8Chapter 5: Blanket Bliss
Warmth oozed all around me like melted butter and I sighed in bliss. I was having the most wonderful dream and I never wanted to wake up. In my dream I was lying upon a beautiful soft mattress covered in silky pillows and heaps of furs and quilts.
Much, much better than my pile of rotting hay in real life. Smiling, I rubbed my face into my dream pillows and stretched out. My bones clicked and I sighed again as my whole body sank into comfort. I rarely had dreams like this, and when I did I made sure to treasure them. At least until Lowen woke me up anyway.
Lowen… I frowned at a sense that I was forgetting something rather important. After 5 minutes of struggling to think without arousing me from my slumber, I gave up and rolled over...
Right off of the mattress onto the stone cold floor. I was immediately awake and chills set through my body as I bolted upright. Wide eyed panic flooded through me when I took in my unfamiliar surroundings - stone walls, ashes in a fireplace. A recent memory started tickling the edges of my mind before I suddenly remembered.
I was in Lucas's quarters… For the next two weeks. With a groan I flopped back onto the mattress. How did I even get into this mess to start with? Crawling back under the quilts I snuggled right in until the top of my head peeped out through a gap in the blankets. Well, one positive to this was definitely the bed I had to admit.
I think Lucas had chucked on every single blanket and pillow he could find which I was extremely grateful for. The last time I had a blanket was in winter two years ago when the dummie masters HAD to give us one because some of us were dying of the cold. Even then it was just a threadbare smelly old towel. Nothing like this.
I closed my eyes and thought back to my bath the night before. It'd been like a little piece of heaven. The heat of the water had been amazing, and I got to use all sorts of soaps and lotions. I didn't go near the unlabelled bottles though; goddess knows what they might be in a magician's bathroom.
After soaking I set about properly washing myself for the first time in years. It had taken half an hour to scrub my body clean and then almost two hours to sort out my hair, ears and tail. I had to change the water twice during that because the filth was so thick.
It'd been worth it in the end though; I finally got to see my natural hair and fur colour since I'd matured. When I was a cub my fur had been pure white, and since then it changed to the colour of a pearl made of snow. It was a bit different to what I was used to, but much better than the grey muck I'd lived with for the past four years.
My musings were interrupted by footsteps and a yawn in Lucas's room before the heavy doors swung open. I shuffled further down in my blankets watching through my little gap as Lucas sleepily headed to the little kitchen. My cheeks began to burn as I saw he was just wearing silky shorts and I hid my face under the blanket.
I lay there hiding for another moment before peeping back out again. I just had to check, I thought I'd seen little ducks on the shorts… Looking at Lucas again, I observed that his blue shorts did indeed have little yellow ducks on them, and that the ducks were wearing shorts to. I stifled a giggle as Lucas bent down and mumbled something to the fireplace, chucking a few logs in as a flame burst to life.
Without even glancing in my direction he walked through the little archway to the kitchen and I breathed out a sigh of relief. I wasn't quite sure why I was relieved but I hurriedly disentangled myself from the blankets and jumped out of the bed. Grabbing the nearest pile of clothes I turned around to dash for the bathroom before freezing to the spot.
Lucas stood in the archway holding a bowl of something, and a spoon was halfway up to his waiting mouth as he also froze to the spot staring at me. Confusion danced in his eyes before he suddenly remembered why I was in his little lounge.
Dropping the spoon back into the bowl, he cleared his throat and stood up straight – apparently awake now. "Good morning." His voice was still thick with sleep and he loudly cleared his throat again. "Uh, I didn't make you breakfast but feel free to help yourself. I don't know what you normally have… Um, did you sleep well?"
I nodded silently, cuddling the clothes into my chest. Lucas shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other before he frowned.
"Why have you got your old clothes? There are new ones in the chest that you can wear. You'll freeze in yours." I looked down to the bundle I was holding and noticed that, yes they were indeed my old clothes. I opened my mouth to speak but Lucas carried on talking.
"You may be used to the cold from our exercises outside but you were moving around a lot then, without that you'd freeze and since you won't be running around all day now you've got to layer up." Lucas set his bowl down on the table and marched over to the little wooden chest. Throwing back the lid, he started rummaging around inside.
After all the excitement of a bed and a hot bath I'd forgotten about my new chest of clothes. I set my old clothes down and crept up behind Lucas to have a look inside. The chest contained a lot more than you'd think for its small size and I noted hats, scarves, thick jackets, pants, woolly shirts and all sorts.
"I um, didn't sort out any um, female undergarments for you because…well yeah. I've got a friend though who agreed to help you out with that. She should be here after breakfast. But for now this should do." Lucas spun around with an armful of clothes before jumping at my closeness to him. I hadn't even noticed just how close to him I'd gotten in my quest to see inside the trunk.
Time stood still as we stared into each other's eyes, gaging the other's reaction. His warm breath tickled against my nose and I held my breath in anticipation.
Any second now he'd whip out his wand and zap me unconscious for being too close.
The seconds ticked by and nothing happened, so I grabbed the clothes from his arms and dashed for the bathroom as quickly as I could, slamming the door behind me. I fumbled with the lock before leaning heavily against the door.
The door was hardly any protection against his wand, but it gave me a false sense of security from any sudden attacks. At least then the door would fry before me, and I could maybe hide behind the bathtub.
Holding my breath, I pressed my ear against the door and listened for any signs of an attack.
Lucas
I stood frozen to the spot as the bathroom door slammed shut and the lock clicked into place. She'd been so close. I could've almost…It would've been so easy to just lean forward and…
I shut my eyes with a sigh. And what? Given her a heart attack? Yeah I'm sure she'd appreciate that. Ugh, I can't believe her closeness just stopped me in my tracks like that. Every single wall I'd built up just gone! How did she do that?
Was it the magic my father warned me about? Maybe she was trying to knock down my defences... waiting for the right moment to strike, taking advantage of my weaknesses.
No. I couldn't say that was the reason. Such a blatant lie would never succeed. The only reason I'd stopped like that, is the exact same reason she's never left my mind…
Iyla
The only sound from the other side of the door was a sigh and heavy footsteps to his bedroom as the door slammed shut.
I waited a few more tense moments to see if he'd emerge with wand in tow, but nothing happened. Stepping back from the door, I walked up to the sink and counter which was bigger than my bathroom in my cell.
Gazing at my reflection, I took in the smooth white skin. I was a lot paler than Lucas, my skin was practically translucent.
Taking off my pyjamas, I slipped on the first layer of clothes Lucas had gotten for me. Just a simple strapped vest with tight shorts. Next were thick cotton pants and shirt, and then a great big woolly jumper on top.
I immediately felt over heated and took the jumper back off. I wouldn't need it until we went somewhere.
Prolonging my time in the bathroom I did all the basic morning washes, making sure every tooth and nail was clean before I really couldn't put it off any longer. I'd have to go back out and see Lucas.
Hopefully without his wand in tow.
Taking a deep breath, I braced myself before opening the door. Sitting on the sofa was Lucas with a very petite blonde lady. Big bouncy curls framed her lovely face and her cheeks were a light rosy pink. She was absolutely stunning, in that cute/adorable way. She had huge amber eyes that made her seem like a child yet they spoke volumes of intelligence.
Stepping out of the bathroom warily, my presence put a halt to their conversation. The lady immediately gasped.
"Oh my gosh, Lucas she is simply adorable! Why have you never shown her to me before? Ah I could just die, isn't she the prettiest little thing you have ever seen?" She smiled with delight and bounced up to me. Stunned I flinched back from her. That was definitely not a reaction I would've guessed. She can't be a magician surely.
Lucas stayed seated, coolly sipping a cup of coffee. "Careful there Arlene you'll frighten her."
"Oh the poor dear." She turned to face me and stepped right up close. "You sweet little thing, I'm ever so sorry if I frightened you. My name is Arlene and I'm Lucas's private piano tutor. He asked me to help you get some undies." Undies? She must mean the undergarments Lucas mentioned earlier. I glanced towards him but he continued sipping his coffee, staring into the fire.
"Tsk what has he dressed you in?" She turned to Lucas. "Darling you have no sense of fashion! How could you dress her in these hideous clothes? Why they're barely fit for a male, let alone a young girl like herself!"
"I just gave her something warm Arlene. Don't forget she is a dummie. This in itself is suspicious enough without her being dressed nicely. Don't get carried away." Lucas's cold and pretentious voice was back.
"Tsk, that shouldn't matter. Who cares what people think? You're a level 2 magician and your father's son! So powerful you might not even have to do your last year at the academy! Having a well-dressed dummie would show just how much better you are then those other stuck ups and that it doesn't matter what you do because you are you."
By now I was well and truly lost. This woman said a lot and she spoke very fast.
"I think you should dress her beautifully to show off how you have a beautiful dummie, and that you can do what you want. That you can afford to dress your dummie well! Ha! That would show them!"
Arlene turned back to me and I was amazed such a small woman could hold so much energy. I admit I'm quite short but she just about reached my shoulders. And she was wearing heals.
"Now, now sweetheart. Don't you worry about a thing! That boy has no idea what he's talking about! I'm 20 years older than him so I have a much, much better idea of society and expectations." She shot him a look. "I'll get you all dressed up and do something with that gorgeous hair of yours. We won't cut off too much don't worry, it suits you long. And we'll find out what kind of figure you have under that lump of cloth and show it off! By the time I'm done with you Lucas won't be able to take his eyes off of you!"
"Take it easy on her Arlene; she's not a student here. She's not used to your extreme makeovers."
"Hmpf. You'll see. By the end of the day, we'll be the best of friends! Now, come along dearie, we have a makeover to begin. We'll head to my apartment and on the way I'll give you a little tour. Nothing too major though, this is still a school of magical creature hating magicians!" Her delighted laugh echoed around the room as she grabbed my hand and towed me out the room. I threw a pleading look over my shoulder to Lucas only to be ignored.
Getting dragged down the hallway listening to Arlene's rambles, I could only imagine what she was going to put me through.
Goddess save me.
~X~
_ So, a bit of a filler I guess. But it's neccessary :) I hope you enjoyed the last two chapters I've put up! Reviews are always welcome :P Thanks for reading!