Chapter Five

Classes seemed to drag on forever. Celia struggled to keep her eyes open while the professor lectured on the right way to handle one’s power, no matter what it is. Do not abuse it, do not harm yourself with it, do not harm your fellow classmates with it, etc. etc. blah, blah, blah…

Her thoughts drifted to Chase again; they seemed to be doing that a lot lately. She wondered if his collapse qualified as “harming yourself” with your power.

After basic training classes came her sessions with Mistress of Morning, along with all the other new members of the Society of Elemental Workers who had resolved to study the Power of Morning. Celia forced herself to pay as much attention as she could; this was more important than basic training.

…But not important enough to keep her from wishing that she was back in bed…

“So, Celia, where did you go last night?” Giselle inquired, holding a glass bowl in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other. Celia started and nearly dropped the bread she was eating. Her blonde friend raised a brow, waiting.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Celia stammered, knowing that her face was turning beet red. May looked up from her pastry, interested.

“Why not?” the younger girl asked. Celia shrugged.
“I don’t know. I went out to the garden to get some air, and then…I came back. I still couldn’t go back to sleep.” She shrugged, trying to dismiss it.

Giselle studied her for a moment before turning her attention back to her lunch, but Celia had a sinking feeling that the other girl wasn’t convinced that nothing else had happened.

Her suspicions were confirmed after lunch.

Giselle took a firm hold on Celia’s arm and pulled her into the hall, leaving Taylor and May behind. The twins were arguing about something, and Chase was nowhere to be seen. Celia paused in the midst of her panic to think about that. She couldn’t recall having seen him all day. Not since that morning.

“There is no point in keeping anything from me, Celia,” Giselle said coolly, crossing her arms over her chest. “We do not keep secrets between us, yes? So tell me what else happened last night.” Celia flushed, trying to think of something to say. Giselle frowned. “If you went to Chase’s room-”

Celia’s eyes widened. “By the Dawn, no!” she hissed. “I didn’t do that! I wouldn’t do that! Besides, he and Taylor roommates, remember?” She shuddered. “Why do you think I would do such a thing?”

Giselle shrugged; two faint red spots had appeared on her own cheeks, though Celia wasn’t sure if it was the mention of Taylor that caused them or the ludicrousness of what she had suggested. “I do not know; Chase has been so distant lately, and you have been preoccupied as well…”

Celia sighed and let her head droop. “He was out in the garden too last night,” she whispered. “Giselle, I’m scared.”

The regal blonde frowned. “Why are you frightened, Celia? Is it…Chase? Chase frightens you?”

“Chase frightens who?” May asked, coming upon them. Both girls jerked slightly and May eyed them with interest. “What’s going on?”

Celia repeated what she had said to Giselle shortly and told them everything that had happened. “He’s exhausted, and sick, and in pain, and, and-” She made herself stop babbling. “It’s all because of the Power he’s taken on,” she added viciously, scowling. “I don’t understand why he did it, and why he doesn’t choose a different one now that he sees how hard it is, how terrible.”

“Chase is very stubborn,” May remarked absently. “Sometimes I get the feeling that he’s, well, different from us.”

Giselle and Celia exchanged glances. “Whatever gave you that idea?” the former inquired dryly. May shook her head.

“I mean, I know he’s different from the rest of us, but not just like that. I think… I think he knows things we don’t know. He has a different purpose than we do. He’s working towards something, and whatever it is, he’s willing to make sacrifices to achieve it.”

“Well, whatever it is, he shouldn’t have to sacrifice himself for it!” Celia said harshly. May nodded.

“He’s our friend. It’s only right to be worried about him. If he closes himself off to us, we’ll never be able to keep him from hurting himself.”

Celia blushed. “He didn’t want me to tell anyone about what happened,” she whispered, glancing down the hall as if she expected to see him appear there, behind her, condemnation in his dark eyes. Giselle and May glanced at each other.

“We’re not going to tell him,” Giselle said, and May agreed. Celia looked relieved.

“He already doesn’t trust me enough,” she said. “I don’t want to damage our faith in each other even more by giving away a secret.” She paused and looked at Giselle. “Speaking of secrets… You were saying something about not keeping them from each other, weren’t you, Giselle?”

Giselle paled, which was a considerable feat; the young woman already looked as if she was made of porcelain. “…Yes,” she said finally.

“What about any secrets that you have that you’re keeping from us? How about spilling the beans about your feelings for a certain someone?” Celia prodded. May giggled and Giselle looked between them, caught between consternation and horror. Both emotions were very uncharacteristic of her. In fact, most emotions were uncharacteristic of her.

“You know?” she stammered. “You both know? Am I that obvious?”

Celia shook her head comfortingly. “Taylor will never be able to figure out how you feel about him in a million years, not even if he hired a private investigator,” she assured her friend. “But May and I know you better than that. I’ve had my suspicions for a while.”

May squealed. “It’s so romantic, Giselle! I would love it if you and Taylor were to get married! Then you would really be my sister!”

Giselle went from white as a sheet to red as a tomato in record time. “May!” she hissed furiously. “You can’t say things like that, not in public! Besides, we’re not going to get married, so that’s the end of it!”

“How can you be so sure?” Celia asked with a frown.

“Because, no offense meant, May, Taylor is an irresponsible, immature scoundrel who doesn’t even know I exist, let alone things I have feelings for him,” Giselle said smoothly. “He’d rather mock me than give me the light of day to say anything meaningful to him.”

May laid a hand on her arm. “Aw, Giselle, he’s not that bad, once you get to know him,” the girl said encouragingly. Giselle looked away.

“I am not good at…getting to know…people,” she said stiffly.

“Perhaps it’s your demeanor,” Celia suggested. “You’re so mature and calm that people are intimidated by you.”

Giselle smiled faintly. “I’ve noticed that, but that’s who I am. I can’t change who I am.”

“We’re not asking you to,” May interjected. “We’re just saying that if you want Taylor to know you exist, you should make an effort to be known.” Giselle frowned, seeming confused; May and Celia sighed and took the student of the Power of Faith by the arms, leading her away for more discussing.

---

Celia moved down the hall mechanically, lost in thought. Part of her was elated over Giselle’s confession about Taylor, but the rest of her was tired and just as confused as Giselle was. Why did everything have to be so complicated? She wished that they had remained trainees instead of graduating to join the Society.

A long arm snaked out of an intersecting hallway and grabbed her, dragging her around the corner. A hand clamped over her mouth before she could scream in shock. Chase’s black eyes glittered at her. Celia blinked as he took his hand away from her mouth.

“Chase? What are you doing? Where have you been? I haven’t seen you all day!”

He ignored her questions. “You. Told. Them,” he said hissed, anger flitting across his face. Celia stared at him, confounded, and he smiled unpleasantly. “I encountered both May and Giselle before I found you, and they both asked me if I was feeling alright and advised me to stop working so hard.” He raised an auburn brow at her, daring her to lie about what she’d done. It was proof enough for him.

Celia removed her arm from his grasp and crossed both of them over her chest. “Chase, you look like death itself,” she said bluntly. “They’re worried about you.”

“So you’re saying you didn’t tell them?” he pressed. Celia flushed and looked away.

“I told them,” she admitted in a low voice. He made a noise that sounded close to a snarl, and she looked at him, stepping back. “Giselle knew that I was gone in the night, and she was suspicious,” Celia explained quickly. A mirthless smile twisted her lips. “She thought perhaps I had gone to your room.”

The fire of embarrassment raced across Chase’s face, cutting back the fury for a moment. He gaped at her. “She… Giselle thought that?” he clarified incredulously. Celia nodded. “And you told her…?”

Celia rolled her eyes. “I told her that yes, of course I went to your room. Where else would I go?” She glared at him furiously. “What do you take me for, Chase? I told her that I would never do that, and neither would you!”

Something flickered across his face, something that made her vaguely uncomfortable, but it was come and gone so fast that she wasn’t even sure it had been there afterwards. Then he was cold and calm once more. “Of course. Never.” He was lost in thought for a moment, and then he was focusing on her, those dark eyes relentless. “You still told them.”

Celia sighed in exasperation. “What would you have me say to them, Chase? Would you have me lie to Giselle, to May? They’re my friends.” She hesitated. “And so are you.”

He shook his head. “You promised, Celia.”

“No, I didn’t,” she said defensively. She had never promised. Never. And he hadn’t asked for her promise.

Almost as if he read her mind, Chase turned away and walked down the hall, only pausing to speak over his shoulder. “I thought your friendship was as good as a promise,” he called before disappearing around a corner.

Celia clenched her teeth, her hands squeezing the folds of her dress tightly.

I never meant to tell! I didn’t promise! I couldn’t lie to them!

Somehow, she had a feeling that such inescapable circumstances may as well have erected a wall between her and Chase.

She did not want a wall between them, not after how hard the whole group had worked to destroy the last walls Chase had built up, back when they were in the training program together.

By the Dawn, I don’t think we can do it again. Chase, why do you have to be so difficult?

Why did I have to tell? Why did Giselle have to ask?

Celia gave a bitter laugh. Because she thought I was sneaking off to Chase’s room…? How bizarre is that? If he hadn’t been in the garden, I would have thought he was probably sound asleep anyway.

It was all too confusing, too discouraging, too depressing for her liking. And the day was hardly half over.