Slinging his bag over his shoulders, Seven let the weight of the books inside ground him. His hand drifted to the familiar shape pressing against his side, tracing its surface for reassurance.
It was still there.
The Urim—a pale, whitish stone about the size of a fist. Its luminous color had earned it the name Lumen, a symbol of light.
Somewhere on campus, its sister stone, the Thummim, rested within a girl's body. Unlike Lumen, Thummim was pitch-black, known as Umber, a name signifying both darkness and, paradoxically, perfection.
Together, they formed a Perfect Light.
'Yayyy…'
Individually, each could act as either a seeker or a beacon, a tracking mechanism that worked by proximity. The problem? It only reacted when close to its counterpart—an infuriating limitation when searching for someone who could be anywhere in a sea of students.
Finding the masked girl from the night before was a step forward, but Seven couldn't be everywhere at once. The odds of her being just another face in the crowd were only slightly better than the slim chance of stumbling upon her by sheer luck.
Frustration curled in his chest. Exhaling sharply, he tightened his grip on his bag, letting its weight pull him back to reality.
Opening his locker to get a few materials he'll be needing for the next class, an annoying color that stuck out like a sore thumb attracted his attention. Pulling the pink card out that was disturbingly covered in wet glitter almost made him frown.
With his hands and a few other things affected by the glitter invasion, he simply put them aside without checking the contents.
Picking up a few books and dusting out as much glitter as possible, he closed his locker only to be greeted by a rather tiny girl.
Her face was all smiles, and tilting his head, he could only think the girl was the very combination of all colors he'd hate to be associated with.
It was simply too much, forming a whole candy store personality like she'd barf out rainbows and flowers bloom seconds after she passed them.
It would be the most painful experience for him if he didn't get his behind handed to him the previous night by something way worse. She easily made the top three, though; he would give her that.
"What do you think? You saw the card, right?" She said softly, her voice not disappointing at all.
'Oh look at that, she's the mystery glitter master...' he lampooned, having already guessed that.
Casually glancing around and adjusting his face cap while at it to shield his eyes from the 'sunshine', his eyes caught a faint glimpse of a hovering dark smoke floating away in the hallway.
Reverting back his attention to the literal sweet girl before him, now with a sense of urgency, he pursed his lips into a tight smile and simply nodded.
Mentally going over the replies he could give her, he didn't find one that was nice enough, so with an immediate need to leave, he blurted...
"Yeah, I'll... I'll see you around..."
Without waiting for a response, he followed the dark hue immediately. He tried to make it less obvious, but it was getting away fast too.
'Heh, you can talk. Let me remind you, for someone without a life, you don't really get to choose your partner.' Zephyr's words brushed past his ear.
Scoff!
Taking the left route, the hallway with fewer people in it, he broke off into small jogs and was almost onto it when a door opened by the side and dragged him forcefully into the dark room.
Click!
The sound of the door being locked resounded as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. The whole place was pitch dark but he could feel their auras around him.
There were five of them, and he hated to be right, but it wasn't really hard to deduce they were the same guy from the locker room.
Just his luck!
'Coward much?' he thought, rolling his eyes at their stupid attempt, which cost him more than they'll ever know.
Was it acting or were people always this dumb?
"You should be careful who you mess with in this school, phantom freak?"
"..."
He didn't reply but instead tried to understand where he was. With the stuffy feeling and the strong smell of soap, he could quickly guess it was the Janitor's room.
Feeling someone grab his collar rudely and slam him on the door, he simply placed his hand on the lock and tried to understand which type it was.
"You know, you really don't come out as the audacious type, freak! Think you're special just cause you dabbled in some witchcraft and stuff?"
Seven's lips barely parted as his voice came out in a whisper only they could hear: "You have no idea."
'Just my luck!,' he suppressed a smile...
The cold sensation he was feeling at his back from being pressed against the door confirmed that the stone hidden away safely in his bag was starting to react, which could only mean one thing:
The mystery girl from the other night was around the vicinity:
'You don't say...' he thought, his smile growing wider.
"What? Are you just gonna stand there? All that talk for nothing?" He said, making his voice sound as gutsy as possible.
The plan was pissing these dimwits off and thankfully, his mere existence has long been on that assignment.
He couldn't see much, but he heard their teeth grinding together and the crackling of their knuckles as their hands formed fists.
The deliberate attempt worked as he felt the air get knocked out of his lungs the next second.
Slam! Crack! Crash!
To their surprise, he had a trick up his sleeve. They were in for quite the show as they saw him go through the door without opening the locks.
The bully looked at his fists, surprised at his own strength as he saw Seven roll against whatever was left of the door which snapped easily from its hinges.
"Hey, what the hell man?" A male voice Seven wasn't expecting to hear shouted from the side, prompting him to look up immediately.
"Elias?" He thought aloud, but before he could conceive another thought, he watched as Elias darted towards the guys. They all towered above him but no matter how comical the scene looked, Elias was able to hold his own.
Well before being sent back to the wall and landing gracelessly behind him. Standing in quick succession as he had clearly misread the entire situation, he saw a girl come into his view. She was putting on a normal white shirt, grey cardigan, and black skirt to match her long, wavy dark hair.
"You shouldn't have done that!" Her voice, which he recognized well, resounded, carrying with it a suppressing aura.
A gentle breeze brew in the lonely hallway, and he could tell that something drastically changed with the terrified look on the bullies' faces as they staggered backward.
Moving forward to their seeming leader, who was shivering terribly from the sudden drop in temperature and fear, she raised her arm and slapped him across the face.
The sound resounded in the hallway, and the leader sprawled on the floor on impact.
Turning towards Elias, who was trying fruitlessly to stand up, she rushed towards him, not even sparing Seven a glance. He appreciated it, though, because it awarded him time to get his backpack and confirm the reaction.
As she tried to get Elias up, Seven just searched her body for any sign of the other stone, Thummim.
Seeing the unassuming dark mark like a faint tattoo, he retrieved it with the utmost carefulness.
"That's not necessary, Cordis. I'm fine..." He heard Elias whine, stopping Cordis from helping him up. As he dusted the debris off his clothes, he glanced at him and, without saying a word, left without turning back.
Cordis stared at his retreating figure, concern flickering in her eyes.
Running his hands through his hair...
'Wait! My cap!' Seven panicked, looking around for the black head warmer that must have fallen off his head when he went through the door.
"Are you looking for this?" He turned towards the voice to see an extremely beautiful tan girl holding up his cap.
Retrieving it from her, he nodded once and mouthed, 'Thank you.'
'Her amber eyes...no doubts, she's definitely the one.'
Looking away, embarrassed, thinking she might have noticed his stare, he coughed and put on his cap, making sure to hide most of the red streaks.
"Your face—" Seven inquired, noticing red marks on her left cheek. He stopped mid-sentence, afraid it came out offensive.
"Your hair? Why do you hide it?" The girl asked, folding her hands.
"Hmm?" Seven responded, bamboozled.
'Hopeless!' Zephyr, who was silently observing, face-palmed himself.
"Keeps people from staring..." He said dismissively, getting himself together. This was a rare chance, and he wasn't going to mess it up with his poor human relating skills.
"Natural?"
"Not really, I wake up every 3AM to dye it. Dramatic effect, you know?" He said with a dry laugh, Zephyr almost fainted from secondhand embarrassment.
'Okay, humor isn't working,' He thought, biting his lips in search of what to say to redeem himself.
"Just kidding, yeah natural, something like that. Weird, right?"
"Hmm...I like it though." She said, a faint smile playing on her lips.
'Oh my God, was that a compliment?!' he thought, feeling his heart flip a little.
"Hehehe..." He heard her giggle, and his face, though expressionless, was starting to gain a deep red tone.
"You can calm down. I was worried I wouldn't be able to read any of your emotions, but this...I got it loud and clear..."
Squinting his eyes in suspicion, he saw her stretch out her hand in a handshake...
"I'm Cordis. I can read your emotions, and you?"
'What the hell is going on? Why would she randomly tell me that?!'
Seven just stood watching her, unsure of what to do or what motive she had in mind...
"I'm assuming your name isn't Phantom Freak," she added with a smile, tilting her head to the side.
Accepting her handshake, he said flatly...
"Seven?"
The tremor making it sound more like a question.