I had to admit, I was slightly tempted.
"Hoot." Alice hopped off my shoulder and onto Logan's. "Go nap, I’ll distract him."
"Alice. Not no— Ow. Why are you poking me? Don't tell me you're mad too," Logan complained, frowning at Alice who spread her wings and continued to poke Logan's cheek. I turned around, taking off and leaving him and the others behind.
I just needed to sleep. Was that really so much to ask for?
"Jinn looks pissed off," I heard Maximus point out.
They sounded only a few steps behind me. As we entered Spellbound road, the noise of the crowd quieted down.
"He needs a nap. If Logan would just let him be, he'd been asleep by now," Nixon commented.
"You really like naps, Nixon?" Kage asked.
"Ya. Sleep is the highlight of life. Don't need to deal with reality," Nixon said plainly.
I frowned at his words that seemed to hold more meaning than the others picked up on. It made me curious as to what happened in his life that would make those words hold such weight.
"I think having a good time in bed is more of a highlight than sleep, but whatever rocks your socks," Maximus sighed, also sounding tired.
"Coming from the guy who's lucky to be able to hold a conversation with a female," Zane chuckled.
Kage laughed, "Maximus is the perfect example of the guy who can reel all the ladies in but becomes a shy mess as soon as they start talking, and they all run away ."
I looked over to see Maximus’ face grow red.
"That's not fucking true. They're just hard to understand,” he defended.
"Hard to understand, my ass," Nixon said with a yawn.
I turned my attention forward, looking for our residence when I noticed a familiar face.
"Hmm? Ms. Landsford?" I asked, failing at hiding my shock.
She gave me a wide grin and smiled.
"Ah. Jinn Starfire. A pleasure to finally meet you. Charlotte told me a lot about you and your family. Nice to see a Starfire joining Brighten,” she greeted.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and bowed my head in greeting.
"Pleasure to meet you. Aunty Charlotte did say good things about this school. Decided to give it a shot." I played along and didn’t give in to the urge to smile.
She glanced over at the others that approached us.
"Logan Cross, Nixon Rose, Zane and Kage Park, and Maximus Copperfield. A pleasure to meet you all." She greeted the others as they came up to where I stood. They all bowed their heads in greeting; their expressions varied from confused to curiosity.
"My name is Ms. Landsford and I'll be one of your professors here at Brighten Magic Academy. Residence ACE 7 will be your dorm for the duration of the semester. This can be changed if your grades don't meet the standards or if you do poorly on a magic test which will be held twice a semester. Each semester is four months long. This week is more of an orientation week. You'll have this time to settle into your dorms, buy your books, and get your wands handcrafted for the semester. Wands are not required, but I suggest you have them just in case a test ranks them as mandatory," Ms. Landsford explained.
Her gaze landed on me, followed by Nixon during the final sentence.
I wonder if Nixon can use magic without a wand, like me. He did give me an extra boost during our exam and didn't use his wand for that.
"Hoot!" Alice spread her wings and flew up to land on my shoulder. Ms. Landsford smiled at Alice.
"Ali Starfire. You're one of the rare familiars on this campus. I took into account you have a familiar, Jinn, so your room has a spot for him to rest and a spare bed if in case he decides to stay in his human form. I believe that was what was written on your application."
"Hold up, the bird can change to a human?" Maximus asked, moving around to stare at Alice, who fluffed her feathers and snuggled closer to my head, glaring at Maximus.