ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 25: Living on Campus

<<<<AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry, I realized when I started the next chapter that this one needed a bit more to add that time congruence. >>>>

Chapter 25

Living on Campus

Due to Dawning Light High School and its mission to house pre-awakened students from three different states. Most students would not be able to make the drive to and from their houses every day. In that regard, the Thymes were relatively blessed, as they could make the commute from their house relatively easily. As it only took an extra twenty minutes of travel to go from their house to their new school, as it did to go to their unawakened school. Still despite the relative closeness of the new school, they like all students were forced to live on campus.

Again, due to the room shortages, both Alexa and Luke were forced to live in the Junior housing of the school.

So, with the near hour drive from the TSI headquarters to campus, the two were left with a lot to think about.

Alexa for her part was trying to map out migratory patterns of werewolves, and why all werewolves happened to be sophomores. The anomaly made no sense, at least not from any of the clues that were gained so far.

Luke on the other hand was busy with his own concerns. Finally, after being silent for the first ten minutes of the ride back, Luke broke his promise to himself, the one where he swore he would not break first.

“So, you knew? You knew the whole time, and didn’t tell me?”

Alexa turned to stare at her brother, who was looking for a lot over at Alexa, rather than on the road. To help reassert his attention back to the road, she decided to answer him.

“I assume you are referring to your employment within TSI, likely as a snitch on me?”

At that, Luke’s face scrunched in with a grimace, all but confirming her thoughts.

“Well, you don’t exactly have to put it out like that.”

“Hmm.” Alexa made the sound and once again turned towards the window.

“Wait, wait. Okay. Maybe you do. Look when I was told that you were important to them. Well, I couldn’t help but feel they had your best interests at heart.”

“That Psychic power crystal likely didn’t hurt.”

“What? You knew about that?”

“I had my suspicions. But I figured it would have to be something powerful for you to spy on your sister. Turns out I was right. All it takes is a new power and a guaranteed shot at unlocking a class.” Alexa said, turning back to watch Luke’s face, to see if he would dare lie.

Fortunately for Luke, he knew not to lie to his sister.

“That, yeah. That does sound kind of bad when you put it that way.” Luke said, as he rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand. Inadvertently putting his arm up for protection against her.

Alexa noted all of this, trying to understand how her brother felt. She had come up with many of these theories during her two-hour mind cleanse, when she consumed crystal after crystal. Her mind worked differently while in the state of being emotionally awake. This often-provided insights that she would otherwise miss.

During this time, she came up with a plan. One that after confirming with Captain Johnston, she then asked the survivors if they too would agree to her plan. Surprisingly all the previous survivors and current survivors agreed to her plan.

In a way, that made her feel prouder than anything. In fact, seeing the love and adoration in their eyes, she knew they would follow her to Hell, if she asked to take a quick stroll along the fiery recesses.

Then an hour after her last crystal wore off, her brother finally appeared.

Even now, she tried desperately to remember the sensations that her brain achieved. The ones where she was able to think differently. The way she thought wasn’t logical. Not truly, though many would consider her thoughts and plans made under such conditions to have more logical flow, for whatever reason.

With emotions, things not only had to be done right, but feel right while doing them.

The way she was now, doing things the correct and most expedient way made the most sense.

Thus, why Alexa had no problem charging into a werewolf cage and punching werewolves until they lost all connection to their magical abilities.

Yet, when she awoke, or rather was allowed to feel. She felt physically frightened by her actions. That said, it had been worth it. In the end she got two new werewolves only powers from the exchanges: Pack Mind, and Pack Link.

She didn’t know what those two powers did, not truly, but she had a hunch. The only problem was, the current states that the girls were in, did not allow them to see if the powers worked. If anything, the girls could only be considered baby cub-lings, from a werewolf perspective. There were still traces of power that made them stronger, faster, and heal quicker, but that was it.

Fortunately, despite having only minor versions of the powers of the true wolf, all the detriments seemed to be missing. In fact, compared to what the progenitors had to go through, the statuses of the rescued females might be considered preferable.

Of course, to prepare for this plan, all the survivors were escorted out and away by the time Luke arrived.

Silence.

Once it was clear that Luke was done talking for the moment, Alexa turned her attention back to the window. Normally she used this as an excuse to avoid awkward tension, that many felt around her. But in this case, she knew that Luke needed the break of attention.

As it was, Alexa herself was using this own time to figure out what she could do to increase her chances of finding the rogue master. She was just onto something, when Luke finally cut in.

“Just so you know. Apparently, several the students heard about your date consultation process and have already applied for time slots.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

At this Alexa just stared at Luke like he was mental. “You do remember I created the site, right? That means I get a copy of every email you get sent. Including the vetting requests.”

“Oh.” Luke said, as recognition filled his mind.

“I take it this Gina Rojas girl, is the one who got the information from you first?” Alexa asked.

“Yeah. Sorry, she read my mind. Then the others also wanted to also go on a Date Consultation with you.”

Alexa just nodded. Finally, when it was clear Luke was done with his current thoughts, Alexa asked her own questions.

“So, you actually took the time to vet these people?” Alexa asked.

“As much as I could for the first day. Also, I wanted to check. You are okay with going on a date consultation with a female, right?”

“Yes.”

Luke tried to look at his sister, to see if she was just faking it, but that was an impossible task.

“Okay, then your first date consultation with a female is tomorrow night.”

“Tonight from 7 to 9 PM.” Alexa corrected.

With that Luke looked at the dashboard clock and saw that it was in fact now Tuesday.

“Yes, tonight. Wow, this took a lot longer than I thought.” Luke said.

“It would have been fine, had you not gone in for that one, quick chat, with Jill Khan.” Alexa pointed out.

“Yeah, sorry about that. It was just that we had never gotten a chance to officially close things out now that I was going to Dawning Light.”

“So, things are closed out between you two?” Alexa asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. But we left it open in case we ever want to you know. Catch up.” Luke said, clearly embarrassed from the whole ordeal.

Alexa just scoffed at the idea.

“Oh yeah, here is your room key. Mr. Mackie said I could give you the room key. But that I was never allowed into the women’s dorms at any time.”

Alexa nodded.

“Probably didn’t want you trying to catch up, with the other women of the dorm.” Alexa noted.

Luke paused for a second, the let the barb slip past, as he had something else, he wanted to say.

“I will warn you; you have a roommate.”

With that Alexa nodded, she had been expecting something of this nature.

“Also, I was told to tell you that all of your needs for school have been put into your room.”

Alexa nodded. Honestly, she had always been a bit of a minimalist when it came to needs. She found the less things she had, the less things that people could take or break. In fact, she almost prided herself on her lack of emotional attachment to items. Well, any item that wasn’t an augmentation crystal.

Even in the case of augmentation crystals, Alexa knew the importance of keeping a few on hand just in case. Just like now, Alexa had made sure to bring her bartering stash with her and to always keep them in her bookbag. She never knew when someone would be willing to make a favorable trade to her. Also, the stash also ensured that she had the ability to enter a dungeon at any time she wanted.

Luke handed over the key.

BA206.

“That stands for Brice Akins, I believe.” Luke said.

Alexa just shook her head. “That is a singer. No this is named after Bridget Atwater, the human torch.”

“Oh, that makes so much more sense why they would name a dorm for females growing up to be heroes, after her.” Luke said, as the name finally clicked.

Alexa just nodded.

“Well, I guess this is it until later.” Luke said, as he looked uncomfortably at the male dorm. The female dorm was on the exact opposite end of the parking lot.

Click.

“Yes.” Alexa said, as she already began moving out the door and onto the next phase of her life.

As for Luke, he sat in the vehicle, and wondered just why he thought being here would be a good thing.

Alexa of course saw the hesitation in her brother but didn’t think she could offer anything of value. As such she just let her brother make his own way.

The female dorm was quite pretty to look at, at least from the way Alexa viewed the world. To any normal mundane who viewed the building, it would look like nothing more than a renovated 1920s plantation house. Complete with large marble pillars that went up holding a crow’s nest peak to view from.

Even now, at this late night, Alexa could see people viewing her make her way from the crow’s nest viewing window.

Alexa didn’t even bother trying to identify all the different people. Instead, she was caught up with the magical golden glows that surrounded the building. It was clear that special efforts were made to create layers of interwoven security charms.

Looking at her hand, Alexa could see that even the key had one of the base elements needed to deactivate a portion of the ward. Then there was a second warding schema that pulsed with both green and red trails of energy. When Alexa first approached, she felt these two strands go straight towards her. Then she felt them dance over her as she felt part of her essence be judged.

There was a slight warning, that went off as the red stream seemed to be satiated, but the green strand sent off alarms.

Of course, Alexa couldn’t hear the alarms, they were of course much further inside the building.

Also, of interest was how several different systems all went from a dormant state to an active state. Alexa noted how the door now glowed with a malevolent golden energy. So too did the windows, the entire building was now effectively on lock down.

Alexa for her part just stood there, staring at the door.

But nothing happened.

Not knowing if the person who the alarms were supposed to awaken was in, Alexa decided to do the next best thing. She let herself in.

Focusing her mind, on the doorknob on the other end of the door. The only thing that didn’t glow with supernatural energy. Alexa focused her mind, then imagined turning the nob with her Telekinesis. This was a relatively simple practice, made even easier thanks to the way everything was keyed to someone coming to the door to verify that the person with the key was supposed to be there.

Alexa mentally guessed that the red line of energy tested her blood for female chromosomes. In this case, she figured it would likely be easier to create a ward that alerted on having a ‘Y’ chromosome instead. As all chromosomes, except for the one denoting gender had the double ‘XX’ markings.

Phwoom.

The alarms that had been going off a moment ago stopped. Even the door no longer seemed to be charged. Figuring she was safe, she came in, making sure to close the door behind her.

With that, the enchanted alarm system blared back to life around her but was now in the default state.

Nodding to herself, Alexa continued her way forward.

The room itself was easy enough to find. 206clearly meant the second floor, sixth room. Following the grand foyer layout of most wealthy plantation houses, the initial lounge room was opulent. Or at least had been at one time. The floors were still pristine marble. The walls had been cleaned and repainted multiple times. But the furniture was all clearly heavier grade than what would have been around in the 1920s. Along with the odd and end gummy bears and assorted candies that had somehow suctioned its way to the ceiling of this once immaculate gathering room.

There at the center was a grand staircase leading up to the second floor, which Alexa took. Enjoying her own self-appointed tour over what someone else would likely have been saying at this time.

Alexa had of course read the history of this house, and of most of the buildings the school now used for different housing and academic facilities. This at one point used to be an academic hall, until newer buildings slowly retook the purpose of this building. Then once other buildings were in place, the need for more and more living spaces were observed and this one was then converted from an academic building to a domicile. Of course, all of this was done after it was originally built and used to house the Flints, some of the first true farmers of this area.

As Alexa made her way through the hallways, then she found her room.

This time the warding schema over the door was much more simplistic than the one on the main door. This one only having two lines of energy. Alexa wondered if the key would be enough to appease this alarm.

Creak.

The grand door to the entry way could be heard opening. Of course, Alexa was around the corner on the side wing, but Alexa took this as a good thing. This likely meant that the person who was supposed to have let her in, in the first place was likely up now. This meant that even if it would still go off, someone was around who could at least shut off the alarms. With that thought in mind, she went ahead and inserted the key.

The moment the key entered the lock, a magic tendril went out and connected to the key and confirmed that it was in fact the correct one for that set of alarms. Realizing she had nothing left to lose, Alexa turned the key and click.

The door lock opened.

Emboldened by this discovery, Alexa rotated the handle, until the second set of alarms began to move and quickly flow through the key, into Alexa.

Looking at the charm it was diabolical. It was only set off when it reached a certain position, meaning intent to enter had to be made. Then the second string of energy came to life and reached out to see if Alexa was supposed to be here.

WHANNPH! AWANNPH! WHANNPH!

An alarm system louder than anything Alexa had ever heard began blaring throughout the hallways. The lights that had been dimly lit, now pulsed, and strobed directing their sources of light at Alexa. Alexa felt that if she moved, the lights would follow her.

“What?”

“Oh, man.”

The voice of annoyed females being awoken in the middle of the night could all be heard.

Alexa stood her ground, she didn’t know what to expect from women who were just awoken to find an intruder in their midst, but when it came to super powered women, Alexa took nothing for granted.

After three seconds, the first faces began peering out of their doorways.

“Ugh! It’s just the new girl.” One said, as she slammed her door.

“I’ll handle this.” A male voice called out.

Snap!

With the snap of his fingers, the skinny dean of discipline managed to turn off all the alarms.

“Sorry, false alarm.” Mr. Mackie said, to the women, who all came out to make sure everything was okay.

Most just stared for a few seconds longer, then finally closed their doors.

“I take it your brother didn’t tell you to come see me when you got back.”

Alexa shook her head.

“Figures. I would have liked to do this in my shop, as I could get you attuned to the entire campus. But I guess I will just have to focus on your dorm.” Mr. Mackie said, as he pressed his hand against the wall and began channeling a lot of energy into the various wards of the building.

Alexa watched in fascination, as his mana first recharged the depleted mana, then found the one green strand of mana. At which point that green strand of mana began to throb and pulse with life. After a few seconds, the cord came from the wall, and connected with Alexa.

Alexa watched as the cord took a bit of her own mana, before retreating into the wall.

“There, now you should be fully tuned with the wards here. But again, see me in the morning before going to other facilities.” Mr. Mackie said.

Alexa just nodded.

Mr. Mackie looked like he was about to leave, but then thought better of it as he asked another question. “I take it by your fascination with the wards, you can see them?”

Alexa nodded.

“Have you ever thought about a career as an enchanter?”

With that Alexa turned to the man. If it meant making intricate patterns like the one before her, Alexa was up for it.

“Okay.”

“I will warn you. At first the cost in augmentation crystals is astronomical. Best to get a stash first, before getting too into it.”

“Pass.”

That was all it took. One second Alexa had a wide-eyed look of wonder, the next second the entire concept was dead to her. She didn’t even wait to hear Mr. Mackie’s response, as she had cut him off so completely, that he didn’t know what he had done to turn her off from such a task. Clearly, she knew how to get crystals, her number of times spelunking was proof of that. So just what was she doing with her horde that she had no doubt amassed by now?

Alexa went into her room, then closed the door behind her.

Instantly, her Night Sight eyes kicked in, causing her eyes to glow a faint golden color.

“Oh, my gods, are you going to kill me?” A girl called out, fear evident in her voice.

“No.”

Alexa said, figuring the side of the room that was only partially taken over by her roommate was hers.

Click.

The roommate turned on the light to take in Alexa’s appearance.

“Whoa.” Was all she said.

At that Alexa just raised an eyebrow.
“So that was you. No wait, let me see.” The girl said as she got up from her bed and began getting her face so it was only an inch away from her chest.

Most people would naturally be uncomfortable by such an act. Alexa on the other hand understood the gesture for what it was. She was being judged by her pins.

Holding still, Alexa let her roommate gape openly at her, before she looked up to see that Alexa’s face was within kissing distance.

Their eyes locked, and then the roommate took another step back. “My gods.”

Alexa for her part just stood there, letting herself be judged by her new roommate.

“Wow, you really are what they say?” The roommate began, but then seemed to answer her own expected response, “a three max tiered magician. That is a true healer. That is important, as you will be a high commodity for that aspect alone. You know the next closest healer is out in California?”

For this, Alexa did not know.

Ding.

At that, Alexa looked at her communicator to see that she had a one our timer reminder for her first date consultation on this campus. Well, this would be the one hour reminder, before her allotted time to walk to the neutral vetting site, where she would lay out the ground rules of her date consultation.

“Sorry to do this.” Alexa said.

“Oh, Sabrina. Sabrina Macon.” The girl said, holding out her hand. Then looking at the state Alexa was in, she pulled back her hand.

Now that the lights were on, there were clear signs of dried blood on her clothes and sash.

Yeah, going to need to take a quick shower before I leave.