it seemed that many minutes had passed, ‘and Renatus, your headmaster.'

While no one in the audience spoke as Lady Miranda and Renatus took their seats, I felt the surprise and the restlessness of the students. They all desperately wanted to murmur amongst themselves, but knew it would be disrespectful to Lord Gawain. I understood their surprise. Headmaster! Renatus was one of the youngest White Elm councillors present. He was about the same age as my sister, and I knew Angela would not be able to handle the responsibility of that post.

Well, she probably could, if it were her only responsibility. I doubted whether she would have time to run a school
and
clean up after me.

I realised that Lord Gawain was talking again, but I, like everyone else, wasn't really listening. Something or another about respecting each other and property. We were all busy staring at Renatus, who completely ignored us. He was
impossible
to ignore. He listened to Lord Gawain with mild interest, although wore no expression.

Then it was his turn to speak, and we held our breaths. Lord Gawain sat down beside Lady Miranda amongst polite applause, and Renatus stood. The clapping stopped abruptly. He seemed not to notice, and walked to the front of the platform.

‘This school is my house,' he said simply, his voice low, silky and somehow intriguing. He actually sounded almost bored. The strawberry blonde girl looked ready to faint. ‘I trust you will treat it with respect during your time here. Smoking will not be tolerated inside. You will not litter. You will find that electronic equipment will not function in or around this house. Your evening meal is being served now in the dining hall. Afterwards you will be informed of your dormitories. A White Elm member will be assigned as your dormitory supervisor. This is the person to whom you will forward all of your requirements, complaints and questions. He or she will give you a tour of the Academy building, ending at your room. Your keys will open your door. Your belongings are already inside your rooms. Please enjoy your studies throughout the term.'

It was such a short speech that when he stepped off the stage and walked out of the room, we students simply remained where we were, silent and unsure. The White Elm stood and filed off the podium, so, with a nervous glance at Hiroko, she and I stood. The others quickly followed our example, and we all left the library.

This was going to be an interesting year.

Our buffet meal was delicious – roast chickens with a hundred golden potatoes to go around, and plenty of steamed vegetables for those who didn't eat meat. I wasn't one of those people. I loved meat, but I dumped a pile of steamed beans onto my plate as I passed the buffet table, thinking of Angela's health-thing.

The hall itself was long, with the same height ceiling as the entrance hall, high enough to give a feeling of spaciousness without the room having to be particularly sizeable. There was one huge oak table that looked made for the place, and I wondered as I walked in the main doors how anyone had managed to get it in here. It was wider than the door frame, and seemingly all one piece. Was it built inside this room? Straight-backed timber chairs were tucked neatly along both sides. Another, smaller table, much newer and a different colour of wood, obviously added later, was situated to the side with thirteen chairs. It seemed clear that this was where the White Elm would sit, while the big old table was for us.

Hiroko and I sat together at the long, elegant, oak table, chatting over our meals. Opposite us was a pair of identical twin girls. They had chest-length brown hair, sweet faces and crystal green eyes. They looked about my age. I wondered if they'd be in any of my classes.

One of them caught my eye and smiled.

‘I'm Kendra Prescott,' she said. Her sister had a mouthful of roast potato, so she added, ‘This is Sophia.'

‘Aristea,' I answered, glad to meet more people.

‘I'm Hiroko,' my friend added. ‘Where are you from?'

‘Canada,' Kendra replied. ‘Vancouver. That's where our dad lived when Mom met him. She's a witch from the States – he's a mortal.'

‘Where do you live?' Sophia asked. She and her sister sounded almost identical, but I noticed very slight differences in their voices. Cautiously, I allowed my sixth sense to sweep against their presences. As could be expected, there were more differences in their personalities than in their shared appearance.

‘Sapporo, in Japan,' Hiroko said. ‘With my father.'

The twins turned to me expectantly.

‘I live about an hour north from here with my older sister,' I said. ‘We used to live by the sea but now we live in the city.'

The four of us talked for the entirety of the meal. I finished my dinner, arranged my cutlery in the centre of my scraped-clean plate and leaned back. Just as I started to agree with Hiroko's last statement, someone appeared at my elbow to take my dishes. I glanced at the maid in surprise. Where had she come from? She hurried away before I could say anything.

When everyone was done, Lady Miranda stepped forward, and the cheery chatter died away. She had a list in her hand.

‘Your dormitories have been organised according to age,' Lady Miranda explained. ‘When your name is called, will you please come and stand at the front beside me, where your group will be assigned a supervisor, who will then begin your tour of the school.'

Hiroko and I glanced at each other, and then met eyes with the twins across from us. Where would we all be put?

‘Dormitory one: Noah, Michael, Miguel and Brennan,' the famous Healer read from her list. Slowly, four boys stood and made their way towards her. One of them I recognised as the boy who had been sitting beside me in the library. He looked too young to be here. The other three, I noticed, weren't much older. They must be the four youngest boys in the school. ‘Your White Elm supervisor is Jadon. Please follow him now for your tour. Enjoy your term.'

The last White Elm member, the young man with short brown hair, smiled at the boys and led them from the room.

‘Dormitory two: Leilani, Jacinta, Willow and Iseult. Your supervisor is Teresa. Enjoy your term, girls.'

The four girls who followed the young sorceress Teresa didn't look as terribly young as the boys before them had, somehow. Perhaps they were more confident, not having to go first.

‘Dormitory three: Selby, Daniel, Heath and Sylvester. Your supervisor is Tian. Enjoy the term.'

I watched the boys file out of the room and then directed my gaze along the table. Twelve of the thirty-seven students were gone now. Was I next?

‘Dormitory four,' Lady Miranda said, stealing back our attention, ‘Xanthe, Sterling, Aristea and Hiroko.'

I stood slowly, stunned by my good fortune. How lucky to meet someone lovely and then be placed in a dormitory with her! I was disappointed not to be with the Canadian twins. It would have been cool to be put with them, but surely our other roommates would be just as great. I smiled goodbye to Kendra and Sophia and walked with Hiroko to the front of the room. As we passed, most of the White Elm smiled encouragingly at us – they were such nice people. Standing beside Lord Gawain was Renatus. He wasn't smiling, but he was watching me.
Me
. He finally wore the slightest trace of an expression – he looked thoughtful, intrigued. His irresistible violet eyes followed me. I dragged my gaze away.

‘Your supervisor is Emmanuelle,' Lady Miranda said when Hiroko and I reached her. The beautiful blonde French sorceress stepped out of the line and smilingly led us from the room. Hiroko and I followed her along with the other two girls. One of them tugged on my arm excitedly, and I recognised her as the strawberry blonde girl who had been practically drooling over Renatus in the library.

‘I am
so
jealous!' she whispered as we left the dining hall. ‘He was watching you – he is
so, so
gorgeous…'

In the entrance hall, Emmanuelle stopped us.

‘From the entrance ‘all, you can access almost every other part of the school,' she explained, her French accent melodious and lilting. Her “th” became a z sound; she missed out the h in hall.

‘The library, the dining ‘all and the ballroom, where you as students will be able to relax between classes.' She indicated the doors to which she referred, then pointed to another one and said, ‘Through this door is the old servants' wing, but we don't call them that now. The ‘ouse staff still occupy this section. Students are not permitted. The staff run a laundry service – ‘ave your clothes in the ‘amper by nine in the morning to ‘ave it washed that day – and they're very lovely, so if you need anything else, tell them.' She gestured to the huge staircase at the end of entrance hall. ‘This leads to the second floor, which is devoted to bedrooms. Through this door,' she nodded at the lonely door against the back wall, directly opposite the front doors, ‘is the kitchen, which is off-limits to students except in special circumstances, such as bringing a message or serving detention.'

‘Hi, I'm Sterling,' the strawberry blonde girl said to me as we followed Emmanuelle's shimmery, wavy blonde hair up the stairs.

‘I'm Aristea,' I said, cheering up. I was still disappointed that I wasn't with Kendra and Sophia.

‘I can't believe how hot our principal is!' Sterling said. She was American. Hiroko, the other girl and I laughed. Even Emmanuelle glanced back in amusement. ‘Well, he is!' Sterling added defensively. ‘I expected our principal to be old and ridiculous – not a model!'

‘Renatus is not a model,' Emmanuelle said, smiling. ‘I think ‘e would be appalled at the notion of posing for profit.'

‘Doesn't he realise how much money he could make through modelling, though?' Sterling asked, shocked. ‘Doesn't he know how gorgeous he is?'

Emmanuelle thought for a moment as she waited at the top of the steps.

‘I think that if a person is truly beautiful, they must not know it,' she said slowly. ‘An attractive man who believes ‘e is attractive is less charming than a man who is attractive but doesn't know it. Don't you think?'

All that did was confuse me – it didn't really answer Sterling's question at all, but the American girl seemed incredibly moved by this advice. She nodded eagerly.

‘Did you see the colour of his eyes?' Sterling sighed. She turned to the fourth girl. ‘Xanthe, is there something wrong with me?'

Xanthe, I realised then, was Greek. Her colouring was considerably darker than mine, and she was taller than the rest of us. I started to feel at home here at the White Elm Academy – I had at least two nice roommates, two nice acquaintances outside of our dorm, and my final roommate was Greek – we were sure to have heaps in common.

I had always been fascinated by my Greek heritage. My grandfather Cassán had met his wife Anthea when he had travelled to Greece as a young man. He had married her and brought her back to Ireland, where unfortunately she had lived a sheltered and antisocial life, considered by many in their town as an outsider. Luckily, their daughter (Elysia, my mother) had been considerably fairer than her foreign parent and had been better accepted. Perhaps Xanthe could tell me more about where my grandmother had been born.