Astronomy

Botany is a class I know I can handle, so I walk out of there with my head held a little higher than before. As promised, Ryker is waiting for me after class ends and leads me back to the cafeteria. Teo is somewhat surprised by the sight of Ryker casually waiting for me, and nearly falls over when she sees a small grin on his face. She recovers quickly enough for Ryker to not notice, since his eyes are on me. Teo bids me a quick goodbye as I head over to Ryker.

"How was it?" he asks. "Not as scary as you thought?"

"Yeah yeah," I tell him, failing to wipe away the returning smile on my face. "You could have warned me about Florentino though".

He winks at me. "Don't worry, he's relatively harmless and all talk, no real bite."

He pivots so we can walk side by side through the courtyard on our way to lunch. We decide to grab the food on the go and eat outside. Ryker has a spot he wants to show me, so we make our way there while making small talk.

Ryker gracefully leaps onto the stone wall that lines the courtyard and reaches out to me with an outstretched hand. I take it, and he pulls me up to stand beside him on the wall. He steps forward, and a scream gets stuck in my throat as I watch him careen off the side of the cliff and I lose sight of him as he falls through the canopy of a tree.

My eyes are like saucers, darting around the surroundings to see where he could have gone, when I see him poke his head out from one of the branches of the tree with a smug look on his face.

"Well, are you coming?" He asks me.

My eyes narrow as I glare back at him.

"Come on, Layla. Just step off the ledge. I've got you." He adds, motioning with his hands for me to join him.

I look at the distance from the ledge back down to where he's waiting and I sigh in distress while rubbing a hand down my face. He's given me no reason to distrust him yet, so I very slowly lift my foot and lean forward. I start free falling and right before I close my eyes, I realize time is starting to slow and colors have brightened. There's a shift in my senses, and I can see what's around me in greater detail than before. I can see more shades and see more depth in the layers of topography beneath me. I can see where the wind is traveling by following the movements of the plants along the mountainside.

All of this happens in the span of a few heartbeats. Ryker must see the change in me, because he moves from a position where he was preparing to catch me and takes a few steps back content to watch me handle this myself.

I land in a crouch and bend my knees to absorb the impact, before slowly unfurling myself upright once more. It was about a 30 foot long drop.

That...felt exhilarating. It was a sense beyond what I have felt before.

Ryker has a proud smile across his face as he looks over at me.

"You're eyes are still glowing."

I give a slow blink, and time speeds back up and my senses return to normal. To human.

He walks closer to stand in front of me. "Was that the first time you tapped into your werewolf abilities?" Ryker asks, while dragging the back of his fingers down my cheek while his gaze bounces between my eyes.

"That's what that was?" I ask quietly. And he nods his head in confirmation. He drops his hand and steps back, giving me space once more.

I take the chance to look around us and my mouth parts in surprise. Its a small room of some kind, with no roof and is built into the canopy of the tree, giving it privacy. I think Ryker has brought me to his own personal tree house.

I move slowly around the room, observing his belongings. There's a few large pillows on the floor for a seating area. Some candles for lighting. A stack of books in the corner and small chest that I don't dare open...yet. This place is really quite charming. I wonder if its a haven for him, to get away from all of the pressure Teo alluded to. My gaze collides with his once more, and Ryker clears his throat while nervously shifting from foot to foot.

He gestures for me to follow him, and we walk over to a ledge. He sits down and dangles his feet off the edge, so I mimic him.

The ledge overlooks the ocean, like the courtyard did, but this is a lot more private and relaxing.

"This is beautiful, Ryker." I tell him sincerely.

He huffs out a relieved breath and reaches into his bag to pull out our lunch and hands me a sandwich. He then places a container of fruits and dried meats between us.

"Is this your tree house?" I ask him, taking a bite of my sandwich after I do.

"Yes, I built it my first month here. I like to have my own space, and while I do have my own bedroom, it can't compare to breathing fresh air and being surrounded by nature's sounds."

"You built this?" That's certainly impressive. Unless he tells me I can't, I may just make this my new hideout too.

"I did," Ryker answers.

"You don't mind me in your space, then?" I inquire, wanting to test the waters.

"No," he says without hesitation. "You're welcome here, anytime Layla."

We give each other a wide smile before looking back out at the scenery. We continue eating our lunch together, and he tells me a bit about his time at the academy.

It's time to head to our next class, so we climb up the camouflaged steps he cut into the mountainside at a quick pace before making it to the courtyard again. Ryker shows me where my next course is, before heading in another direction to his own class.

My next course, Astronomy, is located on the far end of the academy where they're able to have an observatory. There's a spiral staircase hidden in the mountainside leading up to a dome, and it takes me a few minutes to jog up all of the stairs. At the top, I walk through the doorway and my attention is pulled upwards towards the ceiling of the wide dome. It's smooth and painted black, but has the night sky projected onto it, lighting it up with stars, constellations, the occasional meteor and our solar system with vivid and moving colors.

My sight travels down the cylindrical object in the middle of the room, and I realize it's a really large telescope mounted to a platform a few feet above the classroom floor. Windows are cut into the rock walls of the room, which lets in enough light for me to see that behind the platform lies rows of chairs that are starting to be filled with students.

I take a seat in the second to last row, again, and get settled. It isn't long until the professor stands in front of the telescope and begins the class.

He is older, with grey hair and has on a pair of oversized square shaped eyeglasses. With a bow tie on a white shirt with blue polka dots, I giggle internally since he just looks so damn cute for an old man. I tilt my head to the side when I realize he has no shoes on. I stare at this in confusion for a few moments before shaking my head and looking back to his face.

"I'm Oliver Wesley, your professor. Welcome to your first lesson in Astronomy, one of the most important subjects you will learn at Alpine Crescent Academy," he gives a long, dramatic pause while looking between the student's faces. "As werewolves, every fiber of our being is connected to and influenced by a celestial body - the moon." He tilts his hand to the ceiling and the projections of the solar system gets smaller as the image zooms out.

The planets become specs in a galaxy, which becomes one of many in the night sky above us. The galaxies are spirals of lights and colors and with stardust interspersed throughout the universe with vibrant colors of pink, red, purple, green and blue.

I'm engrossed in the night sky above me, so I hardly notice a chill start to work up my spine at the sound of footsteps behind me. The hairs on my arms start to raise as the steps get closer.

"Even though our solar system is a microscopic fragment in terms of the scale of the universe, everything is related on a subatomic level. It was all created by one celestial event. Thus, this course will not only discuss what we know about our relationship with the moon, but will go over theories regarding the impact of the cosmos as well."

The professor continues, but I can no longer hear what he is saying. My attention is completely withdrawn from the lecture when I feel a breath on the skin under my ear.

Someone has sat in the chair behind me and is leaning so far forward they are nearly touching me. My entire body freezes and I become hyper-focused on the sensations surrounding me.

Somehow, I can feel him. I can feel that this is the same man that took my breath away earlier in the cafeteria.

Even without touching him, I almost feel warmth from his body on my skin. Every nerve on my body is live-wired and tuned to him.

His hand comes up so fast I don't see it at first, and he cups my chin, turning my face in his direction. My breath freezes in my lungs as something dark and exciting stirs within me.

His eyes are so pretty when his pupils dilate like that, and I just want to be closer. I lean forward, mesmerized.

"Intriguing little thing you are," he murmurs.