"Too obvious. I can see Feathertop marking us down for picking something so obvious."
"I wish I could argue with that."
"Believe me, I do too. That way the research is easy." I open the next book from our stack and look through it for inspiration.
"Unfortunately, I think that's why dragons would get us marked down."
Sometimes, Feathertop could be the worst. At least we're in different classes of hers so can do our research together without it seeming too much like copying.
"Manticores are kind of cool?" I suggest, reading through the scant information the book I had open gave us.
"And that's all there is about them in the Encyclopedia of Creatures?" he asks.
"Fair point." I move on a page, and flip it again the moment I see the word unicorn. Most of the girls probably want to do them because they're cute. Same with alicorns.
"Mermaids?" he asks, while showing me the illustration in his book.
"You just want to spend your time looking at pictures of them." Mermaids are notorious for never wearing clothing, and for having a frame that could benefit from a bra. The poor things must get terrible backache.
"I'll have you know, they've fascinated me since I visited the sea as a child." His attention wanders off. I want to call him back, but the slightly haunted look in his eyes tells me not interrupt whatever this is.
"What about a subset of the mer?" I ask after a couple of minutes of silence. "Sirens might be a bit obvious, but I heard tales about the ceasg, maybe there's something we can look into?"
"I've never heard of them," he admits, still not quite himself. Something is definitely up, and I don't know what it is. I also don't feel like we're at a stage in our relationship where I can properly ask him about it. Hopefully, he'll offer up an explanation sooner rather than later.
"They're Scottish in origin. They're supposed to have salmon tails and lure people to their death. Let me find it..." I flip the pages back, sure I saw a section on Celtic creatures. "Ah, yes, here." I turn the book so he can see it.
"I'd rather not."
"Okay. What else do you think we should try finding?" I put on the cheeriest voice I can, but inside, I'm worried. He's acting odd and I don't really know why.
"What about kelpies?"
"Oh yes. I don't think many people will think to do them." I turn through the book to the right page. "I wonder if the human eating part of this is true?"
"I don't know, maybe they're even vegetarians," he murmurs.
I snort. "That doesn't seem likely." I stare at the diagram. They're not the most attractive of creatures, but I think that'll put enough people off for our reports to stand out.
Uncapping my pen, I ready myself to start taking notes. I know a lot of the students use tablets, but I find the information stays in my head better if I write it down. And knowing Feathertop, she'll be quizzing us about our chosen creature. I don't want it to look like I just copy and paste information off the internet.
"Red alert, five o'clock," Caspian mutters under his breath.
I frown and turn in the direction he tells me to find Ivy sauntering towards us with her hands on her hips and a skirt that's far too short to be called that. Oh wow, I'm turning into a middle-aged woman. Next thing I know, I'll be referring to it as a belt and telling her she'll get frostbite.
"Just the person I'm looking for," she announces, leaning on our table.
"I'm not looking for you, so see you later," I respond, giving her the most forced smile I can muster. She can go back to wherever she came from and leave us be.
"Not you. Him." She nods at Caspian.
"I'm not really looking for you either, Ivy."
"Don't be like that. We've known each other for such a long time." She purses her lips. A photo of her current expression could easily serve as the definition of a duck pout. It's certainly not sincere.
"Four years isn't a long time."
Ah, so they did know each other before coming here. That answers one of the questions lurking at the back of my mind, but opens up a can of worms about the rest of them. Is it really an ex thing? I hope not, I don't want to share anything with her, especially not a taste in men.