Total pages in book: 214
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
"Oceanus."
The selector's eyebrow twitches up, but he nods and scribbles the information down on his parchment. "Congratulations, and thank you for your service."
Before the selector has even finished his sentence, Typhon turns himself invisible to other eyes and shifts back into his dragon form. He growls low and angry in my mind. "You owe me a great debt for that, angry human."
As I walk back to my place, I catch Serena staring at me, her brow furrowed. She leans over to whisper something to Malakai, whose single eye narrows, jaw tensing as he watches me pass.
A problem for another day.
The dining hall buzzes with an unfamiliar energy as students settle in after the ceremony. Some gather around the warm fires, trying to dry off and warm up after standing in the downpour for over an hour.
Soaked hair and uniforms or not, the atmosphere in the dining room among first years feels almost like relief.
Maybe I didn't want to cheer during the ceremony, but I have to admit I feel what everyone else feels. For the first time in two months, it feels like we've earned at least a moment to kick back and relish in how much we've overcome.
Typhon refused to leave my side to go check on Raith, so I had to rely on second-hand information that students in the healer's room were visited afterward by the selectors and allowed to present their elementals in private.
I'm surprised to find myself already itching to go check on him.. My fingers tap against the wooden table as I think about his tightly regulated, so-rare-they're-almost-nonexistent smiles and the intensity in his eyes. The memory of his warmth beside me in the elemental plane sends a flush of heat to my cheeks.
Just thinking about the way he looked at me then—like I mattered, like I was worth protecting—makes my heart do this stupid fluttering thing I can't seem to control.
I settle for keeping an eye on Malakai, Serena, and the students I know for sure are part of his unofficial little army. So long as they're here in the dining hall, Raith should be safe from any sort of assassination attempt.
"You can relax, angry human," Typhon says. "I know the fire touched and his safety are important to you. I've established a line of communication with his elemental, Pyrin. I will alert you if there's any cause for concern. Pyrin says the fire touched is currently resting and safe."
"Oh. You can do that?"
"The things I can do would make your fragile meat brain explode with wonder."
"Right. Well, thank you."
Typhon has decided to sit directly on a table of food, invisible to all but me, as students reach through him to grab heaping helpings.
"Doesn't that bother you?" I ask him. "That girl literally just reached through your belly to grab a slice of pie."
"They are insignificant to me. This spot gives me the best vantage point to watch for danger."
I grin around a mouthful of warm, buttery mashed potatoes. "This is super weird, right?" I ask Mireen who sits across from me. She nods.
"Yeah. Definitely. Ollie is… talkative. He wants to know what everything tastes like in exhausting detail. I'm still trying to get used to having another being in my head."
"Uther has a lot of opinions," Beck says. "Good ones, though. And he's actually kind of hilarious. You guys should've heard him during the ceremony. He had so many priceless one-liners. He kept telling me how many bites he could eat everyone’s elemental in. One. Half of one. A nibble. The guy is stone cold,” Beck says wistfully, shaking his head at the memory.
"Akaron doesn't talk much," Ambrose says as he slices into a steak. "But he's really intelligent. Having him in my head is like having a clone of myself in a way. Like another, extra brilliant mind."
"Is he humble like you, too?" I ask, barely holding back a smile.
Ambrose smirks. "Yes. We're both extremely humble, actually."
"So… care to explain why your elemental looked like a flying fish and you called it Oceanus?" Mireen asks. "People were laughing about it."
"Yeah," I say. "We thought it was better to be discreet."
Ambrose leans closer, eyes scanning the nearby students to make sure nobody is listening in. "So he can take two forms?"
"More than that, supposedly. He… really didn't like having to be a fish. He wanted to show them what he is."
"I bet," Ambrose says. "I still can't believe he's… well," Ambrose glances to his side again and settles for raising his eyebrows significantly.
"Yeah," I agree.
"What's he like?" Mireen asks.
"Um…" I look up at Typhon, who is sitting with his serpentine body coiled around the table, his back straight, head held high, and his wings spread as if he's trying to sun himself from the high dining room windows. "Proud? But he really cares about keeping me safe, too. I feel like I already trust him with my life."