Carmell ate her food in a delighted silence, her eyes glowing with appreciation as she grabbed a butted piece of French stick and dipped it into the red sauce. The bread changed from white to red, the crust softening under the sudden liquid expansion. The group watched her eat with an undisguised fascination, and the prawns, mussels, potatoes, and fish disappeared from the plate in under ten minutes. Darrius wolfed down his burger, not forgetting to pick up the bits of lettuce that fell onto his plate. Cassie and Zyn chose the same customised pizza, Carmell's brows furrowing to their preference for pineapple on a vegetarian pizza. Once she finished her food, she pointed her fork towards Zyn's plate, which was the closest, but since she was leaning on her elbows, it didn't look like there was a point to it.
"Why the choice?" she asked after she finished her last bite.
"Great, another pineapple hater," he sighed dramatically.
"Ha, oh, you have that wrong. That's my exact pizza choice," she chuckled, her eyes gleaming. An obnoxious scoff came from the table next to them, and Carmell turned her face and cocked it to the side, "Problem?" She asked coldly, the shine leaving her eyes to run from the fire and narrow on a girl with light pink hair and hazel eyes.
"Pretending you prefer what they like to kiss ass," the girl snickered, the rest of her minions following suit, and Carmell repressed a snicker at the shaking rainbow of hair.
Carmell raised an eyebrow and turned to smirk at Zyn.
"May I have a slice, Prince Zyn?" She asked sweetly, placing her left hand under her chin and casually dropping her fork on the table.
"You may," he smirked back, slowly pushing his plate towards her.
Carmell resisted the urge to cackle in delight and took the pizza, shovelling it in her mouth while turning her head towards the other table. The moment the taste hit her tongue, her eyes rolled a little, and she groaned after swallowing a bit.
"My god, is that extra cheese?" she cried, taking another bite.
"Of course," Zyn replied, and Cassie leaned in front of him to smirk at the table of girls who should mind their own business.
"Mm, it's missing something, though," she concluded, her eyes shifting to Darrius's finished plate, "Prince Darrius, are you going to eat those?" she asked with wide, doe-eyed eyes.
No," he whispered, pushing his plate with extra force until it clinked against hers.
Carmell swooped her hand from her chin to grab the fork and scoop most of the red onion onto the pizza, shoving the last bite into her mouth with a satisfied groan.
"Urgh, we get it. You're a food freak, and you dress like a whore," the pink-haired girl hissed; the group rose from their table and strutted out of the hall in their stupid heels and crappy uniform.
"I would like the spell to change my uniform, too, but I have different ideas on how I want it.
"You can come to my room tonight, and I will show you," Carmell replied, excitedly moving her hands around.
She needed to see how another person performs spells because she felt strongly that her magic differed. Once the group finished their dinner, they rose from the table, leaving their plates behind. Carmell's brows furrowed, and she went to pick their trays up. Darrius turned around and grabbed her wrist before it lifted the plate. The electricity coursed up their arms, sucking their breaths away.
"You don't need to do that. It clears itself," he whispered, entwining his fingers with hers and pulling her towards the exit.
Rather than going right and heading back to the lift, they all turned right and found themselves at six lifts, facing the other like a business building's lobby. Zion pressed the lift and stood at the front with bright, excited golden eyes.
"Out of everything we have here, The Colony is my favourite section," he mused, stepping into the lift when the glass doors opened and pressing one of the bottom buttons.
When the lift dropped down, Carmell killed the scream that wanted to leave her mouth, and she blew out a hard breath and loosened her snake-like grasp on Darrius's upper arm. He smirked at her, along with Zyn and Zion's snickers, as they descended into the learning centre, but Carmell let go of his arm and pressed her forehead to the side of the lift to see the vast underground structure. Most of the classrooms were transparent, showing rows of chairs similar to those in a university lecture hall. Other rooms were opaque, and at the bottom, they were the size of football pitches.
"Is that a library?" she asked excitedly, pressing her head to the back of the lift to see the vast transparent floor full of brown-stained bookcases and books.
Darrius turned his head, and the sight of Carmell bent over sent his head into a tailspin. His head snapped back to the front, and he resisted the urge to close his eyes to reimagine it. She turned around and rushed out of the lift as soon as the door opened, surprising everyone as she ran into the library.
"I'm taking a wild guess here, but she is one hundred per cent a book lover," Zyn laughed, stepping from the lift and heading in the general direction she ran off to.
Carmell followed the signs to Level One magic grimoires. Without really reading the spines, she pulls out several books at random and moves on to Level Two, and so on, until she is in Level Five. It was clear to her that they had been attending this academy for five years, and most magic-used worlds have a rule that you shouldn't punch above your weight. She was confident that she had already done that, but the best way to keep the chaos a secret was to start from the bottom.
"Princess Carmell?" the AI called from underneath the pile of books she had in her arms.
She jumped in shock, the books slipping from her hands as she tried to steady herself and them. Then, she pulled the tablet and smacked it on top of the pile.
"What did you just call me?" she hissed, turning around to see if the others had caught up with her yet.
"Your name, do not fret. I have their locations, which are too far to hear."
"Darrius is a vampire," she huffed, stepping into the Level Six aisle.
"This library dampens those types of abilities. For security reasons, there are a lot of sensitive meetings that go on in the rooms off to the side. Anyway, I can log all the books you choose; there is no limit as there are endless copies." The Ai finished with a shrug.
"Do you have a name? The AI seems impersonal, and you're more than a program, right?"
"No one has asked me that before. My name is Tenet," He replied with a bright smile.