"I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy" -Franz Kafka

∞

Over the next few days, despite my attempts to forget the disastrous night all-together, I still felt the heated gaze of foreign eyes on me as the days progressed. I sensed them tracking me as I walked down the halls with my friends, studied in the library, or simply attended classes. It was though I was the most fascinating exhibition in a freak museum, and his obsessive behavior was even noted by bystanders. Our Ancient Runes professor had to scold him into paying attention, seeing that he found his eyes wandering yet again.

I was thankful that we only had a few classes together, seeing that his curriculum was completely different then mine. Our schedules at the academy were almost entirely based on the type of mage or witch you were. Upon your second year, you began taking courses that were personally attuned to your magical abilities. It guaranteed that mages stuck to their kin and tracts.

Thankfully, Paris and I were in completely different categories, on complete opposite ends of the scale. We spent our days in classes that were honed to our skills. It would help us work towards a profession, coming out of school advanced in their magical abilities. While he was in Magical Combat, Light Manipulation, and whatever morally radiant, goodness-and-friendship based courses he was taking, I was studying subjects that were...less preppy.

The teachers of these specialized, tract classes were called Beldames.  Each magical subgroup had professors  who were qualified to teach the advanced studies, being that classification of witch themselves. My courses, lucky me, were overseen by our Headmistress Rowena herself. She was one of the only two Dark Practitoning Witches in the academy. The second Dark Witch was Madame Grisbane; a teacher notorious for the black eyeliner that covered the entirety of her eyelid and the silver claw armor adoring her pointer finger. 

She was the Belldame of all the Dark Practitioning students of this academy, and personally reminded me of a hawk. Mother forbid she caught you outside your dorm past hours. She had no moral inhibitions regarding using her metal claws on you.

My tract courses shifted between the two. When I finished my core classes, I would spend my Shadow Ethics, Dark Energy Siphoning, and Shadow Manipulation, with Rowena.  Grisbane handled Demonology and Study of Shadow Beasts, Necromancy and Venom Crafting. Though I enjoyed the latter teacher's classes more, I feared her metal claw more than I feared Rowena's steely, intimidating gaze, so I preferred our Headmistress over my own Belldame. Grisbane had an affinity for the misery of children.

Four days after the Paris incident, Grisbane managed to make my exhausted, crabby state even more miserable. After a particularly contemptible Thursday, where my Toxicology project combusted in front of me and burned all of my notes, Grisbane made me clean her entire laboratory half an hour into dinner. 

She was in a raging fit from my poison malfunctioning, having burned through her cauldron, then straight through the lab table below. True, the poison hadn't turned out how It was intended, but I was sure that if any being drank the pure acid that I had created, they would most certainly drop dead. I failed to understand why she was in such a rage.

Scrubbing her miserable laboratory was absolutely disgusting, and my finger nails had all but chipped off, the skin on my fingertips peeling by the end of it. Throughout the entirety of the process I was cursing her with every hex and curse word In my extensive word bank. Once I was done,  I had to apply ointment to my rubbed-raw hands, the skin having boils from the overexposure to toxic chemicals and poisons. By the time the ointment had repaired the damaged skin, I only had a half an hour left for dinner. My day had gone miserably, and  Paris' violating stare was the bloody cherry on top.

I fumed silently as I sat with my friends in the dining hall of the academy, eating our evening meals and conversing with each other.  Ibet Abbasid, a girl I had been closely aquatinted with since my first year, was by my side poking at her meal and sighing in an unamused manner. She had already been irritated from being left in the company of the insufferable twins, Cesarie and Clairmont Zhifeng, all day. The twins were longtime friends of ours, and were also Dark Practitioners, being most talented in their invasive mental magic. This made them particularly obnoxious to be around.

They were Drakaeri, known for their outstanding telepathic abilities. Their courses were stock loaded with ethics teachings, seeing that mind-manipulation came with their set of abilities, and also because they both had a very lenient outlook on morals. They weren't evil, just firmly believed in the free use of their magic.

The fact that the twins mostly communicated amongst each other telepathically, and sometimes broke their silence by simultaneously giggling, didn't help the unease the other students felt around them. For us, it meant that they didn't bother speaking, instead barging straight into our minds and jump scaring us the second we let our mental guards slip. Absolute nuisances.

Ibet reeled me in from my sinkhole of thoughts with a clearing of her throat.

"Is there a reason that the Arobynn boy has been eyeing you all week?" She asked me, raising her striking, green eyes from her food. She shot me a mirthless look.  Ibet was gorgeous- a South Asian-Arab beauty with rich brown skin and vivid, feline, green eyes. Her chocolate-brown assortment of curls were always wrapped up in a loose headscarf, the tail lazily thrown over her shoulder. Despite how pleasing she was to look at though, the current expression adorning her face made me want to squirm. She had a way of doing that- making you feel reckless and foolhardy, as though you were being scolded by a mother hen.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ibet" I replied to her cooly, keeping my face stoney and devoid of any emotion that could possibly give me away. She raised one of her thick eyebrows at me, before tucking away the stray curl that had fallen out of her gold-threaded scarf.

The twins both looked up from their mental conversation at Ibet's words. Their golden eyes- a signature trait of powerful Drakaeri lines- were glinting with absolute mischief. I stared them down, daring them to try to crawl into my brain. I knew they could, and they had no shame in doing it too, but they also knew that I could drag them back by the throats and blind them.

Their power was heavily reliant on their eyesight. I knew it had something to do with the pure gold shade of them, but couldn't prove it; the information regarding the magic of Drakaeri was very limited and evasive in answers. Finally, after a long stare down, Cesarie rolled her eyes at me and Clairmont scoffed, backing down. Instead they both tried to to turn around and look for Paris.

"Don't you two dare, you shameless fiends" I hissed at them, making them sit back down in their seats. I didn't need them digging through my mind, and I definitely didn't need them digging through Paris' either.

"You're no fun..." Cera pouted, and Clairmont continued for her, "You're too frigid to tell us the interesting bits, and you won't let us dig through your mind either..."

Cera added on, "How is it fair that Paris is off limits too? You're just being selfish now, by not letting us look"

"There is nothing to see" I seethed at them while they squirmed against me in their seats, trying to twist around towards where Paris was sitting. I dutifully avoided eye contact with him as I struggled to contain the twins in place. If he locked eyes with them, it was game over.

"Tell that to Paris..." Cesarie began, and Clairmont finished, "...He definitely thinks there's something to see, considering the fact that he's been staring at you all week"

"He's still staring at you" Ibet noted, a sarcastic smile rising on her full lips. Ibet, the one who prided herself in her condescending maturity, was encouraging their behavior. I flared my eyes at my so-called friends, who somehow all came to an agreement that it was "Torment-Eulalia-Day". In a fit, I slammed my hands on the dining table and rose up. A little, blonde witch on the other end of the table gave a jump, startled by the bang.

Ignoring her, I snapped my head in Paris' direction; he was too late to react and didn't look away in time. I guess simply ignoring him till he left me alone, would not work. It was bad enough that he was bothering me, but piquing my friends' interests was outright ludicrous.

Jumping up from my dinner table, I made eye contact with Paris. His green eyes widened at my expression, which was no doubt infuriated, and continued staring at me. His best friend, Aline Merengue, was sat next to him. She was chatting to him animatedly, looking at him with such adoration in her eyes that it was a wonder she didn't ravish him right there and then. Instead, this moron of a boy was trapped in a heated stare down with me. Well, not for long.

I pushed my chair back, with full intention to leave the room before I lost my temper and clawed out his eyes, with my sharp, pointy nails. He would follow me. I was sure of it. Someone as nosy as him most definitely would. His type couldn't handle minding their business. How could he, when the villain of his story- Evil Eulalia- was sneaking out while everyone was preoccupied. Who knew what malice I was up to? I turned my heel and stormed out of the dining hall, slamming the double doors behind me. They were enchanted to close slowly, but the affect wasn't lost.

I waited for Paris to come out, wrapping myself invisible in a shadowy alcove of the hall. He wouldn't see me, but I could see him- perfect for an ambush. Just as I predicted, a few moments later, the doors to the dining hall opened and outstepped Paris. I watched as Paris sauntered out of the hall, and glanced  around in confusion, wondering where I had disappeared to. With a jerk of my head, the shadows from my corner blinded him completely like a blanket of darkness, muffling his scream as I threw him up against the wall.

The majority of shadows bled off like dye as he was pushed up to the wall. When his eyes adjusted to the light again, they widened at the sight of me pressing my elbow against his jugular. Not enough pressure to keep him elevated  from the ground, but enough for it to hurt. Thankfully my shadows did all the work of keeping him plastered against the stone with his feet dangling.

"What is your problem, Arobynn? You think I haven't noticed you staring at me all week? I thought our agreement was for you to leave me the Hell alone" I snarled at him, wrapping the shadows around us so that passerby's couldn't see our interaction. His eyes widened at the shadow blanket rose over us again, this time leaving a couple feet of light around us.

When he didn't answer, I tightened the shadows around his chest where he was being held up. I heard his back pop as they squeezed his torso like a snake suffocating it's prey. The shadows wrapped around him in the form of onyx vines. They held him up from the ground, and subtly lifted me along so that I could be at eye level with him. I was fuming, the foulness of my day fueling my magic like gasoline to a flame.

"You're—you're summoning Hell beasts again? Already? Are you trying to kill somebody??" He finally choked out, his face tinting scarlet from lack of air flow. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and let him fall to the ground, taking his burgundy face as a cue. As he caught his breath, I genuinely tried to comprehend what on earth he meant. Was I going to kill someone? What in bloody Hell gave him that idea? I had no use of murdering someone at the moment.

Circumstantially- I wouldn't put it past me. But I wasn't some lunatic,  who had nothing better to do than randomly butcher people because of an emotional instability. Yes, it's true that I did sometimes wonder whether or not I was a sociopath, but only in the manner of not being able to relate to the morons in my age group. And I did have an ego complex, but it was rightfully deserved. My magic was quite extraordinary.

"What are you on about, Arobynn?" I demanded in a harsh tone. In what context was he asking me this? Was I going to bloody kill someone? Him, maybe, if he continued staring at me like I personally ensured the slaughter of his grandmother. Even if I did decide to murder someone, I would definitely not use a Hell beast to do it. If I somehow managed to control it and restrain it from eating half of the student body, magic traces would still point straight to me.

"The energy in the school has shifted. It has become darker. I don't know how to explain it, but I can sense it. Someone has been opening up portals. Something has slipped through the Veil. Was it you? Are you already summoning again?" He asked again, finally breathing stably. He got up and I realized how close our bodies were in the limited space of the shadow pocket.  I quickly stepped back and put some distance between us, crossing my arms over my chest.

"It is hardly any of your business what and when I am summoning, but for your information, no. I haven't summoned anything as of late, and I'm most definitely not planning on murdering anyone at the moment. Is this why you've been staring at me all week long?" I asked in absolute disbelief. 

I was lying. If I had an agenda to murder someone, most likely him, I would never admit it. Especially to him, of all people. He would not think twice to slay me with that heirloom sword of his. 

Paris' words unsettled me. Who was summoning in our academy? And what right did they have? I only did it out of necessity, and because I was utmost confident in my ability to control the dark creatures. What right did some maggot, embryonic student have to be manipulating forces they could not comprehend?

"I- In our deal it said I couldn't expose your demon" Paris Arobynn began, "That means that I couldn't interfere if you summoned another hell-beast into the school. I wouldn't be able to stop it if it ravaged the entire student body, because I wouldn't be able to act out against you. You worded it so conveniently for yourself by promising only to keep your hellhound contained. That didn't mean you couldn't summon more. 

Not to mention your affinity for summoning dark creatures. You're familiar with maiming lethal demons, demons you shouldn't even be capable of summoning. You purposefully summoned a dark creature to your dorm, knowing I would be drawn to it, and lured me into your room to trap me. Instead of killing me, you made a deal, and now I won't be able to stand in your way if you do decide to do something sinister" The words rushed out of his mouth in one breath.

I blinked at him very slowly, processing his words. I was stunned really, rolling my reply on the tip of my tongue, attempting to find an appropriate response. Finally, after several moments of his heavy breathing in absolute silence, I replied,

"And you decided that something sinister, concluded to be me releasing Hell beasts on our academy?" I deadpanned, my tone dry and languid, as if I was talking to someone mentally deficient.

"Yes" He replied, obviously not seeing the hysteria of his far-fetched statement. He genuinely believed that I would act on this unbelievable psychotic "plan".

"For your claims of me being the sinister one, you sure are conniving" My voice was dry with a bitter amusement ringing through it. It honestly flattered me that my deviousness had occupied his mind almost obsessively these past days. And yet, he managed to underestimate me by overestimating me.  If I had purposefully lured him in, it would have been a good plan to keep him out of my way. But it was completely accidental and unmeditated.

I had no idea the Umbra would appear, seeing that I did not purposefully summon it. I was intending for another, more demure monster. I wasn't stupid enough to call a demon, that I did not have enough energy to  keep contained. Not to mention that It was a big enough threat to trigger Paris. If he sensed it, then other supervisors  would too.

 I understood why Paris would be concerned about me summoning a worse demon, when I was already accidentally summoning creatures that advanced mages took months to conjure. But did he genuinely think I was foolish enough to release a Hell beast on the school? I did not wish for death at the stake.

I prodded his chest with my finger and narrowed my eyes incriminatingly, having got his little interrogation out of the way. It was my turn to accuse him. I called to more and more shadows till I was sure my eyes were faintly glowing grey. If I were to intimidate him away, I would have to pull in some dramatic party tricks. A raging expression with glowing eyes would surely do the job.

"What part of 'leave me alone' did you not understand? If I plan to kill someone, you will be the first to know because it'll be you. Im not stupid enough to release Hell beasts into the school and condemn myself. And you are seriously delusional with your inflated sense of self-importance. Do you honestly believe that your involvement will change anything?That you'll be able to stop me ?" I scoffed out,  while pushing him back up again the wall with my shadows. For theatrical purposes, I made my shadows slither under his shirt and up his spine, making a feeling of literal unease slide up his back. His eyes widened as I gave him a final, conclusive glare.

"Leave. Me. Alone" I spat at him a final time, before dropping the curtain of shadows from around us in a plan to leave. Instantly, I froze in response to the rush of sound coming from the hall. Sometime during our talk, the dinner bell had rung, and students were now milling about in the hallways. Well...they were milling. Now they were just at a standstill, gaping at Paris and I, the former happening to be pressed against the wall when I dropped the invisibility shield. Oh for the Mothers sake.

I looked back to Paris, who's green eyes were wide in the response to the students. Some help he was. Deciding to take matters into my own hands, I swiftly turned towards them and gave the worst death glare I could muster, narrowing my eyes and furrowing  my brows, the corners of my mouth slightly dipping. I willed up a fragment of my magic, making my aura get darker and the room drop several degrees, practically daring them to say something. The kids I made eye contact with paled, and quickly scuffled off to their destination.

When the crowd thinned, and all the students were dutifully pretending we weren't here, I finally let my magic drop. Paris ungracefully fell to the ground along with it. Whoops.

"Why did you do that?" Paris snipped from behind me. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared. There was irritation in his tone, as if he was displeased with me that I didn't smile my way out of this.

"What? Were you going to politely tell them to sod off? Wave at them like the golden boy you are and tell them that they could be your swell friend if they ignored us? Silly me. I mean who would give up a chance at a friendship with the Paris Arobynn?" I mocked him.

"Well you didn't have to glare at them like you were about to bite their heads off" He said exasperated. His tone was annoyed, probably because he got called a golden boy.

"I didn't have to do anything. I did it because I wanted to" I snapped at him, before wondering why the Hell I was justifying my actions to him of all people. I stopped my bickering and snarled, "Leave. Me. Alone. Go bask your 'irresistible' glory on someone else, golden boy", before turning my heel and storming out of the hallway, trying to get as far as humanly possible from this delusional oaf.