Chatoyant College Book 12: Chapter 46: Sayer

Dawn, Corrie, and Edie had a good time eating dinner together and chatting about their plans for the next year. They’d all signed up for magic classes, of course, and they wondered about what exactly they were going to learn.

Edie worried that she had signed up for the wrong classes, since she didn’t yet know which kinds of magic she would like more than others, but Dawn and Corrie assured her that she would be fine. The school offered few enough different magic classes that they would probably all take most of the classes before they graduated. Anyway, Dawn was sure that if Edie found herself completely incapable of doing one type of magic, the professors would allow her to switch classes. She didn’t have to be stubborn like Corrie, continuing to work at psionics despite showing no talent whatsoever (then again, Professor Rook kept telling her that she might yet find her skill).

No one else came to join them or even talk to them during dinner, which Dawn thought was a pretty good sign. There wasn’t anyone else that it would make sense to live with. Though maybe she should talk to Rico and make sure he wasn’t going to be living all the way across campus in Hickory or something.

Once they’d eaten, they headed over to Sayer, which was on the opposite side of campus from Gilkey—closer to the magic building and the parking lot. That made it farther from Mardalan and her court, but closer to where the werewolves met. Not that it made a difference, because they would have to leave campus to get to either one.

Somehow the thought wasn’t very comforting.

A guy was leaving the building just as the three of them approached the door, and he held it for them without even asking what they were doing there. Corrie smiled and thanked him, but he rushed off without saying anything.

“He’s in a hurry,” Edie said.

Corrie shrugged. “Well, it was nice of him to hold the door for us, anyway.”

The door opened onto a tower-like space. In front of them, a set of spiral stairs went up to the floors above, far enough that Dawn couldn’t see the top. Dawn wasn’t sure how tall Sayer was, but they didn’t get a choice about what floor they were on anyway. She didn’t think it was taller than Gilkey, so she was sure they would be able to handle the walk to their floor, wherever it was.

There was another door on the other side of the stairs. A woman opened it, walked through with a glance at them, and left through the front door. Dawn looked up at the stairs. “Up or forward?”

“Let’s go this way,” Corrie said, walking around the stairs and pushing the door open. Dawn and Edie followed her.

They stepped through into a hallway that was more obviously part of a dorm. To their left and right were plain wooden doors with whiteboards on the front of them, some with posters and drawings tacked up as well. In front of them was a room almost entirely paneled with windows; inside, Dawn could see couches, beanbag chairs, and a few small tables.

As they watched, two people walked through a side door into the room and sat down on one of the couches, placing laptops on the table in front of it. They were chatting, but it looked like a comfortable workspace.

“That looks nice,” Dawn said. “I wonder if they have that on all the floors.”

“Let’s check it out,” Corrie said, gesturing to the left. They walked all around the room; it was almost a square, though a little narrower on the sides that didn’t face the entrance, and had doors on those two sides. Otherwise, the hall was entirely surrounded by dorm rooms and one bathroom entrance.

A woman walked out of a dorm room with the door right by the corner, started to walk down the hall, then stopped and looked at them. “Are you lost? Do you need help finding somebody?”

Corrie shook her head. “We’re just checking out this dorm to see whether we want to request to live here next year.”

“Oh!” The woman smiled. “Freshmen, right? Where do you live now?”

“Gilkey,” Dawn said.

She nodded, giving Dawn an even wider smile. “Well, Sayer is really nice. It’s not fancy like Hickory, but I’ll probably stay here for the next two years. I’m happy with it. The first and second floor are all doubles, and the third floor is singles, except for the corner rooms.” She gestured back at the door she’d just appeared through. “Those are all triples. Do you want to check out my room?”

“That sounds great,” Corrie said, grinning at her. “Thanks so much. I’m Corrie, and this is Dawn and Edie.”

“Shannon,” the woman said, pushing blonde hair out of her face. “My roommates aren’t home at the moment, so just don’t touch anything.” She opened the door and held it for them.