Casters (Book One: Star Caster)

Chapter Twelve

We walk down a long sidewalk past the academic building and the library to a different building, one I haven't seen before. It was just adjacent to what I've learned is Crystal Keep, aka the place I saw myself die.

The whole building is darker than the others, with dark brick, dark paint, just a dark aura about it. The name of the building is Shadow Holt. A strange name for anything really, much less a building.

"You feel it, don't you?" Cyrene says as we stop in front of the building.

"Feel it?"

"I can sense your hesitation, sense your energy getting on guard. You feel it, don't you?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Okay, close your eyes."

I do.

"Now I want you to think about what you are feeling."

"Okay..."

"Just do it."

I can feel this gut-twisting anxiety, a fear like no other. I can feel my fight or flight response getting ready to take over at any moment, the hairs on my arm standing on edge. I don't know why I'm feeling this, but I'm sure it has something to do with this building.

"What do you feel?"

"Anxiety."

"Right, and what is the cause of that anxiety?"

"The building?" I open my eyes.

"Exactly, you know why that is?"

"No."

"Because this building is Shadowed."

"What?"

"Shadowed, a shadow caster owns the building and has cast a shadow on it to make it a more private place. Shadow casters are our natural rivals, enemies if you want to go that far. They are our opposites, just as truth and full disclosure is our thing, Privacy and keeping things hidden is their thing. We can always sense a shadow caster from a mile away because our energies naturally clash, just as they can always sense us."

"Oh."

She ushers me inside and towards a door that almost seems to be glowing. It's so bright compared to the other dark doors around it. Her name is on the door. Cyrene Windsor.

"For the first couple of weeks, I am just going to be teaching you the basics that every caster should know. You'll go to your regular classes and come to me for some one-on-one tutoring. We'll have three sessions a day. A morning session before breakfast. A session during your lunch period just so I can answer any lingering questions. And a three-hour session after class. Just relax and get comfortable. My home is your home," She twirls around with her arms outstretched.

The walls are bookshelves filled to the brim with books. There's a desk in the back corner by a window. On it is mountains upon mountains of paperwork and a desktop computer. There's a leather couch with a blanket on it and a small coffee table in front of it also covered in papers. Despite the mess, it had a homey feel to it.

I sat on the couch and sunk into it. She pulls up a chair on the other side of the coffee table, moving all the papers and books to the pile on her desk. Then with a great sigh, she plops down and kicks up her legs on the table.

"Alright, where should we begin?"

"How about what the heck is energy? From what I learned in school there were only two types. Potential and Kinetic. But I have a feeling that's not what you guys are talking about."