Chapter Twenty

Oliver’s taunts toward Airin started the moment he sat down in music theory.

“You don’t know what you’re doing yet?” Oliver laughed. “Most of the suites already have their talents prepared. I want to do a tribute to Mendelssohn.”

“That sounds boring,” Liska snapped.

Liska needs to stop winding Oliver up. “I’m sure whatever we come up with will be fine,” Airin said.

He leaned toward Airin, wearing the expression that said he knew he could convince his parents to do anything he wanted. “I would make sure it’s fine but not good enough to beat me. You know that I can tell Mother that I don’t want to go to school with you anymore, and that will make your time here at Eclipse very hard.” Airin felt like they had been slapped.

“Are you telling us to cheat so you can win?” Liska shrieked, as ears sprang from her head and fur sprouted all over her hands. Other students in the class turned to stare at them.

Oliver stole a glance at the other students. “Of course not. But you clearly won’t be as good as me anyway, so the outcome is clear.” He glared at Airin. “Right?”

Airin felt conflicted. They would love to finally beat Oliver in something, but their family would be very upset. And Oliver always found a way to punish Airin for going against him, even if Airin didn’t know what he wanted in the first place.

“The Darklighters provide everything for us, so we have to be grateful for that,” Sola always said.

Magister walked out of the supply closet, motioned at Oliver, and handed him a stack of books. “Pass these out to the students.”

Liska leaned over to Airin and whispered, “He is so annoying!”

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“If you mean me, Liska Renard, then you have only just begun to understand the difficulty you are facing in my class. If you are referring to a student, that would be a most inappropriate thing to say.” Magister motioned to her and dropped a stack of workbooks in her arms. “You may pass these out to your classmates.”

Elf ears are sensitive. Liska looked at Airin, wide-eyed, afraid to whisper again.

Airin shook their head slightly, afraid to give Liska more than a glance.

Oliver dropped the book on the edge of Airin’s desk so it slid off. “Why are you so clumsy?” Oliver said loudly.

“Mr. Darklighter, please refrain from commenting on the task I gave you.”

Oliver flashed Airin an angry sneer, as if it were their fault, but he passed out the rest of the books without saying anything else.

Airin opened the dark red paperback book; inside was nothing but empty staff paper.

“These are your music workbooks. You will use them to complete the exercises in the textbook. You may also write down music you have composed yourself, as you will each compose a basic piece by the end of the semester.”

Airin placed the book on one side of their desk and opened their textbook.

Over the past couple of weeks, Airin had read and reread the assigned chapters. Liska had helped Airin make notecards to study the different types of notes. They had played several rounds of concentration with them the night before.

Airin didn’t know there were ways to study that didn’t involve simply reading. Liska had all sorts of tricks for memorizing information. She said that playing games helped her the most.

A loud thwack startled Airin. Their workbook was on the floor. Oliver was shifting in his seat. He had knocked their workbook off the desk, again.

Magister had stopped and was staring at Airin.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Airin reached down and picked up the book.

Magister didn’t respond, turning back to his desk and picking up a piece of chalk. Oliver gave Airin a smug glance.

Airin knew from long experience that Oliver’s bullying would only escalate if Airin protested. All the adults at the Darklighter estate were captive to his whims. Airin had hoped Eclipse would be different, but it looked like it wouldn’t.

I don’t have to win or even compete to learn what I want to learn, though. I have to stay here. We can both get what we want. I wish he could see that.

With Magister’s attention on them, now was not the right time to talk to Oliver. But maybe they could convince him that Eclipse was big enough for both of them.