The Shadowseeker - Victor Kloss Page 0,27
pretty face. “He's also a Guardian. If there are any secrets in the Institute, Ben should have access to them.”
Ben's excitement didn't quite match Charlie’s and Natalie's. “How would I do that? I hardly know my way round the Institute.”
Neither Charlie nor Natalie had an answer.
A sudden popping sound made them all jump, and the noise of the café rushed back into their little table.
“The spell has expired. I guess that's meeting adjourned,” Natalie said.
Ben was tempted to ask for another silencer spell, but they were getting several dirty looks from other customers waiting for their table.
“I need to get back home,” Charlie said, glancing out the window. “My parents will suspect something if I'm not home by five.”
“I'll come with you,” Ben said, and Charlie gave a grateful smile. Ben had a feeling his friend might feel envious if he stayed to hang out with Natalie at the Institute. “My grandma will be expecting some more milk.”
As they said their goodbyes, Natalie ran a critical eye over their clothes. “Charlie, though I love your colourful fashion, make sure you're wearing something a little more casual tomorrow.”
“What does that mean?”
Natalie smiled. “Wear something you don't mind getting dirty.”
Charlie gave a worried frown as they left and headed down the hill towards the Dragonway. “Why did she have to leave us with a warning like that? Now I'm going to be worrying all night.”
“Relax,” Ben said, slapping his shoulder. “We're probably just going to be doing something that's going to wreck our clothes a bit.”
“That's supposed to relax me?” Charlie asked, giving him an incredulous look. “That would mean we're going to be doing something that involves physical exercise, which isn't exactly my strong suit.”
Ben stopped listening to Charlie's worrying, and he barely noticed when they arrived at the Dragonway, or when they boarded their dragon home. His mind played over his first day as an apprentice, with a mixture of pride and excitement. So much had happened, from the Shadowseeker attack in Croydon to the Initiation Test, to the peculiar incident in the library. It was enough to fill a week, let alone a day. The thrill of starting the apprenticeship combined with the possibility that a dark elf assassin could be hunting him produced a peculiar set of contrasting emotions. To complicate matters further, there was his parents. Could they really have hidden at the Institute? Could they still be there? The thought was thrilling but frustrating, that they could be so close and yet remain out of reach.
“Well, that day was interesting,” Charlie said. “Same time tomorrow?”
Ben blinked. They were standing outside the Croydon headquarters on a pavement congested with commuters and shoppers. Ben had been so lost in his own world he could only vaguely recall the journey. The smell of petrol and exhaust fumes brought him back to the world he was used to.
Sleep that night did not come easy and his plan to go to bed early in the hope that tomorrow would arrive sooner backfired. He lay in bed, unable to drift off; his body was tired, but his mind was wide awake, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
Despite the poor night's sleep, Ben was up early, dressed and out the house at 7:30am the following morning, with only the minimum of sparring with his grandma. When he spotted Charlie coming down the road, Ben couldn't help laughing.
“What on earth is that?” he asked.
Charlie was wearing a pair of blue tracksuit bottoms and a white collared t-shirt. His backpack was smaller today, but he still had it strapped round both shoulders.
“This is my sports gear,” Charlie said. “They are the only clothes I have that I don't mind getting dirty. I realise I may not look as fashionable as usual.” He gave Ben a lookover. “I see that you still manage to look good despite wearing clothes I wouldn't give to a homeless man.”
Ben was wearing a black paint-splattered t-shirt and loose-fitting jeans that were torn at the knees.
“Do you have a good set of clothes as spare?” Ben asked.
Charlie patted his bag. “I'm hoping we'll be able to change out of these at some point. The sooner the better.”
Both Ben and Charlie were slightly anxious when they entered Croydon headquarters twenty minutes later, but unlike yesterday, the lift opened smoothly and their journey to Taecia proved uneventful. They talked almost nonstop throughout their trip and only stopped when they arrived at the gates of the Royal Institute of Magic.
“I reckon it's about ten minutes