“I’m Ria,” she introduced herself. “I’m heading back to class now. You can follow me if you want?” We nodded and once outside, I introduced us.
“Juno and Nix,” she replied. “I like your names.” She seemed oddly comfortable around strangers, not that we knew how friendly people normally acted in this world, but it was refreshing.
The college was only a five-minute walk from the café, and as soon as we spotted it, it was obvious it was a school. “Down there you’ll find the main entrance, and I know Loretta, our student counsellor, is in there working right now if you have questions.” We just nodded and waved goodbye, searching for this Loretta person immediately.
“If their technology really is like ours, maybe our magic can alter it, enrolling us into this school effortlessly,” Nix whispered as we walked inside the building. A list of names on the side of a wall had us finding Loretta easily.
“Maybe they have homes here too,” I whispered back, hoping to live close to the school.
Loretta’s office came into view as we headed down a long hallway. We knocked on the door and waited, not sure how to behave accordingly, but deciding to do what we would normally do. Everything else had seemed a mirror image of our world so far, maybe manners were too.
“Enter,” a raspy woman’s voice called out from inside. We entered with Nix coming in behind me. “What can I do for you, boys?” she asked kindly while Nix closed the door behind him. She was maybe in her fifties and wore a knitted cardigan over a floral dress. We hadn’t decided on what to tell her and I worried Nix wouldn’t be thinking the same as me and blurt something.
“We’re new students,” Nix lied easily. My left eye twitched from the effort it took me to stifle my laugh. Nix had always been an amazing liar, easily getting out of trouble even as a kid.
“Oh,” she replied, sounding confused. “What’re your names?” she started tapping on the machine in front of her.
“My name is Nix Cinnen and this is Juno Maxwell.” The names he gave were our true names, something I found worrisome, not that she could do much with it.
“Ah,” she exclaimed. “Here you are,” she continued her tapping. “You’re the ones from Snivem. Let me just check your dorm room… and yes that’s ready too… and your forms… Yes, everything is there,” she spoke mostly to herself as I eyed Nix. He was amazing with his magic when it came to technology, but I had to admit I was impressed it’d worked without me even noticing him using it.
“Alright, boys,” Loretta said, getting up from her squeaking chair. “I’ve printed some papers for you to sign and here are your keys.” She handed us each a key to our room and turned around to grab the papers. It seemed way too easy, but they didn’t have magic so maybe we were just in luck.
Loretta spent a few minutes filling us in on the cafeteria and where our dorm room was located. We had more questions but when she hinted at something called a website being up to date and filled with answers, we knew it was her way of telling us to get out of her office.
We left in search of our dorm room. It wasn’t hard to find with Loretta’s guidance and soon we were inside with the door locked, finally free to talk and act as we wanted.
“Snivem?” I asked. The name had obviously worked for Loretta, and we needed to keep our story straight if others asked too.
Nix shrugged easily. “I used my magic on their world map and chose a place far from here. It’ll hopefully help us out that they know we come from another country than this one.” I had to give him that.
“Should we call the rulers?” Nix asked, lying down on his bed.
“We kinda need to, considering we’ve got class in the morning,” I grinned. We both wanted to stay here, and even the thought of returning home already wasn’t a pleasant one.
Joining Nix on his bed, I called my dad. His worried voice filled the room, “Juno? Are you in danger?” Nix rolled his eyes, something my dad thankfully couldn’t see, this only being a simple call.
“Nix and I are fine, Dad,” I replied with a smile. “We just wanted to update you and the other rulers.”
I heard some rustling and then my dad changed the call to one where we could see one another. I accepted and saw all the rulerslooking expectantly at us. We sat up, acting like the professionals we were hired to be. “Hi, everyone,” I greeted them with a smile.
“Yes, yes, what news do you have for us, boys?” Henriette asked with bright eyes.
“We’ve enrolled in a college here,” I replied, then quickly added, “We got our schedule already and have class in the morning.” I let them figure out what I meant and waited for their reaction.
“Oh, then you must stay!” Trise said easily. “Where are you now?”
“Our dorm room,” Nix replied. I was too busy grinning. We didn’t have to go home!
“Wait, Trise. Are you sure that’s a wise choice?” My dad cut in. “What about their things and the briefing.”
“Nonsense,” Henriette said, clearly agreeing with Trise. “The boys are attending the school and we need to respect their progress. Now tell me, boys, are they truly like us?” The others had reported back with their findings too it seemed.
“They are very similar actually,” Nix answered. “We could easily learn their language and I was able to enroll us without any issue with my magic, even providing us this room.”
“What about your needs there? Food, clothing, other things that you need to pay for?” My dad asked, ever the serious ruler.
“I haven’t had the chance to see how they deal with payments yet,” Nix answered seriously. “We don’t want to steal so we need to make sure whatever money we spend doesn’t hurt someone else.” It was one of our most valued beliefs that we shouldn’t steal from others.
