My footsteps echoed eerily down the corridor as I followed what I hoped was the right corridor on the map towards the ‘stores’. My welcome package had told me that I needed to come here to pick up my uniforms. Fuck my life that I was back at school making arrangements to get my uniform! I was so not okay with this part of the situation. Yes, abduct me from my only friends and home, but no don’t attempt to make me wear some naughty catholic schoolgirl uniform. For some reason this part of the school just seemed creepier than the rest. Maybe it was because it was so quiet. Everyone else was in class and I seemed to be the only person wandering around. I got the impression that this part of the school wasn’t really used that much anyway, judging by the empty rooms I had passed earlier. At the end of the corridor was a single wooden door with a brass name plate reading ‘Stores’. At least I had made it here without being abducted again. From now on that was going to be the measure that I held my life up against. ‘Don’t worry I made it to the supermarket without getting abducted.’ ‘You fell down into an empty pit. Oh it could be worse, you could have been abducted.’ Shaking my head free of my new apparent craziness I knocked on the door and waited. Was I supposed to just go inside? Was there even anyone in there? After waiting a minute and nothing happening, I was just reaching out to take the door handle when the door suddenly swung open and like the bad ass that I was I let out a high pitched squeak and jumped backwards. What was wrong with me? It wasn’t that long ago that I would have just automatically punched this person in the face. Although looking up at her I was glad that I didn’t. The woman who had opened the door had to be about eighty. She had a tan pair of trousers on with a smart white shirt and a deep brown shawl thrown over her shoulders. A pair of glasses were hanging from her neck by a string of beads and her hair was tied up high on her head in a bun. She looked like an elderly librarian. When she gave me an understanding smile that reminded me of every grandma I had seen in every Christmas movie ever, I was very glad that I had not just punched her in the face.
“Ah Aria,” she said opening the door wider and waving me inside, “they told me that you would be stopping by today.” I walked into the stores and was surprised to find that it was set up similar to a sitting room. There were a couple of comfortable chairs with a footstool, a sofa and an open fireplace with a fire blazing. The coffee table in front of the fire was set up with a pot of tea and two cups and saucers. There was even a plate of biscuits.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you. I was told to just come along whenever I had time.” I explained.
“Oh, you aren’t disturbing me dear.” She said making herself comfortable in one of the chairs before leaning forward and pouring out two cups of tea. “Do you take milk? Sugar?” She asked.
“Oh … erm … just a bit of milk for me please.” I said awkwardly taking a seat in the other armchair not really sure what was happening.
She passed me across the cup of tea and held out the plate of biscuits. I picked up one that looked like shortbread and sat it on the saucer not sure what to do next.
“Caleb, the dear, always brings me back some biscuits from the human realm whenever he goes. I love these little Viennese whirls” she said smiling across at me.
“That’s very kind of him.” I said. I mean what else was I supposed to say. I tried to subtly glance around the room again. There weren’t any other doors apart from the one that I had come through and there definitely wasn’t any store of any kind in here either. If it hadn’t been for the name plate on the door, I would have sworn I was in the wrong place.
“How rude of me, I haven’t even introduced myself. I am Madame Nines, I am the procurement officer for the school. If there is anything that you need, you just pop along and come see me dear.” She said smiling at me.
“Hi, I’m … well, you already know who I am.” I mumbled feeling a little stupid.
“How are you settling in dear? This must all be a terrible shock for you.” She asked kindly.
I looked up at her about to tell her that I was fine when my vision suddenly became blurry and the words stuck in my throat. I tried to cough and hold back the tears that were welling in my eyes but the more that she looked at me like that, the more they seemed to want to fall from my eyes. I managed to get a hold of myself but one stray tear fell down my cheek before I was able to stop it. “I … it’s just all so unbelievable.” I said.
“Aria, it’s okay to be upset that this thing has happened to you. I can tell that you are a female that takes pride in the fact that you look after yourself. But everyone needs to take a moment sometimes. You can’t keep all that emotion locked up inside that beautiful head of yours.” She kindly patted me on the knee and I took a sip of my tea to try and buy me some time and think about what I wanted to say next. When I opened my mouth, the last thing that I expected to happen was for my entire history to just fall out of my mouth as I explained every last detail to her. She sat there quietly and just listened while it all poured out of me. Every terrible thing, the happiness I found at Alfie’s and the life that I pulled up around me after. She cried when I told her of the abuse that I had suffered and she laughed when I told her about the antics I had got up to at the gym. When I had finished my story we sat in silence for a short time sipping on our tea and eating biscuits. She was right Viennese whirls were amazing. “That is some story that you have already my dear.” She finally said. “But that is just your beginning and you have a lot more ahead of you I feel.”
I nodded my head. She was right. I had a feeling that I was meant to be here. I didn’t think that it was just because of the guys either. “I haven’t told anyone else about my magic yet.” I said.
“Hmm well these things have a way of coming out around here. I don’t think that you will be able to keep it to yourself for long. No one will hear a word of it from me though. You tell everyone when you are ready. I will say though, from what you have described, I don’t think that I have ever heard anyone describe their magic that way before.” She said pouring herself a second cup of tea from the pot. She held it up to silently ask if I wanted another and I passed my cup across to her.
“I guess I’m just a freak wherever a go.” I muttered.
“I wouldn’t think of it that way.” She smiled. “You are just something new.” She looked at me more seriously and cocked her head to the side. “Or something very old that we haven’t seen for a long time.” She said mysteriously.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, ignore me. Ramblings of an old woman. Anyway, you came here for a uniform I believe.” She reached down to beside the coffee table and pulled up two large bags which presumably held clothes. They were rather unremarkable apart from the fact that they had definitely not been there when I had come in. “I’ve put a selection together for you. Something that suits you but adheres to the ridiculous policy that we have here.”
“I am so glad that you said it first.” I laughed. “I saw someone in the cafeteria earlier and, well, I do not want to look like that. But, that wasn’t there before, right?”
“No dear, they just come along when I need them.” She said cryptically.
“Would it be rude of me to say that I didn’t understand?” I asked. God I hated this place, I didn’t understand it and I felt in the dark about everything.
“Not at all my dear. I am a celestial kitsune, things just have a way of being when I need them to be.” She explained without actually explaining anything.
“Right, well that completely clears that up.” I laughed.
She laughed along with me and passed the bags across to me. I couldn’t stop myself from having a peek inside. I was pleasantly surprised to see a black hoodie and some knee length boots in there. “Don’t worry dear. You won’t be uncomfortable in anything that I put together for you. You know, I have a feeling you are exactly where you need to be dear.”
“I feel a bit like that too. I’ve been having some weird feelings since I got here which I’ve been attributing to a concussion but now I don’t really know. It’s confusing because I feel like I should be more upset and hate it here but I don’t. I feel like I’m supposed to be here.” I tried to explain. It was so hard to express in words how I was feeling.
“Hmmm, I have a feeling that there are three certain someone’s who are helping with that feeling as well.” She smiled at me.
“Yeah,” I blushed. “That would be most of those weird feelings that I’m not all that sure about.”
“Sometimes we don’t need to explain things. They just are. Trust yourself Aria and trust the way that you feel. We have enough questions in life
without adding to them by questioning ourselves.” She said sipping her tea. I nodded. That was actually really good advice.
“Thank you, for sitting here and listening to me ramble on about everything.” I said. I liked it here and I liked Madame Nines.
“It’s no trouble at all dear. I like having visitors. It gives me an excuse to break out the biscuits. You’re always welcome to pop by.”
“I hope you’re not just saying that, because I fully intend to.” I smiled.
“Well I shall see you soon then my dear.” She said standing up. She pulled me into a hug and I felt my eyes tear a little bit again. No one had ever genuinely hugged me like this before. It was nice. Maybe I had found a place here with these people who could finally understand a side of me that I had kept hidden for all this time. We said our goodbyes and I headed out with my map and my bags of clothes actually feeling better about things but wondering how she knew that I’d met the three guys. This place was definitely a little on the strange side. I should fit right in. Now to check out the gym and a couple of other places.
