Casters (Book One: Star Caster)

Chapter Nine

What does a celestial council of elders look like anyway? All I can think of is freaks in cloaks traveling in balls of light. Can I do that? Note to self, see if you can travel as a ball of light.

Why did they want to see me again? I mean they are the ones who picked me to come to this school, they obviously knew what they were in for. What I want to know is why the heck did they pick me? Who said this was a good idea? Because let me tell you, whoever they are, obviously wasn't paying close attention.

On a side note, I should really go over the dumb schedule they gave me because I ended up missing breakfast for this. Which makes me cranky. A girl has to eat. Cyrene kept rushing me, apparently, the elders are not very patient people.

Cyrene led me to what I always imagined a council room to look like. There is this semicircle of chairs around a marble table. With exactly 17 people in the chairs, which I discovered after silently counting to myself. Each has on a cloak, hood down thankfully, with a symbol on it. A symbol for their types of magic they use, I guess.

But I couldn't help but notice not a single one of those symbols matched the one I saw when I got chosen.

"Emery Ellison, nice to meet you," One man said.

He's tall with a clean-shaven face. His hair is really long and slicked back into a ponytail. He smiles at me.

"Emery, we want to know exactly what happened to you when you went into Crystal Keep, can you tell us?" A woman spoke up.

She is old, with wispy grey hair. Her face seemed to droop naturally, and her stature looked small and frail.

"I already said, I don't really remember. I got into a fight with my roommate and I went there to hide. I can't really remember anything after that," I lie.

"Nothing at all?" A young-looking man asks.

They all needle into me with their eyes. I squirm in place and avoid meeting their eyes. Cyrene places her hand on my shoulder and eyes me.

"Emery, we can tell you're hiding something," The old woman said.

"No, I, well... it's hard to explain."

"How so?"

"I had this freaky dream like I was talking to myself, my older self. It's nothing really, I was just stressed out. I probably just fell asleep or something."

They mumble to themselves talking in hush voices so I couldn't exactly hear. I look to Cyrene; she gives me a reassuring smile. I feel like I am on trial for something, and no matter what I say they will automatically come back with a guilty verdict.

I subconsciously rub my hand and hold it close to my body.

"Can you tell us about the dream?" they ask.

I feel like they know something I don't. Something they aren't going to tell me.

I shift in place and look down at my shoes. The shoes came with the uniform. They aren't required according to the first couple of pages of the student handbook, but you do have to wear black shoes. The only black shoes I own are really worn down and in desperate need of a break.

These shoes are too shiny, too new looking. It's obvious that I haven't ever worn them. It highlights how new I am at all of this. It makes me feel like I am walking in the shoes of a stranger.

"Emery," The old woman said causing me to snap my head up and pay attention again.

"It's nothing really, I was just stressed out and delusional. It's just a bunch of nonsense." I say.