The Academy Of Space And Time

The sky had finally turned the color of a firetruck. It was unlike anything I'd seen before.

Jeff caught me looking at it. "If you think the sky is strange," he said. "You should see the ground."

Risa tensed, as if she was connecting to her element, and then yelped. "I wasn't paying attention before!" she excused herself. "But I was feeling a little weird..."

Jeff held up one of his boots for us to see. It was caked in sand.

"Sand, especially the desert, and a red sky..." he said. "Those are the symbols of the god Set."

"Wait," I was finally feeling as freaked out as I should have been. "You mean to tell me that you are really pagan? You really believe in those gods? You cannot think Set is around us and he's doing... all of this."

"Not the Egyptian Set," Jeff's eyes glittered darkly. "Someone will tell you the difference soon enough... You've been raised in the Human Realm, right? They never get this part right. They're minor gods, very powerful entities who share our magic, and from which our magic comes from. Set has been absent from the council for years, but now he's back."

It seemed painfully obvious that they believed in it, so I let it slide. I'd never been a real believer of the other sort of God, seeing as I was always agnostic, but it did make me feel better to understand that they didn't think those gods had created the world or nothing of the sort. Though I suppose, they did create Enchanters, when they passed down their powers.

Up close, I couldn't tell why Jeff had looked so familiar anymore. There was something about his face that reminded me of a person I dreamt of, sure, but the similarity ended at the chiselled jaw, the upturned nose and the light brown eyes. The rest of the features were different.

"Jeff," Risa tried to explain, again. "You should really bring Ryan to the Academy of Space and Time. Not only he's a strong Hierophant, he lives with a human who cannot teach him. His mother was a human who had an illegal relationship with an Enchanter, but he should be amongst his own."

Jeff gave her an appraising look. "I thought you were an Enchanter too. Earth Hierophant, right?"

Risa nodded. "My father is already teaching me. I don't need to go to the Academy, and I'd prefer not to."

"Is it because of the headmaster?" Jeff asked. He looked a little amused. Risa did not reply.

Then, he gestured at me. "He's going, even if you're not going?"

"What do you mean by that?" I couldn't help but sound a little annoyed. "I already knew she was only taking me this far."

"You strike me as the kind of boy who'd rather joined the Academy of Space and Time for the company rather than the knowledge," Jeff said. "The Academy of Space and Time is a very important place where Enchanters can hone their techniques and learn the theoretics for the two most important spells of all — space-shifting and time-changing."

"Maybe I'd be better suited with a home education," I specified. "I've always had trouble at school. But, like my cousin said, I cannot be home-schooled."

Jeff eased up. He looked a bit kinder. " "Well," he said. "There aren't many young Enchanters left, and not all of them are qualified to study at school. Some live too far away, and have no means to afford it, others don't have the skills. Since you luckily live a few miles away from the Academy of Space and Time, I understand why you would want to give it at the very least a try."

I nodded, happy he understood. I didn't add that I wouldn't have wanted to go back to living with Locksley for anything in the world.

At first, I was really depressed of the way Jeff was welcoming me. Then, I realised that it didn't matter whether I felt like I belonged. After all, I never did. It wasn't just part of the baggage I'd always carry around from living with a cruel stepfather. I had the opinion that I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, just that the wrong time meant approximately sixteen years. My whole life felt like a mistake or a stupid prank somebody was playing on me. No, worse. My whole life felt like some sort of punishment for something I did or could have done.