章 3: Chapter 3: Insomnia
Sage shoved her notebook into her bag and followed the other students into the hall. She kept her head down as she walked, but she couldn’t help but notice the female shifter again. This time, her chest was pressed to Sandalwood’s as she leaned in to whisper in his ear.
He glanced up and caught Sage’s gaze. She quickly lowered her eyes and kept walking. She heard the female’s laughter down the hall.
Fortunately, the rest of her classes mostly lacked shifters and were elective classes she had chosen. She enjoyed her music class with the sirens, despite the requirement of having earplugs in the majority of the class. She finished her day with art history where she watched a particularly angsty vampire present a painting made from blood.
She was relieved to end her day in the dining hall, eating a delicious roast chicken paired with peas and a garlic butter sauce. Nikolas sat across from her, chatting with a witch he’d met in his astronomy class.
Sage watched as the witch twirled her finger in her blonde hair, laughing at everything Nikolas said despite the humor level of his statement. She smiled to herself, knowing he enjoyed some degree of the attention.
“What’s wrong, Nik? Don’t want to dip your spoon in that cauldron?” Sage joked after the witch left.
Nikolas grinned. “Hell no. She’s from a northern coven, Sage. She specializes in ice and I like to play with fire…my spoon and ice would not mesh well together.”
Sage rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help but wonder about the true reason he didn’t want to pursue another. It didn’t matter if he dated a witch from another coven, and what better time to meet others than while they were at the school? It just mattered that she was a witch.
But part of her knew the real reason Nik didn’t follow through on serious relationships past any midnight flings. She liked to tell herself he had moved on from his feelings towards her, but he wasn’t always as subtle as he liked to believe.
Just then, the shifters entered the dining hall. The red-haired female was first, her presence leaving a wake of drooling mouths and wide eyes as she sashayed to her seat. She looked over to where Sage and Nikolas sat and blew them a kiss with a wink.
“She is truly insufferable,” Sage muttered.
“Her name is Koa,” Nik responded.
“Oh, you won’t entertain an ice witch but a shifter is better?”
“Not entertaining,” he shook his head. “Just researching. You know, for ammunition.”
“Ah, makes perfect sense,” Sage rolled her eyes again. She wanted no part of whatever war he was gearing up for that needed ammunition. While Koa was determined to stand prettily at every corner spitting the word “witch” like an insult, Sage was content to focus on her studying.
They watched quietly as the rest of the group filed in. The boys were loud, laughing, joking, and shoving each other as they found their way to the table. Sandalwood followed, quiet in comparison to his friends. He seemed to evoke a sense of calm over his group as they sat down, Koa taking the chance to slip onto his lap.
“So if you know everything…who is Koa’s man candy?” Sage asked.
“Her seat happens to be the next pack Alpha,” Nikolas said absently. “His name is Caspian.”
“What is the next Alpha doing at the School for the Unnatural? Wouldn’t he have other things to focus on besides history?” Sage asked.
Nikolas shrugged. “Learning social skills? Dogs need socialization too, you know.”
Sage slapped his arm before glancing again at the shifter table. Caspian was sitting at the end, leaning back in his chair in a relaxed manner. He seemed uninterested in the conversation playing out in front of him. Koa ran her long fingernails through his hair absently, and Sage watched as she readjusted her hips to better sit against him.
“Want to go with me to the greenhouse? I want to see if I can pick some rosemary,” Sage asked, turning her attention back to her own dinner companion.
“While I enjoy your overly enthusiastic excitement over plants, I think I will pass tonight. I’m supposed to meet someone for a tour of the castle.”
His smile insinuated the tour ended in the witch’s bedroom but Sage nodded, said “Enjoy,” and got up to leave the dining hall.
“Crone,” Koa muttered as Sage passed the shifter table on her way to the door.
She paused, turned slowly, and looked Koa dead in the eye.
“Do you ever sit in your own seat?”
The male blonde shifter beside Caspian broke into loud laughter.
“Shut the f*ck up, Felix!” Koa snapped at him.
She whipped around to face Sage again but before Koa could respond, Sage spun on her heel and left the dining hall. Not before noticing the smirk on Caspian’s lips.
She took her time walking through the halls to the apothecary greenhouse. There weren’t many students in the hall, so her walk was quiet enough that she could clear her head. Sage was sure Koa wouldn’t appreciate Caspian sitting next to her in history. Although she was more confused why he had sat next to her in the first place. Either way, she vowed to herself to stay away from the drama that was Koa and her future Alpha. Sage was here to learn, not get sucked into species politics.
The greenhouse sat in a small courtyard by the outer edge of the castle. It was dark as Sage let the moonlight light her path. The door was locked but she whispered a spell and heard it click open. While she should be patient and wait for the professor, she didn’t think they’d mind if she just took a sprig of rosemary.
Stepping inside felt momentarily like coming home. Back home, her mother kept their house filled with herbs for her potions. She loved to hang dried rosemary, sage, and mint creating a pleasant smell as soon as you walked in.
Sage took a deep breath, letting the feeling of homesickness in her chest fade a little as she walked down the aisles and read the labels of the plants. There were some plants here she didn’t even recognize, but she skimmed over the labels to find the rosemary. She quickly pinched a stem and slipped it inside her bag.
She had had trouble sleeping last night. There was some odd pull in her chest that she had equated to anxiety for her first day of classes. She hoped the rosemary in her tea before bed tonight would help soothe the feeling.
Sage quietly slipped outside, replacing the lock on the door, and walked back towards the castle. As she turned the corner to the doorway, she heard voices.
She quickly ducked back into the shadows. While she was sure taking rosemary from the garden wasn’t a punishable offense, she still didn’t want to be caught and have to explain herself. She listened as the footsteps approached and the deep voices became louder.
They were whispering, their faces hidden by the hoods of their cloaks. Whether they were shifters or vampires, she couldn’t tell.
“You are sure it is her?” one of the voices hissed. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” the other voice groaned. It seemed almost familiar. “I can’t sleep, the pull is so strong.” He sounded miserable as he confided in the first.
“It is a full moon tonight, maybe you are just restless?”
Definitely shifters then…
There was a silent pause before, “Maybe,” was muttered from the second’s voice.
“Forget about it, alright? Let’s run,” the first slapped the second on the shoulder. They kept walking away from Sage. She watched from her hiding spot as their dark silhouettes transformed and took off into the night.
She stayed in the shadows along the wall as she made her way back inside. She went straight to her tower and up the stairs to her dorm.
What did the voice mean by the pull? And who was “her”? Why did she feel like she had just overheard a very important secret? Sage didn’t know how to process the conversation she overheard, but she was sure she could pinpoint that voice. As they had walked away, the wind had blown the distinguishable scent of sandalwood to where she sat eavesdropping in the dark.
Sage kicked off her shoes, digging the rosemary from her bag. She retrieved the moonstone from her bodice and set it on the vanity as she collected her mortar and pestle along with her pure black teacup set. Tossing the rosemary in the mortar, she began grinding it. Usually, she would just let it soak in boiling water but tonight she wanted to ingest as much as she could for full effect.
Once she was satisfied with the pulverized rosemary, Sage poured water into her teacup, muttered a spell to heat it, and tossed the herb in. She rubbed the moonstone between her thumb and forefinger as she took a sip of the tea. The conversation didn’t concern her so she had no alternative but to push it from her thoughts. Her energy shouldn’t be focused on a shifter or what was causing him to lose sleep. She needed to focus on her own insomnia. She took a deep breath before clearing her mind.
Sage finished her tea and let the calming effects of the rosemary wash over her. If she couldn’t sleep tonight, she’d try a whole damn bath in rosemary next.
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