Vespertine

Caiden sat in the middle of the room, hands in his lap. The table in front of him made for a suspiciously interrogative vibe. He watched the two men on the other side of the room.

The first man was sitting down in a comfortable chair, hidden in the shadows. Caiden knew what he looked like, though- extremely average. Astor didn’t seem threatening or intimidating, and that was part of what made him so dangerous. Nobody expected him to be.

The other man, however, pacing back and forth in front of him, was immediately recognizable as formidable. He was tall and had deep-set eyes, topped with thick, unamused brows. His cheeks were long and hollow. Staed was most definitely scary.

Caiden realized that Staed was staring, waiting for an answer. Unfortunately, he kind of hadn’t heard the question.

“Yes?” He tried.

Staed glared. “I asked you why you missed your training today, not if you did. Yes is not an acceptable answer.”

Caiden cleared his throat in an attempt to buy time. “Ah, yeah. About that. I had some…things.”

“Things?”

He nodded sagely. “Stuff.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to be more specific than that,” Staed replied, irritably.

“Things-stuff. Important ones.”

Staed slammed his hands down on the desk, causing Caiden to flinch slightly. “Enough of your excuses, Caiden,” Staed snarled. “How can you expect us to treat you like an adult when you refuse to act like one?”

Caiden opened his mouth to retort, but whatever witty remark he had planned withered as Astor stood up.

Staed straightened up as Astor came forward. Caiden watched him warily as he bent over the desk, towards Caiden. Slowly and impassively, Astor raised a hand and stroked Caiden’s cheek.

Caiden hated it when Astor did that. It was creepy and gave him goosebumps. And it was usually followed by some kind of vague threat, which gave him even more goosebumps.

“You’re never going to be the savior of the world if you don’t train, Caiden.”

I don’t want to be the savior, Caiden wanted to say, but his voice was stuck in his throat.

Astor’s fingers gripped his cheek just the slightest bit, just enough to be a warning. “And if you aren’t the savior, well, we have no use for you then, do we?”

And there was the threat. Caiden resisted the urge to jerk his head away as Astor stood up again.

Staed shot him one final glare before the two of them left the room. Caiden sighed and banged his head despondently on the table in front of him.

The door opened again, but revealed a friendly face this time. Scarlett leaned against the door, spooning ice cream into her mouth. She wore a sympathetic expression. “They give you a hard time?”

“No more than usual,” Caiden said miserably. “I hate training.”

Scarlett nodded understandingly. “What’d you do instead?”

He grinned at that. “It’s a secret.”

She raised an eyebrow. “It’s not secret. You’ve still got your reading glasses on,” she pointed out. “I just wanted to see if you’d finally admit that you’re a bookworm.”

He cursed and snatched off his glasses, stuffing them in his pocket. She laughed and he got up, stretching. She turned and he followed her out of the room, eyeing her ice cream enviously. But she finished her last bite and dumped the cup into a nearby trashcan, and he sighed, glancing at it longingly.

“Come on, Mr. Intellectual!” She called, having already gotten halfway down the hall. “We’ve got training to make up.”

He sighed again, and jogged to catch up. He had hoped she’d only stopped by to tell him another teacher was waiting for him. Scarlett was like a sister to him, but training with her was an absolute nightmare.