Chapter 10

“Should we make a wager?”

~*~

Gloria groaned as she turned over on the mattress. It was more like a futon than a mattress, all stuffing and no support. Definitely something she’d have to get used to.

She rolled over again, facing into the room, and she opened her eyes. Her clock said that it was about 8 in the morning, and Aquila was putting on her armlet, the stone glowing as she did so. She noticed that Gloria was watching her, and she gave a small shrug.

“I never take it off but to wash it and make sure my arm underneath is still clean. It’s very… it’s very important to me.” she said solemnly.

“Why is it glowing?” Gloria asked.

Aquilla smirked. “It’s glow-in-the-dark.”

“Neat,” Gloria swun her legs out of the bed, shivering as the covers fell back. They kept the heat down, apparently. Gloria bet they probably hadn’t even turned it on yet for the year.

“Come on, we don’t want to be late for our assignments. I wonder what I’m on today.” Aquila smoothed out her skirt and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Gloria changed quickly, heading down to the foyer where the assignments were posted. Who was she going to be working with today? It was the first day, and first impressions were important.

There was a small crowd in the foyer and kitchen with people eating and chatting, and Gloria could see the obvious groupings. Alec and Ashton were in each others’ pockets with how friendly and familiar they were with each other. Their lines were relaxed and they chatted as if they were born to do it. Aquila was talking with Miranda, holding a coffee mug in her hands, and Maria and Arhun were sitting in the corner, their margins very clear and while they weren’t talking to each other, they were still sitting near one another. Gloria hoped they could break the ice quickly. She knew nothing about either one of them.

Peering at the board, Gloria read that she was going to be at the greenhouse with Alec. Great, at least not a total stranger. Or Maria. She looked like she was kinda stuck up.

Alec gave a wave. “Hey, Gloria! Looks like we’re together today.” he said across the din of conversation. “Let’s see if you’re any good at growing things.”

“I’m quite good, actually,” she said, shrugging. “I pad out my budget with the extra money I earn selling my vegetables and flowers back home. I know what I’m doing.”

“We’ll see,” Alec smirked, approaching. “It’s supposed to rain, we should get going. I’d like to be home by dinner.”

“I think we’ll be home by then…” Gloria said as she followed Alec out the door. He gave Ashton a look that she didn’t understand as they left, and they started walking across the muddy ground to the hill. Gloria had seen part of the greenhouse from afar on her drive in, but she hadn’t seen it up close.

“Looks like they’re pairing newbies with more experienced folks for this first week, at least. You could be with Ashton tomorrow, or Miranda or Timothy.”

“I have cooking with Timothy tomorrow.” Gloria said, rubbing her arms against the chill.

“Ah, an easy day. I have animal care with Maria and Arhun tomorrow. Do you know what’s up with those two? They seem chilly with each other.” he said, keeping a good pace.

“I was thinking the same thing! But then they just met each other the other day, so I can’t blame them. I’m not super cozy with Aquila yet either. You’re pretty close with Ashton though.”

“We’re both in our last year, and we’ve been room mates since we started. He’s a good friend of mine. And we have a lot in common.”

“Like your haircuts?” Gloria asked, snickering.

“More than our haircuts,” he said, rolling his eyes. “That was just a coincidence.”

“Then what?”

“We’re here,” he said, nodding at the door. It was a large building, single floor, with walls made of windows. It sprawled a good distance, bigger than any greenhouse Gloria had seen. Definitely bigger than Midshore and Everstar’s greenhouse. There were rose bushes of varying color lining the front of the building, and the windows were tinted blue, obscuring the view of the inside. How big of a job was this?

Alec took out a set of keys and opened the nearest door, letting Gloria in. The smell of fresh dirt hit her nose, and the air was warm and had a pleasant humidity. The greenhouse was loosely divided into three sections, two with planters, one with numerous colorful plants. Gloria looked from plant to plant, admiring the color and healthiness of each plant.

“This is Miranda’s personal chunk,” Alec smiled. “She likes to garden and perfect her flowers, and I can’t blame her. It’s a talent.”

“One you don’t have?” Gloria asked, raising her eyebrow.

“I’m not really one for delicate things. I prefer tasks that are more broad. Digging, brushing, feeding. You know, working.” he said, walking further into the greenhouse.

“I like to see things grow, I don’t have much of a preference.” Gloria said, following.

“You may find one,” he said, pausing in the middle section of the greenhouse. “This section we use for flowers. We like to grow all types, but as you can see there are no flowers here now. That’s because part of the learning is starting from scratch. We’re going to do all of the planting today.”

“All of the planting? That can’t be too long.” Gloria looked around. There were a few shelves of planters, but it didn’t seem like that much work.

Alec arched an eyebrow. “And the other section takes vegetables and herbs,” he added.

“Oh,” she paused, nervously laughing. “I can see why this may take all day.”

“Indeed. However,” he looked over at her, “We get the privilege of being first here, so we get to plant things where we want.” He went over to a cupboard, retrieving bags of seeds. “Shall we?” He fanned out the packets.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Gloria smiled, taking a bag labeled ‘Bluebells’.

Alec turned his back to her, facing one of the plant stands. “Now, what we want to do is plant a few inches in the dirt, just like this-” he turned his head over his shoulder to see Gloria already moving onto the second plant stand, conjuring water to hydrate the dirt as she went.

“Wha- How’re you doing that?” he asked, mouth agape.

“I’m a spellcaster. I’ve been enchanting my plants for over a while, getting them to grow, watering them, encouraging them. This is second nature to me,” she chuckled, moving on to the third stand.

Alec stood there, mouth slightly open, watching as she waved her colored hands over the dry dirt, leaving growing plants in her wake.

“I- I thought that I would be teaching you, but could you teach me to do that?” he asked.

“Sure thing! But you need to be delicate,” Gloria teased.

~*~

Velma watched as Seneca hurried off after they had shared their coffee, and then she turned to the right towards the little tables outside the cafe.

“You’ve been following us the whole time,” Velma said, sliding into the seat across from the girl. “And you have the same 8:30 class as Seneca,”

The girl stared at her, sputtering. “Wha- How do you know? Why do you care? There’s nothing wrong with any of that!”

“No, no, you’re right,” she said, slowing her down. “But I think we could help each other out.”

The girl looked at her with skepticism. “I have no clue what you think I want from you. I want nothing. I don’t even want this coffee,” she said, standing up from the table.

Velma laughed to herself, crossing her legs. “You like Seneca, the president’s son. Well, you’re not going to impress him like that. By following him to a cafe from class? By stammering when you’re at home, not speaking in class? Do you really think that’s going to fly?”

“How do you know what I’m like at home?” her eyes grew wide.

“I can read you like a book. If you have any hope of being with Seneca, you’ll need my help.”

“Who’re you?” the girl asked.

“Velma. I’m in town for business.”

~*~

“I heard you know how to grow plants with magic! We’ll have to compare soon. I enchant my plants all the time. I like to see them happy.” Aquilla pet her little plant on the desk, smiling.

“I didn’t know that Alec was a spellcaster as well?” Gloria asked.

“He’s the other spellcaster here, though he uses it mostly to soothe animals. He relates well to them and he can calm almost anyone with a few words.”

“He does seem pretty charismatic. You seem to know more about him than you should for only being here a few days…” Gloria asked, leaving an open question.

“I’ve been here for nearly a week longer than you, and unlike plants, animals have to be tended to daily. I’ve gone out with him a few times to the animal pens. The guy’s a natural with them.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Gloria said, plopping onto her bed. It was still firm and lumpy. Pulling out her phone, she looked at it to see no signal. Miranda and Duncan only turned the wifi on on the weekends, and that was three days away. How was Seneca getting on? Did he like his housemates? Gloria could hardly remember what they looked like.

From through the wall, she heard a shriek, making her bolt up and run out of the room. Who next door needed help? She knocked on the door, hoping she wouldn’t have to heal anyone.

“Arhun? Maria? What’s going on?” she asked through the door.

“N-Nothing!” Arhun shouted, obviously shaking Gloria tried the handle, finding it unlocked. Aquila stood behind Gloria as she opened the door, finding Arhun looking rather pale as he looked at Maria. She had her hair up, reading a book. She had trinkets that alluded to spiritualism and talking to the spirit world. She had a crystal ball, a palm reading chart, and several books on how to be a medium. Midshore would have a field day with all of the inaccurate information.

“What’s the matter?” Gloria asked as she popped her head in.

“Nothing. It’s just, I thought I saw a shadow move.” He admitted, looking at his nails to try and seem casual.

“I didn’t even conjure anything!” Maria argued. “There’s nothing there!”

“You say that, but are you sure? I’ve seen the Mummy, reading a book can be dangerous and you have plenty of books.”

“I’ve hardly made it through the introduction!”

“You’re half way through!” he pointed out.

She looked at the pages she’d passed. “Oh, yeah. I guess I am.”

“Ok,” Gloria pushed into the dispute. “I can deal with anything that happens, and we have two other spellcasters too that can help. Or burn the house down. Hopefully not that but worst comes to worst- Not the point! No conjuring in the house, ok?” she looked at Maria. Maria didn’t seem to recognise she’d been spoken to. “Maria?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sure.”

“Can you repeat back to me what I said just so I know you heard me?” Gloria asked.

Maria rolled her eyes. “‘No conjuring in the house.’”

“Yes, and no talking to the spirits either. There’s a lot of space outside, use one of the abandoned buildings or something. They’re probably more haunted anyway.”

“Whatever,” Maria climbed up into her loft bed, turning out her light.

Gloria rolled her eyes, and offered Arhun a look of sympathy before closing the door, bumping into Alec.

“What’s their deal? Getting naughty?” he asked, trying to see over her head.

“That would have warranted a much different intervention.” Gloria said, trying to back up, but she was practically against the wall.

“Should we make a wager?” he asked. Where was Aquilla? She’d vanished.

“A wager?” she asked, noticing Ashton standing across the hall, outside of their room.

“I wager they’ll be a thing by the Harvest Festival.” Alec arched his eyebrow smirking.

“You’re crazy. He’s terrified of her!” Gloria said under voice, conscious of how close she was to their door. “And she’s too stuck up. They’re on totally different levels.”

“All the better.” he shrugged.

Gloria regarded him, and considered the atmosphere she’s just seen. “Fine, I’ll take the wager. But no interfering. No nudging things.”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” he said, smiling and turning back to his room. He’d smelled good, now that Gloria allowed herself a full breath.

A new chapter! Woo! I'm happy I got this out. It's been too long.

I have loads of bloopers this time around as I was waiting for the right time of day and such. So much happened!

I was kinda laughing when this all happened. Aquilla walked in on Maria, Maria got angry, Aquilla tried to apologize and Gloria backed her up saying it was an accident. Maria agreed it was an accident and Aquilla seems a bit too over joyed at the idea of being forgiven, embarrassing Maria further! I love these screenies.

Gloria's awkward hugs continue!

There was general comradery around the house, and lots of folks talked to each other. Aquilla remains the popular one in the house, which still suprises me.