Nox Inferno

Chapter 4: Firestorm

"Get up!" A voice screeched from the left side of me.

"If you do not get up, I will leave your ass on the plane." It screeched again.

Slowly, I peeled my eyes open to see Lyra staring down at me, "Good morning." I yawned out.

"We are here." I sat up and noticed the half empty plane.

"Thanks for waking me up."

She nodded standing up from her seat, "Anytime."

I stretched before getting up and she handed me my bag.

"Excited?" She asked as she pulled down her own.

"Kind of, I am more excited about not knowing anyone." I replied.

"Running from your past?" She raised an eyebrow as we exited the plane.

"No, I just like it when nobody really knows me, so I can get a chance to make first impressions. I have not been able to do that in a while." I explained.

"I get that feeling too, I am from a small town."

"Which town?" I asked as we headed over to baggage claim.

She smiled, "To keep the mystique, I am not telling you."

I frowned in a teasing sort of way, "Fine, I won't tell you either."

"I already know." She muttered and I raised an eyebrow. Noticing my expression she said, "I am not a stalker, I swear. It's just you are kind of famous."

"Famous?" I asked and I looked into her eyes, though she appeared relaxed on the outside, I could practically see the turmoil underneath.

"Uh..." was all that she said.

"Are you two heading to Ravenwood?" A voice asked.

We turned to see a tall man in a dark red suit, wearing a black and red tie which stood out against the white button down shirt. He had short brown hair, his eyes covered with a dark sunglasses.

"Yeah." I said and I could hear Lyra sigh out in relief.

"Come this way." He said and turned on his heel.

I looked over at Lyra, unsure if we should follow. She shrugged her shoulders and followed him.

"Not to be rude but who are you?" I heard Lyra ask.

"Charles Burmington. Dean of Admissions." He said and I scurried after Lyra.

"How did you convince my dad to let me leave?" I asked still wary that my father, a man who trusted none, was so easily swayed on letting me live away from home.

His response was curt, "Ravenwood needs no convincing." We exited the airport and parked right in front was a dark red limousine, "This is our ride."

Another man, in a black suit grabbed both Lyra and my suitcases before heading to the trunk.

"Thank you." I called after him as Charles, opened the door for us.

"It's about to rain." Lyra said looking up at the clear blue sky before entering the car.

"Glad to have a water nymph around." Charles replied and I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion.

"A water nymph?" I asked as I stepped into the car.

I felt movement on my stomach, assuming it was my owl, I ignored it. It's strange that, I am already use to the fact, that I have a moving tattoo.

"Your animal is a little restless, am I right?" Charles asked as he entered the car and took off his sunglasses revealing green eyes.

"How do you know?" I asked receiving chuckles from Lyra and Charles.

"Oh there is a lot, I know that you don't." He said as the car started moving.

"Like what?" I asked, looking at him very intensely.

"Like, your dreams have been about blood and death. But you are not freaked out about it, you are insanely comfortable with it." He replied and my stomach vibrated, at first I thought it was the owl but I realized it's just because I was hungry.

"Why don't we stop to get something to eat?" Charles said.

"Yes, I would kill for a seaweed wrap about now." Lyra patted her stomach.

"I know just the place, many students go there because they tailor to their unique appetites." He said before tapping on the glass, "Firestorm."

"Oh good, I was worried I was going to have to eat meat there." Lyra sighed out.

"No, there are enough of you guys that if we only served meat would cause an outbreak." He said as she grinned like at cat.

Conversation slowly died out as we each stared out the window, watching the rain slide down the glass

"Welcome to Firestorm." A voice said as we pushed open the door.

The place was decorated in white, black and red. The only other colors was the outfits, the people were wearing but most of them wearing uniform but they were black, white and red as well.

"Hi, Adonia" Charles whispered to the woman behind the counter who began to blush.

I turned around, this man was going to be my dean. I really did not want to see him flirt, that's gross.

"Your table is this way." She said and giggled a little.

I fell back into step with Lyra as we watched the two grown-ups flirt, "No wonder he chose this restaurant." I muttered unintentionally.

Lyra snorted, "I'm sure that was a big factor."

"Have you seen Ravenwood before?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah. It's very isolated, near the base of a mountainous range, but I am told if you walk far enough, you could find a waterfall."

"Walk? Do you mean hiking? Because, I can't hike with all the bugs waiting to suck my blood out there." I grimace at the memory of my uncle taking my cousin and I hiking, but two minutes in, I realised that the mosquitoes are huge and made me really itchy. I had chicken pox before, when I was younger, but the mosquito bites that covered my body felt worse.Ever since then, I have sworn off hiking.

"What I really can't wait for, is the classes." Lyra chirped, drawing me away from that horrible memory.

"Really?" I asked incredulously, "You can't wait for those, I think that is the only thing, I could wait for."

"Your table." Adonia said before gesturing to a small booth.

"Thank you." Charles purred at her, causing me to wrinkle my nose in disgust. Charles, finally remembering we were with him said, "Girls, I would like to introduce you to my ma-- wife, Adonia."

"Hello." I said and gave a quick wave.

Lyra bowed her head, "I am Lyra Watergrove." she said before straightening herself. Was this some sort of custom, that people did and I never noticed?

Adonia turned to me, "What's your name sweetie?"

"Twyla Chantelle." I said and bowed which caused laughter.

I turned to Lyra who was looking away, but could see hints of a smile from the side of her face.

"What?" I asked.

"You don't need to do that." Adonia said all flushed and embarrassed.

"But, Lyra did." I stated.

"Because, that's how we greet new people back home." Lyra explained, "You don't need to do that."

Dean Charles cleared his throat, "Why don't we take our seats, because I am famished."

Lyra scooted into the chair across from him and I followed suit, Adonia then passed us a menu.

"I will take a seaweed wrap and water." Lyra said quickly before handing it back to her.

Adonia pulled out a notepad and scribbled it down, she looked at me expectantly.

Quickly, I looked down but nothing looked familiar. Even the kids menu, which normally had chicken nuggets or mac'n'cheese, was weird. It had "Firecrispys" and "Kelpies Paradise." I have never heard of a single one of these things.

"Twyla." Dean Charles said and I looked up, "You should try the Inferno Bliss shake with Firecrispys."

"Okay, I nodded and trusted him, maybe he had a good taste when it comes to this dinner.

Adonia made a noise of disgust, "Honey, I love you and all but that is just downright disgusting. It won't catch on and if this is her first time trying our food and you give her that, she will be scarred for life."

He lifted his hands in surrender, "Fine. But I would like one though."

"Already wrote it down." Adonia said and turned to me, "As a well established worker here, you should try Night River while drinking moonwater."

"Sure, I will take that instead." I said and her face brightened with happiness.

Dean Charles scofts, "That is way too sweet, it will send her into a sugar shock. Wouldn't be the first time either."

"Don't tell her that, besides, that little wimp could not handle sweet in the first place." Adonia said passive-aggressively.

"What makes you think she will?" He stated calmly.

"I can-" I tuned them out, they were like a pendulum, swinging back and forth. I felt a flutter on my back, it was likely the owl moving again. I almost forgot, he or she, I am not sure of the gender, was there.

I had to make a choice on my food and neither options sounded appealing to me at this point. But not wanting to offend neither one of them I said, "Could I have a Inferno Bliss shake with a Night River." Both of them stopped and stared at me.

"Sounds good to me." Adonia said before turning and walking away.

"Do you girls have uniforms?" Dean Charles asked completely out of the blue.

Uniforms? I didn't realise we needed them. I don't want to be the only one who didn't know. Please, if anyone was up there, please make Lyra not know too.

"Yeah I have mine in my carry-on." Lyra said and all hope was quashed.

"Oh, I don't" I whispered, embarrassed.

Dean Charles laughed, "Don't worry, your uniform was bought already. It's waiting in your dorm room."

"My parents got me my uniform and didn't tell me?" I asked incredulous.

"The people you lived with didn't buy it." He said hesitantly, like he knew I was going to ask him a question. If my parents didn't buy it, who did? What did he mean 'the people I lived with', couldn't he have just said, 'my parents'?

Just then the bell chimed and in walked four people. As soon as they entered the building, all noise stopped and everyone stared at them.

All four of them were wearing a uniform, maybe the Ravenwood uniform? All four of them had hauntingly dark hair that stood out against every other hair color in the room.

In the center of the others stood a tall guy with electric blue eyes which seemed to glow. Next to him was a shorter guy, if he was standing by himself he would be very tall but compared to the first guy he was short.He had light blue eyes that looked silver. Maybe the two are brothers, with their midnight hair and blue eyes. Next to him were two raven-haired girls. One girl, was as tall as the second guy. She had bright green eyes. The other girl, the shortest of them all had, pink eyes? Like my dream but that’s crazy, maybe she was wearing contacts. I wonder if they were all wearing contacts. But for some reason I didn't really believe they were.

"A table for four with our usual." The tallest guy said to Adonia.

She nodded, but flinched when the shorter guy surveyed the room and barked out, "Whatcha looking at?"

With that the room slowly began to fill with chatter, but not as loud as before. Occasionally others would glance at them, someone next to me cleared their throat.

"Drop dead gorgeous, aren't they?" Lyra snickered.

"Um..." I shrugged my shoulders and looked back at her, "They aren't ugly."

"Sure..."She drawled out, "And I am a magical unicorn."

"You can be whatever you want to be." I replied, "Are they from Ravenwood?"

The Dean laughed, "Aren't just from Ravenwood, they practically own it." He laughed again.

"Are they the principal's children?" I asked, very confused.

"No, not they aren't related. They are kind of famous, a little like you."He said, before glancing back at them.

That's the second time I was called "famous" and I have no idea why. I don't think, I have done anything important, but everyone seems to know me.

"What do you mean fam-" I was cut of by the sliding of chairs.

It were the four odd ones, as I am calling them now, they all were watching me very intensely as they sat down across from us.

"Hello, Dean Charles." The shortest guy said, never taking his eyes off me.

"Hello Zephyr." Dean said and I heard Lyra making a squeaking noise behind me.

Breaking eye contact with the odd ones, I turned to look at her. Her red cheeks were very prominent against her sea blue eyes.

"Do you know them?" I whispered, and she nodded furisioly.

I was going to ask 'how' but I was interrupted, "Hello I am Clementine." I turned to face the girl with pink eyes holding out her hand.

"I'm Twyla."

Her eyes twinkled, they were just too realistic to be fake, "This is Alvina." She pointed to the girl with the green eyes.

"Hi." She smiled and pulled up a seat next to the booth, "Do you mind if we sit with you guys?" She didn't wait for a reply before pull the small square table against ours.

"This is Zephyr ." Alvina said as she pulled on Zephyr's arm.

He broke out into a smile, "How's it going, lassie?" He asked before sliding into the booth next to Dean Charles.

I wanted to respond, 'Uncomfortable, because a group of weird strangers are being really nice to me and it is freaking me out' but I said instead, "Okay. This is Lyra." I said gesturing to the red Lyra staring at Zephyr.

"Pleasure." Zephyr said with a wink before turning to face the one guy still standing. He towered over the table making me feel very uncomfortable.

His gaze sent chills down my sides especially when he opened his mouth and said, "My name is Kai." Then he sat down at the end of the table, never taking his eyes off me.

"How long have you guys gone to Ravenwood?" I asked.

"Forever." Kai said, and that one word caused the whole table to be blanketed with smoldering silence.

Could this be anymore awkward?