MesonHill’s Anem

Chapter 2: What is

Celeste sheepishly entered Mr Dayholt's grand office and followed his command to sit down. She had never been in the headmaster's office before, so she took a moment to take in what a beautiful place it was. 

The walls were tall, with antique paintings between each of the pillars, and the room was furnished with the finest dark oak wood items. There was no doubt that Mr Dayholt wanted to keep the room's character evident, as it didn't fit in with today's modern interior designs. 

There was very little lighting in the room. Celeste imagined how amazing the room would look in the daytime, with the rays of light, beaming through the windows, giving the place a little more life. But, she was soon snapped back into reality, when Mr Dayholt caught her off guard. 

"What do you say, Miss Ripley?" Mr Dayholt looked at her, with a single brow raised, awaiting her response. She hadn't been listening to a single word that he had said. 

She sat for a moment, deciding on what to reply with, and feared what she could end up agreeing to, were she to say the wrong thing. Mr Dayholt was clearly becoming impatient, as he, quite obviously, cleared his throat trying to get Celeste's attention. 

"Yes, that's fine, Sir." She said, with her fingers crossed underneath the desk. 

"Well, that settles it. You will have detention with Ms Grigg, in the library, tomorrow evening at 7 pm. I trust that you will attend, knowing what the consequences will be, should you not."

Celeste shifted uneasily in her chair. They hadn't even taken into consideration the situation she had been in and had just thrown her into detention with all of the school's dimwits. She thought she would have been pardoned, this once, due to the situation, and the fact that she was certainly not a troublemaker. 

"Thank you, Sir." She rose from her chair and sulked out of the room, and up to her dormitory. 

...

The next morning, Celeste woke up with little motivation. She had classes every period up until 5 pm and would have to wait around until 7 pm for her detention, leaving no room for activism in her schedule. 

She rolled out of her single bed and slipped on her uniform. On weekdays, when the students had classes, they would always have to wear their uniform, but on weekends they could wear their own choice of clothing. Celeste was longing for nothing more than to wear some comfortable joggers and a hoodie that morning but, to her misfortune, it was Monday.

As she wandered down the hall of rooms, and out of her common room, she entered the mass of students heading down to the canteen for breakfast. On arrival, she found that there were limited seats at the several round tables in the grand hall. 

There was no chance of her sitting at a table with other people, and having to be sociable, so she made sure to take as long as possible, whilst piling up her plate at the breakfast buffet. 

At last, two croissants; an apple; a banana; a yoghurt; three slices of toast, and a bowl of cereal later, a table was free. She rushed over, and sat herself down with her mountain of food, and laid out her English homework on the table, which wasn't due until Friday.

After attempting to eat the majority of the food she had collected that morning, Celeste had filled her stomach completely. It was nearly 9 am, so she headed over to her first lesson - mathematics. 

Celeste was different to the majority of students at MesonHill. She actually enjoyed her lessons and was always keen to learn. It was annoying for her when other students in her classes would mess around, because she wanted to do well, but struggled to concentrate with all the racket. 

Her motivation for doing well in school was solely based on trying to make her parents proud. She was very lucky to be so close to her mother and father. Many children, those days, didn't have great home lives. Most parents would split up, and rarely ever made time to see their children, so Celeste was very grateful that she got to see them so often.

The day went as it usually would on a school day for Celeste: lessons all day from 9 am to 5 pm, with only a morning break at eleven, and a lunch break at twelve.  There was a slow patch of time between the end of lessons and her detention, which she spent in the Jade common room. 

It seemed silly to Celeste that a school, which refused to even think about magic, had named their school teams' after gemstones that had once played a role in the magical world. Jade was a pale green gemstone, which meant: abundance; nature's energy; and wellbeing. 

The other teams were Jasper, Topaz and Garnet. Jasper was a fiery orange and red gemstone meaning: to bring tranquillity, whilst Topaz was a glistening, yellow gemstone meaning: clarity; and nobility. Finally, Garnet was a burgundy, purple coloured gemstone meaning: self-worth; and healing. 

There was no doubt that Jaxon Rush fit into the Garnet team. He was so full of self-worth that it was difficult to divert his attention away from himself for even a single moment. 

...

Jaxon Rush? It couldn't be. 

Celeste had entered the library for her detention to see a small number of students already sat down, waiting for Ms Grigg to arrive. When people realised that it was Celeste who just walked in, they all presented a shocked look on their faces and began to snigger. 

"No way! How'd you end up in here, Ripley? Must have been something pathetic.  I bet you answered a question wrong, for the first time in your life!" Jaxon grinned maliciously, as the rest of the delinquents erupted in laughter, at his comment. 

"Missed curfew last night. What's it to you?" Celeste snapped. 

The laughter quickly shifted into silence, as they were surprised she could give such a response. Jaxon let out a small titter and turned back to the group to continue his conversation like Celeste wasn't even there. 

Within minutes, Ms Grigg arrived. She laid out the rules of detention, ensuring that everyone knew what would happen if they didn't comply with those rules. 

"No laughing or having fun. We are in detention. This is a punishment, not extra time to spend with friends. You may speak to one another, but only to seek information on where to find or put a book. I will assign you to a pair. No squabbling over who you have been put with. As I said, this is a punishment, after all." Ms Grigg continued with the rules. 

Celeste hated the idea that she would have to work with one of those dunces, but she had no choice. 

"Fawn Harrington you will be with Celeste Ripley." Celeste looked in Fawn's direction. She had long blonde hair, and beaming blue eyes, which were hard to read. Celeste wondered what her thoughts would be on working with her. 

"Jaxon Rush you will be with Aria Balker" The two looked at each other, and gave one another symmetrical smirks. Aria was the girl who had shouted Jaxon away from Celeste yesterday. She didn't realise it at the time, but now she was here and saw her distinct, bouncy hair in the flesh, she knew it was her.

"And finally, Beck McCoy you will be with Axel Reyes." The boys gave a small grin to one another, and let out a faint cheer. "Now, find your partners and get to work."

Celeste and Fawn grabbed a handful of books from the library desk, and headed over to the bookcase, at the back of the room, to sort them. Fawn gave Celeste a subtle smile when they reached the bookcase and started sorting the books alphabetically. 

"You know, you've got some courage to stand up to Jaxon the way you do," Fawn said.  

Celeste wasn't expecting a conversation, let alone a compliment. She was expecting Fawn to ignore her for the endurance of detention, so the interaction that she received was truly shocking to Celeste. 

"He's a complete i***t, to put it politely." Replied Celeste. At this, Fawn released an amused giggle. 

"You got that right!" She smiled at Celeste. "I don't know why people give you such a hard time. You seem really nice." Celeste stumbled back slightly at the second compliment she was receiving from Fawn. 

"Did Jaxon set you up to be super nice to me, or something?" Celeste questioned with a suspicious look on her face. This was Celeste's trait, of not trusting people, emerging. 

"No, I just find you very interesting. I've seen all the people hurling insults at you in the street. I don't care that you're an Anem. To be honest, I think the world could do with some change. I mean, if more people start to act like Jaxon – which wouldn't be surprising," she stopped to roll her eyes in his direction, "I certainly don't want to have to live in that world!" 

Fawn was clearly a very loquacious person, but Celeste didn't mind. She was actually being respectful towards Celeste, which never happened, so she was mostly enjoying her company. 

"Okay, okay. Slow down!" Celeste giggled. "You'd be the very first person to actually give me, and Anems in general, any interest." Her eyes looked at her feet shyly. 

"Actually, my friends and I are all a bit - what's the word?- inquisitive? I reckon you'd fit in with us. You can come to sit with us tomorrow lunch if you like?"  Fawn gave a warm smile.

Sitting with Fawn would be nice, but Celeste was still unsure about her. Was it all a prank? Had Jaxon told her to say all of that? What if it wasn't a prank, would Fawn's friends all be as welcoming as she was? There were so many thoughts in Celeste's mind, telling her to reject the offer, but something changed her mind. 

"That would be great." Celeste returned the smile and tried to remain collected, even though she was overwhelmed with excitement on the inside. She thought that this group of four, which Celeste may become part of, could possibly make a difference in the world. And, that was enough for Celeste to take the risk of being made fun of. 

Detention went by swiftly with Fawn to talk to. She kept asking Celeste about being an Anem, and what it would take to bring back the magic. This made her believe that Fawn really was being sincere. 

Celeste showed her several books that she had read that had been put back on the shelves. She had left the important pages turned over on the corners, when she put them back, after the last time she used them, knowing that no one would bother to read them. 

"You see, there's this gemstone called Zirkyan. Some people at the time were experimenting with fusing different gemstones together. They fused Kyanite and Zircon together, and it created a power source. Well, it was a bit more complicated than that. There was some involvement of ancient witchcraft, but it was never recorded."

                 "They didn't know how to harness the power, of course, either. It wasn't until a few years later, when they installed something, that has only ever been described as a metal plate, onto a tree that they discovered how to use the gem. The tree roots are like the veins of the earth, so the power ran through the trees, and all around the world. Best of all, it all started here in Yorkshire!" 

Fawn listened so carefully as Celeste explained. She seemed to be fascinated by the way Celeste was so enthusiastic about magic, but she was equally as enthusiastic about it when she understood. 

"You're not seriously believing any of this are you?" Jaxon had popped his head around the bookcase where Celeste and Fawn were stood. 

"Buggar off, Jaxon." Fawn barked. He backed down suddenly like he wasn't expecting Fawn to speak to him like that. Celeste's brave personality was already influencing Fawn, and she couldn't wait to see where it could take them. 

After what felt like minutes, detention was over, and there were five minutes before curfew. 

"You're in the Jade team, right? I'm sure I've seen you in the common room before." Fawn asked. 

"Yeah. I don't like to hang out there much though. I don't really like socialising." Celeste laughed. 

"Well, I'll walk with you anyway. Beck's in our team too, you know. I can introduce you." 

Celeste had come to the terms, in her mind, that Fawn wasn't lying about wanting to be friends with her. She, now, only hoped that the rest of her friends would be sincere, too, but if Aria was Fawn's friend, and was hanging around with Jaxon so often, she thought they might not be. 

"I know who Beck is, don't worry. You might still want to introduce me, though. The nerd knows everybody, but nobody knows the nerd." Celeste replied, smiling at her sarcastic, yet, true comment. 

They walked into the Jade common room. It was dimly lit, as the night sky had fallen, and there was no natural lighting. There was a mint green glow in the room, as the walls were decorated with the colours of the school team, and the white lights only enhanced this. There was a modern, grey sofa in the middle of the room, facing a tv on the wall. Fawn sat down on the sofa and turned to Celeste. 

"We could stay up and chat more if you'd like?" She asked. After Celeste's night the previous night, she hadn't slept much, so she thought it best for her to go to bed. 

"I'm actually going to go to bed. Didn't get much sleep last night. I'll see you tomorrow, though." She said sheepishly, hoping not to offend Fawn. 

"Okay. Hope you sleep better tonight. Goodnight!" She replied sweetly. 

"Thank you. Goodnight!" Celeste responded, and made her way to her room with a feeling of content. She couldn't wait for tomorrow.