“Wow, this place is gorgeous. We have class in here?” I tore my gaze from the magnificent glass only to find him twenty feet ahead of me.
“No, not in the sanctuary. It’s in the chapel library. It has some of the oldest books in the country.” He motioned down a tiled hall. “This way.”
My ballet flats clicked against the hand-painted tiles, reverberating so loud I switched to tiptoes. Deep laughter rumbled ahead of me.
He peeked at me over his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
I clenched my fingers into a fist at my side. As if I didn’t remember the last time this boy laughed at me. “Well, excuse me, I don’t want to disturb anything. Or anyone.”
“Relax, it’s not like there are monks here or something.” A beam of light spilled into the hallway from an open door, enough to spotlight his shaking head. “Here we are. Ladies first.”
As I slipped past he bowed ever-so-slightly, like his minor effort at chivalry could make up for being obnoxious. I flipped my hair over my shoulder and flounced into the dim library, where five unfamiliar faces stared back at me.
An auburn-haired beauty waved from the far wall of ceiling-high stacks. At her side, a younger girl with dishwater-blonde hair offered a meek smile—my freshman suitemate, Brooke. Sitting at one of the few tables in the cluttered room, an orange-haired boy smiled at me with freckled cheeks.
The girl at his side swung her springy orange curls around and I blinked. “Wow, you’re like a carbon-copy of your brother.”
“Good thing they’re twins.” The voice came from a dark-haired guy by the lead-paned window. He didn’t even glance up from the piles of books strewn in front of him.
“Yeah, caught that.” I turned my back on him to take in the view. Cedar shelves lined each wall and most of the floor space, with niches carved out for the window and a few tables in the middle. Darkness cloaked the back corner of the room.
“Is that an actual turret?” Even though the tower was tiny, the bookshelves wrapped from the bottom to the very top. “Amazing. It’s like a castle library.”
Bryan cleared his throat and nudged me into the center of the room. “Everyone, this is Lucy McAllen. She’s in our Ancient Writings class.”
I tilted my head at him. “How do you know my full name?”
“Everyone knows who you are.” The guy by the window glanced up from his book pile. “By the way, I’m Tony Delgotto.”
Tony’s words had more than one meaning, at least to me. Did everyone know me as James McAllen’s little sister, or the next in line to be the Seer? I gulped, giving him a nervous smile.
“Where are my manners?” Bryan smacked his forehead. “Let me introduce you to everyone. That’s my sister Brooke over there in the stacks, then Felicia Morales, and the twins here are Laura and Lenny Brewster.”
“Hi, everyone.” I forced my lips into some form of greeting and dumped my bag on Laura and Lenny’s table. “It must be so much fun being twins.”
“I love it, but he hates it.” Laura’s high-pitched voice held a surprising warm tone that soothed my ears.
“Only because she won’t do cool pranks like switch places.” Lenny had a lower voice than I expected, especially compared to Laura.
“Like I want anyone to mistake me for a boy.” She shrugged off his comment and scooted out the chair beside her. “Come sit by me. Are you excited for class? Harlixton’s great.”
“Harlixton? I have him for Origins.” I slid into the wooden chair. “I love libraries and old books, so I’m definitely looking forward to this class.”
“Nice, another bookworm like Bryan here, our fearless leader.” Tony tilted back his chair back and kicked up his feet. “You’ll fit right in.”
“Don’t listen to him. He’s always giving Bryan a hard time.” Laura snapped her book shut.
“You guys are all Guardians? Is this entire class full of Guardians?” I unzipped my bag and fished out a fresh notebook so I didn’t have to look at them. Hopefully they didn’t hear my voice wobble.
Everyone stopped cold and zeroed in on me, eyes wide.
“Very observant.” Bryan eased himself into the chair beside me. “Yes, we’re all Guardians. We meet after this class. So stick around if you want.”
“Smooth, dude.” Lenny whispered to Bryan, but his eyes never left me. Creepy.
The hinges of the library door squeaked behind me as more students filed into class. Julia took the open seat at my table and motioned for Brooke to pull up a chair. Maybe Julia wasn’t a mean girl after all.
Mr. Harlixton walked in and took his stance in the front of the library tables. “Welcome to Ancient Writings, Myths, and Legends. Otherwise known as World Literature on your regular transcripts.”
I chuckled to myself and the rest of the class followed suit. Mr. Harlixton thrust a stack of papers at Bryan and he passed out the syllabus.
Mr. Harlixton removed his tweed jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his cream dress shirt. “This class will be a little different from most. In the back of your syllabus is a two page assessment test. This little quiz is designed to assess your knowledge of the three societies and their texts. Based on your results, I will assign you a personalized research topic that will be the focus of the rest of your time in class. Once you’ve finished your pop quiz, you are free to leave.”
Papers swished as everyone in the fifteen-person class turned to the back of the syllabus, including me. There it was, the Ancient Writings, Myths, and Legends Assessment Test.
Bryan leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I meant what I said. Stick around after class.”
His fiery breath burned down my neck, making it hard to focus on the questions in front of me. The first question was about the Flood,
