Elysium by Sylah Sloan

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class or something?” He looked back at me and shrugged his shoulders.
    “Nah, class let out a while ago. I come out here and read until the sun comes up after classes.”
    I tried to see if he had fangs, but the only thing I could see were straight, blunt white teeth. “I’m not a vampire, if that’s what you’re trying to look for.” I blushed at how obvious I had been. I walked over and sat on the far edge of the bench. I didn’t ask what he was since I assumed it was a pretty rude question.
    “I’m a demon.”
    I looked over at him, surprised he knew what I was thinking. “Can you read minds?” He chuckled, and I admitted it was a nice sound.
    “No, but the look on your face wasn’t all that subtle.”
    “Oh.” I put a strand of my hair behind my ear and looked over at him. His eyes were trained on my movements, like he was analyzing what I was doing. He noticed me looking at him and straightened in his seat, clearing his throat in the process.
    “So, you start classes soon?”
    “Yeah, tomorrow.”
    “That’s cool. Who’d you get paired up with?”
    “Violet Fender. Know her?”
    He nodded his head and looked back at the stars. “Yeah, we’re cool.”
    We sat in silence for a little while longer, and I started to shiver. It was really cold, but Nikolai didn’t even seem phased by it.
    “Here.” I looked over at him and watched as he took his coat off.
    “I can’t take your coat. You’ll freeze out here.” He smiled and handed it over to me and shook his head.
    “It’s cool. I can’t feel the cold anyway. I wear it out of habit.”
    I thanked him and slipped it on, the thing about ten sizes too big. It was warm and instantly thawed my frozen body. It smelled good too, like really nice cologne. We sat there again in silence before my curiosity grew. “So, how long have you been here?”
    “Since I was fifteen. My parents thought it would good for me to socially interact with kids my own age.”
    “Where did you used to live?
    “ New York.”
    “Was it cool? I mean, I’ve always wanted to visit New York.”
    He shrugged like it was the least interesting thing to talk about. “It was all right. I lived there my whole life so it wasn’t all that cool. The baseball was pretty good though.” He looked over at me and winked, which surprised me when my heart did a little flutter. He was good looking, not in the dark mysterious way Cadeon was, but still good looking, nonetheless. “Do you miss it? I mean, your parents and all that?”
    He shrugged again. “I used to, but not really anymore. I’ve been here for four years so I’ve had time to get used to this place. Where are you from?”
    I didn’t want to reveal too much to him since I wasn’t sure what I should and shouldn’t tell, but I thought it was safe enough to tell him the basics. “I used to live in Serenity Springs.”
    “Huh, I didn’t know there was another Arcane school so close to this one.”
    “Yeah, well.” I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything at all and hoped he wouldn’t pry. I was thankful when he just nodded and didn’t push it, but maybe my fidgeting hands gave me away. He looked like he knew I was lying, but turned his attention back to the sky.
    “I have a lot of the same classes as Violet so I’m sure I’ll see you around.” I took off his coat and handed it back to him. We said goodbye, and I headed back inside, starting to feel tired once more.
    “I’ll see ya around.”
    I looked over my shoulder, smiling and noticing how he watched me with a strange look on his face. I really needed to work on my story, in case something like this happened again.
     
     

Chapter Eleven
     
    The next day I sat on my bed and watched the clock. I was nervous about starting my classes, but more anxious about who was supposed to be coming by before I left to meet Violet. Cadeon was supposed to stop by with some blood, and the idea of seeing him made my heart